The 'Shroom talk:Issue 105/Director Election

Election Process

This page is where members of the community may make nominations and vote for candidates to direct The 'Shroom for the next year. The rules for the election process may be viewed on the election rules article.

Candidates and Voting

Super Mario Bros. / RandomYoshi

I'm pleased to announce my campaign for re-election. To briefly introduce myself, I've been a part of the staff since 2009 and have directed the paper for four terms; my first three extended from January 2011 through January 2014, and the fourth and current term started earlier this year. My running mate RandomYoshi (talk), also known as Pi, had served in the staff back in 2013, returned as a staff consultant in July of this year, and was appointed as a Statistics Manager earlier this month. He is sharp, friendly, and has what it takes to be the Sub-director; furthermore, I know that he would properly manage The 'Shroom should the need ever arise.

From start to finish, 2015 has been a year of growth and accomplishment for The 'Shroom. We released what many consider to be the best edition to date, Issue 100, and then proceeded to follow up strongly with the Halloween edition and this Holiday special. Much of the layout has been revamped in order to appear more professional and aesthetically pleasing. More applications have been received this year than within the past two and the amount of sections filled has more than doubled since the start of the term. Most importantly, however, an environment of appreciation for our contributors and readers has been heavily emphasized, which in turn has led to much of the success that we have seen. We seek to continue these overall trends, while pursuing improvement in any areas which need attention.

Our proposals are the following. We will...

• ...Establish a part-time editing staff position to assist rejected applicants. The 'Shroom is bettered by having more sections. Rejecting sections and not allowing applicants a second go at their application after receiving feedback is ultimately detrimental to the publication. By introducing this feature, we aim to maximise the content The 'Shroom hosts in every issue.
• ...Ensure that staff members keep updated track records. Team directors will keep a log of submission quality, timeliness, and other notes; although most staff members have already voluntarily done this, it will be made standard procedure. This will ensure that distribution of End-of-the-Year Awards smooths out and that we are able to more quickly determine suitable eligible writers for the award they truly deserve.
• ...Expound upon feedback and participation. Without the feedback and participation of our readers, The 'Shroom would not be much of a community publication. Therefore, we aim to continuously collect everybody's feedback on various points of interests that are related to the publication. There will be more events next year that will increase how you interact with The 'Shroom.
• ...Further simplify and improve the layout. A professional look for the newsletter will be created without sacrificing the creativity of content. We will immediately implement universal graphic section headings, remove outdated coding from future articles (thereby improving load times of pages), and remove and replace the Kunstler script headings from standalone articles.
• ...Enhance staff communication. A regular meetings schedule will be established in order to make quick decisions and real-time collaboration easier. Additionally, a basic manual will be created for incoming staff members explaining the responsibilities of each team member and how to accomplish them.
• ...Plan two, high-quality special editions. We will not have any more than two special editions for quality reasons. Issue 111 (June 2016) will likely be our Summer special, whereas Issue 117 (December 2016) will be our Holiday special. Despite not having a specific Awards special, Awards coverage will not be lessened as it is an integral component of the community.
• ...Centralise applications. Currently, the process of applying is very confusing. To whom do I send this to? Which section of the publication is the best suited for this kind of content? Don't worry about these questions, the Staff Team is there to help you in this situation by centralising applications. Every application is to be sent in to the Statistics Manager. The Core 'Shroom Staff will then decide where the application is going to be featured.
• ...Create the position of Graphic Design Manager. Our current Sub-director, Gabumon (talk), will assume a role dedicated to ensuring that every issue is provided with aesthetically pleasing backgrounds, banners, and other necessary artwork.
• ...Stress proper time management. Having experienced an increase in the volume of content, the staff must make it a point to update the release procedures in order to ensure the most effective use of time. This includes a stricter adherence to deadlines, as well as better pre-release preparation and editing.

Last year, I stated that we would need to assemble staff and contributors that would secure the future of the paper. It is apparent, with what has been accomplished, that we successfully achieved that goal. And now that we have built this project back up and consistently post issues of high quality, the challenge for the next year will be adjusting our processes to account for the growth that we have enjoyed during this term. If you want a team that you can trust to continue to operate on the principles that led to our successes this year, then you have no better choice than RandomYoshi and myself.

Votes

1. PowerKamek (talk)
2. Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) - All the massive progress The 'Shroom has had with SMB is evident and I'm sure it will only continue to improve.

Comments

Please stop editing the page for a minute and let us sort this out. Thanks. --™ The 'Shroom 15:54, 28 December 2015 (EST)

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