Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf

We're currently on ROUND 4 of the contest. Please mark any submissions with the "Round 4" prefix. Also -- Cmdr. Eden Redstone will be taking over leadership of this contest, to help us get back on track!

The following sims will continue on to Run-off Round 1 in April: Ensign Velana: Always on my Mind Lt Diego Herrera & Lt Ashley Yael - To Ask of You- pt1 Congratulations to them!

Did you know you can get the Community News delivered to your inbox daily? It's simple and only takes a minute. Click here to access our Community News on Feedburner. Then, look for the link that says "Get UFOP: StarBase 118 delivered by email" -- it's in the box, on the right, under the drop-down. Click on that link and a new window will pop up asking for your email address. Enter your information, and you'll start receiving the news no more than once a day. Enjoy!

I do like the idea of a half-season show that's very tightly focused. I think we've seen how well it can work on character-focused programs like Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead -- the short time-span forces the writers to eek out everything they can from the medium, and it leaves fans wanting more instead of wondering why the producers wasted a week on an utterly awful episode. Plus, production costs are lower with a shorter run. For a series like Trek, where pretty much everyone over the age of 25 knows the premise, this would be a great way to dive right into it!

What a great find, Velana! Thank you for sharing it with us. This timeline on Wikipedia is an interesting look at the history of same-sex marriage. Before the late 90s there was very little activity on same-sex marriage in the US, and it was considered a rather ridiculous notion by even most gays and lesbians. Activism in that era was more focused on employment rights (which we still don't have protections for, here in the US) and the AIDS crisis, especially by 1985. So, I'm sure to whoever wrote this pamphlet, the notion that same-sex marriage would exist in the future was something that never even crossed their mind!

DATES: The class began on February 27, 2012, and ended on March 6, 2012. LIST: sb118-academy2 COMMANDING OFFICER: LtCmdr. Danzia FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Elya Tali GRADUATES: - Vid-Lotilija - Donato Romero - Danica Valyn Welcome to the fleet! You can use this topic to stay in touch with your classmates from training.

Op/ed on Forbes today: How to Reboot Star Trek for Modern TV. I say BLEGH (Section 31?! No thanks.), but glad to see this discussion happening!

Congratulations, Velana! You're also the first recipient of the new winner banner, from The (Image) Collective

DATES: The class began on February 13, 2012, and ended on February 26, 2012. LIST: sb118-academy1 COMMANDING OFFICER: Cmdr. William Rogers FIRST OFFICER: Lt. Bree Keely GRADUATE: - Thrakar K'Zin

The funny thing about all this is that when you think about it, everyone probably has a lot more time on their hands than we do now. Advanced computer AI would eliminate jobs by the millions, and even on a starship you'd probably end up sitting around a lot as it moves from place-to-place, so what exactly does everyone do all day?

It always aggravated me when Data would call the 20th century "ancient history." We don't consider the 1600s "ancient" history, so I don't know why they would act that way. But yeah, they did seem to have quite a fetish for the classics.

DATES: The class began on February 13, 2012, and ended on February 21, 2012. LIST: sb118-academy4 COMMANDING OFFICER: LtCmdr. Tracey Townson FIRST OFFICER: LtCmdr. Ethan Brice GRADUATE: - Sterling Knighthorse

Reminder: last day is next Saturday, the 25th. Submit your story soon! Good luck!

Interesting discussion on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/pmdqz/it_seems_like_a_lot_of_us_want_a_new_trek_series/

Glad to have you with us -- heard lots of good things about this training group

Warning -- some foul language here http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2012/02/shitsiskosays.html My favorite parts: and

Welcome to Top Sims Contest of 2012! All announcements for the entire 2012 contest will be posted in this thread. The Top Sims contest allows members of our fleet to be recognized by their peers for superior writing ability. Unlike the Writing Challenges, this contest allows only sims that have been used in a current plot to be considered. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES You can submit ANY sim -- from your ship, or another ship. You can submit your own sims if you wish. All sims are welcome, including staff (Captain, First Officer, etc.) sims. The sim must be written with good spelling, good grammar, and be in the correct format. Poorly structured sims will be ineligible. When a sim is submitted, it must have been created within the current submission period, or the previously lapsed submission period. Put another way: do not sims which are any older than a month. Submitted sims may not have any open dialogue tags. (i.e.: [respond here]) All dialogue in the sim must be filled in. (Just find the responding author's sim and fill in the blanks.) Sims must not include any "canon" characters. (i.e.- no characters who have appeared onscreen.) Please find a balance between nominating too many, or too few sims. Don't submit every good sim -- instead, post every great sim! Also encourage your fellow crew-mates to submit at least a few sims a year. If you want your crew-mates to win more, you have to nominate the best sims, and encourage others to write higher quality sims! HOW TO SUBMIT A SIM Click the "Start New Topic" button. The format of the topic title should be as follows: For example: NOTES: Use the "Prefix" drop-down to select the round you're submitting for. Please do not clutter the topic title with an endless list of NPC or PNPC names or "JP" designations. Instead, simply include the primary character's rank and name. If it's a joint post, just include both rank and names -- no need to include the "JP" in there. COMMENTING Everyone is welcome to comment on submitted sims. If you're going to provide constructive criticism, you are required to employ the "Hamburger" criticism method: first, mention something you like; second, something you didn't like; third, something else you liked. If you just want to provide praise, no hamburger method required! Commenters who are rude, unfair, or overzealous in their commenting will be barred from future comments in the contest forum, and will have their actions brought to the attention of their CO. ABOUT THE VOTING After each round, we'll set up a vote on which of those sims deserves to go to the semi-finals. There are 3 semi-finals rounds. Semi-finals are judged by a group of staff. The top sim from each semi-final goes on to the final round to be voted-on by everyone. Please vote on sims, and encourage your crew to do the same. But remember: this is NOT a popularity contest. We welcome submissions of your crewmate's sims, but ALL sims should be rated based on their MERIT, and NOT the fact that someone is your crewmate. Any crews found "stuffing the ballots" or ratings, will be disqualified PERMANENTLY - yes, that means the whole crew! If there is a tie vote, those two sims will continue to the next round of voting for a run-off. For a vote to win the final round, at least 10% of its votes must come from a ship other than the one the sim was created on. CONTEST CALENDAR Each round has two parts: submission period and voting period. Each period of the round lasts two weeks. Round 1: Submissions: through 01-05 Voting: Tue 02-07 to Sun 02-19Round 2: Submissions: 01-06 to Sun 02-19 Voting: Mon 02-20 to Sun 03-04Round 3: Submissions: Mon 02-20 to Sun 03-04 Voting: Mon 03-05 to Sun 03-18Round 4: Submissions: Mon 03-05 to Sun 03-18 Voting: Mon 03-19 to Sun 04-01Round 5: Submissions: Mon 03-19 to Sun 04-01 Voting: Mon 04-02 to Sun 04-15Run-off Round 1 (Staff Judges Voting) Includes: Rounds 1-5 Voting: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29Round 6: Submissions: Mon 04-02 to Sun 04-15 Voting: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29Round 7: Submissions: Mon 04-16 to Sun 04-29 Voting: Mon 04-30 to Sun 05-13Round 8: Submissions: Mon 04-30 to Sun 05-13 Voting: Mon 05-14 to Sun 05-27Round 9: Submissions: Mon 05-14 to Sun 05-27 Voting: Mon 05-28 to Sun 06-10Round 10: Submissions: Mon 05-28 to Sun 06-10 Voting: Mon 06-11 to Sun 06-24Round 11: Submissions: Mon 06-11 to Sun 06-24 Voting: Mon 06-25 to Sun 07-08Round 12: Submissions: Mon 06-25 to Sun 07-08 Voting: Mon 07-09 to Sun 07-22Run-off Round 2 (Staff Judges Voting) Includes: Rounds 6-12 Voting: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05Round 13: Submissions: Mon 07-09 to Sun 07-22 Voting: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05Round 14: Submissions: Mon 07-23 to Sun 08-05 Voting: Mon 08-06 to Sun 08-19Round 15: Submissions: Mon 08-06 to Sun 08-19 Voting: Mon 08-20 to Sun 09-02Round 16: Submissions: Mon 08-20 to Sun 09-02 Voting: Mon 09-03 to Sun 09-16Round 17: Submissions: Mon 09-03 to Sun 09-16 Voting: Mon 09-17 to Sun 09-30Round 18: Submissions: Mon 09-17 to Sun 09-30 Voting: Mon 10-01 to Sun 10-14Round 19: Submissions: Mon 10-01 to Sun 10-14 Voting: Mon 10-15 to Sun 10-28Round 20: Submissions: Mon 10-15 to Sun 10-28 Voting: Mon 10-29 to Sun 11-11Run-off Round 3 (Staff Judges Voting) Includes: Rounds 13-20 Voting: Mon 11-12 to Sun 11-25FINAL ROUND (Membership Voting) Includes: Winners of Run-off Rounds 1-3 Voting: Mon 11-26 to Wed 12-26

SET 1 Ensign Velana: Always on my Mind Lt. Tan & SbCmdr Mapak - We All Have Our Secrets... Lt. Jen Malcolm - a difference of opinions Malcolm & Zonhar: Apples to Apples Malcolm, Gray, Zonhar: A Different Shade Of Gray T'Lea & Matthews: Shall We Have A Dance? Lt Jg Zinna & Ens. Alexander Richards - Dealing with the... PNPC The Man of No Limitation- A Devil in their Midst Malcolm & Gray: Laying Groundwork JP: WALTAS/REDSTONE: The Festering Wound, Parts I and II Blackwood & S'Acul: What A Tail Can Do SET 2 (PNPC) Christopher Davies - Awaken, from dreary night newly PNPC PO 3rd Class Shoodi Lightfoot: A Part of this World Lt Commander Kevin Breeman: Remember Me Lt Cmdr Aron Kells - From The Future, Part II Malcolm & Eerie: Personal questions Blake & Sullivan "I just KNEW it!" Lt Diego Herrera & Lt Ashley Yael - To Ask of You- pt1 Davies & Gray: The Smooth Touch Dr Kolar Ren (Civillian) - New Beginnings Lt.Cmdr Aron Kells & Ens. Didrik Stennes: The Human Tint (PNPC) Ensign Chris Davies - vanishes the flame

Voting closes Sunday, February 20, 2012 at 23:59 PM. Choose one winner in each group. The winners will proceed to the first run-off round. REMEMBER: This is NOT a popularity contest. Vote based on MERIT, not the fact that someone is your crewmate. Any crews found "stuffing the ballots" or ratings, will be disqualified PERMANENTLY - yes, that means the whole crew.

Please use this thread for any general discussion or questions about the Top Sims Contest. Do not post praise or criticism for submitted sims in this thread. Instead, post those praise or criticisms in the submitted sim's own thread.

Please use this thread for any discussion or questions about this writing challenge.

DATES: The class began on January 31, 2012, and ended on February 7, 2012. LIST: sb118-academy4 COMMANDING OFFICER: Capt. Toni Turner FIRST OFFICER: Capt. Tallis Rhul GRADUATES: - Sidney Pierce - Nyellia Clost

DATES: The class began on January 23, 2012, and ended on January 30, 2012. LIST: sb118-academy3 COMMANDING OFFICER: Capt. Tallis Rhul FIRST OFFICER: LtCmdr. Will Rogers GRADUATES: - Thomas Potter - Adam Brandt - Michael M. Hunt - Ra-Uleyra