We are joined today at the Newsies desk by our very own Fleet Admiral Tristan Wolf!
Jordan, thank you so much for being willing to do this interview! The community loves hearing from you. Let’s start off with a personal message from you to the fleet!
Wolf: The most important thing I always want to say is the sincerest and deepest thanks to everyone who puts their time and effort into our community. Your work is seen, valued, and appreciated. It’s hard for the staff to find new and unique ways to show our appreciation but know that we are often thinking about how to do that!
S. Richards: I know you’ve been asked this before, but we are curious if the answer has changed. Would you ever consider coming back to sim full time?
Wolf: Have I thought about it? Sure! But, unfortunately, I don’t have the same spark for creative writing I used to (30 years ago!). I run my own business now, which requires a lot of creative and deep thinking, alongside a lot of incoming requests from clients, so by the end of the day I often have little energy left for writing after the normal day-to-day administration of SB118.
What can the community do to help support 118 more? We love this place and we’d love to hear of any way we can help give back, especially those not in the position to help out financially.
Wolf: This is a great question, and my advice: Ask this question to everyone! “What can I do to help?” Ask your mentor, ask your FO, ask your CO.
But two things I’d also recommend: First, be specific about what your skills or interests are. For example, there’s a couple folks I know of who like to just have “busy work” that they can do while they’re watching TV – so it’s totally okay to say, “I have lots of time to do things that don’t require too much creativity,” which might be things like re-categorizing wiki entries. Or, maybe you really want to take on something challenging, so you could say, “In my work I write a lot of marketing copy, so I’m great at putting together stuff like that!” and it’ll help whomever you’re asking to tailor what they suggest. By giving us more information about what you want to do, and what you’re good at, it can help everyone better understand what kinds of things we can offer you. And be willing, also, to have an open mind – something might not sound like it fits your skills but once you try it, you might find it’s a great fit!
Second, be willing to say, “That doesn’t sound like something I’d be [good at/interested in/able to take on], is there anything else you can think of, or someone else I should talk to who might have ideas?” I think, for some reason, people believe that if they aren’t honest about their time, capacity, and creative energy that they’ll be punished for this? That somehow what we want is for people to grind away at things to “prove” their commitment or something? That’s false – what we want is for people to have fun and help build the community in whatever way they can! So it’s much better to be up front and honest about what you want to do, and what you can do, so that you can actually succeed at it, rather than trying to do something you don’t want to do for a while and hating it and then not wanting to disappoint people.
And on that note, it’s also important to tell your staff members: “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” Or, “Can I take a few weeks off from this?” I think most people don’t realize – until they get into command – the cognitive load required to see who’s still spinning the plates we handed them, and trying to understand how to navigate whether to ask people how things are going. When we’re all really honest and communicative about our capacity and enthusiasm, we can be more successful and help others not feel like they have to spend so much time and effort chasing us.
Did you ever expect something you started so many years ago to gain this much traction and be around for this long?
Wolf: I don’t know if I really thought about it in those terms when things were gearing up – it was just something fun to do, because I loved Star Trek, I loved the burgeoning web, and I loved creative writing.
We were thinking about how to lay the groundwork for the future, but more often we were trying to solve problems and make things easier on ourselves in the day-to-day. The Constitution, for example, was simply a way to codify some of the rules we had been using for a while and ensure that there was a central place to find them. It’s really stood the test of time! (Props to Brian Kelly, a lawyer, who wrote it!)
It was probably 10 years-in that I started to realize that the community had a momentum and staying power I hadn’t expected, but even then, there were often lots of tests of our strength. Between the late 90s and the early 2010s, there were many strong personalities that tested the boundaries of our ability to moderate the community and manage the administration. And the tools we have now that help make all the mechanisms work weren’t as refined or even available. The personnel processes we use today to accept applications, run training, and move people around the fleet are all facilitated by GravityForms, a plugin for WordPress, but we didn’t have anything like that in the early years!
After so many years and so many players, is there anything that you’ve seen that still surprises you? Something that really stood out?
Wolf: I’d say there are two things that surprise me. First, I’m surprised by the seemingly infinite generosity of spirit, dedication, and appreciation from community members. I work in politics, and as I’ve grown older I’ve gotten more jaded about humanity. But SB118 often reminds me that a worldwide community of people can still work eagerly together for their shared enjoyment, which is fascinating and so inspiring.
Second, I’m often surprised by the tenacious and sometimes frightening lengths people will go to just to get back into the group. We have clear guidelines and rules on the application and website about how to re-enter the community, and some people are very willing to break those rules, lie straight to our face, and try to manipulate us just to circumvent those rules. It just goes to show the power of community and fellowship, and what it feels like to be on the outside of that when you’ve broken the rules.
To end things on a light note, how about a few rapid fire fun questions:
Favorite color?
Wolf: Blue, “like a Mykonos sky.” (IYKYK)
Favorite holiday?
Wolf: I’m not really a big holiday person, but I do love the free time that holidays give me to relax and do things like catch up on SB118 stuff. I remember many lovely winter breaks during high school and college where I’d stay up all night working on sims or The Reporter or the website.
Biggest pet peeve?
Wolf: People who ask questions they could easily look up on Google lol
Thank you again for your time, Admiral Wolf! All of us really appreciate you and all that you do!
