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Article by Richard Smith

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What's up with R&D

Article by Richard Smith

This month we return to getting the lowdown on what one of the teams in OTF had in its hopper. I decided to sit down with Lzrman the get the skinny on what’s going on in Research and Development. Hey, its R&D they have to have something going on…right?

BR: Thanks for taking some time to let the Blue Report in on what’s going on in R&D.

Lzrman: We are currently working on some ideas brought to us by the membership of OTF and the R&D Team. Those ideas are then turned into Proof of Concept designs which are then brought to our Admirality to look at and base a decision on if it’s a go or no go. Most of the ideas we have presented have very positive outlooks.

BR: First off, you’re a pretty busy guy. R&D’s not the only team you’re involved with right? You wear many hats like so many others, so what are some of the other things in OTF taking your time?

Lzrman: Aside from the R&D Team, I am also going to be heading up the 2010 Yearbook in a couple months and building a team to get things on the ball for that, and thats a majority of my time is between R&D and the upcoming yearbook.

BR: So Outpost R&D, sounds like a pretty interesting place, what’s it all about?

Lzrman: Research and Development is very interesting place, I got some good gnomes working for the team. R&D is all about working on new stuff that we can bring to OTF, so the community is always changing and has something new to offer new members, donators and even current membership.

BR: Do you have any projects in development that you can give us a sneak peek into?

Lzrman: Well we currently have 4 completed projects and 11 other ideas in our concept pit to test out and finess, but I will give you a sneak peak and tell you that we are looking into options for the dossier system that I am sure everyone will actually enjoy customising :)

BR: How does one get roped into….err “Chosen” to lead such a team?

Lzrman: I approched Hal and told him that there has been lots of discussion on our forums about the future of the Outpost Community and that we needed to turn discussion into design. After consulting with Iain, the team was formed and I began to hire coders, graphics designers, and general staff to critic and give feedback.

BR: Where do the ideas come from?

Lzrman: Ideas generally should come from the community, and I actually had 'one' individual email the new ideas@outpost10f.com address to suggest a way to improve the outpost. They wanted to bring back Black Nova Traders as it was a fun project that brought people together. I then forwarded the email to our R&D Team List and discussion from there ensued.

BR: What does a potential idea have to have to get on the drawing board of R&D? (How do you choose which projects to run with)

Lzrman: Potential is quite good, because I will email every suggestion to the Team List for Discussion and ideas, then we may code a draft of the idea to get more ideas and how to improve or go from there.

BR: Are you looking for fresh faces? How does one go about joining your team?

Lzrman: Currently R&D is Closed for Application, but if you want to join and are great with coding or graphics design, I am looking for a eager person willing to lend a hand.

BR: Where can patrons of OTF go to find out more about Research & Development?

Lzrman: They can email me or visit the R&D Roster to learn more about whos on the team and what we do.

BR: Anything else for the good of the order?

Lzrman: There are a few ideas that will impress some users who enjoy photography, there are some that will please the local gamer and some that even please people that like the color Purple :)!

BR: Thanks for sitting down with me today.

Lzrman: See you in the following month :)!

Next month we will again visit with Lzrman. We will be talking about the 2010 Outpost10F Yearbook and how you can get involved. Keep watching for next month’s issue.

10 Questions with Poison62

Article by Sarek

In our continuing quest to get to know our new members a little better, we at the Blue Report take 10 Questions to someone of interest. This month the lucky person is Poison62.

BR: Tell us a little about yourself.

Poison62: I'm an unmarried 48 year old male. I fell in love, real love, once. She broke my heart! I'm shy, so I have a hard time opening up to people. My parents divorced, when I was very young. I was born in the Brockton, Massachusetts. I moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1977. I have high school education. I have a cat named Bailey; she has a human named Jeff. I'm not sure which of us is in charge! She has me trained pretty well. I drive a tow truck. I stay fit by riding a bicycle everywhere, within reason. I enjoy the beaches around here. (Who wouldn’t?) I think I have a sense of humor. You be the judge. I'm not religious, I'm not political.

BR: How did you find Outpost 10f?

Poison62: I was interested in pointing out some of the inconsistencies between episodes of Star Trek, and the flaws within some individual episodes. The "net" connected me with “Outpost Ten Forward"

BR: Where did poison62 come from? Any special meaning?

Poison62: I wanted poison as my user name, on Verizon, but someone had it already. I had to add a number to make it work. I was born in 1962, so poison62 seems as good as any. I chose poison, because I seem to poison every relationship I ever had. I think it's my venomous personality, and brutal honesty.

BR: What do you like the most about the Outpost?

Poison62: I don't know fortune cookies? I like the fact that I can say whatever I want, whenever I want.

BR: If you could choose to do anything in Outpost, what would you do?

Poison62: I'd like to go streaking, if Guinan would let me... but seriously, I could contribute to some trivia, maybe. I have three loose leaf binders filled with Star Trek trading cards loaded with facts. I have so very little computer experience; I could only give some of the trivia facts and questions to the experts that run the site.

BR: What kind of things are you interested in?

Poison62: I like magic, massage, bicycle riding, beach watching, and a good steak cooked just right! (Not in that order) I have other interests that may not be appropriate for this family oriented chat room!

BR: There's a throw down brawl between Lobot and Vic, who win and why?

Poison62: Who? If you meant Vic Fontaine, I think the hologram would feel no pain, and if we removed the safety features, I think he would be unbeatable! Even against a robot, the hologram would have the advantage. Especially if he could dematerialize at will, like the doctor on VOYAGER does, when people throw things at him! Who could fight against someone that you can't hit. Unless Lobot could mess with the holomatrix, or holo-projectors, I don't see how he could even defeat a holographic baby! So would Lobot be fighting Vic, or Vic’s programming, that is the real question.

BR: Have you thought about what you might like to do when you get more involved in the Outpost?

Poison62: I still haven't figured out what people are supposed to do on this site. Every time I try to ask trivia questions, I bore the other genres. If I talk about real life things, I bore the fantasy people, and then they sign off! I don't know if it's my problem, or theirs! If I tell jokes, it takes forever to type them, and people think I am ignoring them because I don't "receive" often enough to follow the conversations. I have only been affiliated with Ten Forward for a few weeks. I don't know what is expected of me. I see a lot of abbreviations, which only the experts can relate to. Maybe I don't fit in after all. I'm staying on, only to see if I get promoted. Like I said in the beginning, I only logged on to rag about the flaws with the shows in the first place! Some people think that I don't like Star Trek because I criticize it a lot! The exact opposite is true. I enjoy it because it is so believable that I think of things they do in one episode, that would solve the problems in another one, but they don't. Remember when Kirk was in the building with the mobsters and had Scotty stun everyone within a two block radius? Why don't they just stun everyone and sort it out later in every episode? I don't know enough about the format of the site to give an informed answer, and my towing job would not allow me to give any serious time to the site, to benefit the rest of you with any real commitment. I just don't know if I can get more involved than I am right now, so I don't want to make any promises to com it to anything else right now! Ask me later.

BR: If you could choose one thing that would make the Outpost better, what would it be?

Poison62: On a technical note, I would make the last message we transmit, automatically erase after being transmitted. That way, we wouldn't have to press so many buttons. I have accidentally repeated my own message, way too many times by pressing the wrong button. (Sorry people)

BR: Anything else you want to add for the good of the order?

Poison62: Don't assume that everyone understands the "specialized terminology." I wouldn't ask very specific questions, or use abbreviations that people would have no chance of understanding. I was taught to use the term, then the abbreviation immediately after, this way, the reader can relate to the shortened version, knowing that it was explained earlier in the text, if they get confused. For instance, if I told you that the S.P.D. and B.P.D. won't let me tow unless I have my T.R.A.A. certificate, you would be lost until you can read elsewhere that S.P.D means State police department, and B.P.D means Barnstable police department, and T.R.A.A. means Towing and Recovery Association of America. See what I mean? We share the room with two other groups after all. We could bore the other genres to death when we get hyper-technical that way!

BR: Thanks for telling us more about you!

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