December 2012- Elections and Finances? Oh myyyy!

[Jenson]

The Last Outpost
Monthly Report – December 2012

Community Day

Today (December 1st) is Community Day! Community day celebrates the contributions of individual members to the community, and is filled with events across our divisions and sub-divisions, culminating in a promotion and awards ceremony where we recognize the contributions of our members over the past 3 months. Please join us for as many events as you can—and thanks to you all for the hard work you've put into building up this community during the last 3 months! Specific information about events and times can be found in the announcement topic.

Senate Elections

It is my intent to dissolve the Senate around the middle of the month, and to begin the elections process around the 9th or 10th. Stay tuned for more information, which will be posted in an Executive Order. If you're interested in becoming more involved in TLO's leadership, have ideas for making this community better, and meet the minimum requirements, please consider running for a seat. After nominations close, all members will have an opportunity to ask our candidates questions before the final poll. I intend to keep the Senate at its current size (9 members), unless we get less than 10 people running for Senate positions.

The Old Republic

I am pleased to announce that Russell Xokon has been appointed to the position of TOR sub-division coordinator. I am eager to see his ideas for this sub-division, and hope he can get it on its feet! As a reminder to everyone, TOR is now free to play—so if you have some time, go and download the game and check it out—you just might love it!

Financial Updates

Currently, we have a PayPal balance of $189.24, with the following monthly expenses:

1x BuyVM 512MB plan @ $5.95/month (not including one free month with six-month payment), paid semi-annually, for webserver and TeamSpeak
1x ChiacgoVPS 2.5GB plan @ $13/month (not inclduing three free months as payment for downtime), paid semi-annually, for Minecraft (and TS if needed)
2x EscapedTurkey RPG-X servers @ $10/month, paid monthly
1x SecureDragon Backup plan @ $23.88 per year
last-outpost.net domain name @ $20 per year

These expenses add up to $32.60 a month. Due to increased server and security needs, we may be looking at greater expenditures in the near future, which the new Senate will be discussing in detail. Another dontations drive is likely to occur sometime in the next couple of months. If you have any specific questions, please direct them to Veritas.

Ex Astra

This month's edition of Ex Astra, the TLO newsletter, is now available for viewing here.

After this month, Ex Astra will be changing its format to be more integrated into our website. This means that following this month, Ex Astra will no longer be published in its independent "magazine" format. The same quality articles will now be available for viewing on our website, and will allow for more versatility in publishing, allowing for video content and for users to comment on articles and contributions. Please direct any questions to JohnF.

New Members

Please join me in welcoming members who have joined this month:

Lmedza
Naruto
Evekiller66
J Spaced

Once again, welcome to TLO! We're glad to have you with us!

Finally, I want to wish everyone a Merry Chrismahanukwanzakah, and a Happy New Year! I hope your holidays are filled with joy, new beginnings, and great roleplay/gaming!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Signed,



President of The Last Outpost