Date: Mon, 19 Jan 1998 19:09:15 +0000
From: Tournament Headquarters 
Subject: W2WT: Important Changes to Vacation System

Warlords -

The Vacation Guru and Remailer Guru have teamed up to automate
and improve our system of keeping track of vacations.

There is a new procedure for declaring vacations; it's very easy.
The new system makes use of Elam's "Remind Me" service.

Here's how it works:

*** You do this (it's easier than it looks):

(1) Go to http://www.pixgen.com/elam/reminder/

(2) Enter your desired user name and password, to create an account.
  (Your tournament alias makes a good username; choose the password wisely,
   and don't forget it!)

(3) Select "Add an Event"

(4) For "Describe the Event", enter:  WCVac: , , 
    [ Example - If Hindquarters is going on vacation in Q01, he puts:
          WCVac: Hindquarters, Q01, 16Nov97-22Nov97  ]

    (This goes into the subject line of the reminder message, and
      has all the key information.  WCVac = World Championship VACation.)

(5) For "When does the event occur?", use the day *before* the absence starts.

(6) For "Is it a yearly event or a one time event?" - choose one time event

(7) For "When should the Reminder be sent?"
     - Set Reminder #1 far in advance of the vacation, such as the day
         after you set up the Remind Me entry. (So you can check it.)
     - Set Reminder #2 to be 2 or 3 days before the vacation starts.
         (So no one forgets that you're going on vacation.)

(8) For "What email address do you want the Reminder sent to?",
    enter 4 addresses:
        - ijb@nbnet.nb.ca                    [ Vacation Guru Database ]
        -      [ Headquarters Archives  ]
        - the address of your current moderator  [ Notifies Moderator ]
        - your own address      [ Allows you to check that it worked. ]

    [ If you don't know your moderator's email address, send
      the "Intro" command to the Remailer, and you will get the info...]

(10) "What do you want the message to say?" - more vacation info:
        - Your name, alias, and email address are helpful
        - Your game number(s), (especially if more than 1 game)
        - Your vacation dates
        - Whether you'll have email access while gone.

(11) Press the "Add Event" button


*** What the RemindMe service does:
(1) Send out Reminders #1 and #2 for each player's vacation, to each
    address entered.  (Ideally on the day after the vacation is set up,
    and 2-3 days before the vacation starts.  To Ivan, HQ, and the Mod.


*** What the Vacation Guru (Ivan) and Headquarters (Bob) do:
(1) Archive all RemindMe messages in the official database,
    and answer any questions that come up.

(2) Check existing vacations at the start of the round, and notify
    moderators if a player is on vacation when the round begins.


*** What the Moderators do:
(1) Sit back and wait for vacation reminders to come in.

(2) Keep track of vacation day usage, and notify players
    if an announced vacation will put them into "Additional Absence" time.


The purpose of this change is to make the vacation system more
reliable while reducing Ivan's workload.  It's no harder to set up
the vacation info in the Remailer than to email Ivan, and this way
he doesn't have to carry the burden of doing all the work.
(This is important for the tournament because he'll be revising
the Round C scenario over the coming months, and we want him to
have lots of time to make it a great scenario!)

The rules will be updated shortly and this will be the official
procedure from now on (unless we improve it further!).

-- Bob / Headquarters