Director Nominee - Ashleigh Dickins

SurfWatch is conducting interviews with the December 1, 2009, Director nominees to provide voters with an in-depth look at their candidates. All candidates have been provided with the same questionaire and an opportunity to present their views. The interviews will be posted daily in the order in which they were received. Following is SurfWatch's interview with prospective Director, Ashleigh Dickins.*

SW: Give us your current SLSA ranking, if any, and how long you've been SL surfing. Any RL surfing experience?
AD: Currently I am ranked #41 on the season according to the latest post on forums. I've been surfing in SL since 2007, I think...maybe 2006. Sadly, no RL surfing experience though someday that may change!

SW: We understand you have announced your intent to run for SLSA Director this term. What would you bring as a director and why are you running?
AD: I have been director before, so I understand some of the challenges they face as well as the every day work needed to run the association. Of course, now they have their own sim and all so it'll still be somewhat challenging, but I'm hoping my prior experience will stand true and show that I can help keep things running smoothly for everyone as well as make progress towards providing the members with what they're requesting such as more indepth information, clearer rules and guidelines, and most importantly, more fun! Really that's why I'm running. It's no secret that when I first acted as director, the association was on the verge of breakdown with only two standing directors left until Sally LaSalle, Colleen Brennan and I came in. With the fresh blood and extra hands, we helped turn things around and got back on track. I think a lot of progress was made then, and still is being made, but with the progress comes a fresh set of problems and ,while there's not a lack of directors at this time, there is still rough seas out there, and I want to help smooth it out.

SW: What areas of improvement do you currently see?
AD: Competition times have already somewhat been improved. I wish I could say I'd improve Second Life itself, but I don't have that power. So instead, I can see issues with arguing amongst members, rules being broken, questionable behavior, accusations against others of cheating. All that all needs vast improvement. Also, maybe some fun, non-points competitions, and trying out some different combinations of waves and boards. I'd also like to see the SLSA host more training sessions and with its trained persons, experiment with SL's physics and lag so that hopefully we know come competition day what is SL side and what is competitor side so that everyone gets fair runs.

SW: What do you see as the top issues and what would be your first priority?
AD: The top issues are the infighting and rules questioning going on. That's my first priority, to make for clearer guidelines and rules, so that everyone is on a fair playing field and to ensure that everyone is treated fairly. If you break a rule, there will be consequences. They may not be black and white, but everyone will get the same treatment of basically a disciplinary hearing.

SW: Why should you be voted in rather than any of the other candidates?
AD: For one, I have experience. I know what I'm getting into, I have ideas, I have a game plan. I know what's worked in the past, what hasn't, what's been discussed. I'm passionate about this organization. I have given literal blood, sweat and tears into this organization through the past few years and even seen how it affects my personal relationships. But I still come back for more. Maybe that makes me a masochist, but I just think it's because it means enough to me to fight for it.

SW: What were you most dissatisfied with as an SLSA member in the past season?
AD: To be honest, a couple of things. I think there have been times where officials have not listened to members on suggestions. Mostly a lack of enforcing standards. We've seen some people be wishy-washy, and I can't say why, but I know it's not right. Maybe they were showing favoritism, maybe they were just a push over, whatever the reasons or motives it's not fair to the membership as a whole for the directors not to make sure all officials are following guidelines. It sets a precedent for confusion.

SW: Any information we have not covered that you would like the voters to know about you and what you would bring to this office?
AD: I don't want to blow my own horn. I don't like to. I've answered the questions here about how I feel and what I'd bring. I've been a director in the past. If the voters want to know more about me, feel free to ask me questions. You can do it in comments, and I'll answer as best as I can. I'm completely accessable to the community, so go ahead and ask away, or talk to some of the people who worked with me on the first term.

SW: Give us a brief statement or opinion on some of the major issues the SLSA faced in 2009 and possible issues moving into 2010 (issues listed below):

Competition board variables, i.e, length, shape, weight (mod boards):
While I can appreciate wanting to use your own board, feeling it's lucky or faster or whatever. I think that one of the easiest ways to prevent people from being unfair would be to return to competition specific boards. I know many people don't care to have a bunch in their inventory, so I'm thinking perhaps a temp board rezzer that way everyone has a fair shake.

How to get more officials to work the competitions:
I think once competition kinks are worked out and things are treated more equally with everyone knowing what's expected, it will be more fun and it won't be as difficult to find people willing to work competitions, especially with the new format.

The SLSA sim and how to fund it:
I think this is a great idea. I'm a little worried considering the economy, but if donations and sponsorships and such can keep it floating, more to it. I also like the occasional benefit concerts thrown there and would like to see more events that are different from competitions, like the grand opening festival was fun, and maybe a flea market.

Dealing with lag on competition sites:
While there will always be some lag (thanks LL!), I think that competition sites need to be fully prepped well in advance of the competition. The week of the competition, the event coordinator should be corresponding with the sim owners to clear lag, clear clutter, running tests. As I like to call it... breaking the sim. The event coordinator knows worst scenario is the sim literally breaking, so how to prevent that comp day? Break it before. See how it happens, know the signs, and prevent it.

Dealing with wave/board tapping at events:
This one will require research and testing. While it shouldn't be tolerated, it's so difficult to catch sometimes. But something does need to be done about it. So this would be one of the things a small team would be put together to work on a solution for. People knowledgable in areas of build, scripting, etc. so that they can figure out how best to block it with the least impact on anyone

Ways to return SL competition surfing back to the fun and camaderie of earlier times:
Well really, I think once things have been smoothed out and all is fairly done, things are clear, then they will naturally return. If there's shown to be no reason to be tense or worried about it, then people will begin to relax. Also at that point, anyone who is there to thrive on drama or strictly to win at all costs and doesn't care about it will end up losing interest.

* Disclosure: Ashley Dickins is also an editor at SurfWatch.

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