March 2007 Armchair General's Revue Our esteemed President

From the President's Desk - Scott (Facil) -
pres@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net:

The time has flown by since the last Revue sent to you last fall. Since that time, I have acquired site access and have begun the process of updating site content. I believe I have most of the information up to date for the regular tournaments; the next step in the tourney department will be to compile all the league information scattered among many different sources.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to update much of the rest of the site. Many of the rules pages are in need of a refresher, and we don't currently have any 4th edition content on the site. I am hopeful that I will get to it soon. As always, we are looking for volunteers to assist in this endeavor, as Michael and I are not always available. If anyone out there has a desire to get involved, please contact one of us.

Additionally, we in the government strive to keep the database accurate. I have been able to fix games that had an incorrect victor, incorrect tournament placement, and other general errors. If you have an error in one of your games, contact me at pres@, and I will edit this information.

Another issue that has brought forth a fair share of questions is the issue of game logs. In the past, all games logs were created and uploaded manually. Since the inception of the new website, logs are automatically created and stored. Logs are no longer required. I put a posting on the home page of the site, but I know there are other areas of the site that mention them. Please disregard them as they are no longer relevant.

Until next time,

Scott aka Facil
I
AAPA President


Senate Reports

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER - Michael (micwil) -
webmaster@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings from the Minister of the Internet

We have been kept busy over the last couple months still chasing down bugs on the web site. In many cases when one bug is fixed, another is created, which makes the desired end result (a bug-free web site) somewhat elusive. In addition, many bugs were not obviously apparent initially but have come to light as games are played and procedures are re-evaluated.

Newer members should be advised that initially everything was done by hand, there was not even a web site, just some pages attached to a chat room on AOL. When we made the first big move off of AOL onto the web, that was a big step. When we created our own dice server, that was a big step (and resulted largely in the elimination of GMs). When we automated the rankings processes, and game challenges, that was a big step. And with the move to this newest server, we have refined many of the aspects of the Association and hopefully allowed it to run smoother than it has in the past...of course that is not saying there hasn't been a number of bumps along the way. Hopefully enough of the spirit of the original club still survives in the veterans and older members (many of whom are returning after months or even years of inactivity) are returning to IAAPA which is an affirmation that IAAPA is meeting the needs of the membership.

One ongoing challenge is addressing the content of the site and updating all that content, ensuring it is accurate, and that everything is accessible. I will continue to make myself available to other members of government as much as possible to continue working on this project, as in reviewing the site, there is still a great deal of material that has not been changed since my last updates back in 2004.

I will continue to try and be involved as much as I can, but I would like for the membership to realize that I, like many members of government, haven't actually played a game in several years. This is because the small amount of time I can provide for IAAPA is allocated to government service. It is my hope that eventually I will be able to enjoy the fruits of my labours, and actually play games once again in IAAPA. I had hoped that this would be the year for me, but with my business growing (we have 5 full-time people and 4 open positions at present), that is taking the majority of my time. Right now it is almost impossible to fill any positions in Saskatchewan (and it is even worse in Alberta!).

One feature I have tried to revive is the welcome to the new recruits (and returning old warriors) on the home page. Hopefully the content on the home page will soon be updated whenever there is news in the Association, and of course if you are interested in helping out with government, don't hesitate to contact our president.

And now some stats (everyone loves numbers)

For the month of January, 2007
Average number of visitors a day to our web site: 1305
Average number of pages a day viewed on our web site: 8247

For the month of February, 2007
Average number of visitors a day to our web site: 1213
Average number of pages a day viewed on our web site: 7851

There was a noticeable increase during reading week in terms of activity on our web site:


Hope this was of interest to the membership...

micwil
IAAPA's Resident Curmudgeon, Misanthrope, Crapehanger and Apostate
Minister of Internet Operations
Prime Minister of the Senate

Scales of JusticeREPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF LAW - Alan (Spud) -
judge@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net
membership@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Over the past few months I have been reworking some of the club rules. I have posted these changes in the club BBS under the title Rules Changes and Updates. This will be the official forum to check for any changes; notifications will be sent out by mass email when changes are made. The changes mainly involve the rules pertaining to error corrections, combat order of loss, and retreating air units. If you haven't checked it out yet, I suggest you do so, before you get burned.

I have also been working on specific 4th Edition (AAR) rules. A short primer of differences between 2nd Edition and 4th Edition has been posted on the BBS to help transition those oldtimers over to 4th Edition. This can be found under the 4th Edition Q&A thread.

Hopefully, once the website work is completed (almost!), I hope to have the updated rules posted on the site. But for now, the BBS is the official forum for rule changes.

Alan
Minister of Law, IAAPA Secretary

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF FINANCE - John (JohnPin569) - finance@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings Gents,


I hope everyone is well.


It would be a very big help if everyone would please put their member alias in the comments section of their Paypal payment to ensure the proper account gets credited. Also, if you are paying for another member, please send me an e-mail with the details.


Some members have noted that their membership expiration date was not correct. We believe that this is a programming issue and the developers are looking into it.
I would like everyone to review their account expiration date and ensure that it is correct. If it's not, please drop me a line and let me know so I can get it fixed.

As of this writing, we have about $7,304.49 in the coffers. We have not been billed for the website overhaul yet. After this bill is paid, we should have approximately $1,300 left over.

So far this year we have collected $385.95 in dues, compared to $418.61 for the same time period in 2006, an 8% change.

By my count, we have about 165 members that are current with their dues.

Did you know that we have members from 11 countries worldwide? Here is a breakdown of where our members live:


Until next time...
Take care

John
Minister of Finance

REPORT FROM THE HELP DESK COORDINATOR - Lee (Hess) - help@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings IAAPAers!

Since the last Review, I've answered another 90 questions from members, potential members, and others asking general questions about Axis and Allies. We had a post Christmas flurry of people taking the Final Hurdle, and I've communicated with each of them, encouraging them to join.

Our new members since October are from the Netherlands, U.S., Australia, Norway, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom; they include both male and female. Welcome!

Please contact me if I can be of any assistance.

Hess, IAAPA Help Desk

REPORT FROM THE MINISTER OF MEMBERS - Ed (PipPopsRising) - legislature@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings IAAPA Members!!

Action in the Legislature has been minimal of late, with none of the items being worked on making it to the floor for a vote.

This issue I want to dedicate to talking up the IAAPA Annual Convention (AC). I have attended 2 of the last 3 conventions and passionately feel that attending an Annual Conventional (if not each one) is something that every IAAPA members should strive for.

Tell me a bit about the AC, you say?
What to bring/plan for?
Look forward to see seeing you there!


PipPopsRising11
Minister of Members

 

REPORTS FROM THE TOURNAMENT OFFICE - (Mav40121 and Explosive) - tournaments@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Okay folks here is where it stands:

2006 Summer open: First round finished.
No third round games have begun as yet.

On to the Army Challenge: First round finished.
Second round has two games remaining. Third round has two games remaining.

And that's the two tourneys I know about. Other than that, IAAPA games are up, life is nuts in the Army, and good luck to everyone in the AAR tourney!

Mav40121

 

From last review we started three new tournaments. The biggest news would be our first AAR tournament. At same time three other tournaments have been completed. This leaves us with eight tournaments going right now.

Groefaz is back in business as runner of 2007 ITSL that is next to start.

Tourney pages have get a long waited update and Facil continues this work. At the same time we update tournaments at BBS on a more daily basis as a service and as a backup if IAAPA home site get hacked.

Tournament player of the year are updated as usual but there is same work going on with a update to get a "IAAPA tournament player of all times", a long list with about two hundred players with same fun suprises and an expected leader at the top.

Explosive
Tournament officer

REPORT FROM THE IAAPA HERALD - Per (Pelleput) - herald@REMOVETHISaxisandallies.net

Greetings!

Herald is once again alive. The next issue will be published this month.

I can already now reveal that I have invited a guest and a master AAR player for an AAR-article.
There will also be a Quarterly Profile, some Tournament comments and more...

Pelle (pelleplutt)
IAAPA Herald Editor

Thanks for reading...Until next time...

Scott (Facil)
IAAPA President