So far in 2021, we’ve been busy behind the scenes to set out some important changes for members of SFCQ2 that we’d like to highlight for all members going forward!
MAILING LIST CHANGES
In a minor change to our mailouts for Comms and special announcements, we’ll be making a minor change to our mailing list that may effect some members.
As noted in our privacy policies and in the SFC Officers Handbook, we use Mailchimp for our mailing list which is integrated into the SFCQ2 website. Your site account not only gives access to our internal hub and documents, but is also automatically integrated with Mailchimp so you can receive Comms. However this also applies to spam accounts, which we have had a significant increase of in recent months. As those spam accounts took us to the cap for Mailchimp, and removing them is a significant effort, we’re starting fresh with a new account to feed Comms and other matters.
There are other benefits, of course. Comms will no longer be listed as from the DoFC’s email, but a separate Comms-specific mail which we’ll also use for Submissions and other matters in the future.
Of course, some members had opted out of their subscription for Comms. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing who had unsubscribed so if you’d prefer not to hear from us via the mailing list, please follow the instructions in tomorrows delivery of Comms or use the contact form to let us know before the mailout occurs.
UPDATES TO DATA & PRIVACY POLICY
Throughout lockdown we’ve taken the time to review our Admin procedures, which includes how we use and handle data. Over the past few months we’ve been refining a few upcoming adjustments to our data handling process and accessibility. As outlined in our current data and privacy policy, any and all personal data is handled strictly by Admin; meaning only admin can access the fleet database,, make modification and send anything that needs sent.
In terms of SFC’s organisational structure over the decades, that policy ifs fairly new. Back in days gone by Captains would have access to their regions information to better coordinate and operate both their unit and membership rewards. In order to comply with legal obligations, we made that access a lot stricter and CO’s were offered “limited information” in order to operate.
Now that the fleet is growing once again, and we’ve seen a larger up-tick in activity in the real world over the past few years we considered the option of resuming Captains Access in a way that we could ensure GDPR compliance and – more importantly – protect members private information for everyone’s benefit. It’s not an idea that was taken lightly, and it took a significant amount of time and effort to make sure all the details were perfectly suited to our collective needs.
On May 1st, the new Data & Privacy policy will become active. On April 1st we will be releasing a full breakdown on whats changed and will be uploading our internal documents to CO’s that opt in to keep our instructions and dedication to ensuring the utmost respect for your data and privacy remains transparent and that all members have a chance to review and digest everything as well as ask questions before the change.
COMMS UPDATES
And finally, heading into the Summer, the Communications Department is going to be making a few changes to how we plan going ahead.
One of those changes will come by merging Comms the downloadable entity with Comms Relay online. One of the most requested things we’ve had over the past five years was to get Comms as a printed publication again. With no income to the club (fandom does not come at a premium!), and already high overheads the cost of doing so is just too massive; so we’ve been developing a “Plan B” that lets everyone have a wider access to Comms content, Trek news and loads more in a more instantaneous way.
Over the second quarter of 2021, we’ll be putting more emphasis on site content for members; both in reoffering shorter versions of news and reviews developed for Comms and in exclusive content to keep members up to date on Trek and sci fi developments without the misleading content seen on popular sites. We might actually have you covered!
Additions to our online Comms sections at SFCQ2.com will included an expanded section for each show running with news, previews and further info & media; An archival section for previous instalments; a crossover off Comms features and articles with trimmed down versions appearing on site and longer items locked to logged in members; unique articles and commentary for members only and more prominent reports from SFC including monthly Admiralty SitRep’s and unit logs.
Our overall aim is to ensure Comms works for everyone in SFC, and not just at certain times of the year. We’ll also be ensuring all our non-fleet content is sourced and backed up with no clickbait to keep everything reliable.
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