GMLSurvivalGuide

GML Survival Guide

Overview

The Garrison Membership Liaison (GML) is the primary contact in a garrison for membership and costume approval related issues, in addition to other duties in your garrison.

Duties

Your primary duties are:

• Approving and providing feedback on costume submissions for both current and new members. Some costume approvals are under the direct jurisdiction of the LMO, such as New to the Legion (NTTL) costumes, costumes with an incomplete CRL, and costumes with a blank CRL.
• Updating and maintaining contact information for your Garrison’s members.
• Administering the annual Legion Census to your members.
• Determining whether a member is in active, inactive, or reserve status.
• Granting temporary approval of costumes for troops (this is rare and on a case by case basis) Should only be used for costumes a trooper is taking photos of for submission, “New to the legion” CRL costume.

In many garrisons, you may also be responsible for:

• Working with your Garrison Web Liaison to upload member images to the Legion site.
• Working with your Garrison Webmaster to grant local forum permissions to new members.

What You’ll Need

To accomplish this task, you’ll need a few things:

• Access to the MemberDB website on the Legion forums. This will allow you to access all the members in your garrison, including pending members.
• An e-mail account. It is highly recommend you create a new email account specific to your GML duties to make processing of these messages easier to track.
• Some garrisons have a shared inbound address for all GML issues, e.g. that you should be added to.

TIP: You can have the new e-mail address forwarded to the account you use regularly so you don’t forget to check it. You do need to be sure you don’t accidentally send from the account you forward to! Gmail and Outlook.Com are recommended because they are free and allow you to connect multiple accounts and send from.

501st Member Database

Familiarizing yourself with the 501st member database is an important aspect of your job, and is necessary if you are to do it well. This tool allows you to see members statistics and update member’s details, such as adding/removing costumes, updating contact information, and their membership status.

Initial Membership Contact

New member approvals: The first contact you’ll usually have with a new member is when the automated membership system sends you an e-mail about the new member. It will generally send out two: one specific to you to give you the member’s details, and one to the member (with you being carbon copied) to let them know you’ll be in contact with them.

Do contact your applicant immediately to let them know exactly what you would like to see on their application. A pro tip is to have a template email ready to go that you can simply copy/paste from. Both Gmail and Outlook/Hotmail support templates.

Upon replying to the new applicant, to keep accurate record keeping you should do the following:

1. Review the mail
2. Log into https://www.501st.com/forum/
3. Click Member DB
4. Click “Roster”
5. Locate applicant -- In Blue you will see “Pending Applicants” click on the applicant's “Name”
6. Review the information included in the application
7. Copy applicants e-mail address
8. Click Edit under the Legion Information tab, and switch them to “Pending App: Contacted by GML”.

TIP: At the bottom of a member’s page you’ll also see a notes section. I advise putting a note in showing what day you contacted them first.

After you make a change in any section, don’t forget to hit Save where the edit button was previously! Go to your email and send the applicant your request for images. It’s also advised in your initial email to ask them to register on your garrison forums if they have not already, and suggest they register on the relevant detachment forums for the costume they are applying for. Because they may not know what a garrison or detachment is, do explain this in your email.

An example template to send an applicant:

Subject: 501st Legion Application Instructions for <First Name Last Initial>.

Greetings recruit!

Thank you for your interest in joining the 501st Legion! In order to complete your application, I will need the following full-body, hi-resolution photos of you in your costume:
1. Front
2. Back
3. Left Side
4. Right Side
5. Front, helmet off (if applicable)
6. Pose for the Legion Profile

Please take the pictures in strong natural light, with minimal to no shadows, against a solid contrasting background. Please upload these images to a hosting site. We may also ask for additional photos during the review process. You are welcome to reply to all for assistance, or simply email me directly or <GML ADDRESS IF APPLICABLE> with any further questions regarding your application.

Welcome!

Your Name TKID
Garrison Membership Liaison

CO Name TKID
Commanding Officer

You won’t always receive a reply right away from an applicant, If you don’t receive any response within two weeks, contact them again. You don’t need anything fancy, just a short reminder that we received their application and are still waiting. It’s entirely possible that the first e-mail is stuck in a spam trap, so you might want to point that out.

Note again in the MemberDB that you’ve attempted to contact them. After three attempts with no reply, change their status from “Contacted by GML” to “Delete.”

The Costume Approval Process

The best GMLs are those with a strong team, your garrison may have multiple GMLs where you work together, whereas most smaller garrisons have only one. It is not expected much less possible for any single GML to be an expert in every costume in the Legion, thus knowing where to go and how to get help is an important part of your job.

Garrisons with multiple GMLs may split responsibilities between costumes, e.g. one GML takes common soft costumes, one common hard armor, and one takes unusual costumes. Most garrisons have private staff areas where GMLs can ask for peer review by other GMLs or their GCO/GXO. Larger garrisons may have deputy GML or costume expert panels to assist with this duty.

There is also a GML feedback area on the 501st forums where you can get feedback from GMLs around the Legion as well as from the DLs of each costume. It is recommended that you subscribe to this page and subscribe to the New CRL and CRL Changes page.

Per our OP, a costume should be owned by the applicant and pass Basic CRL requirements. It is your job as GML to verify these things. Typically, a GML can verify costume ownership simply by making sure that there is a bucket-off picture, or that a couple or group submission submits a group shot. Once individual costume ownership is verified, you can then turn your attention to the CRL.

Do look closely at the images you receive, do not be hesitant to ask for further images or clearer images. Some costumes have many parts and not all are identifiable using a simple 4 set turn around. Remember that while other people are there to assist you, the best GMLs are ones who are always learning.

NOTE: It’s important to remember to SAVE THE PICTURES (helmet off, helmet on and action pose). Later on you’ll be forwarding them to your GWL to get them ready for the Legion members site.

If your applicant’s costume isn’t up to snuff, reply and let them know. Be kind, of course, but point out the specific concerns you have and how they could improve them. Point them to the detachment board again if need be. There are a few things to remember if they start arguing:

Existing members in the member pages cannot be used as a resource for new members. Many old costumes are no longer up to our standards. Your applicant may argue that they’ve worked long and hard on their costume. This is understandable. They have worked hard on their costume. Be courteous and show reference direct pulls from screenshots if needed. When in doubt, contact your GCO and or the LMO. They may need to step in, especially if an applicant is getting unruly or even threatening.

Every costume you are able to approve on your own is listed in the 501st CRL (Costume Reference Library) at http://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:CRL.

You should always evaluate a costume approval against the listed CRL. This is a best practice even for costumes you are familiar with, as CRLs get updated on a regular basis and so items may change. Required items are listed in black and costumes must adhere to these guidelines. There are also Level 2 (blue) and Level 3 (red) items in many CRLs. These are may have requirements and while it’s good to advise your members to achieve them to improve the look of their costumes, you cannot cite them as being required for Legion approval.

Other best practices for costume approval include:

• You are not allowed to add requirements that are not there, only enforce the minimum requirements.
• You should certainly in your feedback include suggestions beyond the minimums that will improve the look of a member’s costume.
• When in doubt, do turn to advice on the GML/DL section of the 501st forums, or by posting a question on the detachment’s forums for a second opinion if you do not have a co-GML to check with. You cannot be an expert on every costume, and the CRLs can’t cover every possible detail, so it is encouraged to ask questions rather than guessing.
• You can also use screen captures and source material for reference. For example: a sandtrooper should be weathered, but how much is too much, or not enough?
• CRLs only cover how the costume looks externally. Non-visible elements are not used in costume approval.

If all is well and you’re ready to approve the new member, log into the MemberDB and set their status to “Ready for Duty.” You’ll also need to approve their costume specifically. You’ll find two headings underneath their personal information for “Your 501st Approved Costumes” and “Your Unit Affiliation.” In the first, it will have a link to approve the costume they submitted. Just click approve for that. If the costume is not on the list search though the scroll bar and assign the costume then click approve.

Under “Your Unit Affiliation” once a member is approved you can add their costume to the affiliated detachment, once the detachment has approved this it will read “APPROVED”, if after some time it still shows “PENDING” the member can contact the detachment leader and request the affiliation to be approved. To remain active in a detachment a member must log in to each detachment they are affiliated with at least once a year.

Once you approve that, the DL will need to approve them. Don’t forget to save!

Finally send the member a welcome email

Sample

Hello newest recruit!,

Thank you for your patience! We have finished our review and have reached a decision. Congratulations! Your costume has been approved and I've moved your application into the next phase. Welcome to the 501st Legion!

((Feedback Section. Leave blank if none))

Once you receive your TKID and welcome letter from the 501st legion, here is some information you'll need to get started:
Register for an account on the 501st Legion forum. It can be found at: http://www.501st.com/forum/
It may take a day or two for you to be able to register on for the forums after you receive your TKID. If you continue to have difficulties after 48 hours have passed please let me know. Please note that it is a requirement to have an account on the Legion forums in order to participate in the annual census and elections.
Once you are registered on the Legion forums, please review your profile on the Membership DB to make sure all your information is correct.
Also, make sure to request 501st status on the (your Garrisons) forums here:
You are also eligible to become a full member of the <Detachment Name> Detachment. Please log in and create an account with the detachment and attain details as to how to obtain deployed status. Full membership grants you the right to vote in elections for that detachment and may offer other benefits local to the detachment.
Lastly, in order to retain membership, the Legion has three, very simple, requirements.
1. Troop at least one event in an approved costume during the course of the year.
2. Maintain communication with your Garrison. Participating on the Forums fulfills this.
3. Complete the annual census. This occurs every October and only takes a few minutes.
As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require any assistance.

Nice work and, again, congratulations!

Your Name and TKID Garrison Membership Liaison
CO Name and TKID Garrison Commanding Officer

NOTE: Your new member will receive their TKID within the next few days, the number is manually assigned by the LMO. You will receive a copy of the form letter informing you of the users TKID.

GML’s Own Costume Approvals

When a GML submits a costume to the Legion, evaluation should be deferred to others to avoid conflict of interest; approval in the database can be done by the unit CO, XO, or a LMO. The costume can be posted to the appropriate peer review thread in the GML section of the forums for Detachment Leaders, LMO, and other GML to provide feedback.

MemberDB Profile Notes

Notes can be added about each member on the individual database page. Adding information about a member is not mandatory but can be helpful to others. Noting concerns with costumes or disciplinary actions or lapsed years of service are examples of things you can add to the database page.

Dos and Don'ts

There will be times when someone will challenge your judgment, or when you are not certain how to proceed.

• Do discuss with other GMLS your thought process and why you are doing what you are doing.
• Do maintain common courtesy.
• Do not discuss applicants information or communications outside the forum with people outside command staff. Be discrete with people’s personal details.
• Do not hesitate to get a second opinion.
• Do be clear and concise with your applicants.
• Do provide reference if you can to show your reasoning when judging a costume or membership status.

In the end know that you will make mistakes, apologize when wrong and be clear with applicants, they have feelings and have worked hard on their costumes.

Two Big Notes!
Detachment Affiliation and Yearly Voting.
It is critically important for you to know, and be able to explain Detachment Affiliation to your members. Detachment affiliation is not granted automatically, and is a manual 2 step process. Per the Operating Protocols, a member must have an approved costume of the detachment and have logged into their forums as a member, at least once yearly to have and maintain membership. They should go into their profile and request affiliation, and then go to the detachment forums and ensure they have an active account.

With Elections, this is more for you to know. From February 1 to March 1, the Membership Database (memberDB) will be set to prevent the adding of new members or change in activity status, as per its normal yearly "lock time". This means that an applicant cannot be made Active, an Active member cannot be made Reserve, etc. These require intervention by Legion Command. You can, however, approve costumes for members that are already active.

The Census

Each GML is responsible for getting as much of their membership as possible to respond.

The Census tells us...

• What members are active, inactive, or reserve.
• An annual reminder to inactive and reserve members that they were part of this whole thing once upon a time, and encouraging them that their return is welcome.
• It reminds members to update their contact info, which they are required to do per the census.

The Census occurs every year in October so in early or mid-September you’ll want to start preparing.

Preemptive Work

You’re going to have to contact your Garrison’s members, and there are a couple of easy ways to go about it. You will likely have to employ several methods to be successful.

The first is a general forum announcement which you’ll need to work out with your forum administrators. Your post should summarize that the Legion Census is about to begin, what the active membership requirements are, and that people not fulfilling these requirements will be moved to reserve or inactive status. Make sure you include all the dates and deadlines.

You should also send out an email blast to your membership.

Go into the Member DB and begin collecting e-mail addresses and copy and paste the list into an Excel spreadsheet. It should sort them out into convenient columns for you, and from there you can highlight just the e-mail row and copy it out. This will also get members with multiple e-mail so you have the best chance of getting them all. Save this out to another text document and keep it handy.

NOTE: You don’t need, or want, to send this out to members who are inactive, retired, pending, or discharged. Deployed members, in the database, are out on real military deployment and may not be available to reply. These members should be contacted separately to let them know it’s going on, but remind them that for them it’s not critical.

The Survey Begins

Post that forum announcement and send out the email blast. Members will go to the same link you do to access the MemberDB to add in their information. Remind them in that forum post to update their contact information while they’re there, and tell them to send any questions your way.

Remind them in the e-mail to fill out the census, to update their private information, and be sure to add in the link to the Garrison forums for any that conveniently forgot.

The first thing to do from here is to begin collecting e-mail addresses that bounce. Every mail bounce you get you can look up in MemberDB, and you can remove e-mail addresses from those users. Be sure to add a note that you did so for future reference. If they had more than one e-mail, hopefully the other will have gone through. If they now have no e-mail addresses listed, gather up the names and privately offer them to your GCO. He or she may have other contact info for these members.

It’s a good practice to send out a weekly reminder e-mail, but ONLY to those members who haven’t filled out the Census yet. You’ll be easily able to determine who has and hasn’t from the MemberDB page. Under the MemberDB you can also find Census statistics showing what Garrisons have the highest percentage of participation. Do remind folks in your Forum thread as well.

Census Finalization

Officially, the Census closes the night of October 31st. It will unofficially go on for a brief period after that, but you can begin performing updates right away. Begin by collecting the names of any users who didn’t fill out the survey AND had an e-mail that bounced, so that they don’t have any active e-mail accounts anymore. In the MemberDB, set them to inactive and save it. When the nightly processing job runs that evening, it should remove their Legion forum access. In this case, either A) they really are inactive and won’t care, or B) somehow they ignored both the e-mail and the forum stuff, and this will rush them into doing something about it. In the case of the latter you can readily set them to active again.

Gather up the other members who didn’t respond to the survey and present the list privately to the GCO or in the staff area of your garrison boards. He or she may be aware of unusual circumstances for a member that weren’t made public and may be able to address that for them, or might want to excuse them from the forthcoming round of deactivations for one reason or another. It is, after all, at their discretion.

For members who didn’t respond that you have evidence or aware that they are definitely active, you should ping them on the forums or through e-mail. You also have the option of entering Census information for them, though of course you shouldn’t enter false info. If they haven’t been trooping, then they just haven’t. As a reminder, part of membership is that they must be in contact with their GML, so non-responsiveness is grounds to make them inactive. As noted, this is usually the best way to get a response.

NOTE: For members that are active, they can request to go to reserve status instead of inactive, and it is the policy in some garrisons that members be first placed in reserve status for a year before going to inactive the following if they do not return to active status. If this is the policy in your garrison, place new members to reserve, and any reserve members to inactive status.

In summary, to complete your Garrison's census data, the steps are:

• Set the troopers who are reserved to retired if they did not troop or complete the census.
• Double check the input data.
• Collect the names and emails of the troopers.
• Mail your CO and XO and GWL or post to the staff area of the forums if you have one. Posting to your garrison boards is preferred as it creates a history that the next GML can follow.
  • Let them know of the status change and ask if they have any information on these members.
• Mail the reserved members and let them know they are not retired.
  • Introduce yourself, explain the situation.
• Locate all members who did not complete the census.
• Set these members to Reserved.
• Update your CO, XO and GWL. Let them know these troopers are Reserved.
• Mail the troopers and let them know of the status change and explain that they have one year to complete a troop and their census.

Validating Trooping Activity

You'll need to cross check every member to ensure they trooped. You have a few options.

1. Looking at mission report logs and referencing.

2. You can look at forum posts if your garrison has them.

3. If your garrison has no forum you can also keep an excel spreadsheet “trooper tracker” add the members who troop (numerically by TKID) and you can quickly access this information for census time.

Do look for any trooper that marked ‘nothing’ on their census. Try and locate the troop they did though your logs on your forums. Email the trooper and mark them reserved a note in their logs if you can not find the troop they did.

NOTE: For any member approved from the last 12 months they do not need to complete the census, they are considered new members. Do not change their status.

Other Duties

There are a handful of other duties you will be performing, and there are some recommended practices as well. Every garrison runs slightly differently due to garrison membership size and history.

Update Your Command Staff

Your Garrison’s command staff gave you this job so they don’t have to deal with it, but you should always keep them up to date on what’s what. Be sure to take the time regularly to present them with a brief report detailing:

• Number of active members
• Number of total members (including inactive, etc)
• Number of recruits waiting in your queue
• List of new members since last time
• Brief update on anything interesting you’ve been working on
• Any problems you have with members new or old

This is usually part of a quarterly update on the staff section of your garrison boards, but some garrisons report on this monthly.

Update Member Info

While your members can update their own information, you do still have to be involved. Every time they make a change, their listing in the MemberDB will turn yellow. Look inside and you’ll see that you have to approve changes they make. Most changes can be approved out of hand such as address changes. For other changes such as adding new costumes you will need to approve them just like you would a new member. Approval is usually done via photos sent via email, and can also involve the inclusion of a build thread on a garrison or detachment board. From time to time, it’s also possible to approve a costume visually at a troop where both you and the applicant are present, however you will also need to take a photo of the event for auditing purposes. Do check with your GCO and other GMLs as this practice is not always allowed in some garrisons, and you should also only do it with costumes that you are 100% familiar with, or where you have the CRL in hand that you can use to validate all requirements are met.

From here you can also process official changes to Garrisons (if they move out of state you can switch them to the appropriate Garrison), Squads (if they form or join one), and Detachments.

NTTL and No CRL Costumes

NTTL (New to the Legion Application) A NTTL (New to the Legion Application) is a costume submitted that no other person in the legion has successfully applied and been approved with. There is no CRL. Please review the Guide to CRL's and New to the Legion Costumes.

1.Mail the applicant and let them know the application has been received. In this mail also state the application will take time and a LMO or Detachment Leader at some point will be in contact with them concerning the CRL. It is not needed for the applicant to write a CRL. Post the images (and supplying reference) to this board: https://www.501st.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=95427

2. Email your applicant and let them know this will be a long process. Some CRLs have taken over six months to accomplish from start to finish.

3. If your applicant is used as the CRL model they can be approved without being judged.

BLANK CRL SUBMISSION What is it? A CRL that is blank or/and lists the following...“This CRL is a work in progress. As such, this costume must be approved by the Legion Membership Officer, via the appropriate section of the Legion forum.”

Post the images provided on the respective Detachment thread located on the GML section of the site: https://www.501st.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=7 You will receive feedback from LMO's and the appropriate detachment staff.

TIP: It is a good practice to post the pictures of any costume you are unsure of to the Detachment threads on the GML Forum. Explain what makes you unsure, and you will receive feedback that will help you the next time you come across that costume.

Brief MemberDB Guide

Garrison Roster

This is just some quick descriptions of options currently in the MemberDB. Some will be altered over time. This will only cover your Garrison Roster section, as the others tend not to require much GML work.

This view gives a quick list of members, active or otherwise, and their status. Most are color coded for easy finding. Special cases (discharged or deployed members) are shown at the top, followed by new applications in blue. Then is a long list of Inactive or Retired members, followed by all the green ones which are Active.

On this screen you can quickly see their name, TKID, e-mail, and the last update time on the record. You can also spot Census reply information at times. To edit a member, click on their name. To exit the editor, click again on the Roster button on the left. This is all JavaScript contained in a frame so if you hit the back button on your browser you’ll navigate away from the MemberDB.

Legion Information

This section covers a member’s information regarding Legion status. There are only a few things you can alter here. The Status shows their status in the legion. Here’s a quick rundown of what they are and when you should use each.

New Applicants:

• Brand New Application. This is set by default, and means it hasn’t been edited yet.
• Minor. This is what you set when the applicant turns out to be under 18.
• PENDING APP: Armor in Progress. Use this when an applicant has applied but the armor isn’t ready for submission yet. If it stays in this status for more than a few months without contact from the member, delete them. If you have contacted them three times with no reply, delete them.
• PENDING APP: Contacted by GML. Use this after you’ve sent them that initial e-mail. It’s just a reminder that you’re waiting on them.
• Ready for Duty. Set this when you’re ready to approve them.

Existing Members Status

• Active: Active member in good standing
• Inactive: These were approved members who either haven’t trooped in a year or no longer have a costume. A GCO can override this status if they choose to.
• Retired: Members who have excused themselves from the Legion or have been in reserve status for at least a year and have not contributed in other ways to the Legion or Garrison.
• Reserve: Members who have either not completed their census or have not been active in the past year. These members have partial access to the Legion forums but they cannot vote.

There are also two options a GML cannot set: ‘Discharged’ and 'Suspended'. Discharged are members who, following disciplinary hearings, have been removed from the Legion. Only the COG and LMO can set this status and as a result you will rarely see it. Suspended are members who have been placed on temporary suspension from active duty either Administrative Leave by the Legion Captain of the Guard pending the outcome of a legal proceeding, or as the result of a disciplinary hearing by the Legion Captain of the Guard. Only the COG can set a member to suspended and the should be a note in the file explaining the action and the duration of the suspension.

The "Member Since" option will show when they joined the Legion. This only applies to more recent members. Older members (pre 2007) can have this information set for them if they choose.

Personal Information This section contains a member’s personal contact info. Note that this info can be set to Public, Legion Only, or Private. This determines who can see a member’s contact information. If you’re in doubt, ALWAYS set it to Private.

Your Approved 501st Costumes This is where a member’s costumes are listed. You can select a new costume if they’re adding one, or approve costumes they have submitted. This was covered somewhat in the Approvals section.

Your Unit Affiliation This lists the units a member is attached to. The three will be Garrison, Squad, and Detachment. There can be multiple Detachments listed. If a member moves to a new Garrison, you can move them to the new location here.

501st Legion Census This contains a member’s responses, or lack thereof, to the Census. You can edit these if you choose to. Most of this info is covered in the Trooper Survival Guide Census section.

Notes This section will contain any and all notes a GML offers about a member. It is best to add copious notes as you work with a member during their approval, and when you make any changes. The members cannot see this, but other GMLs (if the member changes Garrisons), future GMLs, and Legion Officials can read these notes, so do try to keep them civil.

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Additions and corrections may be submitted to [email protected]

Revised 02-24-2012 -- Stormtrooperguy
Revised 1-20-2018 -- Kylo Ren (Dawn Bright SL-13377), Legion Membership Officer Team, Daetrin (Paul Hoeffer TK-8020), gmrhodes13 / Q (Glen Rhodes TK 85421)

This document and all of the images within were created by and are the property of the 501st Legion.

Acknowledgements This guide was originally written by Rhonda Brown, TB/BH-1165, 70th Explorers Garrison, in 2006 and is contained in the GML tutorial located under the Membership DB section of the 501st Legion Forum. Additional content, e-mail templates and commentary by Jed McBride, TB-3389, Georgia Garrison and Jason Rucci, TC/CT/CC/AR/TD/DZ/RG - 8581, Florida Garrison. Reviewed and Revised by 2017 LMO Staff

Additions and corrections may be submitted to [email protected]

Revised 01-08-2019 Rhaethe

This document and all of the images within were created by and are the property of the 501st Legion.

Visit www.501st.com to learn more.

The 501st Legion is a worldwide Star Wars costuming organization comprised of and operated by Star Wars fans. While it is not sponsored by Lucasfilm Ltd., it is Lucasfilm's preferred Imperial costuming group. Star Wars, its characters, costumes, and all associated items are the intellectual property of Lucasfilm. ©2012 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.

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