I've got a few thoughts to give on the suggestions in this thread. I freely admit there's people who know more about this than me, but I'm discovering today that I feel more passionately about this than expected.
Preamble, and on giving more people HoS whitelist:
As I understand it, the purpose behind giving HoS powers to mentors or, indeed, everyone is simply to bring us more HoSes. What I wonder about, though, is what is the point of a HoS, and will this defeat it? Is a HoS who hasn't applied for it just a sec officer with a hat and a gun? Maybe it's just me, but I feel that the purpose of a HoS is to be somebody you can trust more than anybody else to be a good player; A captain can be any old fool, as can any regular security officer, but a HoS has been accepted by the community both as an able and reasonable player and as an able and reasonable security officer. Doesn't making the role easier to play as, then, weaken the trust you can put into people playing it? And, if that's the point of the role, does that mean having more of them around is worth the trade-off?
On the responsibilities of mentors vs. HoSes:
I think that the skills required for being a mentor are different from that required for being a HoS. I like to think I'm a good mentor, and well qualified: I know stuff about the game that sometimes people want to know, and I can be trusted to provide this knowledge without metagaming or overstepping the mark. I'm also of the opinion that I am a bad sec officer: I get over-invested in my task; I get angry with the crew, my colleagues and myself; and I frankly doubt my abilities to keep order or identify criminals. I'm not saying that holds for all mentors, since there are plenty of excellent security players in the purple ranks, but I most certainly am saying that the qualifications required, as it were, are different.
I think there's a reason why HoSes get mentor status, but not vice-versa, and a reason why people have, in the past, had their HoS applications turned down with the reasoning "apply for mentor instead". I think the requirements are similar, but different: both must be trustworthy, but HoSes are also required to be level-headed in the heat of a busy round and able to act in the best interests of the crew.
On the current lack of HoSes:
Welcome to 2018's most redundant spoiler. All I have to say on this is that I think that, once we have more sec, we will have more HoSes. There are some wonderful ideas floating around the forums right now on making security more frequently played, and I think that if people are playing security, people will be applying for HoS.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a headache and a hacking cough to melt away into. if I don't return, assume my brain's turned to dust and my lungs have emigrated.
Goonhub
