Sandy Desmond for HoS

[Vulwin_Gilran]

Usual character name: Sandy Desmond
BYOND username: Vulwin Gilran
Discord username (if you are on our discord): baconb01
Recommended by (if applicable): N/A
Goon servers you play:
Sylvester and Morty
Reason for application:
I often find myself in a curious position where I WOULD give orders, demand status reports, and the such from fellow officers but i often hesitate because I feel like I lack the position from which to give advice and ask things of the security team. I enjoy interacting with antagonists whether its banter over the radio, chasing them, or getting murdered by them and the HoS often seems to be a good target to yell at/target as an antagonist. I also find myself in a timezone where I rarely see HoS roles filled, so I think I could give it a go and help out.
Security experience (300 word minimum):
I have around 1645 hours, and I would believe a third or more of that is likely to be as a member of security. I played a lot of security assistant before I got the confidence to play as an officer, because I wanted to try and learn from exposure off of the more established security players. I find that longer than usual period as an assistant helped me with dealing with minor crime/disputes, as it got me familiar with using the ticketing/fining tools.
Due to my timezone, I often find myself online during lowpop rounds and often with a very small security team of maybe one other officer. This is an example I find where I naturally try and start enforcing communication and regular status reports. I try and make sure, when deciding punishments, to act only on what we can PROVE happened. This is a common pet peeve of mine, because during some rounds all that is needed to arrest someone is an eyewitness claiming over radio they saw someone "turn into a bat" or "draining power" or "dragged staffie mcjones into a tunnel" without actually doing due diligence on the case. we can THINK this suspect mcgee PROBABLY killed more people than just the one we found but unless we can actually prove it, it shouldn't influence their brig time/exile/execution.
One of the reasons I started picking back up security officer was I felt I became more robust, which I understand isnt a requirement I just prefer being able to hold my own if i had this. The second reason is I have experienced as an antagonist the crushing weight of an overly aggressive security team, and it has made me a bit more self aware of some of my own behaviors that I had needed to correct.
Overall though with my security experience the things that I have the most memory of aren't the fights and the action, it's when I am able to just talk to the person and lay out the situation, and what potentially could of turned into an armed chase with an arcfiend turns into a peaceful resolution.
Answer two or more of the following:

• What advice would you give to other sec players?
  I will try not and repeat what has already been said so, don't underestimate the power of a fine! People love their money so if staffie mcgee is harassing the bartender, instead of falling back on the baton fall back on human greed and give em a fine! Another bit of advice is to only ever have your stuns out when you are actively using it, and this isnt just about becoming a certified clown magnet running around with a baton out. In some moments when its a tense point where the antagonist may/may not go willingly, an over eager officer pulling their baton/taser is enough to scare them into fight/flight. My next bit of advice ties in well with the previous bit, deescalation is a tool more valuable than your baton or taser, that badge you have puts you in a position, where if you arent a total ass, people WILL defer to your judgement in disputes. This is my VERY LAST piece of wisdom! barriers are EXTREMELY useful, especially if you can pull off some team work and get a proper shield wall going!!
  
• What was one of your favorite security moments? (Either playing as a sec officer or interacting with one)
  My favorite interaction with a security officer was when I was a wizard. The captain had suddenly promoted ME to co-captain alongside the HoP, so I began doing ordinary captain things like teleporting around to do esoteric surveys. I tried to give orders to the security department as their co-captain and all but one officer ignored me completely. This one officer who i sadly dont recall the name of gave me some of the best interactions ive ever had with security as an antagonist. Just the "well, the boss DID promote them to co-captain before they went to cyro, so I guess this guys in command now" instead of actively ignoring me due to my antagonist status.
  
• Describe any differences in your playstyle when part of a full security team and when being the only security officer.
  When I am part of a full security team I play far more slowly and a lot more relaxed, like I might give the perp 1-2 chances to just come willingly into security (OBVIOUSLY depends on their crimes, im not going to ask the shotgun guy to come in peacefully without a barrier out). If I am in a full team I am often far more willing to look into minor offenses and process stowaways and such, whereas if I am the ONLY officer I will typically ignore or leave a hastily written ticket for the crimer. However that is in the case of being the only officer with a high staffing in other departments=more antags but in cases where its sub-20 players and I am the only officer I usually take more time to do the normal little things I do when I am part of a big team.
  

Answer one or more of the following fun questions (because it's important for the HoS to be fun):

• Write a poem to convey your thoughts on security/NanoTrasen/space/bees/anything related to SS13.
  I call this poem Hyperallergic
  
  In a fateful punch
  This assistant missed their lunch
  A mistake most dire
  Earned the Bees most feared ire 
  

Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will): none!

[Vulwin_Gilran]

I didn't initially answer this question but i have recently noticed it more, I think a good improvement would be having pod locks spawn in all security pod-bays, or even have all security pods just have locks in them. Most officers will lock a pod if it already has a lock yet most don't remember to make one then insert it. (On a personal side-note i thought the thing that would be hard to swallow would be receiving feedback but ive found its far more disheartening to receiving nothing)

[Lefinch]

This is just me and that others might disagree and not related to any feedback, but I think it's worth bearing in mind the following regarding getting feedback or not.

First, your application is pretty fresh still! If you look at other applications this cycle and approved/denied applications you'll see a pattern where it might take some time for feedback to come in.

One reason I suspect the application cycles are generally around two months is to give people time to read, consider and give feedback. It also has the benefit of putting you in the spotlight for maybe paying a bit more attention to how you're doing during the application period.

Further, it's worth bearing in mind that feedback is there not just for you to take on (which is a great part but not all of it) but also to help admins make their decision which is also entirely separate. There are plenty of approved applications with little feedback, and plenty of denied applications that are crammed with positive feedback. I have no idea of the specifics of how they arrive at a decision, but it's clear the quantity of feedback is not the deciding factor.

So for now, and again this is separate of any endorsement or critique I'd say don't be disheartened, get out there and enjoy the game playing some security and getting to engage with people, and hopefully that will encourage people who have a positive experience with you to come back here and give you some feedback.

[Vulwin_Gilran]

Thanks, I get in my own head sometimes about this stuff and you're right, application process takes a while which is a good thing!!

[JORJ949]

I'll just say this because I haven't been paying close enough attention to give you feedback when seeing you in game yet but: don't be afraid to coordinate the team. Even if there is a head of security helping them with coordinating the team will take some of the pressure off them AND show them how you would act if you were actually in charge, I know that if someone on my team is coordinating I will only step in when I need to.

[Vulwin_Gilran]

that add on at the end is correct! I was VERY CONFUSED for a bit RACKING my brain about this. Its fine hah, i see you give ALOT of really high quality feedback on the other applications so its reasonable that you might make a wee mistake eventually

[Lefinch]

ACTUAL FEEDBACK, SORRY ABOUT THAT

Hi Vulwin, so I had some chances to watch a few rounds just before you applied and have watched some since. I'm not a security regular so please feel free to take my feedback with a pinch of salt. I actually saw quite a few rounds with you in various roles that I'm going to generalise so this isn't even longer, then focus on a specific round for case-examples. Then I'll summarise at the end if you just want the bottom line stuff. 

General stuff

• You make a good effort to communicate both in person and on the radio well. This was true regardless of department. I caught you a few times where it seemed like you were busy but after things calmed down you'd chase up old comments which is great.
  
• You seem pretty comfortable in various roles including security. I liked that you seem to have a good general startup routine in your department and manage little side things that sometimes get forgotten, but you aren't also just going around using optimal setups or insisting things are done your way which is a good balance. 
  
• You missed a few opportunities to train that might be good for your application. One in particular you did great by checking if a secass who was in my opinion evidently new if they needed help: good stuff there but sort of left them to their own devices. You didn't do anything I'd consider bad here at all, but moments like that are a great opportunity to get them to maybe shadow you, learn the ropes, and have some fun alongside you. A lot of HoS approved applications talk about the wonderful introduction they had by someone doing this, so take those opportunities if you can.
  
• Generally, and this part is -extremely- subjective, I would say you might be a little too heavy on sentence timers specifically. Often you've had people in processing for some time (though I stress not overly long) that I would personally have expected that to be accounted for in a sentence. However, this was not a consistent thing and sometimes you would waive times as served too, it's more of a general pointer than a firm critique, and one that's very open to interpretation.
  
• You have a strong adherence to command structure, always pretty important in general. There's a specific event I'll mention later that seems to contradict this a bit but I hope it qualify it well enough that it's clear I think this is in general a really good behaviour.
  
• You speak to the arrested, I know it seems a low bar but I always appreciate when security does engage antagonists talking and don't "talk over them" during processing to security. Being a HoS will often involve letting antags have a bit of spotlight and processing is part of that too.
  
• You always seem to be up for a gimmick too, I have a note here that reads: "Engaged with rotfather's bit with appropriate level of horror about being dunked in a bath"
  
• Speaking of the Chaplain, one area of concern I'll highlight is that on the shuttle you attempted to put the Chaplain in the sleeper for being filthy. All good there funny bit, but I noted you set them a timer for 3 minutes. They escaped well before that went through, you didn't try and do it again, and the shuttle would have arrived before that point but I would personally discourage you from setting such a high timer as a prank for a non-antag: I know it's the shuttle but they could very well have been trapped in there for the credits. If it happened during a shift itself I'd consider that pretty wonky too. 
  

Specific round

• This was a recent round in which it was you a detective and another officer, as a point of reference it was the one someone chameleon-bombed sec with a sawfly control.
  
• You were very strong throughout with communicating: Regular followups, regular contact with the Captain acting as HoS. You delegated detective stuff to the detective when they came on. Incidentally the team on this round all did really good (But I've already said that about Brandon Roth who also has an application so well done Brandon too.) 
  
• There was a moment you were chasing down a thrall but de-escalated to give them time to speak. That's good, and I appreciated that you gave the vampire antag a chance to get over there to support them too. It's -very- hard once tasers start flying to note an antag is trying to re-engage with talking and honestly sometimes you're gonna shoot a guy and talk later and that's okay. However, I felt like this was a good demonstration of your strong situational awareness and control for giving someone breathing space to do a RP bit. 
  
• While I've said above you've got a strong sense of command chain and I would personally encourage you to continue that, in this round the captain ended up busy a fair bit. You had a thrall to execute. I'd say in this very specific example you might want to keep in mind that holding onto prisoners too long can be a bit unfun for the prisoner involved. There might be times where if you've made an attempt to put it through proper channels but not got a response and need to make a quick judgement it's honestly okay to make it, or find an alternative: Hold a quick security vote on it, or just make a call. You're not always going to get it right, and that's why using the chain of command is a good move in general, but sometimes you gotta do what you yabba dabba to get someone back into the game.
  
• Speaking of, Id probably have taken a -slightly- less slow method of execution than harmbatoning a thrall to death over the course of minutes. The detective made a lethal offer and personally I'd probably have jumped for that to speed things up for you both. But it's a subjective thing.
  
• you were really good at logically following clues left by antags rather than jumping on the "ITS DEFINITELY A SPIEF/VAMPIRE/ETC train": the example here is you heard there was something going on in research, so you literally went to research, scanned doors, talked to a witness, and filed it in your back pocket. Even when you got busy handling a thing you then went BACK To it and continued following the chain of clues to a person. I feel this is an amazing example to set others about making use of forensics and other tools to socially deduct in this social deduction game. Please keep it up.
  

Summary

• Things I liked: You communicate well, give space for antags, know your stuff and engage with people, and follow clues organically.
  
• Critique: (Highly subjective) maybe consider giving a little more "Time served" on brigging sentences, It would be good to see you jump on a potential to bring a newbee along with you for training/experience. Going through the chain of command is very important but it's okay sometimes to make a judgement that gets someone playing again sooner if you've done your due diligence.
  
• Summary summary: What I've seen is really good. I'll keep an eye out during the application and hopefully see you do some training to make a full judgement but I'd lean +1 at the moment. Hope this all helps.
  

[Vulwin_Gilran]

that is very helpful! I definitely agree that i can end up being heavy handed on sentences because in part im worried about giving too little time if that makes any sense?

---

very fair critique with the rotfather thing too, i feel im usually pretty good at managing "impulsive" reactions like that, but its probably something i need to continue to work on.

[avanth]

I've seen Sandy a hand full of times ever since I came back from my break, and while I cannot comment on everything quite yet, there are a few things I would like to note. First, I haven't seen a whole lot of leadership from them but what I have seen are ample amounts of communication and a few counts of training, as well as being quite eager to impart their knowledge onto the newer players. Most of the time I've encountered them they've been instructing one, or more newer players in security. Due to this I can't quite comment on other things relating to the department yet, but I will be keeping an eye out in the future. Neutral for the moment, but certainly looking forward to seeing how things develop and progress.

[Skotcher]

I dont have more guided feedback yet, but I wanted to comment this while its fresh in my mind. I recently observed two rounds where Sandy took it upon themselves to help teach two Security Assistants learn the ropes. The first round, one security assistant joined late and Sandy checked in with team, saw that there was time to help guide the new assistant, and began teaching them how to use the tools available to them. Once the round ended, they checked in with the newer player, heard they were still interested, and volunteered to take the new round to teach them again. This is where a second new assistant joined and they seamlessly integrated the lessons with both assistants present. At no point did I feel like info was being missed. They brought other officers in to the teaching moments and helped make the assistants feel like they were part of the team. Both players expressed gratitude for the help and complimented the teaching style. While I still want to watch some more rounds and get a sense of how Sandy evaluates the rounds and engages with them, I think this moment demonstrates good leadership qualities that we want from a HoS.

Looking forward to seeing you more in the rounds, Sandy.

[Vulwin_Gilran]

I will note that I will slowly be becoming less and less online on ss13 over the coming two weeks due to leading up to the end of my uni semester, I will probably only be around late fridays, and a bit during the weekends. just so if anyone is looking for me and it seems like ive dropped off the face of the earth, i havent! just REALLY busy with uni stuff

[tamakona]

I dont have more guided feedback yet,  but I wanted to comment this while its fresh in my mind. I recently observed two rounds where Sandy took it upon themselves to help teach two Security Assistants learn the ropes. The first round, one security assistant joined late and Sandy checked in with team, saw that there was time to help guide the new assistant, and began teaching them how to use the tools available to them. Once the round ended, they checked in with the newer player, heard they were still interested, and volunteered to take the new round to teach them again. This is where a second new assistant joined and they seamlessly integrated the lessons with both assistants present. At no point did I feel like info was being missed. They brought other officers in to the teaching moments and helped make the assistants feel like they were part of the team. Both players expressed gratitude for the help and complimented the teaching style. While I still want to watch some more rounds and get a sense of how Sandy evaluates the rounds and engages with them, I think this moment demonstrates good leadership qualities that we want from a HoS.

Looking forward to seeing you more in the rounds, Sandy.

I believe I am that assistant, so I can wholeheartedly +1 this. He makes an effort to ensure the entire squad has a good experience and an equal chance at participating in the fun, whether it's asking said assistant to shadow him on a mission or playing out the antagonist's hostage situation. In my opinion that attentiveness is a value rarely found and underappreciated. I've also noticed a cool-headedness that persists even through the most chaotic rounds. Overall, I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone more suited for the role.

[Emimiyu]

A recent round I had as AI. There was a new Captain that did had an issue on uploading laws on previous round. The captain was told about not doing so post round and I remember during that round, you were observing them and talk about the law situation. On the next round, the same captain and I were conversing normally through upload intercoms. When captain asked me a question about protecting the station, you overheard it, rush to security radio yelling to the hos they need to check the upload about how captain will put a law on me. In that round, both you of the HoS scold him about law uploads.

Here, from my perspective, it felt like you took something from previous round and use the OOC information to deduce Captain is up to no good because he was conversing with me inside upload, especially when said captain was new to captaining and uploading laws.

On the same round, I told security that the roboticist may be a syndicate, after I found out about a syndie converter on latter part of the round. Post round, on discord, you said that I was over eager on arresting the roboticist, while I was just telling security about what happen in robotics. You then told on discord that it was a small issue and there was a bigger thing. I do get that not all cases have to be "fixed" by security, but it feels odd to say I was over eager over just reporting what I see and dismissing what I told because "it is not that major"

Unsure if I could see you fit the HoS role from this round.

[Vulwin_Gilran]

if that is the round i am thinking of, i didnt overhear anything from your intercoms, the captain had shown me a law they had intentions of installing which was the "conserve station" law, so i informed the only person in security who could actually check on if they were going to upload that. This will feed into my later thing too, but my tone is probably something i still need to work on sometimes.

Additionally that round with the roboticist, after i went to check to see if there was indeed the cyborg converter (assuming this was the round where it was like a pirate cove?) i did set them to arrest (or atleast i tried), because in the rush of everything going on i just went, secmate, roboticist, arrest. but i recall someone had swapped the records for the MD (also a syndicate) with the roboticist, so all i did was set the MD still on arrest. But regardless to that I still was dismissive towards your callout, and how i tone myself is probably something i still need to improve on. okay! i was looking for a bit and found what i said "ill be honest the AI was er, REALLY insistent about us getting you". Fair enough criticism on that, I didnt really think about how you would feel when reading that and i apologize. I appreciate the honest feedback.

(this was just an attempt to try and provide some context to some of my actions, not as any kind of justification)