Crew protocol
Introduction
Crew Protocol is a set of rules designed to provide the desired approach that we would like crew to use for a range of important situations. There is a lot to learn as a member of PD crew - but this protocol covers some of the most important general principles.
Protocol
Do not guess
There will often be situations where you are asked a question that you do not know the answer to by players or another member of crew. In these situations it is really important not to guess the answer. Many crew are keen to be as helpful as possible - and there is an assumption that making a best guess will help the questioner.
The problem is that wrong answers can cause havoc - last year we had an instance where a disabled player was told there was no disabled toilet on site, because the person they asked wasn't aware there was one. Almost invariably a wrong answer in these circumstances is worse than no answer at all. So please, if you are not certain of the answers you are giving then do not guess.
What you should do
The ideal approach to handle a question you don't have the answer is to ask your head of department. They should be available on a radio and they should hopefully be able to tell you the answer - or help you find someone who can. If you are working alongside fellow members of crew, then it is worthwhile asking if any of them know the answer. If someone nearby knows the answer - then that is great - but otherwise do not consult a group of people who don't know the answer to produce the team's best guess. That is no more helpful than guessing yourself.
If you can't find your team leader and you can't locate any member of the crew who can definitively answer the question, then please apologize to the person who asked and explain that you simply do not know the answer. Then try to help them find a member of crew who can answer their questions.
Do not send a problem to another member of crew
You will often be asked to resolve a problem or question that you assume are best dealt with by another member of crew. For instance, you may be asked a question that sounds like a referee issue - a question best answered by an Empire ref. What you should not do is tell the questioner to go and find another member of the team to help them.
There are two problems here. The first is that the questioner may be unable to find the team you are sending them to. New players in particular can find this kind of redirection very intimidating. Second, if you have sent the questioner to the wrong team - they will get redirected again when they arrive. This reflects badly on all of us and annoys the hell out of players. Worse, you can have a situation where the player is being sent back and forth. In the first year we had several cases where NPCs playing Imperial civil servants were sending players to GOD to get answers to questions - where they were met by GOD crew who told them to get answers from the Imperial civil servants in the field.
Obviously if you know from direct experience that a problem is definitely being resolved at GOD, then you can give a questioner direction on how to get to GOD to get help. But in other cases, it is better to follow the advice below.
What you should do
The ideal approach is to get on a radio and locate a member of crew who confirms that they can answer the question or help the questioner. You are looking for another member of crew who is saying "Yes, I can sort that, send them to me". Once you have that, you can give the questioner instructions on how to locate that member of crew. If you are not near a radio, then ideally you should go with the player and help them find a member of crew who can help or who has a radio and can find someone who can help.