Steet – Candidate for Board of Directors 2024

Note: This is a candidate page for a Judge Foundry Election. Information on this page is provided by the candidate, and does not represent the opinions or positions of the Elections Committee or of Judge Foundry. For more information about this election, see the schedule and index for the 2024 Regional Advocate Election.

Nomination Statement

Hello, I am Steet / Joseph Steet / Joseph Sweeney-Steet, I have been judging since Gatecrash, and I am applying for the Board.

I have served on multiple committees and senates and councils, so I am familiar with being part of a deliberative body and also making sure things are done before their deadlines.

I do not intend to make any dramatic changes with Judge Foundry, I will of course be open to suggestions and receptive to feedback, but I am applying to help keep JF running as it should be, which is basically as it is. 

Q1: Specializations / Focus Areas

Question: Board Members work on a wide variety of tasks and projects. What would your “specialty” or main focus area be as a Board Member?

One of my strengths is providing feedback on how things are being done, or working around problems that arise. I do not have any specific bailiwick I want to carve out, I more envision myself as a need-fill or a high utility second for projects.

Q2: Certifications

Question: Many questions related to the value of Judge Foundry membership. First, regarding certifications: How would you ensure that Judge Foundry Certifications have value in the eyes of TOs and other stakeholders?

This is perhaps a harsh take, but there’s no shortage of Reddit/twitter storms about some unqualified not-a-judge botching a ruling at an event, I think pointing to those car wrecks and highlighting that certified up to date judges are seat belts, is an effective way to get people to understand the value add.

Q3: Member Benefits

Question: Second, outside of certifications, how do you think Judge Foundry should best use its limited resources to benefit the members?

As Judge Foundry is currently doing. Servers, swag, and supported conferenced are the three biggest things I can think of, and I’m not limiting that by alliteration.

Q4: Legal Commitments

Question: Judge Foundry as an organization and Member Directors individually are bound by several Non-Disclosure Agreements, prohibiting disclosure of information gained as part of their duties as a Member Director, including in some cases disclosure of the existence of an NDA with a particular organization. Violating these agreements may have consequences for the individual and for the organization. As a Director, will you abide by any agreements that Judge Foundry has signed, and will you personally sign NDAs with other organizations as needed in order to pursue and maintain partnerships with other organizations?

I foresee no issue

Q5: RCQ Judge Demand

Question: In the post Covid era of Magic, the amount of qualified L2 judges seems to have declined, but demand for judges at competitive REL events has grown with the advent of RCQs. Is there a solution you would pursue to prepare enough judges for Comp REL demand?

The phrase you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink comes to mind. The best judges have mentors, and we can’t force that relation, only provide support and encourage opportunity. RCQ’s generally don’t merit more than one judge on staff, so 

Preparing judges is an important step, but having a way to let an LGS know the judge IS prepared is also important, and the best way to do that is through testing and maintenance. 

Q6: Judge Work Opportunities

Question: What efforts, if any, would you support in order to increase work opportunities for judges?

I think the encouragement of hiring judges for RCQ’s and F2F’s JF incentives in their RCQ packets are excellent steps. The up sell here is that qualified judges are a marked improvement on event quality.

Q7: Judge Foundry Areas for Improvement

Question: Pick one area you strongly feel Judge Foundry needs to improve and tell us your idea for doing so. Is it feasible? Is it achievable? How will you make it happen?

Public recognition is what we need most. I think this goes fairly similar to the way judges at events work – do the job well, people will notice. I think some content, such as problems of the month (here’s a complicated problem a Lv X JF member solved, hope you’ve got one at your event if it happens again!) might also help build player recognition.