New Stuff to Know

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I received a very interesting report last night that is very new to me. It contains information about you elves in my Sector that I have never seen before. I think you should know about it.

I know we have seen a lot of new stuff this year. The Elf University thing is fantastic I think. But there has also been a number of changes to basic rules as set out in the Elf Community Standards and the Terms of Service for the website.

I have looked at these things. They are no big deal to me and for those of you who are here right now they are likely no big deal for you.

Next week I will be part of the Elf Supervisors meeting in Costa Rica. I’m really looking forward to going to that. But I have a feeling this new report I got will be something they talk about. If they don’t, I’m certainly going to ask about it.

The report details for me the activity of all elves in our sector. I can see your points, reviews, and each and every report you send to the North Pole. From this report they are asking me to give each of you some kind of review. I don’t think I need to do this YET…but I think this is a new thing that is coming.

Perhaps most concerning to me on this report is a column that shows me which elves are due to be “decommissioned”. That’s a fancy word that means you’ll be retired as an elf. There are a lot of elves with this status.

I know there has already been a great number of elves who were decommissioned a month or so ago as part of the site changes. But I was not aware this would be an ongoing thing.

They want me to sign-off on this procedure every four months. Yes, every four months I have to review your activity and status as an elf. Many of you will be rewarded for your activity and some of you will be decommissioned due to your lack of activity.

I have a lot of concerns and questions about this.

But before I get to those next week in the meeting I wanted to just let you guys know this was happening. I will answer any questions you have about it when I return. I am not sure I am ready to take questions right now about it. I need to understand it better first.

I grow concerned about the number of elves we have. But I am more concerned with the number of inactive elves we have.

Nobody really expects you to be active much at this time of the year. Frankly, there’s not much to do. So if you are gone for periods of time, especially at this time of the year, I don’t think that’s a concern. We all get busy. We all have family stuff. We all go on vacation. It’s okay.

But the elves on this list set for decommission have not been active in more than a year. That’s not a good thing. And I agree this needs a solution.

It looks like they have one and we will learn it together.

On another issue, some have written in to ask when our final site location for our sector HQ will be announced. The answer is that I have no clue yet. We are the largest sector, at least when it comes to the number of elves. We need the largest location and that is the big challenge. I know Santa wants this all done by Christmas in July, so I suspect we’ll know more sometime before then.

If I hear anything I’ll let you know.

Christmas in July Events Added to the Elf Calendar

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Christmas in July is coming – and it’s going to be huge. So huge, in fact, that a new page dedicated to the events of Christmas in July has been added. You can see it here.

SantaTrackers.net is partnering with SantaUpdate.com and MyMerryChristmas.com in coordinating Christmas in July events.

Christmas in July this year begins actually in June – funny as that sounds. It kicks off right here on SantaTrackers.net on June 25th, also known as Leon Day.

Leon Day is basically the Christmas hump day – the official halfway mark to Christmas. Everyday after June 25th is on the downhill side to Christmas. Leon is Noel spelled backwards. Folks all over the Internet and around the world do a variety of fun (even silly) activities to mark Leon Day.

For elves here on SantaTrackers.net we will have a variety of events planned just for elves. But we know you don’t have to be an elf to enjoy Christmas in July. That’s why we work with our sister sites in SantaUpdate.com and MyMerryChristmas.com to share event calendars.

While we focus on tracker elves here over at SantaUpdate.com the focus is more on the North Pole and official events sponsored for fans of Christmas everywhere. Christmas in July has been a tradition there for more than 30 years. Over in North Pole Chat special guests range from Elves Frank and Crash to Santa and Mrs. Claus during Christmas in July.

MyMerryChristmas.com is the largest Christmas community online and the events there too are traditional. Christmas in July is when the famous “Christmas exchanges” kick off, including the Annual Christmas Card Exchange and the Annual Ornament Exchange. The site frequently hosts guest experts on all kinds of Christmas topics – everything from book authors to Christmas lighting experts.

By integrating the features of Christmas in July between all three websites we can share a plethora of Christmas ahead of Christmas – and get you in the Christmas spirit.

Keep an eye on our Christmas in July page as the next several weeks will feature many announcements.

 

Sector 4 Regional HQ Announced

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Sector 4 is the first to announce the official location of our Regional HQ. Our tracking center in Sector 4 will be located in Milagro, Ecuador, as just announced by North Pole Flight Command.

The word “Milagro” means miracle. It is a miracle, at least to me that this has happened. We have a huge opportunity now that this decision has been made and the location is known.

Milagro, Ecuador

Elves from the legal department and from engineering are in Ecuador this week finalizing details. It is my understanding that the facility we’re to use will require very little in the way of remodeling for our use. In fact, sleighs are being loaded today with desks, computers and other equipment to be shipped to Ecuador this week.

If all goes well, I’m told I could be there right after the Elf Supervisor meetings in Costa Rica. We could be fully operational there by Christmas in July.

That could, in essence, move up the schedule on a lot of different projects. For example, test flights could be moved up earlier if we’re operational by July. If that does happen, you could see an earlier return of reindeer to the North Pole.

What does that mean for our trackers in Sector 4? Perhaps some live training exercises.

I will most definitely discuss all the possibilities with Elf Roger and with Santa when I see them next week.

Exciting!

Points for Giving to Santa’s Sleigh

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We are pleased to announced a new association with Santa’s Sleigh, a charitable effort anchored in several Christmas communities online including the Merry Forums of MyMerryChristmas.com. You can add Elf points to your account for your participation.

This is an entirely optional activity and not required of any elf. Elves who are underage must have parental guidance in order to participate. 

In addition to the Elf points gained from your donation, you will also be generously rewarded with extra Santa points and awarded with this new badge:

Santa Sleigh Badge

Santa’s Sleigh is funded by hundreds of small donations – usually from $5 to $20. Someone benefitting from Santa’s Sleigh is sponsored by a licensed charity, a church, a school or community service group.

Santa’s sleigh works with these entities to meet critical needs such as food, medicine and funds to pay utility and medical bills. Santa’s sleigh also provides Christmas trees, Christmas meals and modest gifts. In additional, Santa’s Sleigh organizes service projects – everything from shoveling snow to sending Christmas cards to the shut in.

We are grateful for this new association and will provide news updates of our collective efforts to support Santa’s Sleigh.

You can learn more about Santa’s Sleigh at their website by clicking on the banner below:

Santa's Sleigh

Focus Groups and Costa Rican Tacos

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Santa Trackers Podcast
Santa Tracker Podcast
Focus Groups and Costa Rican Tacos
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Focus groups and Costa Rican Tacos are talked about in this wide ranging new episode of the Santa Trackers Podcast. Elf Frank and Elf Crash try to get down to Santa’s strategy for this year. But Crash is especially feeling in the dark.

Santa and Elf Roger have led an effort to completely redesign the SantaTrackers.net website and to purge the Elf Community of “deadbeat” elves. But Elf Crash suspects the big changes are still ahead and it begins with this first-ever Elf Supervisor gathering in Costa Rica coming up soon.

Elf Crash was just assigned to help train that group but he has no idea what to say to them. In this episode elves Frank & Crash explore what they do know and what it can all mean for the months ahead.

Crash also shares some insights into Elf Max, who he met in person just a few months ago. He tells a great fishing story as well as the story of Elf Max’s elf journey.

 

Elf DJ Finkle Joins the Santa Trackers Staff

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Elf DJ Finkle, a radio producer at Kringle Radio at the North Pole, has been added to the SantaTrackers.net staff.

He will serve as an Elf Consultant for all things radio.

Elf DJ – or Deege, as many like to call him – has been a background player at Kringle Radio for years. He has been on the producing team of the Tracking Santa Around the World radio broadcast since its inception. He likewise produces the incredibly popular Christmas Rox Radio Show that features Elf Red Stocking.

DJ is here to help applicants for open disc jockey positions at the Santa Tracker Channel of Kringle Radio. He will review their applications, hire them, and help them to craft one-hour radio programs to air on SantaTrackers.net year round.

If you are interested in joining Kringle Radio as an on-air talent, please see this link.

Please join us in welcoming Elf DJ to our team!

Introducing Bonus Codes

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Bonus codes are a new feature that will allow you to earn extra points. This new feature is now active.

We encourage you to visit the Bonus Codes page in Elf University and to there receive a special code that will both train you on how to do it and that will reward you for trying it out.

You will get a tiny little point reward and a nifty new Bonus Freak badge at the same time.

You will always want to be on the lookout for new bonus codes.

You might read about them in a news article, receive them via private message after completing something (like an elf job application, or see them attached to special activities or even tracker reports.

There is a new group at SantaTrackers.net dedicated to this purpose. It is called The Points Group. If you go there, you will see a bonus point extra posted by me. Hint: you get points for joining groups.

An elf who keeps a sharp eye out for bonus codes can really increase their points totals and their badge collection.

Elf Trixie

New Points System Now Active

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A new points system has been engaged, triggering a new era in tracking Santa for Santa.

The new system, as announced weeks ago, features three total points types. You can access them via the new Points Summary gateway.

Elf Points are points as you have always known them. Points are awarded for your activity as an elf on SantaTrackers.net, especially in terms of your elf profile and how you present yourself as an elf online. This overall points pool gives you a ranking as an elf that features a star-theme. The higher your points the higher rank you achieve.

Tracker Points are a new points category that focuses on your core job as a tracker elf – tracking Santa for Santa. Tracker reports are at the center of your tracker rank, as are activities and duties most closely associated with tracking Santa. Your Elf Supervisor contributes to your ranking through a review process that evaluates your reports to flight command for their quality and usefulness.

Santa points are a less sharply defined category. These points are mostly acquired through Santa himself, who monitors your online behavior and rewards you for your kindness, creativity, initiative and charitable actions.

In all, all three point types are listed via their own links above. While this system overhaul has taken extensive hours of work we recognize that it is possible that errors have occurred.

If you feel that is the case you can request a Point & Badge Audit. It might take a few days to sort out but we are confident any errors can be rectified.

Over the course of the next several hours and days a lot of news will come out to help explain new processes, features and actions that can be taken to improve your point standings and ranks.

Record Points on April 1

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The new points system will be engaged on Saturday, April 2nd. That means you will want to record your points on Friday, April 1st.

The new system will begin accumulating points on Saturday morning. There will be a few “bonuses” that Saturday and Sunday just for logging in. There are a couple of reasons for this.

We’re setting up two new point types, as we explained in our Elf Chat this weekend.

In order to populate the point schedules we need as many elves to log in as possible next Saturday and Sunday. To spur that into happening we will be offering some one-time point opportunities that will never happen again.

While logging in will get you some extra points it will also introduce you to a number of new features related to points. Everything changes.

Given how early in the year it is we will have plenty of time to learn it all.

I will attempt to have ready for you an explanation of all changes on Saturday. There will be all new graphics for our badges. Some badges will be going away. There will be some new ones. These changes are being made to accommodate the new point types and the opportunities they represent.

It will be fun!