I would just like to see a wider explanation because I don't think, as yet, the whole story is revealed to newer eyes.
The ride preference thing wasn't there from the beginning.
The biggest problem historically wasn't that people weren't getting the rides that they preferred. The problem was that they were getting rides they particularly disliked and they were getting them every single week. (Yeah I am talking about buffs and usually lightly defended ones at that).
We have had massive discussions here in the past at the best and fairest ways to pass around the "dog ride" that inevitably appears in each FSO series. I remember one squad ended up with such a ride about 5 times in 6 weeks if the grey matter is operating today?
The community spoke in a strong voice that acting as CIC encompassed more than simply copying last weeks orders and incrementing the frame number by a single digit. (It has happened).
The main focus since those times has been for CIC's to try and ensure that squads did not get the same ride and the same duty every week of a frame. If about a third of the rides in a particular FSO series is in Kates then you are going to get them once in 3 weeks if everything is done properly. If you get them not even once then you're not lucky, somebody else has been dudded.
There is a corollary. It is very important for people to understand that every time a squad gets the ride they want that some other squad is carrying a burden to grant them that privilege. Demanding that people do that, or even expecting people do that, isn't an attitude that wins friends and influences people.
Sometimes it's the job. Sometimes it's the ride. If you get the job you want and the ride you want once in 3 weeks then you have scored!
Take this FSO. There are extreme and difficult limits on the ride numbers. P-38s are the issue this month. We have one set and I think 4 P-38 squads. If it is done most fairly then at least one group must still miss out. If one squad was to get that ride 3 weeks in a row then 3 squads miss out. For one group to "demand" them for 3 weeks because they have written out clearly that's what they want is going to ruffle a lot of feathers.
If that group has never had it explained to them not just how, but why, then they might well feel that they are being short-changed or slighted by being "ignored". Why wouldn't they?
I don't nominate a preference. I take it as part of the joy of the challenge to get that turd gleaming. I would be very unhappy to see any steering toward making historical ride, or ride preference, as anything other than a FYI only. It's been that way for a reason and if it changes at all then this will be the first round of wars that will be waged month after month after month until only the loudest remains in the arena.
I would rather see it done away with if it continues to cause angst. In the meantime it serves a useful role, but only if it is seen as it has been historically: "Hey we really like this particular plane and we can do a job in them. If you haven't got other plans for them we'd be super happy to have them allocated".
It is a responsibility of the community to educate those who they have invited to participate. It is necessary as part of the education process to clearly state that there is no concept of "rights" in FSO or any special event. There is only the privilege to join with and participate in a community. How you interact within that community ultimately dictates the return you gain from it.
Privilege.
