Ranks...

[Shamrock Holmes]

If and when they made it back to Earth those ranks would be stripped, the Marquis and Tom would be marched back into prison and she would submit logs and requests for the 'fleet crew to receive any promotions.

Given that the original deal in Caretaker was for Tom to go free for helping Janeway find the Maquis, I'd say that Tom going back to jail is extreming unlikely, it could also be argued that the other Maquis' service on Voyager would count as "time served" or "community service". However I agree it's unlikely that any of them would retain their Starfleet ranks or posts on Voyager.

 

[TigerCat]

Actually it wasn't. I re-watched the episode recently and what Janeway said was that she would help him on his next outmate review if he agrees to go with them.

It never explicitly says what would happen to the Marquis had Voyager returned home early enough (aka prior to the Dominion(?)war) but I highly doubt they'd let the Marquis go free considering Voyager disappeared while chasing after them.
Think of the (bad) publicity that would create especially in the eyes of the families of the people that died during transport to the Delta Quardant.

 

[Gabriel]

Actually it wasn't. I re-watched the episode recently and what Janeway said was that she would help him on his next outmate review if he agrees to go with them.

It never explicitly says what would happen to the Marquis had Voyager returned home early enough (aka prior to the Dominion(?)war) but I highly doubt they'd let the Marquis go free considering Voyager disappeared while chasing after them.
Think of the (bad) publicity that would create especially in the eyes of the families of the people that died during transport to the Delta Quardant.

Although I doubt when they come home they i don’t think they would really send Paris back to prison. I mean as far as we know he didn’t commit a violent offense and he did help serve on voyager even when he didn’t have too. Except for some problems it was pretty good service. Now whether he would stay in Starfleet now that is questionable. And maquis they definitely would have not let them go free before the Dominion war. But after, ehh. This year in the fact that Starfleet probably has severe man power shortages and the fact of Jane we probably has given them some pretty good starfleet form of fit reps, the federation would probably pardon them. In fact that’s what they did in the books.

 

[Gabriel]

I find it very weird that Harry was not a least promoted once. But according to quote the producers “somebody has to be the ensign” which is stupid because he’s he’s a pretty creative officer and he also sometimes commands the night shift. So who is the promotional Tuvok I find it weird that voyager did I have any full LTs. Well the ones we see. Also I found it weird that Carrie was a full Lieutenant. And apparently he still had to go serving serving below Torres. Oh well nature of starfleet. Also I am pretty sure that Chakotay was Lieutenant Commander. The Writers just plain didn’t care. Remember these people sometimes threw canon out the window. Fun fact Janeway was actually supposed to be a commander. (That would have been nice to see, tired of every captain in starfleet holding the rank of captain, not the position but actual four pip, even the small ships.) But apparently they thought people get confused by her being commander and then her being called captain as well. Because apparently the audience is stupid.
Then again not everybody who watched Star Trek notices things as well as we do. I don’t know if I were a producer I probably would’ve assign somebody to make sure that the uniforms were correct. But of course you can’t blame the costume crew. Those pips are small and to people who don’t know what they mean, it is confusing. Remember to the costume crew: it’s just a job. But then again there’s a saying I like: do the job right or don’t do it at all.

 

[Sgt_G]

But according to quote the producers “somebody has to be the ensign”

So, commission an enlisted troop and make him/her your token Ensign. Easy done.

 

[Gabriel]

So, commission an enlisted troop and make him/her your token Ensign. Easy done.

Yeah but I don’t know if the producers are that smart. But then again we’re fan so we must be wrong and stupid and they must always be right. Well at least that’s their logic some of the time.
I mean it’s not that hard To promotion some one. In BSG for example even with the destruction of most of their military they still made time to promote some people. They even gave some Enlisted personnel commissions

 

[at Quark's]

Agreed. Lets not forget the costuming cock up that made Tuvok a LCDR for the first 10-12 episodes of season 1, until - I think - Cathexis, when the rank pips were corrected. Despite this, he was referred to constantly as Lt. Tuvok...

How about "they wanted to avoid any unnecessary replication in the first few weeks due to resource scarcity, they just made do with any stuff they had lying on the shelves ?"

(I know, there's nothing to justify this assumption based on the 'unnecessary replications' we actually see take place during this period, but still, it's fun to try to find a nonsense in-universe explanation..)

 

[chris of nine]

Make People Feel Good.

One of the Prime Dierctives of Marketing.

Field promotions make us root for a character more.

Improving the bottom line. I’m okay with that.

 

[Lynx]

The Data thread in the TNG forum inspired this.

I understand there are only so many positions on a starship the size of Voyager, but this one bit is puzzling.

If we go by the actual insignia on Chakotay, then he was a Lt. Commander, which makes sense since the original XO, Cavit, was also a Lt. Commander.

So why does Tuvok get to be one, also, 3 years into the journey home? In fact, aside from the start when the other positions were getting filled... Chief Engineer, Conn... and Paris' reinstatement at the end of season 6, no one else got promoted. I understand that the rest likely wouldn't due to the aforementioned available positions, but why did Tuvok get to be promoted?

And if Tuvok, as a department head, gets to move up a rank, why not Harry? At least maybe a few years in, or in the final season. I always found it funny how there were a bunch of Lts. all around the ship but he was senior over them due to being a bridge officer. And I understand that actually does happen. But Janeway couldn't throw him a bone?

I mean, his contributions were good.

He was on the design team when the Warp 10 barrier was broken. He upgraded Astrometrics with Seven, which Astrometrics was a massive contribution throughout the rest of the series. He was key in saving the ship from the Hirogen. He was on the design team for the Delta Flyer. He helped the ship get a lot closer to home in "TIMELESS". He commands the ship during some watches, including many night shifts. He's even been killed more than once. Not to mention his regular duties, he seemed quite capable and proficient.

So why no Lt., junior grade?

I think it had something to do with the weekly games of kal-Toh between Janeway and Tuvok.
If Tuvok won, then he was demoted. If Janeway won, then he was promoted.

As long as he was better than Janeway at playing Kal-Toh, promotion was out of the question.