these_balls: (SERIOUS MOD BUSINESS)
Route 29: mods ([personal profile] these_balls) wrote in [community profile] route_292011-10-11 04:15 pm

A NEW RULE APPEARS

Hey, Route!

Yes, more new stuff. Everything chaaanges, chaaaanges, it's evolutionary~

1) New apps rule!:
In the interest of clarity and app processing speed, we now ask that potential applicants post their application in comments rather than linking. If the app contains explicit references to 'hard' spoilers (think big reveals, like 'Dumbledore dies', I SEE DEAD PEOPLE, I am your father etc), players should put the application in their own journal or their character's journal and link it, making sure to mention the presence of spoilers within.

We've always gotten linked apps (goodness knows I'm guilty of linking an app or five that was spoiler-free!), but having them all on the page means the mods don't have to open a million tabs while processing, and spoiler links keep fellow players from stumbling onto things that might ruin a canon for them.

This is a rule; as of today (the 11th of October), if your app is linked but not marked for spoilers, it will not be processed that week. We trust all our players will read and abide by the rules list, which has not changed besides this.

2) Polling about the passwords:
RELAX, we're not changing anything concerning passwords...yet. But we're thinking it's about time this thing got an overhaul, don't you think?

Our proposed fix: What we'd like to do is remove the passwords altogether and replace them with something of a task system: on the rules and FAQ pages, tasks such as 'explain in one sentence how your character feels about strawberries in their personality section' or 'include a link to your favorite youtube video in the canon links section'.

The goal here is to make sure people have at least given a cursory visit to both pages. These tasks would change arbitrarily and be located arbitrarily within the FAQ and rules. Yes, these would be more work for you, and for us, but the current password system feels outdated and obvious.

Your turn: How do you feel, Route? Hate this idea? Love passwords? Have a better idea? Let us know!

[Poll #1785767]


If you have grievances, comments, suggestions or ideas concerning either the new app rule or the password system, you can: PM the mod account, PM any of us individually, catch us on AIM, or post (anonymously or not) to our (screened) Suggestions post.

Looking forward to hear from you!
foreveraclone: (Default)

[personal profile] foreveraclone 2011-10-11 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
While it would take whoever is in charge of app chat that night the five or so seconds it would take to click on the application to get the character's name and their starter (and to make sure that the applicant has the right password/using the right application form) the applicant could also spend that time posting said application. It makes things run smoother for us, and helps get the acceptance/pending/rejection notices out somewhat on time. Five AM applications, never again. And it could also stop those kinds of misunderstandings from happening again. By the time I saw that thread the problem had already been solved. In fact I kind of head-titled at it a little because I knew their samples were in the post when we worked on applications.

And yes, there is always the fact that people will fix their revisions inside their entry, and to my knowledge the people who have linked their application and were pended for something in the past usually respond to the pending notice with said corrections. But, there could always be the case that they don't tell us. Pendings are always the first thing that gets done in application chats. If we don't see any response to the pending notification, then we move on.

I think you can rest easy on the email application bit? If route were smaller I could see it working, but as it isn't-- keeping up with email applications on top of every other comment the mods tend to get on a daily basis can be quite taxing. And as you've mentioned, there is always the off chance that it could be somehow sent to spam, or someone could have botched the mod email before sending it, or the applicant's acceptance/pending/rejection notification somehow ended up in their spam folder and so on and so forth.

And while I'm just a tech mod and can't really pass any rules/have my word be the word of a modly God, I can always bring your thoughts up to Ara or the others! Every opinion counts, after all~



oh gosh, I hope this was okay /)A(\ ara you can jump back in whenever you want-- I just wanted to let Hat know that the screening links problem was fixed since I knew about it ;^;

[identity profile] usedrage.livejournal.com 2011-10-11 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
ffff i actually didn't know where to put this so i was kinda like "oh look. a... thread /puts at end."

I just kinda wanted to voice my opinion since I saw other people being against the choice and I had a lot of thoughts on it and i figured all the mod-san's would see it here so... haha, IM SORRY FOR TEXT WALLING AT YOU.