The first thing when learning YWS is to note that it's not actually finished. The site is undergoing a massive overhaul, so it's got this new look and a lot of features aren't working yet. Our webmaster is working his hardest to get things caught up, though!
On YWS, you can post your own personal work for reviews from our members in hopes of improving upon your progress so far. To do that, the Submit button is at the top on the black bar. Just follow the steps accordingly, and ask if you have any specific questions!
The Browse tab below the header is where you'll find other members' works. You can read and comment on their work as well to fairly exchange reviews or just out of the goodness of your heart.
The Forums tab is where you can join in on the community and talk with members about writing, play games, or just be crazy 'cause YWS is kinda crazy!
The Storybooks is a unique part of YWS in which members can join together to write an advanced RP of sorts. You each make a character and move along the plot together post by post, but they tend to be good-sized posts to promote writing as that's what YWS is all about.
The People tab is where you view your friends' statuses! To view those, you have to have friends first. If you see the tab with the gear picture on it, you can make all sorts of changes there including avatar, signature, profile information (for when profiles are fully implemented), and even add friends.
The top bar also has your Private Messages (PMs) and your Notifications alerting you of any new responses to threads you've posted in. And finally, the chat room is where our members can instant message each other in casual conversation, story planning, or whatever suits your fancy. You'll also find the Blogs tab is where YWSers start their own blog on YWS if you wish to utilize that as well.
That kidna got long, and I tend to get carried away. XD BUT. Hopefully that helped, and you may feel free to contact me if you have anymore questions regarding the site. There are no such thing as stupid questions, especially right now with the site incomplete.
Tell us about yourself and your writing! What do you enjoy reading? What do you write?
Hi there, believe! Jabber up there covered pretty much anything you’ll ever need to get started around here but I figured I would pop in and mention a few other helpful tidbits and hopefully answer a few questions you might have.
For starters, because everyone asks eventually, the stars under my avatar and under Jabber’s avatar indicate how many reviews each of us has done. There’s a cheat sheet here though some changes have been made sense. For instance, Snoink, has 5 pigs instead of 5 stars but she also has more reviews on the site than anyone else.
And I’m sure by now you’ve probably seen some members running about with funny colored names. Red members are admins. They’re the awesome folks who work to keep YWS running. Dark Green members are Global Moderators who head up certain areas of the sight like Poetry or Fiction. Light Green members are Junior Moderators. We help the Global Moderators do their groove thing. Orange members are Distinguished members, members who used to be Moderators or Admins and have since retired from the position.
If you have an issue or a question, our most important job is to be able to help you out. Usually, the easiest way to get ahold of any member of the mod squad (or anyone on the site) besides sending a PM is to use the chat bar on the bottom. The chat bar shows which members are online and lets you privately message members who are online. We also have a chat room which can be found here.
Obviously what Jabs and I covered isn’t everything but it does cover a lot of things. The rest kind of just takes some exploring. Anyways, if you have any more questions, you're more than welcome to ask.
Never forget who you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.
You find yourself at the best writing site on the web. A good place to find out about the site, is the Information Desk. You can also ask questions at Questions and Answers under Welcome Mat, and all of YWS will come to your rescue.
Have fun!
barefootrunner
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts" - Einstein
@JabberHut I do read mostly every thing..It depends on my mood..anyway, i tend to write random poems..a free verse one. Also if I'm not being lazy i can write a one shot story in one sitting.. How bout you?
@lilymoore & barefootrunner i appreciate the warm welcome..
