Young Writers Society

Rosendorn wrote:
Not quite true. Only DMs who are still part of the GM group can do stuff that GMs can, which is not all DMs. There is absolutely no way for members to tell which is which, and DMs are usually DMs because they don't have time to do much on YWS. They can, however, pass things on to those who can do the task.

@Rosendorn I actually wondered about that. I know I've been orange before but still had full powers, but this time I don't. Thanks for clearing that up.

About nominating GMS: That's something that takes place in Big Brother (the group of GMs/DMs and admins) and it's not at regular intervals like the JM noms. Generally we look at the current JMs and pick out 1 or 2 to promote whenever we see a need.

Or you can be awesome like me and bribe @Nate with bananas and smileys until he has no choice but to bring you up the ranks to BB, thus bypassing all the deck-swabbing and other JM grunt work. *preens* Note: Bribery doesn't usually work, so don't try it.

niteowl wrote:Or you can be awesome like me and bribe @Nate with bananas and smileys until he has no choice but to bring you up the ranks to BB, thus bypassing all the deck-swabbing and other JM grunt work.

...

niteowl wrote:Note: Bribery doesn't usually work, so don't try it.

*grumbles*

It is definitely possible that new GM may be nominated who is not a JM as well.

*removes my Invisibility spell* Is it just me, or is the last post on each page @Reneia commenting on something? It's like she's sitting here, continuously refreshing her page until she sees 14 posts before she hastily scribbles her comment down.
I mean- once= meh, twice= coincidence, but three= I smell something fishy (and I'm referring to the salmon in our refrigerator...)

I think @AstralHunter, @SpiritedWolfe and I were some of the more lucky newbies... We casually split our deck-scrubbing in thirds, thus making our lives as cleaner so much more convenient. (Although the SB flagship is quite large, so it wasn't much of an improvement )

Meandbooks wrote:Is there a specific time when you start looking for new mods, or is it just whenever someone catches your eye?

Big Brother is always watching out for members that are mature, that help others, and spend time on the forums. It's just what we do. A couple times a year, new JM's are nominated to help mods maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.

If you're thinking about becoming a mod for the power or the free lunch, you should be aware that the position requires a fair amount of work. Mods often have to deal with difficult members; which means that mods can get quite a bit of abuse from unhappy members.

Also, moderators have to undergo rigorous training. They are put through physical, combat, diplomatic, and literary training courses. When JM's are promoted, they also have to undergo extensive training in astro-navigation and receive cybernetic implants in order to help them pilot their custom made starship.

It is not a job for the faint of heart.

MeandBooks wrote:Also, who put the funky orangutans in chat? And what happened to the poor chickens?

Nate. And Nate.

Gringoamericano wrote:What would be the most entertaining way to abuse your powers?

This is a question which moderators and admins ponder a lot. While we're definitely able to mess with things, we also have a strong incentive not to. Moderators that abuse their powers can get banned from the site just like members that abuse other members.

That said, moderators have a long and proud history of pulling pranks. These pranks range from harmless to helpful. Once, moderators convinced members to change their avatar to Nate's and then pretend that nothing happened.

The most epic pranks involved putting together a book for a YWSer that was upset because she would have to be away from YWS for a long time. @Snoink herself helped organize that effort, which included gathering and grading submissions, getting the book published, and then building a radio program. To ensure that the member was there, she was given a false script for the radio program, and then we sprung the trap!

Pranks are the favorite past time of all moderators (and YWSers in general.)

@Griffinkeeper

A couple times a year, new JM's are nominated to help mods maintain peace and order throughout the galaxy.

Again, not quite. It used to be every 6-8 or so months, but it has been every 3-4 months for around a year. We bring in fewer JMs more often, so batches don't go over 3 (it used to be we'd bring in as many as 7!)

Cheat code for anyone who wants to be a moderator to better YWS (because we really CAN tell the difference): Never forget to hehe.

Gringoamericano wrote:What would be the most entertaining way to abuse your powers?

Rosendorn wrote:@Gringoamericano

Ask @Rydia that.

I pretty much have to answer this question now, right? Right.

The most entertaining for me was definitely when I decided to give everyone a 'promotion'. This included leaking a fake moderator forum and giving everyone the next colour up of username so normal members became JM green, JM's got GM dark green and GM's got admin red while admins got Nate's cool black.

I was celebrating a year of being an admin and felt a promotion to site owner was the perfect way to do it!

Of course, to make it fair, @Nate needed a promotion as well but when you're at the top of the ladder, the only place to go is back to the start so I made him an ordinary member.

Basically I demoted Nate and you can't get more entertaining than that

The best part about all that ^ is, the way the admin control panel works means nobody's powers actually changed. It's actually frighteningly easy to change groups' colours... which is why you see it done so often for April Fool's.

Although for me my favourite @Rydia pranks involve pink. And minions. And kitties.

Regarding Orangutans

I thought the reactions to changing it would be funny. They were

Plus, it's just funny period. Funky orangutans hanging out in chat when no one is around? That's funny! And given that YWS' mascot is a primate, it makes more sense than chickens.


Regarding ACP

I mean, there's no secrets here. Over the years, I've added some additional functions to it for handling some YWS-specific stuff, but it's still basically the same one used for any phpBB site. If you want to try it out, go to the phpBB 3.0.x demo:

http://www.try-phpbb.com/30x
Username: administrator
Password: administrator

Click on 'Administration Control Panel' at bottom (you'll then need to login a second time)

How do you all keep track of members? Do you just trust that there's enough of you to see everything, or is the mod control panel sort of like a surveillance room with cameras and flashing lights that indicate whose behaving and misbehaving?

I know you guys seem to rely a lot on members letting you know when something's up, but also how do you keep track of "good" or betterish at hiding what happened last week members?

@Holysocks

CCTV and hidden microphones, plus @Rydia's telepathic abilities.

much thanks <3

Holysocks wrote:
I know you guys seem to rely a lot on members letting you know when something's up, but also how do you keep track of "good" or betterish at hiding what happened last week members?

Honestly, keeping track of good members is fairly easy. If, for example, a member I'm not familiar with gets nominated for FM, I'd just take a look at the activity on their profile--are they reviewing? Welcoming members? Storybooking? Doing something else positive for the site? It's not too hard to find evidence of awesomeness.

As for the bad members, that can be much harder to spot, which is why we ask for the awesome members to report stuff we send @Big Brother on the hunt periodically. You'd be amazed what that adorable Corgi nose can dredge up.

Rosendorn wrote:The best part about all that ^ is, the way the admin control panel works means nobody's powers actually changed. It's actually frighteningly easy to change groups' colours... which is why you see it done so often for April Fool's.

Although for me my favourite @Rydia pranks involve pink. And minions. And kitties.

And making new avatars for @Rosendorn? (I don't even remember what this was for but it's in my YWS folder and it was definitely for you)