Young Writers Society

The staff -- mysterious, scary, secretive, munching on cookies on the dark side of YWS and occasionally kidnapping regular members to put them through gladiator trials and make the winners one of their own.

Or, are we?

Truth be told, only some parts of that might be actually correct (I'll let you guess which parts ). Just like all of you, we staff members are individuals with personalities, troubles, duties and ideas, and we were all once regular members (Well, except Nate), some of us never even dreaming of becoming members of the staff team.
But we all know that that side of the green, red and orange usernames -- and especially the black one! -- can be hard to see at first. We know that many of our members have questions they'd like to ask, but never quite dare to. And it's understandable. After all, approaching the mod squad and risking whatever terrible situation we're usually imagining when we're unsure or scared, certainly can make one shy away from asking anything.

So, hence this thread! This is the place for you to ask, and for us to answer. Whatever you'd like to know — what makes a good mod, what's the real difference between JMs and GMs, how much power do we actually have, what hardships do we go through when making decisions, what happens when you report someone, what kinds of shenanigans we're working on, or whether Nate is a real person; you post your questions, and the staff members will reply.*

And don't worry about asking the wrong question, or being humorous -- this thread is a stress-free zone, and we're just a bunch of people talking about our on-site jobs.


*A little disclaimer on this: Some secrets are secrets for a reason. We will give our best to answer all the questions, but if there's something asked that would require us to share details we've promised not to share, or keep purposefully vague, we reserve the right to let you know that is so.

(for those of you wondering about "a Sequel" in the title: this is a revamp of the old Ask the Mods thread. Please don't go wake the old one from its peaceful death, but feel free to give it a read (you might find the intro post somewhat familiar ), and feel free to ask your question even if you see it answered there — it's been a year since the first thread, and things may have changed.)

I have some questions! *cracks knuckles*

*From my understanding, swear words are okay on personal pages (e.g., status updates to one's wall), member bios, actual pieces of writing submitted through the publishing center (obviously), and clubs, just not the forums. Do I have that right? And what about signatures? Are swear words cool when embedded in a signature, or no?
*How does one become a Mod?
*So I used to have a different account on here, one that I'd desperately love to regain access to, but I forgot my password and am not able to get into the email account associated with it. Can anything be done for me, or nah?
*What's the prognosis on chat? Any hope of it returning? (The chat bar, not the chat room, that is.)

@Noisette
About swearing!!
You're right about swears being ok on walls, publishing center, and clubs. They're also ok in certain storybooks. They aren't allowed in the forums because of their public, non-literary nature. Because signatures appear in the forums (same as avatars and usernames), profanities are not allowed in them.
(if another mod has anything else to add to this general thing, feel free!)

Since forte already answered the first one, I'mma grab the rest

*How does one become a Mod?
By doing your best and being active. Really, there isn't much more to it: reviewing, general activity, attitude, and a certain level of maturity, are usually the things we look at whenever nominations come around. Sometimes, when a certain crew needs members more than the others, we'll focus on members who excel in a specific field that round (SBs, for example), but most of the requirement remain the same.


*So I used to have a different account on here, one that I'd desperately love to regain access to, but I forgot my password and am not able to get into the email account associated with it. Can anything be done for me, or nah?
Maybe. These cases can be tricky because we need to be sure that the person requesting access is actually the owner of the original account — and we need proof. If you PM me with the email that you used to log in to the old account, though, I'll see what I can do about resetting your log-in details so you can use it again.

For future reference, this is the kind of thing that GMs can help you with, so if you get locked out of your original account, come to us!

*What's the prognosis on chat? Any hope of it returning? (The chat bar, not the chat room, that is.)
As it stands now, it's gone permanently. The main chat will come back for review days and some events, but other than that, no.
There are some alternatives, however, the main one being the unofficial Discord server. It's not under jurisdiction of YWS, but it is made by YWSers for YWSers. If you'd like, I'll include the link to it in reply to that PM you send me about the account

Also to add onto the swearing convo- you're also allowed to swear in blogs. Though it's always nice when people warn about it in the title! c:

ChildOfNowhere wrote:
*How does one become a Mod?
By doing your best and being active. Really, there isn't much more to it: reviewing, general activity, attitude, and a certain level of maturity, are usually the things we look at whenever nominations come around. Sometimes, when a certain crew needs members more than the others, we'll focus on members who excel in a specific field that round (SBs, for example), but most of the requirement remain the same.

LIES.
It's gladiatorial combat. Occasionally walking over hot coals. And folding my laundry. I hate folding laundry. Especially tshirts. I can never get them all the same size, and then they don't fit in the drawer!


(yes, there are times I like to pretend I am the comic relief, why do you ask?)

Meshugenah wrote:LIES.
It's gladiatorial combat. Occasionally walking over hot coals. And folding my laundry. I hate folding laundry. Especially tshirts. I can never get them all the same size, and then they don't fit in the drawer!

(yes, there are times I like to pretend I am the comic relief, why do you ask?)

Psh, yeah, but maybe we shouldn't tell them that. The joy's in watching their faces as they realise what it's all really about
Off-topic on my own thread, but so glad to see I'm not the only one with clothes that refuse to get folded the same way twice.

Don't forget to read the small print, eh?

Yep, and then you get through and you think it's all over and nope, it just means you've graduated to washing the laundry. And folding @Iggy's socks.

Meshugenah wrote:LIES.
It's gladiatorial combat. Occasionally walking over hot coals. And folding my laundry.

I KNEW IT.

Here's a question: Has a Mod ever been fired?

@Lucrezia --> You say it like we're paid. ;P Which, I mean. I guess plenty of mods have had plenty of jobs. And plenty of them have been FIRED from those jobs...so yes!

But if you don't want me to be *~coy~* about it...

Some YWS volunteers over the years have decided on their own accord or, sometimes, due to circumstances that crop up that it's just the best place for them to be outside of the Staffosphere.

Hope that covers it. c:

Lumi wrote:You say it like we're paid. ;P

Wait. You're not paid?!



Just kidding. I knew that.

...or did I? XD

First I'm just gonna say that I'm glad I'm not the only one a bit intimidated. Luckily, I know most of you won't bite, so that's a plus.

Anyways, I'm actually here to ask a question that isn't very important but I was curious about. For the Role-play Geeks I wanted to make a forum for posting characters and their descriptions so a link to the post was included instead of having to describe the character with every new RP and player. However, when I went to do that, I had no idea whatsoever where to put it. Help?

@featherstone9086 - hi! I'm afraid I'm a bit confused about what you mean but I would love to help you out. Can you send me a PM so we can discuss this?

Yep! Thanks!

I have a question here:

I've noticed that there has been a lot of novel excerpts posted here. Should you post some novels that you intend to traditionally publish someday?