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Young Writers Society


June 2016 Review Day (important changes!)



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10 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 3850
Reviews: 10
Fri Jun 24, 2016 4:41 pm
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Big Brother says...



The June 2016 Review Day


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To read about the changes, skip right to the bottom...

What is a Review Day?
On the last Sunday of every month, we review as many works as possible with the aim of completely clearing out the Green Room! We also have a goal each month, and this month's goal is 400 reviews. Last but not least, during a Review Day, no new works can be added.

But wait, there's more! Review Teams!
In addition, you can optionally choose to participate on a team. There's three of them, and you sign up by clicking the red "Join a review team" button on the front page (starting about 72 hours before the Review Day starts). The teams compete based on how many collective points they earn. This means that the winning team is not necessarily the team with the most reviews!

Quality > Quantity
Always remember, it's better to write one good review than to write 4 quick reviews. Not only will you earn more points, but you'll be more helpful as well!


Important Changes for June 2016
We have two important changes in store this month! The first is additional points for very old Green Room works. The second is real YWS swag!

Additional points for very old Green Room works
Right now, you automatically earn 25 bonus points for reviewing a Green Room work for a maximum of 125. That in turn makes the minimum 50.

Starting with the June 2016 Review Day, you can earn another 25 points for reviewing a work that is older than one month. So, if you review something posted on any date prior to May 26, you can earn a maximum of 150 points. Accordingly, that makes the minimum 75 points. The maximum you can earn for any non-Green Room work is 100 points, so that 75 point minimum is a pretty big deal.

YWS Swag
So this is the big change!

The top 3 reviewers by points wll earn real YWS swag from the YWS store (http://www.cafepress.com/ywsstore):
  • Top reviewer: Choice of YWS mug, notebook, teddy bear, stein, drinking glass, tote bag, mousepad, or Literary Journal.
  • Second top reviewer: Choice of YWS mug, notebook, drinking glass, or Literary Journal.
  • Third top reviewer: Literary Journal

Substitute gift cards are available too ($20 USD, $15, and $10 respectively).

A couple caveats do apply though:
  • I will be checking the reviews of the top reviewers before awarding the prizes. Any review spam will disqualify a person. Review spam is when you copy and paste the same review over and over, copy someone else's review, and / or your reviews are substantially similar. I've added a "How to avoid review spamming" block at the end of this topic.
  • Reviews written before the Review Day but posted after it begins will not count.

Good luck! Remember that it's by points -- not reviews. So it's to your benefit to review very old Green Room works for that 50 point bonus, and it's more productive to write one really good review than to write 4 subpar reviews.

How to avoid review spamming
The best way to avoid review spamming is to just not do it! Every single time it happens, the person knows they're doing it. I have yet to see an inadvertent case of review spamming.

But in case you're still worried, here are some tips:
  • Spend 10-15 minutes writing the review. As long as you do this, you're golden.
  • Don't copy your own review or someone else's review (duh)
  • Introductions are fine (e.g., "I will be your reviewer today"), but they should be short.
  • Use specific examples from the work itself. Doing this demonstrates you read the work.
  • Review different formats (poetry, chapters, short stories, etc.). This prevents you from falling into using tropes when reviewing.
  • Always ask: will my review help the author?

Follow those tips, and you're good. Indeed, as long as you're not purposefully spamming, it's pretty much impossible to write review spam.
  








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