Squills Special: [9/29 Review Day Live Feed]

It's that time of month again. No, ladies, not that time of month. Review Day! And that means it's time for another



Brought to you by the amazing team at Squills, this thread will cover every moment of the exciting day, bringing you the story that the stats can't. We'll interview, analyze, and participate our way to the end of the day, leaving a solidly-reported and detailed record behind us.

First up this week, we're carrying over some of the celebration from our last edition -- the TENTH EDITION EXTRAVAGANZA, with an article by @Iggy to guide you as you go forth and cover the town in reviews.

10 WAYS TO WRITE A GOOD REVIEW

written by Iggy < PM: >

As we all know, Review Day is approaching fast!

When the time comes and you are on a team, with a designated name and slogan, about to review a piece, you'll want to make it the best of the best. Why? So your team can win? That's not the only reason why!

1. A review should always be about helping the author.
You aren't reviewing for your health, are you? No! Your number one goal should always be to help the author improve. Focus on their strengths and weaknesses evenly.

2. Never, ever point scrounge.
What is that, you ask? In simple terms, @Snoink defines it as:

Spoiler

Other examples would be:
adding in useless punctuation (!!!!! ?!!?!?!?? ......... ,,,,,,,,)
useless lettering (wooooooooooooooow, hiiiiiiiii, cooooooollllll!!)
an introduction that goes on for too long (hi, I'm Iggy and this is a review I am making for your work so that I may earn myself more points and..)
Flat out spam (ksehhsak82?:82!£[>]€]^\>*]£\ dogs cats bananas lovely monkey blah blah)

Please remember that when you do this, not only are you hindering yourself, but you aren't helping the author at all. Also note that appropriate measures will be taken and consequences can range from a point reduction to a ban.

3. Always read the reviews that were submitted before you write yours.
Or skim if you'd like. As long as you see what they have already talked about. If person A and person B have already pointed out the grammar errors or the spelling mishaps, then you should focus more on the essence and plot of the work itself. Review after review about the same thing is rather tedious and does not help the author at all.

4. Always aim to keep your reviews on topic.
This should be a rather simple one. Don't start babbling on about something. If you would like to use a real life story as a reference, keep it short and to the point. Anything that goes off topic can be considered point scrounging.

5. Links are your friends.
Especially if you are trying to point out something but you're having trouble explaining it. Use the Internet and the Knowledge Base to your advantage! Always make sure you link to your sources when quoting an article you read off the site, to avoid plagiarism and copyright violations.

6. Always aim to keep the review positive.
When I say this, I don't mean to leave out the negative. Of course you need to point out nitpicks and weaknesses! What I mean is that you talk about the negative, but don't focus primarily on that. Talk about the positive as well. Avoid belittling or insulting the author's writing. What's the point in doing that? When you insult a writer, you take their attention away from your helpful comments and make them focus on the hurtful stuff.

7. Avoid copying long blocks of the work.
When focusing on something, like a specific comma splice or a typo, we copy the sentence itself, because the author needs to know which sentence we're talking about in order to fix it, right? While that is perfectly okay (and completely recommended), avoid copying whole blocks of a work. An example would be:

Lily takes the pen from my hand and smiles brightly. "You was right about him. He was just out to break my heart. Did you see the way he flirted with Janel? And I was right next to her! Like literally, right next to her. We were in the middle of discussing the play when he just came up out of nowhere and-"

And you basically quoted all that to talk about that one grammar error I marked in bold. Don't do it. It's distracting, it's useless stuff to add into your review, and, you guessed it, can be considered point scrounging.

8. The bb code is also your friend.
Use it to your advantage. When you want to quote something (small!) from the work, what better way that to quote it? When pointing out a grammar error, bold it so the author understands faster. Italicize for emphasis. Use color fonts when necessarily. Using the bb codes will help your review be easy to read and simple, and don't forget well put together! You can find a helpful list of available bb codes here .

9. Do not use chat speak.
Ever. At all. Don't be a hypocrite. You cannot expect the author to take into consideration your advice on their grammar when "u r tlkn lyk dis". Plus, it breaks número quatro in the site rules .

10. Always remember your basic guide.
Get your hands on the handy dandy YWS Critique Sandwich for whenever you are having a memory lapse or simply cannot put together a review without a guide. It is the simplest and easiest way to write up an honest, helpful review. Always read this whenever you need help!


I do hope this helps those of you who had any questions or are itching to sink your teeth into Review Day! Remember that you can always PM a site moderator with questions if you need any help.

UPDATE 00:00 GMT

The count down is tense. With just fifteen minutes remaining to the start of review day, neither team has been branded with their official team names, avatars, banners, or even officially received the power of their voted team leaders.

And not for lack of trying or decisions.

Team Red has voted @OliveDreams and @Blackwood as their team leaders, and the majority vote resulted in a team name of Rouge, which will be used in updates from here on out.

Team Blue, in the opposing corner, will be lead by @KittyCatMeow under the off-kilter name of YWS Default Background.

Though the decision may have eventually been made, that's not to say there wasn't trouble along the way. When @HighTop first suggested the team name YWS Default Background, it was meant as a joke, really. There was a certain charm, though that made members like @Hannah, @misstoria, and @Cailey get behind the idea.

Later, when it was clear that YWS Default Background was above and beyond any other suggestions as a front-runner, people started to get cold feet. @InfiniteSnowfall said, for example,






There was also some discussion about whether the name should include the word "Default", because it seemed to give off a negative connotation. We'll see how the "Defaulties" live up to their decision as the exciting day wears on.

Will they have enough strength to rise up and over power the tank-like power reviews of Knight @dragonfphoenix, whose non-review-day reviews this month number over 200? He's quite an imposing figure, posting words on his team's wall like,






The situation's looking grim for the YWS Default Background with that kind of vicious confidence staring them in the face. They have their own strength -- they are, literally, everywhere -- but is that enough to win today?

It looks to be another close race, the likes of Team Dory and Team Inc[red]ibles, where only a few hundred-point reviews separated the teams.

This day will have even more at stake than the last -- there's a Green Room full of works, which means plenty of works with 150 point reviews ripe for the taking. At press time,

There are 100 works with 0 reviews and 65 works with 1 review in the Green Room.

That's 39,750 points up for the taking. The only question left now is: which team will take it?

Stay tuned for more updates from your friendly neighborhood Squills team.

UPDATE 00:30 GMT

Well, the names and team leaders are now in place, and the battle is already raging like dragon fire. What's that? Did we reference a dragon? Yes, we did. With only thirty minutes time elapsed, YWS Default Background has taken an early lead.

We've covered over 25 reviews of the (altered) 750 review goal -- almost a review a minute among all active members.

And though in the first twenty or so minutes it looked as if the monster @dragonfphoenix was off the scene, you can see in the leader board stats that he's starting to creep up and set to take the top slot:

1. @OliveDreams has done 5 reviews
2. @Iggy has done 3 reviews
2. @Hannah has done 3 reviews
2. @Morticiansdaughter19 has done 3 reviews
2. @Cailey has done 3 reviews
6. @dragonfphoenix has done 2 reviews

You'll say, however, thanks to Squills, you knew when @OliveDreams, the team captain for Rouge, was dominating instead of the fierce monthly overall leader.

UPDATE 01:00 GMT

And, with the prediction power of someone other than a weather-man, the Squills team (and anyone else who's been paying attention) called it! With the addition of @dragonfphoenix to the team of active reviewers, Rouge has worked hard to close the early point lead that YWS Default Background had earned for themselves, and now stands barely in the lead.



Still, the game's not up yet.

Out of the shadows comes another strong contender: the second place member on the monthly leaderboard, @TheMessenger is actually ahead of Knight Dragon at press time. A battle of the knights. This'll be one for the history books!

1. @OliveDreams has done 10 reviews
2. @TheMessenger has done 8 reviews
3. @dragonfphoenix has done 6 reviews
4. @Iggy has done 5 reviews
4. @Cailey has done 5 reviews

Update: 04:39 GMT
Team Rouge: 12413
Team YWS Default Background: 11424

And the race continues on, with Team Rogue barely making it ahead by 1000-ish points! Team YWS Default Background struggles to catch up, despite the absence of their team leader, @KittyCatMeow.

Some of those troupers are growing weary, and with good reason! After 20 reviews, @themessenger calls it quits to get some well-deserved rest.

Despite a small mishap, the teams are back to being good sportsmen and are playfully exchanging banter and happy wall posts! Team Rouge's leader, @Blackwood, even told the opposite team they were doing a great job and should take a break. Is this comment genuine or is deception at play? Stay tuned!

And the stats currently read:

1. @DarkKnight9 has done 30 reviews
1. @dragonfphoenix has done 30 reviews
3. @TheMessenger has done 20 reviews
4. @OliveDreams has done 14 reviews
4. @Blackwood has done 14 reviews

Ties all around! Who will win, I wonder?

Update: 06:20 GMT
Team Rouge: 13219
Team YWS Default Background: 12791

Six hours into the day and many people have quit YWSing in favor of rest! These are the days that wear you out!

Currently, there are 28 works with 0 reviews and 51 works with 1 review in the Green Room so head on over for some extra points!

Team YWS Default Background's leader, @KittyCatMeow, has finally arrived! With the help of our own beloved @Hannah, she put up an avatar and banner to motivate the team. She's yet to do some reviews, but that should change soon.

@EloquentDragon and @dragonfphoenix have called it quits for now. Great job to those two powerhouses!

The stats are as follows:

1. @DarkKnight9 has done 34 reviews
2. @dragonfphoenix has done 30 reviews
3. @TheMessenger has done 20 reviews
4. @Blackwood has done 16 reviews
5. @OliveDreams has done 14 reviews

Seems those ties were broken! But still we see the same five users. Will someone come along to steal the gold? Perhaps @Hannah or @Deanie or maybe even @Nate himself! Stay tuned for more details!

UPDATE: 07:12 GMT

The competition is currently looking very tight, as members from both teams desperately try and rake up those reviews and points to get more ahead. Currently, the stats look like this:



So which team will be crowned winner? At this point with 1002 minutes to go, quite literally anything could happen! And who will come out as review day champion? @DarkKnight9 and @dragonfphoenix are currently dominating the leaderboards- as they have been doing all month really, along with @TheMessenger.

For exclusive Review Day info, keep updated on this thread! You can even 'subscribe' to it at the top so that you'll be notified every time there's a new update so that you don't have to keep checking here.

UPDATE *ahem* 00:47 GMT

Well, another review day has come and gone, and if you look at the line graph of today's intense battle, you'll see why Squills members were off contributing to their teams instead of stopping by the Live Feed:



There was no time to rest.

The day was hard going for a lot of reviewers. With a review day so intense the entire way through -- especially in the last hour when the teams were separated by no more than about two hundred points -- many team members were in danger of burn out, but pushed through for the greater good.

@SlushySlapped brings up a good point about just how much determination it took for some members to participate:





So right! Even with school, the amazing turnout of 85 reviewers was fantastic, especially considering tomorrow's a school or work day, depending on where you are in your life.

Some YWSers (ahem @Blackwood ahem) look at the result of the day and say,






Others take a more objective look at the loss of Team Rouge, including their front-runner and crowd favorite, @dragonfphoenix (for which, let me remind you, it was his first review day ever!):






@DrStrangelove was less concerned with winning and more concerned with a personal goal. Last review day, you might remember this member getting a bit upset when he thought he had made the 750th review, but it turned out after going through and marking reviews that had been mistakenly submitted as comments, that the stats showed otherwise. He says,






He mentions that he sat with a review ready to submit a the right time.

Let's talk just a little more about the recount effect.
If you take a look at this photo below, you'll see how the scores looked right at 00:00GMT:



And if you look at the next, you'll see a slight change after moderators went through to help clumsy or forgetful reviewers:



A forty-one point review was added to the total of Team Rouge. Now, it doesn't look like a lot. It barely changes anything, right? But imagine if that member had put a bit more effort into their review. Imagine if they had written a hundred point review -- taken up all 1,000 minimum required characters. You see how close it was, now?


Let's take a moment, before we go, to recognize someone that no one was expecting:



Indeed the Dark Knight out of the background, @DarkKnight9 blasted right up to the ranks with @dragonfphoenix and @TheMessenger and won, according to the official stats thread by Big Brother , the top typer award as well as coming in second in overall reviews. Truly a fantastic showing.

That's all from Squills for this month's review day. Until the next final Sunday as determined by the calendar. You've already marked October 27th, right?