Description Force!

[Torkie10]

Every so often I've tried to review since I know it's needed, but I often find myself at a loss for what to say that will be constructive… and/or I abstain because I'm not sure whether I really am feeling the "Approve" vibe. <__>

[Herk]

Sadly it's a bit too big to put here directly Edited September 19, 2014 by herk

[MessengerDragon]

Sadly it's a bit too big to put here directly

[Shelybear]

It reminded me. If we're talking about your/you're, its/it's and they're/there/their stuffs... do people always confuse "than" with "then" ? Mostly I think it should be a "than" but see "then" instead.

[Dimar]

Sometimes people do confuse it, yes, but not always. Many people do know the correct use of those words, thankfully!

 

Than = comparison

Then = referring to time, or used in an "if/then" statement

 

 

~Edit: Whoa, 407 replies and 21 pages into this thread. It feels like we only recently opened it so that's very weird to realize!

Edited September 19, 2014 by Dimar

[love_HP]

My, my, someone is making assumptions. =o

 

;p

At least TJ seems to be willing to put it on his calender...?

(Though a calender lasts for only this year so probably he's gonna need a few new calenders = a few years before desc mods )

[Dirtytabs]

Sadly it's a bit too big to put here directly

My face figuratively exploded from the text in the last panel. I'm glad I haven't seen the dreaded lately.

[purpledragonclaw]

I've been reviewing all day. Do we know how big the queue is now?

[Dimar]

I've been reviewing all day. Do we know how big the queue is now?

Sock ambiguously said that it's drawing closer to 10k. I'm not sure if I want to know anything more exact. >.<

 

You're doing better than me; I'm reviewing a little bit each day but at this rate it's not enough to catch up. I need a holiday where I don't have to worry about anything but reviewing!

[love_HP]

Sock ambiguously said that it's drawing closer to 10k. I'm not sure if I want to know anything more exact. >.<

 

You're doing better than me; I'm reviewing a little bit each day but at this rate it's not enough to catch up. I need a holiday where I don't have to worry about anything but reviewing!

Oh my.

That's not the highest DC has ever got...is it?

[Obscure_Trash]

Oh my.

That's not the highest DC has ever got...is it?

I distinctly remember the queue being around 30k - 40k when I was first modded. I could be misremembering though. Wouldn't be the first time...

 

~

 

Also general note but before I took down the lists and stuff, I did take my name off the list of mods to approve for a reason. Infinis or yosofine or ruby IIRC are all open to PMs. I am trying to plan time to go through the queue now that I am semi-settling down into grad school. Since I plan on trying to knock things out, I am not taking personal requests. I have had a few people ask. Please do not take it as a sleight. I love you all, but I just want to go through things in bulk. School is keeping me busier than I realized it would and I haven't even started research yet, so I have no solid timeline yet.

 

EDIT: Aha! After a little research, when I was first modded, the queue must have been somewhere around 25k - 30k. Terri and PF and I worked on the queue and then mostly Terri had some great ideas to make it go faster for mods. After those were implemented, I know for sure we had around 20k left to mod. So I think somewhere in the ballpark of 25k - 30k is a reasonable guess for then. I think that must be the biggest the queue was. When descriptions were first implemented it was mostly PF and TJ who did them. Then at some point, like happens to all of us, the queue overwhelmed them and it only grew until us new mods were finally added.

Edited September 24, 2014 by SockPuppet Strangler

[love_HP]

I distinctly remember the queue being around 30k - 40k when I was first modded. I could be misremembering though. Wouldn't be the first time...

 

~

 

Also general note but before I took down the lists and stuff, I did take my name off the list of mods to approve for a reason. Infinis or yosofine or ruby IIRC are all open to PMs. I am trying to plan time to go through the queue now that I am semi-settling down into grad school. Since I plan on trying to knock things out, I am not taking personal requests. I have had a few people ask. Please do not take it as a sleight. I love you all, but I just want to go through things in bulk. School is keeping me busier than I realized it would and I haven't even started research yet, so I have no solid timeline yet.

 

EDIT: Aha! After a little research, when I was first modded, the queue must have been somewhere around 25k - 30k. Terri and PF and I worked on the queue and then mostly Terri had some great ideas to make it go faster for mods. After those were implemented, I know for sure we had around 20k left to mod. So I think somewhere in the ballpark of 25k - 30k is a reasonable guess for then. I think that must be the biggest the queue was. When descriptions were first implemented it was mostly PF and TJ who did them. Then at some point, like happens to all of us, the queue overwhelmed them and it only grew until us new mods were finally added.

Wow, I never knew that TJ did description modding...

[Sundew]

I'd like to be a part of this. I've been reviewing during free time recently, usually 10-60 minutes a day. Most of the descriptions I've seen are pretty good, but I'm disappointed by how short many of them are.

[Lagie]

When you've read several hundred, you'll welcome the well-written short ones!

Welcome to the team!

 

*leaves brownies for everyone*

[love_HP]

I'd like to be a part of this. I've been reviewing during free time recently, usually 10-60 minutes a day. Most of the descriptions I've seen are pretty good, but I'm disappointed by how short many of them are.

Well, a short description doesn't equal a bad one~

 

Please note that descriptions do not have to be in-depth.

 

Oh, and thanks for the brownies, Lagie

Edited September 30, 2014 by love_HP

[Shelybear]

Bumping this for I personally don't have time to review recently but hope someone else can do it<3

 

Awwwwww our list keeps growing.

[Dimar]

Alright, so recently these two posts of Sock's in TLQ had me confused...

 

The guidelines no longer say anything about not alluding to real places, so that should be fine. As long as it fits in the setting of ~Medieval times.

There used to be a blurb in the guidelines, IIRC, about avoiding real world people (better wording) or something. Since that is not here anymore, a time appropriate figure should be okay to mention. It is things like Harry Potter people should really avoid saying. To be very safe, you could say your dragon likes Silliam Whakespeare or something if you want.

 

So I PM'ed her for clarification and wanted to post the response here (with permission):

 

Hi, I just want some clarification regarding description stuff. Because I've noticed that recently you've made posts in TLQ implying that it's acceptable to mention real-world places and time-appropriate people. I know people were always allowed to say the names of languages ("This dragon's name means flower in Spanish") and be vague about locations, but I feel like these posts are going beyond that and saying even specific mentions of RL stuff are okay.

 

So basically, is it now acceptable or not to say something like "This dragon is from Germany and is friends with Marco Polo," (or some other real dude from that era).

 

I'm just asking because those posts are confusing me a bit and I'm unsure of what to do in reviewing now, especially since some people often assume we're wrong. And a description writer did post recently scolding us for telling them they can't mention a real person.

 

The Two-Headed Lindwurm description says "moons", plural, so the older reviewers use that as an argument that DC is obviously not on Earth. Supposedly TJ said that it wasn't a mistake in the Grammar Patrol thread, but I can't find the post and he cleans out posts sometimes. And there's no clear DC-world canon to go off of.

 

So there's just a lot of conflict atm. Sorry for the long rant-ish post; I'm just trying to figure things out so I can explain things to people.

The reason we originally didn't allow real world references/cultural references was because it was originally in the description guidelines. I was inactive at the time TJ removed it and, tbh, when I came back, I didn't register that it was gone. But since it's no longer in the guidelines, I do not think it is fair for mods to reject based on it. I'm uncomfortable with it, I'd prefer if people didn't do it, but there's nothing in the guidelines that says they can't. Maybe those people exist in DC, maybe they don't. But nothing on the site says yes/no either way. xP

 

So, make of that what you will. I just wanted to provide an update. I know it's kinda... weird, and totally against what we've been doing before. But personally I prefer to review closely to the criteria the mods are using, or at least the best I can guess, to try to avoid inconsistencies and having reviews challenged by writers. So I guess we'll see.

 

Would be awesome to get some real solid canon about the actual world of DC. Dunno if the Encyclopedia would even cover that, though.

 

 

 

~eta: I'm exhausted and stressed, so apologies in advance if there's any confusion or bad wording on my part. Brain's working at about half the usual strength. x3

Edited October 4, 2014 by Dimar

[love_HP]

One question:

"I know people were always allowed to say the names of languages" does that mean "real" languages only? Like French or German, compared to Saurian or Klingon. (I know none of Klingon, I was just curious.)

[Herk]

Actually made-up languages are far better than real ones to me (although I would avoid cleraly SF-connotated ones such as Klingon). I ONLY use made up languages/names of languages when I have to name a language such as "Draconian" as my standard "dragon speak"

[Dirtytabs]

Wow, I never knew that TJ did description modding...

Ooh, that means my oldest dragons' descriptions could've been read by the site creator himself. Wow.

 

 

What are your opinions on dragons' magical abilities? If it's mentioned in the breed description that a dragon has magic skill, then great. If descriptions/creators' info don't mention whether or not the breeds can use magic, do you assume they can/can't?

[Herk]

Ooh, that means my oldest dragons' descriptions could've been read by the site creator himself. Wow.

 

 

What are your opinions on dragons' magical abilities? If it's mentioned in the breed description that a dragon has magic skill, then great. If descriptions/creators' info don't mention whether or not the breeds can use magic, do you assume they can/can't?

If it's not EXPLICITLY stated they DON'T have magic (Vines for example) I usually assume they DO have magics - they are DRAGONS after all, highly magical creatures

[Sundew]

Essentially what Herk said: if not having magic is notable enough to be included in a breed description, I'd assume having magic is average in itself. Some dragons have more powerful magic as Silvers and Luminas have prettier scales, but other dragons are still pretty and magical without it being exclusively mentioned.

[Obscure_Trash]

One question:

"I know people were always allowed to say the names of languages" does that mean "real" languages only? Like French or German, compared to Saurian or Klingon. (I know none of Klingon, I was just curious.)

I wouldn't accept things like Saurian or Klingon since those are era-specific and too modern a reference for DC. Or I wouldn't mean to, anyway. People would have to say something like "a foreign language" or "an alien language" or just "in another language" or something.

 

What are your opinions on dragons' magical abilities? If it's mentioned in the breed description that a dragon has magic skill, then great. If descriptions/creators' info don't mention whether or not the breeds can use magic, do you assume they can/can't?

 

From a mod perspective, I don't count anything against breed description unless it is specifically mentioned in the description that the dragon has/doesn't have or does/does it.

 

From a personal standpoint, I prefer to think of all dragons as having at least some level of magical ability.

[Sundew]

On the scroll, there is no “I,” there is no clear speaker. Thus, it makes no sense to use first person. Some might deduce that the scroll owner is the one talking, but not everyone will, and some people write their descriptions from the dragon’s perspective. Every other description on a dragon’s info page is in 3rd person, and spontaneous shifts between two points of view are frowned upon as awkward and confusing.

What about second person point of view? I'm running across a few of these and don't know whether or not to reject them--I think third person point of view is the clearest choice, but the guidelines don't explicitly address second POV. Can descriptions told in 2nd POV be approved, or is it just third person?

[HawktalonOfRiverClan]

What about second person point of view? I'm running across a few of these and don't know whether or not to reject them--I think third person point of view is the clearest choice, but the guidelines don't explicitly address second POV. Can descriptions told in 2nd POV be approved, or is it just third person?

No. The rule is 3rd person-only. Which basically means you can't use the words "you" and "your" but indirect second person is alright (such as commands like "Don't make this dragon mad.") I do have a couple that have slipped by with parts in second person, but entire descriptions written from that POV have always been rejected.

 

Honestly I think second-person should be allowed because most of the Cave text is written like that (including several hatchling descriptions, so it's rather silly IMO to not allow it for the sake of continuity on dragons' pages). Though I'd like to hear a mod's opinion on this. There might be another reasoning for not allowing it.