Description Force!

[Rally Vincent]

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?

Use the british 'one' instead of 'you' if you don't want to limit yourself too much. E.G.:

 

"One would have to be crazy to wake this dragon before noon."

 

 

A general 'you' should IMO be allowed because it is not 'talking to someone', but save yourself the trouble.

[Obscure_Trash]

Actually, quite a while ago, we talked about this with TJ and the conclusion we came to was "accept you if it's used correctly", so we do allow general use of you. Just hard to tell since we're so behind in reviewing.

[Lagie]

General you (allowed in moderation) as in "He's a bit grumpy if you wake him up before his alarm," versus the specific you (not allowed) as in "You walk along the path and you see a large dragon in your way. You wake him only to find he's very grumpy because you roused him before his alarm"!

 

 

 

[Obscure_Trash]

^ Yes. ^^

[HawktalonOfRiverClan]

Actually, quite a while ago, we talked about this with TJ and the conclusion we came to was "accept you if it's used correctly", so we do allow general use of you. Just hard to tell since we're so behind in reviewing.

Ooh really? Good to know. Thanks for the clarification, Sock!

[JavaTigress]

I have a question for you description reviewers.

 

Would mention of ninjas in a description be acceptable? OR are references to real world cultures at all unallowed? I have a shimmer from 'Gilded Ninja' that I'd like to describe but I wanted to find out the policy on that before I started.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Silverswift

[Herk]

Since there are tons of ninja chickens out there I'd say it's fine

[JavaTigress]

Since there are tons of ninja chickens out there I'd say it's fine

XDDDDD

 

You are right at that. I had TOTALLY forgotten about them. Might be funny if he can see them/believes in them or something.

[Aniusia483]

I posted my descriptions before summer if I remember well, and they're still not accepted(nor rejected). I had them verified on prof-read forum and it seemed I got the final versions, but this is a few months and they've not beem getting new feedback for quite a while by now and seems they won't get(I mean in the game, not forums).

Do you have any brief idea when they might be finally moderated?

I'm afraid I'll summon my 2nd GoN before that happens

 

BTW it's very irritating that very minor edits are not possible to make without refreshing the whole process and it starts from 0 again... Or that people(members) checking can't edit the description in a kind of 'I edit, you approve my edit or reject it but the process doesn't start again unless you decided otherwise' way.

Is that possible for the moderators to make edits or they can just approve or decline the thing without any possible access to modify it? If they can't that would be very handy if they could.

Edited October 17, 2014 by Aniusia483

[pinkgothic]

I posted my descriptions before summer if I remember well, and they're still not accepted(nor rejected). I had them verified on prof-read forum and it seemed I got the final versions, but this is a few months and they've not beem getting new feedback for quite a while by now and seems they won't get(I mean in the game, not forums).

Do you have any brief idea when they might be finally moderated?

I'm afraid I'll summon my 2nd GoN before that happens

 

BTW it's very irritating that very minor edits are not possible to make without refreshing the whole process and it starts from 0 again... Or that people(members) checking can't edit the description in a kind of 'I edit, you approve my edit or reject it but the process doesn't start again unless you decided otherwise' way.

Is that possible for the moderators to make edits or they can just approve or decline the thing without any possible access to modify it? If they can't that would be very handy if they could.

I don't think there've been any approvals at all (short of ones where moderators were directly approached about individual descriptions by their authors) since April. That's half a year. I don't think anyone knows when approvals will be a thing again, but statements have been made that the description review process (which is currently regrettably part of the problem) will receive several(?) updates soon. Maybe that will get the description approval train unstuck.

 

Regarding editing descriptions, yeah, the actual moderators can edit descriptions, but as far as I know it's an all or nothing deal - either it's changed and accepted, or it's rejected. I've got two descriptions where spelling was changed from the British variant that I use to the American variant in the approved description, much to my chagrin, so there's that for evidence. But, no, seriously - small fixes by the actual mods happen frequently enough from what I can tell, assuming a small fix is all it needs for something to meet the guidelines. A small, near-insignificant typo (or mistaken typo, cough) would probably more likely be fixed by the approving mod than the description rejected, I think? I'm not entirely sure about the probabilities based on past behaviour, herk and Dimar can probably give you better guesstimates here.

[Lagie]

If there's a single simple correction, I point it out and Accept the description. If there are several, I'll point them out and Abstain.

[Denwayasha]

I don't think there've been any approvals at all (short of ones where moderators were directly approached about individual descriptions by their authors) since April.

I, personally, have had exactly one. I can't remember precisely when I wrote her description, but I do know it was after April. Though at the same time, I also have a description with a lot of Accepts (no Abstains or Rejects) and comments that's been "Awaiting Moderation" since last year. (Yes, I know some of the mods can be PMd to approve descriptions, but I don't want to bug them since I have 43 pending descriptions. )

 

But yes, hopefully the description process gets updated to go more smoothly. ^-^ (And I also hope that 'Description Marker' suggestion is implemented~ Because I want to read other's descriptions without searching their whole scroll, dangnabbit! :| *ahem*)

 

As far as reviewing goes, I'm afraid I'm rather permissive when it comes down to it. .-. Personally I Accept if there are just a few spelling/grammar errors and point them out. If there are more, but the description is okay otherwise, I Abstain with corrections, but unless the description is practically illegible or glaringly doesn't fit the breed/DC's time period, I rarely Reject.

[Obscure_Trash]

Is that possible for the moderators to make edits or they can just approve or decline the thing without any possible access to modify it? If they can't that would be very handy if they could.

Yes, but keep in mind that we're somewhere under but closeish to 10k. When I finally go through and moderate, it will go a lot quicker if members have made their own corrections. Making corrections myself is time consuming (also with such a backlog, if there's a couple and not just one, I am liable to copy'pasta a line about making the suggested corrections and rejecting so that I can get through descriptions faster).

 

Don't be afraid to resubmit. There's such a big backlog right now, you're really in no better or worse position for approval if you resubmit or don't. =U

[azazelbunny]

Hey everybody, just letting you guys know that I'm going to be reviewing again! I spent a good chunk of time away from the forum and merely dabbling in the cave, but I'm pretty much back now. I had a big, stressful test to take and now that it's done, I feel I can breathe a bit easier.

 

So yes, hello, I am back friends.

[Lagie]

Welcome back!

 

I've been doing a few reviews each evening, doubt I'll ever get to the end of the queue, though!

 

*leaves brownies for all the reviewers*

[dreamtosleep]

Working on reviewing, done 20 tonight, good start.

[love_HP]

I am sure the new encyclopedia will give us new ideas on descriptions!

[dreamtosleep]

*Eats Lagie's brownies*

 

not sure if this is OP or not, since it DID break, but I can re-submit it.

 

Tonitrua is known for his incredible ability to harmonize with thunder and lightning, earning him the name of "Stormsinger" which was later added to his actual name, Thus, creating Tonitrua Stormsinger. He was a kind and noble dragon, always helping, always caring. Unless attacked. Then he would transform into a raging monster. All feared him, and yet all loved him. Then one day, the mother of a son that he had saved from starving gave him the Eye of Onyx, one of the most powerful jewels on the planet. It corrupted him. He had been trained under the strict rule of the highest fighting dragon, making him one of the most dangerous dragons in the land. All that bored him, all that cursed him, were utterly destroyed by the power of the Eye of Onyx. Then one unremarkable day, he dropped the eye on the ground, smashing it to pieces. Suddenly, like having a veil lifted off his eyes, he could see the destruction that he had created. He had no place. So he went away...

 

I did not INTEND to make it this sad, but it kinda wrote itself.

Edited October 22, 2014 by EmmaD333

[Dimar]

One more concern... I frequently write descriptions, and have quite a few approved. If the descriptions that have been approved conflict with new information in the encyclopedia, will something need to be done? Will new descriptions I write have to be accurate and consider the new information in the encyclopedia?

We're just going to be going off the view page description. Makes it easier on all of us. And hopefully nothing on the encyclopedia will conflict that much with anything anyone's come up with already, anyway. =p

 

I'm just quoting this here because the bit about "new descriptions" is relevant to reviewing and was brought up in IRC today. This is pretty much what I expected: no need to become excessively strict about extra tidbits of information that not everyone has access to. The view page description is most important. Just something to keep in mind.

[Sundew]

I love the new trivia about our dragons--description ideas galore! And even better that we won't have to strictly abide by them.

 

Out of curiosity: How long do you guys usually make your descriptions? I usually try for at least 500+ characters, but most of my recent descriptions have been only a few characters away from the limit, excluding one or two two or three sentence descriptions.

 

As far as reviewing goes... recently I've been getting more strict/harsh with my reviews. I usually accept only if it's perfect, kind of--or something I would feel comfortable approving if I was a moderator myself. One typo is okay, but gets a note. Two typos, an abstain. I usually reject if it's four or more.

 

Mm, would people here accept a review that just said something about the owner acquiring the dragon? I came across one today and wasn't sure what to review it. It was something like "Cloolnecs (spelled that way on purpose) is what happens when his owner finally gets a male Black dragon."

Name has been changed--I honestly just ended up refreshing the page and going to another description. I'd liked to have rejected it, but couldn't think of a way to phrase why.

[Lagie]

My descriptions vary in length, from fairly short, to having to be edited to fit the 1,000 character limit. It all depends on the dragon and what story they want me to tell!

 

Sometimes, when I'm stumped, I abstain without comment. I don't have a problem with people referring to how they acquired a dragon/egg, but your example one is rather odd.

[Dimar]

I tend to get really close to the limit on the rare occasions when I do write descriptions. Unfortunately, excessive wordiness is part of my general writing style so that's part of the reason! That can be either good or bad, since it's a lot to read.

 

As for that description, I would tell the person to give more detail about what they're trying to say. Obviously they mean they finally got a Black dragon and bred the dragon being described, but there's just not enough there to make a story or description.

[Emeraldmay]

I write long...like 900 charracters plus. I kinda see it as a challenge But I always freak out about the quality over quantity debate, even though writing more doesn't mean it's worse.

[Dirtytabs]

I've made one that took up all 1000 characters, but they are rarely that long. (In fact, the shortest approved description I have is my oldest dragon's, 12 words long.) I just write at a length I think is necessary. When I review, I might come across a description that is 600 characters long and still doesn't adequately describe the creature, so it depends.

 

That one for the black dragon I would reject and say it isn't descriptive of the dragon. Something like that. I have trouble explaining in the comments why a description like "This is [owner]'s first [x]!" (and just that) is problematic and just ask them to come to the forum if they want.

Edited October 24, 2014 by dirtytabs

[Stormphoenix42]

Lately most of mine have required massive editing to make it under the 1000 character limit... I spend too much time thinking about stories for some of them, there's no way to fit it all in. I've written at least one that's exactly 1000, and others within 2-5 characters of it. Occasionally shorter ones get written, but those don't tell much of a story.

 

Tl;dr Storm has an overactive imagination.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Stormphoenix42