Wanderer D 5,501 followers · 65 stories

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  • 111 weeks
    SA: The Last Round

    "So, what do you think, Corejo?" Wanderer D asked, politely showing off the stack of papers in his claw.

    The burlap sack with the printed (in color!) face of Corejo remained silent.

    "I see, yes, yes!" Wanderer D cackled. "Ahahaha! Yes! I agree! This story should do fine! So, who's reviewing it? RT?"

    The sack that had the picture of RTStephens on it tilted just enough for a single potato to roll onto the table.

    "And we have two! Alright, team, I expect you all to figure out who's doing the next one, okay? Let's not keep the readers waiting!" He glanced expectantly at the several sacks with pictures around him. "Alright! Dismissed."

    "Sir?"

    "Ah, intern. Is that my coffee?" Wanderer D took the proffered mug and downed the contents in one go. "Excellent! No time to rest! We have to edit what the guys just handed to me."

    Read More

    110 comments · 8,838 views
  • 133 weeks
    SA: Round 186

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    The Dodge Junction train ramp was not where Floydien expected to be part of a reunion.

    He especially didn’t expect it to happen four times in a row.

    “Wait, Winter? What are you doing here?”

    Winter’s eyebrows raised. “On Summer vacation. What about you?”

    “Uh, same.”

    “Guys!”

    The two Angels looked to where the voice came from. Cynewulf came running up to them, a wide brimmed sunhat and sunglasses adorning her head. “Fancy meeting you two here!”

    Floydien scratched his head. “Same. Are you on vacation too?”

    “Yep! Had a blast down on the Horseshoe Bay coast.”

    “Well, ain’t this something!”

    All turned to the fourth voice. Knight strode up, his body decked out in fishing gear, complete with a fishing pole balanced over his shoulder. “Haven’t seen so many of us in one spot since vacation started.”

    Read More

    12 comments · 4,637 views
  • 148 weeks
    SA: Round 185

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    Winter and Knight stared out at the bleak townscape. All around them, the fires raged unchecked as Ponyville's former occupants stumbled mindlessly about, their undead faces ravaged by rot and decay as they moaned for sustenance. Knight turned to Winter.

    "Ready to go?"

    Winter nodded and shifted a backpack. "Got everything with me. I guess it's now or never."

    Knight gave a wry smile. "That's the spirit. You do have your reviews, right?"

    "Of course!" he said, patting his chest. "Right here."

    Knight nodded and said, "Alright, here's the plan: we stick to the shadows as much as possible. From what I can tell, their eyesight isn't that good, but their sense of smell is excellent. We just have to stay upwind."

    Read More

    10 comments · 4,256 views
  • 155 weeks
    SA: Round 184

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    “I see. Alright, I’ll let him know.”

    Intern twisted a dial on the small mechanical piece attached to his ear, retracting a blue, see-through visor from across his face. He turned to Floydien, crossing his arms. “It’s confirmed. Generation 5 is on its way. Season 2 of Pony Life is just around the corner. And the series finale of Equestria Girls was scrapped for a holiday special.”

    Floydien lifted an eyebrow. “And, what does that mean for us?”

    Read More

    10 comments · 4,412 views
  • 159 weeks
    SA: Round 183

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    Over their heads the flak guns peppered the sky. The planes roared and sputtered. The clouds were dark, heavy with the child that was war. It was all noise.


    Cynewulf looked around the bend. “You know, I’ve been reading old fics. Remember Arrow 18?”


    Floydien slipped—a Floydien slipped—One Floydien came through the fractured time in the lower levels of the Sprawling Complex. “Uh, human in Equestria?”


    “Yeah. You know, we were probably too mean about those.”


    “They were terrible. I mean some of them. I guess a lot of everything is terrible.”


    “Well, yes. But anyway, I was reading it, and it occurred to me that what I liked about it was that it felt optimistic in the way that Star Trek was optimistic. It felt naive, but in a way one wanted to emulate. To regress back into it.”


    “Uh, that sounds nice?”

    Read More

    7 comments · 5,918 views
  • 164 weeks
    SA: Round 182

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    “Okay, Winter, hit it!”

    Winter pulled a lever that ignited a rocket placed underneath the communal Christmas Tree. The tree blasted through a cylindrical hole and out into the skies beyond. It only took seconds for the tree to become a tiny red dot against the blue sky.

    Winter stepped away from the control panel and down to where Intern was standing behind a fifty-five millimeter thick glass wall. “We could have just picked up the base and tossed it in the garbage bin outside, you know.”

    Intern scoffed. “Yeah, we could, or we can go over the top in a comedic and entertaining manner that leads into our reviews.”

    “You’re getting all meta, now.”

    “Exactly! On to the reviews!”

    ROUND 182

    Read More

    6 comments · 7,948 views
  • 169 weeks
    SA: Round 181

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    For the first time in the year that he worked there, FanficFan finally experienced quiet in the Seattle’s Angels Compound. All the other reviewers had gone home for the holidays, leaving him and Intern to submit the last round of reviews of the year. However, with Intern off on an errand, FanficFan was left alone.

    With stories ready to be read by his partner, all the reviewer could really do was wander around the empty building, taking in all the holiday decorations left behind from the Office Christmas Party a few days prior, like office space holiday knick-knacks, lights strown about the ceiling and wreaths on nearly every door. Plus, there was some leftover cookies and egg nog, so that was nice. 

    Read More

    8 comments · 6,354 views
  • 173 weeks
    SA: Round 180

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    Cynewulf lay in a grassy field. This was a curious occurrence, as the Seattle Angel’s Dyson Sphere-esque compound basement labyrinth did not usually have grass. 


    But like she had many times before, she’d been teleported here, and whether or not the sky above her was real or not, she didn’t mind. The grass was nice, and the wind was nice, and whatever happened happened.
    f

    There was a great crash and Corejo stumbled into the grass to her right.

    “Oh, god, are we out? How did—”

    “No clue. I suspect that it’ll just take us back anyhow. Did you have the reviews? The machine came for me a few days ago, so I’ve got mine.”


    “I… Uh, I was late. I mean, we both are, unless you’ve been here for days.”

    Read More

    9 comments · 8,117 views
  • 177 weeks
    SA: Round 179

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    Winter peered cautiously out the corner of the broken window, surveying the damage outside. He turned to his companion.

    "Looks like we're trapped in here," he said quietly.

    Intern grunted and adjusted the bandage on his arm. "Nothing we haven't gone through before." He looked up at Winter. "Got your reviews?"

    Winter nodded and patted his chest pocket. "Right here, where they're safe." He turned and looked once more out the window. "Now, it's simply a matter of getting through all those ponies." Winter shuddered as he took in the horrors before him.

    Read More

    10 comments · 5,219 views
  • 180 weeks
    SA: Round 178

    Seattle's Angels is a group that promotes good stories with low views. You can find us here.


    Matthew stumbled through the basement, crouching low to avoid all the pipes on the ceiling. Floydien hadn’t told him much, just that it was extremely important, had nothing to do with Intern, and to take the last fire door on the left.

    After what seemed like eternity in an instant, Matthew finally came to said fire door, damp with sweat and condensation. He carefully undid the latch and opened it with one arm raised just in case of any traps. Only to be greeted with the sounds of maniacal but joyous laughter as he spotted Floydien sitting in the center of the room surrounded by thousands of stacks of papers.

    “I found it!” Floydien said, tossing a stapled pack of papers to Matthew. “I finally found the answer. The answer to all of our questions. To our very existence!”

    Read More

    4 comments · 4,516 views
Nov
27th
2016

Story Reviews » Round Robin Reviews # 17 · 7:27pm Nov 27th, 2016

The Royal Guard—Thanks for All The Fish Edition

Every few weeks, we’ve recommended six high-quality stories from a variety of authors and popular genres. From action/adventure to slice of life, from drama to comedy, from stories about ponies kissing to stories involving pink hairless apes, we featured a wide variety of stories so that every post had something for everyone.


However, over the past months, a sad fact has become increasingly clear: we at the Royal Guard are tired. It’s been fun, and I don’t think any of us regret the good times we’ve had or the reviews we’ve done... but none of us has the time, energy, and motivation to continue. So, I’m sorry to say that the Royal Guard is shutting down.


What this means, in particular:


–We will no longer be looking at submissions, and those stories still in our queue will not be processed. I’m sincerely sorry, but there are more than a hundred to deal with and we don’t have the manpower, womanpower, or power in general to pull it off. On behalf of all of us, I’d like to extend my humble apologies to those who have submitted their stories.


–We will do one final group post before this year is over, in our group's forum. It will feature every story we’ve approved, but not yet posted in our group.


All that being said, we wanted to finish this thing properly. So, one last time, here’s six of the best stuff that’s been submitted to us!


… wait, did I say six? Silly me. You see, we’ve got quite a few stories in our backlog: stories that have been approved and posted in our group, but not posted to the site. These stories have met all the same standards as the others we post: they’re just as amazing, so it seemed a shame to leave them out… which is why we aren’t. After the six stories with blurbs, you’ll find a list of all the other stories we’d have liked to feature some day. They don’t have blurbs (we didn’t have time, but let’s be honest, this sitepost would be way too big if they did), but they do have the same quality of writing you can expect from every story we approve.

NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO... STORIES!



ACTION/ADVENTURE



PR Recommendation: There's something about epic quests, bands of rogueish heroes, and an encounter with unprecedented danger that really grabs one's attention and makes them want to hold on for the ride to come. And it definitely helps when there's a bit of humor in there, to boot. Such is the tale of Epic Unicorn History, a story about unlikely friends, about strange misadventures, and most definitely about grandious beards.

It's an interesting mix, to be sure, but one that's handled with no less care, attention to detail, and self-awareness than any other well-read adventure. Incredibly well-written, and an impressive balance of amusing and adventuring—honestly, I think Present Perfect outdid himself with this. —Daikatana



DRAMA



PR Recommendation: As a writer, when should you break "the rules"?

It's a tough question, perhaps one of the toughest. They say "rules are made to be broken", but let's be honest: most of the time, breaking the rules doesn't help. Throw aside the laws of grammar, and you're more likely to come out with "My Immortal" than you are "Ulysses". Then again, on the other hand, too-strict adherence to the rules can make them a trap, rather than a structure. Sometimes a story needs to be unconventional to succeed.

So, when should you break the rules? In my opinion, only when you're damn sure you know what you're doing.

Fahrenheit, author of Trial by Fire, knows what they are doing. This short but intense story about Spitfire's first flight is repetitive (with the oft-repeated line "she is fire"). It doesn't have any dialogue, except for the italicized lines it puts in (parentheses) or [square brackets]. It's repetitive. It starts off by telling us, the reader, that "the sky is blue". And it's even repetitive!

At face value, these sound like ridiculous mistakes, but the way Fahrenheit uses these "mistakes" brings the whole piece together into something dream-like and impressionistic. Spitfire's unusual point of view is elucidated in an almost psychedelic fashion, and perhaps the story couldn't have worked at all otherwise.

To sum up, Trial by Fire is a work as daring as the filly who is its subject, and a reminder to all of us that sometimes, we all need to break a rule or two. —R5h



ROMANCE



PR Recommendation: Reading this story, two things should come to mind: the first is that it was written prior to Season Six, which from what I have heard, had a whole episode dedicated to the past of Rich and Spoiled framed via Applejack's narration. The second thing is that this story sets out to humanize (equanize?) Spoiled in such a way that readers find her intriguing, as compared to what had been previously shown in the show.

With that out of the way, on to the story proper.

"And yet, What Riches Still Await" is a story that focuses less on events taking place in the present, (though they are still portrayed as being meaningful) and more on a curiosity about the future. In the course of 6K plus words, the author manages to turn a character that up until that point was (and in some cases, even to this day remains) shunned for her 'mightier than thou' attitude and lack of redeemable qualities, and turns her into a three-dimensional character whose motives are understandable, and whose goals can be cheered for. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that the Spoiled we do see in the show is rather deplorable, but this story provides the necessary window for understanding just why she turns out how she does.

Characters are framed and portrayed rather wonderfully, with Rich being the no-lying, confident and down to earth kind of individual who speaks what he means and means what he speaks. Spoiled lives up to their namesake at first, but some of her more endearing qualities (who knew she had those) manage to shine through her rather devious initial goals. The story being mostly a back and forth between the two characters really allows us to get a good look at the future couple. That, in turn, lets us ask how things would turn up in the not-so-distant future. —Garnot



COMEDY



PR Recommendation: Leave it to a changeling infiltrator to refer to Princess Celestia as “the old lady.”

Enter a fine example of how to do a lighthearted changling story right.

I consider this one less of an adventure and more of a hilarious thrill ride: breathtakingly wild, and over way too quickly. The story’s brevity makes the already witty prose razor sharp. The character voices, both canon and original, are a joy. Whatever you might find commonplace about a changeling spy in Canterlot, rest assured that this is a fresh take on the concept. Like any good thrill ride, as soon as its over you’ll want to scroll to the top and start all over again. —BlazzingInferno



SLICE OF LIFE



PR Recommendation: Daring Do is a truly unique member of MLP canon: part Indiana Jones, part J. K Rowling, part Rainbow’s Ego Incarnate, and, as Twilight put it, completely unstoppable. In Collaborators, Baal Bunny accomplishes something truly dazzling by of crafting a story that’s so perfectly mainstream MLP and yet so suited to its heroine. Daring Do is about to face her greatest challenge yet: surviving a friendship lesson with none other than her arch nemesis, the dreaded Ahuizotl.

Collaborators is a Daring Do adventure of a different stripe. It’s a story of trust, backstories, and friendship with two larger-than-life characters that even within canon-proper stretch the MLP’s diverse world at the steams. This is character building and pony fanfiction at its absolute best. —BlazzingInferno



HUMAN



PR Recommendation: Fanfiction's a beautiful thing, ain't it? The way it can do things canon never could or would, from putting characters in far-off settings they could never reach, to making the impossible pairing possible. (Starlight x Ember for life, yo.) However, it's important to recognize that while these bold breaks from canon can yield awesome results, a subtle touch can create something just as sublime.


Which brings me to Grand Moff Pony's story, Pegasus, which features a different version of Rainbow Dash than what we normally see (and I'm not just saying that because this is Rainbow Dash from Equestria Girls). You see, this is EqG Rainbow Dash after the events of the first movie, and she's contemplative. Contemplative in the face of learning there's a version of her that can fly.


The thing is, if this were a story about Twilight contemplating for 3000 words, or Rarity or Fluttershy, it probably wouldn't have the same impact. With Dash, though, it's something novel to see her lost in thought. That, combined with the all around good writing of the story, makes this piece a delicious, short-but-sweet morsel. —R5h



And the rest!



Dawn, by Titanium Dragon
My Father Used to Say, by nightwalker
The Stars Will Aid in Her Escape, by dragonjek
Red Apples, by billymorph
Spring Cleaning, by Pascoite
The Night Rages On, by Overload
The Poetry of Politics, by Pascoite
The Perfect Cure for the Common Cold, by Titanium Dragon
Friend of a Not-So-Different Stripe, by Pascoite
The Price of a Smile, by Trick Question
Scald, by Casca
Dinky vs. the Moon, by Dubs Rewatcher
In the Absence of Sunset Shimmer, by MyHobby
A Wish for the Ages, by Pascoite
Raven, by SaintChoc
Button Goulash, by PresentPerfect
How the Half-Naked Santa Saved Christmas, by Dubs Rewatcher
Griffon Scones, by M E Lovecolt
Hearth’s Warming Turkey, by Titanium Dragon
As He Lay Dying, by Titanium Dragon
Treehouse, by PresentPerfect
Displacement, by Bad Horse
Plainswalker, by burraku_pansa



It’s been swell, it really has. Farewell!

Report Wanderer D · 3,804 views ·
Comments ( 50 )

Have you not thought about just hiring extra admins? I'm sure loads would be willing

I'm sorry to see this end, but thanks for all you've done. :twilightsmile:

Farewell. Thank you all for your time and hard work. :eeyup:

Yay! I got a mention! :yay:

I can't link the story because I'm on my phone, but still yay. It's great when something you do that be enjoyed by others.

Srsly you guys will be missed. Maybe you could put up an index of all the stories you've done on the main page someday? That'd make it much easier to browse a history of your suggestions, for those of us (okay, me) too busy to read most of the time. :twilightsmile:

I really hate to see you guys go, and I'm hella thankful for all the kind comments you've given over the past year or so, although I gotta admit... it's a little bit funny/telling/etc to look at the list of accepted stories and realize that it's basically the same five people over and over :derpyderp2:

I will miss your posts, I greatly appreciated them.:fluttercry:

Thank you for all the work you have put into this project.

Wanderer D
Moderator

It's been real, guys. Thanks for putting the hours and effort that you did into sharing with us all of these.

Does this mean this site is gonna end?

4319482
That is an issue when you rely on self-submission, aye. It's a similar problem to what EqD suffers with.

4319492
Pardon?

4319495 oh if I said somthing stupid never mind I dont know who is in charge of it and when I saw this post I got concerned. If I'm wrong then sorry in advance

Thanks for all you've done. Could you maybe please make an index post of all the recommendation posts?

Fare thee well.

Perhaps one of us would make a spiritual successor in the future.

It has been a good run. Stay awesome!:moustache::rainbowdetermined2:

Raise your hand if you saw this coming...

I'm kinda amazed you didn't end it earlier, to be frank.

Ah well, was enjoyable while it lasted. Godspeed.

~Skeeter The Lurker

Just get a few new admins. There must be hundreds of capable people around here.

Hope this site continues long after you are gone!

Wanderer D
Moderator

I'm starting to feel like I should underline and italicize "The Royal Guard" in addition to the bold so people stop assuming the site's closing down.

4319609

I'm starting to feel like I should underline and italicize "The Royal Guard" in addition to the bold so people stop assuming the site's closing down.

Wait, the site's closing down? But I haven't finished my masterpiece yet! :trollestia:
(people tend to skim a lot and overlook important details . . . you should know that.)

Definitely sorry to see the project go. I've gotten some of my better reads out of it, so the appropriate thing to say is *groveling* please don't leave us! thank you for all the hard work and effort you put in and know that you made a huge difference. :twilightsmile:

4319609

You expected people to actually read these things correctly?

Wow.

~Skeeter The Lurker

God fucking dammit. I understand real-life and such but... I wanted to get in. I wanted to try and get accepted. And now I'm never gonna have the chance. Again.

Hap

Well... maybe now my RiL won't keep outpacing my reading time.

4319471
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It isn't that easy, guys. We tried for a long time to expand the roster, but there just aren't many people interested in helping out.

4319742 that really is a shame :applejackunsure:

4319566
4319471
Every single post, we have left a comment in the intro about how anyone can apply to join. About how we need people to apply. The sad fact is that (and I'm guilty of this too) most people who applied in the last 18 months only managed to put in a small amount of work for the Guard before becoming completely overrun by life commitments or other interests. Some began working ridiculous hours to maintain their income, others continuously had college and other education, I myself suddenly found myself looking after young twin boys full time. These are just some situations.

It got to the point where we really only had two active PRs: R5h and BlazzingInferno. Try as they might, they couldn't find solid new staff that actually had free time and a drive to grade the stories, and they ended up shouldering most of the burden themselves. It's just something we tried to but couldn't avoid. Props to those guys for keeping the ship afloat as long as they did. :rainbowdetermined2:

In all honesty, I'm surprised and impressed you lasted as long as you did. The folk at EQD have talked recently about how the load on their pre-readers may not be sustainable much longer. Over here, Twilight's Library couldn't keep things going -- different quality standards to you guys of course, but the same basic problem. Probably the future lies in Soviet Russia style collections (ie they submit you) along the lines of the RCL.

None of my own stories ever made the grade for TRG, and I'm a little sad that however much I improve none of them ever will now... but you've featured some truly wonderful writing over the years, and I wouldn't have wanted to be without that as a source of fine pony fiction. Thanks for all the hard work, guys... now breathe.

Wanderer D
Moderator

4319848 Well, there's always Seattle's Angels.

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

Fare thee well, TRG, we hardly knew ye. :B Also, thxu for shouts on Goulash and Treehouse. :D

4319609
Mr. D! How do you respond to accusations that you have staged a coup against knighty with the sole purpose of shutting this site down?

Wanderer D
Moderator

4319904 Lies and defamations! Obvious attempts to undermine the good work we perform here!

4319891 Oh indeed, and I wish them long life. But I've had stories featured by SA, and by some miracle the RCL too, so TRG was my biggest remaining unclimbed peak. It's not remotely going to stop me writing ponyfic, since these things aren't why I write, but it's a little sad nonetheless. The right decision, I think, but still sad.

And thank you for all your hard work! I found lots of great stories thanks to you guys. :pinkiehappy:

We had a good run. Glad to have read everything that was posted by all our wonderful writers. Here's to everyone who puts pen to paper. Cheers:heart:

4319699
It's not about being accepted or being celebrated—It's about the writing and that feeling you get when you do something good. Write well, and people will come to you. You do not need any one group to tell you that you are a good writer.

So long and thanks for all the fish! :twilightsmile: It's a bummer to see curated collections of stories like this go away, but I understand if it's not scalable to go through and process everything.

Well, your mission will soon become the care of another crew, where they'll continue the journeys that you've begun and gone through, and voyage in the land of FIMFiction for eons to come. :)


[/Boldly going to the stars and beyond....


The Royal Guard


Signing offi]

Sad to see this series of reviews end, but all things must end, and I really wouldn't want you guys to keep on doing this out of some misplaced sense of duty after it has become a chore.

Thank you for all the time and effort you all have put into this, and for bringing so many good stories to our notice! It's been fun. :twilightsmile:

i shall sing you one last ballad using the names of the categories to the tune of Gilligan's island.

with comedy
some drama too
action/adventure
and romance
the slice of life
and the rest
are here on round robin reviews!

Very sad to see the Royal Guard go. Getting The Education of Clover the Clever accepted was my first brush with critical recognition on this site, which made me glow with pride. And still does, years later.

Thank you for all the work you've done over the years.

4320186 I've been writing fanfic for over twenty-one years. My first stuff was on notebook paper. And in that time, I have never, ever been accepted to any sort of group or listing or archive that I've submitted my work to. Ever. I tried thirteen times at the old theforce.net archive with the same damned fanfic. I'd fix up the same things they told me was wrong, submit it... and get rejected for the same fucking things.

Here? Yeah, the same thing pretty much. The good HIE list, nope. Last I checked my submission there's in the, "Almost, but not quite good enough," folder. Royal Guard, nope. Equestria Daily, nope. Nothing, nada. Hell, a lot of 'prominent' reviewers have said how bad I apparently am.

Rejection can get pretty damned wearing and tiring after a while. It seems no matter how much I improve, no matter how much I've strived for to make myself better, I'm either not good enough period, or where I want to submit closes down. If this sounds like whining, fine. I'll cop to it. But I would just like once, once to submit a fanfic and actually get accepted.

RIP Royal Guard

Shame you had to go, although I suppose this was inevitable once you stopped being a regular site feature with SA.

R5h

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Thank you, all of you, for your very kind words! It's truly gratifying to see that we were able to mean something to all of you.
(I hope I didn't miss anyone....)

R5h

4319480 Actually, you're in luck! Our group (linked here) has a number of folders in which we place all of our approved stories! Just click the "Stories" box and you'll see what we've featured, sorted by category.


4319482 As Plum says, that's a hazard of relying on user submissions. Did you know, at one point fully a third of the stories in our queue were by six authors? And that queue had over 100 stories in it at the time.

The fact is, a few authors on the site produce a lot of high-quality works (your mileage may vary about high-quality, of course, but in our opinion they were consistently good). It always felt a bit awkward to feature the same people over and over again, but the way I see it, it was never really a problem: we never stopped accepting stories from lesser-known authors, after all, and every story had an equal chance.


4319510 Yeah, that sounds like something I can do. Keep an eye on our group's forum!

4321215

Did you know, at one point fully a third of the stories in our queue were by six authors? And that queue had over 100 stories in it at the time.

I think I'd be far too embarrassed to stick six or seven stories in the queue at once. :facehoof: However, it is quite likely all six of those authors were better than I. :pinkiesmile:

I'll miss The Royal Guard. They were what I considered it to be the single toughest group to get accepted by. I got a lot of good advice from the rejection notices that I received, and a lot of personal satisfaction from the my features.

Groups like this shoulder a lot of burden. There is way, way more demand for story reviews than people willing to do them. It's telling how quickly groups like this tend to burn out. The Royal Guard soldiered along for an abnormally long time. I read each and ever review that came out. I didn't always agree, but I did find the viewpoints interesting and educational. More so, the rejection notices that I got with helpful edits. Again, I didn't always agree with them, but it was great to have another set of eyes and viewpoints.

In many ways, being a reviewer for such a group is thankless work. Many readers never comment on what you are doing and you get a lot of flak from authors who are upset about rejection. It's wearing, I'm sure.

So thanks, reviewers of The Royal Guard. I always appreciated your service, and I've always felt bad that my schedule didn't permit me to help you out. You did a great service for us.

Okay, wait a second... you're not approving any more stories? Then how come according to my feed, The Majestic Tale of a mad-Pony in a Box got added to a folder by 4321206... and was written by RH5?

R5h

4322419 That was actually a mistake on my part. There's an "Add Story" button in that folder that I'd never noticed before, and I wanted to see how it worked. However, while I was investigating, I accidentally added my story to the main Action/Adventure folder. When I realized what I'd done, I promptly removed it, and you'll see that the story is no longer in that folder.

Keep in mind, however, that not every story we've approved has been added to our folders! Like I said in the sitepost, we've got one last group post coming up (that is to say, a post in our own group's forum), of stories that have already been approved but have never been featured in either our group or the site. Once that post is published, we'll add all the stories featured therein to our folders. So if you see a bunch of stories being added to our folders within a week or two, you'll know why.

4322631 Okay, good on you to own up to the mistake. Although seeing these other stories get approved and knowing my chance to get in is gone is gonna seriously depress me.

Also, something I noted earlier...


4321215

As Plum says, that's a hazard of relying on user submissions. Did you know, at one point fully a third of the stories in our queue were by six authors? And that queue had over 100 stories in it at the time.

For the record, I submitted three times, rejected each time. Even though according to an earlier update...

I'm confident that such concerns will vanish when people see what that means. We don't have any particular standard for what constitutes something "special." The goal is simply to try to show people things they've probably never seen before, rather than technically sound fics that cover the same content they've read a dozen times in other stories. We want to feature things that the site's users will want to read instead of things they'll look at and think, "Another one of these? Pass."

What I submitted, I feel was pretty 'unique' and special, and not the same content.

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