As those of you that are new well know, we have changed the way we take stories. Not only have we implemented processing—a new step in getting your story from what it is now to the best it can possibly be—but we have also increased our standards. OEE is not for beginning writers looking for an editor, it is a group for experienced writers with good stories to get that last push into "great" territory. Because of this, stories that at one point may have passed will not make it through processing, so don't look too deeply into the quality of past successes. Don't take it personally if we fail your story; everyone has to start somewhere. I could grab you my first fanfiction, but it failed moderation on the site and I burned every copy I owned to cleanse my soul.

Now, processing is fairly simple. When you submit a story, we put it into the queue to be reviewed by one of our amazing prereaders. They give it a once-over, and if they find it up to our standards, they send it to a folder that our editors pull from. If it falls somewhere below the cutoff line, they send it to another folder so that we can find it easily when you inform us you wish us to take a second look.

If you have any questions that are directly related to the new system, ask here. We'll do our best to answer them swiftly and to the best of our knowledge.

-HB