Clarifying a feature of the group · 2:41am Jul 29th, 2012
(Speaker: Bronymaster)
Okay, remember awhile back when I introduced that review feature where a "team" headed by Sorren would review stories? Well a lot of confusion was actually had over the matter, and recently a few big changes took place (Some of you will already notice that Sorren is no longer a contributor)
Well, it went down that Sorren doesn't have time to organize this. So he stepped down. However, I didn't want the system to go down. I didn't know what to do about it, though.
Thankfully, soon after Sorren stepped down, Dreamwings messaged me, saying the she and PeregrineCaged could keep reviewing. I agreed that she could head the team, and she began to organize it and continued much like Sorren had.
Problem was....I had no idea how Sorren went about this system. He'd never really told me how he did it....and I soon found out how when I asked Dream to show me some examples of past reviews they had done. Now, the reviews weren't bad per say, but things were not being done the way they should have been. So I went about working with both Dream and PC to set it up the way I wanted it to be done. Any fic reviewed by Sorren's team before the changes was given a clean slate, and should be receiving a new review soon (Provided the authors didn't remove them from the folder)
After all this confusion, and now with a new system, I think it would be best if I explained step by step how this will work.
Reviewing a story: Process from Beginning to End...and beyond?
The first part of the job is for you to put your story in the correct folder. For some reason...there has been confusion over this. Their are only two folders that any non-contributor can put a story into. The "Free-for-all" folder (Which was originally the "Group-member stories (Unreviewed and/or Unapproved)" folder) and the "Stories to be Reviewed" folder. Free-for-all folder can have any story by anybody posted in it. We don't care. But if you're looking to get your story reviewed, put it in the "Stories to be Reviewed" folder.
This is where the actual team comes in.
*Note: We have freelance reviewers (Like Sorren) who go through and review fics independent of the Review Team. Do not be confused. The PM you'll receive from the team is clearly distinguishable from freelancers by the very name of the person who sent it (AuthorSupportReview) and the fact that more than one review is present inside the single PM.
Currently, the folder acts like a queue, with fics that are on the bottom being the ones that get reviewed first. Therefore, the person who waited the longest will get their review first. Simple, no? It's intended to be.
The review is done with all five people on the Review team, all of them providing an individual review of your story. Once all five of them have reviewed, the reviews are bunched together and sent in a single PM via the AuthorSupportReview profile. At the same time, they also take a "vote" on your story. Provided your story gets a 3/5 or greater vote score, it moves on to the "Quality Member Stories" folder (Which was original the "Group-member Stories (Reviewed and Approved)" folder). If it gets only 2/5 or less, then it is rejected (The reason it was rejected or approved by each person is often explained in the review).
If your story is "rejected" it receives a "strike". Your story can receive three strikes before you can no longer get it approved to be sent to the "Quality Member Stories" folder.
Once your story has been reviewed, it is placed in my hands. I remove it from the folder and, if it received a "Passing" score, I put it back in the "Quality Member Stories" folder. (This has to be done by me, since that folder is set so that only Admins can place stories in it).
If your story received a "Failing" score, then I still remove it from the folder. If you wish to try again, simply resubmit to the folder.
And that's the end of the "reviewing" process.....or is it?
Actually, we take it even further than that. Provided your story receives a 4/5 or greater voting score, it can actually move even further into the process.
You'll notice two other folders in the group. The "Stories Recommended for Reading" and "Golden Stories" folder. Both of these are for very high quality stories. GingerNutGIn is head of the "Critic" team, which is responsible for making sure that stories in the "Stories Recommended for Reading" folder are up to par.
Now, provided your story has made a 4/5 or 5/5 voting score, I can contact GNG and have him schedule his team to take a look at the new story. Now, whereas the Review team focuses more on a story being "Technically" correct, GNG and his team focus on that on a more detailed level as well as making sure the plot and character aspects of your story don't fall into too many of the pitfalls that many stories fall into. So you are now being graded not only on technical writing, but plot structure, characterization elements, and overall basic storytelling ability. They still don't grade EqD standard, but they are pretty dang close, and there is no strike system with this. It's either you make it in or you don't.
If he and his team have given your story the go-ahead, I remove it from the "Quality Group Stories" folder and replace it in the "Stories Recommended for Reading" folder.
Now we've hit upon the final stage of the process, which I'm actually still developing.
The way I have it planned so far, if a story has passed GNG's team's inspection, then it can take the final step in it's journey, which is to move on to the "Golden Stories" folder. The team grading it this time would be all the admins of the group. We WILL be grading pretty much EqD standard hard this time, looking for even the tiniest of errors. If only 1 or 2 errors are found, that will be fine, but beyond that, we will send it back to you with a list of things that can be fixed. You can resubmit to the Golden Stories folder as many times as you like, but just remember that us Admins have a lot to do.
Of course, that's the current plan. I was actually thinking of making yet another team of people to weed stories in this folder out, but I'm thinking that would be unnecessary, since I think only a few fics will reach this level.
And there. I hope that clarifies the entire process for you. If anyone has any questions or objections, let them speak now or forever decide whether they should just PM me their question. 
Trixie, you done good. He finally did it.
I'm going to ask another stupid question. If you are a reviewer and you want one of your stories to go in the Quality Group Stories folder, do you just not get to review it or are you not allowed? I mean, how does one go about doing that?
I would like to be apart of this. I have tried to review a few stories but people have been sending me stuff to proofread or edit. So I forget.
If we have a story in the "to be reviewed" folder that hasn't been reviewed yet, do we have to do anything new to get a review, or just let it be as is and wait our turn?
256467
I think they already have all the Reviewers they need, though if you still wish to be one, talk to PeregrineCaged or Dreamwings.
256473 Darn, well I will just wait for my chance then. And I would put a limit onto entering Golden Stories category because of how busy you are, maybe a certain number of errors disqualifies you or a max of three to four submissions after a failed review?
hurray. Now everything can be perfect and confusing like normal!
ok, so it is a lot more complicated than I originally thought. I will submit my stories when I feel they are ready!
256477
It will be of no inconvenience. I see no limit being necessary.
256478
It's not confusing unless you make it so.
256483 Maybe rather than a limit you have a waiting period before they can post again. That way they don't fix two problems and resend till they get in.
256596
No, as part of the "critic" team, you are supposed to look at the grammar as well. You're supposed to look at ALL the aspects.
256608
Clop and Gore are to be accepted by my group so long as the quality is good.
As I said before, while this system has a lot of moving parts and therefore will probably have a few kinks to work out...I fully support and believe this is as good as it gets. I'm happy to be a part of it, and the Review team won't let you down.
Can't wait for the review! Thanks guys!
Wow... I'm waiting myself for a review... such a hard job. Good luck on it!