Turnaround Times

Currently these are the turnaround times our team aims for...

• Design Approvals (paid submissions): 2 weeks + 1 week if we’re in a busy period (21 days)
• Design Approvals (unpaid/partially paid submissions): 1 month (30+ days)
• Resonance Quests: 1 month (30+ days)
• Masterlist Transfers: 1-2 weeks (14 days)
• Prompts: 1-2 weeks (14 days)

Here is the general team stance on turnaround times within the group.

• Turnaround times are internal goals we aim for, not hard deadlines.
  • We ask that users not ask about a submission during these turnaround time periods. Once the turnaround time period passes, users may check-in on a submission.
  • Try not to think of these turnaround times as hard deadlines, where the second they pass we'll have feedback to send. We set turnaround times to try to manage expectations a bit. They're meant to add breathing room for the team and still give users the space to request an update if something's taking a while.
  • We aim to try to keep communication open, but still recognize internally that most moderation work is occurring during limited hours outside of our day jobs and other real life obligations.
• Submission wait times start from when something was last submitted.
  • For example, you submit a design approval the first week in a month. It could take 2 weeks for a response to come, but instead you get a response after only 1 week. At that point, the turnaround time would reset to potentially 2 weeks of waiting for feedback again.
• We count 1 week as 7 calendar days.
  • Our team's work schedules vary, some of us do work weekends in real life, and for others on the team, weekends are free time that gets split between moderation work for this group and other tasks in life that need to happen.
  • Since it's come up as a confusion point in the past, we just wanted to clarify this so that everyone is aware; we do not consider a week 5 days, like you would think of typical "business days".
• We generally respond to things as fast as we can. If something is taking a bit longer, it might be that we need Manaberry's input, or that some team members are busier on a given week.
  • Most approvals are a team effort. We have multiple moderators review each submission for better accuracy in our review processes. Sometimes multiple people look over an approval and we still miss things, but for the most part we run under the premise that a few eyes looking over things are better than one!

Questions submitted via discord

Questions submitted to our #questions channel in discord do not have a set turnaround time. Generally we try to get to these as quickly as possible but it largely depends on bandwidth and what questions are being asked. Since this space can be so variable it's hard to put a timeline on every question.

Design feedback requested via discord

The #design_feedback channel was never intended to be used for questions for a specific elnin with no design update submitted. Priority for design update submissions is still dictated largely by whether or not something is paid for or able to be paid for immediately (whether it's EC/SC/USD doesn't make a difference as much as if the currency is fully there). So coming into the #design_feedback channel without any related submission on site gives us zero context on how to prioritize feedback for these requests. Response time in this channel is not guaranteed to be shorter than posted times, but can act as a secondary avenue for checking on something relative to a design approval submission. Please be mindful this channel isn't intended to bypass the design update submission process. 

For example, if we were to get 20 questions in #design_feedback for various approvals but only 5 were fully paid for, those 5 individuals that are 100% ready would potentially be waiting for us to answer the other 15 questions, that may not be anywhere near ready to be paid for. It's also possible those 15 questions could be theoretical/tentative edits that might never come to fruition. So for us to be able to prioritize a growth/edit/etc. that is more certain vs. potentially uncertain is important.

We are still willing to review things that are unpaid. We know the ability to have those checks is valuable to the community for pacing reasons and to help guide how our group members choose to potentially use their time/prompt submissions. That said, we still want to try to respect moderators' volunteer time and the time other group members have already put in to save up currency fully. This is the reason why we require design updates to be submitted alongside elnin, so we can keep track of payment in a clear way.

Since there's been some confusion on what the #design_feedback channel is for a few times, we updated our first pin in the #design_feedback channel of discord to clarify this a bit.

That pin includes the following:

"We will no longer review inquiries that don't use the following forms below. Design inquiries for a specific elnin/MYO slot MUST have a design approval submitted on-site first for review. If you are trying to ask a question to get a specific elnin's design art updated/checking if something is ok for a myo/art update/growth then please submit a design approval first! We check there initially, and anything submitted here that is specific to a certain elnin should be follow up on an existing submission."

There are 2 types of questions we handle in the design feedback channel:

1. Design approvals questions for a specific elnin or MYO slot (where a design update submission on site is required.)
   
   • Example: Is the tail size on this growth good enough for 1MP now? (With use of the "Design Feedback Form for A Specific Elnin/MYO")
2. General overarching questions that are in no way related to any sort of approval, but clarify some specifics relative to a trait in a broader sense.
   • Example: Can grove tail tips be styled at all? (With use of the "General Trait / Mutation Question Form")

Hopefully this clears up our process a bit. We're sorry if there's been frustration on this, just remember if you're going into the #design_feedback channel with a specific elnin in mind that you're asking the question about or for, we will expect there to be a related design update submission on site. Any questions that are broader should be asked generally about a specific trait, with the intent to clarify existing trait guidelines further.

We heavily advise users to re-submit any changes requested for design approvals on site and discuss feedback there first, as this process is generally quicker and easier to track for both parties. Discord can be helpful for design approvals where there's not many aspects of a design to check, usually follow up on art where less changes are happening.

We don't bar anyone from submitting follow-up checks via discord, however the more things there are to check the higher the chance the post will get buried while it is all being discussed. In cases where there are a lot of checks being made, we may still ask for a submission on site if we're concerned it will take longer to compile feedback. We have multiple moderators look over the art to ensure stats and mutations are represented, and multiple mods review the draft feedback before it is sent out to try to ensure it doesn't miss anything. This means that one mod can't look at a discord post and reply immediately.