Hello everyone! We're back with more news~!

Adoptable TOS & Community Etiquette Updates

Starting with some important things!

The following two pages will have slight updates: Adoptables Terms of Service and Community Guidelines

Specifically on "Adoptables Terms of Service", a small section is being added that addresses expectations the group has relative to distancing group adopts from characters from franchises and original works that are not your own. We understand there may be a lot of love for fan characters, however we want to make sure that a respectful distance is kept towards material/characters that in no way belong to our group and could have repercussions on the group.

Under the General section we will be adding:
"Do not directly copy characters from existing franchises or original works that are not your own. While you may use character names or hairstyles for inspiration, please make sure they are not a 1:1 copy, and should not be treated as that specific character itself. Any outfits or props used should be distanced from the specific character themselves and exact replicas may not be used (ex. Do not use the tri-force as a crown, pokemon cards as a prop, etc.)"

On the "Community Guidelines" page, we'll be amending how we reach out to users when we need to give warnings. While we don't have to give out warnings frequently, we realize that some emails used for our site run the risk of being throwaway emails. With that in mind we'll be updating our methods of contact to include that when a warning needs to be given, we will be sending that warning via email and via modberry note if a dA account is available.

This isn't a guarantee folks will get the warning if they do not check their email or dA account but we felt going through both would possibly help at least double the chances someone will get an important message if needed. (Note: We will be looking into a way of giving warnings on site, but right now we're focusing just on site updates we've already put forward towards our website developer.)

Website Updates

At the moment website updates are still being worked on. Nothing has been implemented on the website yet. Things are still in progress. We will not be requesting any additional/new features outside of what we've already put forward towards our website developer until the current planned updates are complete.

When updates are ready to be implemented on the site, we'll let the community know in advance and announce a time window when we will need to restrict access to the site. During that time the site will be largely inaccessible to the general user base but it will give us the opportunity to configure things that have been updated and do any necessary correspondence with our website developer if we find something that needs fixing.

Palu'au Party Pandemonium Event

This fall's event is now live! You can find the event journal here: Palu'au Party Pandemonium Masterpost

If approvals have been lagging a bit behind or the mod team has seemed a bit slow lately just know the event was the likely culprit for delays. We've been pretty busy setting up for this event. With that in mind, expect approvals and other areas of the group to still likely be a little on the slower side throughout November as the event runs! We're very excited to host this one. ^^b

Notables:

• This event will include some interesting adult elnin sales
• A larger flatsale raffle of kittoms will occur towards the event's end
• There will be a free kittom raffle later on after all event sales are done
• Similar to our Masquerade Mystery 2019 plot, this event will have a side plot activity with puzzles and prizes

We hope you enjoy this event and hope that there's a little something for everyone. We try to mix it up activity-wise in the group knowing that not everyone will like every single aspect of a given event and that's ok! If one aspect of an event or group activity does not appeal to you, then maybe the next one will. With that in mind though, please keep any commentary or feedback on the event positive and constructive. Feel free to participate in those that you're interested in!

If you have feedback that is not constructive ("I can't afford any of the designs." or "I'm not good at doing puzzles.", etc.) those sentiments are best shared privately outside of group channels. A lot of time goes into planning and hosting events and we want to try to focus on the positives.

Username Changes

We've been pondering this for a bit. At this time we're going to just start slow with this type of allowance. Similar to other processes in the group, please give us time to make this change. If it doesn't occur within a week, you can poke in the discord #questions channel with a link to your ticket.

We know this has been highly requested. We're making a note now though that this is a manual process that a moderator will have to do. We know it may be tempting to ask why this is not more automated. The answer is that not all of our organizational workflows are contained within the WoE site.

This being done manually ensures we're aware of when these changes are happening so our records elsewhere and communication chains with group members remain clear. If we have an internal note pinned or stuck somewhere that says to follow up with someone (or that someone is vouching for another member) but then their name changes before we follow up, it can be a real confusion point. So for now this is what we're going with!

Currently we will be allowing users to change their username 1 time in a 12 month period. This means if you request a username change in October 2021, then we would not see another request for a username change until October 2022. We may update the frequency of this allowance later on but for now this is where we're starting.

To ask for a username change, please submit a ticket under the "Website" ticket type with the following form:

• Current WoE username:
• New WoE username:

If you would like your dA alias cleared, we'll use a similar scheme of 1 time in a 12 month period.

To ask for your dA alias to be cleared so you can connect a new dA account, please submit a ticket under the "Website" ticket type with the following form:

• Link to current dA account:
• Link to new dA account:

Hiring Additional Mods

We'll be looking to hire new mods soon. Expect to see a separate news post for this specifically as it's a lot to cover in this news post. Mostly though we just wanted to pre-emptively say we're heading in this direction. Compared to the last time we hired, this next opening we'll be hiring for more specific positions to build upon our existing internal teams. While most mods currently are capable of wearing multiple hats, we currently have mods that specialize/focus on certain areas more than others.

New mods ideally will fall respectively under those existing specialized areas with less bleed across roles as time goes on. Communication between teams and mods will still be required, as our tasks often impact other mods in some way. The group is very interconnected. ^^b

Lore, Trait, and Guide Updates

It would be putting it lightly to say there's probably more than half a dozen trait guidelines being discussed back and forth. Some are taking a lot longer than others. We've been slowly tackling backlogged questions.

In that vein, some of the lore questions we've gotten, we grouped into an overarching lore page. This page has some older lore that we've transferred over after checking nothing had changed as well as some newer tidbits. We're likely to add to this page and probably break some things out into separate pages as we get more information but for now the bulk of it will be on one page.

See the new lore page: About Elnins and Eyre

Trait wise we've updated guidelines for:

• Phantom Step
• Colored Sclera
• Whiskers (specifically clarifying these are just thin cat whiskers/not anything fish-like or dragon-like).
• Descriptions for some of our types of elnin ears (specifically trying to clarify stacking a bit more).
• Added in the visual for horn glamours to the anima section for elnin anatomy (and confirmed this visual is accurate with current guidelines).

Questing-wise we've added a few more notable clarifying tidbits to our Questing FAQ section:

My act was soft-rejected! Do I have to have the changes completed within a specified time frame?

• No, you do not need to complete the changes within the specified time frame for acts! The edit period is a carry-over from prompts, which adhere to a stricter timeline, and the timer is unfortunately hard-coded for both prompts and acts. If you're unable to get the changes in before the edit period expires, simply re-submit the resonance claim with the updated links and you should be good to go!

If I submit art, do I need to include a written portion as well?

• While a written portion is not required, it can help provide context on what is happening, especially if the art doesn't clearly portray this in the act. If we're unsure of what's happening within the act, we may request that some context be provided via text (generally no more than 2-3 sentences), though you are also free to edit the art instead if preferred!