Site News

Event Update - 9/3/22

Prizes have been expanded so we raffled off a total of 40 Oddly-Colored Pomu Tokens (15 Oddform/Multi-colored pomu and 25 Single color pomu) . Also those who did not win any token but entered the raffle have been granted a 16 EC for participation. Winners will be posted shortly!

Event Update - 9/1/22

A small update on the event. Prizes for this oddly-colored pomu raffle will be rolled 9/3/22, at 11:00am PST time!

For the month of August we're hosting a raffle for 25 Oddly-Colored Pomu Tokens (10 Oddform/Multi-colored pomu and 15 Single color pomu)! We're reposting the information here since once the prompt closes people may still need form access and access to the rules/guidelines for these tokens, so we've moved the information over to a news post as well now that the prompt has closed!

Please read below for additional info on how to enter and rules. Completing August's monthly prompt will not automatically enter you for this raffle, you will need to submit a response to a google form so please keep this in mind!

August Raffle Details

Events

Starfall Faire is kicking off starting today!

Read more about everything happening in our group journal here!

You may have been wondering why things have been a bit slower on the moderation front this past month. As usual, we were working on event things in the background.

This year, we're trying something different for Starfall Faire. Rather than our usual 20-40ish adult elnin designs, we wanted to bring back more artists, so we leaned towards doing a kittom-based Starfall Faire this year. All designs will be kittoms and there are over 85 kittoms that will be finding homes this August/September across several sales as well as a free raffle!

A monthly prompt raffle comes with an oddly familiar prompt...

Check out this month's prompt! If you've been around the group for a while, some may recall storms brewing a few years back. This year though, things are a bit different! We've got a raffle that ties into the related happenings...so come September, just a few pomu might be experiencing some side effects of the storms!

Starfall Faire Card Frames are back in the Card Frame Shop!

So pick them up while you can! They only come around once a year. ^^b

Wrapping up...

We've been very excited preparing this event for everyone, but it's definitely slowed us down on other fronts that we didn't want to completely close, like our regular approvals and resonance quests. Which leads us to our next topic, this month and next month!

August and September Pacing

Throughout August, we'll be having a kittom flaffle every Saturday from August 6th to August 27th, followed by a free raffle on September 3rd! It's been a very busy July preparing and we expect August to still be a bit slow in areas. We'll work on catching up with approvals and questing, but given we just approved almost 90 kittoms in a month and were still carrying through with regular duties, we'll be taking a slower-paced approach to August and September.

We typically plan events/activities/sales several months in advance, so even when things are quiet on the surface, the moderator team is generally hustling. There's also been a few personal things that have cropped up here and there that haven't helped. To try to give the team a bit of a break, we're expecting the next two months to be a little slower.

The first and last weeks of September (9/5/22-9/11/22 and 9/26/22-10/2/22) will be considered weeks "off" for staff.

We're putting it out there publicly now because everyone could use a well-defined break. Those dates are still roughly a month away and there's quite a bit to be done in between! Some mods will occasionally work during designated break periods, but we do not ask them to during these times. Once the raffle is done in September, please be patient during the weeks we've marked as staff having off and not to ask for status updates on things. Some of us are workaholics and find it difficult not to want to respond. ^^;; We really want to continue to help the community, but it takes a lot of energy too!

Written Prompts and Questing Acts

Moving forward, we'll be implementing a cap of 2000 words max per prompt/questing act unless specified otherwise. This is due to staffing constraints and a goal to respect everyone's time. This will also keep approval queues moving smoothly.

Community members are still welcome to write longer stories on their own time and share them in non-official contexts, but even with the moderator additions to prompts and questing, we're still working with limited free time to volunteer. We encourage sticking close to around the required minimum word counts or a bit over if you're inspired. The group originally didn't allow any written prompts. This was something moderators advocated for given we had individuals on staff that were willing to read prompts and enjoy writing! That said, written prompts still take significantly longer to approve compared to their visual counterparts. We do enjoy learning more about everyone's characters. It can be quite fun, but there are limits to our time and energy, which is why we're implementing a word count limit now.

May has literally flown by! We’re back now in June with some important updates!

Achievements and Titles

There were some delays on this front but we're now ready to have people start claiming achievements (and the titles related to those respective achievements. This is how claiming will go!

When filling out a claim it will go under the "Achievements & Titles" claim type:

1. For the URL please enter the achievement's url to let us know which achievement you are claiming! (You can get this link by clicking on the name of the achievement and copying the url of that page. For example: https://worldofeyre.com/world/achievements?name=Lantern%20Crafter )
2. In the comments link the info needed for the unlock requirements to claim your achievement.
   • For example, if you're claiming the Lantern Crafter achievement, you would link to your prompt submission for the elnin that was the main subject in a prompt. This would be the elnin earning the AP (or if no AP was earned, the elnin that was the focus of the prompt/primary subject).
3. If your achievement is character-based, be sure to attach the character to your claim under the "Characters" section. You do not need to attach any currencies to the claim or character. If your achievement is user-based, you do not need to link any character.

Important things to note:

• If there is a title associated with a specific achievement, you do not need to claim the title separately! It will automatically be granted alongside the achievement you are claiming.
  • Associated titles can be found under each achievement's encyclopedia entry.
• You must be the artist of a prompt to have it pass as a requirement met!
• Prompts must be submitted on the WoE site to pass as a requirement met! (This includes legacy prompts. Read this page for more info on legacy prompts and this walkthrough for how to submit a legacy prompt.)
• If you are claiming an achievement for a character, you must both own that character and be the artist of any prompt(s) needed for the unlock requirement!
• Achievements and Titles claims will be handled at their own pace. (We suspect this will be weekly or every 2 weeks like most of our processes, but will be semi-dependent on other tasks in the group!)

Examples of filled out Achievement claims:

• User Achievement: Claim for "Returning Light"
• Character Achievement: Claim for "Lantern Crafter"

This info will be cross posted on our Helpful Walkthrough's page under "Achievements & Titles".

More Guide Updates!

We've been continuing to work on guide updates. Sharky has been going through traits next. We're aiming to flesh out the encyclopedia and shift relevant info there under categories.

We've updated info for Faenin traits

Updated info can be found on traits linked from the main encyclopedia entry for the Faenin subtype!

Tail Encyclopedia entries have been updated!

You'll notice many of these have been expanded upon so please follow encyclopedia pages for current TAIL SIZE and TAIL STYLE guidelines!!!

Once we get through all sections of a given trait category, you will probably see changes to any overarching pages like our tail guide, crown guide, and elnin anatomy pages. There's some duplicate info in spots, but currently tail info on two of these pages will likely have dated info, so we highly recommend following the encyclopedia for any clarification on tails.

• Info on tail sizes can be found here.
• Info on tail styles can be found here.
• Other Tail Notes:
  • We've moved any elnin that had the Multi-Tail (Legacy) tail style to the Trine (Legacy) tail style.
    • These two traits are the same exact tail style, Multi-tail being just another way of saying an elnin that had 3 bramble style tails, now called Trine (Legacy). The MP values should be the same/nothing is really being impacted, but we wanted to bring trait names into alignment as a bit of clean up.
    • We will not be removing the Multi-Tail (Legacy) trait until Nai, or a later developer can make sure that trait's removal won't have any impact on other areas of the site. We're doubtful that there would be, but erring on the side of caution.

Guide Updates are ongoing!

We'll be cleaning up areas that include tail style and sizing info outside the encyclopedia next. Then we intend to move on to crown styles and other mutation updates intermittently. This is slow work since there's always a lot going on, but we recognize the need to keep on top of improving our trait guidelines.

In the long term, we'll be aiming to remove duplicate info in other areas of the site so we don't end up with dated info in some spots and not others. Some pages like the old overarching guide pages may be simplified or removed once our encyclopedia entries are up to date. Some decisions are still being made on this, but we'll continue to post updates as we work through things.

Thank you for your patience with us as we work through things! Sharky has been handling the guide changes, with checks from the team. While she (and Nai) predominantly are busy in that work, the rest of the moderator team continues to support regular processes like prompt and design approvals, and then chip in where they can towards any additional discussions/work.

Design Name Updates and Info

We're adjusting how we handle Design Names within the group. A while back there was some contention about when design names could be added. This prompted some internal discussion. Please understand that restrictions surrounding design names were never intended to hamper creative freedom relative to a user's characters.

You can still:

• Update your character’s Profile
• Interpret your character thematically any way you wish

Design names hold no bearing on how you wish to interpret your character. You're still welcome to make edits to their visuals, outfits, backstory, etc. Design names are optional text for flavor that usually convey the intent of the original artist of a design, but have always been more or less a formality and a bit of fun for Guest Artists.

Here's a Little Background.

Originally, Design Names were primarily for Guest Artist sale purposes to identify designs before they had any sort of elnin identifier (ELN ID). Usually they matched the theme an artist was going for. Some design names were more on the nose while others were more vague.

Eventually, users inquired if design names could be added to MYO elnin. At that time, we touched base with Mana to see if she had any thoughts, and she tossed a few guidelines our way and off we went. But things did not have a clear process and were more or less being handled as they came up.

Kittsunami kittoms historically did not have design names. Some have been added in recent years by artists (optionally), but due to the sheer number of kittoms we historically processed in events, reviewing design names alongside that many submissions was additional overhead in the process and could potentially slow it down. Not all guest artists wanted to give all of the kittoms design names as well. We left the choice up to them when we did start allowing design names to be added for the last Kittsunami.

Now we're where we are currently in the group. We understand group members are very passionate about their characters and design names have increased in significance and meaning for some of our community members. That said, the original intent of design names was not to have them hold a lot of significance. They're a wonderful starting point for character inspiration and a hat tip to the original artist's idea, but community members do not have to adhere to them in any way.

A lot of stress came out of discussing this topic. Design names opening up to being added by community members started as an initially simple process that we thought would be nice, but added additional work so we agreed we would give it a try. This aspect of the group was never highlighted as something that group staff had to do as part of moderator duties outside of guest sales. It was a task picked up because we saw some community interest in it and were trying to manage it in a way that would not impact other more important tasks in the group. We see now though that this process needed to have better guidelines as it was causing stress to both community members and moderators.

After discussion, this is what we've settled on for the following guidelines. These guidelines will not be up for dispute, as our goal is to try to clarify where design names sit in the group.

Guideline for Design Name Requests:

• Once a month a user can submit a ticket to add a design name to any of elnin they own without one currently present. If submitting names for multiple nin please do it in one ticket. If user decides to add more after a ticket has been sent, they'll have to wait until next month.
  • Otherwise, users are also free to request a design name be added during design approvals.
• Design names can be added to any MYO that previously had a placeholder name like MYO-###.
• Any design that already has a design name designated cannot have their name changed.
• You can only add a design name to an elnin or kittom owned by you that does not already have one.

Guideline for Design Names:

• Design names can be 6 words or less (with a max of 50 characters)
• Design names must be appropriate (PG-13, no swear words/derogatory terms, etc.)
• Design names cannot contain any copyright material/phrases (ex. Pokemon Master, Cardcaptor Sakura, etc).
• Fantasy names are ok as long as they do not tread copyright material. If something seems ambiguous/we’re unsure on the meaning, we may ask for clarification or ask for it to be changed to something else.
• Design names can only contain alphabetical letters a-z. No emojis, special characters or non english characters/letters are allowed. (This is to prevent the site from breaking in case the database cannot read the character).
• Design names cannot allude to Royal elnin titles (ex. King/Queen). Aristocratic names like "Prince, Princess, Scion, Baroness, etc." are ok.
• Design name overlap can occur, this is not something we moderate given design name themes and word combinations can be quite vague. You’re welcome to avoid similar design names as a courtesy, but it is not required.
• You cannot expand upon existing design names. (ie. Something like "Moon Gazer" cannot be extended to something like "Elegant Moon Gazer". )
• We reserve the right to reject a design name if we have a concern. We do not have to explain our reasoning, though we won't be doing this arbitrarily and ask that people respect our decision.

Additional Notes:

• Please allow up to 1 week for design names to be processed (possibly more this first month as we expect an influx).
• Elnin designs do not need to strictly follow their design name.
• Given this task has always been something on the side the staff were willing to volunteer the extra time to try to do, if we continue to see contention surrounding it we will halt design name additions outside of guest artist sales. This is something Manaberry suggested as a potential option, but we wanted to try to find a middle ground before going back to how the group originally handled design names.

This info will be cross posted on our Helpful Walkthrough's page under "Profiles & Framing".

Masterlist Art Flipped Views

If you have asymmetrical designs for elnin art we are alright reviewing flipped views to show an elnin's other side. Here are some guidelines though to clarify things better.

Masterlist Flipped Art View Guidelines:

• Flipped art views showing asymmetrical markings must be included in the design approval throughout the whole process. Not doing so may lead to us requiring edits to your flipped view for it to be included.
• Max width and height for images including flipped views should not exceed 2000 pixels and 3MB.
• Flipped art views should not be wholly different line sets and poses. Lines present should almost entirely match the lines of the other view, if not be identical.
  
  • No different poses please!
• Flipped art views should not contain the elnin's outfit. Outfit approvals are entirely separate. If an outfit version is included in a flipped view, we will ask for it to be removed from the image during final approval/only the unclothed view should be submitted. Approved outfits may be submitted as a separate design approval afterwards with no additional cost.
  
  • Some older elnin may present this (clothed and unclothed views as part of the same image) just due to what images we were given by Manaberry to upload, but all designs moving forward should not show this approach.
• Only one of the views will be in frame. The flipped view of an elnin's markings will only be visible through looking at the entire watermarked image. Please specify which image you want framed during design approval. Otherwise if it isn't clear, the version picked will be up to the moderator approving the design and changes will not be allowed afterwards.

Character Trades and Transfers

Lastly, we'd like to post a small reminder, when transferring or trading characters you must include some note about what sort of exchange is taking place (Resell, Trade, 3-Way Trade, Gift, etc.) We've seen a few submissions with just a space come through with no info listed. Moving forward, these types of transfers without a note attached will be rejected. We don't require explanations or reasoning to be lengthy, but context is appreciated to clarify if something is intended to be a gift, trade, resell, or otherwise.

Transfers listed as "gifts" will always have the resale value removed unless otherwise specified. If you would like a gift to retain its resale value, please make sure to state this in the note (Ex. Gift - Please keep resale value!)

Ongoing Prompt Bug

This has been posted at the top of our prompts for a while now, but we just wanted to reiterate in case anyone hasn't been in the prompt space for a bit and is not aware of the bug on site.

For any prompt with a deadline (Monthly and Seasonal prompts currently) those timed prompts will adhere to the time stated for the "Entry Window" under the "Show details" area of a given prompt. Do not use the "Ends" time shown on the prompt itself as a guideline. There is currently a bug that closes the prompt 3 minutes early so the "Ends" time will be incorrect, since we've extended that time so the listed "Entry Window" time can be adhered to.

We're still working on finding a solution to this, so we wanted to bring attention to it in at least one news update here.

Patreon Subscriptions

Due to how our site gets the list of Patreon subscribers we ask users do not subscribe in the last 72 hours (3 days) at the end of a given month. Our site does not get any credit card info from Patreon, but it does get info from Patreon on who is subscribed and what tier they are subscribed at. If payment takes time to process and does not fully process before the last day of the month the website will not know someone has subscribed. If a user has not received their SC currency by the end of a given month please submit a ticket.

This hasn't been addressed for a while now because initially we didn't notice it happening, but there have been a few users who subscribed one of the last few days in a month. When the list of subscribed users gets pulled into our site from Patreon, if a payment hasn't fully processed our site won't register the user's subscription for that month. (For example: I subscribe to Manaberry's Patreon the last day in May, but my payment takes a day so it's already June when Patreon knows I subbed for May. The website won't retroactively know to award currencies for past months subscribed since it only awards SC for the current month.)

We're make this recommendation to try to avoid this from happening, but on a few occasions it has. We wanted to put out there what our process is for handling this when it rarely has happened in the past and on the odd chance it does occur in the future. We are also fairly conscientious of this sort of thing occurring relative to timing of Patreon sales, so we'll be looking to avoid any future Patreon sales occurring during those last few days of a month. (We already have been to a degree.) This doesn't mean there won't necessarily be Patreon content during those last 3 days, it just means it won't be time sensitive content that is not still accessible the following month.

The Overwild (Aquatic) Tail Token Raffle from this May's prompt has been rolled and our winners aarrrrrreeeeeee~

1. MewWolf
2. blankshi
3. Zezima
4. StarryDoe
5. Jahpan
6. TragicKiwi
7. Cynder
8. Trashiebag
9. LocketShoru
10. Wander
11. Silver-the-wyrm
12. CandyChameleon
13. tara-elani
14. XXxbunnyloverxX
15. woodlanduni
16. FruitCrepe
17. Whimsicalblue
18. Koiwitwil
19. ShinPurple
20. Sharky
21. Chickolates
22. Giz
23. Angelos
24. Afrielzi
25. wintry-chan
26. osteoh
27. Vontier
28. glassmoth
29. wriven
30. Picnyx

Congratulations winners and thank you everyone for participating in this past month's prompt. Tokens have been sent out to the raffle winners!

Rolling took place in our discord #games_and_raffles channel today. It was a fun raffle to host this year! ^^

Event Update - 6/4/22

A small update on the event. Prizes for this fishy raffle will be rolled 6/5/22, at 10:00am PST time!

After some discussion internally and approval from Mana, we've upped the prizes for this raffle from 10 winners and we will now be raffling off 30 Overwild (Aquatic) Tail tokens to our entrants!

For the month of May we're hosting a raffle for 10 Overwild (Aquatic) Tail Tokens. We're reposting the information here since once the prompt closes people may still need form access and access to the rules/guidelines for these tokens, so we've moved the information over to a news post as well!

As an aside, additional info can be found on the Overwild (Aquatic) tail entry in our encyclopedia for those of you trying to ponder out tail ideas. We know there's still some that have come up that we're still woking through but we'll expand upon the trait entry as we work through questions.

Please read below for additional info on how to enter and rules. Completing June's monthly prompt will not automatically enter you for this raffle, you will need to submit a response to a google form so please keep this in mind!

May Raffle Details

Hello everyone! We're back with a bit of an overdue update!

Achievements and Titles

Some features we've been excited to have on site are the ability to create and grant both achievements and titles! We'll be starting off slow with these but we wanted to let everyone know our first two achievements relate to the seasonal prompt currently going on!

1. By completing the seasonal prompt this year you can earn a single elnin the "Lantern Crafter" achievement which will allow your elnin to acquire the title "Lightbringer". If you wish to earn this achievement for a different elnin you'll have to complete the prompt again next year!
2. Completing multiple eligible prompts based on this seasonal tradition  will allow users to earn the "Returning Light" achievement and its associated title "Luminous"! This achievement has some past eligible prompts that count towards the unlocking requirements so if you've done some lantern crafting in years past, be sure those legacy prompts have been submitted to the WoE site!

For full details see their respective encyclopedia entries! The seasonal prompt will be returning every year during the months of January through March. If you cannot complete a prompt this year you'll have a chance to participate and earn these achievements in future years.

You'll notice that currently neither achievement has art. Since these features are relatively new and things have been busy we're aiming to have achievement art completed by April! If you're wondering how to claim an achievement we'll be following up with how that process will work after the seasonal prompt is over.

Please do not attempt to claim any achievements until we have been able to release guidelines on how this will work in early April! We appreciate the patience as we explore this aspect of our website!

Group Staffing Changes

In the past month or two you may have noticed some changes to our staff on the website! A few things have happened. We've officially hired 4 new Prompt Moderators, 3 new Design Approval Moderators, and 2 new Discord Moderators.

Please welcome these individuals to our staff!

• Angelos, LeechiPeachy, Picnyx, and woodlanduni have joined our Prompt team!
• LizzyJun, StarryDoe, and wintry-chan are the new members of our Design Approvals team!
• Last but not least BlackSapphire and kaethus will be our new Discord team staff!

We're very excited to have them on board and we hope the community will be, too. There were a lot of good applicants to review and it took us quite a great deal of time reviewing everything and getting our new staff settled in!

Having dedicated discord moderators will be a pretty new endeavor for us. Their job will not overlap with any sort of website moderation, so they will not be expected to help with tasks that are not directly related to our discord. We'll be requesting everyone to adhere to the rules and guidelines provided in our discord #rules_and_info channel, as always. If you've not looked at them in a while you're welcome to! In the coming weeks we'll be slowly clarifying  with the community what our discord moderators role will be and our expectations on what interacting with them should look like! Their role will likely differ in some ways from the rest of our moderator staff simply due to the space they're assisting in.

In addition to acquiring some wonderful new staff, we're also announcing that our website developer (and maintainer) has stepped down to pursue personal projects and we sincerely wish Cy the best! We would not be where we are as a community today without Cy's hard work these past few years and the contributions of many other dedicated developers expanding on what Lorekeeper can do, so a big thank you to these wonderful developers!

Regional Guide Updates

Headed up by our resident Sharky, regional pages have been updated!

With some of the updates to our website's features and code we thought it would be good to make sure some of our pages were keeping up too. There have been a ton of art prompts submitted since the site's launch and the moderator team worked to pull together some great examples for our regional pages. We'll revisit these pages periodically to improve on them, but they're looking better already!

Adoptable TOS Update

On the "Adoptables Terms of Service" page we've adjusted some wording to try to clarify our stance on design similarities and expectations relative to referencing other original designs. We understand accidental similarities may occur between designs, as there are many designs out there, but in this group we're expecting such occurrences to be wholly accidental.

If we encounter situations where our moderator team has to ask for designs to be distanced during approvals it helps to be clear with everyone that intentionally referencing someone else's design is not condoned. Not everyone is comfortable with their characters being referenced and we want to respect that within our community. We recognize breedings events are a bit of an outlier from this stance but during those events permission to reference parent designs is explicitly granted.

Under the General section wording has been revised to read:

Do not directly copy or heavily reference characters from existing franchises or original works/designs 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. For non-humanoid designs, this includes distancing colour palettes, markings and/or traits from the original design. Any outfits or props used should not be based on 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.). If we feel a design is too similar to a specific character/another design, we reserve the right to ask for changes to distance them further. *

*UPDATE: If you have a concern about a design similarity seen in any group space please submit a support ticket on site so the moderator team can be made aware, do not approach other group members directly about this concern.

Editing Elnin Art

This has come up a few times so we just wanted to throw out a general reminder!

If you have art done by another artist that you want to edit, always check with the original artist that they allow their art to be edited. This goes for mocking up edits as well even if you intend to have another artist redraw the mocked up image as final art!

We recommend checking their TOS first, if one is available, to see if it specifies they allow edits to their works. If a TOS is not available to cross check, we recommend directly contacting them to ask. We require users to provide some form of proof in the comments tab of their design update submission that they had permission to edit art that is not their own, or that they hired the original artist or another artist to edit the art knowingly and with permission from the original artist!

If we ask you to provide proof of the original artist’s permission please do not be offended. We ask this of everyone who submits edited artwork! It is simply our aim to help protect all artists’ work.

Past and Future Sheninigans

It's been a busy start to our year but we're ambitious as ever!

These past few months have involved a lot of time sunk primarily into a lot of the wonderful things we've mentioned above.

We've been:

• Testing the website extensively for bugs
• Sorting out aforementioned new features
• Updating guides (Mostly regional though this is often a constant task)
• Reviewing potential moderator applications
• Preparing for staff additions and departures (site role setup, reorganizing and updating a lot of internal tools and documentation we use, etc.)
• Training new staff
• Keeping up with day to day tasks  as much as possible (Prompts, Design Approvals/Updates, Claims, Tickets, Questions, etc.)

Needless to say all of these items have had quite a bit of depth to them. As we wrap up some tasks we're looking forward to having some bandwidth to get back to other facets of the group.

Looking forward we're hoping to get back into:

• Events / Activities! Currently there is nothing we're planning for specifically, but we're hoping to get back into this space.
• Discussion about longer term projects the team wants to pursue
• A little bit of mischief (maybe even some elnin jokes)
• Pestering any sleep deprived mods to take a vacation

And with that we've covered just about everything for now! Thank you again everyone for the continued support!

The website is coming out of Maintenance Mode! So a lot of our regular systems will be reopening.

Design Approvals, Claims, and Character Trades/Transfers Reopening

Please give us some time this week to send out feedback and go over things. It will probably take a few days to catch up on things

Prize grants will also be happening this week. They haven't been forgotten, it's just going to be a bit of a slow start. Your patience is appreciated! Thank you!

Prompts Reopening

Monthly and Monthly Regular Prompts for December will be submittable from December 19th, 2021 to January 31st, 2022 at 11:59pm PST time.

• December's Monthly Prompt "Memorable Messages" will allow for a max of 2 submissions between now and the end of January.
• December and January's Monthly Regular Regional and Gift art prompts can be submitted any time in December or January, PST time. The rule still stands 1 per month though, so we should not see more than 2 Regional Scenery pieces and 2 Gift art pieces come in per user between now and the end of January.

In January we'll be introducing a new prompt category Seasonal Prompts. These will be prompts that run within a 3 month time period, so the first Seasonal prompt will run from January 1st, 2022 to March 31st, 2022 ending at 11:59pm PST time.

General Content Updates

• On our General Prompt Entry Rules, we have added guidelines for pixel art.
• Metallic Markings has been renamed to Metallic Suffusion with its guidelines updated!
• We have made changes to our navigation menu!
  Changes include:
  • World - Now includes Lore, Regions, Shops, Encyclopedia, and Submission Gallery
  • Guides - Includes some notable guides for easier access
  • Activities (Public facing) - Includes Prompts, Sales, and Raffles. Essentially hubs for things that may be currently happening.
  • Home (Only available to logged in users) - Encompasses what the private facing old "Activity" menu item had and previous Home menu features. Consider this like a dashboard for anything you might need to do while logged in!
  • Masterlists (Previously called Browse) - Now just includes Site Masterlists for Users, Characters, and MYOs.

Website Updates

The website is now on Lorekeeper v2. This update includes improvements by corowne and a number of extensions that were integrated into Lorekeeper core. Extensions integrated were thanks to contributions from the open source community. Credits for extensions can be viewed on the credits page.

There's a few things of note. I'll be going over what major things we have added to the site feature-wise and a few things that are pending implementation or evaluation still.

New Requirements on site

• Users now must have a dA account connected to access site features. This was included as a part of the lorekeeper v2 update, but since we still largely cross check ownership across platforms, having it is required.
• The website now requires that users input a birth date to confirm our users are old enough to use this site. You must be 13 years or older to sign up for the WoE website. Your birthdate information will not be shared publicly on your profile in any way.

New Features Usable Now

These are some of the features we believe will see the most use now. There may be a few other features on site not explicitly mentioned on this list that add to the general QoL of the site that you'll notice around, like avatars on site, as well.

1. Stacked Inventories - Inventory stacking is now a thing. This isn't something all too major given our current inventory numbers are quite low.
   1. When accessing items via your inventory, use the checkbox to select which item you're interacting with.
   2. For example, when applying a frame, remember to not only select your elnin from the dropdown, but also make sure that you choose which frame item you're applying if you have multiples of a frame.
2. Comments - These will be available on news posts and sales posts, not user profiles or anywhere else. Please keep comments appropriate and follow community guidelines.
   1. Comments are new for us, so at this time we are still figuring out our approach to moderating them. We will not be responding to comments that are questions. If you would like to ask a question on something specific, please use our #questions channel in discord or support tickets on the WoE website.
3. Reports - This is a reporting system feature for content that is either a bug or not appropriate (comments/profiles/etc. that break TOS can be reported now.)
   1. This was added specifically for these two tasks/purposes, our Ticketing system is wholly separate and broader to cover general questions.
4. User Transfer Reasons - When transferring characters, you are now required to provide a reason for transferring the character. This only applies to one-sided transfers done through the Transfer option on a character's masterlist entry.
   1. We recommend using the on-site Trades feature whenever possible with details relative to what you are trading.
5. Character Toyhouse Profile Link - Users can now add a profile link to their elnin's on-site profile. When added, it will create a small button on the top right of an elnin's masterlist entry next to their name. This can be a link to a character's Toyhouse profile via their profile page (https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN###/profile) if you prefer to use THToyhouse rather than adding character bios on your elnin's WoE profiles.
   
   1. Example: See ELN046
6. Captcha (v3) - Will appear on the registration page for new users registering.
7. Separate Prompts - This mostly changed the sidebar of our prompts page here.

New Features Possible in the Future

These are features we have had added, but currently do not have in use. We will be exploring options.

1. Submission Add-ons - This allows users to attach items/currencies to claims or prompts.
   1. Currently we don't have a specific use for this, but it's something we'll likely explore down the road. Feel free to ignore this feature until we provide instructions on how/where it may be used.
2. Character Items - Currently we have no items in our database that can be attached to characters, but we may eventually. This is another feature we will explore.

Features Still Being Considered or Worked on

1. Galleries - We have a currently existing Submission Gallery for prompts (under the "World" menu item).
   1. We're still exploring use cases for a secondary gallery that was part of the v2 update.
   2. The secondary gallery inherently functions differently than our existing Submission Gallery, which is prompt focused.
   3. The two galleries (old and new) will not be merged. We will be keeping the old gallery for prompt submissions. The new one is still under review as it may not be needed, but we're still assessing.
   4. You may see areas on site that are part of the new gallery feature that is still being considered. For now please ignore these sections.
2. Watermarking - This is not implemented on site yet, but something we're looking into. This will likely not be like Toyhouse's watermarking in terms of flexibility, but we're still looking at what this feature provides and how to fit it into our site.

There are a few features that came with the Lorekeeper v2 update that are disabled or that we will not be using on our site for various reasons. Some reasons include already having similar features on site that were coded custom for our site needs or certain features not fitting how our group is structured.

That wraps up our news update for now. We'll continue to provide updates as needed as the week goes on! Thank you everyone for your patience with us during this time period!

Hi everyone!

Popping in with a small update relative to the site! While things might seem quiet on the front-facing side of the group, on the moderator side we've been making progress behind the scenes in a few areas.

Website Updates

Website Maintenance is being extended to December 18th. This means Prompts, Acts, Claims, Design Updates, and Transfers will remain closed. If we can reopen the site sooner we will make an announcement. Until then though, thank you for your continued patience on this!

Code-Wise
Website code was updated last weekend. A few bugs arose that needed fixing, so some bug fixes have been made this weekend. There are still a few outlying bugs and things we're checking on, but once those bugs are fixed, questions resolved, and the moderators finish any non-code things we're aiming to get done, we'll reopen.

Moderator-Wise
Some testing has been done on the site this past week. There is still a bit more we need to do, and some areas of the site we need to think through. It's been a pretty busy past week, so we're extending the maintenance period to give ourselves a bit more time for any remaining things to be fixed, site staff to become familiarized with what's changed, and to make sure we're prepared for things to reopen.

While bugs are being fixed, we have been wrapping up some mod tasks in the background.

Event Prizes

Raffle prizes from the event were rolled mid last week. The second half of this week has been following up on those and pondering the Risky raffles. Follow up will continue into next week as we work on finalizing things.

Assuming we feel website updates are mostly done, ideally prizes will be granted on site sometime this upcoming week, or early the following week. We'll continue to keep people updated if we think there will be further delays.

Moderator Changes

Recently Night-Class has stepped down from her role as a moderator in the group to refocus on other things happening in her life. We've been lucky to have her volunteering on our team since 2018! She's helped the group in many areas during this time, but probably most noticeably in the prompt space. While we'll miss her in our moderator spaces, she's mentioned she won't be too far. We will still see her participating in the group as a member. Hopefully she'll continue to share what mischief her cats are up to and tasty treats she's cooking in life with us. ^^ Thank you again Night for your years of volunteering!

We are still in the process of reviewing moderator applications. The process has started and will likely be ongoing throughout this month, possibly into the new year depending on how things go.

On the Horizon

December has likely been pretty quiet on the community-facing side. On the moderator side though, what some of us were aiming to be a quieter month has still been relatively busy. When the website reopens up we'll likely be very busy sending out feedback we've drafted while the site has been down for maintenance. With that said, when the holidays roll around there will be a lull and response times may be a bit slower if they occur at all.

Since we do not intend to have any deadlines fall during the last week of December or early next year, the group moderator staff will have a 2 week break period from December 24th, 2021 to January 8th, 2022. Similar to last Spring's modcation, this just means staff will be following up at their own pace or not at all during that time frame. Character transfers and trades will likely be the only thing guaranteed to be checked once a week during that time. We'll figure out a day when the site is back up to let people know, but expect other areas to be pretty quiet. You may see moderators in group discord channels during this time just casually chatting, but we'll kindly ask for group members to not ask how long things will take to get done in that time window.

We realize it has already been about 2 weeks since the site slowed down for maintenance reasons, but given it hasn't really slowed down at all on the moderator side, the team needs a break. Our work seldom stops unless we explicitly enforce a break, or life happenings force us to take one. So hopefully setting aside a two-week period will give us that breathing room.

Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support this month. There's always more things we want to do than we can possibly cram in the time we have so it means a lot! January may still be on the quieter side once we come back as well, as we sift through what we want to accomplish in the new year.

Hi everyone!

We've been communicating with our website developer and we are planning on having website updates implemented early December, specifically some time on December 4th (PST time). The website code updates in theory should not take long. However, since there will be quite a few updates coming, we'll need some time to configure any new features on the site and make sure our documentation follows alongside the update.

Assuming that everything goes smoothly, we're hoping that the configuration and guideline updates will be completed quickly. We don't want to promise an exact number of days that the site will be in sort of a maintenance-mode state at this point in time, but we'll be planning accordingly. We're aiming for a pretty quiet month in December in general. We hope the most exciting thing in December ends up being the website updates. Hopefully, that will also give the team some time to rest and time to look over new moderator applications afterwards.

With these updates to the site, we want to take some extra measures to ensure that there isn't anything submitted too close to when the code changes are implemented. We'll be closing a lot of the site's features a few days before the 4th. Please see the timeline below for what systems will be closing, so that you can plan any submissions in advance! We have full intent to re-open everything once we're sure updates are complete, configured, and guides are updated as needed. We'll also be addressing what will happen relative to December's prompt lower down in this new post!

December Website Update Timeline

• December 1st (at 11:59pm PST): New design approval submissions, new claim submissions, and new prompt/act submissions will close.
  • We ask that any existing design approvals not be edited/re-submitted after this date until we publicly confirm that site updates are done!
  • The moderator team will still be doing design approvals and prompt/act/claim reviews up until 11:59pm PST on December 3rd. If you receive feedback on an existing design approval, please do not resubmit that design to the queue or update anything.
  • We cannot guarantee feedback by this date, as this is mostly just to let people know if you have not heard from us on the 3rd or earlier, your feedback will be sent after site updates are complete!
• December 2nd (at 11:59pm PST): Design transfers/trades soft-close on the website.
  
  • We cannot hard-close design transfers/trades. However, we're going to request that no one submits any design transfers/trades after this time until site updates are done!
  • Any design transfers/trades submitted before this time will be reviewed and approved on December 3rd PST time.
• December 3rd: As stated above, December 3rd is going to be sort of a buffer day to give Moderators time to push anything through that they can before we halt to give some breathing room for updates coming on the 4th.
• December 4th: The site code updates will be moved to the live site and the site will go into maintenance-mode. We're reserving this day entirely so that code can be moved up at any time. There will be no precise set time when the site is put into maintenance mode.
  • While the site is in maintenance-mode, it will largely be inaccessible to the general public. Moderators will be able to login and configure aspects of the site as needed.
  • This time will also be spent resolving any bugs that might have cropped up during testing but might appear in the live site environment.
• December 5th-12th: We're going to loosely say this is sort of a tentative maintenance period. We're not sure how long configuration will take on the moderator side. We may re-open well before the 12th. We'll look into doing some sort of update on how things are going during this week.
  • If we come across a bug or concern, we'll seek help from our website developer. For the most part, we expect this time will have less to do with code and more to do with making sure if something has changed, documentation and settings are right.

We're predicting that site updates will go smoothly. On the odd chance updates don't go smoothly, we want as little movement as possible on the site and few to no changes. That way if we have to rollback any data, any impact will be minimal and well past when anything new was submitted. That's what the buffer day is for!

December's Prompt

December's prompt will go live when the website updates are done and the website is once again accessible to the general public. We will end December's prompt a month later from the date it opens.

The same will go for Monthly Regular prompts for December. If you want to get started on Monthly Regular prompts while the site is undergoing maintenance, go for it! You just won't be able to submit those prompts until the site is accessible again.

Monthly Regular prompts will end at the same time the regular prompt for December does, but you will see some overlap with January. This means we'll probably have at least a week where if we see a MR-001 or MR-002 prompt come in two times, the first MR-001 prompt will be assumed to be for December and the other M-001 prompt will be assumed to be for January. We'll be very transparent about prompt deadlines once December's prompt is able to go live!

The Event Raffles

We'll be rolling raffles on the 5th as planned, and we'll be following up with event prize winners around then too. Any masterlist grants or updates for the prizes will need to wait until after site updates are done! We hope everyone understands. While this update should not impede prizes being drawn, the website update will likely impact those prizes being granted to accounts and elnin on site. Everything else for the event aside from the raffles should, for the most part, be wrapped up by the 1st of December if not earlier.

Hello Berry-Bazaar community members!

We are looking for a few new moderators to join our team. If you have interest in volunteering your time and contributing a bit more to the Berry-Bazaar community please continue reading! If you are not interested at all in this sort of thing, then carry on and just expect to see a few new faces on our moderator team in the future.

Who we're looking for:

1. Active community members or members who want to play a more active role in the group's normal processes/activities. Events do happen from time to time but they generally sit second seat to the stuff we would like to have open or happening regularly.
   
   
2. Team players who would be comfortable working with our current moderator team. Communication is important for a lot of what we do, due to the team effort nature of how we problem-solve.
   
   
3. Patience. Those familiar with the group should be aware we are not a super fast-paced group. We try not to overwhelm our community members or moderators. At times on the moderator side it calls for it, but generally we spend a lot of time considering feedback when implementing or modifying existing group systems/activities. It is not a quick process and so we definitely need moderators who can patiently bear with us as we work on setting things in motion.
   
   
4. Individuals that can keep moderator-only/behind-the-scenes information private. Moderators have the perk of knowing inklings of things we are planning or that will happen in the long-term future. We ask this information not be disclosed publicly until it is posted to the group, not even to close friends. A lot of what we work on is liable to change and even if something seems not liable to change we expect it to not become public knowledge. This is to avoid any unfair advantages to parties that we would account for if they were a moderator or foster false hopes/information if it changes. Moderators should not be pressured to give any behind-the-scenes information to non-moderators. We expect them to not disclose details so it is fair that they are not pressured to do so. We encourage fairness in how we approach moderators being involved in group activities given they have this knowledge (You may have noticed we like random number generators/RNG as it's often the fairest way we can let moderators participate without concerns of favoritism or unfair advantage). This is a courtesy to our fellow group members.
   
   
5. Individuals that have good communication skills and a generally positive attitude. We know everything is not always pomus and kittoms levels of positivity in the group but there isn't a single moderator role in our group that is not involved in communicating with community members! When possible, we want the group to be a positive space that others can enjoy in their off time, so we try to keep our communications with community members in line with that.

Position Details

This position/work is purely volunteer. Moderator rewards are occasionally granted, usually in the form of group items/mutations/slots for volunteer work done, but they are not promised or guaranteed. Please keep this in mind when applying that being a Berry-Bazaar moderator is not a paid position, and as such, moderator compensation is not what the team works for or expects on a regular basis.

We acknowledge there are perks to being a mod. However, the community and group's welfare should always be the highest priority when acting as a mod, above self interests. It's a lot of fun getting to meet new people and contributing ideas to how the group runs. Generally, this also means moderators will know about group plans in advance and other details that should not be community knowledge until solidified.

While the community is a high priority, please know we also work hard to make sure the moderator team is a safe space. The mental health of our moderators is a priority when we organize and plan how the group runs events among other things. We are 100% respectful if a mod wishes to or needs to step down to take care of themselves. This is volunteer work so it should be enjoyable. If there are things that come up that would put a potential strain on moderators owing to a long term absence, please notify us in advance. We understand some things aren’t planned and happen suddenly, but communication is key and working together to make sure we all have the necessary support is essential.

At the end of the day moderators are group members too, and while we contribute a service for the group that goes beyond the average community member, the decisions we make impact everyone, including ourselves. Moderators are also expected to understand that community interactions are relative to the group and often we're speaking on behalf of the group in ways that are transparent across the whole team. This means a lot of the feedback we're receiving and giving is in no way personal, so we're really working through things as a community and internal team.

As stated in a prior news post, compared to the last time we hired, this 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 have mods that specialize/focus on certain areas more than others.

We'll be focusing on the following three roles:

• Design Approvals
  
  • This role will focus primarily on any and all design approvals that run through our group. This includes art updates, design edits, MYOs, elnin rank ups, kittom growths, and guest artist design approvals (including adult and kittom designs). \o/
  • We are especially seeking some folks that feel confident with their math skills and the group's pricing resources for EC/SC group currencies! While you're not required to know the ins and outs of design updates within the group, it will help you if you do.
• Prompt/Quest Approvals
  • This role will focus primarily on art and text-based submissions for prompts and questing claims through our group. If you're passionate about seeing and hearing more about other group members' elnins, and cross-checking guidelines for drawn and written content through the group, then this may be the role for you! ^^
  • While not largely math-based, this role will still require knowledge of prompt and quest requirements, and making sure proper currency grants are awarded! So knowledge of how prompts and questing works is appreciated.
• Discord
  • This role will focus only on discord moderation! Tasks will include redirecting users to proper channels, redirecting or halting inappropriate conversations, and making sure discord rules are being followed in general. Users in this role will forward any recurring concerns to the overall larger moderator team. (ie. If users are frequently having problems finding certain channels, rules, or resources that discord mods are helping redirect them to and so on, the larger team will implement changes accordingly. If discord rules are repeatedly being broken with soft warnings in discord, it will be the larger moderator team that assesses and sends out applicable warnings and takes further action when needed.)
  • Unlike other roles that may have more discussion about group workflows and processes as they relate to one another, discord mods will largely not be a part of those aspects of moderation and any roles granted will mostly be aesthetic if outside of discord.

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

Additional info to keep in mind

• Application Window: [11/12/21 at 12:00am PST] - [12/01/21 at 11:59pm PST]
  
  
• Follow up: We will be following up either in December or early January, after the application window closes or during if we have more questions. If we do not reach out to you this time, please don't be discouraged. We tend to like to grow our team slowly so we have time to work with the moderators we bring on board.
  
  
• Application Edits: You will be able to edit your application at any time during the submission window by clicking on the link above/returning to the form page. Once the window closes, application edits will also be closed, so please be sure you include all information you feel is important before the deadline!
  
  
• Probationary Period: [3-6 months] Getting situated working with a team is a process. There are slow periods and faster periods. Should there be any major problems we see causing strain between current moderators and new moderators, we will let you know if something is not working out. We do not want a toxic volunteer workspace for anyone. Working out any confusion or miscommunications will always be done first, but as a last resort we're making this probationary period known so it's clear we are paying attention to the comfort of new and old mods alike.

Application Forms

If you are interested in applying for a specific role, please fill out the respective application form below. You may apply for different roles by filling out all or some of the forms, but you will be hired for one position/role within our team. We are using a google forms approach to give us a little more organization and wiggle room with how we handle applications. Thank you. ^^b

• Apply to be a Design Approvals Moderator here
  
  
• Apply to be a Prompt/Quest Approvals Moderator here
  
  
• Apply to be a Discord Moderator here

If you have any questions about this process feel free to ask them in the #questions channel in our discord, or submit a ticket to the "Community" ticket type on the WoE site. Thank you for your interest and time! We look forward to another fun year working with and for the Berry-Bazaar community. <3