January 2018 Bulletin

Entry posted by abhorsen. in bulletin January 1, 2018

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Welcome to the HPFT bulletin, where you can find all of our major monthly announcements and information about upcoming events! Most notably this month, we've got the FROGS and a new round of staff/prefect apps to look forward to this month, as well as a few staff changes and our monthly (and a few special) awards to announce. Read on for more info - and happy new year!

If you're new, first and foremost: welcome to HPFT! It's awesome to have you with us. HPFanficTalk has both a forum/archive - the forum is Harry Potter-themed (including a year-long house cup), but we talk about other fandoms, too, and the archive is multi-fandom/OF. We have a strong culture of support for other writers and feedback here, including a story help section, challenges, and reviewing events, so if you're a writer, you've come to the right place. A quick rundown to help you get started here on the forums: please post in the 'Welcome to HPFT' topic +here to say that you've read over the rules and understand them. You can specify your house in that post or in our sorting ceremony +here - once you do, we'll sort you into the right group so you can see your common room. You're welcome to post in your common room and/or in our introductions forum +here to introduce yourself if you'd like, and you may also find our +FAQs helpful.

Enjoy your stay!

Hufflepuff: 1826

Slytherin: 1056

Gryffindor: 1008

Ravenclaw: 987

We're excited to welcome @Renacerá to the auror team! Emily has done an amazing job since she became a Hufflepuff prefect a couple months ago, and the application she submitted for the auror position was very strong as well. With the changes to our rules re: the queue and activity on the archive picking up in general, we're very happy to be able to bump her up!

However, we are sorry to announce that both @poppunkpadfoot and @ShazaLupin will be stepping down from their position as Gryffindor and Hufflepuff prefect, respectively. Kayla and Shaza are both wonderful people, great members of the site, and have been terrific prefects. We'll miss having them both on the team - thank you so much, Kayla and Shaza!

We're reopening staff/prefect applications!

Every three months, we post an application for all site staff roles. Any vacancies that exist when we post applications or that come up over the course of the following three months are filled using that application, so if you're interested in joining, you should absolutely apply. You can pick as many roles as you'd like (it's all one application), and we don't have any restrictions on post count or time spent as a member.

You can find the application +here. If you would like to apply, please do so by January 10, 11:59pm GMT.

If you'd like to review the full breakdown of responsibilities/more details about how we fill staff/prefect positions, please click the spoiler tag below. Thank you!

Spoiler

When you fill out the application, you'll identify what roles you're interested in (auror, gamekeeper, muggle liaison, muggle liaison assistant, prefect, and/or professor). As long as you fit the age requirements, you can apply to as many as you'd like.

If you've applied in the past, you'll probably notice a few changes. The application shouldn't take more time than it did in the past, but it's structured a little differently - we've cut down the number of questions on the 'all applicants' section of the application and now have one role-specific question for gamekeeper, muggle liaison/muggle liaison assistant, and professor/prefect (so three total). In addition, we've simplified/shortened the auror section significantly.

Once applications close, all staff members review and discuss the applications. Any vacancies that exist when we post applications or that come up over the course of the following three months are filled using that application, so if you're interested in any position(s), even if you don't think there's an opening right now, you should absolutely apply. You are also welcome to apply even if you haven't been on the site for very long or if you will only become available partway through this time frame (e.g., if you'll only be available after February 15) - there's a space to specify the latter on the application. If you have applied in the past and are still interested, please apply again.

The following are some basic explanations about what each position entails. Please note that the hour requirement is a guideline for most weeks - if you have to take time off here and there for whatever reason, that's totally fine, but we'd like for that to be the exception rather than the rule.

All staff assistants (i.e., prefects and muggle liaison assistants) must be at least 13 years old. They are expected to devote 1-2 hours a week to their duties, including:

A prefect is expected to work with staff members and other prefects to help run certain site activities (i.e., the Order or Merlin, the site story of the month, and seasonal events). They are also expected to contribute to common room activities. The specifics may differ depending on the culture of your specific common room, but may include running monthly/annual competitions, the house newsletter, and seasonal events.
A muggle liasion assistant is expected to assist the muggle liaisons in social media outreach.

All full staff members (i.e., aurors, gamekeepers, muggle liaisons, and professors) are expected to devote at least 3-5 hours a week to their duties, including judging sitewide contests and applications; participating in planning site activities; and brainstorming new directions to take the site. Gamekeepers, muggle liaisons, and professors must be at least 16 years old, and aurors must be at least 18 years old. Please note that handbooks and/or extensive guidance are available for all of these positions; experience is helpful, but it's in no way necessary. )

In addition:

An auror is expected to work with other validators to validate submissions to the archive. Aurors should plan to validate 5-10 chapters a week (depending on activity in the queue). They are also expected to interface with members who reach out with questions about our archive rules via the validator email account, the forums, and/or twitter.
A gamekeeper is expected to streamline communication between prefects and staff members, serve as a resource for prefects as they brainstorm and carry out site activities, and help coordinate forum activities/events.
A muggle liaison is expected to make regular posts on tumblr, including both reblogging and creating original content like fic recommendations; perform outreach to other sites; and brainstorm new areas to take our social media presence to.
A professor is expected to work with the other professors to moderate the forums (~2-3 times/week), including approving new members; check posts on the forums to ensure that they follow the rules; modify posts that do not appropriately; and contact members where necessary.

Please do keep in mind that we really do take your answers on the application seriously, so answer thoughtfully - while we don't automatically bump the strongest application, the only times to date that we've ever ended up bypassing someone with a stronger app for someone with a weaker one was when there were serious concerns about activity levels.

If you have any questions at all, you're welcome to ask them here or PM me (@abhorsen.).

We have several changes to announce regarding the archive.

First: going forward and effectively immediately, we will be abolishing all queue limits on the archive. Members will be permitted to submit as many new chapters to the queue at a time as they'd like - just know that if you submit 75 chapters at once, it might take us a little while to work through them and we'll also be keeping the queue clear before returning to your chapters (so other authors who are just submitting a couple chapters aren't stuck waiting).

Second: our wonderful admin and coder @toomanycurls has played with archive software. There is now a 'report review' function that you can use, and inside your account info -> reviews received, you can now view all of your reviews under a single tab (as opposed to going story-by-story).

Finally, we now have a secondary twitter account that automatically posts chapter updates: +HPFT New Chapters - follow it if you'd like to see when people update their stories.

The FROGS are here! They're our annual awards, and the chance to really recognize the best and brightest among us!

This year, we will be including the following categories:

Most Versatile Author
Best Reviewer
Best Non-HP Fandom
Best Original Fiction
Best Angst
Best Dark/Horror
Best Humor
Best Romance
Best Rare Pair
Best Depiction of Friendship/Family
Best LGBTQA+
Best Depiction of a Mental Illness/Disability
Best Original Character
Best Major HP Canon Character
Best Minor HP Canon Character

Nominations will open on January 3!

Our two head students this month were both enthusiastic participants in the snowball fight, leaving the fourth-most and fifth-most reviews, respectively. One of them only just joined the site partway through the event, and the other came back from a hiatus. We know how hard it can be to jump in so strongly, and we think that they deserve significant recognition for how much happiness they spread during the event. Thank you so, so much, to both of you - you're both absolutely amazing members, and you've made so, so many of us smile this month. (And, of course, earned Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw a boatload of points as well!)

@just.a.willow.tree and @manno-malfoy!

Please PM me with your choice of what story of yours that you'd like to be featured on the archive, and thank you both again!

Eva and manno weren't the only standout reviewers this month! For the winter wonderland event, we left a mind-boggling number of reviews on the archive! 29 different reviewers left a mind-boggling 1376 reviews for 97 different authors and on 518 different stories! Whether you spent the month frantically reviewing or only had time to leave a few, you all helped make the event a huge success.

We would like to give special recognition to our top three reviewers: @nott theodore, @Dojh167, and @Rumpelstiltskin!

We'd also like to recognize three reviewers who left a lot of particularly thorough reviews!

@Stella Blue, @Crimson Quill, and @forever_dreaming!

You can view the total points breakdown +here!

A huge congratulations to @Dojh167 for winning January's SotM with her story When I Go Out With You (M)!

I'm young and I love to be young
I'm free and I love to be free
To live my life the way I want
To say and do whatever I please

- A Hannah Abbott Story -

banner by .amaris @TDA

Every month, HPFT runs Fic Night, where a staff member reads a nominated fic from one of our members. You can check out December's fic night here if you haven't seen it yet - @TidalDragon reads @Shadowkat678's A Christmas in Azkaban (M), and she answers some questions about it!

Congratulations to all of our featured stories, including this month's story of the night, fic night story, the winners of last spring's prefect challenge, a story from a recent head student, and a couple staff pics! To check them out, just click on the award. Please keep in mind that some stories may be rated M.