Scribes Enclave: For Authors and Reviewers

zbkolde · July 2013

Scribes Enclave was created to collect and organize all available avenues of attaining reviews for Neverwinter foundry quests. Our primary goal is to provide authors with helpful feedback on new quests, so they may polish and tweak them before advertising to bigger audiences. Hopefully we will form a network of multiple reviewing groups and individuals, providing as much exposure as possible for our members. Yes there are other reviewing sites and systems, but there are also many quests and authors that fall through the cracks, so there is always room for more reviewers.

(Please bear with me as i post all of this information without using any apostrophes, as the site has decided to cut them off for me today.)

What do you do?

-We review quests and provide feedback. It is not a trade-based system.
-We collect and link other sites and systems for listing quests and getting reviews.
-We offer tutoring for newer authors.

Do these Neverwinter forums not already do that?

Yes. These forums hold these same tools, and many, many, many more. Threads for new quests are sometimes buried by other topics before reviewers ever have a chance to see them.

The Neverwinter forums can be intimidating to new authors, because of the large-scale audience. Scribes Enclave is a smaller group of dedicated members. We can help new authors feel more comfortable with their quests, thus encouraging them to post here once they have received some feedback from the guild members.

Scribes Enclave has stricter rules for behavior and comments. It is a smaller, private community, ran by a dedicated individual who has the time and aspiration to maintain a friendly environment.

Are there not other sites that offer reviews already?

Yes, and we hope to build a network linking all of them together, offering as much exposure as possible to the quests of our members. We are not trying to compete with other sites, we are trying to supplement them and connect our members to them.

Why did you start this site?

Because it makes me sad when new authors post their quests on these forums for review, and their thread gets pushed down and down and never gets any replies.

For awhile i tried to single-handedly prevent that from happening. I ended up with a very thick coating of post-it notes in front of my keyboard, and was never able to get them all finished. I cannot help everyone myself, but maybe i can help more authors find help from other people who want to help.

I do not like your strict rules.

Sorry to hear that, but it is okay. Like any other guild, it is intended to be a group of like-minded people. We want to link with other sites where you may be happier to participate, including these forums. You do not have to sit at our lunch table to be our friend.

Who can join?

Anyone. This is an out-of-game guild, so your home shard or current in-game guild status is irrelevant.

We have two membership statuses, which can be changed at any time by simple request.

Members: Anyone can be a member.

If you have quests that need reviewing,
or you want to start making quests,
or you like playing the foundry quests of others,
or you like to help others learn the foundry editor,
you are a perfect fit.

Reviewers: Those more dedicated to reviewing quests can register as volunteer reviewers. Our registered reviewers agree to make themselves more available for requests. Though they are not obligated to run every quest, they have voluntarily chosen to contribute more.

How do I join?

You will need a free GuildLaunch user account.
Apply to Scribes Enclave from our site: http://scribesenclave.guildlaunch.com

Do not be discouraged by the low number of members at the moment. The site was only created on Tuesday, July 16th, and only made public via this post on Thursday, July 18th. It is brand new, and hopefully will grow quickly.

lolsorhand · July 2013

I'll join up

zbkolde · July 2013

Great!

We cannot let the apostrophe gremlins hold us back.

nimmanu · July 2013

I'm in. I've been trying very hard to get the wiki updated, so hopefully that will qualify me along with the fact that I'm [still] making a quest.

My guildlaunch acct. is PistachioPie.

zbkolde · July 2013

Three new members in the first hour!

Thank you guys.

redneckronin · July 2013

Well given my comments in Shorlong's thread last week I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't join.

And my parents didn't raise me to be a hypocrite.

I'll sign up now.

All The Best

zbkolde · July 2013

redneckronin wrote: »

Well given my comments in Shorlong's thread last week I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't join.

Any my parents didn't raise me to be a hypocrite.

I'll sign up now.

All The Best

Your comment was part of my inspiration.

redneckronin · July 2013

zbkolde wrote: »

Your comment was part of my inspiration.

Yeah, kind of figured that when you PM'd me last week.

I'd have tried something like this, but my web-skills extend only as far as actually using the **** thing.

I'm amazed I figured out the basic of the Foundry, my cousin says I am so bad with technology, and so likely to jinx it, that I shouldn't be allowed anything more technologically advanced than a spoon.

PS: I have been doing my "1 free review" a day, and have been trying to target "low play" quests. I'll certainly be up for reviewing over at Scribe's.

All The Best

zbkolde · July 2013

Six new members today, including two volunteer reviewers.

Still room for lots more.

zbkolde · July 2013

We are up to 12 members now, including 7 volunteer reviewers!

We need more new quests to review!

We could also use some more volunteer reviewers, and more tutors... and students.

mosby1 · July 2013

Good idea - I'm in.

savaikun · July 2013

I'm in. Consider me a reviewer as well. More details please

wuhsin · July 2013

I'll be keeping an eye on this. The last guild I joined that supposedly had the same goals turned out to be pure bologna. Had it not, this one wouldn't be so necessary.

savaikun · July 2013

eeks - change the color from yellow on the highlight links on the website, wayyy too hard to read O.O

zbkolde · July 2013

savaikun wrote: »

eeks - change the color from yellow on the highlight links on the website, wayyy too hard to read O.O

I was trying to figure out how to change the link color, both new and old, but so far the only thing i figured out was selecting a different template. Sorry it's hard to read for you. For me the new link is pretty good, bright enough to stand out but not overwhelming, but then again my brightness settings are always set low. I'll look into it.

wuhsin wrote: »

I'll be keeping an eye on this. The last guild I joined that supposedly had the same goals turned out to be pure bologna. Had it not, this one wouldn't be so necessary.

Sorry to hear this.

I promise i'm not bologna.

You could always leave if you didn't like us... but so far it's a great group of people from this community, and a few that have been hiding in the shadows beyond these forums.

voxx75 · July 2013

Great idea. I just applied

zbkolde · July 2013

We're up to 17 members now!

We still need more new quests for our reviewers to play!

We could use more reviewers and tutors.

We also still need some more links to other reviewing sites and systems.

saerrael · July 2013

And another one!
Good lord, not been on that site in years. I still had an account, though. *chuckles*

celantra · July 2013

I'll Join! - Yeah I don't even remember my account info so Ill create a new one. Personally I use Enjin for these kind of things, but looks like these folks have grown up a bit.

karitr · July 2013

Hi Zbkolde, nice thing you are doing, but I do have a two questions:

1) Will the members be reviewing only the quests of authors who sign up to the site. or will you continue to support authors who aren't as forum-savvy/self-promoters?
2) What exactly are these strict rules you allude to?

Thank you

zagnar1 · July 2013

I will join!

I have been looking around for an authors guild for awhile.

zbkolde · July 2013

Woke up to three more applications!

Kinda sorry i went to bed. We're up to 22 members now, including 8 volunteer reviewers!

We still need more authors, and reviewers, and tutors, and links to other sites.

karitr wrote: »

Hi Zbkolde, nice thing you are doing, but I do have a two questions:

1) Will the members be reviewing only the quests of authors who sign up to the site. or will you continue to support authors who aren't as forum-savvy/self-promoters?
2) What exactly are these strict rules you allude to?

Thank you

Our members aren't exclusive to our site, they can (and have been) review quests posted on these official forums or anywhere they please. Also, we're actually set up more to help those who are aren't comfortable with self-promotion, by offering a smaller, more personal group to help them on a more individual basis. I wasn't comfortable posting my own quest here on these forums for a long time. Luckily i drug enough of my LotRO friends over with me to get me past the 5-review and 20-play marks.

Our rules are posted on the home page of our GuildLaunch site, it's the first thing visitors will see.

http://scribesenclave.guildlaunch.com/

karitr · July 2013

Thanks for the reply zbkolde and yes I saw your "no obligation, no obligation, no swearing" rules on the home page, it was the "strict" ones you spoke of that I was asking about

zbkolde · July 2013

karitr wrote: »

Thanks for the reply zbkolde and yes I saw your "no obligation, no obligation, no swearing" rules on the home page, it was the "strict" ones you spoke of that I was asking about

Oh, well those are our only rules actually, other than a few typical posting guidelines.

I thought they sounded kind of strict, but maybe not everyone takes them that way... which is a good thing.

jedite2012 · July 2013

signed up cant go to forums, members only

zbkolde · July 2013

jedite2012 wrote: »

signed up cant go to forums, members only

I got you.

I try to check for new applications as often as possible, sometimes it might take me a little bit though.

karitr · July 2013

No you don't sound at all strict

I think I have a similar ethos; I certainly believe every genuine author deserves to have their quest(s) played. If only we had more hours in the day, eh?

I started a thread that I don't like to think of as 'recommendations', but more in keeping with the in game review question "What was great about this quest?" as most quests have some element that shines. I also wanted to get away from the self-promotion type threads (although nothing wrong with them!) and create an environment where we simply discuss what we are playing.

Perhaps you could link the thread in your forum so reviewers can add 'finished' quests to it if they wish to? It would be useful to authors trying to get recognition/plays and also to players who come here looking for something that maybe isn't on the top of any list in the game catalogue (though the thread isn't only for hidden gems/new content; adding something that is on the "Best" list is perfectly OK too).

What Foundry are you playing at the moment?

I'm of the mind-set "They can only say 'no'", so if this isn't a suitable link for your site, no worries :cool:

zbkolde · July 2013

karitr wrote: »

No you don't sound at all strict

I think I have a similar ethos; I certainly believe every genuine author deserves to have their quest(s) played. If only we had more hours in the day, eh?

I started a thread that I don't like to think of as 'recommendations', but more in keeping with the in game review question "What was great about this quest?" as most quests have some element that shines. I also wanted to get away from the self-promotion type threads (although nothing wrong with them!) and create an environment where we simply discuss what we are playing.

Perhaps you could link the thread in your forum so reviewers can add 'finished' quests to it if they wish to? It would be useful to authors trying to get recognition/plays and also to players who come here looking for something that maybe isn't on the top of any list in the game catalogue (though the thread isn't only for hidden gems/new content; adding something that is on the "Best" list is perfectly OK too).

What Foundry are you playing at the moment?

I'm of the mind-set "They can only say 'no'", so if this isn't a suitable link for your site, no worries :cool:

I've been thinking and thinking on this, trying to figure out the best way to post a link to your thread on our site. The links i've posted so far have been places where members can advertise their own quest. I'm not sure how it would work for me to post a link to a thread where they aren't supposed to list their own quest. If it were someone else posting the link, it would be fine. Say, if one of our current members mentioned that their quest was listed in this thread, that would be perfectly okay. Or, if you (;)) were to join, and mention that you've created this thread of quests, that'd work too. Just, for me to link it myself seems out of place, since our members can't go there and advertise their own quest. Does that make any sense?

I do applaud your thread, it's a really nice gesture.

karitr · July 2013

Hey no worries, and thank you for taking the time to explain (and apologies if it felt like I was putting you on the spot).

zbkolde · July 2013

25 members! It's getting fun over there.

Thank you so much to everyone who's joined, and those who at least took a peak at us. We'll always have room for more.

lolsorhand · July 2013

karitr wrote: »

Hey no worries, and thank you for taking the time to explain (and apologies if it felt like I was putting you on the spot).

I could post it though, no worries

- It's a great thread.

Scribes Enclave: For Authors and Reviewers

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