#gw2notes

[gw2notes-blog]

500 Follower Give-Away!

You need some shadows in your shadows. Come get a shadow dye. Our prizes for 300 ( kristjons) and 400 ( rynbadger) followers have gone off! Congrats guys! We’ve got one more shadow dye to give away here at Notes, and there’s still a few colours to choose from! Huzzah! To enter, you must be following this blog. You must also reblog this post. Yes, this one you’re reading right now! Quick! Reblog it! Reblogs to your different blogs will count as multiple entries, but likes do not count.  And if you happen to wander over to the blog itself and send some anonymous love to one (or fifty one!) awesome people in your GW2 RP life, I like to believe that the universe will reward that with something awesome. Like a shadow dye won when we hit 500 followers, or a beta portal or a precursor drop. You can’t prove it won’t happen. So get reblogging, and get sharing the love!

[gw2notes-blog]

Thoughts RE: IC Blog-Off

Thanks to those of you who have brought me some ideas on how to re-work the blog-off to try and turn it away from being a popularity contest! It’s very much appreciated.

After some thinking, these are the possible changes that may take place: OPTION A: USER-VOTED TOURNAMENT, WITH DIVISIONS This would mean we keep the same 1v1 match up structure, only the blogs would be divided into divisions according to how many followers they have on entry. Divisions would likely be 0-100 followers, 100-200 followers, and 200+ followers. Only a first prize will be awarded, $10 in gems for the winner of each division. PROS:

Voters will still have to vote in all categories. They won’t be able to ignore voting for the little guys.

Less chance of smaller blogs being knocked out in favour of more popular blogs, a better chance of exposure for everyone.

CONS:

Blog owners may lie about number of followers (no way to verify).

Divisions aren’t likely to be even in number--some divisions will go on much longer in voting than others. Blogs in one division may have more chance of winning than blogs in a larger division.

OPTION B: FEATURED BLOGS WITH MONTHLY LOTTERY This would be you guys submitting a description of your blog to GW2Notes, similar to how you do for compliments to other people. Depending on how many submissions we get, these posts will be queued and posted to the blog to signal boost your awesome GW2 blog, and the things you’d like from it (more asks, more followers, or even commission requests). This would be open to all GW2 based blogs, even those that aren’t strictly IC. Again, depending on how many submissions we get, admins may visit the blogs and add their own notes on what they found and what they enjoyed. Once a month, the names of all the blogs that were featured will be placed into a randomiser and the winner awarded a prize.

PROS:

Not just restricted to IC blogs. Those of you with art, or just general GW2 blogs would also be encouraged to submit.

All blogs will get some time in the spotlight. Users will be able to request the sort of things they want, and showcase any art, writing, or other tags.

Allows for a much more in-depth description of the blog written by the blog owner.

Is a much more long-term, ongoing venture that can showcase all blogs as they are created. May be expanded to include Character of the X, or to showcase guilds, etc, depending on how it is received. 

Admins may review the blogs personally, depending on demand.

First-submit, first-post and lottery nature of reward means everything is entirely fair and completely avoids a popularity contest.

Cheating not possible.

CONS:

Heavily relies on everyone to reblog and signal boost the blogs outside of GW2Notes posting. 

Funding for rewards could be difficult long-term.

Less of a competition than Option A. Less fun? Unsure there.

As always, I need your input as to which of these two options you think would be better. Please answer to this post, reblog, or send us a note! We’re listening! What do you want to see done?

[gw2notes-blog]

WHERE IS IT. WHERE'S RACH- I MEAN WHERE'S THE POST. RAAA.

I actually don’t know if this is a joke (is there a reference I’m not getting?) or genuine, so I’ll just reiterate an important point:If you’d like to raise an issue with us via asks, please, please, pleeeease don’t be anonymous. We would much rather respond to you privately and we can’t do that if you are anonymous.And if you’re sending in something to lighten the day and make us laugh, that’s awesome--but please make sure it’s clear, because I’m not the smartest biscuit in the box and I do need that extra bit of clarity.

Love always,

-- Admin S

[gw2notes-blog]

GW2 IC Blog: Less than 75 followers?

If your IC blog has less than 75 followers, please send me an ask with your IC blog username(s). You can also submit your links as answers to this post.

A master post with blogs to appreciate and love will be coming.

[gw2notes-blog]

RE: The IC Blog-Off

There have been some concerns voiced about the Blog-Off becoming a popularity contest that less-known blogs have no chance of winning. I’d like to invite anyone who has ideas on how the contest might be better structured to contact me (not anonymously, as I would like to reply and discuss with you!).  That said, I’d like to make a few points on what the contest aims to do, as it is not about winning. Yes, there is a prize at the end, but that’s more or less a carrot to get people to engage and be motivated to participate.  The point of the competition, the reason why I want to do this, is to discover and give exposure to the smaller and less-known blogs. Maybe they will be knocked out in the first round---but how many of you see an IC blog you don’t already follow, and decide not to follow it? Personally, I follow every single one I can find. I don’t believe I’m alone in that. Popularity doesn’t occur without some sort of exposure. Tumblr can make it hard to find blogs outside of your normal circles. By engaging in a competition that gets your link out there, you’re taking a step to expose your link and your content to those who might not normally see it. That is the point. I know that people will most likely vote for their friends and the blog names they recognise. I can’t fix that reality, as much as I’d like to. I’d love to ask everyone to examine all the blogs and give an honest vote as to which ones they believe are the best in terms of content and character, but all I can do is encourage people to do that and to hope they will follow through.  The rest is up to you guys, the participants and the voters, to keep encouraging each other to break out of what you know and make an informed decision when you vote. I have taken steps to try and even the playing field. What I can do, I will, and the following structures are in place:

Blogs have been asked to give a short description of their content, a blurb for voters to read and encourage them to check out/follow the blog.

Blurbs and links will be posted in a master post of all entrants. This will allow people to look at everyone and follow everything that interests them.

Players that submit multiple blogs will have their blogs matched against each other in as many rounds as they have multiple entries. This means that another player’s blog won’t be knocked out and keep as many different players in the game for as long as possible.

Voters will be required to vote in all match ups, not just the ones that their friends are in. Voting will be done via a single Google Form with drop-down options to pick who you vote for.

Again, I’m more than happy to listen to any ideas you guys have that will help show off the lesser-known blogs and get their names out there with the big kids.  You can help change the situation for these lesser-known blogs as well, by following and taking an interest in their content. It’s up to you guys to take the initiative and support the small guys, that is how this becomes less of a popularity contest.  The name of the game is exposure. Winning is only the cherry on top.

Love as always,

Admin S.

[gw2notes-blog]

THE GREAT IC BLOG-OFF

Welcome one, welcome all! We are now taking registrations for the Great IC Blog-Off, a tournament style, user-voted competition designed to show off all of the amazing writers in our community.  What’s the prize? FIRST PLACE will get $20 in gems. That’s two outfits! SECOND PLACE will get $10 in gems. Enough to change your face and hair! Blogs that make it to the semi-final bracket (last eight) will each have a write up featuring the blog posted on GW2 Notes. How does it work? Registered blogs will be entered into the tournament bracket in a random order. Blogs that belong to the same person (yes, you can enter each of your character blogs!) will initially be matched up against each other to give all players a fair chance. Each blog will be given a 1v1 matchup for the week. Voting will commence and will be carried out via a Google form. Voting will be open for a week at a time. Voters will be required to vote on every match up--and we encourage voters to look through all the various blogs to make an informed decision! Blogs that win their match up will progress to the next round, and the voting process will repeat until only one blog remains. The rules and eligibility! As always, you must be following GW2 Notes in order to enter the competition, and have reblogged the initial registration post (this post you’re reading!).  Entrants must vote in every round they are part of. Entrants that do not vote will not be allowed to proceed to the next round. In short, you will not be allowed to win if you do not fully participate!

REGISTRATION WILL BE OPEN UNTIL THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2015 UNLESS OTHERWISE ADVERTISED. YOU CAN NOW SIGN UP VIA THE GOOGLE FORM HERE! Good luck, and we look forward to seeing your IC blogs! Reblog with a link to your IC blog to get some loyal followers before the competition starts!

[gw2notes-blog]

Let people say what they want and you just keep on doing what you're doing. I think it's a nice thing. All this blog does is post nice things about people, and if people gotta complain about that, just ignore it and don't give it any attention. DO WHAT YOU DO. <3

Thank you, and you can trust that we will be here, doing what we do!

[gw2notes-blog]

Just a note on phrasing in submissions (and Admin K mentioned a bit on this earlier):

Although it’s not intentional, posts that are structured in the form of ‘Yay for X, only person who doesn’t do Y/makes up for all of Y/so much better than Y’ may be interpreted as negative and hurtful to those who are implied to be less than the person being celebrated.

We understand that you’re super enthusiastic about getting people’s names out there and having the world see how great they are. However, in keeping with the positive spirit of the blog, submissions that are sent in after the posting of this notice that compare players/characters/talents in a way that makes any other group (however vague) appear to be less worthy of appreciation.

For example, the following posts would not be published:

‘Kander is such a super cool banana, if only the rest of his guild could be as great as him!’

‘Kander makes tavern RP actually worthwhile, nice to find a diamond in the rough!’

‘Kander is the saving grace of the skritt community. If there were more like him, I’d be more open to skritt being a playable race.’

Why? Because each of these imply that the others (the guild, the rest of tavern roleplayers, and the rest of skritt roleplayers) are less worthy of appreciation than the ficticious Kander.

What would be published, however:

‘Kander is such a super cool banana! I love his skritt, and interacting with him in the taverns around the Reach!’

It still celebrates everything about this player, but doesn’t do so at the expense of anyone else. This keeps the tone of the blog in line with it’s primary purpose and ideal: a positive place to celebrate everyone in the community. Phrasing is important, and if you’ve got any questions--please ask! We’re happy to answer your questions privately as well if you’re not sure how to phrase your ask.