(CLOSED - thanks to everyone who applied; this round of applications is over)
The unwritten rule in Internet forums is: "If you want to be staff, don't ask." This is primarily to keep the spamming from unqualified aspirants down so staff can do their work and still have time to enjoy the board. However, we have a new approach here at the PokéGym - staff positions and qualifications. These let someone who has been waiting to be asked, or didn't know we'd like someone to provide a certain service, step forward and be confident they can help.
Even if you don't have time to step up, we hope everyone will read the Staff Roles, Staff Rewards and The Rules (see below). It will not only tell you about the site's direction, but might give you an idea for a service or feature we haven't thought of yet.
General Qualifications
A staff candidate:
Has been an active contributor of good posts for the last 6 months
Has no infractions in the last 6 months.
Is generally helpful to other members.
Can take a little abuse without lashing back.
Thinks the PokéGym is special & wants to help this site in particular.
Read the posts below & see what matches up with your talents/passion.
Post a thread in the Team Compendium Hideout forum, stating what position you think you fit and why. Only you and the Boss (Team Compendium) will know you posted.
Check back on your thread after 2 days to see the response.
What not to Do
Don't start a campaign, or have people drop hints. You will not be selected. In fact, if your interest is discussed anywhere on the board, your staff candidacy is likely to fail. Likewise, don't PM current staff or TC for support. Your thread in the Viridian Courtyard will be the only place your interest is made known and we will never discuss an application outside of TC & you.
Thanks...
...to all the members for your support of the PokéGym and to those of you thinking of stepping up your service here.
You'll make sure that articles and news in the article submissions and news submissions forums get evaluated and posted in a timely fashion. To do this, you subscribe by email alert to the article submissions forums and respond within a day or two to all authors. It may also mean reminding the Deck Forum mods or the Admins to review an article. It will mean cleaning up an article of extraneous posts and moving it to the publishing forum.It will also mean, suggesting an article be moved to a forum if it is not strong enough for front page. You will make sure people follow the submission guidelines and add to the submission FAQ.
You are also a person who recruits people to write good articles for the Gym.
Qualifications:
You have a sense for solid content with community credibility and interest. You don't struggle to have good spelling and grammar. You are active on the Gym and have a passion to see more and better content on page 1. You are polite and bold enough to turn down an article and find an alternative forum for publishing. You are pesky enough to seek out and get admin or Deck Mod approval when needed. You have decent skills with the vBulletin article editor and can figure out how to help users insert Gallery images in articles.
You will write a weekly front page news item, probably due Friday night, summarizing what's new and what's hot on the PokéGym in the last week. You will be actively looking for these things on the forums and other feature areas. Any staff member can PM you a feature or rules change and you'll investigate it and write up a blurb about it in your weekly summary.
Sometimes you'll do a write up before the weekly, if some topic or change is hot or perhaps forum mods need some forum guidelines change announced right away.
A lot of things get changed and improved around here every week; many times it goes unnoticed because there was no time to write a feature or the change is buried in a particular forum. This staff member is on the lookout for hot threads in various forums and links to the worthy ones that might get overlooked. Perhaps you'll be pestering the Deck Mods for a Deck Fix of the Week to highlight, or noting the uptick in announcements in the Tourney forum for the next pre-release, or a new announcement from POP. You have the pulse of the Gym and the Staff and make sure the members know what it is.
Qualifications:
You can write decently.
You're on the Gym nearly every day.
You want people to not miss what's going on around here.
You are faithful to get things done week in and week out and not afraid to get someone to fill in if you can't meet deadline.
You can think of a good title for this position.
You will respond to PMs notifying you that a person has applied for the professor logo.
You will check the applicants profile to make sure the have filled in the Prof Test date correctly.
You will check their application reason for correct info.
You will check your localized My Pokémon to see if the person is on the Professor list.
If anyone is missing their info or isn't a prof, mark the request DENY - they will automatically get a PM referring them to the requirements. If they are good-to-go, mark them ACCEPT - they will be notified automatically.
Logo update is currently a manual "maintenance" process, so respond "Be patient" to any inquiries about "When will my logo appear."
You will also get PMs from little kids who want to join the group; let the know what a POP Professor is, and help them find other ways to enjoy the PokéGym.
Qualifications:
You're a professor and have a My Pokémon account where you know the password :wink:.
You're on the board a lot and willing to take the 120 seconds needed to fill these requests before you do what you came to do on the 'Gym.
Community members who want to give back to the Community are encouraged to volunteer to moderate a forum or two. One or more Forum Moderators are assigned to each forum and they have the responsibility to monitor new posts in that forum, and respond to 'reported posts' for their forum. Members selected as a Forum Moderator will be assigned to one or two specific forums for a set period of time and will receive training and assistance from other staff. At the end of the assignment a review will be given. You may sign up for additional Forum Moderator positions. Successful completion of a Forum Moderator assignment can serve as a path to a full time staff position on the PokéGym.
Qualifications:
This is the entry level, trial service position for the PokéGym Forums. These staff are the front-line leaders and set a tone that encourages good posts and contributions in their forums. A history of good posting and active involvement in the Community and Pokemon in general are desired. You will be expected to be present and complete assigned tasks daily, so a history of active involvement in the PokeGym is desirable. You are neither afraid to politely enforce The Rules, nor do you have an 'axe to grind' with any member or group.
The members selected to be Card of the Day Editors will be expected to update the Card of the Day forum and the front page of the PokeGym with a new Card of the Day at least every other day. CotD Editors will work together to ensure coverage over vacations or other time away from the Gym. Cards will be chosen to ensure a variety is presented to the members over the months of each set. Editors are encouraged to come up with a schedule that interests and entertains the members. Staff will also be responsible for moderating the CotD forum posts.
Qualifications:
Staff members who have this responsibilty must be able to use minor HTML coding (normal forum formatting tools) and minor image editing software.
You will be in charge of the data submitted by members about the PokeGym Researching Tower. Much of this data is in the form of scan naming problems, missing cards, or glitches. You will need to correct the problems, solicit missing scans, upload and edit scans. You will also be in charge of thanking the members and crediting contributions and suggestions from members. You will be given Gallery rights sufficient to do this job and expected to process all data supplied by members within one week. You will be expected to ask questions of Gallery Admins as needed to complete you work. You will subscribe via email to the Researching Tower thread.
Qualifications:
The Researching Tower Scientist is person with an eye for detail, who visits the Gym most days out of the week and who has a strong interest in the Researching Tower. It helps if you know how to crop a scan to the right size or touch it up with image editing software.
You research and fill out a price spreadsheet for an assigned set, according to the guidelines stated in the Price Guide introduction page. You update individual prices in the set guides as needed. You add/update TCG related collectibles in the individual items inventory. You take part in the rotation to add prices for new sets to keep the guide current. You will be given access to the price guide controls to be able to make these contributions.
Qualifications:
Interest in trading, buying, selling or collecting the TCG. Members interested in this position will be given a set spreadsheet to fill out, as their application, so you will need Microsoft Excel or equivalent.
