Since we now had an open place in our staff for a fanfic recommender, I figured it would be a good idea to post a full, detailed explanation of our desired and approved of traits in our members.

Of course, these are just my personal views (@RiverIvy), so I’m sure Helsu’s might differ at some points, though I’m sure that we both have the same general idea of an ideal staff worker.

*Update: Helsu (@FloralArtistry) has agreed to all club-related mentioned below.

Here it is:

A member is expected to always be kind, friendly, and supportive to his or her fellow co-workers; and by this I mean frequently chatting and talking with each other, exchanging tips and advice for work, making jokes with each other, having (polite, of course) debates or discussions, things like that – just overall being an friendly and likeable person.

You are also expected to be proud and loyal to the club. We’ve been through harsh times and will undoubtedly go through more; through all these, you should be willing to defend and protect us, remain proud and unwavering, help with suggestions and solutions, and offer support and comfort to your fellow members. You, no matter what, will NOT step down and desert us. If you do this, you will be seen as scum in our eyes and always will. Avoiding us and not even being bothered to help us when we need it is also a despicable thing to do. Shame.

You must be willing to devote all your efforts into the club – if you’re thinking, “Oh, look. There’s this book club on this stupid writing site. I’m bored and have nothing to do, so I’ll join it. If I ever get tired of it, I’ll just leave.” NO. The GRA is NOT just supposed to be an insignificant speck of your days; it has to dominate a certain part of your life. Be enthusiastic, serious, and engaging about your role. We are a clan, a pack; a family. Being a member of us requires hard work and dedication, and at times it can be harsh – you can go through drama, open calls of hate, and being disliked and shunned by the entire Pokemon-Wattpad community, and many more things; but at the same time it is rewarding. You will have our friendship, our back behind yours, our loyalty, and our own personal fun times. Only join us if you’re truly willing to devote yourself and join that special bond we have.

Anyway, moving on to more practical uses:

As a critic, these are the things you’re expected to do:

-        Write a relatively long and detailed, grammatically decent review that follows our required style of critiquing and is harsh and honest, yet helpful. Remember, you are critiquing the book, not the writer. Do NOT mention the writer in the review in any way about their personality, actions, etc. JUST the writing. The important thing is to stay objective.

-         Always submit your work on time. We always give two weeks to read and finish the review, as well as you can always find the dates to the next review in our bio.

-          If you are required to repeat or modify your work because it isn’t satisfactory, then do it without complaint.

-         You must be willing to do whatever task your admins ask of you, without complaining or whining. Be obedient.

-         If someone attacks you for your review, then answer in a calm and polite, yet firm way. Never back down. If you see one of your fellow workers being attacked, don’t just think, “Oh, it’s none of my business.” NO. You’re supposed to be loyal and supportive, so don’t just stand there but actually help them and back them up. That still in a polite and calm way.

-         You must always keep up with updates; be they new articles on our review book, messages to all followers or personal messages, or updates here on the Info.Corner. NO EXCEPTIONS. Please do this, for heaven’s sake. It’s incredibly frustrating for Helsu or I to go and personally order you to read them. This is your responsibility, and we’ve told you this repeatedly. It helps if you vote for the chapter as wel can see that you have read throught the update that way. It you cannot do that for some reason, just tell us so in the comments.

For the fanfic recommender:

-          Choose many different books; don’t just focus on books that feature only certain characters or focus on one shipping. No! Always make sure to choose from a variety of different genres, themes, settings, characters, and even shippings!

-         Don’t only choose incredibly popular books. Give lesser-known writers a chance, too. (Of course, this doesn’t mean you don’t pick popular fics at all. Just balance it out.)

-          Don’t just choose books based only on their quality, but also how much effort you feel the writer put into his or her works. If you feel like that writer is truly passionate and serious about his/her writings, then you’ve found the right user!

-         …But at the same time, please choose books that are at least relatively decent. I always feel uncomfortable critiquing books that are horrible, because it’s a pain reading them and not only that, there’s a risk that the user might get upset. We’ve had bad encounters with writers who can’t handle constructive criticism before, and we want to avoid those as much as possible.

-         You have to be a big reader of Pokemon fanfiction. I don’t even think I have to say this. If you don’t read a lot or don’t have the time for reading, then this job isn’t for you. Plain and simple.

-          I’ll copy and paste what I wrote above: You must always keep up with updates; be they new articles on our review book, messages to all followers or personal messages, or updates here on the Info. Corner. NO EXCEPTIONS. Please do this, for heaven’s sake. It’s incredibly frustrating for Helsu or I to go and personally order you to read them. This is your responsibility. (This applies to all members.)

Okay, I think I’ve summed up about everything on here. As always, if you have any questions, complaints, suggestions, or ideas, then do tell us (politely, of course).

Thank you, and have a great day! :3

-Ivy (and later on Helsu)