Bulbagarden Volunteer Drive 2023 - Questions and Discussion

[Archaic]

Hi everyone,

As you may have already seen in our recent news post, Bulbagarden is currently looking for applicants for a range of volunteer staff positions:

• Bulbagarden Forums Moderators
• Bulbapedia Junior Administrators
• Bulbanews Writers
• Bulbagarden Discord Moderators

It's been a good while now since the last time we actively sought to bring on new volunteers, so I imagine there's probably more than a few of you with questions about the application process, and what these roles would actually involve. I'll try to give as much information as I can here, but if you have any questions that this post doesn't answer, please don't hesitate to reply to this thread and we'll do our best to clear things up for you.

General Questions:
How can I apply?
Click the links above, or in the news post, and they'll take you straight to the application forms. If applying to multiple positions, you'll need to fill out each form separately.

Why aren't you accepting any applications for the social media or multimedia (Youtube, Twitch) teams?
Due to the nature of these platforms, we are only recruiting for these sorts of roles internally at this point in time. If you're interested in contributing in these areas, we hope that you'll consider working with us in some other capacity to begin with, such as a moderator for the PokéTube forum or the Bulbagarden Discord, or as a Bulbanews Writer.

When can I expect to hear back from you?
All successful applicants should hear back from us by the middle of July.

Technical Questions:
My application form timed out, what do I do?
If you get an error like the image in the spoiler tag below, then just send me a private message here or via email. Your submission will be saved as an incomplete submission at our end, so I'm able to retrieve everything for you so you don't have to retype from scratch.

Spoiler

Role Responsibilities:

The basic responsibilities of Bulbagarden Forums Moderators are to:

• Be a friendly and welcoming presence on the forums.
• Be an active participant in conversations on the forums.
• Create, co-ordinate and facilitate events in your section, and assist with and/or participate in broader website events.
• View threads in your section and report problematic posts for staff discussion.
• Discuss and act on reports from your section through PMs, warnings, or other appropriate methods.
• Manage your section by performing tasks such as deleting posts, moving threads, and banning spambots.
• Participate in discussions about other sections, the forums as a whole, and off-forum projects with all other Bulbagarden staff members.

Moderators of certain forums may also have additional responsibilities relating to the needs of that particular section, such as an expectation to keep up with Pokémon news relating to that aspect of the fandom. These specific responsibilities are outlined in the application form.

The basic responsibilities of Junior Administrators on Bulbapedia & the Bulbagarden Archives are to:

• Patrol the Recent Changes and address any content, conduct, policy, or style violations.
• Participate in staff discussions regarding content coverage and overall wiki direction.
• Serve as an active user resource by answering user questions and concerns.
• Assist with staff maintenence/backend tasks (ie. moving images on the Archives, updating protected pages).

People brought on board because of a specific skillset (e.g. wiki template editing, specialised knowledge of a certain segment of the Pokémon franchise) may have other responsibilities that they might be tasked to focus on.

The basic responsibilities of Bulbanews Writers are to:

• Write news articles relating to your field(s) of interest.
• Actively follow Pokémon news and announcements relating to your field(s) of interest, to enable timely posting of the new.s
• Keep up with current discussions in the broader fan community relating to your field(s) of interest, including rumours and events.

While not a part of expected responsibilities, Bulbanews writers may also have the opportunity to:

• Write reviews, opinion pieces, and other long-form content relevant to your field(s) of interest.
• Contribute news coverage and commentary for Bulbagarden's Social Media and Multimedia teams.

The basic responsibilities of Bulbagarden Discord Moderators are to:

• Be a friendly and welcoming presence on the Discord server.
• Be an active participant in conversations on the Discord server.
• Keep up with Pokémon-related news and rumours, as well as current trends in the broader Pokémon fandom.
• Maintain the environment of the Discord server, including but not limited to dealing with spam, and ensuring discussions remain on-topic.
• Participate in staff discussions about the health of the Bulbagarden Discord community.

If you intend to focus on a specific channel or set of channels, you may have other additional responsibilities that you might be tasked with. These would be discussed with you prior to you coming on board.
While not a part of expected responsibilities, Bulbagarden Discord moderators may also have the opportunity to:

• Assist with chat moderation for Bulbagarden's Twitch streamers.

 

[Boblers]

The Discord field on the forms might need to be revised to allow for both number tags and handles - Discord is phasing out the former in favor of the latter over the coming months (ref: Evolving Usernames on Discord).

When users change over to the new system, they get a profile badge with their old tag, however they cannot be pinged or searched-for with that tag anymore.
For example, I was "Boblers#4199", but after the change I am "boblers", with a badge on my profile that says "Originally known as Boblers#4199". Searching for Boblers#4199 will not find me directly (it'll just show you old pings directed at me, which are now broken), and attempting to ping that tag will not work - to find me or ping me you would have to use the new handle boblers. I happen to have a handle similar to my tag, but if a user has a handle that's completely different, it may be difficult to find them from the tag alone.

To avoid confusion, perhaps the Discord field on the form should ask the user for both their tag and their handle, or just the tag if they don't have a handle yet?

 

[Archaic]

The Discord field on the forms might need to be revised to allow for both number tags and handles - Discord is phasing out the former in favor of the latter over the coming months (ref: Evolving Usernames on Discord).

When users change over to the new system, they get a profile badge with their old tag, however they cannot be pinged or searched-for with that tag anymore.
For example, I was "Boblers#4199", but after the change I am "boblers", with a badge on my profile that says "Originally known as Boblers#4199". Searching for Boblers#4199 will not find me directly (it'll just show you old pings directed at me, which are now broken), and attempting to ping that tag will not work - to find me or ping me you would have to use the new handle boblers. I happen to have a handle similar to my tag, but if a user has a handle that's completely different, it may be difficult to find them from the tag alone.

To avoid confusion, perhaps the Discord field on the form should ask the user for both their tag and their handle, or just the tag if they don't have a handle yet?

I knew there was something we were forgetting to update in this.... I'm not sure I can actually edit those questions now that the forms are live and responses have already come in, but I'll take a look.

The field should already just work as a basic text entry field, so people can enter whichever they have. Realistically, if you're in the Bulba Discord and you've kept a similar nickname, or if you've also got a Bulba forums account and you put that down, we should still be able to find you.

EDIT: Okay, I've been able to update those instructions. Should be clearer now, I hope.

 

[Juliyet]

I already submitted a moderator form yesterday, but I realized there's another forum section I'd be interested in that I didn't express in my initial form, but I'd have to repeat a lot of the questions from the start and end of the form

Would it be cool for me to do the form again just for that section but have y'all refer to the first form for most of the other stuff including all the beginning and end + the other forum sections I expressed interest in?

 

[Enzap]

I already submitted a moderator form yesterday, but I realized there's another forum section I'd be interested in that I didn't express in my initial form, but I'd have to repeat a lot of the questions from the start and end of the form

Would it be cool for me to do the form again just for that section but have y'all refer to the first form for most of the other stuff including all the beginning and end + the other forum sections I expressed interest in?

It may not let you resubmit a form, but if you are able to then that's fine. If not, then you are welcome to message myself or @colours with information about the additional section you'd like to apply for, and we'll make sure that information gets added to our internal document.

 

[Juliyet]

It may not let you resubmit a form, but if you are able to then that's fine. If not, then you are welcome to message myself or @colours with information about the additional section you'd like to apply for, and we'll make sure that information gets added to our internal document.

Thanks.

Actually on second thought, looking into that additional section more and knowing what's also discussed there, I don't think I'd be a good fit there, lol (I kinda had a hunch, which is why I didn't express interest in it initially, but it didn't hurt to double check.). I think my initial form works fine as is. Thanks for answering though.

 

[Enzap]

Thanks.

Actually on second thought, looking into that additional section more and knowing what's also discussed there, I don't think I'd be a good fit there, lol (I kinda had a hunch, which is why I didn't express interest in it initially, but it didn't hurt to double check.). I think my initial form works fine as is. Thanks for answering though.

No worries, if you change your mind feel free to reach out.

 

[ReturnofMCH]

good luck to whoever applies! I'm sitting this one out as usual. But I look forward to seeing the new staff!

 

[Jacob Barbale]

how do you become a staff member?

 

[Frozen Fennec]

how do you become a staff member?

Late response but depends on the area; the biggest thing we usually look for in people applying for staff member is some level of experience in that area and / or having an overall positive and helpful attitude. We cannot guarantee an applicant will become a staff member. However, there is also times we reach out to those who did not apply if we feel they may be a good fit for being a staff member in that / those section(s) of the community. One can apply to be a staff member to multiple areas of the community if they wish to do so and do not feel they would be overwhelmed.