The Joy of Applying

Discussion in 'Player Guides' started by Lycel, Oct 7, 2018.

  1. Lycel
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    Lycel Senior Member

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    [​IMG]
    INTRODUCTION
    As someone who has had three applications accepted (not exactly something to be proud of, but a fact nonetheless), I feel like I have sufficient experience to explain what I believe is important to include in an application, and what’s generally unnecessary. All of this is based on my personal experiences and opinions, and so it is not the be-all and end-all of application guides. If you follow this to a tee, it does not guarantee acceptance. If you don't agree with anything I say, you're probably just as correct as I am. The application document is but a small part of the applying process. I'm also not saying that my applications have been perfect: I wrote my last one over a year ago, and so I've changed my opinion on the best way to write one since then.

    I'm dividing this guide into two sections: writing and formatting. This is not because each section is of equal importance, it's just because I like talking about dumb things.

     
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    Last edited: Oct 7, 2018
  2. Lycel
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    Lycel Senior Member

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    WRITING

    WRITING THE BASICS
    For the simplest questions, give as short an answer as you can manage. This is not the section to bolster your word count--people are looking here for quick information on the applicant. All of the example answers I've written here add up to 50 words, which I would say is a good guideline. If you're writing more than that, take a minute to ask if all you've written is really necessary.

    Your in-game name:
    Eg. Lycel (Previous names)
    Don’t list your 101 IGNs, just link to your namemc page. We don’t really need to know your real name or forum name either, as the former isn’t relevant and the latter is pretty obvious.

    What time zone are you in?
    Eg. ACDT +10:30
    It’s simple enough to find out what time zone you’re in, but no matter how obvious you think your timezone is to yourself, please list it properly as I have above: TIME ZONE CODE +/-(offset), eg. EDT -4, GMT +0, etc. That’s all you need.

    What country do you live in?
    Eg. Australia.
    You can add your state if you wish, but your country is generally sufficient. Probably best not to add your city, that’s a bit TMI.

    What languages do you speak?
    Eg. English, French, and Esperanto.
    It’s totally okay if you only list English here. Try not to lie on your application, because it’ll come back to haunt you later, and no one’s gonna judge you for only knowing English.

    Do you have 2FA enabled?
    Eg. Yes
    There’s only one answer to this. Don’t bother providing screenshots. The question specifically asks for a one-word answer.

    Do you have the necessary means of capturing evidence?
    Eg. Yes, Bandicam and Gyazo.
    This is the number one most over-explained question. Simply list the programs you have as succinctly as possible. This should not be more than a five-word answer.

    Why do you think you should become a mod?
    This question will be expanded upon in the next section.

    How long can you be active on the server every day?
    Eg.
    Monday - Tuesday: 12pm - 4pm
    Saturday - Sunday: 8am - 12pm

    I find this question is often inadequately answered because it’s difficult to determine exactly what information you should include. Pay attention to what the question is asking: how long can you be active on the server every day. Don’t just say you’re awake 12 hours a day and can get on Skyblock at any time. Don’t talk about that one time you were online from the first restart to the second restart. Be honest, and consider how long you’ve been spending on the server up until this point on average, and when you generally go online. It would also be okay to say “I’m available from 8am to 4pm, and I usually stay online for 4 hours”. It’s best to under-promise rather than over-promise: people will be impressed if you do more than you say you will, and will appreciate your honesty.

    How long have you been playing Skyblock?
    Eg. 4 years, 7 months.
    Simple question. Don’t ramble: just give a date. Don’t lie about it either; though this question doesn’t say this, I’d interpret it as “how long have you been active on Skyblock?" If you joined in 2012 but no one knew your name until 2014, then 2014’s probably what you should be listing. Don’t be embarrassed if you only joined recently: we were all there once.

    Have you ever been banned in the past?
    Eg. I was banned in-game for advertising in 2013, and I was banned on the forums for rate abuse in 2016.
    Don't ramble or write a paragraph of excuses here. Explain your situation as quickly as possible. If it's a no, just say no.

    Do you have any past experience as a moderator?
    This question will be expanded upon in the next section.

    Do you meet the requirements for staff?
    Eg. Yes.
    Just say yes (assuming you do). Don’t do that checklist thing. It’s not a hard question.

    WRITING THE BULK

    Why do you think you should become a mod?
    It is my personal opinion that listing too many traits is detrimental to your application in the long run. Not only does it seem disingenuous (look at how many good traits I have!), but it's also not particularly compelling. In reality, most of the traits you might want to list are a given for a moderator and have been listed by a hundred applicants before you. For this reason, I would always advise you to pick 2-4 traits that are unique to you and are the main selling points for you becoming a moderator. What do you specifically bring to the team? We're trying to make a compelling point here, so providing a few, well-substantiated traits is far stronger than listing twenty that have no backing to them.

    The next question is what traits to pick. You should pick ones that you think you can talk about at relative length, and ones that you don't think literally everyone before you has picked. I've written leadership as the example that I'll get to in a minute, but this is a pretty unoriginal choice. Also, pet peeve: don't write that you're a good typer. Typer is not a word. Typist is a word, however.

    There are two main ways you can structure your selective traits: either in paragraph form or in broken paragraph (bullet point) form. Either way, you'll want to follow the typical paragraph structure: Topic sentence, elaboration, substantiation, and linking.

    Topic sentence
    Eg. (in bullet point form) Teamwork: (paragraph form) I have experience in collaboration and teamwork.
    Here you introduce what you're going to be talking about. Though the order of the later components is fairly flexible, it's important to have this at the start of your point so that people who are skimming will immediately see your trait.

    Elaboration
    Eg. I can work well with others in stressful situations and know when to defer to others who have more experience than me.
    You can always add more sentences/bullet points to this section, but I only provided one and a bit. Don't go overboard though, and don't just define the word (we all know what teamwork is). Try to make sure your elaboration relates to being a moderator because it will make your life easier when you get to the linking section.

    Substantiation
    Eg. I frequently ask moderators questions before advising players so that I can be correct, and have lead and participated in numerous teams in sports, school, and work.
    Essentially, you're addressing what you've already written, and showing how you've actually done it. This lends credibility to what you're claiming to be. You're welcome to put more specific examples in here, but sometimes that can create the feeling that you've only shown your trait in that one specific scenario. Don't make this section too large either: we'll go into specific real-life experiences that relate to moderation in the experience section.

    Linking

    Eg. I use this experience to work alongside moderators when I'm helping out and will allow me to work efficiently in a staff team.
    This section is where you explicitly say how this trait is going to help you as a Skyblock Moderator. If you can't find a reason for the trait helping you as a moderator, then it probably shouldn't be in your application. It's not strictly necessary, but try to list both how it's helping you now (as an aspiring moderator) and how it will help you should you be promoted. Be careful not to sound conceited in the latter, though. There's no guarantee that you'll be on the staff team, so don't pretend there is.

    Do you have any past experience as a moderator?
    Some people simply write 'no' in this section, but I'm of the belief that there's an awful lot of things any person could put here. Unless you've just woken up from a stasis chamber that you've spent your whole life in, you should have at least one life experience you can relate to moderation. Here are a few examples of common activities that give you experience in moderation, that might help to jog your memory:

    Teamwork and leadership
    - Scouts/girl guides
    - School group assignments
    - Student committees
    - Sport teams
    - Work experience
    - Bands
    Community
    - Volunteer work (homeless kitchens, elderly care etc.)
    - Camps (bible camps, foreign aid etc.)
    - Organising community events/festivals etc.
    Education and childcare
    - Mentoring or tutoring programs
    - Babysitting
    - Leading a class
    - Having younger siblings
    Other skills
    - Moderating other servers or websites
    - Experience in computer science (a moderator is also a playtester and troubleshooter!), especially javascript, - Xenforo, and computer OSes.
    - Crisis management
    - Working with people with mental illnesses

    You can elaborate on any of these experience (or any more you think of!), if you have them, using the previously outlined paragraph structure, but in this case, given the self-explanatory nature of a lot of these, I would say that just listing the activities and how they relate to moderation would suffice.

    WRITING TIPS
    It may be tempting to think that if you write your application like a scientific paper, or in purple prose, it will give a favourable image of you. This isn't really the case. The best advice on how to write your application is: be yourself. If you write like an academic, write like an academic. If you can't help making puns, make puns. As long as what you're writing is still hitting all the points I've mentioned, and is readable, then it's okay to be yourself. I personally like seeing a few jokes in an application, as it adds some interest, and makes it more enjoyable to read.

    This being said, I would always advise using standard English. Make sure that your spelling and grammar is correct, and that your sentence structure is readable. Put your application through a word processor such as Grammarly or Microsoft Word. Don't Write Like This, and i wouldnt advise u to write like this either. This is because it's difficult to read non-standard English, and you're aiming for readability in your application. Personality in your word choice is fine, as long as it's readable. If your specific dialect has different spellings or punctuation (eg. I write colour rather than color), then use your dialect's spelling. If your dialect has slang terms, try to limit yourself to globally understood ones (eg. I could say 'g'day', but I'm not going to say 'I had a sanger this arvo, made by the sheila; she's got a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock').
     
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  3. Lycel
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    Lycel Senior Member

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    FORMATTING

    Formatting is something that's generally considered unimportant, to the point where multiple people have actively encouraged people to not comment on the appearance of an application. I personally believe that graphic design is an important aspect of any piece of writing, as it changes the way the document is recieved. It can add interest, focus, and personality, all of which are important to application. Is the formatting more important than the writing? Of course not. Is it something to consider? In my opinion, yes.

    COLOUR
    If you keep your application black and white, that's absolutely okay, if that's the vibe you're going for. As long as you have other ways of indicating titles and questions, then colour isn't strictly necessary. If you're like me and want to brighten up your application however, then there are specific ways to do it (and ways to not do it).

    First, you need to pick a accent colour. I would advise only picking one, or if you really want, two colours that complement eachother. If you have too much colour on your application, it'll make people's eyes want to throw up, and detract from the content of your application. If you pick a dark accent colour, the effect will be more subtle. If you pick a mid-tone, it will be more noticeable. I'd typically advise against picking a light tone, as it's hard to see on a white background, but reds, purples and navies are still easy enough to read in pastel colours. For my example, I'm going to pick this shade of cyan.

    If you're going for a strong colour effect, you should pick a mid-tone as the colour for your questions, and a dark shade of that tone for your answers, like so:
    Your in-game name:
    Lycel
    I'd never suggest using a mid-tone or pale shade for your main text. You can leave the main text of your answers black whether you're using a mid-tone or a darker accent for a slightly more subtle use of colour. You should use your colours to separate titles and questions from answers and body text: don't use colour to emphasise words, as it's too confusing.

    STYLES AND OTHERS
    Firstly, you shouldn't be varying your text size in your application, the only exceptions being 1. your application's title, and 2. as footnotes or post scripts. You can have larger text for your first heading, but I wouldn't advise it for anywhere else in your application, especially don't make all the text in your application larger. It's hard to read, and makes it look like you're trying to make your application longer (in reality, application length doesn't matter at all). Small notes can be cute, but I'd use this sparingly: you're drawing attention away from whatever you're making smaller, so it's not a good idea for something you actually want people to read.

    You can use either bold or italics to emphasise words in your text. I would strongly advise italics above bolding, as it more seamlessly integrates emphasis into text, whereas bolding breaks up the text more. The other place you can use italics and bolding is in titles: typically, a bolded title will be the strongest one, followed by a bolded italicised title, followed by an italicised title. So, use italics for tiny, unimportant subheadings, and bolding for your questions. You can use underlining in titles too, but I personally think it looks gross. Avoid strikethrough, unless you're making a joke or a changelog.

    Bullet points are generally fine in applications, though sometimes I prefer handmade lists using hyphens (such as the one I made in the experience section way above), as it takes up less space. If your bullet points are super important to your application, the extra spacing is probably fine. You should not need numbered lists in your application. You only use these if you're actually listing something that has a specific order to it, and I can't think of anything where that would be the case in an application.

    ......I personally prefer leaving an extra space after each of my paragraphs, as you might have noticed. I think it separates each of the paragraphs more nicely. If you hate how spread out everything looks when you do that, you might like to use indentation instead.
    ......Simply copy and paste this code: [color=transparent]......[/color] and place it on the front of your paragraphs for a seamless indentation. I've formatted this paragraph and the last to give an example of what that type of formatting looks like in practice.

    HEADERS
    Headers are an entirely optional addition to your application, but one I find quite fun to implement. All of my applications have had banners (of varying quality...) that more or less stated "Lycel's Moderator Application". They, much like colour, simply add more graphical interest to your application, but an application will not really suffer without one.
    Your header can be something as simple as text:
    Lycel's Moderator Application
    or something more graphic:​
    [​IMG]
    If you do something graphic, keep in mind that making it a relaively seamless transition into the application, such as the transparent gradient I've done at the bottom of my example, can add an easy and nice effect. If you're not using transparency, keep in mind that the default forum background is not white, it's actually a warmer white: #fcfcff. You should probably use transparency, though.

    It's really up to your skill level in creating graphics, and the look you're going for. I wouldn't say that either option is worse than the other, they just give off different vibes and will show your interests and personality.​
     
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  4. Lycel
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    Lycel Senior Member

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    That's it from me for now! I meant to write a section on how to respond to criticism and hate on your moderator application too, but I didn't like how it was turning out, so we're just having writing and formatting for now. I'm reserving this post in case I change my mind at some point in the future. I hope this guide helps someone, as I personally loved reading guides when I was applying and comparing other people's standards to my own.

    Happy applying!

    ~Lycel
     
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  5. athyrix
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    athyrix Senior Member Premium

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    Lycel wow this is amazing! :eek:
    It’s so informative and it’s such a brilliant guide, very well done :)
     
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  6. Bossgamer
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    Bossgamer Super Moderator Super Moderator

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    I'm shook.
     
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  7. Lz
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    Lz Well-Known Member

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    Well done.
    I would however more elaborate on the point to not follow this format to the letter, like many unfortunately do, and to deviate your application and bring something interesting in it that makes you stand out from the crowd from the idiotically identical applications.
     
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  8. FatalDisaster
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    FatalDisaster Hollywood's Bleeding

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    I love the way this is formatted. I can see many people using this as a guide for their applications! It's very detailed and specific. Good work!
     
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  9. bERYbERRY
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    bERYbERRY c000000000000000kies Builder Premium

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    My mind after reading this guide:
    [​IMG]
     
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  10. 52Phenomenon
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    52Phenomenon Super Moderator Super Moderator Events Manager

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    I love this, it's really detailed and will help so many people

    Great job Lycel :>
     
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  11. K41YU
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    K41YU ahiru-san Moderator Premium

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    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Devannn_
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    Devannn_ Beyoncé Moderator

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    Loving this guide, Lycel, really detailed and informative!
    Good Job :D
     
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  13. laini
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    laini Ma'am Premium

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    Applying? Joy?
    hah.

    Love the guide, thanks Lycel!
     
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  14. Splat1221
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    Splat1221 Active Member

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    Hmm thanks lycel
     
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  15. lowfps10
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    lowfps10 Active Member

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    Amazing job!
     
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  16. archerexpert777
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    archerexpert777 Senior Member

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    You should become founder and a professor for a university dedicated to Minecraft, you'd be a great professor on advertising students the joy of applying, I swear to god :OO

    I'd be one of those students writing down pages of notes and not caring about anything else.
     
  17. K41YU
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    K41YU ahiru-san Moderator Premium

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    I couldn't help but make another gif... xD Sorry, I'm done now.

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. Marcy
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    Marcy Apostlé of Falcons Premium

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    Lycel the Genius.

    Hopefully an Admin can Pin this! :)
     
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  19. Lycel
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    Lycel Senior Member

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    Bump! Still kinda proud of this lil guide. Hopefully any aspiring applications can find this handy!
     
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  20. Splat1221
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    Splat1221 Active Member

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    Lol, it was nice :)
     

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