"Artists Beware"

Howdy!

First, we'd like to welcome snowhawk, armaina, and spades_wolf to our team.

Sno and Spades will be working in the background, so please do not send them any moderator PMs. You may direct questions to Armaina. As always any questions sent to one mod will be shared with the entire team, so please only send one message.

Second, the website is due for official launch in February. All that is left is minor tweaks, some graphics updates, and updating our massive archives. If you'd like to take a look at what we have now you're welcome to:
https://artistsbeware.info/

If there are any questions feel free to ask, but as launch gets closer we'll put out a more detailed list on how the site works and how archiving and tagging will work.

Howdy!

From both our community poll and twitter poll, the results were that the community wants us to move.

Currently we have a domain, and our site is well under way with great help from TiantiShizhe on Twitter. We are using Invision Community.

What We Have
- A section for bewares where users will be able to search via an artist/client's name.
Searching an artist's name will bring up all entries, including resolved, open bewares, and positive entries.

- A forum where users will be able to seek advice.

- A resources section where we will host a variety of topics like "Freelancing 101" and "Building a ToS". Currently only moderators may post to this section.

What We Are Working On

- From a little glimpse in the forum screenshot we are currently working on a way to archive the entries from LJ. LJ doesn't make it easy, but this is what's likely going to take up the bulk of our time. Comments may have to come at a later date, or may be cherry picked based on the entry. Those can't be ported, and would have to be manually screenshotted or saved.

- Cosmetic. The blue background is not staying; it's a default. There will be multiple themes for users to choose from.

- Email support. No more having to pick a moderator. Emailing our email address should ping a central location, and all moderators will be notified.

Quick Q&A

1. Will I need an account to use the new site?
Currently, yes. You may register an account with us or use a twitter account. We will only collect your email address, and those are viewable to moderators only. At this time we do not intend for guests to be able to comment or post bewares, but they may view all of the site.

2. Will Artists_Beware maintain the same posting requirements?
No. A lot of our policies exist because of being situated on LJ. We will discuss what we can loosen up on now that we have our own home. However, requiring all real life names be censored will always be a must.

3. When do you plan on launching?
There is no estimate right now. The infrastructure is down, but the archive remains the biggest hurdle. We want to ensure that it's completely intact.

4. Is there anything else?
I would personally like to have a status that would indicate a member that isn't a moderator, but has proven themselves to be a valuable member of the community by their knowledge. We have many members who have continuously given fantastic advice through the years, and a level where you are highlighted to the community at whole would be a nice feature, I believe. A gold star contributor of sorts.


So this is where we're at. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

Prior to participating in Artists_Beware we ask that users read over our rules. Ignorance of the Rules or Submission Guidelines will not prevent a warning or ban.


Rules

1. No screening, deleting, locking, disabling comments, or any sort of tampering with posts or comments, including your own!
If your situation is resolved, do not edit your post with strike-through text. You may add updates to the body of your post in order to provide evidence, additional information, or if the situation is resolved, as long as the initial warning remains intact. Violating this may result in an immediate permaban.

1a. By posting here, your post will be copied to ab_archive for the purposes of archiving. Deleted posts may be restored to artists_beware at our discretion.

2. Do not, in ANY WAY, contact anyone posted to the community if you are not personally involved in the transaction. We do not condone or tolerate harassment. THIS COULD GET YOU IMMEDIATELY BANNED!

3. No trolling, name-calling, or personal insults. If you see this occurring, do not respond. Racist, homophobic, and/or transphobic language will result in an immediate ban.

4. No criticism of artistic quality or monetary value. This is not a critique community, it is a transaction-based community.

5. Do not comment in a post questioning its relevance to this community. Posts are moderated, thus it 'belongs in artist's beware' if it's been posted.


Submission Guidelines

1. Submissions are to be transaction based. Art trades, game currency, or items for art trades, are acceptable as well as monetary exchange. Bewares on someone's character will not be accepted.

2. We only accept direct character theft posts. We will only take bewares where characters already exist and are commissioned without the owner's consent. We will not judge "character theft" posts where characters may look similar or share similar traits.

3. We do not accept group posts or group warning posts. Please make individual posts.

4. We do not accept proxy posts. Only individuals directly involved with the transaction may make a post to the community. All others will be rejected. An exemption to this are individuals who require translators to post to the community.

5. Submissions are to be as professional as possible. We will reject posts that are excessively hostile, name call, and utilize racist/ homophobic/ transphobic language. We understand you're upset, but please take some time to write out your submission thoughtfully.

6. No personal fights or excessive personal information. Bewares that contain personal disputes will be asked to trimmed down to only the transaction if there is one. Any posts that contain excessive personal information will be rejected. This includes economic statuses, what people are buying, medical conditions, etc.

Howdy!

Artists_Beware is seeking to bring new members onto our team.

What we need:
* All moderators must use the moderator discord. This is non negotiable. There is both a desktop and a mobile version. We have to be able to reliably get a hold of you.

* Availability in the US Timezones. All moderators work in pairs or more, so we need someone who can communicate with the group at large when we're discussing posts.

* You must be able to handle disagreements politely and courteously. There will be instances where decisions about a beware will be split between your fellow moderators.

* You must be able to handle harassment and disagreement from users professionally. We will not tolerate "clap backs" or aggressive behavior.

* Estimated working hours varies. It can be a few minutes worth of work per day, or sometimes a few hours per week. It's entirely dependent on queue load.

* Potential moderators do not have to field user questions or moderate comments if they don't want to. We are looking for queue moderators primarily.

* You must be able to keep the contents of the queue and any emails you receive confidential as we sometimes become privy to personal information. Failure to do so will result in your immediate removal from the team.

Some notes:
* If you would like to also moderate comments please be prepared to receive a lot of emails. We receive emails for every comment, edit, and submission into the community. It's recommended to make a separate email for A_B only.

* Previous moderation experience isn't required, but it is helpful. Knowledge of Livejournal's moderation system isn't required, but it is helpful.

What to Expect:
Individuals who are chosen will be interviewed, and then will enter in a training period with the other moderators via Discord. While we may pick multiple individuals, there may be a chance where not all trainees will become fully fledged mods.

Comments are screened below. Please fill out this form, and the applications will be open for 2 weeks. They will close October 9th 2018.

Length in A_B: (How long have you been a member)
Hours of Availability (in Central time): (The hours you will best be able to do queue work.)
Previous Experience: (Have you moderated a community before? It doesn't have to be specific to Livejournal, but knowing Livejournal's moderator interface would be helpful.)
Other Items to Know: (Are you a commission artist? Fursuit maker? Fluent in another language besides English?)
Why would you like to moderate A_B?:
Best way to contact you?: (LJ PM, email, etc.)

Howdy.

After discussion between the current staff, it's been decided that I step up to the plate as "owner" of Artists_Beware. I think it goes without saying that Dani left some very big shoes to fill. I can only hope that going forward we can continue to live up to and carry out her vision for Artists_Beware as a team.

Over the next few days you may notice some moderator posts reappearing as necessary.

Lastly, in the future we may bring on another moderator or two if it's required.

Today Artists_Beware's lead moderator and owner, kayla_la has passed away.

The mods of Artists Beware are taking some time to mourn and get ourselves reorganized.

Please bear with us while we work through this time.

Questions should be forwarded to oceandezignz via LJ PMs or her email Xaidezignz @ gmail.com.
Or bearprince at crowncommissions@gmail.com

Thank you