The Proofreader Group
Main Document
Please read these instructions and profiles as thoroughly as you expect us to read your story. You put your valuable time into your stories, so please respect the time we put into our docs, profiles, and maintenance.
Information for proofreaders ↓
Document system explained
Each proofreader is assigned with a proofreader record, a standardized piece of text that describes them. A record begins with the proofreader's name, which is also a link to their page on Fimfiction. The name is followed by a set of fields, the meanings of which are described below:
Name | |
Accepting: <status> | Indicates if the proofreader accepts both long and short stories, oneshots only, or doesn't accept at all currently. Possible values: Yes | Oneshots Only | No |
Timezone: <GMT ± n> | A time zone the proofreader lives in, written as a shift, in hours, from GMT. As creative activity depends on the time of day, and time is different in different parts of the world, this information may help you to make a better choice. |
Stories: <title> (<author>) <…> | A list of stories the proofreader has proofread and wished to add to the list, with their author specified. When possible, titles and authorship are linked appropriately. Currently, we require a confirmation that a story has been proofread by the proofreader, and limit a number of stories in this list to 10. |
Recommendations: <author>: <text> <…> | Here is the place for authors' feedback on the proofreader. If they like the proofreader's work, an author can send their impression on that to the group staff to be added to the proofreader record. Refer to the group frontpage (see the PROVIDE FEEDBACK section) to learn the current way to do that. |
Prefers to work on stories with: <tool list> | The proofreader's preferred tool(s) for working on stories’ text. Google Docs, comments and PMs on Fimfiction, Microsoft Word, and Apache OpenOffice are the most common. |
Prefers to read: <genre list> | The list of genres the proofreader enjoys reading. Obviously, the work will be more productive if you choose a proofreader whose preferred genres overlap with the primary genres of your story. |
Prefers not to read: <genre list> | The same as above, but stories of these genres are avoided by the proofreader. |
Preferred length of story: <length> | Some like oneshots, while others look for longer stories. This field states the proofreader's preferences for story length, chapter length, or both, in the form of more, less, or in between. |
Notes: <text> | This is for whatever additional information the proofreader wants to provide, such as elaboration on genre preferences, their style of proofreading, and so on. |
Proofreader records get grouped into six documents listed below by number of stories they have proofread. Within the docs, records are sorted ascending by number of recommendations and alphabetically. At the top of each document there is a table, call it a local index, exposing all proofreader records of that document in compressed form—the brief records.
A brief record consists of a proofreader's name, which is a link taking you to the full record, and their genre and length preferences in abbreviated form. Abbreviations are explained below each local index. When some of them are listed inside brackets, comma separated, that is a list of preferred genres; the same, but the abbreviations are struckthrough—genres a proofreader prefers not to read. When there is an inequation between brackets—that is their length preference (with an exception for [OSO]—Oneshots Only).
For example, the brief record Placeholder [Adv, R] [L > 100k, 1k < ch < 15k] [Troll] describes a proofreader named Placeholder, who enjoys reading long Adventure and Romance (not less than 100,000 words long, chapters between 1,000 and 15,000 words long), and prefers not to read trollfics.
We have another two documents storing records with Not Accepting status, but those are useful exclusively for proofreaders.
How to find a proofreader
So, you have six documents of active (at least supposed to be) proofreaders to examine. Logically, proofreaders with less stories on their record have less experience, but are more likely to respond; while those with more stories are more experienced, but may have higher requirements for story quality. Although this is not necessarily so, and your proofreader of choice can await you in any of the documents.
Hence, it is recommended to pay more attention to other aspects of proofreaders, such as their genre and length preferences and what information they provided in their notes. So find a proofreader whose record matches your story best, and PM them. The recommended amount of information is similar to a group thread: your story title, primary and secondary genres, general plot, main characters.
If they accept, you and they work on your story together. If you consider their response different from what their profile says, send a PM to any of the group admins. This includes late response, no response, or incorrect tags. If a proofreader responds rudely, or damages your story, report them to the group staff as well. Please be aware that we cannot force a proofreader to respond or take the job.
Always do backups! We have no effective means of preventing proofreaders from damaging your story, either accidentally or intentionally. In a world full of computer viruses, crashing servers, and malice—always keep a backup copy of your creations in a safe place.
If everything went off as it should, it is encouraged to mention the proofreader in your story description. It not only expresses your gratitude for their help, but also simplifies adding your story to their proofreader record, that promotes the proofreader to a higher rank. If you feel the amount of effort the proofreader has put into your story is significant, you can send us your feedback in the way described on the group frontpage (see the PROVIDE FEEDBACK section), and it will be added to that proofreader's record.
One more thing that should be mentioned is the search engine that can help you to harness the Proofreader Docs, using a single page and a configurable filter. You can find links to the engine and a guide to it on the frontpage, in the TOOLBOX section.
Now, the Documents themselves.
Document Index
Stories | Document |
0 | New Proofreaders (F|L|M) |
1 | |
2 | |
3 | |
4 | |
≥5 | |
* | Not Accepting (F|L|M) |
* | Old Not Accepting (F|L|M) |
What is (F|L|M)
The documents are linked in three variations: full, light, and mobile. The first option is a full scale document (use it when you need to add a comment), the second is the same document in "read only" mode (the so called preview mode), and the third is the same document again with code simplified for mobile users (use the 2nd and 3rd options if the full interface loads for too long). The less functional a representation, the faster it is loaded and displayed. Google may automatically redirect mobile browsers to the mobile representation.
Information for proofreaders
Only through reading the frontpage and this document, and filling out the form, can you become a proofreader in this group.
Please keep your proofreader record up-to-date. If you need to update any of its parts, whether it be your accepting status, genre preferences, or notes, make a comment or a suggestion on the corresponding part of your proofreader record, and we will process it.
You cannot add recommendations to your record, because it is the authors' prerogative, although you are able to remove them.
Remember that the number of preferred genres is limited to 3. This field mirrors your specialization as a proofreader, and one cannot specialize in too many areas. If you believe otherwise, simply change this field to "N/A."
We recommend that you visit Fimfiction at least weekly, because our project is centered around the site. We use it to monitor proofreaders’ availability. Authors will be unlikely to contact a proofreader with a prolonged offline period.
When replying to request threads on the forum, please use the Reply button » on a comment you reply to: this will send a notification to the recipient, easily seen on the site's top bar (and a message to their mailbox, if they have this option enabled). Otherwise, they may stay unaware of your reply until checking the feed, or the thread itself.
Proofreaders that are offline for more than a month are moved to the Not Accepting (F|L|M) document. Formerly, the Old Not Accepting (F|L|M) document served the same purpose, thus older records may be found there. Make a comment on your record there to change your status back to "Accepting." Proofreaders that have not responded to a PM for 3 to 7 days are also marked as not accepting. Responding with a simple "Yes" or "No" will take a lot of stress from someone looking for help. Not replying at all is considered extremely rude. Proofreaders that have been offline for more than a year will be removed from the Proofreader Docs.
If you wish to add a story to your list of proofread stories, make a comment with such a request on your story list, containing a title, followed with author's name in parentheses, for each story. We recommend that you provide links to both the story and author's pages in order to avoid confusion with stories and authors of similar titles and names. We will need a confirmation that you have proofread the stories. We accept either the author's explicit statement in the story description/blog/comment mentioning you as its proofreader; or the author's PM to us with the same statement. We can also PM the author on your behalf, requesting the confirmation. We do not currently accept unpublished stories.
Troubleshooting
Feel free to ask questions or chat with Dusk Shine (Gaster), Giant Hat (metallusionsismagic), Jedi Narwhal (Nharctic), or Kody Wiremane (Kody Wiremane) if they appear in the chat box to the right. You must be logged in under your Google account to use the chat.
Google's documentation for supported platforms: how to use the chat, how to add comments to GDocs. Google's Forum, a thread about formatting options for comments.
( ? ) Check links in the informational section on our frontpage.