EDITORIAL
   
    ARTICLES
   
    STORIES
   
    POEMS
   
    COMICS
   
    ARTWORK
   
    SUBMIT

Getting Promoted -- The Practical Way

by esmivida

Introduction

Hello, reader. You probably know me, or maybe you don’t. Incase you don’t, allow me to introduce myself!

My name is Allyson (often referred to as ‘esmivida’), and I’ve been a member of TNO since December 2003. I’ve been on Welcoming Committee for about nine months now, and a Spam Buster for four. No, I’m not on Promotion Staff, but if the position ever opens, you can bet I’ll be first in line to apply :P I have to say, though, that all during my stay here, I’ve had many people ask me how to get promoted, how to help out, how long it takes to be Glad to Help, et cetera. And, to tell you the truth..
It’s getting quite repetitive.

That’s why I’m writing this article! To explain (the practical way) how to get promoted in the guild. ‘But wait!’ you may be saying, ‘don’t we have a promotion FAQ for this?’ Why, of course we do, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to help people. Or maybe they just can’t read. Or are too lazy. The possibilities, my friend, are endless.

Now, I’m warning you.. This is my first essay-type article. It’ll probably be long, boring, and not exceptionally written. There, that’s my disclaimer. Well, let’s get started!!

The Basics

The first thing that you should know as soon as you step off the boat is this: the amount of posts you make will not determine your rank. I’ve seen people reach Glad to Help with 15 posts, and I’ve seen people reach that same rank with 200 posts. It doesn’t matter. You will hear this over and over again, so you might as well just accept it now, no questions asked :P

Quality vs. Quantity

When I was “interviewing” the various members of the Promotion Staff, quite a few (Joy and Nathan sticking in my mind the most) mentioned that they look for quality in posts over quantity. Of course, you have to post some to even get noticed, but it’s a lot better to make 20 meaningful, multiple-paragraph posts than 100 short, generic messages. So, people, make your posts have SUBSTANCE to them!

Where Do I Start?

Okay, my next statement is mainly generated toward Just Hopped On-ers. I wouldn’t recommend offering to help newbies; they can get help from someone more experienced, like their veteran (should they choose to be adopted). To all members, though: if you’re going to welcome newbies, stop posting generic messages! It makes me cry. Here, have some examples.

Example 1:

“Hi, welcome to TNO. This is the best guild ever! You should go to the faqs, get adopted, and you can PM if you have any questions at all! Ps: join team insanity”

Example 2:

“Hey Bob… my name’s Allyson! I’m new here as well (I joined 3 days ago). Wow, you like Harry Potter? Me too!! Maybe we can chat about it over PM or something?

Some of the other members told me to get adopted by a veteran [link]. I took their advice, and now I have an awesome veteran named Supi who always helps me out. She rocks!

Pink is your favorite color? I like purple the most, actually. When I think of pink, Pepto Bismol comes to mind.. Yuck! Lol ;)
Well, I hope to see you around!”

As you can see, example 2 is more customized than the first, which is a must, according to Promo Staffer Nathan. He told me, “I'm much more impressed when I see someone who takes the time to type up a personalized welcome and include a direct response to something the person said, rather than someone who just says the exact same thing on every thread, or just what the person above them said.” So don’t try and explain everything to the poor newbies; it will probably just overwhelm them.

How often are People Promoted?

According to the Promo Staff I asked, most promote a large amount of people at time, and they usually do every 2-3 weeks.

Donations - do they count?

Ahh, I remember asking this question to Nathan way back when I was Glad to Help (I think I was afraid of the other Promotion Staffers, so I spammed his inbox instead :P). My qualm was that I had noticed most of the people who were Notably Helpful and higher had donated a lot of money to the guild, and I was worried that being poor was going to make me be stuck at GTH forever. That’s not the case, thankfully, though donations to the guild do help fund the Prize Tree, the mall shops, and of course the dreams of fellow members.

Promo Staffer Jessi mentioned that donations (to the guild, mall shops, and member charities) are something she looks for, though, in addition to other activities. It’s always nice to see someone being generous - after all, that is one of the things TNO prides itself on.

“Okay, but how do I get promoted to (insert rank here)?”

Thankfully, Sam (uni_midnight) was able to provide some insight on this topic. You know, this reminds me of the time Tink (I think) made the forum thread about how hard it was to get to each rank. Wow, that was a long time ago *reminisces*

Okay, so (in my experience) here are tips on getting to each rank. As for Truly Noble.. sorry, can’t help ya there. Truly Noble is kind of like the “sixth dice” in Dice-A-Roo. It’s so mysterious, nobody knows much about it *cough-Iwouldn’tknow-cough*

These aren’t requirements (Jessi says, “I do consider myself (and the other promoters) good judges of who qualifies for what rank and when, which is why we have no set requirements for each”) but more like guidelines. Or something to fill up more space. You decide.

Glad to Help (GTH)

The first guideline of Glad-to-Helpedness is that you must be a member of the guild. If not, you can kiss your dreams of being on council goodbye. Hey, I’m serious!

Glad to Help is the easiest rank to obtain. Sam notes, “I prefer that the member be accepted into the Billo Gold group before I promote him/her to GTH. This shows a desire to help abandoned pets which, of course, is the main goal of the guild.” Usually, one can obtain the rank of GTH just by showing activeness on the forums. Spamming, whining, and begging for items/neopoints will make this a LOT harder, however. Quoth the Wishlists and Charity Requests: “Newbies to TNO are strongly discouraged from posting a wishlist immediately upon joining.” No offense, but you probably won’t get much feedback anyway. Members are far more likely to donate to people that show activeness in places OTHER than the charity board.

Basically, to get GTH, post several helpful messages, get involved in fostering, pixies, teams, etc. Show that you want to stick around!

Notably Helpful (NH)

People who are NH have been in the guild for quite some time. According to Joy, who speaks about Nathan’s Promoting guide, “this is the kind of person you'd trust to run a mall shop.” Sometimes it takes a while to become Notably Helpful… so just forget about the rank itself and have fun!

In order to obtain NH, you should be actively participating in guild activities. Setting up a graphics stand, roleplaying, and participating in contests are good ways to get involved. And, if you have a job, you should be doing it! Sam says that having a good understanding of the Forum Rules also helps. So read ‘em!

Another thing, Joy doesn't like promoting people to Notably Helpful unless they've been in the guild for over 5 months or so, though length of time isn’t the only thing she relies on. I don’t know about other Promo-staffers, but that’s what Joy says.

Ovation Worthy (OW)

You’re with the big boys now if you can manage to reach OW (lol). Sam says, “I award this rank to people who have hosted contests, performed minor guild jobs (official or unofficial), and/or who have often posted interesting/helpful topics for other members to discuss.” I have a deadline to meet so I can’t really say much more, except Joy told me, “anyone who deserves to be OW will become one eventually, and they shouldn’t care that much.” So there you have it.

Conclusion

Promotions are a great part of TNO. They allow you to get jobs, request more expensive items from mall shops, and generally have a more prominent say in the guild. They aren’t everything, though; so don’t worry yourself if you haven’t been promoted in a while. Just have fun and enjoy yourself! Thanks for reading.

All related images and material are (c) 2005 Neopets , Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. 
Content was created by members of The Neopian Orphanage.
Site design (c) 2005 wtrswoopes. Site graphics (c) 2005 vegetarewlz.