The Talent Pond Scoreboard Guidelines

Welcome to the "The Talent Pond"  Scoreboard Guidelines!

This document was created to help explain how the The Talent Pond's new Scoreboard feature works. If you go to our main group page (link above), you'll notice that one of the links at the top now says, View Group Scoreboard. If you click on it, you'll notice that we now have the capability to assign "points" to our members for various reasons. The reason for this added feature is to encourage our membership to be more active in group activities and in the WDC community in general. PLEASE NOTE that this system is completely, 100% voluntary. This group activity is merely for those who would like to get more out of their Talent Pond membership.

Now, if you click on the View Group link at the top of the main group page, you'll also notice that all group members also have a title next to them. When you're first added to the group, everyone is given the title of "Member". For those of you who wish to participate more (or are just competitive and like to work towards goals), every point you earn will be tallied, and promotions will be handed out when you reach certain levels.

The promotion levels follow a basic newspaper hierarchy are listed below (with the point thresholds in parentheses):


Member (0 pts)
Senior Member (500 pts)
Regular (1,000 pts)
Associate (2,000 pts)
Senior Associate (5,000 pts)
Partner (10,000 pts)


But how does one earn points, you ask? Well, the breakdown is as follows:

1 POINT for every public Qualifying Review (250 characters or more) that you affiliate with our group. Prose and poetic works are preferred, but you're encouraged to review any items by any WDC members, in an effort to promote our group and its positive influence across WDC. In the rating and review section of an item, there is a new drop-down box that says, affiliate this review with a group. You can select our group from the list and thereby avoid having to include any special sigs, images, or anything else with your review. PLEASE NOTE that you must make it a Public review so it shows up on our group forum.

2 POINTS for every Talent Pond contest for which you submit an eligible entry. You will receive an additional 10 POINTS if you place anywhere in the contest (5 POINTS for honorable mentions).

2 POINTS for providing any prominently-displayed link to The Talent Pond in your port bioblock, billboard space, and/or any contest forums, activities, etc. you may run. This is a recurring monthly award for each link you provide. Please note that the link should be to the main Talent Pond group item (1261045) and - although greatly appreciated - additional points will NOT be given for additional links to other Talent Pond activities or forums.

3 POINTS for every new member you recruit to our group. Please keep in mind that the new member must request to be added to the group, and must list you as the referral. You will not receive points just for sending a list of names to add. In order to receive the points the person must actually join the group... and we will not add anyone unless they confirm that they want to be added.

4 POINTS for any activity you create or participate in for which The Talent Pond is a beneficiary. Examples include auctions or raffles that donate some (or all) of their proceeds to the group, choosing the group as the recipient of any GPs you receive in connection with a contest, activity or event, etc. Please note that these accommodations must be made in advance or come from the contest organizer... GPs sent from individual group members will be considered donations (per below) rather than activity proceeds.

5 POINTS for any donations made on behalf of (or to) The Talent Pond. Examples include donating GPs directly to our group, to another individual, activity, or cause on behalf of The Talent Pond, etc. Please note that this is an "all or nothing" monthly award. If you donate anything... be it 100 GPs or 1,000,000 GPs... you get five points for the month. If you don't, you don't. This will hopefully level the playing field a bit, and allow those with ready access to GPs the same chances for group advancement as those who don't have stockpiles of GPs to spend.

ADDITIONAL POINTS will be awarded in various ways and announced as necessary. Keep an eye out for Scoreboard Points that might show up as prizes in Talent Pond contests, spontaneous rewards for good deeds, available to bid on in auctions, etc. You never know where an opportunity might pop up, so keep your eyes peeled around the WDC community (especially Talent Pond activities!), and be generous with and supportive of your fellow writers and reviewers. You never know when the kind gift of a Merit Badge or an Awardicon will be recognized by bonus points!


Why else should I participate in this activity? What if I don't care about group promotions?

In addition to the group recognition, the three group members with the most new points at the end of the month will receive a prize! Merit Badges, port raids, special honors... it could be anything. Please note, though, that I said the most new points every month. So it doesn't matter how many overall points you have... each group member starts at zero for the purposes of this calculation... and everyone is on equal ground for the month ahead.


TECHNICAL DETAILS

- Each month begins at 12:00am WDC time on the first of the month.

- Each month ends at 11:59pm WDC time on the last day of the month.

- You must fill out and submit a "The Talent Pond Scorecard"  at the end of every month in order for your points to count. Scorecards are due by 11:59pm WDC time on the 10th of the month.

- The Scoreboard will be updated by the 15th of the month.

- The Talent Pond staff can verify your scorecard at any time and make necessary adjustments without notice. Please be honest and up front about your accomplishments. We really don't want to catch anybody fudging their numbers.


That's all there is to it! For those group members who wish to be more active in the group and the WDC community at large, here's your opportunity to get rewarded for all your hard work!