Getting your profile accepted quickly: A guide

[Xigo]

See, whenever I go about doing profiles and what not, I always encounter a few trappings that cause me to sigh. Why? Because I spot them so very often, and they usually prevent me from swiftly accepting an otherwise great profile. Thus, I figure I'd help you guys out by posting a list of things that prevent acceptance, and tell you how to avoid them.

Maybe you'll reference this guide when making a profile. Maybe you won't. Who knows. But hopefully those of you who do will get at least a little bit of help.

List is subject to change as I spot more things that slow down the profile process.

TABLE OF CONTENTS (yo)
-Spelling
-Commas
-Exact Dates
-Walls of Text
-Arguing with GM/Forum Helper
-Lore Figures


1) Spelling

The Problem: Usually when we see a spelling error in a problem, we let it slide. Generally only your fellow players will be so crazy as to spot out every single issue with every single word and tell you about them. So long as it's clear it's just a mistype and not you having no knowledge of how to spell a word, it'll go through. However, when we see a grand deal of words spelled incorrectly that's when we have to post 'Please spell check your profile'. It's really annoying to both parties and it just slows the whole thing down.

The Solution: Use an online spell check. Heck, google's your friend here. Just google 'online spell checker', copy/paste your profile into it, and let it help you spot out the issues. We understand that english might not be your first language. But just go the extra mile to make sure that 'asassin' is spelled correctly.


2) Commas

The Problem: The outstanding issue with commas is when there are too many of them, often cluttering up a profile, and creating run on sentences that drag on for almost the entire paragraph, sometimes more than a paragraph. We usually let one or two slide, but when we see that you could break up a good number of run ons into two different sentences instead, we have to post in your profile, telling you to break up run ons, and that just slows down the whole profile process, and it's annoying to both parties, and that's bad.

The Solution: Just read over your profile again, and look out for those commas! You can probably spot all the run ons if you look for them. Just give it a shot!


3) Exact Dates

The Problem: Well, when you put in a date like 'when I was six, I was in X battle', we have to check exactly when that happened. And if your timeline doesn't match up with WoW lore, we need to tell you this. Then it needs to go through the process again. Then it happens once more because you accidentally made an error. Then usually on the third go around, you nail all the times right.

The Solution: While it's nice to know that you understand your lore, exact dates aren't necessary. Really, they just make it take longer for a profile to be accepted. Avoid them. Say 'when Aziarion was a child' or 'during his adulthood'. No need for 'at the age of twenty-two'. Because then your entire timeline needs to be on the spot. But if you keep it vague, you can be off a little bit.


4) Walls of Text:

The Problem: You apparently forgot to hit that enter key, because you only have one big ol' massive paragraph. Here's what I refer to.

Spoiler:

We can't accept it. And we don't want to read it. It's ugly. We'll just end up telling you to split it up a bit with that fancy pants enter key, making paragraphs instead of a wall.

The Solution: Simple! Make paragraphs! About five sentences tends to make a good decent sized paragraph. So try to split it up into tinier paragraphs of five or so.


5) Arguing with GMs/Forum Helpers

The Problem: You're arguing with a GM in your profile. While there's nothing wrong with reminding a GM about some part of the lore he or she might have missed, there's something entirely different about arguing. It doesn't look good. It wastes time. And it just keeps the profile from being accepted.

The Solution: Don't argue. Or at least don't argue in your topic. While this isn't such a big deal with profiles not being bumped upon being posted in, it still makes people focus on the argument instead of getting the character approved. If you -really- gotta sort things out, talk with a GM ingame about it - preferably the one who you've been arguing with. (I know some of ya well enough. You run to the 'lenient' GMs when you want something approved. Well... don't do that.) Iron out the character together.



6) Lore Figures
The Problem: You have a lore figure in your profile. You sat down and had a chat with Arthas before becoming the Lich King, or had tea with Sylvanas, or you were personally trained by Uther. Any and all mention of lore character must be handled with extreme care, and not promote your character and Blizzard's character having a relationship of any sort. If it does, it has to be removed before being accepted.

The Solution: Keep lore characters out of your character's history. There's no need for them. And it's not like you're going to bring up 'ohoh, I had tea with Sylvanas fifty years ago'. They're not that important to a profile! If you bring up your character being at one of their speeches, make certain that he/she was just present there, and not the target of the speech. You must be extremely careful with lore figures. But really, it's just best to keep them out all together.

[Rini]

I feel like this could use a good bump! A suggested section to add is when one writes too much - their history turns into an IC post or miniature novel and the word count is through the roof, causing the profile to have a much longer processing time.

[Geoni]

A suggested section to add is when one writes too much - their history turns into an IC post or miniature novel and the word count is through the roof, causing the profile to have a much longer processing time.

Because it's something that has been said before and yet never elaborated on...

What defines a history as turning into an 'IC post or miniature novel' (in my opinion) tends to be a profile that embellishes certain events (and this is often a battle) with more detail than is necessary when inserted into the life story of that character. Especially when these are battles: the descriptions of them often lead to problems with the characters coming off as overpowered or the descriptions of the battle might end up being inaccurate. Not to say this is always the case, but it occurs very often.

Do note that you can write a long history if you want to; so long as it's all a part of the character's life story then it's okay to write. And if that life story ends up being long, then good! It means you're creating a character with a complex history and giving yourself plenty of events in the character's life to refer back to. However, yes, it may or may not mean it takes an FH a longer time to check everything out, depending on who is reading it.