Hey, Evie here, the one you were trying to respond to.
I'm actually pretty happy you joined the conversation because it offers us a chance to get your perspective of the company. (Also, if being a helper is so draining, why be one?)
You state that I didn't follow the rules or was "entitled" and rude, how convenient that I've been kicked off the server, and can therefore not offer any screenshots of how far this was from the truth. I do acknowledge that there was a large influx of new people joining and that a lot of questions were repeated, however, the most common ones were "why was I invited?" Also, with so many bots inviting so many people to join, a repeat of questions is to be expected, it's not anyone's fault except the company (for creating the situation).
You state that I didn't read the pinned messages but I actually read all of them, and even searched specific topics to see what had already been said. I even watched the youtube tutorial videos that had been shared. I only asked questions that hadn't been fully answered or that I wasn't 100% sure on, for the most part though, I just read and followed along. For contract all that usually came up was that "if you don't like it, then don't sign it," and "all the bad stuff in there never actually happens tho"
Also, a complete sidenote, on one of those searches, I came across a conversation were "newbies," as we were labeled, asked about the sorting system, female led vs male led. I think all the questions were valid, of why it was like that, and some expressing their opinion on how it was a little sexist. The helpers, and some of the other people on the discord that seemed to be there to "help defend and support the helpers" all began to mock the people expressing concern about this, stating things like "snowflakes are hurt!" and "how tf is this sexist??" and "wow we aren't iNcLuSiVe because we don't have a nonbinary trans tag" and other statements that I think were not only unnecessary but also cruel and offensive. And of course, the slowmode again worked in your favor because no one in that conversation could reply to your volley of insults as quickly as you were sending them.
Also, this could have been something you had simply said in reply to my message. Deleting the post and then banning me was not helpful in any way. It lead more people to be distrustful of your group, many actually reaching out to me on pm after I was banned because it raised so many redflags. If you had explained that to me then I would have engaged in a conversation, because that was my goal, not to spread "slander." Also in the context of me sharing that video, other members had been asking questions about contracts and ips and the helpers, instead of saying, "you've gotta ask the editors" the helpers went off on a rampage of talking amongst yourselves saying how all of us hadn't done our research and that we all just assumed it was a scam and that you were tired of dealing with our whiny assess.
I wrote that, 1, I realized that the helpers were volunteers and that I appreciated their help and patience in helping us sort through our valid concerns and that we had those valid concerns because it was through our research (that they were claiming we hadn't done) that we were coming across videos like the one I linked. I also said that was why we were asking our questions, because we had only heard the negative and we wanted to hear more from people who were championing the company. I also wrote that I myself wanted to post on webnovel, and was looking forward to sharing in their positive experiences.
I doubt they read the actual post, because it was deleted almost immediately and then they carried on as if I had never sent it. I waited the five minutes of slowmode and sent another message asking why my last post had been deleted and explained (basically what I wrote above)
The response I got was that it "was too long" and that a similar video had already been pinned. Which it hadn't because I had looked through all the pinned messages.
Before my next five minutes had passed so that I could reply again, I was kicked out.
If someone had explained to me what you said about Moonquil I then would have said: oh cool, thanks for letting me know, I'm not saying their video is the way it is, I'm just saying that when we research the company stuff like that is what comes up and that's why so many of us have red flags, that's why we're here trying to learn more from people with a different perspective.
But you didn't give me a chance to have that conversation, instead, you shut me up (with no warning or indication) and made even more red flags fly up.
Also, during my time on the server, I never saw anyone politely told that all contract questions were to be saved for the editors. If that had been the case then I think there would have been less "hostility." What happened instead is that those asking questions were on slowmode while all the helpers were chatting in the server about how frustrated they were with us idiots who couldn't do any of our own research and kept asking them the same questions.
If I hadn't been kicked off the server I could provide so many screenshots of this being the case.
While I'm sure that as a helper it could be overwhelming and annoying for so many people to ask the same questions, its still the "job" you volunteered for. Take a break (or stop being one completely) if you feel your anger rising. Also, yes you did keep redirecting us to pinned messages and the faq page, but the fact that we all still have loads of questions maybe indicates that those weren't as helpful as you thought they were. And also, the company leaving the promoting and convincing on the hands of volunteer helpers is not fair to any of you! Like you said, it takes away time from your writing, and possibly your sanity. That is not your responsibility to shoulder.
This was also something that was explained to me on the discord. I replied with, just because it's never happened, doesn't mean it never will. But I also understand that it does feel like a safeish bet, I see a lot of popular authors on there that seem to be thriving, I know one is planning on publishing with Amazon soon. So yeah, stuff like that does give me an ease of mind, which I why I was considering publishing with webnovel!!! I'm not against people who publish there, or any of you, I just think it's important for people to make an informed well thought out decision!!!
I realize that they are doing a lot of promoting, but I feel like they're giving themselves more credit than they are worth and making their creators feel more belittled and insignificant. I don't know, that's just my opinion, but it seemed like a lot of the authors and creators on the discord seemed really down about their work, talking about how "shitty" it was and how they could never have any hopes of actually selling it on Amazon or something. With all the work that you put into your novel, especially with some of the word count expectations I've heard about, I feel like creators should have more pride in their work and self-worth.
Yes, thank you!!! Your comment was really useful and informative, something I wish there was more of in that discord. Reading experiences from people like you (and JackSherwin) with detailed information, makes me feel more at ease with the site! Still not 100%, but I get a better perspective of it with messages like that, vs ones that are rude and uncaring.
In all honesty, I would have really loved to join, seeing people thrive on that platform is enticing and I've heard some positives from it. If they had better representatives, or people on that discord who were a little bit more caring and patient and wanting to see the company and others on that company thrive, then maybe I would be more inclined. I don't know what my future holds, I think I'm relatively open-minded and always willing to give people their chances, I like making thoughtful and informed decisions and I want to see my stories flourish, maybe in the future that could be with webnovel, but I'm not sure, like I said, this experience left a bad taste of the company in my mouth.
And I was actually just sent some screenshots from people on that discord, wish I was still there so I could send specific ones, but these will do. Blues are helpers or writers and most of the white tagged that are chatting are the friends who were there to "support and defend" the helpers. The rest of us were on slowmode 5 minutes.