Hello everybody, the Welcome team is in charge of the March meta post! Here are some quick news:
We have now 4,211 transcribers and 134,781 transcriptions made in almost 4 years! Those are some impressive numbers!
We have recruited two new mods for welcoming new transcribers, /u/cloakknight and /u/MurdoMachlachlan, woohoo!
Other than that, here are some recommendations from the team:
Don't forget that "Unclaim" exists. If you have changed your mind about transcribing a post, if you do not have the time to transcribe it, if you noticed too late that the post is no longer available or deleted, or for any other reason, you can revert your claim by replying "Unclaim" to the bot. Accidents and unscheduled stuff happen all the time, and reverting your claim will let someone else enjoy transcribing it, so don't hesitate!
Don't transcribe rule-breaking posts. Even if it's the post of the century, you must not transcribe a post breaking any rule on the parent subreddit. Firstly, such a post will be quickly removed, and your transcription with it sadly! Moreover, some subreddits can perma-ban you if you transcribe rule-breaking posts (especially with Personal Information), so don't play with fire. If you spot a rule-breaking post in the queue, report it both on our subreddit and on the partner one. The bot can't verify if a post is suitable for transcriptions, and it means reported posts are dealt with more easily by mods.
Please use our templates. We have worked hard on conceiving a standard transcription format that is easily noticeable by fellow Redditors and that presents the content clearly for both human eyes and text-to-speech programs. A nicely formatted transcription is also more enjoyable. Using our templates is included in the Code of Conduct, so don't re-build the wheel when we already did it beforehand :)
Note: be sure to use Markdown before copy-pasting the templates! Transcribing while using Fancy Pants is one of the main sources of formatting issues.
In case of doubt/problem/whatever, search for help. For simple stuff, the step-by-step tutorial shows the transcribing process in detail and also some troubleshooting (like the Fancy Pants stuff). If you have Discord, our server (link at the end of the post) is a great place to ask for help about transcriptions (is this post Facebook or TikTok? etc.) and feedback about transcriptions. If you have a precise question for the mods or for important stuff that requires mod intervention, our Modmail is open, and we are always glad to help fellow transcribers!
Don't worry: practice makes perfect, and everybody has had at least one problem while transcribing. We're here to help, not to eat you :P
Quality is better than quantity. As always, 1 nicely transcribed post is better than 10 half-assed transcriptions. It's not a competition about who transcribes the fastest: if you need time to fix the formatting issues and to describe correctly a post, take your time. At the end of the day it's not about gamma or karma, we do this to help people so do the best you can with your transcriptions because they really are making a difference in people's lives!
That should be all for now. See you next month to celebrate ToR's 4th birthday!