tsunanaaAdminWritten down so you can avoid them, rather than discovering them from a
rejection. Every one of these is fixable, and most of them are fixable this
week.
1. Nobody knows who you are
The most common by a distance. An application from a name that has never
posted here, never appeared on Discord and cannot be placed by anyone on the
team has almost nothing to weigh.
The fix: be around first. Answer a question in Help. Post in the
introductions thread. Two weeks of being visibly present beats any application
text.
2. The application is about the rank, not the work
Applications that talk about what the applicant would get — the badge, the
tools, the ability to deal with people they find annoying — get declined
almost automatically.
The fix: write about the work. When you are around, what you would
actually do in a shift, how you would handle somebody being difficult.
3. Availability that is not real
"I am online all the time" is not a schedule, and it is usually not true. It
tells us nothing about whether the hours nobody covers would get covered.
The fix: be specific and be honest. "Weekday evenings, European time,
about an hour" is a much stronger answer than "always", because it can be
planned around.
4. History that contradicts the application
An application about staying calm, from somebody with three reports for
arguing in chat. We look at your history — not to catch you out, but because
how you behave when nothing is at stake is the best available evidence.
The fix: time and a changed pattern. This one genuinely does clear. A
person whose last problem was months ago and who has been steady since is a
credible applicant, and several people have got there.
5. It is three sentences long
Not a length rule. A short application simply cannot show judgement, and
judgement is the entire job.
The fix: answer the actual questions. The form asks what it asks for a
reason, and the free-text answers are where the decision is really made.
The one that is not on this list
Being new to the game. Not a reason. We would rather have a careful
newcomer than a veteran who cannot stay out of arguments.
After a rejection
You get a reason, and you can apply again after the cooldown. Take the reason
seriously, fix the thing, come back. That path works — it is where a good part
of any team comes from.