Pixel wants YOU for Poniverse Public Relations!

[CheeryFox 23,821]

Interviews really aren't that scary here. Just be genuine.

 

Simon doesn't bite...as long as you feed him...acorns. 

[Glike 487]

So, how does the selection process go from here? Will everything be announced at the end, or will you separately let everyone know whether or not they were picked for the position?

[Simon 4,557]

 

 

So, how does the selection process go from here? Will everything be announced at the end, or will you separately let everyone know whether or not they were picked for the position?

Once we get in a decent pile of applications for a position and see some people we'd like to interview, we'll contact them and schedule a Skype interview, and then decide whether they will be brought on.  As we fill positions, we'll be notifying people who were not selected by PM.

[Guest]

Just curious: what is the pay for some of these jobs?

[Speed 33]

Just curious: what is the pay for some of these jobs?

 

I'm fairly certain that none of these are paid positions, they are all volunteer-based. You should only be applying if you are interested in helping Poniverse succeed, not because of monetary incentives.

[Guest]

I'm fairly certain that none of these are paid positions, they are all volunteer-based. You should only be applying if you are interested in helping Poniverse succeed, not because of monetary incentives.

No offense, but for some of these jobs I think payment should be had, such as the art job? You're basically asking a person to do commissions for free. Yeah, I'll pass. As much as I like helping places, I am done doing so for free. I know how much stress these kinds of jobs cause from experience, it's not really worth it for no compensation.

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Key Sharkz, fair point, though speaking as an artist, there are some positives: greater exposure and establishment in a community is vital when your success depends on developing a following.
Working directly for a purpose or need is vital experience. 

Commissioned work tends to suit another person's fancy rather than the artist's, sure, but sometimes helping out a community/group you like that the art very clearly is aimed to do is pretty decent. I mean, you're not drawing x person's OC so much as a community mascot.

And last point: in general, artists get into art because they enjoy it. Some think the positives outweigh the drawbacks of no-pay labor.  If an artist doesn't think it balances out in their favor, they're probably better left to continue doing their own thing.

[Guest]

@@Key Sharkz, fair point, though speaking as an artist, there are some positives: greater exposure and establishment in a community is vital when your success depends on developing a following.

Working directly for a purpose or need is vital experience. 

Commissioned work tends to suit another person's fancy rather than the artist's, sure, but sometimes helping out a community/group you like that the art very clearly is aimed to do is pretty decent. I mean, you're not drawing x person's OC so much as a community mascot.

And last point: in general, artists get into art because they enjoy it. Some think the positives outweigh the drawbacks of no-pay labor.  If an artist doesn't think it balances out in their favor, they're probably better left to continue doing their own thing.

See while I respect your opinion on it, I disagree whole heartedly.

 

Harlan Elison has another really great point on this. Forewarning he's a bit blunt and harsh (and some minor language warning), he brings up some valid points, just worded a bit crudely:

 

 

I'll be real with you, there is very little money in publicity, especially for a site like this. How many people do you think have looked at say... The backgrounds for this site and gone "hmmm, I wonder who made this? Maybe I should commission them." I am almost certain probably less than 2 people, if none. As an artist, I am a professional, and there is no value in it for me to work for nothing. Publicity does absolutely nothing for me for working for free, because I can get that by going to like Deviantart with a far bigger publicity rate than here.

 

Like no offense, how are you going to ask someone who is an artist, a profession such as myself to work for free unless it's a charity? What's more annoying is that people will probably hate on me even pointing this out and act like I'm some kind of terrible person for even suggesting that if I were to accept such a position, I'd like to be paid. You're asking for my skills and talents that I normally charge for, because I went to school to develop them. Why should I not be entitled to expect compensation for it? While I enjoy my work, I still prefer to be paid. I don't go into Best Buy and not get paid despite liking my job.

 

I've worked for several brony sites in the past, and aside from the one that I collected a paycheck from, there was NEVER any benefit beyond that. I never had someone come and hire me for a job for working for them, or gotten a commission for them, or anything. I had people who designed mascots for said sites, that NEVER got a single commission from any of the users from said sites. It benefited them literally not at all. So unless you put money in my hands, you're only offering me the "possibility" of getting paid. I don't work for free, or the possibility of making money. If I am working, I need to benefit in some manner unless I am helping sick people or assisting in some kind of charity. However this is not a charity. So really, I think it's perfectly acceptable to ask for payment for services.

 

However if I am mistaken, could you perhaps illustrate the benefits to me of accepting such a position for free? Maybe I am wrong and there is some kind of inherent value that would bypass the benefit of payment. Could you perhaps detail that for me?

 

Because right now, I don't really see a single positive thing coming from no-pay labor. I think a lot of us just tell ourselves that publicity is payment to ignore the fact that art colleges are insanely expensive. I still have student loans that need paying, and I can't pay them on publicity. The only people I see benefiting from this are people who are too young to receive payment for their work. However if you're over working age, there really is no benefit that I am seeing. Not trying to be "a dick", but I am pointing out part of why we have so many "starving artists" is because we keep thinking it's acceptable to ask them to work for free and give them the illusion of publicity as payment instead of cash. The site collects subscription fees, ad revenue, and a percentage of all commissions hosted on the site, and then you're going to ask artists to work for free? Not even Deviantart, which offers a MUCH bigger amount of exposure asks you to give them a cut of your commissions. So really, what logic are you using to determine there is some kind of value for artists working for free? Right now you have 71 subscribers, so even if I assumed they all paid $10 a month, that's over $710 a month being given to the cost of servers and domain. That's not factoring in commission percentages, and ad revenue and one time donations.

 

How can you not afford to pay your artists and writers?

Edited November 2, 2015 by Guest

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

@@Key Sharkz, 

 

Poniverse is a volunteer-run organization, as are most of the groups in this fandom (you'll find that even BronyCon, our community's largest convention, is run entirely by volunteers). All of us staff members donate their time to run MLP Forums and Poniverse's other projects and it's your choice whether you want to do that, too - or not. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to volunteer your talents pro bono.

 

This isn't about not paying artists - the professional world has paid opportunities for software engineers, writers, and community managers, too, all of whom we have on staff, too - all of whom could be using their skills to make money. That's not what this is about. We are a community organization made up of volunteers (and charities aren't the only form such an organization can take).

 

Poniverse is fortunate to have enough revenue from its various sources to keep its servers running and spend on the occasional community event, but it's not a for-profit venture - there isn't enough cash flow in this to employ even a single person at minimum wage. This entire organization is something that its staff run for the fun of creating places for pony fans to gather and share their interests online.

 

If community service isn't your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine and we respect it.

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Key Sharkz, I think @Feld0 pretty much has this one summed up nicely.  Plus, after reading over what you've written, yes, I think there are a lot of cases where working for free just isn't feasible or wise, even if there's publicity to be gained. The volunteer bit is based around those who see it as a net positive, and to add onto what has been said, I want to try to address the questions you asked in response to my post.  :grin2:

 

 

 

However if I am mistaken, could you perhaps illustrate the benefits to me of accepting such a position for free? Maybe I am wrong and there is some kind of inherent value that would bypass the benefit of payment. Could you perhaps detail that for me?

You mentioned earlier, and it was specified in the video that publicity doesn't have value; honestly though, it does, its value is just hard to quantify.  People pay for advertisements and positive tie-ins for a reason: the more people know of you, the more business or positive image you stand to gain. Even if you don't gain a lot of publicity as an artist, there are still other benefits to be had, which are what I'm personally looking at above others. It may not amount to even minimum wage in terms of gains sometimes, but there are parallels where free labor is highly beneficial.   Think of cases where it pays have volunteer hours under your belt. Very often it gives you important experience, connections, or helps you in weird ways later on. Heck, as a project for last summer, I did 100 free pony drawings for people here on the forums, each one for free. By the end of it, I was legitimately proud of what I had done, and my art had actually improved notably so. That alone made it worth it to me, because now I'm doing a good bit better than before in my art.
So yeah, free work was a positive in my situation.  But that's just it; it depends on people's situations. In many cases, it wouldn't be worth it to people, but to some it would. If you don't think you'll gain enough from it, then you're justified passing it off as not beneficial for you to do. No shame in that.

 

(Also personally, I just want to help out Poniverse 'cuz it's an awesome place, but I'm arguing quantifiable gains, so...)

[Guest]

@@Key Sharkz, 

 

Poniverse is a volunteer-run organization, as are most of the groups in this fandom (you'll find that even BronyCon, our community's largest convention, is run entirely by volunteers). All of us staff members donate their time to run MLP Forums and Poniverse's other projects and it's your choice whether you want to do that, too - or not. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to volunteer your talents pro bono.

 

This isn't about not paying artists - the professional world has paid opportunities for software engineers, writers, and community managers, too, all of whom we have on staff, too - all of whom could be using their skills to make money. That's not what this is about. We are a community organization made up of volunteers (and charities aren't the only form such an organization can take).

 

Poniverse is fortunate to have enough revenue from its various sources to keep its servers running and spend on the occasional community event, but it's not a for-profit venture - there isn't enough cash flow in this to employ even a single person at minimum wage. This entire organization is something that its staff run for the fun of creating places for pony fans to gather and share their interests online.

 

If community service isn't your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine and we respect it.

 

Thank you for not being offended by my criticism, to both of you. I sincerely mean that. You literally have no idea how often I have seen an artist or writer stand up and say they wish to be paid for work that people were asking them to do for free and then a STORM of people telling them that they are being unreasonable to even suggest such a thing. It is absolutely insane how bad it has gotten.

 

So thank you for taking my point seriously and not just getting upset because someone is against free labor. It's pretty bad that when someone advocates free labor and everyone is all hitting the like button and praising that person, but someone like me comes in and suggests that maybe people who are artists have school loans, bills, and responsibilities that need to be paid for and the only people who even like said post are the staff. It at least shows me that you guys understand the nature of the issue and I respect that.

 

 

@@Key Sharkz, I think @Feld0 pretty much has this one summed up nicely.  Plus, after reading over what you've written, yes, I think there are a lot of cases where working for free just isn't feasible or wise, even if there's publicity to be gained. The volunteer bit is based around those who see it as a net positive, and to add onto what has been said, I want to try to address the questions you asked in response to my post.  :grin2:

 

 

 

You mentioned earlier, and it was specified in the video that publicity doesn't have value; honestly though, it does, its value is just hard to quantify.  People pay for advertisements and positive tie-ins for a reason: the more people know of you, the more business or positive image you stand to gain. Even if you don't gain a lot of publicity as an artist, there are still other benefits to be had, which are what I'm personally looking at above others. It may not amount to even minimum wage in terms of gains sometimes, but there are parallels where free labor is highly beneficial.   Think of cases where it pays have volunteer hours under your belt. Very often it gives you important experience, connections, or helps you in weird ways later on. Heck, as a project for last summer, I did 100 free pony drawings for people here on the forums, each one for free. By the end of it, I was legitimately proud of what I had done, and my art had actually improved notably so. That alone made it worth it to me, because now I'm doing a good bit better than before in my art.

So yeah, free work was a positive in my situation.  But that's just it; it depends on people's situations. In many cases, it wouldn't be worth it to people, but to some it would. If you don't think you'll gain enough from it, then you're justified passing it off as not beneficial for you to do. No shame in that.

 

(Also personally, I just want to help out Poniverse 'cuz it's an awesome place, but I'm arguing quantifiable gains, so...)

 

My issue is simply that as annoying as it is, and I wish it wasn't this way: every person that works for free just furthers the problem. The problem being that people EXPECT it for free, and when people give in, it happens more. I mean I get that you are both saying that it can't be any other way due to revenue, but I'm hoping you guys can at least find something to make it more worth these guy's time. Recognition really isn't worth anything unless it translates into sales, and as an artist and someone who has known many artists... We get paid in recognition waaaaay too much. You will do 5 jobs for recognition and still only get offered jobs for recognition. It really blows when you go to school for this, and people are STILL only offering you jobs for publicity. I don't think anyone would ask a doctor to work for recognition after he has his M.D.

 

It's just frustrating because I have a friend who is a photographer with her masters and people STILL ask her to photo shoot their weddings for free. It's frustrating because people are taught it's okay to ask artists to do work for free or volunteer, and for every artist that does it even with good intentions, it just makes the issue worse. Not saying that's your fault, it's just a problem that gets worse simply by existing.

[SFyr 1,982]

@@Key Sharkz, I'm totally with you in that creative professions are often underpaid, or expectations don't reflect the time/practice involved.   It's terrible. Heck, I know quite a few artists too who work for less than minimum wage on commissions regularly.
I dunno. I hope you manage to turn things around a bit, and make more of the profits you deserve for your time. 

[Simon 4,557]

 

 

My issue is simply that as annoying as it is, and I wish it wasn't this way: every person that works for free just furthers the problem.

 

I absolutely understand where you're coming from.  I graduated from law school, and nearly everybody I'm related to believes that means I'm their personal legal advice magic 8 ball that they can shake for an opinion.  It can get very frustrating when people constantly ask you for free work.  Understand though, I would never expect someone to volunteer their time with Poniverse, nor would I try to persuade them to volunteer their time.  If someone is interested in volunteering to help out, the application is there for them to express interest, and nobody is going to try to persuade people to do work for free if they don't want to. In the rare circumstance where we wish to invite a particular individual for a position without posting a general application, we do that in the form of explaining the position via PM and inviting them to an interview with us to discuss it more if they are interested. I'd never try to push someone into the position, and when I am in an interview, I explain that the job is not compensated and that they should be doing the job because they want to help the community, not for any sort of perceived reward of helping out.

 

At the same time, nobody should be made to feel bad for wanting to volunteer their time either. An organization like Poniverse simply would not be able to function if it wasn't for the volunteers that make and maintain sites like this out of their love of the community. The people who volunteer their time to staff this organization are helping to make sure that the community is around tomorrow, which is something everybody here wants. Without volunteers like those that Poniverse relies on, this fandom would have no online communities, no conventions... our entire community would hinge on the balance of for-profit sites like Facebook and YouTube... and even those would be devoid of a community without people volunteering their time to organize groups on those sites and create content. Every single piece of this fandom, with very few exceptions, is based on dedication of the community to keep it alive. I would love nothing more than to be able to compensate every single person on the staff of Poniverse, but that's simply not something that is remotely feasible.

 

There are personal benefits to volunteering... for example, it's a great way to practice in an area you want to work in down the road but don't have the experience to do for money yet, but the people volunteering aren't doing it for that.  We do it because we love this community and want to give back to help it grow and thrive. In fact, if I get the suspicion that a person is doing it for any reason other than a love for the community, I'll generally outright deny the application because I know it's not a right fit for them.

 

At the end of the day, I wouldn't try to persuade you to volunteer with us if it's not something you're comfortable with, and I hope the replies from staff aren't coming off as us trying to persuade people to work for us. All I hope is that you can understand why organizations like Poniverse are volunteer run and that you understand the lack of compensation is not something exclusive to artistic areas. Nobody on Poniverse is trying to send the message that artists don't deserve compensation, we're simply accepting the generously donated time of those that wish to lend a hand for the community.

[Guest]

I absolutely understand where you're coming from.  I graduated from law school, and nearly everybody I'm related to believes that means I'm their personal legal advice magic 8 ball that they can shake for an opinion.  It can get very frustrating when people constantly ask you for free work.  Understand though, I would never expect someone to volunteer their time with Poniverse, nor would I try to persuade them to volunteer their time.  If someone is interested in volunteering to help out, the application is there for them to express interest, and nobody is going to try to persuade people to do work for free if they don't want to. In the rare circumstance where we wish to invite a particular individual for a position without posting a general application, we do that in the form of explaining the position via PM and inviting them to an interview with us to discuss it more if they are interested. I'd never try to push someone into the position, and when I am in an interview, I explain that the job is not compensated and that they should be doing the job because they want to help the community, not for any sort of perceived reward of helping out.

 

At the same time, nobody should be made to feel bad for wanting to volunteer their time either. An organization like Poniverse simply would not be able to function if it wasn't for the volunteers that make and maintain sites like this out of their love of the community. The people who volunteer their time to staff this organization are helping to make sure that the community is around tomorrow, which is something everybody here wants. Without volunteers like those that Poniverse relies on, this fandom would have no online communities, no conventions... our entire community would hinge on the balance of for-profit sites like Facebook and YouTube... and even those would be devoid of a community without people volunteering their time to organize groups on those sites and create content. Every single piece of this fandom, with very few exceptions, is based on dedication of the community to keep it alive. I would love nothing more than to be able to compensate every single person on the staff of Poniverse, but that's simply not something that is remotely feasible.

 

There are personal benefits to volunteering... for example, it's a great way to practice in an area you want to work in down the road but don't have the experience to do for money yet, but the people volunteering aren't doing it for that.  We do it because we love this community and want to give back to help it grow and thrive. In fact, if I get the suspicion that a person is doing it for any reason other than a love for the community, I'll generally outright deny the application because I know it's not a right fit for them.

 

At the end of the day, I wouldn't try to persuade you to volunteer with us if it's not something you're comfortable with, and I hope the replies from staff aren't coming off as us trying to persuade people to work for us. All I hope is that you can understand why organizations like Poniverse are volunteer run and that you understand the lack of compensation is not something exclusive to artistic areas. Nobody on Poniverse is trying to send the message that artists don't deserve compensation, we're simply accepting the generously donated time of those that wish to lend a hand for the community.

I can at least appreciate the fact that you guys do understand. That alone is enough for me.

[Primarch Fulgrim 163]

@@Key Sharkz, 

 

Poniverse is a volunteer-run organization, as are most of the groups in this fandom (you'll find that even BronyCon, our community's largest convention, is run entirely by volunteers). All of us staff members donate their time to run MLP Forums and Poniverse's other projects and it's your choice whether you want to do that, too - or not. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to volunteer your talents pro bono.

 

This isn't about not paying artists - the professional world has paid opportunities for software engineers, writers, and community managers, too, all of whom we have on staff, too - all of whom could be using their skills to make money. That's not what this is about. We are a community organization made up of volunteers (and charities aren't the only form such an organization can take).

 

Poniverse is fortunate to have enough revenue from its various sources to keep its servers running and spend on the occasional community event, but it's not a for-profit venture - there isn't enough cash flow in this to employ even a single person at minimum wage. This entire organization is something that its staff run for the fun of creating places for pony fans to gather and share their interests online.

 

If community service isn't your cup of tea, that's perfectly fine and we respect it.

If this is community service, if i get the job can you sign the thing saying I did community service? Because my HS requires a certain amount of community service to graduate.

[Night Shadow/Daw 170]

Signed up for newsletter writer., hope I get accepted

:/ hopes are high, but I think lotto has better chances

[Primarch Fulgrim 163]

Really looking forward to not seeing my name on the list. I'm having flashbacks of my voice-acting auditions already. I shall write something reflecting my mood now.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

If this is community service, if i get the job can you sign the thing saying I did community service? Because my HS requires a certain amount of community service to graduate.

 

Absolutely - we can sign off on a community service form for your school if you join the team. However, I recommend double-checking with your school whether they'll accept helping online communities as a form of community service.

[Chaton 3,765]

When do we have to apply by? I'd be very interested in helping out with PR.

[Jeric 46,851]

When do we have to apply by? I'd be very interested in helping out with PR.

 

There really isn't a formal close date on this. When a position gets a certain number of apps we like they are interviewed. This is more of an organic process since some positions will get more applications than others.

[Chaton 3,765]

There really isn't a formal close date on this. When a position gets a certain number of apps we like they are interviewed. This is more of an organic process since some positions will get more applications than others.

Just figured out I wont have the time in my life to juggle all my commitments if I were to be accepted as PR.

[Deae Rising Shine~ 55,507]

Seems interesting, tough most seems not to be my thing. I'm not a designer and suck as an artist. The one I could tought about as realistic would be helping the FB Page of poniverse. I'm in FB and could help, would be more active too, but with the time, hmmm ...

[Starlight Fan 538]

On 01/11/2015 at 0:14 AM, Simon said:

Once we get in a decent pile of applications for a position and see some people we'd like to interview, we'll contact them and schedule a Skype interview, and then decide whether they will be brought on.  As we fill positions, we'll be notifying people who were not selected by PM.

Stupid question, but does the interview have to be on a video call? 

Edited June 7, 2017 by Starlight Fan

[Simon 4,557]

 

 

Stupid question, but does the interview have to be on a video call? Cause I really don't want you guys to see what I actually look like. Hell, I'm kinda hesitant on letting y'all hear what I sound like! (I'm super paranoid about separating my real identity from my online self, sorry!! I know it probably seems very weird to everyone else. I just prefer to avoid any bad situations.) I'd love to help out but in the rare chance that I actually make it to interviews and I have to show myself, I might have to pass...

 

Nope, we use text chat almost exclusively.  If there ever is a voice call in the PR team, it'll be optional.

[Starlight Fan 538]

On 05/11/2015 at 2:47 AM, Simon said:

Nope, we use text chat almost exclusively.  If there ever is a voice call in the PR team, it'll be optional.

Oh, okay then. Just checking.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Starlight Fan