Original Post: Ember, October 1, 2017
Hello everyone! It’s been a fairly subdued September as members got back into the rhythm of a new school year and a Webs-wide glitch caused the Recent Forum Posts and Recent Activity sections to stall. I’ve been in contact with Webs about this issue and they are working to resolve it, so hopefully everything will be up and running soon. In-game, a murder mystery has emerged in EarthClan following the mysterious death of Pantherfang, and the leaders of all the clans have begun making overtures toward peace. This will likely cause an adjustment in how we approach the EarthClan territory transition and the creation of EclipseClan, which you can share your thoughts on here, the new Plot Planning Blog Entry.
Unfortunately, this past month has also been marked by a number of member-member conflicts. Out of respect for the privacy of the members involved, I will not be going into detail about what occurred, but I do want all of you to know that the staff and I are working on ways to improve communication with the community of this website so these kinds of conflicts are not able to fester unresolved for so long in the future. Please, if anything is worrying you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or one of the moderators. We can be reached through private messages here, through the warriorcatsoftheforests@gmail.com email, or through the “Contact Me” box on the home page. In the latter option, only the message itself is required, so you can anonymously send in feedback or concerns.
We do our best to avoid situations like these and I personally strive to be as fair as possible, but unfortunately I don’t often know everything that is happening on the website and can struggle to uncover bullying cases when they happen, or respond gracefully when they are uncovered long after happening. I would love to hear your thoughts on how the staff and I can improve the atmosphere of this website and prevent any future bullying cases, so, if you have any suggestions or criticisms, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or one of the moderators.
As well, a guide on how rule infractions are handled is in the works, which should clarify and, I hope, put to rest some members’ fears about reporting when other members break rules, or when they unintentionally do break rules themselves.
For this month’s Monthly Meow, I’m doing something a little bit different: a monthly meow about monthly meows!
So far, there have been 63 monthly meows, of which all but the first five are still on the website. Unfortunately, those first five appear to be lost completely, as they’re also missing on my hard drive and were never saved to the Wayback Machine. Most monthly meows follow a handful of topics: housekeeping (12 monthly meows), getting to know each other (6 monthly meows), rule changes (4 monthly meows), StarClan/Dark Forest roleplaying events (3 monthly meows), leader descriptions (3 monthly meows), demographics overviews (7 monthly meows), website history and fun facts (8 monthly meows), roleplaying and miscellaneous tips (5 monthly meows), and comparisons between canon and WCF books (6 monthly meows). There are a few oddballs to this rule, such as Monthly Meow XXXVII: stories elders tell their kits, or Monthly Meow XLI: user submitted questions and answers, but overall this trend stands. There are also a few monthly meows which fit more clearly into series of blog entries outside of monthly meows. For instance, Monthly Meow LV is my response to all the survey submissions from the third biannual member survey. Other responses to these submissions were all in separate blog entries, such as in this entry from May 2017.
As with many other things around this site, monthly meows developed haphazardly. The first monthly meows were first published in 2012, three years after the start of the website. They were first intended to help me out with housekeeping, which is reflected in the fact that up to Monthly Meow XII, housekeeping did compose the greatest portion of each newsletter. The first truly newsletter-style monthly meow complete with a ceremony list and plot summary came out in Monthly Meow X, in 2013. The 13th monthly meow marks the point where the monthly meows started to take up more specific and varying topics, and was followed by monthly meows on rule changes, the first StarClan and Dark Forest roleplaying event, and even a very long, rambling, poorly edited advice article for other site owners.
In 2014, monthly meows began to clearly resemble the format I use today. Monthly Meow XXI, published on March 2nd, was the first demographics overview. The last monthly meow of that year, Monthly Meow XXXI, was the second demographics overview, which started the first intentional series of monthly meows I’d written. Later that year, I updated the leader descriptions originally published in 2013, then followed up with a third and fourth demographics overviews. By 2016, most monthly meows fit into some sort of series and I began to write them with an eye toward how each monthly fit into earlier series. At this time, it became common place to discuss the connection between monthly meowed and hyperlink earlier monthly meows in each new newsletter’s introduction. Throughout 2017, most monthly meows have fallen into one specific series: comparing the canon series to Warrior Cats of the Forests.
In April I posted a blog entry announcing that I would begin accepting member submitted monthly meow, and so far one has been submitted and posted, and a second one is waiting to come out in a month or two. I am still accepting submissions, however, and if you have an idea for a monthly meow you want to pitch to me, I’d love to hear it. For more information about member submitted monthly meows, check out that blog entry.
MoonClan
Apprentices:
Palekit, Daggerkit, Mistykit, Fallowkit, Eastkit, Laurelkit, Gentllekit, Riverkit, Reedkit: Early October
Cariboukit, Mulekit, Dapplekit, Violetkit, Frecklekit, Patchkit, Applekit: Mid October
Alluringkit, Crescentkit, Stormkit, Cloverkit, Bunnykit, Mousekit: Late October
Warriors:
Riverpaw, Flamingpaw, Enchantingpaw, Candlepaw, Mammothpaw: Early October
Autumnpaw, Pigeonpaw , Swanpaw, Tigerpaw: Mid October
Swallowpaw, Cliffpaw, Asterpaw, Amberpaw, Ivypaw: Late October
Medicine Cat: Foxpaw (Late October)
Elders: Mamelukefang, Knightheart
Deaths: Honeyflame, Prairieowl
EarthClan
Apprentices:
Pantherkit, Brackenkit, Midnightkit, Stormkit: Early October
Dapplekit, Stormkit: Mid October
Jasminekit: Late October
Warriors:
Icepaw, Galepaw: Mid October
Stormpaw, Ashpaw: Late October
Deaths: Endlesstears,
SunClan
Apprentices:
Quailkit, Mothkit, Caninekit, Silverkit , Badgerkit: Early October
Warriors:
Rockpaw, Tumblepaw: Early October
Duskpaw, Vanishingpaw, Sparrowpaw, Greypaw, Pumpkinpaw: Mid October
Elders: Nighteagle,
Deaths: Rabbit-tail
NightClan Rebels
Apprentices:
Azurekit, Skykit: Early October
Risingkit, Mistykit, Swiftkit, Fallingkit, Littlekit: Late October
Warriors:
Queenpaw: Mid October
Nightpaw, Totalpaw, Jaypaw, Goldenpaw, Birchpaw: Late October
Elder: Shasta
DawnClan Rebels
Deaths: Antvenom
Comments