How To - Observer Journal Posts

How To Become a Lost Island Observer:

Each of these steps have been broken down, to assist the translator function of the website. You can scroll through them, or click to the relevant links below. (replies currently in progress)

  1. What is the Observer Team?
  2. Apply to the Observer Team.
  3. Fill out your information on the Airtable for Official Observers.
    a…Join the official Discord Server’s channel for Observers.
  4. Once you are registered:
    a…Find the template for your Island’s Group.
    b…Use that template as your Journal’s first post.
    c…Reply to your own first post for each new Observation.
  5. Every time that you create a post, record it in the Wages Airtable.

In-Game Community Wages are typically delivered once a week. You must make Observations every week in order to be eligible for receiving Community Wages.

Please Note: To make your post easier to find or read more easily, some rules must be met. Moderators reserve the right to edit your post accordingly.

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What is the Observer Team?

The Observer Team is a group of players that create “journal entries” based on the Lost Island Season. They entries they produce can include:

  • Personal opinion and experiences about playing daily in the event.
  • Strategy, guides, tips, and cautionary tales for other players to learn from.
  • Season match progression, be it only for your alliance or as a “global eye” to the entire group.
  • Victories and losses, and how your approach to the season changed accordingly.

What is the relationship between Observers and Moderators?

Both the Observer Team and Moderators (MODs) are players. Their opinions and behaviors only represent individuals, and have nothing to do with the official Ants staff members. Observers may receive constructive coaching tips from MODs, but they are not moderators, themselves.

What are the main requirements to become Observers?

First and foremost: friendliness and a desire to be helpful. Next, an ability to write clearly on strategy, tips, and other related matters. Finally, having integrity and humility as representatives of the Observer Community.

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Apply to the Observer Team

The first step in becoming a member of the Observer Team is to join the Staging Area Discord Server.

You can then apply to be a member of the Observer Team by filling out the Observer Team Application.

Please be ready to provide:

  1. Your Discord Tag
  2. Your E-mail
  3. Your Game Account ID

Once you have applied, the Observer Team Supervisor or Leader will decide whether to add you to the Observer Team. This is sometimes based on availability, but can also include other factors. You may also receive a private message through Discord asking you for more information.

Please Note: Membership on the Observer Team is not guaranteed. Please have patience and understanding, during the application process.

Non-Disclosure Agreement

Once you have received an invitation to join the Observer Team, you will receive an e-mail with a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) attached. You will need to reply “I agree” to this e-mail within 3 days. If you do not respond within 3 days, we will assume that you do not accept the NDA, and you will not be allowed as a member of the Observer Team.

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Enter Your Information into the AirTable

Once you are accepted as an Island Observer, you will be sent a link on Discord to the AirTable (database) for Official Observer registration. This step is necessary, to allow you access to the Observer channels in Discord.

Please be ready to provide your Discord Tag.

Frequent Question: “Why do I have to enter my Discord ID in again?”
Answer: The Official Observer form only holds data for those applicants that have been approved, whereas the first step holds all applicants’ information.

Join the Discord channel for Observers

Once you have fully registered, you will be given access to the Observer channel in Discord. It is here that you will receive any updates to the Observer process, and can chat real-time with other Observers or even Moderators for the Observer Journals section of the website forum.

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Find the Posting Template for Your Group

Once results have been released to players on the matchmaking phase, Observers will be able to find their Group Number via a link sent to the Discord Observer channel. This link will lead to a Google Sheets documents, containing the information for each separate Island matchup, separated by batch number.

For example, the first tab (Batch 1) will include information on all 15 matches within that batch. The second tab will be for Batch 2, third for Batch 3, etc. You can find your Group Number easiest by searching the document for your Alliance Name, and verifying the leader (as some alliance names are more common than others).

Once you have your Group Number, you can

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Creating Your First Journal Post

All Journal posts are kept in the “Record Post” section of the forum. Here, you can view other Observers posts for inspiration, information, or share your thoughts on their threads.

It’s important to note: each Observer is strongly advised to keep only 1 thread for their given alliance (or Group Number). If you are playing in 2 or more matches, you are allowed (and encouraged) to have a separate “first post” and thread for each match.

Once you have opened the Record Post section in your browser:

  1. Click on the button in the top right that says “+ New Topic” to open the Draft window.
  2. In the Subject, use the following format: [Record Post] Server# - Alliance - Subject
    a… For example: [Record Post] S119 - ABC - My Observations on Season 2
  3. Keep the Draft window open, and go back to the tab you opened for the Group Template.
    a… Copy all of the text in the Template (Ctrl+C).
    b… Paste all of that text into the body of the Draft window on the forum.
    c… A preview of your first post should appear to the right of the Draft window.
  4. Fill in the missing information in the template with your personal information.
    a… In-Game Name
    b… Alliance Name
    c… Personal Goal
  5. Click “Submit” to create your new Observation Journal.

Now that it is created, you can edit it at any time by clicking the :pencil2: icon in the lower right of your post. If you can’t find the pencil, click the menu symbol, which looks like three dots.

Our first edit of your Observation Journal will be to remove the direction paragraphs that say you can delete them. Don’t remove the Table of Contents, though. We’ll be using this in the next step: replying to your own first post.

Replying to Your First Post

You will be replying to your first post every time that you want to make a new Observation in your Journal. This is to keep all of your Observations of your group in one thread, and separate from other Groups and/or Observers. Other readers (and players) do have the ability to read and reply to your journal entries, just as you can read other Observers and reply to their posts. But it’s important to keep your journal separate from theirs.

When creating a second (or third, fifth, twentieth) journal entry, you can follow these easy steps:

  1. Use the small paragraph at the end of the Observer Template as a guide to formatting.
    a. Create a title for the entry. For example: ## Fighting the New Insects
    b. Write your entry in your style, to convey your thoughts on the subject at hand.
  2. You are allowed to integrate images or link to instructional videos if it helps your entry.
    a. (Moderators are also allowed to remove unhelpful images or videos.)
  3. Once you have finished writing the new entry, click “Reply” to add it to your Journal.

Editing the Table of Contents

To make posts easier to find, we’ve added a Table of Contents section in your first post. This is very easy to edit and/or add to, by following these steps:

  1. At the bottom of the new entry, look for the :link: icon, and copy the permalink it provides.
  2. Open your first (top) post by editing it.
  3. Go to the Table of Contents and edit the example entries, or add to your existing ones.
    a. The format for each entry should be: Date - Link
    b. For example: 02/04/22 - (Apply to the Observer Team)[ copied link pasted here ]
    c. The forum software uses the ( )[ ] symbols, as shown, to create links: (Name of Link)[Link Itself]

Once you save the edited post, your Table of Contents will update and allow your readers to easily find your posts amongst any replies others have added.

Don’t clear your clipboard yet, because we will need that copied link for one last step: recording it in the In-Game Wages Airtable.

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Reporting Your Journal Entries

Aside from sharing your perspectives and tips with other players, you are also able to earn in-game Community Wages each week with your Journal entries.

It’s important to note: community wages are not guaranteed based on quantity of posts alone. Moderators and/or game staff are able to withhold community wages if they deem journal entries or Observer behavior inappropriate or otherwise unhelpful to the community and gaming experience.

The entry form for reporting each Journal entry can be found in the Discord Observer channel. Here, you will need to enter:

  • Your Discord tag (ID)
  • The subject of your entry
  • The date
  • The pasted link to your entry

The link you provide needs to be unique to the entry reported, so don’t use the link for your First Post and expect Moderators or Staff to follow your Table of Contents to find the rest of your entries. Instead, use the permalink (:link:) provided by the forum for each, individual reply you create as an entry.

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