Q. What is this Interview thing anyway?
A. Interview interview.diaryland.com/ is a regular Diaryland diary, except instead of entries by a diarist, the people behind the project ask questions from other diarists and post the results.
Q. How are the diarists picked for an Interview?
A. The diarists need to apply for an Interview. Some diarists have been invited too. Once the applications are received, the staff goes through them and gets in touch with everyone who has applied. Sometimes a diarist can be rejected - the usual reasons would be: invalid contact details, a diary that's not old enough, diary that doesn't contain many entries or enough content.
Q. How do I apply?
A. Go to interview.diaryland.com/rules.html and take it from there!
Q. Why does Interview require a link back if I apply?
A. It's a favour for a favour - and in the long run does *you* a favour. Let's explain: Interview has become really popular because of all the links to it from diaries. When YOUR interview will be posted, you will get a BIG traffic boost from the link Interview posts to YOUR diary! Cool, huh?
Q. How do they think of the questions?
A. The Interviewers (or: "staff") reads most of the selected applicant's diary. The minimum is 20 entries. There is no specific promise to read ALL because some diaries can have HUNDREDS of entries dating back several years. The staff usually asks the selected diarists to send in a "digest" of specially selected entries that are important to the diarist. This helps to get things started and the entries that the diarist has selected already tell the Interviewer a lot about the personality of the diarist. Then the Interviewer sends off the questions and waits for the diarist to answer them! There are a few "standards" for questions - some questions are usually the same, for example "Why do you keep a diary online?", but the other questions have all been asked based on what the Interviewer has read.
Q. I applied back in OCTOBER and haven't heard anything? What is going on?
A. Unfortunately Interview had some teething problems after the popularity shot through the roof. Some applications slipped through the net. The other possibility is that you left incorrect details (or no email address) in your application. If you applied and didn't hear anything, please send an email to: [email protected] or sign our guestbook.
Q. Why is there such a long waiting time after you apply? Why is the site not updated every day?
A. Interview is ran by people with full, busy lives - and even though it's very important, it can't always take priority. Until recently, the administration of applications was all done by hand, but there will be an improvement in updates now that the applications will be processed automatically via a form. We have recruited extra staff, but - and this is the bottom line: we will never be a high-volume processor for 'every diarist out there'. Sorry. There are TONS of review sites and even other interview sites (the latter of which were inspired by us *grin*) if you want to get featured quickly. Try: one-on-one, dlandgoddess and diaryreviews.
Q. Why isn't there a public queue?
A. There are queues, but they are private. Interview takes a lot of background work to run and maintaining a public queue hasn't been possible. However, there might be one in the future.
Q. Hey! Do you need help? I'd love to get involved!
A. Sure! First you need to consider a few things:
1. Do you really have the time to read diaries and send out emails? You'll be spending on average an hour a day working with Interview.
2. Are you over 16?
3. Are you a Diaryland member? (and keep a regular diary)
4. Do you know basic HTML tags (line breaks, hyperlinks, bold text...)
5. Are you an already interviewed diarist/diarist approved for an interview?
6. Are you reliable and hard-working?
7. Are you witty, observant and original?
8. Are you addicted to reading other's diaries?
9. Are you willing to commit to actually READING diaries and completing a minimum of 2 interviews per week?
Out of all of the above, the HTML is becoming less important as Interview is moving over to the new system. But if you can answer "yes" to all of the above, please send an email to: [email protected] and apply for a position!
Q. So who runs interview anyway?
A. Gingerbug manages Interview and is the madwoman who started it all. Trinity63 is our senior interviewer and Brandi, Deepblueday, Nicola and Piper all conduct interviews too!
