Prefects' Guide

[puff_prefects]

1. Moderating your common room:
     a. Accepting/Rejecting requests to join (only accept AFTER they’ve been sorted)
     b. Members of your house must also join the main community. Please be sure they've done both!
     c. Keeping an eye on the flow of things
     d. If inappropriate content/behavior occurs, speak to the person(s) behind it and/or let the mods know so they can handle the situation. (PG-13, folks!)

2. Creating In-House contests:
     a. No more than one In-House point earning activity a month.
     b. It does not have to be strictly HP related, but if it isn’t, it needs to be either house related or HiH related. For instance, Ravenclaw has done book-related contests, because (most) Claws love books. Think about what your house likes/does and go with it. Remember, just because YOU like House or CSI doesn’t mean your housemates do!
     c. Clearly post the instructions, as well as listing the point value system and the deadline for entries. It’s usually a good idea to screen the replies, do that when you post it.
     d. If voting is required, be sure to give the voters a reasonable amount of time to actually vote. 24 hours is not usually enough time, especially if it is a fiction contest where much reading is involved. It's best to give people a week to vote, but definitely no less than three full days. At the very least, make sure it overlaps both weekdays and weekends, since some folks are only online for one or the other.
     e. It is your job as Prefect or Co-Prefect to report the points once they are awarded. This includes all of the participants, not just the winners, as everyone gets points for participation. Points must be reported by the end of the month, unless you have received permission from one of the mods for an extension. (Extensions will only be granted in rare circumstances!) If your points are not turned in on time, they do not count.

3. Sorting:
     a. Sorting Logs are very important things, especially if you want your house to actively participate and gain points. It's best if you can create a log early in the week and update it with the new applications as they are added, but if that isn't possible, do it as early as you can. Some people depend on the sorting logs, prefering not to have platform_934 on their friends list. If you miss an application, they likely will as well.
     b. While you do not have to count the votes, you do have to keep up with the Top Sorters for your house and turn them in. It's easiest if you turn them in at the end of each week (I wait until the applications are stamped so we know all votes are in), but you can wait until the end of the month. Remember, however, that if you do not turn the points in by the end of the month, they will not count. If a week is divided between the two months, don't fret, it will just go toward the following month.
     c. Remind your housemates that while they receive one point for every vote, having a house-pride icon or sigtag will give them an additional point on each vote. They must sign their votes with their name and house if they want the votes to count.
     d. If you notice members of your house replying to votes or having conversations within the sorting, please remind the entire house that it can cause a loss of points. 

4. Points:
     a. Top Sorters receive 30 points and 15 knuts for every week that they sort all of the applications.
     b. Contest points are as follows: 1st/2nd/3rd/participation receives 50/40/30/10 points and 20/15/10/5 knuts respectively (which you have to count and post!)


5. New Members:
     a. Be sure to welcome your new members with open arms. It's a bit nervewracking to join an already established community, especially if no one has taken the time to welcome you, help you out. Do a 'welcome to the house' post each week if you can, it seems to make them feel more at ease.
     b. Create (or update) a survey for your new members to do, should they feel up to it, but don't require it. Suggest that they do a post themselves to fill you in on their likes/dislikes/whatever if they don't want to do the survey. Some people work better with freeform sharing than required questions.
     c. Make sure they read the HiH FAQ, and let them know that you're available to answer questions if they should have any. Remember, you are their prefect, it's your job to guide them!
     d. Be sure to explain how the communities work: You must actually 'join' most of the communities, just friending them doesn't get you posting access.
     e. Point out Gringott's, and the need for them to reserve a vault in order to keep any earned knuts, and explain to them the purpose of knuts. It's amazing how many people still have no idea what they are for!
     f. Encourage the browsing of the shops at Flourish. Remind them that it will get their house extra points if they use sigtags and icons when they vote, give points to the house of the shop they order from, and helps show a little bit of house pride as well.

6. Student Roster:
     a. Each week, when a new member or more are added to your house, you need to update the Student Roster with their name and a link to their application. This should be relatively easy, as there will be links to the applications in hih_officials when the list is released saying who goes where.
     b. If a member leaves HiH, remove their name from the roster. We want them to be as current as possible. On occassion, please compare your roster to your member list. If they are NOT a member of your common room, remove them from the list. You can also use the leaving post in the main community as a source of this information.

7. Social Conversation/Reminders:
     a. Something other than the sorting log needs to be posted in your common room at least once a week. It does not have to be a Prefect or Co-Prefect that does it, but if it is quiet, do something. Post a silly quiz, random book or movie suggestion, ask for favorite quotes. Anything to try to get folks communicating/being active.
     b. Reminders are important, so do try to do them often. It may be that you are the only thing that reminds folks of activities going on elsewhere that can earn your house points. You don't have to do a post that just reminders, but if you do something else, feel free to add an 'oh yeah, charms club has this activity going on right now, go check it out!'.

8. Links:
     a. The following communities need to be linked to from your main common room page:
         1. platform_934
         2. hogwartsishome
     b. The following links are suggested, but not required:
         1. HiH FAQ
         2. Current Sorting Log
         3. Current In-House Contest
         4. Links to current contests, Hogsmeade (for the weekends) or clubs

9. Feel free to add other 'house specific information' to your guide. Keep it updated to help out the prefects that follow you. You must keep a copy of it in your prefects journal.
     Examples: (feel free to remove this part!)
         a. Claws give out 'cookies' and 'stars' for rewards (graphics we toss around).
         b. The house prefers sorting logs done in such and such a manner.
         c. The contests that get the most activity from our house are: blah blah blah...