GENERAL GUIDELINES

Need Help?

These are the general guidelines for membership at Get Your Words Out.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to email us.

Current members should fill out our Membership Management form for any of the below reasons, which can be found in the Members Only section of the site and on the Dreamwidth community.

Membership Changes

Renaming Journal

If you use a rename token on your account or want to switch to another journal, notify the moderators through the Membership Management Form linked on the Members Only page and on the Dreamwidth community. This ensures you remain a member of the community with your new name. Your DW or OID username is your GYWO username.

Leaving the Challenge

Members may choose to leave the challenge at any time. You can notify the moderators through the Membership Management Form linked on the Members Only page and on the Dreamwidth community.

Changing Email

If you need to change the email you use for GYWO contact, notify the moderators through the Membership Management Form linked on the Members Only page and on the Dreamwidth community. This ensures your email remains up-to-date for moderator communication and check-in reminders delivered through the monthly newsletter.

Communicating

Moderators ask questions and send notifications related to community membership and check-ins via email. The email you submit at pledging is the email we will use throughout the year. A reminder for the current check-in along with community news will be sent once a month through our newsletter. You can update your email through the Membership Management Form linked on the Members Only page and on the Dreamwidth community.

Grounds for Removal

There aren’t many ways you can find yourself kissing the pavement outside our walls, but there are some.

Check-In Strikes
If you have missed 4 check-ins following the May Check-In* or 6 check-ins following the September Check-In, you will be marked as inactive and removed from the community. From our experience, a member who is motivated and committed to making their goal will check in regularly. Members who fail to check in or communicate with the moderators about why they will miss a check-in tend to have lost interest and are no longer working toward their goal with the community.

A count of missed check-ins will be available on the Pledge Progress spreadsheet all members have access to.

*If you check in for the May Check-In, we’ll let you slide, but all members who have missed 6 check-ins following the September Check-In will be removed.

Fear not! If you’re removed for missing check-ins, you’re invited to pledge another year! We understand some years may be rougher than others, and we won’t hold an unexpectedly difficult year against you.
Sharing Website Password
If someone forgets the password, it is linked within the sidebar at the community.

PLAGIARISM
If we find out someone in our group has plagiarized a work, be it fanfic or original, that person is out and banned.
Using Generative AI
C’mon, pal. You don’t need to bolster your progress with words your AI buddy wrote. You’ll have an opportunity to adjust your progress to reflect your words, but using generative AI and LLMs really defeats the purpose of GYWO. Repeated use will get you removed for the year.
SEVERE BEHAVIOR ISSUES
This includes belligerence, flaming, harassment, hate speech, abuse, endangerment, disrespect of the community and its members, and the like. We expect there to be occasional disagreements and a few personality clashes, but we also expect everyone to behave like adults and treat the community as a communal space, not your private domain. Members removed for behavioral issues may also be banned.
Sharing GYWO Resources
Tools created for GYWO are meant to be used by current members.

Really, It’s Okay!

To ease your mind, we’d like to highlight two things that will NOT get you kicked out.

Being Behind in Your Pledge
We will not kick you out if you’re behind your pledge pace or fail to meet your pledge. Life is full of difficulties and unexpected challenges, writing amid them is hard enough!

Missing a Monthly Check-In
We won’t kick you out for missing a monthly check-in. If you forget and miss a couple check-ins, there won’t be any action.