This interview is with WPNinjas, Wattpad's very own Ambassadorial Ninja volunteer squad.
These are Wattpad users who do their best to make Wattpad great for the rest of us.
So, a big thank you to:
adeacia, AgentPenguin, Angel_Fazzz, aquaturtle66, Archleone, aundrea, CarolinaV, CjayS42, Cold_lady19, CoolDidi, Emmiie, fallzswimmer, ForgiveMyHesitation, haferness3, Happy_24_7, irockal, Just-Krissy, kaye21, klsy303, lore95, LyssaDCarious, MiaCat, Mystic_Frost, mylifeisaverage, OMGItsCrystal, princessharley, PurplePenquin121, SecretKeeper, Shiryo, soccerglam, StephyRoxsUrSoxs, sugarlipz, sydneysinclair, Tedders, TheOrangutan, VampyrePrincess, vicky_nfs, voldemortsayshi, xoMusicIsMyBoyfriend, xxAllTimeLowxx, xx_Queen_xx, zarinn, and AfterP_BeforeR.
Not just for answering my questions, but also for doing your job and doing it so well. You are all awesome and you each deserve a big golden cookie.
Enjoy!
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1. Whose idea was it to start the Wattpad Ninjas and how did they get it started?
Hello luv! Right, down to business! Well I'm not really sure who started it to be honest with you, but it was probably Eva Lau, as she's like the Community Liaison Officer between WP HQ and the rest of the WP world. Eva is our 'leader' in a sense (we call her the Ninja Queen, lol), so it might just have been her decision to bring in normal passionate WattPadders into the fold.
The Volunteer role started because as Wattpad grew there were... not problems as such... but little snags that came with more and more wonderful stories being written and uploaded onto Wattpad. Obviously, as amazing as the main WP HQ team were and are for bringing WP to us, you can't really expect them to be able to do everything, especially with the small team that they had. Thus, we were 'born' to help out with stuff like mis-categorisation, etc. I mean, who better to help than passionate users themselves, right? You can't see me but I'm grinning mischievously right now. Kaye (better known as Kaye21 on WP), one of the first volunteers, tells me that it all started on May 4, 2010, so if you think about it, luv, in a couple months' time we'll be a year old! It's been that long! She also tells me that one of the first jobs we were given was that of beta-testers for new Wattpad features and also the job of correcting mis-categorisation; two jobs that are still done by us today.
It changed and started to be a lot more... 'dynamic' when Eva decided to create a Wattpad Volunteer Facebook group. That's why one of the main criteria is to have a FB account if you want to be a Ninja. The Group (or Dojo if you want to be a nerd like me) is a place where she could centralise us all and kind of create a place where we could help each other, know what our roles and responsibilities are, go to for support and other such things. We really came into being there to be honest. We knew who other volunteers were and we became more of a family that had one aim in mind - making sure WP stayed as great as it was and helping it to be as amazing as it could be. We decided to make our own user account on WP as a kind of Volunteer HQ for us and other users to go to and so WPNinjas was born. Now we've even got our own twitter and YouTube account!
2. Why did you change from ninjas to ambassadors?
Ha! Well we weren't really called Ninjas at first, luv. That's just our unofficial 'fun' name. We were first called Wattpad Volunteers because we were just that - users who volunteered to help Wattpad out by going to Eva and (if she decided we were suitable for the job) we were accepted and got started with our duties straight away.
When the Facebook Group was made, in the first days, a lot of us were excited and talked and group chatted, etc. and one of the conversations that came up was that we were like WP secret service, where upon I, Q., said I'd put on my suit and become a secret WP agent (cringe-worthy I know). To this, Eva replied that she actually preferred Ninjas better... And there you go, birth of our 'Ninja' nickname. Then for some reason known to him only... CjayS42 a fellow ninja, did something hilarious that I'll never forget. Users that know him should ask him what it was he did... He's so gonna kill me for that...
