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To begin, I am a very straightforward person, I don't dance around things or sugar coat it. I will tell you exactly what I think straight out, it isn't meant to be rude it is simply how I am. I'm halfway to dead, lol, I've lived more than twice as long as most people on this site. In short, I'm old. I don't know everything, but I've been on this Earth for a half a century and I know things.

We will talk our way through a lot in this book. I'm not a graphic design expert, but I do okay and I'm more than happy to share what I've learned if anyone cares to listen. I've noticed that lately we have a boatload (like a Titanic sized boatload, maybe the Queen Mary, it's a lot) of new designers that have suddenly shown up on Wattpad, while a lot of the veterans have left. Leaving little guidance for the new folks.

Many of the newbies don't seem to know very much about design (or common courtesy). Yet, despite knowing very little, they're holding contests and judging graphics. And inevitably what happens is the person who wins is either their bestie or someone who's graphics they gushingly tell everyone are just FAB! If you're going to hold a contest at least try and be impartial and judge based on skill and not what you think is cool. Better yet, hire judges who have a lot of graphic design experience. 

Below are a few pointers for everyone, on basic things you should and shouldn't do, if y'all care to listen to an old lady who has been at this a while. I've 'titled' each one to let you know if it's a designer based thing, a requester based thing, or something everyone should know. You certainly don't need to read all of them, but I do suggest you read everything. It may come in handy to know it some day ;) 

1) DESIGNERS: 

 Do not EVER under any circumstances post on another designer's (or group's) graphic shop and tell someone you can make a graphic for them. It's rude. Would you want random folks popping into your design shop and trying to poach customers? I do not care if the person's request was denied, it's just very rude to do this sort of thing. If you want to offer then PM them and do it privately, there is no excuse for posting on someone else's book in an attempt to gain customers for yourself. How would it look if Walmart employees were wandering around Target trying to get people to come over and shop at Walmart? Tacky, right? 

2) REQUESTERS:

If you'd like to request a graphic READ THE DESIGNER'S (or group's) RULES! Nearly all shops have their own forms, and surprise surprise, they'd like you to use them.  Not to mention, most designers list the graphics they make. If you just post and say, "Do you make covers?" it tells them you haven't read the rules or anything else in their shop. 

3) EVERYONE:

Need a graphic .... DO NOT SHOP HOP! Designers spend a lot of time on the graphics they make and if you request from multiple shops at once they feel as if they're wasting their time.  Many Wattpad designers belong to multiple groups as well as having their own graphics shop. If you shop hop there's a pretty decent chance they'll find out.

Definition of shop hopping: requesting the SAME graphic from several shops/designers at once. If you've requested and been denied elsewhere or your graphic was delivered already then your request is closed at that shop. It's only shop hopping if you have multiple requests open at the same time in different places for the same graphic. It is NOT shop hopping if you request multiple DIFFERENT graphics at different shops. Do be aware that a lot of designers have a posted rule on how long you must use the delivered graphic, so if you accept a cover then go request another one that you may be required to have the first one you accepted up for a period as deemed by the designer.

In addition, if you're a designer, you cannot have a publicly posted blacklist. Posting a blacklist in your graphic shop (or anywhere on your profile) can get your book deleted by Wattpad, they consider it against the code of conduct because you're excluding people. It also opens up people to ridicule if you're posting names openly on the list. This is not a rule listed in Wattpad's rules, but they consider the site to be inclusive to all and a blacklist excludes people so it is against the rules. And since they have policies against bullying, the fact that idiots feel the need to post on the profiles of those listed and be cruel to them also makes it against the rules.

4) REQUESTERS:

Figure out what it is you want BEFORE you request your graphic. Please don't tell a  designer "something that goes with the title" or "read the summary, it will help" and then there's, "something like my cover I have now". Regardless of what everyone seems to believe graphic designers are not magical creatures, we need some kind of idea of what it is you're looking for in your design so we have a place to begin.

A) They have no idea what your book is about, what features in it that might make a good cover, nor do they have time to read your book. They have lives and other requests to get done. 

B) Does your title really give an in-depth idea of what the book is about? 

C) Read your summary, better yet have a few other people read it. Is it as good as you believe? Is it understandable? Do people actually know what the book is about from reading it? I write summaries and believe me I've read many on here that are jumbled and make no sense. This site covers the world and there are authors from many different countries and while I do get some are doing this to simply practice their English, please have someone who speaks it fluently check your book and your summary before you post it. If it's practice at the language you're after then you need someone who speaks it to let you know if you're doing it correctly. Google translate is horrible so please don't use it. I've read so many things on here that make absolutely no sense because English (specifically American English) works in a vastly different way than most languages. So take your time to be certain what it is you're writing actually makes sense. 

D) If all you want is something similar to the cover you have now then why change it? I've also seen a lot of covers on here that do not go with what the summary says the book is about. They just don't represent the book well, so why make something similar to it?

Sit your butt down and come up with a couple of ideas that might work. Detail is good, but too much can kill your request. Telling a designer, "A girl with brown hair and blue eyes, standing sideways. Oh and she MUST be wearing a micro mini with flowers on it and red pumps." It's possible the designer can find the image of a brunette girl and maybe even standing sideways, but with that exact outfit? Yeah, no, not likely to happen. If you can, provide images or let the designer know what face claims you've chosen to represent your characters that's a huge help. Also this is not an idea ... I like want a girl on the cover who's beautiful and portrayed as rich, but also like she's broken. It needs to be dark and mysterious. I'm getting a -insert celebrity name here- vibe, okay? So, can you do that? The answer is no. That isn't an idea, that is someone describing  their character and badly at that. Rich and broken? Soooo she has $$$ but she's tragic? How do you expect that to be portrayed? Slap a chick in a Chanel suit with a pouty face on the cover? I'm not even sure how you portray someone as broken but wealthy at the same time. And if you need the person to look a certain way TELL US, we are not mind readers. We have no idea what color your character's hair is or whether they're supposed to be wearing pirate garb or a ballgown. That's important information. We don't want to spend an hour or more working on your cover, deliver it and then have you go, "Oh instead of him dressed in a suit can he be dressed like a pirate", that's important information that should be included from the beginning. If you don't include important info then you've just wasted your designer's time and they aren't going to be happy about redoing the entire cover, which is likely what they'll have to do because the background may not go with the image of the person now dressed as a pirate instead of a business man. If an element of the design is important to you, then your designer needs to know about it or you aren't going to get what you want in the end. 

You can provide images and say "This is the face claim for the character can you use it for the cover? I'd like the background to be on the darker side because there is an element of mystery to the book." And if you have image ideas for a background you can include those for the designer  as well. Give solid ideas, not fanciful depictions of things.

5) DESIGNERS (mostly, but it goes for everyone):

If you want to design (or write) then do it. We all have to start somewhere, but have the grace to listen to people who have been doing it a lot longer than you when they give you suggestions or pointers. No one wants to hear the graphic they just spent an hour on has problems, but you'll never improve if you flat out deny there's any issues. (this goes for writing too people!)

6) REQUESTERS:

When a designer has an open shop or a list of groups they design in, sending them a PM and asking if they'll make you a graphic is rude. They  give a list where they design for a reason. And PMing isn't going to get you to the front of their queue. They have a procedure for requests for a reason. 

7) REQUESTERS:

If you're going to request, again have ideas! Please for the love of all that's holy don't go "I trust you, do whatever you want!" It never works out. Believe me. I've been designing since roughly 2012 and a few friends of mine have been designing just as long or longer and 95% of the time when a requester says "do what you want" they never like the graphic. A lot of designers will flat out deny your request for that reason, they don't want to waste their time designing something that you aren't going to use because it doesn't "do it for you".

8) REQUESTERS:

Have some patience. People have lives outside of Wattpad. Family stuff, jobs, school. Don't message someone and get pissy because they don't answer within ten minutes. Hell, within 24 hours. Wattpad spans many countries, which means different time zones. 5pm for you might be 1am for someone else. So relax and give people some time to answer.  Don't annoy them with fifty messages within a span of five hours. If you have a pending request the person will get to it, just relax. Give them a couple of days. There are some people who only get on here every few days, some only on the weekends, because again, they have lives. Give them an opportunity to answer, if a few days go past without hearing anything from them then message and ask if they saw your first message. And don't cancel the request and go request somewhere else if they don't answer you within five minutes (yes, I've seen this happen). 

9) REQUESTERS: 

Don't ask a designer to alter a graphic that another designer made for you. We designers spend a good deal of time working on the things we make and we certainly don't want people messing around with them. After all, this is why we use watermarks. If there's an issue with a graphic made by a designer ask the person who made it to fix it. If they won't, request a new one someplace else. And don't try to alter a graphic you requested because you don't feel like asking the designer to make changes. You wouldn't try and change the colors on a Rembrandt, we feel the same about our graphics, no touchy.

And do not under ANY circumstances rip apart a designer's graphic because you like one element and you want to make your own version. We recognize our designs when we see them and we know what you did. Any designers who knows anything about graphics knows you don't need a raw file to mess with a graphic. Don't lie to us and try to say you didn't steal the image/text/or whatever else from our design, WE KNOW. And so you know, if we catch you you'll never get another graphic from us again and we will tell every designer we know about you and we will also be praying the Karma train hits you going full speed while carrying a load of fresh cow manure. You wouldn't want someone stealing your work so don't do it to someone else.

10) EVERYONE:

While it's fine to see someone's book and feel inspired to make them a graphic just because you want to, there's no guarantee the person will accept it. It's a good policy to ask them first if they'd mind if you made them a graphic. 

And if someone messages you and offers and you've already requested a graphic from another designer it's rude to accept the graphic while the other designer is hard at work creating something for you. A lot of designers will go check out a book when you request from them. It gives them an idea of what you have going on now (and they want to check it out and see if it's something they want to read and add it to their reading list). They notice if your cover suddenly changes and they begin to wonder if you've shop hopped and/or if you're actually going to use the cover they've worked so hard on. Keep perspective and remember how you'd like to be treated if you were doing the work. 

Don't request and then accept a delivered graphic if you have no intention of ever using it or using it for a day or two while you go request a different one somewhere else. If there is something you don't like about the graphic tell the designer, many of us offer revisions. We want to deliver a graphic you love and want to use. If you put it up for a day or two and then suddenly replace it we feel as if we did something wrong and we wonder what exactly it was. I've delivered covers that the customer claimed they absolutely loved and then they never used it. If you loved it why didn't you use it? What was wrong and why couldn't you tell me? We are human and have fragile little egos, consider how you would feel if the situations were reversed.

11) DESIGNERS:

If you're going to design take the time to find out the correct sizes for graphics on whatever site you decide to design on. For example, Wattpad covers are usually 512X800 (or a ratio of that), not 1080X1080, that's a square (it's the size of an Instagram post) and it won't fit right because it isn't one of the sizes Wattpad recommends. The Wattpad profile headers are supposed to be 1900X600, but that's simply what Wattpad suggests. Profile headers are difficult because they appear differently for everyone based on the resolution of your screen. So while there is a suggested size, it may look and fit differently on different computers. I have a Microsoft PC, my daughter has a Mac, headers I make are much smaller on her laptop than on mine. Apple has some ridiculous resolution so the images are a lot bigger. I stopped making headers because it's difficult to get them to fit correctly.

These are the standards and if you're going to call yourself a designer please learn them. If you don't, the other designers aren't going to take you seriously. No matter where you decide to design there are set standards. For publishing things must be a certain size and resolution or the covers won't be accepted for print. You can't just pick a random size and design a cover. It wouldn't be accepted by the printer because it wouldn't fit the book properly. 

12) DESIGNERS:

If you're going to design then take the time to work on a single graphic until it's something you're proud of. If you have time to make fourteen crappy looking covers, post them and go "I know it's not my best, but here's your cover, please pick one!" then you have the time to spend making one really good cover that you're proud of. Use the time you would have to slap together those fourteen covers and work on one really good one. If I ordered a cover and the designer went, "It's not my best work but here ya go!" I'd tell them thanks but no thanks, you obviously didn't even try, you slapped text on the first pictures you found and called it a day. (and yes I've seen designers do this. They make a handful of covers, deliver them, and tell the person, "It's not my best work but please pick one"). I've also seen them take a single image and either mess with the color balance, flip it to B&W, or just change the font choice and make a bunch of different covers that way. 

Again, take the time to make a single really great cover, take pride in what you've designed. If you're going to tell people "it's not my best work" then why bother with it? If it isn't your best, then it should never be offered to customer. If the server at a restaurant set my plate down and said, "Here's your food, it's not the cook's best work but enjoy!" I'd get up and leave without eating. Don't offer less than your best work, and as a customer, don't accept less than the best.

13) EVERYONE:

If you're going to host a contest ...

A) For God's sake make certain you sit down and figure out ALL of your rules before you post the book for the contest. Also, be certain what you've typed out is clear and understandable. If you add something you forgot, tag the contestants and let them know there's been a change. Don't add it then tell contestants they're breaking rules that didn't exist when they signed up. Make it clear how many contestants you're looking for and make a participate chapter in the contest book and/or keep a list somewhere else to refer to. Unless there's an epic failure to get people to sign up, don't start without the number of people you're looking for. Seriously, if there's two people signed up it isn't going to be much of a contest. 

B) Take your butt over to Wattpad's help page and read the guidelines and code of conduct! (see number 15 on this list) OFFERING/ASKING FOR VOTES IS NOT ALLOWED! In any context, no votes as prizes, no trading votes with users, no demanding they vote on all chapters of the book in order to join, no randomly messaging people and asking them to support you and vote on your book, nothing, nada it's NOT allowed! NO VOTE TRADING OF ANY KIND IN ANY FORM! And by trading they don't strictly mean "Vote on my I'll vote on yours" they are speaking of any kind of bartering for or 'selling' votes. If you're giving votes that are not considering a good faith effort to support someone's work you have read and loved then it is vote trading.

C) If there's an issue with a contest participant then deal with it like a professional. Name calling and posting messages on your board calling people out is childish. Also, if you've been here for five minutes, don't go telling people, "This is how all the contests are done." You haven't been here long enough to know how contests on Wattpad have been run in the past. (I've been here since 2012, in that time I've seen, participated in, and hosted many contests)

D) When people have questions because they didn't understand something don't get snarky with them. It's your contest of course you understand exactly what it is you meant by what you typed out, but others may not understand it. Again, Wattpad spans the world so the way things are worded vary from person to person and country to country. Terminology differs, you may call an object one name but in another country it's referred to by something else and it can cause confusion. Try and remember that.

E) As far as prizes go, sit down and figure out legitimate prizes before you post anything. Bragging rights isn't a prize, no one is running around the internet bragging about winning a Wattpad contest, sorry but that's the truth. Yes, it's nice to win but let's be honest about it, that's not a prize. Neither is applause from the host and judges. Experience isn't a prize either, it's something you gain from using your skill and improving it with practice, no one can hand that to you, it's something you earn on your own. And don't offer stupid, nonexistent prizes simply because you think it's cute, like 'a box of cookies'. And if it's a graphic contest, everyone in it is a designer so offering graphics as prizes is kind of dumb. They're all designers or they wouldn't be in the contest, they can make their own graphics. And a 'chance to be a judge in the next contest' just tells me you're too lazy to try and hire judges. 

Offer things like a place in your hall of fame book, along with an interview, prize stickers, a shout out on your message board, a follow, add their book to a reading list, reads and comments, and don't be cute and add "I'll vote if I really like it" to try and get around the no votes rule. There's no need to mention it, if you like it then vote, but writing it like that appears like a little nudge nudge, wink wink. As if you're saying it that way to avoid your book being deleted by Wattpad, but you're planning on giving votes no matter what. 

14) EVERYONE:

It's perfectly fine to have friends on the site (I have a bunch here on Wattpad), but it's an issue if you're running a group or hosting a contest and show favoritism toward them. It's also an issue if a comment is made and you're supporting them simply because they are your friend, without looking and reading for yourself what actually happened. I've seen designers complain when their graphic was stolen or altered and the person who stole the graphic (or altered it) whines to their friends and suddenly the person who was wronged is being bullied and bashed. Don't take things at face value, investigate for yourself before hurling insults. There's always two sides to a story and if you're only listening to one then you aren't taking the time to be informed. Yes, supporting friends is important, but if your friend can't see the wrong they've done then you shouldn't support them simply because you're friends. If you're truly friends then they'd listen when you spoke up. Don't buy into the herd mentality. Don't follow along like an obedient sheep because you're afraid to be yourself and speak up. 

Don't be part of the Sheeple herd. Think, act, and speak for yourself. 

15) EVERYONE:

If you're going to join the site, read the terms of service (a.k.a. the rules for using the site) and the Code of Conduct (a.k.a. stupid shit people do that common sense should tell them not to do)

The first thing listed in the terms of service:

If you're breaking the rule you have no right to make another account and precede to whine that 'Wattpad deleted you for no reason'. Especially if you've announced in your about me or on your message board that you're 10 or 11 or whatever. (I've seen people doing this). Also, Wattpad sends you emails when they delete things. Like books offer votes or containing blacklists or if your account has been terminated. So you know why your stuff was deleted, there is always a reason. So complaining they deleted you for no reason is a giant lie.

A lot of the terms of service things are legal items about copy right and content and not copying things from Wattpad. But that first rule is important and many, many people ignore it as if it doesn't matter or doesn't apply to them. 

Most of the code of conduct tells you to be nice and not hate, which people should do on their own but they're childish and humans can't seem to behave for very long. There's bits about hate speech, and not choosing a username that's hateful.

Here's an important one for y'all that I see broken all the time:

You cannot offer votes as prizes or exchange votes. Any kind of 'vote offering' that can be considered a payment or an illegitimate vote is against the rules! The only time someone can offer a vote is if they are reading your book and truly want to support your work by giving it a vote of their own free will. Again, if you're account gets deleted because you're breaking the rule, don't whine that your account was deleted for no reason. 

Vote trading includes demanding that users vote on all chapters of a certain book in order to apply for anything or use a service on the account. This boosts your votes in an artificial way and makes it seem as if lots of people love it when in reality they were forced to vote. You cannot do anything that requires users to vote on something. A user has to want to vote on the book of their own free will, otherwise it violates Wattpad's rules and your book is subject to deletion. 

***It has come to my attention that Wattpad has recently removed this rule. However I'm leaving this in for one reason only. Vote trading shouldn't be allowed, it artificially inflates the value of your book, it tells people your book is more popular than it really is. While I will grant most vote inflation ends up on the books of graphic groups because they require it to join, it still shouldn't be allowed simply because it's mostly groups doing it. It opens it up to allow others to do it as well. This only goes to further prove that Wattpad doesn't give a rat's furry behind about the quality of writing on the site any longer. To do away with a rule that deals basically with cheating makes them no better than sites like Dreame and Webnovel. They don't care about quality, all they care about is money. Now Wattpad has shown their true colors brightly. They no longer care about show casing quality writers. It's nothing more than a thinly (very thinly) veiled popularity contest. If the only way to get your book noticed is by cheating the system maybe you shouldn't be a writer. You'll be in for a shock when you venture out into the real world of writing. It's extremely difficult to game Amazon's system. They regularly remove reviews that aren't from a verified purchase. Heck, authors (and readers) can report reviews they believe aren't valid and Amazon will remove them. If your book got a head by cheating will you ever know if your book is actually good? Will readers want to read it of their own free will? 

Wattpad barely has time to answer support tickets, do you really think they're running around deleting accounts just because they feel like it? It would be counter productive of them to delete active users for no reason. If you were deleted it was for a reason. 

16) EVERYONE:

If you're hosting a contest or if you're a group account, don't vanish without a trace. Things happen, we all know that. Life becomes hectic and suddenly things on Wattpad need to take a place on the back burner. If you need to end a contest early, or suspend your group for a bit or even indefinitely, TELL PEOPLE! It's rude and unprofessional to simple vanish and leave people confused. Also, they're probably leaving multiple messages on an account that's no longer active as they attempt to find out what is going on. Worse if you just delete the account and people don't understand why. Especially if you're a group account with members you didn't inform about the fact that you are no longer going to be active. You owe it to your 'employees' to fill them in on what's going on. And if you magically return after a bit, how many of the people you left in an information vacuum do you think will happily welcome you back? I was part of a contest where apparently (still don't know the entire story) the two owners of the group fought so one deleted everything, changed the account's name and proceeded to pretend the original account never existed and when people asked she lied and told them that account had been that name since she joined. Once I sent her screen shots showing my inbox messages between myself and that account (which of course had changed to the new name when she changed it) she proceeded to delete the account. She was rude and exceedingly unprofessional. Instead of being childish about the fight she could have apologized to everyone, told them the contest would not continue and shut down the account. It was handled badly.

17) EVERYONE:

As I've stated previously, graphics that a lot designers make here on Wattpad are made with images taken from internet searches, which means they most likely belong to someone else. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's free and you can use it however you want. However, most copy right holders aren't going to come after anyone on Wattpad for making a cover with their image on it because it isn't worth their time. But if you attempted to use that image for commercial purposes, to make money, that would be a different story. It's a given that the graphics made here on Wattpad are simply for use on your free works. There are many users who have profiles on other writing sites with their stories posted in multiple locations. I have an Inkitt profile in addition to my Wattpad one. It would be logical they would want the same cover image on all of the sites so anyone coming across the book will immediately recognize it if they've seen it on another site. If someone requests from a designer, makes the payment that was requested of them, and the graphic was delivered, you have just completed a retail transaction. That item now belongs to them and they can do with it what they please, within reason. They can use it for its intended purpose as you delivered it. But if they wish to use it across several platforms as their book's cover you have no right to tell them they can't use it outside Wattpad. They paid for the item and it belongs to them. Do you think I could tell the published authors who have paid me for covers, "Here's your cover, but you can't use it to publish your book outside of Amazon." They'd look at me as if I was insane. They paid for the cover, it's theirs and they'll publish their book wherever they please. It's the same principal.

Also, telling everyone the stuff posted in your shop is copy written and owned by you is a giant load of BS. You may have some rights over the final design or look of the graphic, but none of the images belong you to you (unless you're an artist and drew every single image used to create the final design). And just because they're stock images you purchase doesn't mean you now own them. What you have bought is a licensee to use the image, the rights to the image still belong with the copy right holder. So claiming your items are copy written is crap. Also, in order to copy right something you must apply for a copy right, which costs money somewhere around $150 bucks (for a book, depending on what exactly you want to copy right in the work) for a graphic, like a logo, it's around $70 bucks. 

18) EVERYONE:

Just as votes cannot be accepted as payment, neither can cash. You cannot ask for any monetary compensation for anything you offer on Wattpad (unless you're a part of Wattpad's paid books thing, and then you can only get paid with the Wattpad coins) If you want to offer graphics for money you CANNOT put up a list of what it is you're asking to be paid for the items in question. If you want payment then any paid transactions MUST take place outside Wattpad and cannot be discussed on your profile. In my graphics shop I do mention that I do commission work but I also let people know any cash transactions have to take place outside Wattpad. 

19) EVERYONE:

If your contest has already begun and you're several rounds in, DO NOT EVER let people join. If the contest is already in progress the designers who have worked hard to pass through the rounds will feel as if their work is unappreciated. It isn't fair to those who have made it through to the current round. They made it without being eliminated and these new people didn't have to do the work to get there. It's not right. Think of it this way, you're waiting in line for concert tickets, you've been there for days when the venue suddenly announces anyone who can name the lead singer's favorite color gets to cut to the front of the line. You wouldn't think that's fair, would you? It's the same principal, these contestants have been in line for days, sometimes weeks, and now new people just get to hop into the line at the front. 

20) DESIGNERS:

If you're going to list yourself as "your friendly crappy cover maker" why bother making anything at all? It isn't cute and it isn't funny, it is you dissing your ability. It's one thing to be a beginner and know you have some work to do or things you need to improve on and another to bash yourself. I'm not going to order a graphic from someone who can't have confidence in their work. How do you expect anyone to have any confidence in your ability if you don't? 

21) REQUESTERS:

I shouldn't have to repeat that graphic designers work very hard on their designs and ALTERING THEM IN ANY POSSIBLE WAY IS WRONG! But it seems that I must continuously repeat it. You wouldn't want anyone messing with whatever work you've done, would you? If you need something changed ask the designer and if they won't accommodate (most will) then request a new graphic from them or elsewhere in another shop. And certainly don't ask another designer to alter a graphic you've gotten from one designer. Asking a designer to make a base graphic so you can add your own text will likely not fly, a designer puts a lot of work into what they've made and their watermark is on it, they don't know what you plan to put on it and people will believe they made the final product, even if they only made the background. It isn't fair to the designer. And if you have no design skills other than slapping text on a background the final product may not be something they would have done.

22) EVERYONE:

If you're running anything (a group, a contest, whatever it is) keep in mind not all of us are youngins and we don't all use an app for everything. Some of us are old and we use a computer because it's easier for us. So requiring people to do something that can only be done on the app is exclusionary, you're discriminating against the people who use a computer to access the site instead of an app. Not exactly the same as excluding people because of race or religion, but you're still making it so they can't join because they aren't using the same thing to access the site as you. Think rules through before you post them. 

23) EVERYONE:

If you belong to a group or are running a group then remember to treat everyone equally. If people are posting graphic deliveries or their examples and you don't have something nice to say to everyone then keep quiet. Gushing over one person's stuff and ignoring others, makes them feel left out and maybe they'll start doubting their skill. Don't play favorites. Don't ignore people, their work, or their conversation. You wouldn't like anyone doing it to you. Be fair and consistent.

24) EVERYONE:

Things used to be much easier for graphics contests around here, they've gotten a little more complicated since things like Imgur, photobucket, and other online upload places changed how they do things. It's difficult to get a link to anyone, which is how everyone used to give entries to hosts of contest, they would just PM them a link to the entry. Some people use tumblr or create a free website to display graphics examples. For contests a lot of hosts post a chapter with the entries for each round and what they usually end up doing these days is taking a screen shot of the graphics. The issue with doing that is the screen shots usually end up looking crappy because, well it's Wattpad. The easiest way I've found to repost images for a contest is to create a secret board on pinterest for it, (you can create a 'locked' board no one else can see, I think you can have up to 3 secret boards. You can just delete it after the contest is over). Wattpad offers the option to pin graphics to Pinterest, once the graphic is pinned you can open the image in a new tab, download it and then upload it to Wattpad. You'll have better quality images to display so everyone has a true idea of how things look. 

24) EVERYONE:

Everyone who provides a service asks for a payment of some sort, a follow, credit, or a read on one of their books (a reminder that asking for votes is NOT allowed in any context). What I've noticed a lot is that no one seems to understand what a 3+ line comment means anymore, much less what a constructive comment means.  Random lines of emojis or things like "omg he's so evil", "I totally loves this, keep writing!", are not constructive comments, these are opinions. Things like this can also look like fake comments to other readers, as if the author had their friends randomly comment to boost the book. 

Three or four single inline comments do not count in most case, it would depend on what the comments are and if they constructively assist the author. A 3+ line comment is three consecutive lines (basically a short paragraph) of something constructive about the story. Things you can comment on; did you connect with the characters, does the story work well thus far, were you hooked from the beginning. Don't forget different genres may engender their own questions to be answered. Did the romance bring the heat and get you in the heart? If it's a mystery, did it keep you guessing? Did the thriller keep you on the edge of your seat?

You can talk about character development, grammar & punctuation, plot holes, anything that can constructively assist the author with story development. It doesn't have to be a full on review of the chapter unless that's what you'd like to post, but these are just a few things you can consider while reading and comment on.

If you're not willing to do the work, read a chapter and comment constructively, when the designer is putting in the time to create a graphic for you, why should you expect the designer to put in the time on your graphic? Reading takes little time in comparison to the time it takes to put a graphic together. A read is a small payment to make for what could take a designer an hour or more to create and it's very little to ask you to write a constructive comment in exchange for that work. 

25) EVERYONE:

I've mentioned before that having a blacklist is not allowed. If people are harassing you or posting inappropriately, block them, once blocked they can no longer communicate with you or post on your profile. You can also report their profile to Wattpad before blocking them, take screen shots of the inappropriate posts and include them when responding to your report. DO NOT ever post on your message board and ask others to also report the person, this is considered bullying by Wattpad and can get your account removed. 

Creating an openly posted blacklist means your book can be deleted. And posting the usernames of those included on the blacklist opens them up to bullying from other users who think they've done wrong and deserve to be pestered. You're just creating a continuous cycle of stupidity. Even if you do not publicly display the names of those on the list it is against the rules to have anything stating you have a blacklist. Anything in your rules, guidelines or a blacklist chapter can get your book removed by Wattpad. 

26) REQUESTERS:

There suddenly seems to be some confusion as to what a face claim is. A face claim is a chosen image that represents your character's appearance. Usually people choose celebrities (actors/actresses, singers, models, and so on) to represent their characters (but it can be any image of a person who represents how your character looks). I've seen a lot of people just fill in the spot on the form with - "what does face claim mean?"

27) DESIGNERS:

Almost all designers have rules in their shop, if you don't then it's probably chaos. My shop has extensive rules because of a lot of issues I've run into and needed to address. Rules are always there for a reason, but your rules must also be reasonable. If you are requesting that users do something that is against Wattpad's rules then your book could be deleted. You also can't threaten to report people for something if what they're doing doesn't break any of the site rules. Many designers ask that you use the graphic they made for a certain amount of time because they want the work they put into making the graphic to be worth it. Designers who have this rule will often add that if the graphic isn't used for the allotted time it will become a premade available to anyone who wants it. That is a reasonable rule. What is not reasonable is to demand that a user use the delivered graphic for a certain amount of time and if they don't then you threaten to report them to Wattpad. One, if they don't use the graphic they're breaking YOUR rule, not any of Wattpad's rules. And two, if you report them it's a frivolous report and Wattpad will ignore it because the person didn't do anything that violates their rules. Frankly, putting that in your rules just makes you look like a jerk, threatening people who want to order graphics from you isn't exactly good business.

28) EVERYONE (ESPECIALLY GROUSP DOING INTERVIEWS FOR HIRING):

Let's begin by saying, I don't think the interview process in and of itself is idiotic. What I find idiotic is groups who suddenly seem to think they have to make themselves sound more intelligent (or the person interviewing maybe, whichever, it seems to have become common place suddenly). They ask questions using words no normal person would use in daily conversation and ask questions like "what have you assimilated as your mètier and foibles?". How about you just ask, "what do you believe your strengths and weaknesses are?" like a normal person. That sentence didn't make you sound smarter, it just made it sound like you were attempting to slap together a sentence using big words you heard recently.

Probably about 90% of the designers on here are people who like designing so they do it as a hobby. They aren't trained and they don't have a degree. Even some of us who do it professionally have no formal training, we just have a knack for it. So, throwing questions at people about classic design, artistic drawing (a lot of us don't draw either) or asking about theories associated with art/design is useless. I have no idea what color theory is and after Googling it I find it to be a really dumb theory. I don't know any designer who carries around a color wheel and consults every time they make a design or is using psychology to plot their design. You don't need a color wheel to understand what makes a good design, you just need to not be a complete moron where complimentary colors are concerned.  

So can we go back to being normal people who have normal conversations and don't ask stupid questions in an attempt to make yourself sound super smart and educated about how design works? It's Wattpad for God's sake, you aren't interviewing someone to design for a major corporation. Relax people. 

29) EVERYONE

I will repeat for the people who don't pay attention, Wattpad spans the world. We live in different times zones, sometimes the person you're talking to may live in the same place as you do and other times they live on the other side of the world. Having said that, if you're running a group and assigning tasks to people to be completed you need to take into account the amount of work you're assigning and the deadline you're giving them for it. It might be 5 pm for you but for someone else it could be 3 am. Don't get pissy because they didn't answer you within five seconds of the task being posted, they're probably asleep or maybe at work. And if you're going to assign them something like 12 banners to complete give them more than 24 hours. People have lives, many here work and also have school. If you want quality work give your people the time to complete it. Assign appropriate deadlines and give people the time they need to do the work. 

30) EVERYONE

If you're going to be hiring for a group then stay on top of your applications. If you need to assign one particular person to keep an eye on them then do that. Don't leave applicants hanging in limbo wondering if you've seen their application. And answer all applicants regardless of whether they're being hired or not. It's professional to politely reply to let someone know they haven't been hired and a brief (nicely worded) reason why they haven't been chosen. Replying only to those who have been hired leaves everyone else wondering if they were rejected or if you simply never saw their application. 

The moral of this story is, be nice, follow the rules and listen, treat others how you'd like to be treated. Don't be a douche.