Welcome to the Time Capsule, the column where we ask community members questions about their goals and predictions for the remainder of the year. Eventually, we’ll look back on these and see whose predictions came true and who fulfilled their goals. In this edition of Time Capsule, we ask our editors a series of questions about their journey in Club Penguin Armies and what may happen in their future.
Designed by Master DX
On May 24th, the Time Capsule focused on the advisor team, leading to an interview with Orange. Today, we will be asking some editors to provide insight into how they got to where they are today and what the remainder of the year may entail for them
The role of an editor is an invaluable role within Club Penguin Armies. They oversee the posts that reporters write, edit the posts if needed, and they also give feedback to each reporter, explaining what they’ve done well or what they could do better. It’s a role of uttermost importance, yet an overlooked one to some degree. When people read the posts reporters write, they don’t think about all the hours editors put into making the said posts presentable. In spite of that, their work is visible in every article created, and their expertise lets reporters improve their skills and write better articles even better articles.
With that in mind, we decided to interview our incredible editors, Scorp, Ferdthebird1, and Coolguy to find out more about their past, present and future.
Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?
Scorp: Hello, I’m Scorp. I’m currently an Editor in Chief at CPA, and my job is to introduce new topics, edit posts written by reporters to make sure there’s no bias, or major structural errors, and write some posts myself. Some of the people I look up to who have done this before are Luciferstar, Max, and Bluesockwa1, although I never met the blue brothers. I’ve worked in Club Penguin Army League, Club Penguin Army Hub, Club Penguin Army Headquarters, Club Penguin Army Network, and now at this org.
Ferdthebird1: No, you must know me or you are living under a rock. Just kidding, of course! I am Ferdthebird1, I joined as and currently am an Associate Editor for CPA. My job is to assist our managing editors and Editor in Chief, and edit posts and also write posts myself. I have worked at CP Army Hub, CP Army Headquarters as reporter and for CP Army Times as an Executive Producer in the past 🙂
Coolguy: No :rofl: . I am Coolguy, I originally joined armies in 2011 and have been a part of many armies in different roles since joining. Now, I am the joint 50th leader of the Army of Club Penguin alongside AustinFraud. I am also an Editor in Chief in Club Penguin Armies. In the past, I have reported for many different media sites in armies and have written many different posts over time which truly show the evolution of the quality of writing within Club Penguin Army media.
Many people may know me for my 3-tenure as a SWAT leader, some may know me from my time during the original Club Penguin armies era, but, no matter where you may know me from, or if you don’t know me at all, the ‘now’ is what you’re experiencing and I’m sure that for those who knew me back then, and for those I knew too, a lot has definitely changed. If you don’t know me, well here’s the bio :hehe:
Is there anything in particular that made you choose to become an editor?
Scorp: People like Zamb and Max inspired me to help out with editing, help new reporters learn the ropes by giving the most constructive feedback possible. But tbh, I didn’t really choose to become an editor, I just got promoted so I did it haha
Ferdthebird1: Safe to say I love writing, even in academics and I thought this position was the most suited for me. Before becoming an Editor I used to read posts and such, and I loved it! So glad to be a part of the process now. You appreciate stuff more when you are involved in the process.
Coolguy: I didn’t choose to become an editor, I would like to believe I earnt the position with the work that I have done in Club Penguin Armies. From each post I’ve written to each report I’ve edited, even each conversation I’ve input in, I hope that each of these has helped me to earn the position and deserve it.
However, being an editor does, for sure help you gain more freedom in the posts you write, in the post topics that are created, and everything else. I mean, both me and scorp have ideas about what can be done, this also goes for Mchappy, Disha, and Wynn, as well as other editors I’m sure. However, what works so well about this is that we all have different ideas, sometimes very similar ones that combine to make reporting even better, and being able to contribute to the changes that were made in CPA and to the decisions and topics made is truly incredible.
Is there anything you’d wish you knew before becoming an editor?
Scorp: I wish I knew how fucking tiring this would be, I DO NOT recommend becoming an editor unless you really love writing, and are confident about your language superpowers to not get corrupted by the mindless writing submitted by some of the reporters.
Ferdthebird1: I am not even joking, when I became an editor for CPA I realized how organized and easy it can be. We never rush our reporters or anyone for that matter and it’s a fun loving staff team. Secondly I wish I knew to use fonts more. We’ve stopped doing it but we used to have an Akira font for our Interview Section heading and that looks so awesome I was amazed when I saw it the first time. Not many organizations ever use fonts so that was a great feature. We now use it in our headings which is cool haha
Coolguy: Honestly, no. If I knew everything about being an editor, which I have been in the past, just not for CPA and I have done things outside of CPA, however, each new job comes with the task of learning in the role and we all know that whilst learning on the job can be a challenge, it’s a welcome one and it’s how you show improvement both as an editor and also within the staff team, as a person.
Do you have any goals in your mind for this year?
Scorp: My biggest goal is to break some records set by former leagues. Records like fastest response time to news, number of posts released per month, etc. I think we have a really good team right now, and it’s possible to outdo our predecessors in at least one or two things, if all of us chip in with their work.
Ferdthebird1: The most important aim is to be consistent, everyone in the reporting team has outdone themselves to produce brilliant quality articles. I’d like to thank Max whose return as temp admin in a way started this revolution. We’ve already achieved insane amounts of weekly and monthly posts and this is in my opinion one of the best times for the media team. The second aim is along with being consistent, we must uphold and even raise the standard and quality of our posts. If we maintain these two elements in our posts we’ll soon surpass previous reputed organizations and I am loving how we’ve progressed so far.
Coolguy: I never expected to become and Editor In Chief, and to be honest, I never really expected to be an editor. I first came on the team to help out and at the same time, I was realising and honing my own skills just by writing my first post. Whilst I may be known for my philosophical writing or thoughts, I of course, didn’t want to be limited to that in terms of CPA writing and if you know what I’ve been writing, I’d normally publish a few editorials here and there which took time. That time is something that reporters don’t have with news reports and was something that I didn’t need at all, writing quickly and methodically but not in a way that rushed the work that I was creating. And after writing that first post it all just flew from there.
I didn’t have any goals in terms of my work in CPA until I got Associate Editor in February despite only coming back to CPA in January, just 3 weeks before my promotion I believe. It wasn’t until I had some time in this role that I started to aim for higher. So I guess my goal is always to be better, to improve, and aim to excel in every role whether it be inside cpa, outside cpa, or in armies. There are no promotions that just happen from where I am, for obvious reasons, so my goal is to keep proving that I deserve the role, keep making and helping the staff to make quality posts, to help reporters, old and new, and show them what they need to do in each and every post, if anything, to go that one step further and to help them push out quality posts and rise up the ranks just like we have. I also aim to make history 😉 but you’ll just have to wait and see.
Do you see yourself still being an editor by the end of this year?
Scorp: Hell no. I’ll either be retired, or probably working as an admin if I get promoted. But I don’t think I’ll continue as an editor for too long, the only reason I write posts is to get some writing practice for upcoming English exams LOL. I love literature, both reading and writing, but I find practice boring when you’re writing about real life problems. Writing about CPA is interesting, and has less consequences.
Ferdthebird1: I won’t want to look that far ahead but if I keep up my activity, stay consistent and most importantly have fun sure, why not! I feel honored to be an Associate Editor and will look to contribute in every way possible for as long as I’m here.
Coolguy: I came into this year with goals, but, one thing I soon did is I stopped thinking about the end of the year and just focused on the present. I mean, look where I am now. By no means was this a grand plan, to be both leader of ACP and an EIC in CPA which I find truly incredible, it’s an honour to be able to do so. Many people came before, and in Scorp’s case, after me, but I didn’t expect to make it here, and as I previously said, I didn’t really expect to make it past reporter because I just wanted to do what I do, help out and enjoy the moment. All of this helps me to achieve everything that I could possibly want and, in this case, more. There have been stumbling blocks along the way but that is only natural, I mean this is CPA and I am Coolguy, after all. Anyone who truly knows me will know that life is never going to be a straight road that is freed of all obstacles, no. Life always provides rocks, boulders, bridges, cones, etc, anything to try to stop you along the way. However, it is our job to overcome, each and every obstacle to get to where we want to be.
I want to continue working with CPA to help improve each aspect that I can so, as long as they will have me, I will continue to provide my input and to help out in any way that I can, the same goes for all the reporters and RITs, and editors. In any role that you have in CPA, normally Associate Editor and above, you have to acknowledge that there is more than just you that you have to help, there’s more than just you that is consistently fighting to prove yourself, you’re not just trying to achieve your goals but pushing every person to achieve there’s, even if it is just by editing their work or giving them feedback, writing posts with them or whatever it may be. A time may come when I am no longer EIC, or a choice has to be made, however, why worry about what may happen in the future if you can continue to prove yourself and help those around you to prove themselves daily? Each and every thing that we do in the present helps us to achieve a goal or something that we didn’t expect to achieve. So that is what I plan to do, in the present.
How do you feel about the way CPA articles are evolving?
Scorp: Speaking about CPA specifically, the post quality and quantity has gone up by quite a bit recently. However, I still believe that we have a lot left to achieve, to match the work done by our predecessors. I can assure you that the org is trying its best to live up to the legacy of the former orgs. Hopefully, with new applications for reporters, and maybe a few returning editors, we can start building a team that will consistently keep producing quality news for the rest of the year.
Ferdthebird1: Comparing with the end of last year-beginning of this year, our articles have been top notch. We’ve managed to upscale the number of articles significantly while preserving their quality and innovation. CPA articles for me are headed in the right direction. I’ll look forward to us maintaining this performance even after Summer, and hopefully we do a good job at providing content which our community wishes for and continue developing our work.
Coolguy: I feel like CPA has already come a long way since I first joined. We were by no means perfect when I joined, both as individuals and as a team. However, we made sure that this was soon fixed, that each and every thing that we did help to evolve the current status of the CPA team and the way we report. I mean, if you compare this current month to January, 29 posts were created in January ALONE. 7 days into June 22 posts have been written and posted with plenty more to come. We’re not just writing posts for the sake of writing them or to beat previous months but we are improving our standards, improving the way we report, improving what we are able to report on, and the vast variety of topics, we are gaining many different styles of writing and articles from editorials, which there have been many of in the past few months, to satires, to columns, to reports.
Despite this, by no means are we perfect and I don’t think that anyone here would claim to be. However, we strive to do the best that we can do, to provide quality news and pieces of writing that don’t just inform the readers, but entertain the readers. In the past, we’ve seen some people use sources that aren’t entirely reliable and we see it every single day in real life, and I’m not just talking about the CPA org, however, we see where others have failed or have overlooked and we aim to improve each and every aspect of our media to make sure that we are the best, to ensure that we’re giving the best to each and every one of our readers. With all of this in mind, I’m quite happy with the way CPA is evolving. We don’t settle for mediocre or “okay”, we strive for much more. I’m sure that there will be times when news may seem to dry up, however, we have seen it before and I’ve seen it in my tenure here too and when it has happened it has been another challenge that we have faced head-on and combatted. There’s plenty more to come from our organisation but I guess you’ll just have to keep reading to find out what that it :). Of course, none of this would even be possible without all of the people that work behind the scenes. Readers don’t know how hard some people work to push posts out. Right now, we have a World War on our hands and it means that we see several battles being held per day with only a couple of unaffiliated reporters.
This also means that others have to pick up the work where some can’t. And even for those affiliated reporters, they aren’t just stopping because they have several battles per day, they are working behind the scenes to ensure that the show goes on. Huge credit must go to them individuals, as well as those people who keep CPA running on a daily basis.
Each of these three editors have their own wisdom to share. Their opinions and experiences are alike and yet different. Questions remain, however. What do you think about their wisdom? Will their goals be fulfilled? Will Scorp retire? We will all see what will happen to each of these three editors as the end of the year approaches.
More Information
Mchappy is interning at Club Penguin Armies as the Chief Executive Producer. Max held him at gunpoint to finish his biography.