One of the most difficult things about mentoring contributors to editorship is knowing when to press the button and make it official. So here are a few things to keep in mind when making a new editor:

Is their writing strong?

Good writing is clear, concise, and informative. Contributors shouldn’t be making generalizations, and every word should count. Some writing problems can be easy to address, like: flowery speech, active/passive voice, redundancy, using stereotypes, etc...

But some writing issues can be insurmountable, like: misused vocabulary, and chronic improper grammar.

Are they formatting properly?

All formatting practices should follow the Formatting and Markdown guide.

Learning about formatting also gives new users insight into the structure of an annotation. Contributors will absorb a lot of information about the site from learning how to format properly, so it's important to be thorough here!

Is their analysis reasonable and thorough?

Are their arguments cogent and well thought out? Are they doing more than “explaining the line?” Are they connecting the lyrics to overarching themes in the artist's life and explain the reasoning behind the words? Annotations that are too long can be a red flag. Alternatively, annotations that are too brief are a red flag too. Try to steer them into some kind of middle ground and always encourage research. So, when should I actually press the button?Take a look at the contributor’s three most recent contributions. If they are high quality---that means well-written and well-formatted, with reasonable analysis---then they are ready to be an editor!

Use this checklist to help you visualize when a contributor is ready for editorship. Make them an editor if they are hitting 3 or more of these benchmarks:

- Is their writing smooth? [ ]
- Are they using proper formatting techniques? [ ]
- Are their annotations well-structured? [ ]
- Is their analysis reasonable? [ ]
- Are they being thorough? [ ]

IMPORTANT NOTE: Be encouraging! It’s important to give people room to improve. The only way to know you’re doing something wrong is to actually make a mistake, since annotations come in so many styles it’s almost impossible to cover every possible mistake during the mentoring process. As long as a user shows they have strong writing, strong formatting, and reasonable analysis, then they’re equipped to deal with the inevitable mistakes that will follow and learn from them.

Sometimes even seasoned annotators can make mistakes too, so be aware that there are many situations where making a good annotation isn’t always easy. Here are a few situations where even seasoned annotators are bound to goof up:

- Pop Music: some of the lyrics can be a bit simple and sometimes there isn’t much to work with.
- Musicals: they usually revolve around character development and what’s happening on the stage.
- Artists like Gorillaz, .clipping, Janelle Monae: these artists rely on visual components and story-lines, annotations can be layered and complex with little outside information to draw on.
- Literature/non-music: Annotations will generally be more unconventional.
- Artists with little known about them: It’s hard to find something worth saying without restating the line.
- Artists like Future, Young Thug, Migos: Lots of filler about guns, drugs, women, money, etc...
- Brand new Hot Songs: When there is a lot of info to plug in, it’s easy to get lost or go over the top.

Remember, every user has different strengths and weaknesses, so there are many situations where you’re going to have to use your best judgment. If you’re not entirely sure about something, send @EwokABdevito a message and he’ll gladly give you a second opinion.