So I put the rule in, to make it official, link to a guide to help people figure out what constitutes a review for this section, and...nothing. I get the time to look around this section better than I could, and I see one-liner reviews going around and no reports for these reviews which are against the rules. Those people who used to review that well have left because of what this thread has done to this section.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm getting tired of people saying that there are problems but either not letting a person in charge know, or offering/doing anything about them. I mean, yes, there are problems. But hey, maybe if there's some actual effort tossed into things, this section would actually be a section instead of a thread.
First off, exactly and thank you.
Second off, I've got a few ideas.
One of these strategies is to close the FFL for awhile. Obviously, it's what might be causing part of the problem because people get so focused on only it that they forget an entire forum exists. Hence, you could try experimenting by leaving it closed for awhile. I was thinking a week might do it, but in order to get people to keep checking the forum, you'd probably need to make it a random time that's longer than a day or two. This forces people to take their private discussions (i.e., "craziness") to VMs or the DCC while giving people a reason to go look at something else for awhile. A result of this may be chasing most of the FFL regulars to the DCC or a similar thread (or even cause them to try to create a new FFL), but that's just a worst-case scenario. A more favorable result, hopefully, is that the FFL kids will get bored and end up on the main forum. I'm of course not saying you should close it forever. I'm just saying close it to give people more of a reason to stop hanging around the same place forever.
If that happens, you might get reviewers, but because that's unlikely to happen on its own, there's a few things that need to occur first:
1. The reviewer's guide needs to be consolidated and clarified. (Including a note that says a paragraph is okay as a review as long as it points out
something specific about the fic.) The main points just need to be emphasized, and it needs to be clarified that a reviewer's job isn't to be funny or snarky.
Incidentally, on the subject of reviewing, I honestly can't remember
how snarky you got, MW, but I get the feeling it wasn't that bad and that you ran into groupies. Review again. If it turns out you
were snarky or if you're afraid of
being snarky, then err on the side of caution and use the "I'm here to help writers" line as a mantra. Think of puppies or something.
Point is, if people miss the point of the guide, it clearly needs to be rewritten. (And I'm working on it in the spare moments I have, I assure you.) And then it needs to be shoved as far down the regulars' throats as possible before they're sent out. If we establish a standard for reviewing, people will try to conform to it. For example, Mizan's early reviews seemed to mirror my betaing, so it's clear to me that if you get a handful of regulars all reviewing in their own version of quality (that isn't littered with errors -- because research is godly, kids -- or full of snark), people will follow your example. Heck, for an off-site example, people emulated Yami Ryu on Serebii all the time, just because she was such a prominent reviewer. This is why there was a lot of drama, but the point is, if you give a mouse a good reviewer, the mouse will want to review the same way.
2. We need to have either an incentive for reviewing or a connection between writers and reviewers. This tends to be more of a problem because there's only so much you can do without knowing how the community will react to it (i.e., ignore it or otherwise). I've considered a few possibilities, including:
- Emblems that are handed out to quality reviewers. There's one for writers, after all.
- A NaReWriMo (basically, NaNoWriMo for reviews) challenge. Maybe one that involves prizes such as emblems for participation. (I'm not sure what level of security you need in order to create emblems, so if it's out of the question, we can toss around other ideas for incentives. A banner to put in your signature to say you won the challenge, for example.)
- A more open reviewer request thread. As in, the review exchange failed. I admit that, and I see it's because we didn't really have that many active writers in the FFL at the time. Hence, I'm thinking maybe there might be a place (maybe an entire usergroup to give people space to create profile threads where people can request reviews) where writers can come along, read a profile, and send requests to people they want to get to review their fic. Most people like talking about themselves (so a profile thread might be appealing), and I doubt many people will be able to resist a review request if the writer keeps pestering them about whether or not the review is getting done.
Either way, this one's a vague concept. We can either do it like Serebii's review thread, or we can try something new with the usergroup/individual profile thread idea. Or someone else could try something that might help.
So, yes, we're going to have to figure out a way to get the FFL to actually participate. Don't get me wrong. I understand that people are busy, but with all the time a lot of people spend in the FFL, you could be doing something like making friends with some of those writers out there and actually opening up the community as a whole. Devote your time to reaching out and helping everyone else instead of spamming a single thread, basically.
And don't give me crap about "but it's fun for a few people." This is PC. We're supposed to be an open community. If this were a smaller forum, I might accept that, but we've got newbies in the main forum. They're part of the community too, so you might as well actually go in there and say hello or go find a new place to hang out. Like VMs.
This forum was created for writing stories, posting them, and getting reviews, and getting advice needed for any part of that. But right now? Honestly, I wouldn't ask here for help needed for my fanfics, and that's saying something.
Also bowing to your awesome power of saying things I couldn't figure out how to say.
Seriously, though, this is exactly my point. It's all for teh lulz, I'm sure, but you guys just have to remember that this is a writing community. As such, the FFL isn't meant to stand alone as the home for one tiny group of people who don't do much in the main forum. (There's a couple of you who do, and more power to you for getting it. Seriously. However, I'm referring to the kids who actually don't do anything outside of the FFL and maybe their own fic threads.) It's meant to be a writing community. You know, a place for writers -- those people who post in threads in the main forum and those people who review threads and need help with creating their fics -- to come in and ask those little questions that wouldn't cover an entire thread by themselves. (Like "Hey, does anyone know what the word is for X concept?" or "Hey, how's this for a fic idea? Too cliche?")
I honestly don't care if you want to keep a close-knit family, but that's what VMs are for, in all seriousness. You may want to try those if you
really want to continue to share with the less than ten other people who make up the regulars of this thread updates about your game.
Or, alternatively, you could try a usergroup. Or a private board of your own. Or the DCC/a more appropriate thread for that. Because, seriously, it's entirely possible to get a group of kids to migrate.
インフェルノの津波 said:
Reading Astinus's post makes me want to not post my FF character.
Ironically, this
is something you're supposed to be able to come to the FFL to do. Feel free, love. Not all of us bite, especially if it means helping someone else out.
