comments, or lack thereof
I just wanted to bring to the attention of everyone (in case thay hadn't noticed already 0.o) the extreme lack of comments left for peoples' writing here. I personally have had my stories on this site for quite a while and have received no comments at all (not that I'm desperate for comments or anything, I also have my stories up at Elfwood and heave received numerous comments there). With this new thing I read about on the main page where you must register in order to comment, there will be even less comments, though the elimination of the annonymous commenters isn't my primary concern. We who post here should really be commenting on the other stories, I mean who better to tell a writer what was good or bad about their story than another writer, right? I know I'm somewhat of a hypocrite, seeing as how I rarely comment myself, though I am trying to amend that 0.o.
Anyway, this is what I propose: we have some sort of "jar" if you will where writers who are interested can "subscribe" by putting their names in. Once every week maybe the names would be dealt out randomly to those who have subscribed, ensuring that their own names aren't given back to them of course, and each person must read and comment on at least one of the stories by the author whose name they received. If they do not comment, they cannot put their name in again until they do (the "jar" would reset itself every week). Such a feature may get old after a while given that, depending on how many people are using it, the authors would eventually end up receiving the same author's name over and over again, but I think that the fact that this would not only produce an environment of writers helping/encouraging other writers, but it would also result in those who partake being exposed to a genre of story they don't normally read, expanding their horizans, is enough that we should do this, or at least do something else to make the number of comments rise. My knowlege of programming is very limited, but this doesn't seem like something that would be terribly difficult to do. What does everyone think of this idea?
Hey Ryvven, I thought you
Hey Ryvven, I thought you were going to be setting up this jar thing. Maybe that was an incorrect assumption. I went ahead and read and commented on a few stories today. I hope they are well received.
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Always,
Nathan "Nadan" R.
'He is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.'
Setting it up
Well, I would gladly set it up if I was able to, but as of now I have barely any knowlege of coding. I am currently taking a computer programing class, but it's nothing advaced, just CPSC 101. Once I know enough to properly code it however, I'll get it done provided I receive assurances that it will be used in the site (I hate doing work for nothing =P)
Alternatively (or perhaps until then) we could do it manually over the forums, although that would probably be much more difficult to publicize (since it would just be a forum topic and not, like, a link to the left of the page or something), so we'd get fewer ppl using it. If I get enough people that say they want that (like, I guess, at least 6?) then we can set it up on the forums until it can be properly coded (unless of course there's a person who's proficient enough with coding and willing to code it out there...)
Specifics
If somebody wants to send me specifics as to what is being requested I could set up a page, and menu item, to handle it.
I'll look through the comments again but a short and detailed note about what is wanted and how it would work would be very helpful.
the specifics
basically what we want is a program that allows one to enter their name into a "jar" (the program would remember your name if you entered it, and you wouldn't be able to enter it more than once each week). Then, at a specific day of the week (we'll say Friday for the heck of it) the program would shuffle the names around and deal out a random name to each of the people who entered their names (making sure they don't get their own names of course), then it would erase all the names in itself and be ready for the next week. There should also be some sort of manual control (or if it could be coded that would be nice too) that makes it so that if someone doesn't comment on one of the stories by the author whose name they were given they can't put their name in the "jar" again until they do.
little less conversation little more action (or send in elvis)
Well, we talked about the lack of comments, but are those of us in that conversation commenting? I just put one up. Plus, who wants to take charge of setting up this "Jar"? I've got a forum elsewhere that takes my attention.
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Always,
Nathan "Nadan" R.
'He is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.'
Comments and the Jar
As far as comments go, I know I have not been prolific, although I do know I have been posting a few things. I wouldn't really call them what I would consider ideal (reviews or critiques). I could do a bit better, but at the moment I'm doing more writing than reading and, on top of that, family issues persist.
As far as that 'jar' idea, you might want to check out CritiqueCircle (.org?) They use a similar system. There, for a writer to post work they must first engage in critiques or reviews of writen pieces on the site. They earn points that allow them to post their own writings. I'm not saying that format should be followed here, but they have an interesting and well thought-out system that might help provide ideas for the development of a system here that fits the needs of this group.
The bad thing about such a system is that it may scare off potential readers or writers to think that something is going to be required of them. Any sort of 'jar' program should be voluntary. You may be thinking that a voluntary system is what we already have, however there are still benifits to a voluntary 'jar' system. For on, people would have to opt-in. This provides a level of commitment, if only in the mind of those participating. Such a program could be administered from the Anthrofiction forums. What do you all think?
Nadan
nifty
I'll have to check out this CritiqueCircle thingey, thanks for the tip.
As for my "jar" idea, I always intended it to be completely voluntary. You need to actively submit your name after all, if you don't want to be a part of it, simply don't submit. As for doing it over the forums, I'm all for that so long as we can make it work. I mean, how would we get the randomly distributed names down through the forums? Also, an actual program would be preferable, since then we wouldn't have to have a person initiate it every week. Perhaps, however, I'm just misunderstanding what you're proposing 0.o. Anyway, I'm glad my topic has generated responses and support from others here.
Comments
One thing has been pretty consistent is how infrequent the comments are provided by readers. Even when I had the simplest method possible to submit comments (fill in your comment and click Submit) very few of them were ever provided.
I'm looking at allowing anonymous comments again, only they will have to be reviewed before being posted on the site. Since I am here every day this shouldn't be a problem with them approved and it will allow people to post comments without having to create yet another login on a site that they might only visit infrequently.
true
I've been poisting here too, *tho i've gotten a few on one of my storys* but i'm surprised at the lack of comments too. I've been leaving some on every story I read becase I love to hear what people think or suggestions on my storys. the "jar" idea is sweet. :D
*Life is tough, ether deal with it or get the hell out of my way!*
*We all have a animal within us have you relesed yours yet?*
Hey White Wolf. I have seen
Hey White Wolf. I have seen your postings, but your writing topics just don't seem like my style, so I haven't read them. Otherwise, I would comment. Really.
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Always,
Nathan "Nadan" R.
'He is the Cat that walks by himself, and all places are alike to him. Then he goes out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or on the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his wild tail and walking by his wild lone.'
You're right
Just like i said youre right. Im rather new to this site but ive been reading some stuff in here for a while and Ive rarely seen any comments.
I also think that your "jar" idea is an interesting approach to this problem and i agree with it