|
Post by shywriter on Aug 4, 2007 11:36:48 GMT -5
But I think there are more MA stories there now? LoL, I may be wrong. Oh, no, I'm sure you're right, over all; certainly looks as if there are more M/A authors. It was just the pairing subcategory had only 2 authors posted so far, ITL's alter ego & another writer, and ITL had more up. ...if we all ran over there we might keep it that way! ;D (thinking about it but haven't decided yet... what a geek I am!)
|
|
|
Post by lisa316 on Aug 4, 2007 12:06:38 GMT -5
I'm too timid to do it alone ...I'll go if you go with me, Shy.
|
|
|
Post by mari on Aug 4, 2007 12:28:20 GMT -5
It’s great to have a new DA fic-site and a back-up for FFnet… but (and don’t kill me for saying this, just me and my problem with authorities ) I feel a bit queasy about their rules about betaing and only taking high-quality stories. I see and appreciate their intention of ensuring quality, but… As a non-native, what if my beta said one thing and the site administrators another? (Their site, their grammar, I guess) As a native, I’d be very uneasy with the idea of not having the last say about grammar issues in my own writing (of course there are typos and stupid little mistakes and it’s nice if people catch them, but apart from that...) As for the possibility of rejecting bad stories, where’s the borderline? Again, their site, their criteria. I know it’s just wrong to criticize before I even tried posting… ITL, I saw you did… Did it go just smoothly? And now I’ll shut up , think about joining or not and we can go back to excited happiness about the new site. ;D
|
|
|
Post by lisa316 on Aug 4, 2007 13:49:42 GMT -5
Hmm, interesting point, Mari, and one that I didn't even think about.
I guess I didn't even recognize it as censorship. I just saw it as somebody frustrated by the unreadable story attempts that get posted on ffnet and mocked in the Grapefruit Chronicles.
Now I have to wonder about the site moderators and whether they will pull stories just because they don't like the content...Hmm again.
Didn't Mia tell us about a site awhile back? I think it was more of an archive than a fansite...if we're planning on doing a massive story back-up, we may want to consider that one as well.
Personally, I'm a sheep on this matter.
|
|
|
Post by mari on Aug 4, 2007 14:13:53 GMT -5
I guess I didn't even recognize it as censorship. I just saw it as somebody frustrated by the unreadable story attempts that get posted on ffnet and mocked in the Grapefruit Chronicles. I’m sure that’s their intention, and I didn’t want to imply that this site in particular was promoting a bad case of censorship. It’s the idea per se with which I’m not completely comfortable, especially how it might develop in the long-run. It must be difficult to decide over story-quality. Of course there are outstanding stories and truly bad ones where decision is easy, but what with the ones in between? I could imagine that if the person in charge is leaning more toward M/L or M/A that could strongly influence their stated criteria of “poorly written, plot is very childish or difficult to understand” (For example in my opinion all these evil, out-of-character-Logan dies a violent death-stories are somewhat childish and difficult to understand (even though not in their meaning). Hm, from this point of view, Shy’s idea to take over the place sounds alluring… ;D In short, this is just me over-thinking. I don’t know . Guess there’s a downside to both FFnet’s complete openness for all and everything and a more restricted system.
|
|
|
Post by shywriter on Aug 4, 2007 14:19:10 GMT -5
It’s great to have a new DA fic-site and a back-up for FFnet… but (and don’t kill me for saying this, just me and my problem with authorities ) I feel a bit queasy about their rules about betaing and only taking high-quality stories. I'm with Lisa, your points are very valid ones, and I hope it's only an effort to avoid the stuff out there that is nearly unreadable because of errors, not because of content. I don't think they will beta or otherwise edit, just send it back saying too many errors, etc, and if you want to fix & return, feel free. (they mention not being abusive to them but if you ask nicely what the problem is, they'll tell you.) They seem to want any and all DA and if that's so, M/L might be able to share space with M/A the way we do on FFN, but with more tags to better find what you're looking for. The site's examples of what they don't want to post seem consistent with that purpose, and overall, their own spelling & grammar seemed good. That made me feel better, after seeing a site not long ago in which the rule was that all submissions would be beta'd by one of their mods. I think they had the same ultimate goal, but with all the terrible spelling & grammar on the site itself, I suspect they might have had the problem you fear, Mari-- editing right stuff into wrong! Still, maybe I was in a mood to jump off into something new in the hope something might come of it. Lisa, I'm skittish of being alone too but I'll go try if you will! Edited to add: Mari, your 2d comment came up while I was typing this! I'm concerned as you are that a M/A bias might lead them to judging content with a skewed perspective, if they plan to choose for content. That line about "childish" fic is a good example, and you know I agree with your definition! I admit to wondering if they would happily allow the Logan bashing we see so often in MA: I suspect they plan to allow it, but push for tags to warn off those who don't want to see it. We might never know unless we post some. I'm getting intrigued now; the anarchist in me wants to see if they will sift through content for M/A friendly themes (the originators appear to lean M/A.) I'm still willing to try. Anyone with me?
|
|
|
Post by Mia22 on Aug 4, 2007 16:11:29 GMT -5
Ummm so question… We’re looking at this as just another place to post right? Not as a replacement. Because if we’re looking at something that’s going to be a replacement we should look for a place that caters to more than just our little fandom because I know at least for me a large chunk of my ‘favorites’ and ‘story alert’ readers (aka the ones who very rarely review) come from totally unrelated fandoms and quite frankly while I’ll occasionally look at and read stories from other sites (aside from FFN) I tend to be addicted and constantly checking until I just slowly use interest in the site. I down with using this as a backup (as in posting the stories we’re currently writing and slowly creating an archive of our past stories on here). I am however a little concerned at the fact that they ‘hope’ this is their ‘final destination’ and that whole little ‘crash’ thing, I’d like our backup to work. And umm anyone else not liking reading off this site? I feel like it would be impossible to read a long, multi-chapter story with the light blue and gray. Now as for all that beta-ing stuff because you all know I’m not going to harass someone into editing hundreds of thousands of words….I’m gonna go with Lisa and Shy, Mari. I think it’s just them trying to keep the stories at a somewhat decent level. We’ve all opened up stories and reviews and just gone, ‘Huh?’ I think they just want the grammar basics observed and they said a ‘multitude of errors.’ They won’t (shouldn’t) go after you over a topic that could easily be debated (meaning Shy’s opinion on something and theirs). Like: ….beautiful, talented and wise.
Shy would make sure it read: …beautiful, talented, and wise.
However, plenty of English teachers would find nothing wrong with the first one. I haven’t used a comma before my ‘and’ since I was 18 and my English teacher said we could stop and it’s never created a red circle on any page in all those years since. I’m down for trying the site, though I’ve got to point out that alec in between Max and Logan leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That other site was http://www.fanlib.com...If we’re going to look for something as a backup for when FFN finally gives in to the painful disease that seems to be chasing it (unlike this one, which looks to be a good backup for all of FFN’s relapses) we should something more like that because it offers the chance for folks from other fandoms to find you. (random: more Logan tags on fanlib than alec tags)
|
|
|
Post by shywriter on Aug 4, 2007 16:29:52 GMT -5
Shy would make sure it read: …beautiful, talented, and wise. Would not. Maybe the lesson is that we agree a back-up fic site, preferably central location for M/L, would be a good idea, and an even better one if we all find one we can adopt as a group default. I'm easy as far as where. Mia, if you think fanlib looks good, we all ought to go over & look around...
|
|
|
Post by mari on Aug 4, 2007 19:16:45 GMT -5
after seeing a site not long ago in which the rule was that all submissions would be beta'd by one of their mods. I think they had the same ultimate goal, but with all the terrible spelling & grammar on the site itself, I suspect they might have had the problem you fear, Mari-- editing right stuff into wrong! Ha, I had a faint but distinct memory that there had been a similar discussion here, but couldn’t find it (and so put it under imaginations of my weird, little brain ) Good point about having a multi-fandom site with fanlib. And umm anyone else not liking reading off this site? I feel like it would be impossible to read a long, multi-chapter story with the light blue and gray. They actually have two other designs: www.hybridsandhunters.com/raisinghell/index.php?skin=elegancewww.hybridsandhunters.com/raisinghell/index.php?skin=Zenlike
|
|
|
Post by Mia22 on Aug 4, 2007 21:16:05 GMT -5
If we're looking for a true backup from a complete FFN failure then I vote for FanLib. I don't truly trust either of these sites to not fail, but the DA board is run by a couple fans and FanLib is selling something, like FFN. FanLib gives us access to a broader group of readers (though both are VERY limited in terms of their members compared to FFN). It has a cooler design (with no alec on the front page), kinda YouTube-ey in its design with with related story links and 'more from this user' next to it (which I can't stand the location of, I like only seeing the story I'm reading, it keeps me in the moment and I forget I'm just reading, but I'm sure I could get used to it). It does the star ratings (which is what I talked about last time because it's the ONE thing I want FFN to get, well aside from a working system). You can post a picture with your story, give it a cover, which would be extra nice if we still had people around that played with those things (someone go track X-318 down for me). You can do tags. No pesky beta-ing rules or MA shippers in charge of things. It has email alerts (not sure if the other site has that). Doesn't have any cool little forum feature, but well Aerie won't let us lose DAR (right??) The DA site however does do favorites (I like favorites, it's how I find my favorites) and I don't think FanLib does. We could always try both boards out for a few weeks and see which one we prefer posting/recieving reviews on. That's because it was in the FFN trouble thread. And thanks for the other skins...Zen...Sooooo much easier on the eyes.
|
|
|
Post by shywriter on Aug 4, 2007 23:58:27 GMT -5
Okay, here's a frustration for both sites (and no real idea how to combat it short of starting our own site) When I tried searching stories using "Logan" as a tag, too many of them that were labeled as Max & Logan were Max & Logan breaking up! Granted, technically, they were about the two characters, but trying to search for M/L ship just wasn't that easy. And that was true for several which were found as a M/L "pairing." Whatever its other failings, FFN seems to have more DA writers who have developed that respect for the label "M/L" as meaning a true pairing (or a move in that direction), not just the pairing for the purpose of breaking apart (and therefore providing an opening for M/A! : So did anyone else get this too, or did I just happen to stumble on the wrong stories? Am I nuts that it's different on FFN? I'm just bummed from my tours of both of those alternative sites...
|
|
griever
Devoted Fan
Normal
Posts: 164
|
Post by griever on Aug 5, 2007 3:35:27 GMT -5
I'm just bummed from my tours of both of those alternative sites... Yeah, left a little horrible taste in my mouth when my story got validated by a MA supporter who claimed that he enjoyed my story and yet was..ashamed? that he enjoyed it... Wth?? Grrrr.
|
|
|
Post by shywriter on Aug 5, 2007 8:03:47 GMT -5
Yeah, left a little horrible taste in my mouth when my story got validated by a MA supporter who claimed that he enjoyed my story and yet was..ashamed? that he enjoyed it... Wth?? Grrrr. Ugh. And that was at that 'Raising Hell' site, too, wasn't it? I saw you'd jumped on. After a couple days' comparison, despite all the stated good points of fanlib, I still like the look & feel of RH over fanlib (which I found harder to read, on white, than the grey of RH! Go figure.) Fanlib solicited several of us to post our fic as it was staring up (I'd forgotten the name) so I looked around back then, too, & was just as frustrated by it, for no good reason other than it wasn't the old familiar FFN. (I know, feet of clay...) I was fairly set to join Griever over at RH & I may still, as Mia suggested we try out both for a bit. I hate the M/A "shame" but maybe if they see a bit more of unadulterated M/L they'd get over their embarrassment...? (off to poke a bit & decide what story to throw up as an experiment...) PS: Here's the first rub: easy enough to sign up on RH, but if you use Mozilla you have to jump thru some hoops to enable the cut & paste functions from your browser onto their site! They handily provide a you a box that asks if you want more & if you say yes, they'll link you to a Mozilla site that has a step by step guide (which I haven't tried-- too lazy & too easy to have my resident geek fix for me! so I don't know if it will work or not...). All in all-- can't we just get a guarantee from FFN that they'll be around forever?
|
|
|
Post by mari on Aug 5, 2007 8:37:30 GMT -5
decide what story to throw up as an experiment...) Possibly even a new one (hopeful, fic-addicted look)? Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be so single-mindedly off-topic and better say something constructive...
|
|
|
Post by shywriter on Aug 5, 2007 9:03:13 GMT -5
decide what story to throw up as an experiment...) Possibly even a new one (hopeful, fic-addicted look)? Yeah, I know, I shouldn't be so single-mindedly off-topic and better say something constructive... Oh, that might be fun... but all these other partially started fic need love, too! How about another round robin installment...?
|
|