Query.
Folks -
What would you all think of a forum (phpbb) attached to this site for the purpose of discussing each others work and fostering community, or just offering writing inspiration and support? Yes? No? Maybe?
Let me know by commenting here.
If you’re looking for January submissions or prompts, please scroll down.
– MissMeliss
January 18th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
[...] go here for a mid-month [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
YES! :)
January 19th, 2008 at 7:50 am
well i for one am not a “discuss-er”… however,, i do have a problem keeping up with entries on this site.. and i believe that is a group problem,, as i get very few readers and or comments from my fellow participants… i am thinking if we devised a way to make it easier to follow up on new entries we may be able to inter communicate better,, and i do feel that would be a good thing…..
i do not really have a suggestion as to how we can do that… other than if there is a way we can be notified by email when the page or the comments update….but i will think on that….
January 19th, 2008 at 9:42 am
I would be a fence-sitter on the idea of a forum - either way would work for me. This is my first month of the site so I’ve just been responding to the URL’s of persons who submitted work that I wanted to see….then left comments directly on their sites.
Re: “the rules” - does the next prompt come up on the 15th of Feb or sooner?
January 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I have had good and bad luck with forums. In general I find that they tend to be more successful if there’s a clear focus and a strong moderator or moderators, also there should be a rule that you have to comment on a certain number of other pieces for every piece that you want comments on… otherwise you get freeloaders.
As far as the focus, I would suggest that there be separate boards for prose and poetry, and within each board participants should be able to designate pieces that they want serious critique on vs. pieces that are more or less “for fun”. If you’re serious about creating a forum I would suggest browsing at Sonnet Central and Eratosphere, which I think are very successful forums that might be good models.
Paisley: you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Start by clicking on the RSS feed link above the comments (MissMeliss, it might be helpful to put the feed link in the sidebar of the main page). After that you’ll have some choices to make.
January 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
@Sunrise: I had the exact problem regarding “the rules” myself. I think it was written unclearly, because I too thought the prompts would be up on the 15th of every month. I realized later that it would usually be on the first day of the month.
As for the forums idea, I think it would be a great thing. However, I do agree with a lot of things Paisley mentioned. And also to note that having two separate sites won’t always be functional–this site and then a forum for this site. Managing both sites may be too much for moderators and an inconvenience to readers and writers… unless if you want to convert this site into a forum…
January 20th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I’m always interested in more craft comments than I usually get, and I think it could be instructive to be able to “workshop” a poem on a neutral, i.e., not my own, site. I like the idea that if you want to post a poem you’re required to critique a certain number. That being said, I have posted on workshop type sites and been savaged by the divas/critics/guardians of poetry, whatever you want to call them. “Safe places,” are tricky on the net, though I’ve found the prompt sites I’ve been visiting to be, perhaps, too safe. I’d be willing to take the chance, but once burned twice shy.
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:39 am
I think that it would be a great idea , it would be a great learning tool for us newbie writers . Any ideas that that can be constructive would be a positive , but I can see the how established writers may not like this .
January 24th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I like the idea of a forum if it’s separated by genres. I also like the idea of requiring/encouraging comments on others’ works.
January 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
Yeah, that would be much better than having just links up. It seems very limiting and one has to always go visit the blog of the participant for each entry.
January 29th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hi,
I’ve only just found this site. I agree with Catherine that a forum with separate genres would be good. I welcome constructive criticism of my work (mainly poetry). What is glaringly obvious to another person, often escapes the writer.
I would also like to know how much longer the January prompt applies. Would I be best to wait until next month?
January 29th, 2008 at 8:54 am
It looks as if something weird happens if I sign in as ‘carole’ , so I’ll stick to my nickname ‘watermaid’ in future.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:07 am
This site offers good prompts. However, it needs to be advertised. I have done all I can by linking it with my blog in various posts.. Somehow the interaction is not as it should be. I think, Mr Linky might work and placing deadlines for each prompt should do the trick too. Make it a weekly futute. Say for, tuesday. As for as I can see we don’t have any postings for tuesdays as Writers Island changed over to friday postings. Saturdays too can be considered. That way, we get to do a prompt for each day of the week.
I like this site, its originality. We need to interact more to spread the word.