Should the fanfic forum be split up?

This subject has been brought up many times, and it's time to decide it one way or another.

This yes/no vote will go on for the month of February. If it's a "Yes," then we'll talk about different ways to do it (I favor the chronological approach we chose in the indexes if this is approved, but I'm totally neutral on the subject of approving it).

 

Yes, it should be broken up like the indexes.

 

I won't object to the stories being categorized into Prequel, Classic, New Republic, and NJO eras. It'll be easier for us to find the stories we want to read.

 

see i say no. I like the board as is.

 

I like the idea of it being split up in the same way as the indexes are seeing as I only read two "eras" of fanfics really.

 

I voted yes. I really love the Fan fic forum, its my favorite ... but I feel that so many stories are getting overlooked. In the span of an hour, I've seen a brand new fic sink all the way to the 5th page, with only one reveiw to show for it. Writers work too hard on their fics to just see it sink so far that no one will bother looking for it.

But then again, if the forum was split up, perhaps some would get more advantages to readers than others. Depends how you are planning to split it up

 

I HIGHLY recommend that it be split up. I hate doing it, but I find myself "bumping" my story because it gets buried so INCREDIBLY fast...it makes me not want to write anymore. (speaking of which, check out my story if you get the chance...the link is in my sig. I KNOW, shameless plug, but I'm getting desperate!)

I'd suggest making sections based on genre like Humor, Drama, Adventure, etc. as well as keeping the timeline indicies. Quite frankly, I get confused just looking at the first page of titles because so many people are trying to add as much as possible to compete with everyone else. Breaking it up would make it less overwhelming to look at, probably INCREASE readership, and knock down some of the 'bumping' that occurs...I can't see this as anything BUT a good thing.

 

No, it would lead to too much confusion as to what is where.

 

I haven't voted yet, but only because the idea has some flaws. One of which is ongoing projects. If you do split them up by genere, does that immediately mean those projects must continue in the new forum? It would be unfair in my opinion.

ALSO - not every genere can be covered that specifically, especially if the generes can't be specifically defined. I think you do go by era here if the Boards has the storage space; which if I'm not mistaken that was a problem still.

If you do go to specifics, do so by era like we do with KnightWriter's Story Indexes: Beyond the Saga, Saga, and Before the Saga. That way there isn't fifty boards that are so darn specific to what it is. Most of the generes are trends, and like any trend they go up, then down, and then up, or to the dark abyss; waste of data space and the time put in to create it. Era is much broader.

But even after all this, how long will it be that people complain that new fiction isn't getting read again? It won't be too long, and that's the truth.

 

Right now, we're just trying to decide whether or not people will have a violently negative reaction to the idea--in general, it has been roundly defeated in the past. If it goes with "yes," then we'll worry about the how of it.

I haven't voted yet, but only because the idea has some flaws. One of which is ongoing projects. If you do split them up by genere, does that immediately mean those projects must continue in the new forum? It would be unfair in my opinion.

The idea would be to make the old forum "respond only"--so that old stories could continue as they are until they're finished, unless authors want to lock and move them, but no new topics/stories would be allowed--new stories would go to the new boards.

But even after all this, how long will it be that people complain that new fiction isn't getting read again? It won't be too long, and that's the truth.

I know. But as far as I'm concerned, this is the absolute maximum thing that could be done in any official capacity. Beyond this, a thread on, "So, how do people promote their stories?" here at Resources, would be the sole addressing of the question.

 

I think yes,
There is so much traffic on the boards that it can get tough to new stories unless they happen to be by a particular author you like.

I'm sure each of us are overlooking lots of stories that we'd really enjoy, or be able to critique for the authors.

It should definately be split up by timeframe if done, b/c it seems every reader has a timeframe they prefer. This would make reading and writing easier and more enjoyable.

Its sad to see so many good stories get buried so quick. This split of the boards could help some of them keep from getting overlooked.

 

I think spliting up would be a really good idea. It's fun to have them all together, but when it comes down to it it would be SO much easier to have smaller sections. That's just my opinion anyway. Sorry if someone already mentioned that ^_^

EJ

 

I don't think I'd have a prob with dividing into genres like...prequel here NJO here. I don't think dividing into time periods would get TOO many protests. But try not to get into a really nity gritty lots-of-different-catagorys division...that would be kinda annoying. What I mean is...don't devide it into things like Romance here Action here. I think those storys should get an equal chance.

But I'm also perfectly OK with keeping it the way it is. I don't really see a problem with it.

 

One problem with splitting by era: What about multi-era stories?

 

Split it up...? Never! It is fine the way it is. Besides, being a reader who reads stories from many different eras, it would get too confusing to have to check many different boards just to continue to follow the stories I read! I would be upset if it did change, but I guess I'd have to deal w/ it.

 

You can go with the three Eras idea. It's the simpliest, and folks won't be bothering other folks or even the Mods to ask where a multi-genere fic is suppose to go.

Or, you could break it down into catagories like they do in the Main Board Index. You have the three Eras, and then in each era it breaks down even more into comedy, drama, etc and so forth. But then again that isn't very feesible either.

What also can be done is create a New Author's Index on the main page; another sticky thread.

 

Same as with the indexes: Pick the one with the characters most represented, or where it spends the majority of its time. There aren't enough stories that are truly multi-era and equal in time spent to really make much of an issue--each one could be on a case-by-case basis. Or we could just say, "Wherever you start." Or we could forbid multi-era stories, since they don't fit properly into our arbitrary scheme. Like I said, we'll worry about "how" later. Right now, the question is "if."

 

Well, I'm a user who has a presence on many different boards here at the JC. There's that little "click-to-go" pull down menu off to the right side that any user who's here longer than a month or two discovers.

I would see no problem with fan fiction being split up. In fact, I'd welcome it, so long as there isn't an entire forum for "Ani/Ami" or "H/L" stories. Here's why:

-As people have mentioned before, stories can get buried because the fan-fiction board is SO huge. I mainly stick to "beyond the saga" type of material, as I'm not interested in the prequels as much. Such a split would help sort things, and make them easier to find.

-The problem of on-going stories is easy to solve. Leave it up to the author. See, the current fanfic board can be labeled as "miscellaneous", where people can put stories that don't fit one specific category. People continuing their stories can also elect to keep them there, or move them over. All new stories can be started in the designated forums. After a while you'll see miscellaneous die down.

I propose that if you choose to do it, you do it like the sticky threads in the top of the page, with the addition of a miscellaneous for random SW humor fics or fics that can't be placed in the other forums.

-And lastly, more mods with pretty colors And more banner design contests.

Those are my reasons. I really hope you guys decide to do this. I've been discouraged lately with this old setup, and I think this could breathe new life into it.

Jae Angel

 

I think that the forum should be split up, most likely into the three lists that are at the top of the fan fiction forum right now. That way, if you like NJO era stories, you don't have to wade your way through a bunch of PT stories to find the things you like and vice versa.

~Inyri

 

I say yes. There's too many stories to mill through when they're all in one place.

 

Might splitting things up create or increase a divide in Fan Fiction?

Just a thought.

 

It's a tough call in my opinion. I think the idea is a good one because, like Padawan_Jess said, a lot of really good stories get over looked.

However there is a good chance that it would get confusing and hard to moderate for the Admins.

I know when Writer's Resource first came out, it was sort of in chaos for a while. Threads were locked so as to be moved, people kept posting things on the Fanfiction board without realizing it wasn't the correct board anymore. New Users, I know, were completely confused.

It's all leveled out now, and it turned out to be a really good thing for keeping the writing related threads seperate. But you're talking here about splitting it up into several different indexes, I could just see a lot of problems with people not knowing where to put stories and the admins having to be constantly locking and/or moving things.

Just the same, if the Admins think they're up to it, and the system is a well conceived one, then I think splitting it up might be a good idea. There are a lot of fans out there and many of them are finding their way to this site, and most love to write fanfiction. So this could be a potentially perfect way to fix the overload of fics and make it much more efficient.

--SiriGallia

 

I say yes . . . i agree that the stories do get buried too fast and i hate upping mine all the time . . . and i hate shifting through story eras i dont read to get to the ones i do like . . . Yes.

 

I was initially against this when we discussed this some time ago, and I'd still rather not see it happen, but I don't see how we have much of a choice now. When a story falls fifteen pages or more in a twenty-four hour period and it's a more popular story, that's a problem. Traffic here has picked up considerably in the last six months or so, and this is winter. When a large portion of the fan fic community is out for summer vacation, it's going to start moving even faster, and that's just insane.

The division by timeframe (like the new stories indices) is probably the best way to do it, though I think we should probably split OT and PT up.

Mel