Should the fanfic forum be split up?

I agree with JG. The Saga is PT and OT. Why separate them, when they are THE SAGA?

 

I have a question.

How popular is PT and OT compared to post-ROTJ, before PT, and etc?

If it were divided on that basis, how busy would one be compared to the other? If its split with PT and OT being together, would we run into the same problem we have now?

 

To be honest, I think NJO era and other post-ROTJ fics get more traffic. PT gets a lot, but OT not so much. Keeping PT and OT together wouldn't be overcrowded, I should think. (My two cents, Oba )

 

Well, to reiterate what has already been stated, the PT and OT are really one story. It doesn't make sense to split them up, because then you'd also have to have an IT forum. (By the way, I'm really against having a "miscellaneous" forum - to me that says "forum for people who don't know how to categorize their stories," and I'm not going to feel terribly inclined to read a story if the author can't decide where it goes.)

With having pre-movie, movie, and post-movie divisions, we get the following results:

• It remains EU-neutral. There are people here who love the EU and people who hate it, and in this case, a little neutrality goes a long way. That way no one feels excluded.



• Every story is covered. Crossovers with other media go with the main characters' proper category, and intra-GFFA crossovers go with either the bulk of the action or with the proper time of the main characters. (This one could go either way, I guess.) Yes, there will be some weird ones that aren't easily categorized, but it's not like this is something that's going to immediately affect everyone, and I'm sure we've got a collective IQ high enough here to figure out the rare cases.



• It keeps the continuity of the movies. It's one story - yes, EU people will argue that the EU is part of that story, but let's not get into a canon war here. These six films fit together as a continuous whole. Let's keep it that way.

Okay, I'm done. For now.

Mel

 

and I'm sure we've got a collective IQ high enough here to figure out the rare cases.


I'll offer up my 42 points to help solve those tricky ones.


But to add one more voice to group, splitting the saga only makes sense if we end up with only two forums. And then it only makes sense because amount of fics per forum might be roughly equal.

But if we can arrange the forums like the indexes (sic) are, that'd be much, much better.

 

I'm voting with a split. And basing it on the BF Saga, Saga, AF Saga sounds like the most equal division of material.

And for the person who said that a story spanning from the PT through the OT and a little beyond, well, that sounds like Saga to me. What's the question there?

 

I too, hesitantly vote yes. I say hesitantly because I am sure this will be a huge mess; new people who come into the fanfiction forum will be confused as to why they can't post their stories, and who really wants to move the old ones, and start all over again?

However, I don't think it can be avoided at this point. The fanfiction forum has gotten out of control-It's gotten to the point that if I don't reply to a story, I know I'll never find it again because it will literally be buried. I don't usually go to the fanfiction forum any more because it takes a long time to find, and then a read a story-And god help you if you find two you like, and don't put 'em in two windows, because once you're done with one you'll have a hell of a time finding the other.

As for how they should be split, I'm in favor of before the saga, during the saga (which nicely sidesteps that inter-trilogy problem that otherwise becomes hard to define), after the saga, and finally, a forum for a saga forum for those that take place in both.

Also I hope that if there is a split, the idea of the index threads will continue to be used. They are a great time saver, and something I'd use quite often in finding a fic to read. Very useful, and it would be a pity to see them go.

 

Count me in the pro-split faction.

As someone still new to these boards, I find the current amount of traffic rather discouraging. Stories pop up out of nowhere, only to sparkle for a few short hours before they finally sink back into oblivion. If you haven't really decided yet, which authors or categories of fanfic to look for, it is almost impossibble to get a hold on the one great story, that you would just love to to read at that moment.

Though the different indexes are great help for orientation, they appear to contain only a relatively small percentage of the hundreds of stories that are actually being posted. And I would really hate to miss some truly wonderful stuff, only because the author forgot go list it

 

Count me in as a strong 'NO'.

Consider the function of spliting the board: it'll be to categorise stories into folders, and sub-folders for easy access. Isn't this the function of the Index threads? Is there a need to duplicate functions?

As I see it, the Index threads are like cataloging cards. Find what you want in there, click on the link, and viola, there you go. Splitting up the board to slow the current traffic into x traffic streams will allow individual stories to get more page=1 time, yes, but as so many before me have said, will they be read?

Perhaps a change in reader behaviour is timely: instead of hunting for new stories on page=1, why not set your bookmarks to http://boards.theforce.net/board.asp?brd=10016&page=8 for a change? Or set your views to 50 messages per page? The effects will not be stochiastically different from loyally visiting page=1 everyday.

 

I am a little hesitant to divide this up, particularly because of my own fic. I have a talk show, featuring Star Wars characters, and they come from all of the periods, PT, OT, the NJO books, etc. It would be hard to place it in a category, and it would probably fair worse, because it does span the different times. How do you all propose that we deal with fics that span the multiple timelines?

 

I was just looking over my and vader_incarnate's story thread. I was reading the different posts, me jokingly killing my co-writer, the readers jokes and laughter, frustration, speculations, and 's, and I realized I don't want to lose that thread, and all those memories.

If the forum was split, maybe we could keep the one, rename it (for PT, or Saga, or whatever), so at least some threads wouldn't lose all that. Or have to repost 400 pages worth of story. *points at CalaisKenobi's story The Price of Sacrifice, which is PT. *

I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ALL THOSE MEMORIES!!

*is really sad*

 

SPLIT IT!!! Heck in 15 MINUTES my story sinks to like the 5th page!

 

No. There are too many works that I read that are of different categories. This would only lead to my splitting of time.

And does it matter if your story sinks? As long as you have a few faithful readers who provide thoughtful and insightful comments, that's far better than 2,000 readers posting "Yay! want more." and forget about you until the next post.

--Jaxx

 

If the forum was split, maybe we could keep the one,

If the forum is split, I'm going to follow a suggestion from Gandalf, to keep the current forum, unchanged, except open to replies only rather than new topics. All new stories (or stories that an author decides to repost, locking the thread in the old forum) would go into the appropriate sorted forum. I think that would cause the least disruption.

On the talk show, like I've said a few times, there are few enough of these to go on a case-by-case basis (in other words, if you're not sure where to put something, ask your friendly neighborhood mod). I'll tend to lean toward the primary focus of the story.

 

I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ALL THOSE MEMORIES!!


As far as I know, no fanfic story has been lost from the boards since we switched over from UBB. While other forums were automatically pruned every so often, darthcleo set fanfic so that it'd never be pruned.


Even if we split, the current forum will need to stay open so that ongoing works can be completed should the authors wish to finish them in that forum rather than re-start their stories in a new forum.

 

I realize I'm in the minority here, but I really think the boards should stay together. I look for stories by title and description, and while I do tend to read more of one or two particular time periods, I have found some great stories in a different time period because the title, description or author caught my eye. If the boards were split, I'd probably miss out on a lot of really good fics just because I'd have no time to follow multiple boards.

inez

EDIT: My story is also a 'where do I put it?' story because it's a post-ROTJ/PT crossover. I've contacted JG about this when I put it in the sticky index. Right now, it is in the Beyond the Saga index, but some of my main characters are PT and those people who are PT fans might not even know it's out there, ESPECIALLY if the boards were split.

 

I thought of this yesterday and thought it might be vaild. How would these new forums be monitored? Can the current mods keep up with the new forums (I don't know how many monitor the fanfic forum)? Or will you have to recruit people to be new mods?

 

And you know, not everyone can win. Just because this is a PG board doesn't mean that every single person needs to be read. Some stories will sink to the bottom.

It

happens.

The good stories stay at the top not because of what timeline they're in, but because they're GOOD STORIES. Splitting the boards will not make it easier.

 

JediGaladriel is the only mod who is specific to the fanfic forums. But any other mod can be called upon if there's a fanfic crisis (has there ever been one of those? ) that requires immediate attention.


It'll be up to her whether more moderators are needed. It's not that there is going to immediately be that many more stories, they'll simply be spread out through multiple forums.

 

I found it...



The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey


A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market.
As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them
and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their
way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See
that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself.
But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom
said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little
son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his
Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to
the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The
Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey
with you and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They
thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied
the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to
their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met
them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one
of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end
of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and
his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:

"Please all, and you will please none."

 

Not really, Ive seen many Good Stories that have sunk because noone bothers reading them.

 

It's not that there is going to immediately be that many more stories, they'll simply be spread out through multiple forums.

That's not what I meant. I meant that with the forums split up, they will be harder to keep up with (I have trouble with three forums!). So my thought is, can JediGaladriel keep up with all the forums?

 

Then that's because the author doesn't bother to advertise. I actually sent private messages to a bunch of people asking if they'd like to read my fic. The ones that like it stuck. And over the course of two years, me and my partner have picked up a few new readers.

That's all there is to it. Ask, and they may come. If nobody reads, what does that say?

 

The issue of modding multiple boards is an important one. Generally, because fanfic people are basically nice to one another and operating within the rules, there hasn't been need of a lot of modding, and what there is has been making administrative calls (like defining standards or this one)--what goes on elsewhere is a lot more disciplinary in nature and requires more people. However, the traffic alone does make it difficult to keep up. It's something that I need to look into with the other mods.

But any other mod can be called upon if there's a fanfic crisis (has there ever been one of those? )

Only when I decided to instigate one.

 

The good stories stay at the top not because of what timeline they're in, but because they're GOOD STORIES.

That's just not true. Some of the most popular stories I've seen in the last eighteen months on the boards are, in my opinion, mediocre and best, and are only popular because of what the story is about, not how well it's written. And there have been a lot of really good stories that aren't read by a lot of people because they're about subjects that aren't popular, they're written by newer and lesser-known authors, or they just get buried by the massive story threads that are practically chat rooms. The point of splitting up the board into two or three different boards (while not something I particularly like, I think it's necessary) is to alleviate some of those problems.

No, it's not going to fix everything, but neither is anything else. I don't think another feasible solution has been presented yet. So we'll have a few headaches for a while as everyone gets used to the new system. We had that problem with the writers' resource board, and people got used to it. And now we have those nifty forum announcement headers, and that can help with directing traffic as well. If we really have a problem with figuring out where stories go, we can have a thread here where people can ask for help. I really don't think it will be that big of a deal.

As for moderation, JG is the only dedicated fan fic moderator currently. I suppose the need for additional moderation would be up to her discretion.