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Public Writing Forum

Sideways

Insectoid True Form
Published by SLP
Location
Teignmouth, Devon
Pronouns
She/Her
So, the main reason I write is to be read, and the main reason I write here is because I get read by people who are intelligent, make interesting comments and who, fundamentally, I respect. It's way more attractive than chancing my arm on Wattpad or fanfiction.net or something, and I get better comments here than I do on AH.com. My problem is, I'd like to be able to introduce people to what I'm writing - to send them links to stuff and them not have the barrier of having to create an account. Plus, I feel that there's a big lurker market for AH who may be drawn in by search engine terms and find the forum through stories and these could be people who are well suited to being here.

I know there are arguments for not having the writing forum open but also... there's reasons why it could be kind of helpful. I wanted to a - gauge other people's opinion, and b - maybe we could open the forum up a bit.
 
I know there are arguments for not having the writing forum open but also... there's reasons why it could be kind of helpful. I wanted to a - gauge other people's opinion, and b - maybe we could open the forum up a bit.

The problem here is a structural one; not a policy one. Xenforo- our forum structure- doesn't have a good way for Johnny G. Random to leave any feedback or commentary. They need to create an account anyway, so at that point preventing them from reading and running is a perfectly sensible conclusion to take.
 
From my perspective, I like the existing forum to be members-only, since that means that my output there isn't public. This is partly so it doesn't count as publication, and also because I enjoy experimentation with a more restricted audience before deciding whether to circulate a work more widely.

If there is a preference for a public writers' forum, I'd prefer that to be an additional forum, rather than making the existing one public.
 
This is partly so it doesn't count as publication

Hate to break it to you, but for most of the big leauges any widespread distribution- such as publishing on a forum- counts as publication. You can negotiate with a ton of trouble these days, but it's still a black mark on your sales pitch if they can get access, and making an account here isn't a problem when it comes to defining "accessable"
 
Hate to break it to you, but for most of the big leauges any widespread distribution- such as publishing on a forum- counts as publication. You can negotiate with a ton of trouble these days, but it's still a black mark on your sales pitch if they can get access, and making an account here isn't a problem when it comes to defining "accessable"
Appreciate the information.

Fortunately I haven't published anything even in the writers forum which I hoped for mainstream publication.
 
Appreciate the information.

Fortunately I haven't published anything even in the writers forum which I hoped for mainstream publication.

Note I said the big boys. Meadow has been very accommodating regarding work released initially inside and out of our wheelhouse, and I know Tietongue Press (another minor player) will negotiate on it. Publishing is all about who you talk to and how your agent rolls.
 
See, I am conflicted here.

Leaving discussions about what counts as "previously published" or not aside (which to my knowledge was the rationale for keeping these sections of the forum nominally private):

- There are times when I've wanted to share links to my writing here among a wider audience, only for the fact that said link redirecting them to a login/account creation page is apparently a barrier to any further engagement. Would it be nice if people could just dip in and read? Yes - as a long time lurker at the other place I read a lot of what are now seen as the 'classics' by this community. For someone who might visit the site once to check out a friend's short story, they probably don't fancy the hassle of creating an account.

- I also agree with David, the Writing subforum has more potential use as a place to workshop and develop ideas. People would need to create an account here anyway to leave feedback - and presumably that is what we would all like when posting our work.

- That said, if "I just read through that whole story in one go as a 'guest' and it was amazing - guess I'll create an account so I can leave a comment saying so" is something we're missing out on in our current audiance, there's an argument for opening things up. Would publicly visible to read, but account necessary to comment (as I understand is the default on the public parts of the forum) prevent or discourage the potential for drive-by destructive comments (with mod action sufficient to mop up any residual trolling)?
 
See, I am conflicted here.

Leaving discussions about what counts as "previously published" or not aside (which to my knowledge was the rationale for keeping these sections of the forum nominally private):

- There are times when I've wanted to share links to my writing here among a wider audience, only for the fact that said link redirecting them to a login/account creation page is apparently a barrier to any further engagement. Would it be nice if people could just dip in and read? Yes - as a long time lurker at the other place I read a lot of what are now seen as the 'classics' by this community. For someone who might visit the site once to check out a friend's short story, they probably don't fancy the hassle of creating an account.

- I also agree with David, the Writing subforum has more potential use as a place to workshop and develop ideas. People would need to create an account here anyway to leave feedback - and presumably that is what we would all like when posting our work.

- That said, if "I just read through that whole story in one go as a 'guest' and it was amazing - guess I'll create an account so I can leave a comment saying so" is something we're missing out on in our current audiance, there's an argument for opening things up. Would publicly visible to read, but account necessary to comment (as I understand is the default on the public parts of the forum) prevent or discourage the potential for drive-by destructive comments (with mod action sufficient to mop up any residual trolling)?

This. Basically.

Occassionally I'm talking about my writing with someone and I'd like to be able to say "oh this is a link to what I'm working on at the moment" but honestly I don't know they'll check it and a login is likely to be too much of a barrier

I actually recently did that with your work too, Katie. One of my friends is a trans girl who writes (mostly disgustingly pornographic) fiction and likes AH and she's expressed to me before how she feels like alternate history, particularly the military stuff she likes, isn't feminine enough. So I sent her a link to your New Zealand story as, like, "look here's another one of us writing the kind of stuff that interests you. We're in this genre." She's a lurker on ah.com and I feel she would possibly lurk here too.

With my stories - I want feedback. I post mostly here rather than ah.com because the feedback has been so much better. Check the comments on OCCC there then compare them to here - there's no comparison. But also, in my little egotistical way, I'm writing because I want to say something. I want to give people slightly different ways of looking at the topics I discuss, and I want them to think about them and come to their own conclusions. For me, being published is very distantly secondary to being read. I don't mind sacrificing a wide audience to have a good audience which is what I think this site provides. But if we widen it by letting on lurkers I don't think this would lead to a disengoodenning of the existing audience
 
I concur that most of what I write is something I'd like people to be able to see without messing with an account and that if publication is a concern, we have a place for that already (first drafts).
 
Ideally, that would imply a Writers' Workshop area, for the feedback and which is a more private place; and a Writing Showcase area, where lurkers and friends can see and possibly get drawn in.

But I don't think we've the traffic to justify the two, which is a shame.
This is the ideal solution, imo, but I agree that we might not have the userbase for it
 
Simplest fix is to make Writing public. I might make a poll to ask everyone who uses it.
 
Speaking for myself, in an ideal world, I would like both a public and a private option, possible a Workshop forum (for private) and a Showcase forum (for public). It may be that the traffic doesn't justify that, but that would be my ideal.

If it were an either/or case, I'm rather conflicted. In a Workshop private area, feedback can be more pertinent. In a public area, I at least would be aware of this when making comments, and might well be inhibited in making comments precisely because it's open to the public.
I'm not sure I agree with those who are saying a public forum will attract more comments - I do agree with those who think 'well if they have to make an account to see it, it's then a much smaller step for them to leave a comment'.

AH.com famously had tens of thousands of people who never registered accounts, so if anything this might in the long run decrease feedback in the same way - people didn't need to make accounts to view the stories so then couldn't be bothered to comment because that did require an account.

If the desire is for more comments, then I don't see this as a fix, but the opposite.
 
Simplest fix is to make Writing public. I might make a poll to ask everyone who uses it.

How big a Mod workload would it be to move threads on request from e.g. the public Writing forum to the private First Drafts forum?

Personally I'd be fine with anything I have on the Writing forum being public, but it might be worth having a transition window where folk can ask that their stuff be moved, if they aren't so comfortable with the idea.

On the assumption that this is what happens, of course.
 
How big a Mod workload would it be to move threads on request from e.g. the public Writing forum to the private First Drafts forum?

Personally I'd be fine with anything I have on the Writing forum being public, but it might be worth having a transition window where folk can ask that their stuff be moved, if they aren't so comfortable with the idea.

On the assumption that this is what happens, of course.
I can move multiple threads on request quite easily, as well as other ad hoc arrangements regards thread movements, deletions, etc which I have with a few users both here and elsewhere, so for me at least it would not be a big issue.
 
I'm not sure I agree with those who are saying a public forum will attract more comments - I do agree with those who think 'well if they have to make an account to see it, it's then a much smaller step for them to leave a comment'.

The problem is that, inasmuch as I've observed on forums that aren't the dumpster fire that is The Other Place, subdividing a forum doesn't divide the attendance so much as it takes the root of the original for the new attendance in the first few months, with it taking up to a year for things to recover to a new equilibrium.

Speaking as one who makes some use of the Writing Forum, and often does so to find out if something is viable for further development, the first thing I want is honest feedback, not feedback filtered to be Public Friendly.

Believe me, a pubic forum doesn't tend to create a chilling effect on commentary. Unless someone sees something egregiously wrong with another's commentary or wishes to start a conversation, they don't really interact in the comment section.
 
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