General Writing... I've got my eye on you.

By Wreybies · Apr 20, 2014 · 767 · 9
  1. I'm just picking a thought out of my mind the way you would pick something from between your teeth that's bugging you and nothing else exists in the universe until you get it out and then can move on with your day.

    Post your threads wherever you want, I'll just move them, but seriously there are other subforums besides General Writing. Would that I had the power to do so, I would close that subforum on high-traffic days in order to get folks to formulate their questions just a hair more precisely so that they fit into one of the other subforums in the upper quarter that I call The Teachers' Lounge. Maybe it's a technology thing and lots of folks enter the forum via their phones and that's the very first sub-forum they see so, yeah, here, super easy...

    I love the upper area of the forum. I wish it were used more in ways that were discouraged in the past, but which I embrace fully, insouciantly and with reckless rockoutwithyourcockout abandon. Brainstorming! But I do wish folks thought about their question for like 10 seconds more before posting so as to hone them down, get to the root, avoid misunderstanding and get better answers.

    Sunday, April 20, 2014, 9:52 am (Atlantic Seaboard, N.A.)

    • General Writing - 8,566 threads
    • Character Development - 2,049
    • Plot Development - 2663
    • Setting development - 404 (Are you kidding me??)
    • Word Mechanics - 1,981
    • Research - 837
    • The Art of Critique - 274

    I have a feeling that if I had a reeeeaaalllyyyy bored day and went back through all the General Writing forum threads and moved them to where they should be back to Day #1 of the forum, those numbers would be a good deal more evenly distributed.

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  1. KaTrian
    Well, we could close General Writing for maintenance for an undefined period of time, so in the meanwhile people would be forced to hone their posts to fit other rooms :D
    KaTrian, Apr 20, 2014
  2. minstrel
    It might be possible to spread things around a bit more evenly if we simply move General Writing to the bottom of the Creative Writing list, after By the Genre. Anyone looking to post a question would read through all the other options before getting to General Writing and spot the place they should post. I bet a lot of people see General Writing sitting at the top of the list, looking so plump and juicy and tempting, and never bother to read past it looking for a more appropriate place.
    minstrel, Apr 20, 2014
  3. thirdwind
    In addition to this, I think more people need to post outside of the Lounge. Seriously. It's gotten to the point where some people only post in the Lounge.
    thirdwind, Apr 20, 2014
  4. Andrae Smith
    I think @minstrel and @thirdwind are on to something... or rather a couple of good things. As minstrel suggested, it might just be a good idea to try moving it down the list. It would be like creating a poll and putting "other" as the final option. Users first inclination should then be to find the best category first. Maybe you could post a new sticky explaining what the General Writing section is for.

    I also agree with thirdwind about the Lounge. It just seems like it's getting pretty big. Maybe it's just due to the way I browse the forum, but it seems like, slowly but surely, the Lounge is turning into a facebook-esque hangout zone. I don't get to see things from the mod side of things, so maybe it's not as big as it seems, it just seems to get a lot of activity while I've noticed activity in the Writing Workshop has been rather slow (at least by my count). Maybe there is a way to gently nudge the focus back toward writing topics?
    Andrae Smith, Apr 20, 2014
      thirdwind likes this.
  5. Wreybies
    The Lounge chatter doesn't worry, honestly. I get where both @Andrae Smith and @thirdwind are coming from as regards that, because I too wish the Writing Workshop were "the place to be seen by anyone worth being seen by", but the rejuvenation of chatter in the Lounge is actually healthy, IMO. There were at least two factors in the recent past and more distant past that silenced the Lounge's normal use and I feel (just my opinion) that people are getting reacquainted with normal, health interaction with one another.

    As far as moving General Writing to the last slot, as @minstrel mentioned, that seems like a no brainer and so obvious. (I didn't think of that myself, why....????) :) Seriously, it makes perfect sense.
    Wreybies, Apr 20, 2014
      Andrae Smith likes this.
  6. thirdwind
    I certainly don't want to silence the Lounge or discourage people from using it; I just wish more people would post in the writing-related parts of the forum. That's all.
    thirdwind, Apr 20, 2014
  7. Andrae Smith
    When you put it that way, I can agree. In general, most of the chatter I've seen in the Lounge recently has pertained to relatively important things--if not, then beneficial at the least. Maybe if we get a few more people leaving critiques in the workshop it will draw some attention. Could there be a team of regular reviewers (is there one) who hang out in the workshop to make sure there are at least a few critiques going around.
    Andrae Smith, Apr 20, 2014
  8. thirdwind
    It certainly sucks that there are pieces in the Workshop that have no critiques. Once I get more time (hopefully after this semester ends), I'll try to critique pieces that have no critiques.
    thirdwind, Apr 20, 2014
      Andrae Smith likes this.
  9. Andrae Smith
    You're right, it is sad. I hate to see posts with maybe one or two comments. Especially when those comments are just a line or two. I'll be up for more critiques in the coming months. The semester ends in May for me, and I won't be in school for a while after that. As long as I can get online. I wan to get more in. It should promote more writing too.
    Andrae Smith, Apr 20, 2014
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