AWKWARD ZOMBIE

A new subforum isn't likely to stop the unfunny waste of space, time and resources, perhaps rather members should be dissuaded from dicking up more serious topics

by ultimate permabans of course



ps. ban everyone

Ban me and save me from myself

I'm not really concerned with the presence of joke threads, more that we lack what seems in hindsight to be a clearly productive method for discussion.

Maybe we could have a 'serious business' sub-thread where any kind of dicking around is met with extreme prejudice?

For myself, I suppose I would like a place/thread where we could talk seriously about story ideas rather than just post stories we've written. I say this - but truthfully I rarely feel comfortable sharing story ideas publicly - because I worry that someone will steal my ideas.

So I guess I don't know.

Maybe a serious critique thread in general?
A note on the theft of story ideas: If someone is talented enough to take someone else's story idea and do something with it, they are talented enough to come up with something themselves or at least change it enough to make their own. That's what I think.
The best thing you can do is get your story out so that people know you had an idea and what that idea was.

Actually my IP buddy just made a really good point. If we have a sub-forum for serious topics, general shenanigans becomes just a shit post area. So perhaps what we need is to all agree not to derail our serious threads. Maybe just add [serious] to the titles all topics we don't want derailed.

Usually when I make threads I just say "Please keep all conversation in this thread on-topic." Works well. (This was even from before I became a mod so it's not just "people listening to the mod".)

Just a reminder that there actually already is a science thread for all your science related discussion. (not anything to do with the subforum question)

Also I thought the writing thread was supposed to be used for critique too, I guess people just don't feel like critiquing other people's writing. Understandable since that requires quite some effort.

The same is true of the art thread though - I appreciate that not every piece of art will catch people's interest - but generally any kind of feedback/critique is nice.

I'd disagree there really. Looking at a picture, even with a critical eye, isn't going to take you terribly long. Reading a few thousand words on the other hand, yeah, that's a bit of a time investment. And even then, critiquing ideas is a little silly. I mean, think about that from an art perspective. "Oh man, I've got this wicked idea for a drawing," is a bit different to... going out and drawing it, yes? Everybody has ideas for stories. Very few actually have stories in front of them. Critiquing theoretical products is somewhat fruitless.

I didn't mean that really - I was just saying that a lot of the time people post something in the art thread and nobody leaves any comments or critiques about it.

Plus I was more thinking that the story ideas thread could be for building on half-baked ideas or suggesting different directions to take an idea in because it has thrown up some problems - not really critiquing per se. Or perhaps even developing characters.

And there are different approaches to writing a story too - for example some stories might need a prologue to help establish a more complex scenario and key characters - especially for scenarios set in a future without human beings or even on alien worlds - and prologues themselves can take many different forms.

Like, for instance: "Do you think I should reveal the fact that this story is set on planet Earth at the beginning - in a prologue; Are there benefits to doing that vs. keeping it a secret until some point very much later in the story?"

Personally I think a lot of things can be decided or mapped out to test a story idea before actually committing to writing the story itself.

I'm also thinking about this from the perspective of a graphic novel illustrator as well as a writer - so from my perspective I might want to ask questions like: "How might I go about illustrating a dream sequence - anybody have any thoughts?" - or - "Am I shooting myself in the foot having a lead character without a face; Would I be better off allowing this character to show more emotion?"



Not really, you can do a lot of preparation for a drawing too - in fact you can test ideas through doing a variety of different thumbnail sketches, experimenting with different colour palettes, testing different poses and angles of illumination, deciding on what textures you might want to use, considering an appropriate background (or not) all this can be done before you can go ahead and commit to drawing the actual picture - plus some artworking techniques lend themselves more toward some kinds of artworks/paintings, but not to others.

Somebody - for example - might ask if a figure looks properly proportioned before they go ahead and colour it - only for someone to suggest that they try a completely different pose, or introduce a prop such as a ribbon, scarf or even a piece of clothing to enhance a character's dynamism.

I don't like to critique stuff in the art thread unless I know the person actively seeks critique and/or the post specifically asks for critique.

I don't like to critique stuff in the art thread because I don't know anything about art techniques.

Except for what little I learned in high school art class.

I really feel that this is almost too "nanny-state", if that makes sense. If people are going to unfunny waste of space, time and resources because they either don't care about a critique, feel a need for attention, or any other reason, then adding [serious] to any topic will only accommodate that unfunny waste of space, time and resources behaviour as being the norm and that the serious discussion and critique will from a small margin of posts. The result will not be instant, but the shoe will fit over time. I'm not disagreeing with the fact that a lack of serious discussion needs to be corrected, but I feel that the proposed method will not be effective, at least for the long term.

Okay so I've been a member for about 2 years now. At first I came her because I wanted friends. Then I was constantly criticized for "Bad Grammar" so I fixed that. After about 6 months I took a break and came back only to be met with more criticism for being a jerk or something stupid. Then after another six months I took another break because of my suicide attempt. Now I'm back healthy pop flyin' and I'm making some friends here. All I cans ay about this forum is that it certainly is a delightful way to entertain myself. I'm not as dedicated as others but hey its all good.


Then why hasn't there been a new mod in what two three years? There must be at least 10 people who join this forum a year. You mean to tell me not one of them appears to be Mature enough? Or spend enough time dedicated here?

Yeili, Lolita and [Insert Fail] became moderators last year, and Spoony, Vax and I became moderators about two years ago.