The Gallery is Cleaning Up...Can We Clean the Communal Writers Section?

Originally Posted by girlsbravoindiapers

pictures wernt to bad and i liked jadecahn comics

Could we please stay on topic? This thread was made for the sole purpose of discussing the writing associated with this forum. Thanks

[Samiel]

GBID--I'd like to point you to this thread.
http://diaperedanime.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1069
This thread was written before you joined us, but the message remains. Please stay on topic in a thread, we've been having problems with it long enough.

That being said--yes, TBSparky makes some pretty good points in his post. One of the reasons many people think the gallery needs to be cleaned up is that not enough people put forth the effort required to make the story truly great. They may have the creativity, but perhaps they don't have the ability to put their ideas down. This can be easily solved by just asking someone else to help them write it, or at least edit it.

Much agreed, Samiel (and might I add, well put...both with your response to TBSparky and GBID).

It works on other forums, so I don't see why it won't work on this one. I think the hardest part will be to help people understand that it's constructive criticism, and that it can be harsh but is always meant to be helpful.

I won't ever comment with, "this sucks." and that's it. I will explain what needs to be fixed to improve a story's readability and enjoyment. If we put in a bit of an effort, this can work

[Samiel]

Certainly. RP is where I put forth most of my creative efforts, but since that is in itself really just interactive story writing/telling, the same conventions apply. Talking to your partner between RPs about the previous sessions can often be very helpful.
One can still apply the same flaws and cliches to both RP and standard fiction writing: cliches, hackneyed plots, incoherence, and such. The only real difference is that instead of writing the story alone, you're writing it with another, or others.

That's actually why I've been hesitant to start an RP thread. I've seen some really well-written RPs on here, and some really not so good ones (although if the participants are enjoying it, all's well).

I simply prefer it to be that if I'm putting an effort in to writing a story (or RP), then I would like the same effort put in it as well.

[Samiel]

Indeed. But everyone has different definitions of effort and quality, and that's one of the reasons why the comments and rating systems were put into place in the fiction section.

[Winnie Cooper]

A plan is being formulated now to deal with this. I feel a need to speak up on something that was said though. To give someone an excuse for laziness by saying, "Oh, we have to understand some spelling problems because ______ has dyslexia," is absolutely absurd. First of all, plenty of writers have dyslexia, and they work hard and overcome it. To just throw up your hands and say because you have dyslexia, you can't, is a cowardly cop-out and an excuse to be lazy. Second, there is no reason whatsoever this day and age to have spelling in a story like some I have been looking at in that section. Get a fricking spell-check! It's not that hard, people. It will tell you that, "i lik 2 wer dipers" is incorrect.

Conclusion, I am judging equally across the board. If you have a few little errors here and there, that's fine, but if it's not even legible....

It wasn't meant as an excuse for laziness. It was an observation. I whole-heartedly agree that only a few errors are acceptable if they're legible.

If someone does in fact have dyslexia, then that's what the other users offering to edit a story for them would be for.

[neo]

Originally Posted by Dr_J

If someone does in fact have dyslexia, then that's what the other users offering to edit a story for them would be for.

and who would be responsible for editing every story submission made? I can tell you asking for editing help on other forums is usually something you have to pay for unless forum administration dedicates themselves to allocating resources to edit what can account (on this forum) to 10-20 submissions a week.

Even then forced editing gets into subjective content conflicts (which is never good when it comes to personal expression) language barriers (non English and or cross dialects like Canadian VS american VS queens English and other colloquialisms) and grammar issues.

If that where to happen you would most likely lose 90% of the stories submitted here because looking that deeply into things that just are not ever going to meet that standards kills desire to even try.

Though thats to say I don't feel a single incoherent, jumbled up paragraph that is one long "run on sentence" isn't an acceptable story submission nor would it be if its something that would be if it doesnt look or read like one. A story should look like a story if it is going to be submitted as such and it should be readable.

Just don't go demanding professional or post secondary level writing standards or forced formatting requirements like minimum word counts and double spaced submissions among other things like I mentioned above.

I'm here to read as a form of lifestyle enjoyment not to be lectured from a bunch of overly arrogant and conservative English teachers who think their god. There are plenty of other places to get banned, get burned in a weekly crusade or have your work deleted if you have a few spelling errors or don't meet unreasonable standards.

Roleplay is the same way. All demanding impossibly high detail or minimum posting lengths do in this fandom is kill creativity. No one wants to sit for 2-3 hours writing a single post of a few seconds of IC (which some forums and groups have demanded in the past). Most Threads and scenarios that do that barely last a few days or weeks and anal staff that demand it face a dead forum in 4-5 years. Material like that just amounts to the equivalant of burned out stumps and waisted database space.

As I said before though this doesn't include coherance or readability for the fellow players but then again thats for the players to decide what they accept not the medium (hence private vs public roleplay). If the venue makes itself unsuitable to poeple than said participants will avoid it.

Originally Posted by neo

Even then forced editing gets into subjective content conflicts (which is never good when it comes to personal expression) language barriers (non English and or cross dialects like Canadian VS american VS queens English and other colloquialisms) and grammar issues.

If that where to happen you would most likely lose 90% of the stories submitted here because looking that deeply into things that just are not ever going to meet that standards kills desire to even try.

Just don't go demanding professional or post secondary level writing standards or forced formatting requirements like minimum word counts and double spaced submissions among other things like I mentioned above.

I'm here to read as a form of lifestyle enjoyment not to be lectured from a bunch of overly arrogant and conservative English teachers who think their god. There are plenty of other places to get banned, get burned in a weekly crusade or have your work deleted if you have a few spelling errors or don't meet unreasonable standards.

Roleplay is the same way. All demanding impossibly high detail or minimum posting lengths do in this fandom is kill creativity. No one wants to sit for 2-3 hours writing a single post of a few seconds of IC (which some forums and groups have demanded in the past). Most Threads and scenarios that do that barely last a few days or weeks and anal staff that demand it face a dead forum in 4-5 years. Material like that just amounts to the equivalant of burned out stumps and waisted database space.

As I said before though this doesn't include coherance or readability for the fellow players but then again thats for the players to decide what they accept not the medium (hence private vs public roleplay). If the venue makes itself unsuitable to poeple than said participants will avoid it.

Well I'm definitely not an English teacher and I know I'm not God. I also don't consider myself arrogant. These are just ideas, mind you. Suggestions I've made to possibly help out on the other important aspect of this forum. The Gallery's being worked on, so I figured the Fiction section could also use some tweaking.

These are by no means demands. I'm not a moderator/admin. I'm just a writer. There are plenty of other forums where there's a general format that allows members to read stories easier.

Also, there was no mention of forced editing. That'd be ridiculous and nobody would do it. This would simply be members asking other members to take a look at a story before it's submitted. I've done it before and I'd still be willing to do it if my time allows.

And yes, RP threads are a completely different story. I have no suggestions regarding them, as I've seen how a majority of the threads are progressed.