Written Works Visibility

[lexibeth]

Hello!

First, I definitely commend the admins for bringing life back into this board. I wasn't a previous player in this group, but I've been around for a while and I can definitely see the good bones this place has and can appreciate the amount of effort and work that will be needed to make this place thrive. I'm excited to see where it goes, and happy that Ten brought me in as an early member in the rehash of FOG.  

One thing I looked for when I first got on here that I actually didn't have any ease finding is a place to post just random pieces of work. Short scenes, character introductions that have nothing to do with any current RP, poems, pictures of artwork, etc. A sort of journal that can be updated by the user. Ten did point out the Written Works section for me in the OOC forums, but it didn't strike me as a place to look for it. 

Anyway, I would suggest making a more obvious option on the Home page where players can go to just write something when the inspiration strikes and put it up for all to see if they feel like sharing. Much like a book in a tattoo shop, it can showcase to other players who may be searching for a partner the kind of talent that's available. Perhaps just updating the Art & Design forum? 

Perhaps even having two separate places where someone can post something like that? One where critiques and constructive criticism is welcomed and another where it's not?

Another option would to just have a Journal section where players can post whatever they want in their own threads - be it art, scenes, rants, etc. 

Just some unorganized thoughts while having a slow day at work.

[Tartra]

Do you mean like the Blog section?

[Guest]

I think that makes a lot of sense, the suggestions you've made, Lexi. Our identity is a writers and rpers forum both amateur and professional(or at least those who consider themselves top notch writers) to bring people together for learning, practicing, and having fun with this pursuit. I think it is a good idea to make the "Written Works" forum its own main forum rather than as a subforum of the writing discussions. Every other forum out there has a "media, tv, pictures, music, and gaming" forum in addition to the regular General Discussion. Why not combine those and make the showcase instead be writing, where people can show off their stuff? It's kind of hidden right now in that subforum and it can get overshadowed by the discussions going on in the main forum.

Oh! We could even let the Written Works forum have its own subs where the main one is just to show off and share with the community but the subforum would be for people looking for active critique on their work, because not everybody who posts something will want to hear the good and bad things about it. Sometimes they'll just want to share.

So, I think this suggestion might work like

General Discussion
■ Forum Games    ■ Entertainment

Writing and Role-playing Discussions
■ Blogs and Journals

Written Works
■ Critique   ■ Official Contests

Art & Design
■ Art trades, requests, and commissions

Yeah, I think that could work.

Although, Tartra is right, there already exists a journal/blog sub forum, which is a rather nice set up.

[Sunwolf007]

Hello!

First, I definitely commend the admins for bringing life back into this board. I wasn't a previous player in this group, but I've been around for a while and I can definitely see the good bones this place has and can appreciate the amount of effort and work that will be needed to make this place thrive. I'm excited to see where it goes, and happy that Ten brought me in as an early member in the rehash of FOG.  

One thing I looked for when I first got on here that I actually didn't have any ease finding is a place to post just random pieces of work. Short scenes, character introductions that have nothing to do with any current RP, poems, pictures of artwork, etc. A sort of journal that can be updated by the user. Ten did point out the Written Works section for me in the OOC forums, but it didn't strike me as a place to look for it. 

Anyway, I would suggest making a more obvious option on the Home page where players can go to just write something when the inspiration strikes and put it up for all to see if they feel like sharing. Much like a book in a tattoo shop, it can showcase to other players who may be searching for a partner the kind of talent that's available. Perhaps just updating the Art & Design forum? 

Perhaps even having two separate places where someone can post something like that? One where critiques and constructive criticism is welcomed and another where it's not?

Another option would to just have a Journal section where players can post whatever they want in their own threads - be it art, scenes, rants, etc. 

Just some unorganized thoughts while having a slow day at work.

Thank you for letting me know. It's been a lot of work, but it's finally starting to pay off now that the site is getting going. I remember the old layout and it buried a lot of good areas in subs boards, which I feel limited the discussions.

I think that makes a lot of sense, the suggestions you've made, Lexi. Our identity is a writers and rpers forum both amateur and professional(or at least those who consider themselves top notch writers) to bring people together for learning, practicing, and having fun with this pursuit. I think it is a good idea to make the "Written Works" forum its own main forum rather than as a subforum of the writing discussions. Every other forum out there has a "media, tv, pictures, music, and gaming" forum in addition to the regular General Discussion. Why not combine those and make the showcase instead be writing, where people can show off their stuff? It's kind of hidden right now in that subforum and it can get overshadowed by the discussions going on in the main forum.

Oh! We could even let the Written Works forum have its own subs where the main one is just to show off and share with the community but the subforum would be for people looking for active critique on their work, because not everybody who posts something will want to hear the good and bad things about it. Sometimes they'll just want to share.

So, I think this suggestion might work like

General Discussion
■ Forum Games    ■ Entertainment

Writing and Role-playing Discussions
■ Blogs and Journals

Written Works
■ Critique   ■ Official Contests

Art & Design
■ Art trades, requests, and commissions

Yeah, I think that could work.

Although, Tartra is right, there already exists a journal/blog sub forum, which is a rather nice set up.

I totally agree with the way you modified the layout so I am making the changes now (totally admining from my phone, lol). It should help with highlighting the writer areas. I'm still thinking on how to properly incorporate the writer areas in the MFs.

[Tartra]

Could General Discussion be at the bottom? If this is a roleplaying and writing site, those are the categories I'd want to see front and centre.

[Sunwolf007]

Of course! Got it all moved around. I'm leaving the blog area as part of the Written Works section because it is a type of writing.

[Tartra]

Alright - now this is me being painful, but piggybacking onto my last point, what do you think about moving the entire OOC category to the bottom as well? For the same reason: if it's a writing/RPing site, those should be front and centre, and with how familiar everyone is with forums these days, it's not like anyone's going to panic that there's no OOC section before at least lifting their finger to scroll down a bit.

This is all aesthetics, but it does finetune the image that the front page is trying to get out: yes, we're all here to screw around and procrastinate with OOC stuff, but the main event is always going to be the stories.

[Guest]

Oh! Awesome! Looks great, you guys! That was a good idea to put the General lower than the others, to really pinpoint where our focus is.

Alright - now this is me being painful, but piggybacking onto my last point, what do you think about moving the entire OOC category to the bottom as well? For the same reason: if it's a writing/RPing site, those should be front and centre, and with how familiar everyone is with forums these days, it's not like anyone's going to panic that there's no OOC section before at least lifting their finger to scroll down a bit.

This is all aesthetics, but it does finetune the image that the front page is trying to get out: yes, we're all here to screw around and procrastinate with OOC stuff, but the main event is always going to be the stories.

That's actually not an unfamiliar idea. I've been on two rp sites since I've been gone and they both put all of the rp sections above the OOC sections. We might actually be doing newbies a favor by making us look like a regular role-playing site, but just with different sections(admittedly, those two sites were erotic rp based so the section specifics were a bit different, lol). But yeah, I think that makes sense and it might even work towards Tartra's idea in the other thread. You come in, you go to the intro thread and get a little rp intro, then you click out and right here, immediately below is the rest of the rp; come join our games for real now. Boom boom boom.

[Sunwolf007]

While it may be a good idea on other RP sites, in this instance it may not be the best idea. We are trying to promote creativity in writing as well as artwork and both of those are in the OoC. If its at the bottom I'm afraid a random browser would think its just a RP site when they look at the homepage and leave. Plus I feel it flows better this way. IE- top half of site is OoC (include the information and announcements) and bottom half IC. Otherwise it would go OoC to IC back to OoC.

[Tartra]

That's fair.

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