A hypothetical question for you all....

[corilannam]

Just because I'm really curious as to what kind of reaction this would get in various parts of greater fandom....

A quick poll --  Let's say....

You belong to a hypothetical LJ fan fiction community of approximately 200 people, which if left to its own devices would get between 1-3 posts a day including stories and chapters of WIPs.  There are several different pairings represented (this may or may not be relevant, depending on your opinion on how fan fiction should be read).

The moderator implements a courtesy "suggestion" which requires that only one story or part of a story can be posted on the community each day.  If one author posts something, everyone else has to wait for the next day in order to give the first author her "moment in the sun" and to keep readers from being overwhelmed by too many stories.  This limit is not enforced except through peer pressure and occasional pointed reminders from the moderator.

My questions, based on your previous individual experiences with fan fiction communities:

1) Have you seen this kind of thing in fiction communities before?

2) Are these people on crack, or is this a reasonable and considerate means of increasing feedback, promoting community, and helping the readers?

I'd make this into a proper LJ poll, but my account ran out while I was off being a hermit last month.  Oops.  But if this goes well, I'll try a proper poll on OTP reading tomorrow.  Whee!

Comments

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yes, thank you! It's just *stupid*. And their failure to understand that is making me *crazy*.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The idea that we should all be reading every single thing posted, and that the community must be regulated in such a way as to make that happen, just shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how fandom works. So silly.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

It is really very well-intentioned. As many narcotics as I'm implying they're on, it's a sincere effort to make the community a happy place.

But it's just... dumb.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and there are a *lot* of pairings on this community. Of which I only read one. But of course, that's another heated topic, since only reading one pairing is supposedly also hurtful to the community....

And I definitely think that the same people will comment or not that were going to do it anyway. So what's the point in making us wait to do so?

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be nice? See, I think that would solve all the problems -- if they'd just pass around the crack pipe and share, we'd all be one happy family!

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I hear ya!

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really don't get that. You just can't make people read, write, or comment exactly the way you think they should. And when you do manage to regulate that, you end up with a very boring place.

There's a fine line between requesting that people observe basic courtesy and politeness with each other and stifling all conversation because people are too afraid of giving offense to actually post anything.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yep. And they aren't sharing the crack! I think that's the most unfair part of all....

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Yeah. I keep wanting to tell them, "You know, nobody else does it this way. Seriously, nobody. I'm really quite sure of that. Even the really stupid communities."

And then I want to throw them into Harry Potter and watch them try to survive. Just for a day, even.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

So, so stupid.

(and don't worry, I'm getting over this)(any second now....)

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Oops! But you were right the first time. Crack.

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Hi! I missed you guys, too! So depressing to watch everyone going to Chicago but me. :-P

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yeah, every community has its own ebb and flow, and I think messing with the natural way of things is just asking for trouble. And if you're going to try to exert any influence, I would hope it would be for the sake of generating *more* content, not less.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Dude, *I* couldn't survive a whole day in Harry Potter fandom and I'm nowhere near that silly.

Some fandom experiments are doomed to failure and i'm thinking that community is at the top of the list.