Decline
Some people may have noticed something over the past week or so: My participation on different parts of the forum (like the EB/EB0 and Sm.Net boards) has gone up. Furthermore, there's been a decline in my activity on the IF board. I'd like to take a minute to talk about the IF board, since it happens to be a choice board for many people.
When I think back to when I first joined the board, it was definitely different. I think Cyan683 was still a mod back then, and possibly Frodis, though I'm unsure of that. I do know that Anthadd took the position either just after or just before I joined, sometime in October/November of 2000. Back then, the IF board was something... different. I'd never seen anything like it. Writers, working together, making stories. It was weird and interesting, all at once. You never really knew where things would go. Everyone sort of had an idea of what they'd like to do, so the flow of a story went in a wobbly, disjointed direction. Nobody really knew what the next post would bring into the story. I know for sure I surprised a few people by suddenly joining Union, right in the middle.
As time progressed, Cyan left the IF job, leaving NeoPaula and Luna to take over. The two of them, along with Anthadd, have remained as the IF mods to this day. Meanwhile, things got a little more interesting. At the end of Union, Anthadd had taken to using the topic bar in #earthbound (remember the old chatroom, kiddies?) to remind the other writers to send in forewords. This was the most use the chatroom really got for Union; occasional questions would pop up when we were writing it, but everyone seemed a little wary of talking about it too much outside of messages. When Tryst rolled around, there was still very little said, except the odd question of "Where is (so and so?)" just for clarification. I usually preferred to rely on the old method of checking the other posts and figuring it out for myself, but "to each their own" was my theory at that time. Oddly enough, I consider the early stuff in Tryst about Jakob (up to about page 3 or so) to be some of my best writing, IF or otherwise. I say "oddly" because it was a tricky time to be writing, since there was so little communication.
As Tryst neared completion, I joined my Scouts group to be a checkpoint-worker at the Canadian Ski Marathon for a weekend. When I got back, Tryst was not only done, it was off the boards entirely. It took a few days for me to find out it was moved to a new forum, where the next fic (Imbue) had also started. This was totally bogus from where I sat, since I was coming off that whole "Let's be good to one another" kick. (More information on that is in my article named "Challenge.") I told everyone that I'd start late on in Imbue, the way I did with Union, but I missed the window thanks to the then-imposed "3/100" rule. You weren't allowed to add an AC after page 3 or 100 posts. (This has since been revised as the "100" rule; the "page 3" portion has been removed.) I could've written in an EB character to use (sort of like I did with the Blue Starman in Tryst) but I chose not to.
After Imbue came Animus, and I again promised to start late. This time, I barely got the chance. Anthadd's fics were becoming so popular, people were quick-posting in rapid-fire succession. The plot, though not majorly convoluted, was long and slightly twisted, giving me pause. I managed to make my way in, though. This was right in the middle of a big crisis. This "crisis" hasn't really been adressed in a formal manner. I'm not sure if I have the right to address it, either. But I'm going to try to do so without putting blame on anyone or screwing up anyone's plans, then get back to my point.
Somewhere in between Imbue and Animus, maybe just before Imbue ended, a hidden channel was formed on Austnet. Writers met there to discuss their plans for whatever IF was going on at the time. The improved communication allowed for more intricate plots, better characterization (a scourge of many a plot twist, when someone's AC did something they shouldn't) and perhaps most importantly the ability to clearly tell when someone was posting so double-posts wouldn't appear. All well and good in theory, but the fact remained that it was a hidden channel. This meant bad news for anyone trying to join a new fic; they would be caught in the midst of the net that the chatters were trying to weave.
The crisis combined this problem of inability for new writers to communicate with a desire to rid the story of what were considered bad or annoying writers. One such writer, after several attempts to join, was shut out, and eventually quit the story. (This writer has chosen to try again, with more success.) Another writer, not involved with the story, chose to speak their mind on the GD board. The topic was locked quickly, and a member of the administration said they would take care of the problem. After several arguments and much deliberation, absolutely nothing happened. That's sort of good and bad all at once, so no big deal.
But in the midst of the crisis, something else was happening. The IF board was losing some of the sparkle it once seemed to have. I have checked in a few times, and seen nothing - not one thing - that I really have a strong desire to get involved with. Everything is either a major fic started by a brand-name writer who is known to be excellent, or a doomed topic. And the doomed ones are outnumbering the major ones, and the major ones move too quickly for my sometimes-tired eyes.
Where is it written that every IF fic needs to be finished? What happened to the idea that you could just write what you wanted, make vague references to things that you did in other stories that are long since pruned, and force others to deal with what you wrote? I used to love waiting for someone to post right after me, to see what they came up with from my little twists. I used to get excellent writing, wrapping itself around the imperfections from the last few posts. Now what do I get? A complaint in a chatroom. It doesn't seem worth it, and that's what drove me away.
I'll be back in IF someday. Trust me, this retreat is only temporary. But it could be a long while off, while I wait for that special story that just begs to be posted on.
Some people may have noticed something over the past week or so: My participation on different parts of the forum (like the EB/EB0 and Sm.Net boards) has gone up. Furthermore, there's been a decline in my activity on the IF board. I'd like to take a minute to talk about the IF board, since it happens to be a choice board for many people.
When I think back to when I first joined the board, it was definitely different. I think Cyan683 was still a mod back then, and possibly Frodis, though I'm unsure of that. I do know that Anthadd took the position either just after or just before I joined, sometime in October/November of 2000. Back then, the IF board was something... different. I'd never seen anything like it. Writers, working together, making stories. It was weird and interesting, all at once. You never really knew where things would go. Everyone sort of had an idea of what they'd like to do, so the flow of a story went in a wobbly, disjointed direction. Nobody really knew what the next post would bring into the story. I know for sure I surprised a few people by suddenly joining Union, right in the middle.
As time progressed, Cyan left the IF job, leaving NeoPaula and Luna to take over. The two of them, along with Anthadd, have remained as the IF mods to this day. Meanwhile, things got a little more interesting. At the end of Union, Anthadd had taken to using the topic bar in #earthbound (remember the old chatroom, kiddies?) to remind the other writers to send in forewords. This was the most use the chatroom really got for Union; occasional questions would pop up when we were writing it, but everyone seemed a little wary of talking about it too much outside of messages. When Tryst rolled around, there was still very little said, except the odd question of "Where is (so and so?)" just for clarification. I usually preferred to rely on the old method of checking the other posts and figuring it out for myself, but "to each their own" was my theory at that time. Oddly enough, I consider the early stuff in Tryst about Jakob (up to about page 3 or so) to be some of my best writing, IF or otherwise. I say "oddly" because it was a tricky time to be writing, since there was so little communication.
As Tryst neared completion, I joined my Scouts group to be a checkpoint-worker at the Canadian Ski Marathon for a weekend. When I got back, Tryst was not only done, it was off the boards entirely. It took a few days for me to find out it was moved to a new forum, where the next fic (Imbue) had also started. This was totally bogus from where I sat, since I was coming off that whole "Let's be good to one another" kick. (More information on that is in my article named "Challenge.") I told everyone that I'd start late on in Imbue, the way I did with Union, but I missed the window thanks to the then-imposed "3/100" rule. You weren't allowed to add an AC after page 3 or 100 posts. (This has since been revised as the "100" rule; the "page 3" portion has been removed.) I could've written in an EB character to use (sort of like I did with the Blue Starman in Tryst) but I chose not to.
After Imbue came Animus, and I again promised to start late. This time, I barely got the chance. Anthadd's fics were becoming so popular, people were quick-posting in rapid-fire succession. The plot, though not majorly convoluted, was long and slightly twisted, giving me pause. I managed to make my way in, though. This was right in the middle of a big crisis. This "crisis" hasn't really been adressed in a formal manner. I'm not sure if I have the right to address it, either. But I'm going to try to do so without putting blame on anyone or screwing up anyone's plans, then get back to my point.
Somewhere in between Imbue and Animus, maybe just before Imbue ended, a hidden channel was formed on Austnet. Writers met there to discuss their plans for whatever IF was going on at the time. The improved communication allowed for more intricate plots, better characterization (a scourge of many a plot twist, when someone's AC did something they shouldn't) and perhaps most importantly the ability to clearly tell when someone was posting so double-posts wouldn't appear. All well and good in theory, but the fact remained that it was a hidden channel. This meant bad news for anyone trying to join a new fic; they would be caught in the midst of the net that the chatters were trying to weave.
The crisis combined this problem of inability for new writers to communicate with a desire to rid the story of what were considered bad or annoying writers. One such writer, after several attempts to join, was shut out, and eventually quit the story. (This writer has chosen to try again, with more success.) Another writer, not involved with the story, chose to speak their mind on the GD board. The topic was locked quickly, and a member of the administration said they would take care of the problem. After several arguments and much deliberation, absolutely nothing happened. That's sort of good and bad all at once, so no big deal.
But in the midst of the crisis, something else was happening. The IF board was losing some of the sparkle it once seemed to have. I have checked in a few times, and seen nothing - not one thing - that I really have a strong desire to get involved with. Everything is either a major fic started by a brand-name writer who is known to be excellent, or a doomed topic. And the doomed ones are outnumbering the major ones, and the major ones move too quickly for my sometimes-tired eyes.
Where is it written that every IF fic needs to be finished? What happened to the idea that you could just write what you wanted, make vague references to things that you did in other stories that are long since pruned, and force others to deal with what you wrote? I used to love waiting for someone to post right after me, to see what they came up with from my little twists. I used to get excellent writing, wrapping itself around the imperfections from the last few posts. Now what do I get? A complaint in a chatroom. It doesn't seem worth it, and that's what drove me away.
I'll be back in IF someday. Trust me, this retreat is only temporary. But it could be a long while off, while I wait for that special story that just begs to be posted on.
