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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) mckay_sheppard
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) alyse | |
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As promised, we've reviewed the results of the poll we put up last Tuesday. Where possible, we've come up with a compromise approach, so that the views of significant minorities as well as majorities are considered in the new rules. Minimum Story LengthMost people (around 60%) didn't want to impose a minimum story length. However, 40% is rather a sizeable minority, so we also looked at the minimum story lengths that people were suggesting, which had a clear majority for setting any minimum at not more than 100 words. We've therefore come up with a compromise solution. All fiction posted here in a separate post should be at least 100 words long. However, members are welcome to post shorter pieces provided that: - any shorter stories are not announced individually but in a combined announcement; and - the combined stories have a minimum word count of 100. Shorter stories (of less than 500 words) are also welcome at mcsheplets and we will link to this community in our user profile, just as that community links to us for longer pieces. Frequency of postingAgain, this was a close run result, so we looked at the frequency that most people were happy with, which fell firmly in the 'once a day' category. We've therefore compromised again, and the rules will now state that: - members are also asked to combine their posts to save other people's flists, for example combining story announcements into one post if a number of stories are being announced at the same time - different parts of the same WIP should not be announced in different posts on the same day but in one post, linking to all new parts (updated throughout the day if necessary) - members are asked not to post more than once a day. Furthermore, persistently posting more than five posts in a week may be considered spamming and, if continued indefinitely, may result in posting access being temporarily restricted until a reasonable compromise is reached with that member. We feel that, given the results of the poll and other opinions provided to us, these compromises will balance the needs of the majority of members, no matter how they express their fannish love. We will be updating the rules on the main page to reflect this shortly. We'd also like to thank everyone who took the time to fill out the poll or provide other comments, all of which we considered carefully in reaching these decisions.
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So I can write a short-short, I am just not allowed to post it here? Because this is what this rule effectively means for everybody *not* in the habit of writing pieces shorter than 100 words regularly. Which comprises roughly 99,9% of the McKay/Sheppard fandom. I'm sure there are people who will gloat now, but I for one am sorely disappointed. Lone voice in the wilderness? Maybe, yeah. But considering the fact that not one but two minorities (word limit folks as well as regular posters of short-shorts) have been favoured over a majority of 60%, I think my displeasure doesn't come as a a huge surprise. I'm all for compromise: Ask people to aggregate, sure; add this to the user info. Make it a guideline. But a rule, which the "should" as well as the firm condition for posting implies? Now, I'm not fourteen any more, so I won't flounce off; this community makes me smile too often, and my scroll button works exceedingly well. But yeah, that's quite a let-down for me as someone who believes all forms of verbal expression can be art, amazing in their own right. (Mock away, kids; I've said my piece.) ETA: Outsourced an explanation here.Edited at 2008-02-03 11:51 pm (UTC) |
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From: telleer |
Date: February 4th, 2008 12:12 am (UTC) |
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Personally, I'm not very happy with any of these rules.
Firstly, your poll results were seriously skewed. You first asked people if they thought there should be a minimum word count. Then you asked the same people what that word count should be, and specifically requested people who'd said "no" to the first question also answer the second one. Logically, all those who said "no" to the first question, voted on the shortest fic length available in the options for question two.
Secondly, everything I said before still stands - it's not the quantity, it's the quality. Believe me, I'm all for keeping this community on a level higher than Fanfiction.Net, but - well, the way I see it, the McShep shippers are a pretty clever bunch. Despite the fact that this is a very big community, it has high-quality fic, in general.
Also, this is not a fiction-only community, is it? If someone were to post one screen shot per day, that would start feeling like spam very, very quickly. On the other hand, we can hardly put limits to how many pictures there should be in a screen-shot post, because often the pictures that are posted individually are such things of beauty.
I think it would be better to encourage people to use common sense when posting in the community. Should situations like this arise again, they could be delt with individually, since they are few and far between. I think making sure these rules are followed is going to be more work for the mods than keeping a casual eye out that no one's enthusiasm gets out of hand so that it starts becoming annoying.
In any case, I do appreciate the time and effort you are putting into the community.
Edited at 2008-02-04 12:16 am (UTC)
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I have to admit that at times during this poll and discussion, I've also felt that imposing limits, especially on word counts, feels a little like censorship. However, as a reader, I've put both mckay_sheppard and mcsheplets on my flist, and most of the time, I don't even notice which comm a fic comes from, I just read and enjoy them as they pop up on my flist. So I get to have my fix of short and long fics, and those who dislike short fics can "opt out" from them by not friending mcsheplets. While I'm saddened by the level of almost vehement dislike of short fics voiced by some in the course of this discussion, I can't change the fact that some people feel this way. Given this situation, dividing up the fics among these two comms based on their length seems to me an acceptable compromise that hopefully will provide maximum benefits to all concerned. |
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For the record: I'm not particularly thrilled with this result either. Most people aren't, in a compromise, but my personal opinion is that this is going to have a lot of repercussions for M_S. That said. You said: That said I would never want the community to adhere to my preferences as lets face it most people aren't going to be as picky as meand In the end we all have a choice, if you don't like something, don't read it. If you don't like a community, leave it.The same holds true today just as much as it did then. And as far as this: Also this list currently doesn't have a rule against being rude, flaming, or generally nastiness to others. So under the new system, I can post only once a day, no more than five times a week but I can be as foul as I want to others? This needs addressing.
You know what? Those posts weren't rude. The implications were (potentially) rude, yes, and hey guess what -- they got squashed for it! I really don't think adding rules about common decency is going to make this comm better. In fact, I think it's going to make things worse. I'm all about being bitter, but that was just a really low blow at the mods. |
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As I've already said, I find the new rules to be an acceptable compromise. However, I do feel the need to say that the characterization of the 100-words and once a day limits as "a clear majority for setting any minimum at not more than 100 words" and "the frequency that most people were happy with" to be problematic, since logically speaking, it seems to me that most of the people who voted for no limits would go with the minimum limits included in the poll. I feel it is reasonable to think that, for instance, if the option for a word limit of 50 words and twice a day had been included in the poll, then those options could have gained the greatest plurarity of votes.
Selling a compromise always difficult. And in the end, where the compromise line is comes down to the mods' gut reaction as to what is right for this community. I fully respect and accept that. It's just that, when I first read this post, my first thought was, "But that's not what the poll results said." And frankly, it made it a little harder for me to accept the mods' decision. Personally, I would have prefered the mods to say, these are the limits we as mods feel comfortable with, so this is what we are going with. But maybe that's just me.
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