Another Write Your Own Story Topic!

[MJE]

     Another thought, though: a forum where posts can be edited might be better in some ways, however. Because Yahoo groups run by e-mail, once something is posted, that's that, and there's no changing it or anything like that. Archives are kept, but they cannot be altered or edited - but moderators (and only moderators - not the author of a post) can delete posts.
     I mention it because it is an unfortunate fact that much fan-fiction or round-robin posts do contain errors that it would be desirable to correct if there were any interest in having writing of reasonable quality. If quality and editability matter, then Yahoo groups are not a suitable platform for this.
     I probably can't extend my offer to run a Yahoo group to a forum of this other sort, though - I don't know how to start such a forum, or how to run it. I don't know if it's complicated or not.

Regards, Michael.

[Moonraker]

     Given that there is some doubt about whether fan-fiction and/or round robins are really wanted on this forum...

I thought fan-fic wasn't wanted here, but Poppy's work is original, as opposed to fan-fic, although Daisy and Dick seem to get away with it!

I can't see why there shouldn't be a fan-fic section though, although I seem to remember that Anita came up with a reason once!

[Julie2owlsdene]

Wasn't it because of space. It takes up too much space on the forums. Keith has fan-fic, but it's under a special section and not on the board where talk about Enid etc goes!

Also if too much space is used then the site owner has to fork out more money, I think!

[Moonraker]

I think that's a bit of a red herring. It is photos (inc avatars) that take up loads of space, written text adds very little.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't really understand the technical side of things, but I recall Keith saying it's something to do with bandwidth. Space is a factor (especially when it comes to posting large images) but other factors incude the amount of data loaded at a particular time or over a certain period, the number of visitors at a particular time or over a certain period, etc. If I remember correctly, as far as the forums are concerned (I'm not sure about the entire website) we have a set bandwidth allowance per month. In the past the forums went down two or three times because we had used up all our allowance for the current month, and we had to upgrade (which meant paying more). There should be no problem with ordinary posts, even if they're lengthy, but if we attracted writers who kept posting whole novels it may well cause problems, as the forums are not designed for that kind of thing.

A non-technical consideration is that if people posted lengthy pieces of fiction, they would be hard to moderate - though I'm sure readers would report anything that was littered with errors or contained unsuitable material.

[Nair Snehalatha]

I may be wrong--- but it would be nice to write stories--- continue from where others have left off.It will be just a story--- sort of going with the flow.

[Julie2owlsdene]

Going off some of the stories that have been started, Snehalatha, it would seem that forumites get a bit fed up of posting and it all dwindles away, hence we have then a few unfinished stories. And remember, not everyone posts everyday as some work, or at Uni or school etc. There's one or two games on here that have not been touched for ages. Another draw back of the story side for me, is that if you miss a few of the pages you have to go back and read up where you left off, and I find it very hard to read realms and realms of postings on line.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Yes, you are right, Julie--- there are some games that are just still for ages--- probably everyone can't.

[Moonraker]

Personally, I think most (though not all) of the stories would be of a pretty poor quality, loaded with spelling and grammatical errors.

[Poppy]

Looking back now, the last story which the many forum members contributed to ended quite abruptly, and was not of great quality, as Nigel said. Although it brought many members together and was quite amusing, it was a rather waste of forum space, and there is other places for fan fic, as others have established. The forums is great for what it is used for; discussions about Enid Blyton and her books.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Poppy is correct to a great extent.It's better to stick to the Games and all that we have--- even that there is not much ,shall I say -- eagerness? So many threads are still waiting for response.

[Poppy]

even that there is not much ,shall I say -- eagerness? So many threads are still waiting for response.

There is plenty of other threads on these forums which others prefer to contribute to, Snehalatha. For instance, the Blyton related discussions in 'The Author' and the book related topics in 'The books'. Personally, 'Games' is a bit of a bonus for me, which I only ever skim through at the end of a browse. I come here because I want to discuss Blyton's books, which I'm sure many others do too, so the games threads are often left unanswered for a while, especially when there are interesting threads going on in other areas of these forums.

[Moonraker]

I come here because I want to discuss Blyton's books, which I'm sure many others do too,

Yes, me too Poppy. I was so lucky to find the Enid Blyton Society and have met so many good friends since joining. It is the written word that fascinates and entertains me -- even 50+ years after first reading the books. I will look at the games when the boards are quiet, but if I log in and see 30 or so pages of new posts, I am more selective, choosing topics that are of the most interest.