More questions on GenRemix

[kerravonsen]

Okay, I've decided that, yes, I will run a gen "remix" ficathon, and I've even started a community, gen_remix. I've been working on writing up rules for it. I've decided to go for the "no pairings" definition of "gen" for the purposes of the ficathon. Also, since most people seemed to either not want anonymity or didn't care about it, I'm not going to go the anonymity route.

However, I have a few more things I need feedback on.

There are a few different ways that stories could be posted.

a) people host their own stories; there is a master-post in the community where people comment to give the links to their stories
Advantages: easier to organize
Disadvantages: stories come in in dribs and drabs, no real central place hosting the stories

b) people post stories to the gen_remix community (or a sister community) with tags
Advantages: one place to look, comments on stories are easy
Disadvantages: stories come in in dribs and drabs, long stories need multiple posts

c) I host all the stories on my site (as I did for the Multi-Fandom Lyric Wheel); people email stories to me and I put them up, not revealing them until all the stories are in, and then putting "comment" posts up for people to give their comments on the stories.
Advantages: one place for stories, one "reveal"
Disadvantages: more work for me, more work to set up story comments

d) I set up my fiction site so that participants are given logins so that they can post their stories there themselves.
Advantages: one place for stories
Disadvantages: stories are not hidden, more work to set up story comments, users need to learn how to use the system

e) I set up my fiction site so that helpers are given logins, so that they can help put up stories there and reduce my workload.
Advantages: one place for stories, one "reveal"
Disadvantages: more work to set up story comments, helpers need to learn how to use the system, there may not be any volunteers to help anyway

Which do you think would be better? Other suggestions?

Comments

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I like Option A. Dribs and Drabs doesn't bother me; in fact when it all comes in at once in a large ficathon it's rather overwhelming.

Suggestion: If you DO go with option A then organize the Master post by fandom.

[tptigger.livejournal.com]

I like b, with fandom tags. :) Easier on you, easier on readers.

Not too big on reveal parts. And I'm fine with stuff coming out in dribs and drabs (or you could ask everyone to post no earlier than a week before the deadline

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Disadvantages: stories come in in dribs and drabs, no real central place hosting the stories

I don't think those are really disadvantages... As entropy_house says, it's less overwhelming in "dribs and drabs," anyway. In fact, I suspect I'm likely to read more of the stories if they come spread out over a day or two than if they're dumped on me all at once, and in that case you also don't get the annoying situation where the people who are late hold the whole thing up. And long as you've got a master list post and keep it updated (which doesn't take a whole lot of time and effort, at for a small-to-moderate-sized ficathon), people can find the stories easily enough. Going with option b) makes the stories even easier to find, of course, and there aren't any disadvantages to that that don't already exist with option a), given that most people will probably post in their LJs (and thus need multiple posts for long stories), anyway. Given that you've already set up the community, I'd say you might as well go with that plan and get some use out of it.

I actually find archives and author reveals and all that kind of thing more annoying than appealing unless it's a very large project, like Multiverse or Remix, where a certain amount of organization becomes necessary, and there's a large enough pool of people to make playing "guess the author" fun. If you're expecting less than 40 or 50 people -- which I rather imagine you are -- I'd suggest just keeping it simple.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

I think A and B are the best options. A is the least work for you and the readers, and B will generate the most comments for the stories. And whatever option you choose, I volunteer to help if necessary.

[jedi-penguin.livejournal.com]

I always prefer posting my own story, regardless of the dribs and drabs problem, because then I can tinker. No matter how many times I look things over or how well something is beta-ed, there's always something that I never notice until five seconds after I post. When the mod posts stuff, not only is there more work for him/her, but there's always something about my work that BUGS me after I've emailed it off. I'll participate no matter what, but I'd personally prefer the greater degree of authorial control offered by options a) and b).

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've always been happy enough with A, but since you already have the community set up, B is even better. Readers only have to look in one place, authors can link to stories on their own site if they wish, and you don't even have to do a master post unless you really want to.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I'm a fan of option b), mostly for the same reasons astrogirl2 articulated. And for smaller ficathons, I've seen option a) work well, too.