Tales of the Parodyverse >> View Post |
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Subj: I don't know what that sign would read... Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 at 11:33:56 pm EDT (Viewed 352 times) | Reply Subj: A Sign of the Times? Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 at 10:14:23 pm EDT (Viewed 406 times) | ||||||
I've agonized a few times about what it means and what to do about it. The first question I ask myself is, where are people going? I know there's a recent trend for people to want to set up blogs or facebook pages or something similar that allows them to control both the content and the audience, and also puts everything in a place they *want* to visit every day. But I too have a Livejournal, and there's a whopping 3 people who read it...maybe - not exactly a way to have a story well read. I also have a web site I used to post stories too, but that had a readership of zero (which is why I started posting stuff here). So that brings up the question: Are people *successful* with these self-generated sites and there's something I don't know? Or do they just believe in it enough that they'll stick with it even with a tiny audience? ...or, the saddest possibility, are we slowly abandoning our creativity for the sake of fitting into the mold of facebook, twitter, blogspot, etc, and posting the same ol' "what I'm doing right now" as everyone else? In short, are they writing and posting somewhere else, or have they given up writing entirely to change genres? And if they are writing and posting elsewhere, are they successful? Am I missing out? Or is it a simple matter of trying to "grow up" and stick to more serious things like work and family? The next question I ask myself, inevitably, is what to do about it. Every time I ask that question at least one or two people (not just here either, at Comicboards too) tell me the demise of message boards as a genre is inevitable and I should stop whining and deal with it. That's probably partly true - but as the designer of the board software, I have to wonder if that demise is *premature* because of some particular reason. Whether it's usability features, accessibility of the board, missing collaboration features that other boards have and people have decided they can't live without. If it's a hopeless endeavor because I'm being beaten by "official" company sponsored boards with an automatic drawn audience, etc. I know that those who have left or are lurking because they don't want to give away their presence don't owe me or anyone else at the board anything, and maybe they don't want to explain why they either left or are on the verge of leaving. I would like to know, though, even if it's insulting. Even if the reason is my software, or even my own attitude or my writing style or my handling of certain characters that's been scaring people away. Or even if it's simply that you were reading one person's work or characters primarily and you left because they did. I guess it's less that everyone's disappearing, and more that I wish I knew why that's killing me. I can't really stop the progress of time, or drag people back here (hell, I don't even really know how to *attract* people back here) but it would be nice to know. | |||||||
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