Mod!Post -- Lonely Prompts Issues

[ravensword.livejournal.com]

If you've spent any amount of time here on comment_fic, you know we have a few issues in the area of Lonely Prompts. For any given day we have lots of prompts that go unwritten and end up in our Lonely Prompts index.

That index is growing way out of control, despite the lonely prompts Sundays and challenges.

We need to do something about this in order to spare our hard working code monkeys and llama the incredible effort of keeping up. We really don't want to go to the point of having to restrict the number of prompts a person can leave, and we don't really want to start deleting lonely prompts...but we might have to do both.

So, I have some questions for you. The mods, code monkeys and I will discuss the results and make some decisions based on the poll.






[Poll #1366596]

Comments

[takhallus.livejournal.com]

I think limiting the number of prompts would be best, even to one or two prompts because surely 6 a week is enough?!

[ravensword.livejournal.com]

Obviously not, if the way things look on any given day is a clue, LOL.

Thus the reason to talk about it.

[aurilly.livejournal.com]

I really like the idea of incentivizing people to write more (ie., you get to leave more than three prompts only if you write things---maybe one more for each prompt you fill). I think that'll help to generate more fic than just the rule of three.

The fun is also in reading all the stories, and in seeing crossovers and rare pairs get written where they never would have otherwise (so much fic for my random OTP has come through, as well as awesome crossovers).

[ravensword.livejournal.com]

More writing is always good. I agree. I just want to make sure we're getting more in a way that makes sense to most people.

[antares04a.livejournal.com]

What is your favorite part of participating here?
Leaving prompts for my favourite fandoms and pairings but not for specific writers. *g*

[charlies_dragon]

Only keep Lonely Prompts for the month in which they were posted, then purge

Basically, I think this one should be done, seems easiest and cheapest. Only thing that I can think of, is maybe having a one-off challenge for people to write as many old prompts as possible in a day/weekend before this is put into action with a couple of small prizes/banners for those writing the most overall, in one fandom etc. thus reducing the amount of prompts that are just abandoned.

charlies_dragon

[flariariia.livejournal.com]

Second.

Maybe if I knew they would be gone forever I'd move my lazy arse to do something about a choice few I just stare at day after day.

[summerstorm.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd like it if the community was pimped out to get more writers/prompters in a wider selection of fandoms--the amount of prompts in some fandoms seems like overkill sometimes, and since I'm not a part of them, I can't usually write anything. I've never actually filled any prompts, period, actually.

Maybe, I don't know--maybe you could limit the prompts to one or two per fandom per day, instead of just three overall, because I feel that might ostracize the less popular fandoms even more, and I can't be the only person here who likes the idea of this community but just isn't that into SPN/Leverage/Kane/etc.

I also like the idea of having a proportion between what one writes and what one prompts.

[galor5.livejournal.com]

I agree about pimping the comm to a wider audience. While I can't fault some for being more popular, I think there could be more participation if some of the smaller fandoms (or ones that are fairly large) were tapped into to generate more activity.

[lori-leaf.livejournal.com]

I'm leaning towards "only do three prompts unless you answer a prompt" but I still voted for "suggesting restraint." If restraint doesn't work, I think limiting the prompts unless you reply would be a great solution.

[draco-somnians.livejournal.com]

I think a time limit on the prompts would be the best way to deal with the huge leftovers, but maybe keep the prompts for a month, instead of just the month they were posted? Otherwise lonely prompts from the last week of the month will be thrown out with ones from the first week.

Does that make sense? Would it be too much work?

Also Saturdays and Sundays as lonely prompt days would be good. Five days of prompting a week is more than enough!

I'd rather not see a restriction on x number of prompts per day per person, as sometimes the themes just don't really spark anything in my head...and other days they do! :)

I'm trying to broaden my fandom horizons, honest! Lol.

[idiosyncratic.livejournal.com]

This would be me, putting in my $.02. *g*

I have to say that I strongly disagree with purging the old prompts a month after they're put up. That's going to result in the smaller and/or not so widely written fandoms leaving us because those are the prompts that don't get written that often, and we're going to become a place where only 3-4 fandoms are ever represented. Plus, sometimes I have extremely busy months (and I know others do, too) so I bookmark prompts to come back to when I have free time. If we purge prompts, that's going to sort of punish the writers who don't have time to write a lot during the week/month.

Also, limiting people to 3 or so prompts per day is likely to get us an overload on the more popular fandoms right now, like Supernatural, Leverage, and Merlin. I can safely say that if that happens, a lot of people are going to be leaving, which we also don't want to happen. Perhaps limiting prompters to 2 prompts per FANDOM per DAY, UNLESS they're also answering lonely/unanswered prompts in that same fandom? I don't think answering prompts that already have replies should count towards this. Of course, in the case of serial prompters, we might want to limit them to 1 prompt per fandom per day unless they're also writing. Some people are leaving 15+ prompts a day in the little 'verses and, frankly, that puts off a LOT of people who might answer the prompt if it wasn't specific for goth/were/pirate/vampire/whatever. It's just something to consider.

I think it would help a lot if Saturday/Sunday were both declared adopt a lonely prompt days. Also, if necessary, do one week per month, or maybe every 4th week or whatever, where it's nothing but adopting lonely prompts, perhaps with prizes.

Several people mentioned pimping out the community more, and I think that's a great idea. The problem with that is that it seems that all the new people we draw in are just interested in leaving prompts for certain, very large, very enthusiastically prompted fandoms, and they aren't writing anything. Also, I've had people on my flist approach me and say straight up that "bite size bits of porn" turns them off because they don't write porn and having that in the community title/banner puts that idea in peoples' minds right away. I know that we don't want people to feel pressured to write porn if they're not comfortable with it, but it seems that might be the idea we're presenting here with "porn" being all over the place? I dunno, just something to think about, I guess.

[summerstorm.livejournal.com]

Re: the last paragraph, it's definitely true that it can put people off -- for a week or two, until I became more familiar with what happened in daily prompt posts and whatnot, I really felt bad about considering filling prompts with non-porny drabbles.

[tiptoe39.livejournal.com]

to me this comm is very much an extended sort of kink meme, and not all the prompts get written in kink memes. It's just sort of a hazard of the process of prompting. You can't force people to write for you. So the fact that you care about lonely prompts at all means a lot, but I don't think you're ever going to get them all filled. I'm perfectly happy as things are, and I don't think there's any need for lonely prompts to be kept in perpetuity.

[katzb101.livejournal.com]

I think either the monthly purge or the keeping a set number for each fandom is possibly might be the best way to go. Plus a big splurge on getting people to pick up prompts before purging happens.

[andrea-deer.livejournal.com]

1) I think competition always makes people write more
2) I voted for "willing to do everything that's needed" BUT I doubt I'd be able to really share much cash (I just don't have enough XD) and my graphics may not be the best that are out there (but I think I'm getting better, so if it's needed I can try) and I lately have less and less of free time. BUT I'm sure I'll be able to organize myself and help somehow, so if you need me, just tell me what to do. I'll try to manage :)
3) I think thers should be a limit, like one or two prompts (or three, it's for you to decide really). But if someone answered some more prompts he should get some ectra right to prompt more :)
4) I love writing here (okay, I was lazy last couple of days, but that's 'cause I'm sick and I can barely think of any sort of story) and I love thinking up prompts. But I sometimes get a feeling that there's lots of fandoms, pairings, types of fic that aren't used much here, because lots of writers have similiar interests. Which most of the times is cool, because you often know which kind of prompts are most probable to be answered, but still... I think we need more writters :D Because this community is absolutely awesome, but I'm sure it'll get even more awesome and have less lonely prompts if more writers would join us :)

[helens78]

I would hate to see the lonely prompts go away -- looking through the lonely ones is half the fun of the comm for me. :)

[morgan-cian.livejournal.com]

I haven't read all the comments to this post but I thought I would weigh in.

As far as pimping, I do a lot of it on my own personal journal. I try to get the word out on how much fun this comm is and to encourage potential writers. I like the feeling of almost anonymity because the folks here don't run in my usual circles and have been so sweet and awesome when I have played.

My suggestions on lonely prompts was to have two adopt days instead of two free for all days. I see a twofold advantage IMHO:

It allows the codemonkeys more time to key in lonely prompts, especially if there is only one free for all day. I like free for alls but if you miss out then there is always the next Friday.

Also I'm pretty partial to lonely prompts, contests aside. I don't always get a chance to keep up with each theme each day, I tend to answer prompts on the weekends and it is easer to sift through lonely prompts than what has been left day by day during the week.

I'm also kind of against purging lonely prompts in light of challenges. Sometimes you see a prompt over and over again and then it just clicks and you have an idea to run with. It would be disheartening to have an idea to bite and then find the prompt gone.

But in regards to lonely prompts, I think the restrictions (and maybe that is a harsh word) of the theme should be taken away once they go into the lonely prompts index. Reason being, in the indexes you only see the prompt and an idea formulates, you write it and hit save only to realize that it is way off the theme. I have had those 'oh shit' moments and have gone back and deleted a response to a prompt. But that is just personal experience and an idea to throw into the hat.

Much love....MC

[hunters-retreat.livejournal.com]

Just a thought, and I haven't read all the comments here to see what else has been said, but what if you had Fandom specific challenges set up? IE: This weekend is adopt a lonely RPS prompt weekend? Or SPN weekend? Include crossovers what include it and you might get more concentrated effort in specific fandoms.

I also like the idea that maybe there is a limit to 3 prompts a day, unless you fulfill that many. That way people can still prompt, but those that want to prompt a lot can limit themselves by their willingness to participate!

[darling-lisa.livejournal.com]

I hate the idea of limiting prompts, just because it is such a great way of inspiring people and you never know what will click to get someone writing. So I kind of like a hybrid approach from all the suggestions you offered in the poll. Offer the challenge weekend twice a month (leaving the other 2 weeks regular sat free for all/sun lonely prompts) and yes, I would be willing to pony up some cash towards that as well. Maybe also come up with some other non cash ways to use as incentives for people to write more during the week... more tracking work but maybe awards for most new fics left by a first time writer or most prompts answered in multiple fandoms... dunno what to use as prizes, maybe graphics or if we do go to limiting the number of prompts, an increased number for the next week... something like that?

As far as the indexes go... one of the other comms I lurked on for awhile had a policy where they keep prompts for a set length of time and then purge them. People are free to reprompt them if they don't get written in that time period, but that gives everyone ample time to write them if they want to without the index becoming too unwieldy. So maybe keep prompts for 3 months and then purge? With a warning that says, Hey, its the last 2 weeks of March, we are going to purge all the January lonely prompts in 14 days, best get to writing or something to that effect? Would that be too much work for the code monkeys?

I love this comm and want to help out any way I can :)

[summerstorm.livejournal.com]

This is kind of a stupid suggestion, so feel free to ignore it, but: maybe you could set the comment pages layout to the LiveJournal default? I don't like dark backgrounds, personally, plus there are no links to comment pages at the bottom of each, and it gets tiring to add ?style=mine every single time I check for new prompts.

[yesdrizella.livejournal.com]

I agree, actually. I've always had a problem reading comments in the comm's style. I can never tell if the replies are new or if they are replies to other people's comments.

[lorilann.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind seeing every other weekend be all about adopting lonely prompts, there doesn't necessarily have to be a cash prize but maybe someone (or myself) could make a general banner saying "I participated in Lonely Prompts Weekend at comment_fic." Everyone likes shiny little bobbles. It would be sad to see all those lonely prompts purged.

Three prompts a day doesn't sound so bad because it would make some more choosy about what they actually would like to see written. In a week you could potentially have 18 prompts fulfilled. It wouldn't always work depending upon the theme of the day like "one word" or "three sentence fic" but it is something to think about. For people who don't write fic, it could be a turn-off to say they have to write to leave more prompts.

[dergerm.livejournal.com]

I think limiting it to three in general is a great idea, not 'and more if you respond.' I figure it'll have people take some time to really think out their prompts, rather than posting five thousand ideas from the same pairing, same fandom, same everything but different prompt.

Also, it's reasonable to me that after a month the old prompts ought to be purged. If the original poster even remembers their prompt, they can repost it after a month if they're so inclined. No reason to make things difficult and clunky.

[yesdrizella.livejournal.com]

I think placing a limit on prompts is the only way to go. I know that my interest in this comm has waned because of people who post 20 prompts a day, most of which appear on the first page of comments.

[idiosyncratic.livejournal.com]

I have to say that I agree. I still love the comm a LOT and want people to enjoy themselves and push their imagination, but it gets discouraging to scroll through page after page of prompts that are all for 2-3 fandoms & pairings and are left by the same handful of people, and even more discouraging when prompts in a couple fandoms that I enjoy writing for are very specific, such as the goth/were/vampire/whatever 'verses that have cropped up. I've personally got no interest in any of that, so yes. What you said. :)

[devon99.livejournal.com]

I voted for running Saturday and Sunday Lonely Prompt adoption days. Maybe you could trial this to see if it brings the lonely prompts down a little.

I'm not fond of restricting the prompts to three. I only watch and write Supernatural, which gets a lot of prompts and Numb3rs which hardly gets any. A Numb3rs prompt went up today and I answered it. You restrict the number of prompts and the smaller fandoms will lose out to the more popular ones.

If you must purge old prompts then maybe three months would be a better time frame rather than one month? I've gone back and answered old prompts and I know that others have answered some of my older ones too.

[idiosyncratic.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for any of the others mods, but I'm personally not in favor of limiting it to JUST 3 prompts per day. However, I am in favor of limiting it to 3 prompts per FANDOM per day. You'd be able to leave 3 Supernatural prompts and 3 Numb3rs prompts if you wanted. That way, the smaller fandoms wouldn't miss out and the larger ones wouldn't be allowed to run rampant, which is what's happening right now with some people leaving 10-15 prompts per day for one fandom or pairing. You get 5 people doing that, and it gets out of hand while smaller fandoms are buried in the midst of all that.

[toestastegood.livejournal.com]

Can I suggest a 'seconding' day? Instead of posting new prompts, people post links to the lonely prompts they want to see fulfilled? That way it'd feel like an ordinary prompt day so people'd join in, and it helps with the list?

[ravensword.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting idea.

I shall have to ponder that.

[honeyjojames.livejournal.com]

Adding my two cents as well...
I really like the idea of both weekend days being lonely prompt adoption days, I think that would be a good thing!

As for purging lonely prompts, someone mentioned it above, but I think purging after three months, with lots of warning and telling prompters they can repeat the prompt after it's gone might not be a bad idea...

As for limiting the number of prompts you can leave... Maybe limiting it to three per day (or per fandom) during the week, and unlimited during the free for all day... But that might make the free for all day even more crazily insane!

[ruric.livejournal.com]

First to give you an idea of where I'm coming from when I saw the word "purge" associated with lonely prompts I felt a real sense of loss! (as OMG NOES NOES NOES) *G*

I'm coming at this comm as a writer (I've not left a prompt yet and quite possibly never will because my mind does not work that way!) and my main enjoyment and invovlement is scrolling through lists of prompts and finding inspiration moving rapidly from a mindset of "WTF who with who now?" to the "OMG yes YES YES - must write now!"

In the short time I've been here I've written fandoms and prompts I've never considered and rediscovered fandoms and characters I thought I'd never write again. Selfishly (hey no altruism here!) I have real problems writing in the week (work too busy) so my writing time is weekends and that's when I hit up the lonely prompts lists.

To give you an idea I currently have 9 Firefox windows open with 110 lonely prompts waiting for me *G* And I rub my hands in glee whenever I look at them and pray noone beats me to them!

If they went away? I'd feel a real sense of loss and also probably feel like the comm was moving to focus on fewer rather than more fandoms - it'd make the world a little greyer - you know?

I do think that the suggestions for making lonely prompt challenges twice a month and for Saturday and Sunday are good ones and I loved the idea someone above suggested about making a seconding day (or week) so people can point out the ones they want to see written.

Bottom line is I guess that I'd rather see limits on the number of prompts people can post per day rather than the actual lonely ones.

I'm not sure how you currently do the checking to see if lonely prompts have been answered but how about putting some of the onus on those of us who write predominantly lonely prompts? Could we have a post per week where we link to the ones we've anwered? Would that help the code monkeys and llama?

I'd love to be able to offer help on the coding - but I'm hard pressed time wise at the moment (after April may be better) - but I could possibly pinch hit with coding if you need someone?

Also happy to donate $$ if you can wait til payday *G*

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

I had several points, but most of them have already been handled in comments, so I'll just add this as my 2c:

I don't like the idea of a prompts purge, but if it comes down to it, maybe put them all on a simple copy and paste (ie not coded/linked) 'dead prompts' list so they can be recycled if someone gets bitten by a zombie prompt bunny? (Maybe even have responders put ZOMBIE! in the re-prompt comment?)

[geneli4.livejournal.com]

i have a hard time believing that ONE prompt per fandom, per day, truly isn't enough for people. that's 30 prompts a month! per fandom!

tbh, i find it sort of overwhelming now. :/

[riveroceansea.livejournal.com]

I'm in agreement for a purge, but perhaps every two or three months instead of one? Yet I'd still like to see the small fandoms and rare pairs kept for a bit longer.

Another idea: after a certain time the code monkeys could make a cut and paste list. Writers could save the prompts and the prompters' names to their own files. Every so often there could be a post so writers could post stories from deleted prompts. Searchable by fandom or whatever would work for the code monkeys. These also could be cycled out after so long.

Sometimes I find nothing on a certain day tempts me, but sometimes I find three or four things, but I can't do them all at once.