Hooray! I've been noticed amongst the throng! :)

Remember the weekly
summaries? The Long, Strange, Walks? How about the FFML Hall of Fame? Or 

the

Chicken Ball Awards?

Do the Synopses List, of which I was the maintainer, not rate a mention?
 Boo-hoo-hoo...  :)

Oh, right! *That's* what they were called! Sorry, that was what I meant when 
I mentioned the "weekly summaries". The word "synopsis" escaped me. All due 
credit was intended, seriously.

I think you're exactly right about exposure.

Thanks! So do I. I'm also trying to step up to the plate a little and become 
more active, myself. It's pretty easy to talk about how nobody posts, after 
all. I figure I should actually post a bit before I start, or I might look 
hypocritical. :)

At this stage of the game, I think that expanding the range of source
material that the list will accept is akin to rearranging the deck
chairs on the Titanic.

To quote Stephan Colbert: "We're not sinking - we're soaring! If anything, 
we're re-arranging the deck chairs on the *Hindenberg*!"

I think that _somebody_ will need to step
forward and do a little advertising.  If they don't know about it, you
can bet that they won't come.

That is very true. We need to get our name out there. I think the basic 
problem people are having right now is what we need to tell people we ARE. 
The older, cooler brother of ff.net? The Masterpiece Theatre of Fanfic? Are 
we discerning, or is everybody welcome? Etc, etc.

Somebody else mentioned that the FFML wasn't so much dying as having an 
identity crisis. I think that's the best description for what's going on 
here I've heard yet.

Although Lurker's "burger joint" reference *did* succeed in making me 
hungry, so I'm giving it an honorary mention. :)

However, I think you're slightly off the mark about something else:  The
list has to be fun.  I know that I threw in the towel with the Synopses
Lists because preparing them started to become more like work than
anything else.

Oh, I know - I was there when you stopped. It was a sad day for the list, 
IMO. That's part of what I'm trying to tell people: that we used to have 
stuff on the list that was *fun* - challenges, advice columns, synopses, 
MSTs, and awards that were all really exciting and entertaining. Most of the 
"special" stuff has kind of faded away, and I think it was part of what made 
us more vibrant than ff.net (just to name a name that has been thrown around 
with reckless abandon lately).

 So be careful with the 'all killer, no filler' stuff.  I
think that the 'filler' is more important than some people realise.

Well, I was using that phrase to imply "all good stuff, no sludge", not "no 
fluff". Fluff is vital, and I for one would really miss Cute Neko Hibiki if 
she ever stopped posting it. :)

Seriously, I was just trying to imply that we need to start emphasizing 
quality over quantity. I am one of those people who would rather fix up the 
existing building before we start adding a new deck for the HP writers to 
hang out on. After all, if all we do is make the list open to more types of 
fic, all it will do is give us more people not posting anything. We need to 
do things to encourage activity, not just expand blindly. But that's just 
IMO, and does not appear to be the way the wind is blowing.

-Morgan Hudson



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