I went back and tried to read all the posts on this issue (since it's such a point of contention)
I honestly think that just opening the list to new content won't do much.
Clearly what people want is.
1.For the FFML to return to having a flow of consistant traffic (specifically in stories)
2.For the FFML to keep its quality high (We don't need to become another Fanfiction.net carrying the latest craptacular teen angst fics detailing how Naruto, Ranma, or whomever invades some fangrrls high school to make out with them.)
3.For the FFML to keep with its traditions, but still evolve
4. For the FFML to provide visibility to the authors so that they can get feedback
However, there is some serious dissent about some issues.
1.Allowing fics of all Genres (H.Potter, or whatever else) to be put on the list. (I think the overall worry is that this will create an influx of activity... but that it'll be activity of the "crappy" sort)
2.What form the *New* FFML should take (A forum is nifty, but it no longer delivers the content right to you. Instead you have to go hunting through forums for it, other suggestions have equal problems.)
3.Whether its "savable" at all considering that so many people who founded it have lost interest.
4. Some moribundity that says, "It's better to let it die lowly and gently, rather than compromise and have it turn to crap". Which is actually a good arguement from a certain standpoint.
If I may suggest, what needs to happen is actually not all that hard to envision.
I think that the FFML needs to move from being a mailing list, to being an RSS feed.
By doing that, you could simply have users create a blogspace presence, and then submit updates either via a script, or through manual submission of a "story update" to the *FFML* RSS feed server.
This would (I think) satisfy the vast majority of the qualms, and at the same time save the moderators tremendous headaches.
By restricting FFML content to new story submissions, you only see the stories on the feeds. All feedback would be on the blogspace hosting the story itself. This design creates a number of benfits.
First, the individual stories could be hosted remotely on blog servers. Blog servers are (for the most part) very reliable, and also are always designed so comments and criticisms are posted. An Author posts a chapter, there is always a field for people to comment on it. Since the content on Blog sites is usually XML, a backup is mostly plain text, and a backup server could easily archieve sites in PDF format.
Second, this decentralization of the content would absolve a future, more visible, FFML from any complaints levyed against it by parents or censorship groups if their little children read adult content or are exposed to violence in the stories that their guardians don't agree with. The site itself would host nothing but the RSS feed (which would... just like all RSS feeds, link to the actual article, or in this case, blog entry) and thus could not be held accountable for content, because no content is held on the site.
Third, It would create a great deal more visibility. The RSS feed itself would be able to be parsed to XML on a website, listing the latest story contributions to the list. Google and most other search engines rank by "hits". The more hits you have the higher your visibility. Therefore, if we make it a "hit" magnet, then it'll get more visibility to writers, and thus increase the likelyhood that writers will add to it.
Forth, new content types could be added without overwhelming the user with choices. RSS feeds can be filtered, categorized, and subcategorizes and thus you could have various sub categories within the main feed itself. If you are interested only in Ranma, you goto the main feed, and select one of the Manga subfeeds dealing with Ranma-Het/Yoai/Yuri/Whatever. The trick here is that any time an author wants to make their fic appear on the Feed, all they do is fill out a small data questionaire, with categories and a small summary area. The author submits the story, and it pops into the Feed. This way if a reader has absolutely no interest in Yaoi Naruto fics, they can simply exclude them completely, because the submission item would require the author(ess) to identify their fic as having that in it. (This sort of classification system would be a boon that FF.net does not have, and would be a seriously good "selling point")
If you've worked with an RSS aggregator, I think you'll know what I'm suggesting here.
The thing is, people on Fan Fiction.net are tired of that site consistantly removing their fics, or restricting what they can and cannot post. (especially adult content)
Moving to RSS would keep the tradition of getting a list of new fics... with the benefit of moving from the 1970's and 80's tech of mailing lists, into today's world... and leveraging the benefits of search providers and the convienience of blog servers being there to renew interest in the list and create more visibility.
And as an afterthought, having some writers repost their stories into a blog would be nice, in that if this was the direction the FFML goes, you could use that repost of fics as a serious "smoke test" of the system to make sure it works properly.
Just a thought
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: jpalmer <jpalmer@josephpalmer.com>
It is a melancholy object to those who walk through thier in boxes to
find that the
wit and light that was once the FFML is like a candle -- the better part
of which
has burned out.
To be sure, there are still moments of brilliance, but with the passing
of the years
most of the authors have lost interest in the Anime series that were for
the FFML
fire pits of great bonfires of creativity. The cumulative addition of
dozens if not
hundreds of interesting and attractive series has made it hard for any
one anime
series to generate a large audience in this age where the anime section
(At least
here in San Jose) is as large as any other genre in the store.
I believe the FFML has two roots - the anime and manga from which we draw
inspiration, and the community of writers learning the craft of prose.
Most of the comment here to date has focused on enlarging the pool of
inspiration,
opening the list to genre like comics and Harry Potter.
My immodest proposal is to think about fertilizing that second root, by
opening the
list to original stories, using original characters. It seems to me that
we are more
likely to learn more from each other, and become better writers, if we
occasionally
take off the training wheels.
I know for myself I'd be more interested in reading and commenting on a
story
where I don't have $200 in DVDs if I had an expectation of being properly
introduced to the characters and situations.
Just my 2 cents.
J.
P.S. Has anyone seen Nabiki? She's wandered off again.
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