[FFML] The mailing list active!!!!!! shocking....

[Gary Kleppe]

On the subject of moving the list to a different platform, I wouldn't  
necessarily be opposed to it. But that platform would have to suit the  
particular needs of our community. Particularly, in my opinion:

1) It would need to support a line-by-line response to a story, in a  
way that's reasonably convenient. The web forum interface used by  
fanfiction.net (among other sites) fails this test. That site is made  
to facilitate "Woooo! That was great!" comments, not detailed analysis.

2) It should be reasonably portable, so if it turns out that the  
current host is abusing people's information or is just not  
technically competent enough to keep the thing operational, we could  
move it somewhere else.

3) It should be advertising-free. People buying ads on a fanfiction  
site are using the characters to make money, which should be the  
province of the authors and copyright holders. (Remember that I did  
say that all of this was my opinion.)

If anyone has ideas on something that would fit these criteria, I'd be  
interested in hearing it.

That said, I have to say frankly that if you think that a platform  
change would revitalize the list, color me skeptical. In my view, our  
problems are meatware, not software. If you want to see the list  
become active again, here's how you can make it happen: (1) Go into  
the list archives (http://www.chez-vrolet.net/pipermail/ffml/) or your  
own saved emails, and find a story that interests you enough to read  
it. (2) Read it. (3) Write down your thoughts on the story and post to  
the list, or send them privately to the author. (4) Rinse, repeat as  
often as you can. There are two writers who've already posted in this  
thread lamenting that they would've liked more feedback on their  
recent stories. I'll add myself as a third, having posted a story back  
in April/May that got no response on the list and only a handful of  
private ones. If y'all are not willing to respond to stories from the  
email list, I can't fathom why anyone should expect it to be any  
different on a web-based platform.

On the other hand, I think going onto social media and such to set up  
secondary platforms which can spread information about what the FFML  
is and how to join it would be worthwhile. If someone wants to take  
that on, please write to the admins ffml-admins at chez-vrolet.net to  
discuss possible venues.