Future of ds-snippets comm

[desireearmfeldt]

Hello, LJ/DW fans!  (We few, we proud...)

We haven't been seeing much traffic over at ds_snippets, so the mods are taking stock to decide whether to keep running the weekly challenges or regretfully close up shop.

If you have opinions on this topic, please join in the discussion.  (And hey, while you're over there, how about writing a snippet based on one of this week's prompts? :) )

Comments

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Yes, I want this comm to continue and yes I am likely to post snippets in upcoming months. I'm also willing to be added to the list of "monthly hosts".

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

I kind of fell away from doing snippets the last few months, but I do really enjoy doing them. Looking at the prompts gives me ideas and cranking out a little story each week gives me a sense of accomplishment. I'd love to see this community continue if possible.

Maybe you guys have already considered/dismissed this possibility, but would it be feasible to somehow post the snippet prompts, etc., on tumblr? The community might expand if it were hosted on a different platform.

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

If someone Tumblr-savvy (you, perhaps?) wanted to mirror the snippets prompts on Tumblr I would be all for that. I think, however, that there should still be a link back to LJ for primary hosting.

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

I can probably do that. I could create a new tumblr and experiment with it, anyway, and see what happens. Let me know if/when I have the green light, and I'll give it a shot :)

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

I don't know if a green light is necessary, but if it is it would come from the comm maintainers: spuffyduds, lamentables, omphale23.

[desireearmfeldt]

Oh, and another thing to think about (on my mind because it only occurred to me months after the fact that we should have done this for Seekrit Santa): if an individual hangs the snippets Tumblr off their own account, then it's really hard to transfer it to someone else, if the original creator decides they don't want to mod any more. One way to get around that would be to have a snippets-mod email address and sign up for a Tumblr account with that; then it could be handed off to different generations of mods. But then it's one more piece of infrastructure that needs stewarding.

[desireearmfeldt]

So, one logistical question would be: if people are posting to Tumblr on their own blogs, how much work will it be for someone to do a weekly links roundup?

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would be too much work. X-kit extensions on Tumblr actually make tracking tags a lot easier, so we'd need to agree upon a tag or set of tags (like we do here) and then the mod would just have to track those tags and mirror the posts. (I wrote about this more below.)

[desireearmfeldt]

We did talk about expanding to Tumblr a couple of times, and mostly it seemed like adding more work to the mods' job for an uncertain gain. Also, the more platforms it's spread over, the less people are actually gathering together and seeing each other's work.

None of those are insurmountable difficulties, we just never quite got up the momentum to pursue the idea. :)

(Also, I think of the current mods, I may be the only one on Tumblr. But then, a couple of the current mods may be retiring soon anyway.)

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

The "spreading too thin" had been and is a big concern of mine. I had suggested that if Tumblr becomes a part of ds_snippets that the prompts appear there weekly but the links to the created snippets be posted here as we do now.

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

I *might* have a solution.

1. Snippets email w/ shared PW
2. Snippets Tumblr w/ shared PW
3. An agreed-upon tag (or set of tags) that the mods track on Tumblr
4. Weekly mirroring

There are quite a few people on Tumblr who are coming into the dS fandom, so it'd be great to bring them in. But I think a lot of them will post on their Tumblr and won't really be willing to get LJ or re-post them here, so we might need to have a back-and-forth sharing. (The LJ community has links to Tumblr and the Tumblr community has links to LJ.)

There's a community on DW that combines DW, Tumblr, LJ, and AO3, it's called something like MCU Flash Fiction (?). I pop in and out of it; it seems like they've got a good system going. (What's funny is that a bunch of new writers suggested a place where they could post prompts and one of the old writers — a former dSer! — said, "Uh, you mean, like a LJ community?" and then she started one up.)

Polling on Tumblr

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

Here’s what I’m thinking for a “poll” post on my Tumblr. Feedback appreciated!!

"Hello, Tumblr!

If I’ve tagged you in this post, it’s because I know (from tag tracking or from following you) you have some connection to / affection for a silly little Canadian show called Due South. I have some exciting news, fellow dSers, and I need your input, if you can spare a minute.

Over on LiveJournal, there’s a community called dS snippets [link], where fanfiction prompts are posted weekly, and writers are challenged to write a snippet in response (300 words or fewer). This task gives writers a chance to flex their creative muscles and an assigned deadline for weekly writing, which I myself have found highly beneficial. Unfortunately, LiveJournal is kind of a ghost town nowadays, since Tumblr is so much more popular.

Here’s where you can help!

The community moderators and I have been discussing the possibility of re-creating the community on Tumblr, so I want to know if you’d be interested, as either a writer or reader (or both!).

If I were to create a Tumblr blog that posted the prompts (weekly, three times a week), do you think you’d write and/or read the snippets? All snippets would be tagged, so you could track it if you wanted to, and all snippets would be rounded up weekly. You can also check them out on AO3 in this collection [link], if you’re so inclined.

I devised a small survey [link] to make it easy for you to share your opinion on the future of dS snippets, and I’d be grateful if you could take five minutes to fill it out and help us grow as a fandom! Also, please feel free to reblog, reply, tag anyone I’ve missed, or send me a message if you have questions.

Thank you ever so kindly! :)"


Now, the survey hasn’t been created yet, but here’s what I’m thinking:

Opening blurb:

The dS snippets community is a fandom space devoted to creating and sharing snippets of fanfiction. These are short stories (consisting of 300 words or fewer) that are written and collected weekly in response to a set of prompts.

Questions:

1. Are you familiar with dS snippets? [Y/N]

2. Do you currently participate in dS snippets? [Y/N]

3. If you answered yes, do you read or write? [m/c: Read/Write/Both!]

4. If you do not currently participate, would you be interested in participating in dS snippets on Tumblr? [Y/N]

5. If you answered yes to the previous question, would you be interested in reading or writing? [m/c: Reading/Writing/Both!]

6. Do you have a LiveJournal account? [Y/N]

7. If you don’t have a LiveJournal account, would you be interested in getting one to participate in dS snippets? [Y/N]

8. Do you have any suggestions or other feedback you would like to share with the moderators of dS snippets as we work on bring dS snippets to Tumblr? [Open]


...Anything I've left out?

Re: Polling on Tumblr

[desireearmfeldt]

Looks good to me. (Depending on how much patience you think folks have for filling out surveys, it might be a little long, but I think that's all important info.)

A couple of details you might want to include for accuracy, though also it might just overcomplicate things:

1) snippets can be in due South *or* Canadia-6-degrees (only relevant if there are, say, rabid Slings & Arrows fans on your list)

2) existing comm is on both LJ and Dreamwidth (possibly relevant for those with existing accounts/political opinions about LJ vs DW, presumably totally irrelevant to people only on Tumblr). The DW comm is http://dsc6dsnippets.dreamwidth.org/

3) There is not actually an AO3 collection. There is an A03 *tag*, but not everyone crossposts their snippets to AO3, or remembers to use the tag if they do. The tag is "Community: ds_snippets | dsc6dsnippets".

Re: Polling on Tumblr

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Ha! Brain-twin timing! We were both posting our comments here at the same time!

I don't know what to think about the part of your comment that says "...only relevant if there are...Slings & Arrows fans on your list...." What about all the other C6D that qualifies for snippeting? Is that out as far as the Tumblr fen since mrs d has identified them as dS fen specifically?

Re: Polling on Tumblr

[desireearmfeldt]

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be taken quite so literally: S&A was the thing I know off the top of my head I've seen some people squeeing about on Tumblr & I think generally more popular/well-known than much of the other C6D canon. But I didn't meant to imply it was that or nothing.

Re: Polling on Tumblr

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

With absolute respect for the work you are putting into this and fanlove for you doing it, there are a few suggestions I would make...but first I want to be really, really sure that you are open to suggestions about deleting or rewording a few sentences in the intro. (I've become a "once bitten, twice shy" commenter after having been harshed on a while back for some concrit.)

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

Re-write as needed. Remember that I've only been here less than a year, so you guys are the experts.

And yeah, re: C6D, I don't know if I have any people in those arenas...

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Possible triggers are calling dS "a silly little show" and calling LJ "a ghost town". I suggest deleting those lines.

Also, "re-creating the community on Tumblr" may be accurate for what is being planned...but I thought we were discussing mirror-posting the prompts to Tumblr, but having the actual snippets reverting to LJ or to LJ & DW.

Final Draft

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've revised the "poll post" -- changed the things we discussed (if I missed something, let me know), and shortened it a little. Please just have a look, see if there are any glaring errors, etc., before I post this bad boy! Thanks for all your help, now I just hope some people respond...

Hello, Tumblr!

If I’ve tagged you in this post, it’s because I know (from tag tracking or from following you) that you have some connection to / affection for a delightfully quirky Canadian show called due South. I have exciting news, fellow dSers, and I need your input, if you can spare a minute.

Over on LiveJournal [link] and Dreamwidth [link], there’s a community called due South 6 Degrees Snippets, a space devoted to due South [link] and Canadian 6 Degrees of Separation [link] fanworks. Prompts are posted weekly, and writers are challenged to write a snippet of fanfiction in response (300 words or fewer). (You can also post and read snippets on AO3 where they are tagged “Community: ds_snippets | dsc6dsnippets” [link], if you’re so inclined.)

The community moderators and I have been discussing the possibility of expanding our operations to Tumblr. If I were to create a Tumblr blog that posted the prompts (weekly, multiple times a week), do you think you’d write and/or read the snippets? All the snippets would use the same tag, so you could track it if you wanted to, and all the snippets would be rounded up weekly.

I devised a small survey [link] to make it easy for you to share your opinion on the future of dS/C6D snippets, and I’d be grateful if you could take five minutes to fill it out and help us grow as a fandom! Also, please feel free to reblog, reply, tag anybody I’ve missed, or send me a message if you have questions.

Thank you kindly! :)

Survey: mostly unchanged; note the addition of DW and C6D

Opening blurb:

The dS snippets community on LiveJournal [link] and Dreamwidth [link] is a fandom space devoted to creating and sharing snippets of fanfiction. These are short stories (consisting of 300 words or fewer) that are written and collected weekly in response to a set of prompts.

Questions:

1. Are you familiar with dS snippets? [Y/N]

2. Do you currently participate (read or write) in dS snippets? [Y/N]

3. If you answered yes, do you read or write? [m/c: Read/Write/Both!]

4. If you do not currently participate, would you be interested in participating in dS snippets on Tumblr? [Y/N]

5. If you answered yes to the previous question, would you be interested in reading or writing? [m/c: Reading/Writing/Both!]

6. Do you use LiveJournal and/or Dreamwidth? [m/c: LJ/DW/both/neither]

7. If you don’t have a LiveJournal or Dreamwidth account, would you be interested in getting one to participate in dS/C6D snippets? [Y/N]

8. Do you have any suggestions or other feedback you would like to share with the moderators of dS snippets as we work on bringing dS/C6D snippets to Tumblr? [Open]

Re: Final Draft

[desireearmfeldt]

Looks good to me (but I'm still pretty brain-fuzzed). Thanks for pursuing this!

Re: Final Draft

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Yes! This is excellent!

Looking forward to increasing the fandom connections, thanks to you!

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

Here's the page to see the results of my survey, if you're interested:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-SQL2GLTR/

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

So great that you set this up and so good to see some results. How many days are you leaving the survey open?

[mrsdawnaway.livejournal.com]

There's no official deadline as of right now, but I'm thinking a week will be enough time. I'm going to be re-blogging my post a couple times over the next week, just in case some people missed it, and then we'll go from there.

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think a week is good. Will you remind me when you conclude the survey so I can see final results?