Idea for a New Forum

[ScottyMcGee]

I say we should add another forum in the Literature section under "Other Writing."

This forum will be called "Writer's Block."

Here is where everyone posts all his or her half-baked, brainstormed ideas that never really got anywhere. Thus, people will help by posting suggestions about the different directions the story could go.
It's almost like a pool of brainstorming, in other words.


Any questions? Suggestions? Comments? Snide remarks?
Other than that, if you agree say "AYE!" (and no, not like a pirate :glare:)

[Andy]

That's a good idea! I'm adding it to our list of things-to-do, but at the moment I don't think we need it. Other Writing only has 4 threads, so for now, any brainstorming threads can go there without a problem.

[Rafael Domination]

I think it should only be open to memebers so outside parties don't just come in and leech off us...

[Nyx]

Great idea. But like Raffy said, we should make it members-only.

oh and AYE -says it like a pirate:pirate:-

[AWritersFantasy]

Thirding (or fourthing?) this idea. I'm currently in need of getting my wheels turning so I can start writing something, so I could definitely use this section (if it hasn't been made yet).

[Rafael Domination]

We should get points for helping someone :D

*tries not to sound greedy*

[ScottyMcGee]

Yeah, I kinda forgot about the whole "people might come in and steal" thing, so it would definitely need to be members only.

Only I have a question about this "Members Only" thing. Of course it's a good idea, but what's stopping them from simply becoming a member AND THEN snooping around to steal ideas?

[Andy]

Only I have a question about this "Members Only" thing. Of course it's a good idea, but what's stopping them from simply becoming a member AND THEN snooping around to steal ideas?

Well, this forum could be hidden for non-members, so they wouldn't know about it unless they decide to join for other reasons. And if we have to, we can always restrict it to people with more than a certain number of posts.

[Shaun]

I'm waiting for Andy to come to me and say "Hey Shaun, do you think this is a good idea"...it hasn't happened yet...still waiting :glare:

[AWritersFantasy]

-Pokes at Andy then- I wanna see this section get made! I could use the ideas! /random

[Andy]

Here is where everyone posts all his or her half-baked, brainstormed ideas that never really got anywhere. Thus, people will help by posting suggestions about the different directions the story could go.
It's almost like a pool of brainstorming, in other words.
Okay, I'm just a wee bit confused on the nature of this section. Will it be for people to post ideas that they're not going to use? Or for people to post ideas that they're not sure about, but may want to use with some input? I like both, but I'm not sure which one you're asking for.

Hey Shaun, do you think this is a good idea? Of course, you could have indicated that in your post, but...:P

[AWritersFantasy]

The gist I got from the original post about it was that it would basically be for ideas that people might not be using. Or maybe even ideas that they do plan on using eventually but don't mind seeing others use, as long as they know who's using them. Kind of like the adopt-a-plot threads at the NaNo boards- someone will give a plot idea, and then someone who likes that idea says "thanks, so-and-so, I'll totally use this!"

I have something similar set up at my board, and unfortunately people haven't filled it with many ideas, but I think it would be a bit more successful here since the boards here are more active right now than my board is.

[AWritersFantasy]

Something I'd like to suggest is having a disclaimer post saying something like "by posting your ideas here, you are fine with the fact that other people will be using your plot, setting, character, etc ideas towards their own writing, and are therefor giving permission for them to do so freely." That way, if someone writes a story using an idea someone else gave in that section, the original person who came up with the idea can't justifiably b**** about someone else using the idea because they'll have already given permission just by posting in that section.

Here's another question/suggestion: how is it going to be set up? By this I mean, are there going to be sub-forums dedicated to each genre (fantasy, sci-fi, etc)? Or could there be sub-forums for things like "plot, characters, setting" ideas so that each forum is dedicated to one of those things each? If so, each sub-forum could have one (or a few, depending) thread dedicated to being the "official" thread for random plots where you don't really go into detail. Any other threads made in those sections could be for giving ideas that you have that are more detailed (so basically one paragraph or less in the dedicated thread VS a few paragraphs or more in one thread). The people who come up with ideas could also have one thread for themselves where they just randomly post ideas that they come up with in that single thread so that others can see all of their ideas and then tell that person they're taking whichever idea.

o.O Hopefully that made sense. I'd be able to explain it better (or give a visual example) if my message board had a sub-forums feature, but sadly it doesn't. Which is annoying in more ways than one.

[Andy]

Thanks for the suggestion.

When I made something like this on TW, we did something exactly like that. It was all split up by category, with one genre per thread, and the threads were like "Action/Adventure Fiction" and "Dramatic Poetry", etc. It worked there, so I think doing the same thing here would be a good idea.

[Imelda]

It worked on TW? No one uses it ...

[Andy]

It worked on TW? No one uses it ...In terms of how the categories looked and how people were able to find them, it worked.

[Shaun]

I think this is a bad idea. Why do we need a new forum section for something you can do elsewhere on the site? We have the Writing Q & A, the Coop, and various other sections that things within this proposal could be placed. That's my conjecture, but nobody really has asked me for my opinion on this...which sort of irks me :glare:

[Andy]

Actually, there are no parts of the site where people can post ideas that they're not going to use, where people can take ideas and not be considered thieves. So, if it's a place where people can post unused ideas, I think it would be neat.

But for a place where people can post minor ideas and get feedback, we already have Other Writing and that Q & A section. So if that's what Scotty's suggesting, I don't think we need one.

[Shaun]

Original post: "Here is where everyone posts all his or her half-baked, brainstormed ideas that never really got anywhere. Thus, people will help by posting suggestions about the different directions the story could go.
It's almost like a pool of brainstorming, in other words."

That's what it looks like he's talking about. There are plenty of places to do that already I think. If we're talking about a place where people can post ideas they aren't going to use, why do we need a forum for them? Why not a thread or two? How many ideas could you possible have to give away, and why are you giving them away unless they're bad ideas?

[AWritersFantasy]

If we're talking about a place where people can post ideas they aren't going to use, why do we need a forum for them? Why not a thread or two? How many ideas could you possible have to give away, and why are you giving them away unless they're bad ideas?

Look at the NaNo forums. In each section for the genres and the plot doctoring section there are adopt-a-title, adopt-a-plot, adopt-a-sub-plot, and more threads that are currently not on the front page of that section that have pages of ideas people have given. All of those people gave ideas in those threads that they were willing to give away. I would say a good majority of them were not bad ideas at all. For me, if I were giving away an idea it would probably be because I'd tried it myself and couldn't get into it for whatever reason, so I would want to see how others would approach the idea. That's no different from this. Plus, it always helps to have a place to look for new story ideas when you're stuck. Even just part of a plot idea could spark something for whatever you're writing about.

If we were to go about this the right way, set up certain rules and disclaimers, it could be successful. If we don't try, then we'll never know if it's a good or bad idea. -Shrug-

[ScottyMcGee]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa guys, wait for me! Didn't have time to reply to all of these yet.

What I was originally thinking was just a forum to post ideas that have writer's block. Whether you still use them or not is up to you. It's just that I was really frustrated in not being able to post something in the right place when I wanted to talk about a story that I'm currently writing and asking for advice and suggestions. It'll just be like a "Writer's Block" forum, where people can also talk about ways to relieve writer's block or maybe even start a story.

[Andy]

Writing Q&A (http://www.youngwritersonline.net/forumdisplay.php?f=9) is probably the best place for that sort of thing. That's the place for questions or feedback on stuff, but not critiques. So if you have an idea you have questions about, post it there.

[Shaun]

Writing Q & A works, or you could even use the Lit. Discussion area, provided it allowed for discussion.

My concern about adding any new forum sections right now is that we don't have the number of members as places like NaNo to make it active. When we have a thousand members, sure, we'll need new sections because it might become impossible to keep up. But right now, we have under 100 and I don't know if adding new sections right now would be a good idea. There aren't enough people needing a section for writer's block at the moment :S.

[Nyx]

We have under 100 members?:O

[Shaun]

Yup, we have 85, and not all of them are active.

[Nyx]

Hm...we should have a celebration when we hit 100 members.

[Shaun]

Agreed, but we have to get that many members first :P. Members should advertise us more :P.

[Andy]

Agreed, but we have to get that many members first :P. Members should advertise us more :P.
Yeah, only thing with that is the cost of hosting will go up a lot of we start getting two dozen members on at once. That's what I's afraid of.

On the topic of celebrations, I want to have one once we get 10,000 posts. We're only about 600 away! :)

[Shaun]

I thought it's only a problem if 24+ members come online at the exact same time, but if they come a few minutes apart it's okay...

[Andy]

Right, right, but still, it just gets me nervous.