There is something wrong here on the boards and I've thought about it to see if I could figure out what it is. I've come up with a few ideas on the matter and the problem here on these boards is that everything short of a major change appears to be met with a tepid response. Lets take a look at some of these situations.
Over the last couple of months, well almost a year, since Teruyo took over running these boards, He's made countless changes and improvements to the boards, implementing new features to add life to these boards. On nearly every occasion these upgrades and improvements have been met with solid indifference and a lack of enthusiasm. I think 3 people told him the IQDB links were good, less than that thanked him for his addition. It was even worse for the /rs/ addition to this board. I don't think I've seen anyone who wasn't me thank Teruyo for the work he put into coding that for our board use. I know people use these and I know people appreciate the additions but I don't think anybody's actually mentioned it.
This is a problem that goes far beyond Teruyo's administration of this site. Far too often lately it has been the case that an author will disappear often without word, and I think I can understand why. Now before I get into it I want to say this following is not really anyone's fault, its more the fault of the format that we use and I'm trying to not accuse anybody of anything this is a general complaint. I've come to call this phenomena Zombie Voting. Where an option will be chosen and then 5-10 exact clones are created of the vote. little to no discussion. The voters see this as giving their approval to that option and a nod to the author to continue. The Author however will not see it like this and interpret this as an empty vote lacking discussion or participation in what is supposed to be a cooperate venture when this is, in most cases, just not the case. The author has fans, he just can't distinguish them and I think that is the #1 reason writers here give up or disappear.
Another problem with the formats we use is that when we encourage participation and come to choices that define the story, we often times create different camps. Examples would be the Pro Flandre and Anti Flandre camps in Gensokyo High, and The pro Reisen camps in just about any /eientei/ story. This is fun participation in the story... until your camp loses. I know a few people who become only somewhat interested in a story when their camp loses. They'll continue to follow it because they enjoy the authors writing style, but because the story is following a path they didn't vote for they feel less inclined to add anything to the route, feeling it "belongs" to the "winners". This shaving of readership happens every time a crucial choice is made until you have a pretty specific camp guiding the votes late in the story.
My third comment, and this is the reason for me to post this whole big.. I guess its a rant on the status of these boards, is about how I've seen some authors treated. Its something that was recently brought up in Fell's thread so I'm only going to touch lightly on it but the "Get back to work writenigger" stuff works to your detriment, and not your benefit. It's not the most encouraging thing to hear as a writer, especially after working on a story. The writers of the stories you enjoy are not doing this for selfless reasons. They want to enjoy the story and the cooperation as much as you do. They want adoration and praise. They want to be part of the community. I was speaking with someone earlier about Teruyo's 2 week absence and why no one seems concerned when I was told "well, he's not very active in the community." What the hell? How could someone who's had 80 full threads of content, ORIGINAL, COMMUNITY DRIVEN CONTENT not be considered active in the community? It seems somewhat silly to me that once you become the writer of a story you are suddenly out of the community. so much so that you can't even use the same trip to vote and comment in other stories.
I have no solutions to these problems I've brought up. I've thought on it but the best I can come up with is that I was once told that WuiG had more in common with the quest threads on /tg/ than it does with the modern shape of these boards, I think this is true and maybe its time we attempt to rediscover our roots. By this I don't mean that we all suddenly change format. I'm not asking you to upset what works for you. But if you are unsatisfied with the shape of how things are right now, then maybe its time to try something different. For both readers and writers.
No. 4413
When I first read Fell's message asking that wall to come back an update, I was going to. I wanted to do something special but then I realized why I quit and I'll let you in on that reason. Every story follows the same pattern, and every main character turns into the same character. Anon can't seem to seperate himself from this archetype, and if a story does manage to break the mold its always temporary and before long you either fight your audience to a bitter standstill or you end up with the same hot blooded white knight who kicks reason to the curb. |
No. 4414
>I've come to call this phenomena Zombie Voting. Where an option will be chosen and then 5-10 exact clones are created of the vote. little to no discussion. The voters see this as giving their approval to that option and a nod to the author to continue. The Author however will not see it like this and interpret this as an empty vote lacking discussion or participation in what is supposed to be a cooperate venture when this is, in most cases, just not the case. |
No. 4416
Welcome to the problems of yesterday. |
No. 4417
> There are exceptions though as Kirin did write a CYOA for a time that had a very different MC in that we were playing the villain, and anon got really into it. They never tried to make Wolfgang a "good" person or trying to redeem himself for his evil ways. They very much embraced the evil characteristics and rolled with it. |
No. 4418
I think the degradation of the site is a natural progression from its growth in popularity. When you get big, you attract all types - naturally, shitposters and trolls will flow in, but that's not all. You get more writers. |
No. 4421
File 127351611915.jpg - (147.89KB , 600x464 , 1271656252119.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >I've come to call this phenomena Zombie Voting. Where an option will be chosen and then 5-10 exact clones are created of the vote. little to no discussion. The voters see this as giving their approval to that option and a nod to the author to continue. The Author however will not see it like this and interpret this as an empty vote lacking discussion or participation in what is supposed to be a cooperate venture when this is, in most cases, just not the case. |
No. 4422
File 127351901621.jpg - (304.21KB , 1200x853 , 5a2f743e2df0fa2e0b855d52756182cbf77cb816.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() I don't speak for the rest of anon, just solely for myself but I've always felt the effort put in creating these cyoas were done out of certain love or fascination for Touhou in general. |
No. 4423
>That they were written not for the sake of fame/infamy, experimenting/testing one's writing capability, or trying to find some semblance of appreciation, but simply because the writers enjoyed Touhou enough to be compelled to write stories. |
No. 4424
>>4422 |
No. 4425
>I don't think I've seen anyone who wasn't me thank Teruyo for the work he put into coding that for our board use. I know people use these and I know people appreciate the additions but I don't think anybody's actually mentioned it. |
No. 4426
>>4425 |
No. 4428
You really think Anon would like to discuss on a story that might just be dropped at any moment due to attention whoring/emoness/just plain doing it wrong? |
No. 4429
I'll get on the "any comment is a good comment" boat; speaking as a writer, even something like that guy who signs his votes with "Works for me~" is pleasant. Irrational? Perhaps. Humor us anyway, would you? |
No. 4430
File 127352500811.jpg - (613.24KB , 1000x1000 , b9b6dd752f78d836f940ede723108c3c7440dfdc.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4425 |
No. 4431
>>4429 |
No. 4432
>>4425 |
No. 4434
I usually make the point of not using my trip elsewhere, my identity isn't important elsewhere most of the time, but I feel that it's appropriate to do so now. |
No. 4436
>>4411 |
No. 4437
>>4436 |
No. 4438
>>4430 |
No. 4439
>>4416 |
No. 4440
I'll sort out my thoughts to be typed out later, but for now I want to address a couple things that bugged me in this thread. |
No. 4441
File 127353347584.jpg - (28.92KB , 386x364 , 1193125106666.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >Over the last couple of months, well almost a year, since Teruyo took over running these boards, He's made countless changes and improvements to the boards, implementing new features to add life to these boards. On nearly every occasion these upgrades and improvements have been met with solid indifference and a lack of enthusiasm. ... |
No. 4442
>>4438 |
No. 4443
>>4442 |
No. 4444
>>4443 |
No. 4445
There are a few things that i cannot agree with you. First let me start with |
No. 4446
I should probably actually check for posts made whiling I'm writing before actually posting myself. |
No. 4447
>>4440 |
No. 4448
>>4447 |
No. 4450
>>4440 |
No. 4451
>>4436 |
No. 4452
>>4438 |
No. 4453
>>4447 |
No. 4454
>>4451 |
No. 4455
>>4451 |
No. 4456
>>4451 |
No. 4457
>Currently 2149 unique user posts. |
No. 4458
>>4445 |
No. 4459
>>4458 |
No. 4460
I never comment. I rarely even vote. |
No. 4461
>>4428 |
No. 4462
File 127354134275.jpg - (46.12KB , 400x299 , you_are_a_pirate.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4460 |
No. 4463
>>4452 |
No. 4464
>>4460 |
No. 4465
>>4458 |
No. 4466
>>4463 |
No. 4467
>>4464 |
No. 4468
>>4466 |
No. 4469
>>4437 |
No. 4470
>>4464 |
No. 4471
>>4469 |
No. 4472
>>4471 |
No. 4473
File 127356620063.jpg - (709.99KB , 800x1920 , fuckyotowah.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4469 |
No. 4474
>>4472 |
No. 4475
>I wonder if I'd get lynched if I devoted the next 5+ updates to my /sdm/ story instead |
No. 4476
>Case in point: ANY instance where a "route" in one story is brought up and used to justify a particular course of action in a separate and completely unrelated story written by a completely different writer. |
No. 4478
>Zombie Voting |
No. 4479
I am a part of the problematic anons mentioned in the OP. My english is pretty horrible so I feel that I shouldn't do any write-ins, the few times I tried to do them ended up bad. The zombievote method is the only way I express my support to the writers. I'm sorry for that. |
No. 4483
>>4473 |
No. 4484
>>4483 |
No. 4485
>>4474 |
No. 4486
>>4485 |
No. 4487
>>4478 |
No. 4488
I get this distinct feeling now that every writer is going to leave because they're not up to par with The Game, simply because it's the "new standard" now. |
No. 4489
>>4488 |
No. 4491
>>4489 |
No. 4493
Thing is you don't have to be mindblowingly good to be able to spark discussion (see Lion, AGLA anon) |
No. 4494
>>4491 |
No. 4495
>>4485 |
No. 4496
>>4483 |
No. 4497
>More people need to try new stuff. Authors need to participate in other stories as well. The site is a better place when everyone is engaged. |
No. 4501
>>4421 |
No. 4505
File 127373312052.jpg - (924.13KB , 768x1024 , Sunshine in a bag and flowers in hand.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() It has come to my attention that apparently I am fucking brilliant and my story is being talked about so goddamn much on here like I am actually some hotshot author or something what the fuck |
No. 4514
>>4505 |
No. 4516
It's pretty sad that after everything that was said in this thread, Dr. Q was the only one who could spare the effort to recommend something he liked. |
No. 4518
>>4514 |
No. 4520
>>4518 |
No. 4521
>>4520 |
No. 4522
>>4411 |
No. 4524
>>4505 |
No. 4525
>>4524 |
No. 4526
>>4505 |
No. 4527
>>4526 |
No. 4528
>Update often and regularly, and you will have more voters closely following behind. |
No. 4529
>>4528 |
No. 4530
The planets must have aligned or something, because HY has come back from the dead and is currently writing a new story on the SDM board at tengu speed. |
No. 4531
>>4529 |
No. 4535
File 127389900572.jpg - (51.07KB , 400x400 , 1238721549315.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4530 |
No. 4536
>>4531 |
No. 4538
>>4531 |
No. 4540
>>4535 |
No. 4541
>>4540 |
No. 4544
>>4540 |
No. 4545
>>4544 |
No. 4560
>>4526 |
No. 4564
>>4560 |
No. 4575
File 127422960143.jpg - (23.86KB , 365x360 , 1175526508084.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4560 |
No. 4576
File 127423541149.jpg - (472.63KB , 1602x1550 , 67f48649c6a329f7a191bce1ee324b88.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4575 |
No. 4577
File 127423638736.jpg - (532.06KB , 645x929 , koishi_tells_it_like_it_is.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4575 |
No. 4580
>>4576 |
No. 4581
File 127425280365.jpg - (391.53KB , 1024x768 , 1179633539420.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4576 |
No. 4588
>>4577 |
No. 4589
File 127431107034.jpg - (370.08KB , 480x550 , 381e008ed716d55acad8f2a72948508a.jpg ) [iqdb] ![]() >>4577 |
No. 4603
>>4564 |