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Well, here we are again.
Many, if not most of the suggestions following on from my last blog on the topic, have been implemented. We appear to have settled into a low to medium run of activity. For instance, over the last couple of months we have had around 100 posts of various sorts and 16 members have logged in.
Do we continue?
The short answer is ‘yes’, for another year, because we can secure funding to keep it running a bit longer. If anybody would like to help with the funding, please have a look at the latest post on the donations group. You will need to join the group to view it, but this doesn’t commit you to anything.
Longer term, Jules put a lot of work into setting the site up and I’ve tried to tweak and adjust things to people’s likes and ideas over the last year. As a meeting place where we can get together, I think it would be sad to let it go. I find it hard to think of anywhere else that we could run an annual short-story challenge as we have done for years, where we can support two old self-edit groups from WordCloud days, and where we keep a handful of people entertained with a monthly comp (feeling guilty for missing this month). Then there are blogs, especially Richard’s, which are always great.
What I don’t want is to keep the site going as a kind of hobby for me. I have plenty of things to do.
Hit me with your
rhythm stickthoughts.My participation is very sporadic, although I do actually pop in here most days and read what’s been written. I’m glad it can continue, at least for now. I would miss it if it went.
I agree that, as a place where we can meet to chat (ever so sporadically) and have monthly (great for writing practice) and especially annual competitions, it would be absolutely sad to see The Den dissolve due to the lack of activity. I don’t think the work anyone has put in should go to waste.
The implemented suggestions have been fun, though no one’s ever online to chat with me when I log on, like right now, for example 😛 haha. And I absolutely agree that the the bulk of the effort for keeping it going, shouldn’t have to fall to poor Ath as some sort of unspoken, obligatory duty, with diminishing returns on the fun factor. That is unfair.
I think it’s safe to say we would all miss it, and I know we all have Things Going On in our lives that make showing up consistently a low-priority and a challenge. But short of wagging a silent but accusatory finger about lightening Ath’s load, there isn’t much I can do but go announce the monthly comp winner for June, and hope this gets more views and responses than just Bella and I ✨
Just a thought, and maybe not entirely welcome, but would not the opportunity for members to expand their profiles, just a little, be more welcoming? Give newbies the opportunity to read, make contact and say (for example “I’m interested in that too”
btw I’ve posted July’s comp but don’t know if the link will function as hoped. If not can you tell me how, please.
I like Sandra’s idea of being able to expand our profiles, not just for new members but for existing ones. Apart from topics that come up in posts, I mostly don’t know what is interesting to fellow Denizens, either long term or temporarily. I’m thinking of writing and reading though anything else is welcome too.
I had a look at our profile options a while back but I couldn’t see how it’s supposed to work. You can add information about yourself, but it doesn’t show up when your profile is viewed (which is a bit pointless). I’ll take another look at it.
I really enjoy the annual short story challenge, and I try to participate in the odd monthly competition. My SE group has also used the Den as a lifeboat. So I’d hate to see it go and lose contact with some talented people.
I think one of the differences from the more active Word Cloud, is there was a constant flow of fresh blood funnelled via the courses. Even if people didn’t hang around long term, they kept the place busy.
Most of the current members seem to have a bit more experience, and have formed writing friends, so need less input. The Den is more of a place to hang out if and when we have time.
Having said that, the blog section on the Word Cloud was always very animated and entertaining with a core of permanent members.
I think activity is down to numbers, but how you attract new members, I don’t know.
But I’m glad we’ll be around for another year. Thanks to Athelstone and Jules for their work.
I echo Kate’s comments.
I was sorry to miss the last annual story challenge when I was away from home but I’m about to start a further edit of my ghost story from the previous year’s challenge.
I’ve occasionally thought of writing an occasional blog about aspects of fiction and I could pick up that thought and actually do something. Would it be possible to know numbers of people reading it? I don’t need or expect replies but it would be useful to know if anyone is looking at the entries — an indication of whether I should carry on or not 🙂
I too echo Kate; I was trying to remember how the Cloud functioned in terms of activity; hadn’t considered the influx of new members. finding their confidence to participate.
And, yes, yes, the annual challenge and also to a blog about e,g, fiction (I was wondering last week about what makes ‘Good Writing’?) And at least the Activity column shows the folk who look in (though there are some who do so frequently but never write)
I’m in the same position as I was in last year: the Den is normally the only place I interact with anybody on-line, so I would be very sad to see it go. I’m a bit more up-beat about it, though, because since the ‘members’ side-bar on the home page has been changed from ‘most recent’ to ‘most active’ (good idea) it shows that quite a few people do drop in regularly even if they don’t contribute much, or at all. You can, after all, enjoy and value a forum as a lurker.
Those two SE groups are a compelling reason for keeping the place going. I’m not a member of either, but I remember how much I used to enjoy interacting with the other two long-term survivors of my own group before they eventually drifted away. It would be sad to deprive the members of those groups of that pleasure.
Like Libby, I’m still working on one of my annual challenge stories (from the most recent one in my case), so yes, there’s certainly value in that.
All the work you put in, Ath, to revamp the Den is much appreciated, certainly by me. It’s much more user-friendly now.
And your kind comment about my blogs has put a little more heart into me. Perhaps I’ll even write another one soon.
Do write another blog, Richard!
Yes, the Cloud had the benefit of the Writers’ Workshop behind it. Not only did people find it from WW Courses, but from other services. I found the Cloud when I bought an editorial review. Then, it had things like the ‘Getting Published’ day in London and the ‘Festival of Writing’ in York.
Goes some way to explaining why Jericho Writers Townhouse is (finally) doing well.
Talking of annual story challenges: coming soon to a forum near you…
Thanks Ath, and everyone who’s kept this place going. I admit I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to help the process, and like everyone else who has commented I would miss the Den if it were not here. I’ve been in a bit of a low spot for (fiction) writing for a while but I have recently been meaning to wander back in the hope of a chat about writing.
I agree with the comments about critical mass. Worth remembering that while the Cloud had a membership well into five figures, it was probably only around 100, if that, that kept it going healthily – but, the steady stream of new blood helped keep that pool fresh. So on that… Can we survive with what is essentially a group of Word Cloud refugees? Or do we need to find a way of luring the occasional newbie in to place in our literary wicker man and sacrifice for the good of the community? Er, I mean welcome with tea and cake and chat about writing and stuff.
Yes, the blogs were a big part of keeping things moving along and conversations happening. I suppose blogs don’t have to be long. Richard has done sterling work posting his fascinating and frankly eminently publishable articles – it would be nice to see a bit more of that kind of thing, and I’ll try to contribute.
The other thing that brought people to the Cloud was that it was somewhere to get crit on work in progress. I don’t know if there simply isn’t the need for that now (and I know it could be fraught with differences of opinion on how to give/receive crit sometimes) or if people are shy or have simply got out of the habit, but is that one area we might cultivate?
I feel hypocritical even writing a response, because I have drifted off so much and for so long, and managed to fail to submit an entry for three years of the challenge, but I would also be sad to see the Den go.
For me, it’s partly habit. If I don’t have a reason to log on, it is all too easy to just…stop doing it. And once a tab is shut, my brain considers it to be a site that no longer exists.
I can’t comment on the changes, as I have not checked them out, so I shall do so now and see if any thoughts occur.
Just wanted to extend my appreciation to Ath and Jules for starting & maintaining/updating/supporting this place. I’m afraid I have very much drifted off, largely just because of the other demands on my writing time. It’s nice to know this place is here & I look forward to the annual challenges, but I honestly don’t spend enough time here to be able to argue hard that it be maintained at someone else’s time & effort.
I think one of the big pluses of the Cloud bringing in a constant stream of new members via the courses was that there was a constantly refreshing pool of writers at roughly the same stage – looking for crit, looking to build skills, meet people etc. One of the things that has slightly befallen the Den is that a lot of us have moved beyond this point & as the demands on our writing time increase, it’s harder and harder to find time for non-contracted/career/official stuff. That sounds … mercenary or something, but it’s true.
Just to throw a complete random thing into the mix … if this place costs money & time to maintain, why not switch to Discord? It’s free, private, you can set up lots of channels for different chats, and share files safely. And as a lot of people use it, it might be an easier format to recruit new members?
There’s a lot to be said for Discord. There are a number of pages I visit regularly. I don’t imagine it would suit some of our members, but there may be no alternative in a year’s time.
I like Discord for all those reasons too @raine.
It may well and best suit the members who will show up there, and couldn’t there be an influx of new writerly blood from the different tags we use on open channels?
Yeah, I think recruiting people to a Discord group is much easier than to a website, tbh. I spend more time in my discord group than I do any online group, mainly because it’s an app & I can do it easily when I’m away from my laptop. Partly because it facilitates chat in a way websites, however well constructed, just don’t. And where I am now, I’m looking for like-minded chat rather than blogs or critique or whatever (although discord can still easily do those things too).
Hello. Long time no see, everyone. I’m posting this to say I do occasionally pop in to see what’s going on, but haven’t actually logged in for a Very Long Time. So, apologies. And also, thanks to you faithful few, and especially Ath and any other admin (?) for keeping it going. Yes, other things going on for me too, but the other day I was feeling particularly nostalgic for the WordCloud, so maybe I should give things another go on here. If it does carry on, which I kind of hope it does now. Best wishes to everyone. Hil
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