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silwritersguildThe SWG moderators have recently been discussing the possibility of setting up a "satellite group" on Tumblr. Like our current satellite groups on LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, and Yahoo! Groups, this group would be run under the SWG guidelines as a space for the Silmarillion fandom.
The problem is that none of the SWG moderators have much experience with Tumblr! While we all have accounts there, none of us are heavy users of the site and so feel woefully unprepared to make the best decisions in getting the group set up.
We are seeking volunteers to discuss setting up a Tumblr satellite group for the SWG. No particular experience is necessary--just a willingness to help us iron our the particulars and probably answer the occasional silly question! :) We will also eventually be seeking moderators for the Tumblr group and will give strong preference to those who have helped to get the group set up.
If you're interested in helping out with this, please comment on this post with your email address, as well as your preference for how we hold the discussion (email, LiveJournal, Yahoo! mailing list, etc.). If there is a particular venue where you will not participate in discussion, please let us know that as well. All comments are screened and we will not unscreen any comment with personal information in it. You may also email us at [email protected], if you prefer.
The problem is that none of the SWG moderators have much experience with Tumblr! While we all have accounts there, none of us are heavy users of the site and so feel woefully unprepared to make the best decisions in getting the group set up.
We are seeking volunteers to discuss setting up a Tumblr satellite group for the SWG. No particular experience is necessary--just a willingness to help us iron our the particulars and probably answer the occasional silly question! :) We will also eventually be seeking moderators for the Tumblr group and will give strong preference to those who have helped to get the group set up.
If you're interested in helping out with this, please comment on this post with your email address, as well as your preference for how we hold the discussion (email, LiveJournal, Yahoo! mailing list, etc.). If there is a particular venue where you will not participate in discussion, please let us know that as well. All comments are screened and we will not unscreen any comment with personal information in it. You may also email us at [email protected], if you prefer.
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Date: 2013-09-18 02:19 pm (UTC)The SWG "satellite" would be set up as a separate blog. (Elleth's post below yours elaborates on how that could be accomplished.) As for what would be posted there, that is something that we need to discuss with more experienced Tumblr users because I don't feel qualified to decide what would be appropriate or used. At a minimum, it would include group announcements, as a way of reaching fandomfolk who use Tumblr as their primary site. Whether we would allow stories to be posted, questions, discussions, etc. is something we all need to figure out.
The group would be run under our guidelines. Civility and openness is and always has been a cornerstone of the SWG, as you note. That would continue here. Since any post to the group by a non-mod would need to be approved (that much I know! :D) then we would keep some level of control over what is posted in our space. (Of course, it's Tumblr, so what is reblogged and said on other Tumblrs is out of our control.)
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Date: 2013-09-18 05:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 10:29 am (UTC)says she as she glances at all her unfinished SoWD fics.But as for tumblr proper - the best way to create an SWG space seems to be via a group-modded blog sideblog. Sideblog because tumblr doesn't permit that feature for main ones (that would require a shared email and password). You can set that up via the dropdown menu on your name via any of the tumblr blue pages > create new blog, and then invite people to help mod on http://www.tumblr.com/blog/YOUR-URL/members. Other users will still be able to follow it, though sideblogs are not able to follow back, similar to how people can join communities here on LJ, but communities can't friend anybody.
The rest I suppose depends on how you're planning to run it - announcements? A platform similar to this one where people can publish their fic (I don't think there is a need for that since most fic writers seem to prefer the control that their own blogs allow them - they can't delete things they'd submit, for example), discussion, something else?
Anyways, I would be tentatively interested to help with that. You know my email, and either LJ or email would be great as discussion venue. I wouldn't mind Y!Groups either, but with the recent changes I don't know if that would ideal for everyone involved.
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Date: 2013-09-18 11:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 06:55 pm (UTC)From my moderator perspective, that makes this a more difficult venture than the other satellite groups we've set up, where the potential for something to be forwarded and spread outside the community is much smaller.
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Date: 2013-09-18 07:02 pm (UTC)It is more difficult. Why I am shy of SWG discussions there. As far as I am concerned you have worked very hard to maintain the atmosphere/reputation the website has.
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Date: 2013-09-18 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 02:26 pm (UTC)I have my likes and dislikes about Tumblr as well--not so great for discussion, imo, but I love that my work can reach beyond my usual audience--but I don't think that's even relevant at this point. What motivated my decision to want to set up the Tumblr satellite was the amount of fannish activity going on there; whether I like the site or not doesn't change that. The SWG has generally set up satellites on groups where there is a fannish presence (e.g., the DW community we set up a few years back); some of these are more active than others, but I like having a venue to at least get announcements out to people who want to participate in the SWG but do most of their fannish stuff on a particular site. The main activity will always continue to occur on our website. As for what's to be posted, this is part of what we need to discuss. Announcements, at the very least, but I'm not sure what other options exist and what would be (as you point out) actually used by people. Stories? Discussions? Art? Questions? Promos for other groups and events? These are all things that come to mind as possibilities, based on what we allow on our site and existing satellite groups.
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Date: 2013-09-18 07:36 pm (UTC)Announcements, at the very least, but I'm not sure what other options exist and what would be (as you point out) actually used by people.
OK, opinions on other options.
Stories?
Um. OK, this will open up a can of worms, but I'm not keen on inclusion of stories. Although there are some gems that get published on Tumblr (that once they pass into the gravity well of Tumblr oblivion are hard to find), a lot of what I see is slapdash, barely edited stuff. I mean, I am not expecting Pulitzer Prize winning material (I certainly do not write such!) but I do expect some evidence that the writer has vetted her/his fic. Grammatical errors and consistent point-of-view glitchery suggest lack of betaing/editing. However, links to stories on the SWG, similar to what you clever mods do for the Newsletter, would be cool.
Discussions?
If these could be contained with consistent tagging within an SWG Tumblr/sub-Tumblr, that would be good!
Art?
Yep.
Questions?
Sounds good. In fact, an SWG questions forum would be a good place to provide links to answers, like Oshun's bios or stuff in our Reference section. It would also be a place where I wouldn't go into an eyerolling fit because citations have not been provided. >:^)
Promos for other groups and events?
Yes. Also for SWG Special Projects.
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Date: 2013-09-18 10:27 pm (UTC)I'm very much liking the idea, which I've seen in a few places in this discussion, of using the Tumblr blog to round up links and stuff from the website and other places. And I think it would be an excellent resource for asking questions. (I'm less confident about discussions, since Tumblr is not a good site for that, imo. On stories, I am less confident because people can't necessarily delete [or edit?] their own work, which seems like it will invite problems, from the perspective of someone who gets to see how much actually gets deleted off of the SWG ... ;)
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Date: 2013-09-18 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 05:54 am (UTC)respect Opinions™ :P
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Date: 2013-09-18 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-18 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 05:41 am (UTC)Poll results were lost, and there were many reports about people not being able to use the group.
Maybe a sub-community here? (for further discussions)
On topic, I don't really understand tumblr, or use it, even though I have an account.
So, if there will be some presence, I will join, but I am sorry I can't really contribute here.
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Date: 2013-09-19 06:41 pm (UTC)However we have our own means to set op a forum at the SWG domain so there is no direct need to establish a forum at a site elsewhere like pro-boards, but I like the idea and thank you for the great suggestion. :)
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Date: 2013-09-18 08:02 pm (UTC)I'm puzzled by many aspects of Tumblr and more or less failing to figure out some of the most basic things.
I do think any important announcements that you'd really want to be picked up on there, would have to be "queued" if possible.
But Elleth knows all about that of course--and I don't even know how it works!
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Date: 2013-09-18 10:30 pm (UTC)I'll bring up the issue of queuing or doing multiple posts. Part of that, I suppose, will depend on how heavily stuff is being reblogged too.
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Date: 2013-09-19 01:14 am (UTC)Even though I am basically no longer using Tumblr (for many reasons), a SWG tumblr sounds like a good idea.
However, I don't think that either stories or discussions being posted there is a good idea (links to stories are good though).
Discussions? Even if you get everyone using the SWG to agree to rules, you can't stop if from spreading outside of those people. So even if everyone agrees to be civil, all it takes is one person outside of that sphere running across it, and now you have somebody being the focus of harassment, again.
I don't know. I like discussions on livejournal or forums, where they are limited by rules and moderated. Tumblr's like the Wild West, though. You can't enforce any rules on there, because there is no control by moderators once it's been reblogged.
Maybe I'm just more doubtful than I should be. But imo, even if we try to make a home for like minded people, we're going to get everyone else beating the door down and refusing to follow those rules. I just don't see how it's possible to maintain civil, reasonable discussion for any length of time given the limitations inherent in Tumblr.
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Date: 2013-09-19 01:33 am (UTC)The SWG is regarded as a safe space for some people, and I definitely want to respect that, too.
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Date: 2013-09-20 06:51 am (UTC)On the one hand, there's the idea of posting a newsletter to let Tumblrites know what's going on elsewhere--at the SWG Archive especially and anything Silmish not on Tumblr. (Similar to the monthly newsletter on the Archive--or even actually a version of that.). Probably the primary idea?
Besides that, however, it would also be possible to have a regular update with Tumblr content: a collection of links to Silmish stories, art and discussion threads on Tumblr for one which could invite submission from Tumblrites. (Inviting submissions would certainly make SWG look more open.)
If this was a moderated collection of links--rather than allowing people to post actual content (stories and art) and start discussions on the blog themselves, it would presumably prevent or at least minimize some of the issues that people have been worrying about, as the lack of access to delete or edit submitted content and the risk of discussions going viral or vicious. It would, however, be more work for the moderators, obviously.
Considerations re art: there are proportionally more artists out there on Tumblr than on the other venues, so you could potentially get more art than you expected--although most of them would have to discover SWG first. Perhaps more importantly, as re-posting art is a major aspect of Tumblr culture, you would have to take care to specify original art rather than re-posted art (assuming that is the intention).