What's a flame war?
Sorry to be eavesdropping.
Caroline

Yes it should carry a warning it is very addictive.
Caroline

Yes this is very addictive. I am short of sleep and I ain't written nowt for the last week. Still I think I will join as it seems very organised and it's good to get feed-back & read other's work.
A few days ago I joined a forum called Fiction Facter and I've been bombarded with group emails with links to their site and it seems to be full of advertisers...'Buy this book'..'Do this course', it is maybe me but it is becoming a pest.
Caroline

Well hush my mouth.

I think you probably should restrict access more, but if you restrict it too much it'll not encourage folks to join.
Caroline

I just signed up for a free trail month only a few minutes ago and this is the second thread I saw!

Had the site demanded cash immediately I would have not gone near it. Curiously, I am neither a psychopath nor scam artist, but if this is the welcome commitee then I am quite glad I did not as yet 'cough up'.
I cannot see how the possession of disposable income and subsequent paying of £20 illustrates that a new member must of necessity be considered 'worthy'? Are there no pleasant and earnest poor people?
It seems a peculiar beelif that a scam artist or psychopathic flame war stalker would not spend cash!

Hello and welcome. It is a good site and I find it helpful or I would not have joined. I too am rather skint, but I took the free months trial and paid after a few weeks as I feel it is worth it for me. It seems that some people may have abused the free months trial and caused upset and some are understandably a little wary.
Hope you feel you can upload some of your work soon.
Take Care
Caroline

I still don't see how having paid money encourages a person to behave themselves! I should think they might think, 'well, I have parted with spondulicks and now I own the place'! LOL
I intended to part with the ill gottens once I saw if the place was 'alive' or not, and to judge from the spped and sweet civility of your response it must be.

Hello.

I have posted a small something to give a small flavour of what we are up against. I also ran over to Macmilan in a desperate attempt to get in on this new writers thing.

Sanguimane,

this is the second thread I saw!

I find that surprising. As no-one has contributed to it for five weeks, it must have been buried eight or nine pages down.
The problem is not with paying the fee but with a small minority of people who sign up for a free month, only to spend it bitching at paying members. It’s upsetting, disruptive, and unproductive.

The piece of work you’ve uploaded has been infested by hieroglyphics. This happens occasionally and we’re not sure why. Sometimes if you copy and paste it onto a fresh Word doc it clears the problem. Go to ‘owner edit’ at the top of your upload, delete what’s in the main narrative box and replace it with the fresh version. It might work.

Incidentally, if you upload a much shorter section – less than 3000 words, say - you’ll get more feedback

Hi Dee,
When I was a trial member only the other week this topic was on the go. I think it was decided to not let free trial members into the lounge forum & restrict access else where. At least I couldn't get back into the lounge until I was a full member.
Hi Sanguimane,
It may help if you post a small part of your writing into a particular group. I don't think you have put it into a group.
Caroline.

Hi Caroline, the last post on this thread before today was you on March 31st… doesn’t time fly!

Sanguimane, Caroline is right about the group. People are more likely to comment on work posted by fellow group members… although, simply on a time factor, a piece this length is going to take a while to read.

Dee

"I find that surprising. As no-one has contributed to it for five weeks, it must have been buried eight or nine pages down."

Just lucky I suppose, I was looking through the forum section and ended up there. Had no luck getting into the lounge though. I cannot theorise any reason why I could or should have been deliberately seeking it out! The firstthing I saw was a thread about Macmillans sudden conversion to common sense.

I shall attempt to amend the hieroglyphic situation... and only post a portion I suppose, I cannot write short stories and so everything is excessively long.
I don't recall seeing a list of possible sub groups but do not always thrive in the 'fantasy' section... I shall go to 'home' and see where I end up.

I've just sent off my cheque to become a full member. This is the first online forum I've ever joined and it's fascinating to read about the shadow side of this one. Can anyone tell me what is the ideal way to use the forum? I'd never think of advertising myself or nicking anyone else's stuff on here, but how would the perfect forum member use the various sites for, say, an hour every night? Is anyone even getting this post?

Thanks!

Hi'
Welcome. I would browse a bit, comment on others work respecting the type of comments they've requested. Upload some of your own stuff and join a group or two.
Caroline

The best way to improve your own work is to comment on others. It sounds silly, and some people think they're unqualified, but it works. You can be more critical about someone else's work, and once you've done that a few times you begin to more objective in criticising your own work.

And the interviews are good.

Colin M

I don't think that trial members have the option to edit their one upload (presumably to stop people replacing one text with a new one for comment). So I guess the glyphs will have to stay for now...

To contribute to the main theme of the discussion...I would say that there are very many ghost towns in cyberspace and, like others, I very much valued the chance to see and experience the interactions at WriteWords before signing up. I feel that the annual fee is very reasonable in terms of what this community offers. However, what is here may not suit or interest everyone and I certainly wouldn't have signed up sight unseen.

It is the combination of the structure here and the people which makes it worthwhile. And, ultimately, without people a format is nothing...just an empty shell. I don't think that charging to belong is really about 'buying' anything at all...I think it's more a mark of comitment to participate....you've paid...so you might as well get your money's worth. And, actually, if you don't contribute to that thing you have a stake in then you're not going to get that.

Perhaps if there were a direct debit option for people to sign up for something like £2 per month that might be an attractive option for some on limited means. It seems to me that this is not an unreasonable cost compared to any other form of writers gathering you might attend offline... If people find that they prefer other free venues online for interaction then they are equally free to go there instead, and I'm sure some will.

I think that those who are here also have to accept that the community will seem different to those outside. When you enter a new place you have a very different perspective on it from 'regulars'. You're checking it out. It's one of very many other places online, most of which you go to in order to 'get something' rather than to 'give something.

I am a newbie who wasn't put off by the thought that people who have committed a lot of time and effort to their community might feel upset at the prospect of people abusing it. However, I think that equally, when you arrive in a new place online you're not necessarily going to be aware of all the conventions and expectations. In short, speaking as someone who has been on the other side of the equation in a community and watched newbies come and go...I think it 'goes with the territory'. You have to shrug and move on. Such is life...etc etc, tum-tee-tum....

Enough pontificating from me. Over and out.

Mazzy