[admin] Bulletin Board and Wiki Happenings
Got two announcements -- one big and one made of several small parts -- condensed into one post. Here's the short version of each:
1. We have our own bulletin board/forum now!
2. There's a bunch of new stuff at the wiki, including a whole big how-to guide, a way to add content warnings, and a lot of summaries and reviews for stories from all our issues.
Want more details? We've got them for you behind the cut...
1. The Bulletin Board
We've got one! It's located at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/bb/ and it's spiffy and exciting! It's a combination multi-user forum and announcements post.
If you've contributed in recent memory, you've already got an account set up under your contribution pseudonym (and if you can't remember the password, have it reset to whatever email you contribute with). If you don't have one or want a different account, it's simple to sign up for one at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/create-an-account/ ; you can even customize your icon and display information at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/edit-account-profile/ . If you don't want to sign up for an account at all, we've got both other social media logins and anonymous commenting enabled.
Here's what we are hoping it'll be:
1. A mirror/archive of posted announcements, etc.
The 'Announcements' board is primarily a mirror for bb_shousetsu; the newsletter, tweets, etc. will not be mirrored here. While LiveJournal will still be our primary residence, users can comment on announcements and sign up to participate in both places. You can sign up for email notifications when new forum topics get posted, too. (While we don't expect LJ will conk out on us anytime soon, if it does, we'd like not to lose the contents of our main community.)
2. A place for users to talk amongst themselves.
Our 'Open Forum' is where it'll be at for most folk. bangbangwhimper used to be a pretty happening place, but with the gradual heat death of LiveJournal, it's been left all but vacant -- which is sad, because it was the best place we had for creators and readers to chat. We used to have people swapping writing tips, sharing ideas, finding and recommending stories, and generally making friends. We'd like to get that back.
3. A way to include LiveJournal non-users.
If you don't have an LJ account and don't want to deal with the CAPTCHA/OpenID login what-not involved with anonymous commenting there, it's a lot easier to comment on our bulletin board. No ads, no muss, no fuss.
4. A way to include Goodreads non-users.
While we've been having a grand ol' time over in our Goodreads group, we realize that not everyone wants to sign up for a Goodreads account -- and that some people who've already signed up have them linked to Facebook accounts, and thus might not want their grandparents know about the relative quality of the gay porn they read. Hopefully, by echoing the discussion threads over here, we'll be able to give more people the chance to participate.
2. Wiki Goodness
We know most people have never worked with a wiki before. Therefore, we've created a whole big Guide for the Perplexed that walks you through 99% of everything you'll ever need to know about using the wiki.
There's a nifty new content warnings template on the wiki that can be added to any page you think deserves a warning. If you're an author/artist who wants to advise caution about something you've created, or if you're a reader who sees something you think others would like to be forewarned about it, you can add it to any page. Even if you've never edited a wiki before, it's incredibly easy to do: The syntax is right there on the page, so you can just copy the template, paste it into a page, insert whatever text you want to serve as warning text, and hit 'Save page'. And lo and behold, the page will have a warning!
One of your editors (not naming names) has recently done some serious trawling through various internet search engines and has dug up a lot of summaries and reviews for stories going back as early as the first issue. A lot of them have been either excerpted or reproduced in full (with permission) on the wiki pages; others have been linked to. So if someone's said something nice on the internet about one of your submissions, odds are now better that that submission's wiki page reflects that.
(Are you a reviewer type? Would you like to give us permission to put your reviews/summaries on the wiki? Well, by gum, do it! Or put them there yourself, if you're feeling adventurous.)
Also, aspectabund and ariamech have been being Big Damn Heroes lately, going through the wiki and doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work you probably wouldn't notice except for how everything's better. Thus, they deserve much gratitude and praise! Hooray!
Also, don't forget that signups for our theme-free Big Bang December issue are still open. Artists, if you're interested in illustrating, signing up sooner is always better than later for getting author attention. And authors, if you've got a story in mind and would like help making it pretty, sooner is definitely better for starting a collaboration.
1. We have our own bulletin board/forum now!
2. There's a bunch of new stuff at the wiki, including a whole big how-to guide, a way to add content warnings, and a lot of summaries and reviews for stories from all our issues.
Want more details? We've got them for you behind the cut...
1. The Bulletin Board
We've got one! It's located at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/bb/ and it's spiffy and exciting! It's a combination multi-user forum and announcements post.
If you've contributed in recent memory, you've already got an account set up under your contribution pseudonym (and if you can't remember the password, have it reset to whatever email you contribute with). If you don't have one or want a different account, it's simple to sign up for one at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/create-an-account/ ; you can even customize your icon and display information at http://www.shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/edit-account-profile/ . If you don't want to sign up for an account at all, we've got both other social media logins and anonymous commenting enabled.
Here's what we are hoping it'll be:
1. A mirror/archive of posted announcements, etc.
The 'Announcements' board is primarily a mirror for bb_shousetsu; the newsletter, tweets, etc. will not be mirrored here. While LiveJournal will still be our primary residence, users can comment on announcements and sign up to participate in both places. You can sign up for email notifications when new forum topics get posted, too. (While we don't expect LJ will conk out on us anytime soon, if it does, we'd like not to lose the contents of our main community.)
2. A place for users to talk amongst themselves.
Our 'Open Forum' is where it'll be at for most folk. bangbangwhimper used to be a pretty happening place, but with the gradual heat death of LiveJournal, it's been left all but vacant -- which is sad, because it was the best place we had for creators and readers to chat. We used to have people swapping writing tips, sharing ideas, finding and recommending stories, and generally making friends. We'd like to get that back.
3. A way to include LiveJournal non-users.
If you don't have an LJ account and don't want to deal with the CAPTCHA/OpenID login what-not involved with anonymous commenting there, it's a lot easier to comment on our bulletin board. No ads, no muss, no fuss.
4. A way to include Goodreads non-users.
While we've been having a grand ol' time over in our Goodreads group, we realize that not everyone wants to sign up for a Goodreads account -- and that some people who've already signed up have them linked to Facebook accounts, and thus might not want their grandparents know about the relative quality of the gay porn they read. Hopefully, by echoing the discussion threads over here, we'll be able to give more people the chance to participate.
2. Wiki Goodness
We know most people have never worked with a wiki before. Therefore, we've created a whole big Guide for the Perplexed that walks you through 99% of everything you'll ever need to know about using the wiki.
There's a nifty new content warnings template on the wiki that can be added to any page you think deserves a warning. If you're an author/artist who wants to advise caution about something you've created, or if you're a reader who sees something you think others would like to be forewarned about it, you can add it to any page. Even if you've never edited a wiki before, it's incredibly easy to do: The syntax is right there on the page, so you can just copy the template, paste it into a page, insert whatever text you want to serve as warning text, and hit 'Save page'. And lo and behold, the page will have a warning!
One of your editors (not naming names) has recently done some serious trawling through various internet search engines and has dug up a lot of summaries and reviews for stories going back as early as the first issue. A lot of them have been either excerpted or reproduced in full (with permission) on the wiki pages; others have been linked to. So if someone's said something nice on the internet about one of your submissions, odds are now better that that submission's wiki page reflects that.
(Are you a reviewer type? Would you like to give us permission to put your reviews/summaries on the wiki? Well, by gum, do it! Or put them there yourself, if you're feeling adventurous.)
Also, aspectabund and ariamech have been being Big Damn Heroes lately, going through the wiki and doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work you probably wouldn't notice except for how everything's better. Thus, they deserve much gratitude and praise! Hooray!
Also, don't forget that signups for our theme-free Big Bang December issue are still open. Artists, if you're interested in illustrating, signing up sooner is always better than later for getting author attention. And authors, if you've got a story in mind and would like help making it pretty, sooner is definitely better for starting a collaboration.