I didn't participate this year because my plate in RL and in fandom was already full, but I did participate last year and kept tabs on the proceedings in this challenge, so here is my two cents.
First of all, I second pretty much everything chosenfire28 said. I modded SPN Reverse bang a couple of years ago (handed off the reins to a different team) and have modded Inception Reverse Bang both this year and last. I love Reverse Bangs and think they're great challenges and a way to bring authors and artists together in a fandom. Here is my take on it:
1. Avengers and other fandoms have definitely taken a bite out of all other fandoms (Inception included) but Inception got a pretty great turn out for our Reverse bang in spite of this. And ST fandom, as a whole, is much larger and more active than Inception fandom currently is. So while I think other fandoms factored in to lower participation rates in Trek Reverse Bang, I don't think they're a major factor.
2. The delays hurt the challenge a great deal. The one thing that really drives down challenge participation in my experience (any type of challenge) is confusion. This can be confusion over rules, deadlines, expectations--too much confusion and people will just stop bothering. As a general rule, people don't like to ask a million questions; if they can't figure out what's going on fairly quickly, they'll move on rather than ask.
Confusion over when things are due or supposed to be posted or will be done on a mod's end will make participants lose faith in the process, and lose faith in the mods' ability to keep things in control. This leads to less commitment on the participants' parts. Disorganization on the mods' parts can also make a lot of participants cynical, resentful, or bitter (this is especially true if a participant has put in a lot of effort but gets nothing to show for it at the end).
3. Another thing that's key to keeping participation rates high is enthusiasm and simple reminders. Most people sign up for a challenge with the best of intentions, but then get busy with the rest of their lives. With challenges that take place over months, it's especially important to do things that keep a challenge (and its' deadlines) somewhere near the top of participants' minds and remind them to keep writing. This can be anything from sending out the occasional email blast to posting reminders in the community to setting up mandatory check in points. Anything to remind participants that they signed up for a challenge and committed to finishing it.
4. One of the other commenters mentioned setting up a pinch-hitting system, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. It's far easier to set up pinch hits when you have a list of volunteers, their contact information, and what sorts of stories/art they're willing to do (and what they're not).
5. Another piece of admin work that might help--clearer and more specific rules. Anything that reduces confusion will likely result in more people signing up. More sign ups mean more people will likely make it all the way to the end.
If one person asks a question, that means there are probably 10-20 people who were wondering the same exact thing. The problem is, if you reply to a question in a comment, most of the time only the person asking ever reads the answer. That leaves 10-20 other people out there still confused. This issue can be solved with clearer rules that leave people with few to no questions.
Anyway, I hope my thoughts are helpful. I do love ST and am hopeful that the new movie will bring in a tide of enthusiasm and more fans again. I also love reverse bangs and like modding challenges, so I want to do everything I can to help them succeed with the experience I've gained in running them. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to continue the conversation.
Thank you for the feedback. I'll definitely be coming back to this as I figure out what to do to ensure the challenge is better run in the future.
As for the pinch hit system, there was one in place but the emails I sent out went unanswered. Obviously this indicates that the system needs to be revised.
First of all, I second pretty much everything chosenfire28 said. I modded SPN Reverse bang a couple of years ago (handed off the reins to a different team) and have modded Inception Reverse Bang both this year and last. I love Reverse Bangs and think they're great challenges and a way to bring authors and artists together in a fandom. Here is my take on it:
1. Avengers and other fandoms have definitely taken a bite out of all other fandoms (Inception included) but Inception got a pretty great turn out for our Reverse bang in spite of this. And ST fandom, as a whole, is much larger and more active than Inception fandom currently is. So while I think other fandoms factored in to lower participation rates in Trek Reverse Bang, I don't think they're a major factor.
2. The delays hurt the challenge a great deal. The one thing that really drives down challenge participation in my experience (any type of challenge) is confusion. This can be confusion over rules, deadlines, expectations--too much confusion and people will just stop bothering. As a general rule, people don't like to ask a million questions; if they can't figure out what's going on fairly quickly, they'll move on rather than ask.
Confusion over when things are due or supposed to be posted or will be done on a mod's end will make participants lose faith in the process, and lose faith in the mods' ability to keep things in control. This leads to less commitment on the participants' parts. Disorganization on the mods' parts can also make a lot of participants cynical, resentful, or bitter (this is especially true if a participant has put in a lot of effort but gets nothing to show for it at the end).
3. Another thing that's key to keeping participation rates high is enthusiasm and simple reminders. Most people sign up for a challenge with the best of intentions, but then get busy with the rest of their lives. With challenges that take place over months, it's especially important to do things that keep a challenge (and its' deadlines) somewhere near the top of participants' minds and remind them to keep writing. This can be anything from sending out the occasional email blast to posting reminders in the community to setting up mandatory check in points. Anything to remind participants that they signed up for a challenge and committed to finishing it.
4. One of the other commenters mentioned setting up a pinch-hitting system, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. It's far easier to set up pinch hits when you have a list of volunteers, their contact information, and what sorts of stories/art they're willing to do (and what they're not).
5. Another piece of admin work that might help--clearer and more specific rules. Anything that reduces confusion will likely result in more people signing up. More sign ups mean more people will likely make it all the way to the end.
If one person asks a question, that means there are probably 10-20 people who were wondering the same exact thing. The problem is, if you reply to a question in a comment, most of the time only the person asking ever reads the answer. That leaves 10-20 other people out there still confused. This issue can be solved with clearer rules that leave people with few to no questions.
Anyway, I hope my thoughts are helpful. I do love ST and am hopeful that the new movie will bring in a tide of enthusiasm and more fans again. I also love reverse bangs and like modding challenges, so I want to do everything I can to help them succeed with the experience I've gained in running them. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to continue the conversation.
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As for the pinch hit system, there was one in place but the emails I sent out went unanswered. Obviously this indicates that the system needs to be revised.
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