Mod Post: Please Read!
To the lovely members of Shaping Destiny:
If you take a look at the current recent entries page, all of the entries are by us moderators and more than half are weekly events such as rec and fic posts. In fact, there are now three Weekly Rec Posts on the main page, which means that this comm has been fairly inactive for two weeks!
We’re not pointing fingers at anyone-it’s the summer holidays and, more significantly, it’s the summer hiatus for our show, so obviously there’s not much to talk about. It’s also a given that a lot of people are on vacation or soaking up the time to do things outside of fandom, which is lovely and understandable. It would just be a shame if this community dried up before series three started, and it’d be wonderful if you guys could pitch in and help revive this place!
Remember: Anyone can post anything. We mods aren’t teachers posting discussion questions on the blackboard, you know? Anyone can do it, anyone can start something. We cannot stress enough that this isn’t some sort of strict classroom-we like fun, we want fun, and not every ‘discussion’ entry has to be serious and require a lot of deep thinking. We like squee, too!
Make this community what you want it to be. Be honest in your opinions, start the discussion/squee topics you want to talk about and don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. You can start fests/games/challenges, make little memes and scavenger hunts such as Five Times Merlin Looked at Arthur with Heart Eyes, and everyone will scramble to find screencaps or write comment fic! Basically, we can have a lot of fun here and we hope everyone feels included in said fun. It’s a silly and cracky show, but our boys provide a lot of heart and create a balance between the crack and the deep love, and I think there’s a lot of potential for fandom fun there.
Feel free to reply to this entry with your thoughts! Today’s Weekly Rec Post is already up, and later I will be posting an Honesty/Venting Entry to coincide with the ideas expressed in this post. I hope you all feel comfortable enough to come out of your shells, because the rest of the mods and I really want this to be a safe haven for M/A fans. ♥
If you take a look at the current recent entries page, all of the entries are by us moderators and more than half are weekly events such as rec and fic posts. In fact, there are now three Weekly Rec Posts on the main page, which means that this comm has been fairly inactive for two weeks!
We’re not pointing fingers at anyone-it’s the summer holidays and, more significantly, it’s the summer hiatus for our show, so obviously there’s not much to talk about. It’s also a given that a lot of people are on vacation or soaking up the time to do things outside of fandom, which is lovely and understandable. It would just be a shame if this community dried up before series three started, and it’d be wonderful if you guys could pitch in and help revive this place!
- ANYONE CAN POST DISCUSSION ENTRIES. Members can post any type of entry they desire, permitting it focuses on M/A or one of the boys in some shape or form. This includes Colin /Bradley news (e.g. interviews), memes, links to fanworks and, of course, broad discussion and squee posts. We want this to be a really loose and laidback place-don’t feel self-conscious about posting, because we want to hear what you have to say!
- DIFFERENCE OF OPINION IS ENCOURAGED. That’s how discussion happens-squee is a different thing, but discussion usually requires some form of differing angles to get going, otherwise it’s just a bunch of threads with nobody interacting. You’re free to express anything you like here-you can’t bash M/A, of course, but you CAN discuss flaws in the pairing and characters (read the difference between bashing/flaw discussion here). You are also permitted to be upfront about things that make you unhappy in the show-I get the vibe that quite a lot of us don’t like Arthur/Gwen-and that is FINE to talk about! Some people may disagree and multiship, but I guarantee you that there are some who feel the exact same way and are looking for other people who aren’t afraid to talk about it. We’re not saying you should start ship wars in this comm, but that you shouldn’t be afraid to hold back negativity, either. You don’t have to be positive and diplomatic all the time-snark and sarcasm and capslock and squee are the ways of the Internet, man! As long as it isn’t crude bashing or personal attacks against other fans, IT IS WELCOME HERE.
- If you are for some reason afraid to state your opinion under your own name, ANON COMMENTING IS ALLOWED, BUT WITH IP LOGGING TURNED ON. We mods will not look at your IP address unless you’re bashing or creating wank and drama.
- As stated above, FANWORKS ARE 100% ALLOWED! Things such as icons, picspams, drawings/paintings, music vids-you name it, you can post it, even if you’re linking to a personal journal rather than directly to the community. This also goes for all forms of writing besides fic, which must be confined to the Weekly Fic Post. Essays, ship manifestos and show meta are totally encouraged.
Remember: Anyone can post anything. We mods aren’t teachers posting discussion questions on the blackboard, you know? Anyone can do it, anyone can start something. We cannot stress enough that this isn’t some sort of strict classroom-we like fun, we want fun, and not every ‘discussion’ entry has to be serious and require a lot of deep thinking. We like squee, too!
Make this community what you want it to be. Be honest in your opinions, start the discussion/squee topics you want to talk about and don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. You can start fests/games/challenges, make little memes and scavenger hunts such as Five Times Merlin Looked at Arthur with Heart Eyes, and everyone will scramble to find screencaps or write comment fic! Basically, we can have a lot of fun here and we hope everyone feels included in said fun. It’s a silly and cracky show, but our boys provide a lot of heart and create a balance between the crack and the deep love, and I think there’s a lot of potential for fandom fun there.
Feel free to reply to this entry with your thoughts! Today’s Weekly Rec Post is already up, and later I will be posting an Honesty/Venting Entry to coincide with the ideas expressed in this post. I hope you all feel comfortable enough to come out of your shells, because the rest of the mods and I really want this to be a safe haven for M/A fans. ♥