Dead Dog Post

[zvi]

There is a tradition in conventions to have a "Dead Dog" panel at the end of a con, where you let the con moderators know what went right and what went wrong with the convention. I'm going to try that with this challenge, so it can run better next year.

I don't have many specific questions, just in general I'd like to know:

-- did I do something that made it easier for you to participate?
-- did I do something that made it harder for you to participate?
-- what really cool thing did I not do that you wish I had?

Specifically, I did wonder if people would like

a) to open the stories up to relationships with greater than three people? Please think about this not just from the perspective of how great it would be that you can now request your OT4 as part of 3 Ships, but also how you're going to react when you get that OT9 assignment in the fandom you offered just so you had three offers.

b) to collect, as a challenge community, recommendations for threesome stories that have been posted outside of 3 Ships?

c) to make available a list of unassigned prompts that people could pick up and write, and, if they finished by the deadline, include as part of 3 Ships?

If you don't feel like commenting publicly, feel free to pm me or e-mail me.

Comments

[pocketmouse]

Well, I'm pretty sure the comment system started eating my comments after a while -- I know I replied to all of the ones on my fic, but I can't see more than the first two or three.

Seeing the unassigned prompts is something that might interest me. I started to write something for one of the pinch hits even though I didn't pick it up because I knew I'd write too slowly (and I was correct).

[coneyislandbaby]

One of the other holiday exchanges I take part in, xmas_rocks, allows participants to choose a pairing and then nominate additional peopleso if the author is comfortable writing a threesome or moresome and they're familiar with the characters, they can, but they're only required to write the pairing requested. Reading your first suggestion, I wondered if something along those lines could possibly work? So the author volunteers to write any threesome in, say, Doctor Who, and the recipent requests Amy/Rory/Eleventh Doctor, and then says that if the author is comfortable including River Song, that would be great. That way there is a chance for the OTplus, but no one is obligated to write something they can't do. Just an idea for a more flexible way to handle that.

[james]

My thoughts are along these lines - having more than one single line for a prompt would be awesome. I know there are 'Dear Sailor' letters, but from a technological-coding perspective it seems easy enough to add more fields to the sign-up, even to constrain it to two or three words indicating genres you really really don't want, or something.

Also, I'd like to see word counts on the posted stories, because it makes it easier to read/avoid starting long stories when I'm supposed to be getting ready for work. ;-)

[zvi]

It's never been a tech question on keeping the prompts short, it's been an affordance thing. I want to discourage people from writing, well, full and specific prompts, or to spend a lot of time concentrating on the things they hate. I really dislike the way that works out (from both a mod and a participant perspective) on those comms that do signups by commenting on a journal entry.

I'll think about adding something, but I'm probably never going to encourage people to add the sorts of full-bodied, long form discussion that's appropriate for a Dear Sailor letter.

The word counts, though, those I can do.

[james]

How about simply indicating how many characters the current field for the prompt will allow? I know that when I looked at it during sign-ups, I felt like I could only write five or six words for a prompt. If I know that it's X number of characters then I can compose my prompt in another document and be sure that it says what I want it to say. I think that would give me, as a writer, more flexibility to know I'm writing what the person wants *and* as a reader, I would feel more comfortable being able to give a sufficient prompt that conveys what kind of story I'm hoping for.

[zvi]

Because I did it on Google, I'm not actually sure how long that field is. I'll look into it.

[princessofgeeks]

i didn't get involved this year but i read the stories avidly. i think a rec list is a great idea. i might possibly offer to pinch hit again next year. thank you for doing the ficathon.

i don't know that opening it to foursomes or more is necessary; is there a feeling that that's a serious lack right now?

[boywonder]

I agree with what's been said about the OPTIONAL adding more people in, at the writer's discretion, based on the prompts? I don't really know that I'd be down with the OT4+ myself, although maybe it would depend on the series.

I'd love to have the list of unassigned prompts. I know Yuletide usually does something like that, where they do post ALL the prompts and people can write fic for them as they see fit. It would be cool to be able to do that here, as well. Although Yuletide does that after the fact, afaik.

[amadi]

A big yes on having the unfilled prompts made available. It'd be great to have that impetus to write more. I think having the unfilled prompts even after the exchange deadline, for future writing (gifting via AO3 and with header notes, etc.) would be great too, maybe there could even be an open post here where people could post through several weeks after the exchange to say "I filled Janedoe's prompt..." with a link?

I'm ambivalent trending toward the negative on OT4s+ just because threesomes and three ships seem such a natural match. I have a strong sense that it's diluting the specialty that makes this exchange different from the other sesa exchanges. As a writer, I also think you lose some of the particular dynamic of three when you expand the number. It's not something I really have a desire to explore, or really to read, either. If it were implemented, I'd be highly appreciative of the system coneyislandbaby described, with the required threesome, and other partners being optional additions that a writer could include but wouldn't be penalized for not making a part of the primary relationship.

Thanks again for a great exchange, Zvi.

Dead Dog Thoughts :)

[(Anonymous)]

Info on Yuletide nominations got me thinking about three ships, so i swung by this way.

Some thoughts/suggestions/observances:

~ I really hope you'll host the fest on AO3 this year. While I appreciate wanting to uphold the tradition of keeping it on your website, I find it frustrating from a user perspective. I often go back and see typos and things that just didn't catch my beta or my eye before sending it to, and if it were on AO3, I could go in and fix that their/there/they're or lose/loose mistake a month later without having to bug you about it.

~Commenting on your website has always been a pain. I'm never notified when I receive ac comment, even when I sign up to have the comments sent to me. Likewise, I never receive answers to my comments. Even making comments has been a real pain due to the system you are using. None of these concerns are present in the AO3 comment system.

~ Additionally, I find the color combination of your website and the font used difficult from an accessibility standpoint.

Other thoughts:

I would really, really not want to open this up to more than OT3. I gladly sign up to write Star Trek XI now, but having to write all crew members in some type of relationship together? No way. I can't juggle that many people in a relationship.

I definitely think the unpicked prompts being available to write - something like Yuletide Treats? - would be fun!

Anyway, I can't wait for 3ships this year and I def hope it is happening again.

Re: Dead Dog Thoughts :)

[zvi]

- I'm absolutely not hosting on AO3. The archive is hammered right now, in September, with no big fests running. It will be nigh on unusable when Yuletide is in full swing.

- I'm going to switch this year's comments to IntenseDebate, which is supposed to have better accessibility than the system we used the last two year's, disqus.

- You'll have to be more specific about the problems with color? The text was black on off-white this year and has been for the past three years. Do you need more contrast, less contrast? Were there any years where the color scheme worked?

If you're having a problem with the font, you need to adjust your browser settings. The CSS for the website only specifies sans serif font family, so whatever font you have designated as your default sans serif font is what is displayed. I didn't even reset the font-size to 1em.

I'm still thinking about what to do wrt OT3 vs. moresome and how to handle unpicked prompts.