new on OOC Questions and Comments

Professor Skies

January 02, 2014 11:55 AM

A quick survey... by Professor Skies

Hey all,

As Midterm is passed, the time for advertising is once again upon us. I'm trying to work out ways for this to be more effective - i.e. how can we target people who are most likely to follow through on the review and actually submit a character.

When I was new to RP, I was also very new to fanfiction. Also, one common response I get to reviews is also 'Oh, I'd love to but I have so many stories I'm half-way through' etc. I'm therefore wondering whether people are more likely to join RP when they're relatively new to fanfic, rather than being more established as they then have several ff projects.

So, I thought I'd survey you guys. All you need to do with this is respond with 'new' or 'established' in the title line, for how much fanfic you'd done when approached for Sonora. I'm not setting any hard and fast rules for what either of those means - it's up to you which you felt described you. Though I guess if pushed I'd describe 'new' as no more than two fics uploaded.

If you have any other feedback about what convinced you to follow through and submit a character, or any other suggestions of things you feel we could do, please feel free to add these to your comments, or to email the site address with them.

Many thanks,
Selina

Subthreads:

new by The Jareaus with Selina

Established by Pierces with Professor Skies

New (L.B.); Established (A.F.) (nm) by Liliana Bannister and Ava Fletcher

New by Laurie Stratford

0 Professor Skies A quick survey... 26 Professor Skies 1 5

The Jareaus

January 02, 2014 12:45 PM

new by The Jareaus

So, after thinking about it, I thought maybe pointing out things that had me join that is different now might help figure something out for getting new authors.

I was new to fanfiction when I received the invite; however, Sonora was also just starting up and didn't have a history. Now that it has been around going on 10 years, this might worry new authors. I know this factored into me joining other sites once I became comfortable with rping.

When I started Harry Potter was extremely popular but now that the books are done and movies no longer, I think finding people who still connect with it might be a real issue for grabbing peoples attention. Maybe we should start advertising with similar themed fan fiction instead of only HP?

Honestly, getting authors to stay is an issue and I think getting them more involved would help but getting responses at a consistant rate may be the issue. Even as a seasoned rep, I still get hurt if one of my posts that I took time to write is never responded to, so I can imagine its much more hurtful to someone new.

I have no idea if this helps or makes sense. They were just thoughts in my head.

0 The Jareaus new 0 The Jareaus 0 5

Selina

January 02, 2014 2:15 PM

Hmm by Selina

Thanks. Those are all interesting points.

1). Something I've wondered too before. Not sure how to address this though, other than big "DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE HISTORY" signs. I mean.... We can't make it not have a history, and the majority of its history is on a personal level (i.e. what has happened to individuals) so doesn't really affect new people. It's just conveying that to them...

2). I don't think this is an issue, in that it's still extremely popular. If you look at the rate at which stuff is uploaded to ff.net, there's no shortage of people still poring their love and energy into this fandom. If we were running out of stuff to review, I'd agree but that's far from the case, and I think we're better targeting people who are already expressing their loyalty to this fandom rather than a different one.

3). Yeah. And that's another tricky one cos we can't all promise to have loads of time. However, I wonder whether setting up a mentor scheme would help with this in the initial stages? If people knew they were responsible for a particular first year, might this encourage them to prioritise that and reply to that person? Downside, it stops first years talking to other first years, unless we do a mentor/mentee event that is separate/before the feast.

13 Selina Hmm 26 Selina 0 5

Brockerts

January 02, 2014 2:57 PM

Well... by Brockerts

I was not personally recruited but actually reading reviews for another story when I came across an ad for Salem and joined that. Then Sonora started so I hopped on board.

11 Brockerts Well... 0 Brockerts 0 5

Brockerts

January 02, 2014 2:59 PM

Oh wait... by Brockerts

I read that survey question wrong, but yeah, I'm all for both.

I am not sure that people from other fandoms would be at all interested in Harry Potter necessarily.

11 Brockerts Oh wait... 0 Brockerts 0 5

Brockerts

January 02, 2014 3:21 PM

One more thing by Brockerts

I like the idea of a mentor program.

11 Brockerts One more thing 0 Brockerts 0 5

Linus Macaulay

January 02, 2014 3:32 PM

Established by Linus Macaulay

I had a handful of fics written, and a couple that have never been finished as a direct result of joining Sonora... yep, 7 years of RPing and my fanfictions are still not finished.

I do feel that not posting with new authors is where we really let ourselves down as a site. Obviously, sometimes it just doesn't make sense for your character to post with a first year, or sometimes you might have already posted every character you write and so can't physically reply to a newbie, but I agree we should have some sort of system in place to make sure that every post by a new author is responded to. Perhaps non-student characters, such as ghosts, for example, could make a comeback for this purpose?

0 Linus Macaulay Established 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5

Duncan Brockert

January 02, 2014 3:52 PM

Wonderful idea by Duncan Brockert

Yes, ghosts should totally be encouraged!

11 Duncan Brockert Wonderful idea 271 Duncan Brockert 0 5

Clara Abernathy

January 02, 2014 4:20 PM

Total newbie by Clara Abernathy

I was a complete newbie to the whole fanfiction thing when I was approached to join Sonora. I had never written one before I joined. I had always dabbled with writing on paper in notebooks on my own. Then I joined Sonora and I have had a blast posting with everyone on here good posts and bad.

I like the idea of a mentoring program and wholeheartedly agree with bringing other non-student characters into the mix for everyone to interact with. It would definitely make things around Sonora that much more interesting :)

0 Clara Abernathy Total newbie 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

The Jareaus, etc

January 02, 2014 4:26 PM

Re: Oh wait... by The Jareaus, etc

By 'other fandoms' I mean, ones that deal with the magical realm of things. Same stuff as Harry Potter, but they don't necessarily have it as a HP fanfiction. We only use the world that JK Rowling created, but her's is based off myths that others created, it's not that far of a step for someone to join our site since we don't actually use the HP characters/plot.

0 The Jareaus, etc Re: Oh wait... 0 The Jareaus, etc 0 5

Brockerts

January 03, 2014 2:09 AM

Been thinking... by Brockerts

And I really think we should advertise at any story that looks good.

Also the mentor program sounds great,though if we get enough new people, is it possible to have enough mentors to go around? I mean people who are old authors probably don't need them.

Duncan-Ghosts all the way!

11 Brockerts Been thinking... 0 Brockerts 0 5

Brockerts

January 03, 2014 2:19 AM

Well... by Brockerts

I'm not all that familiar with other similar fandoms-unless LOTR counts-but if you think it'll help, I say go for it.

11 Brockerts Well... 0 Brockerts 0 5

Brockerts

January 03, 2014 2:24 AM

Regarding mentors... by Brockerts

Maybe an old author who is submitting a new character or a second year could use them as mentors. It would also make it easier for both characters to make a friend. Unless they hate each other for some reason.

11 Brockerts Regarding mentors... 0 Brockerts 0 5

Pierces

January 03, 2014 10:56 AM

Established by Pierces

I had several fanfics going, including a monsterously long one that stopped abruptly due to the double killing strokes of a new book coming out (OOPS) and getting sucked into Salem, which was only into its second year so I had no history to be intimidated by either.

Other factors:
1) It was August and I was 99% done with college (just had some finishing touches on my masters thesis left) and no job yet, so I had a lot of time to kill and a thesis to procrastinate on.

2) I stayed because my one character made Quidditch Captain in his first year (which isn't going to happen at an established school like Sonora is now) and the Headmaster himself (which was a big deal to a new author) mentioned my character in passing in the narrative of one of his posts. Even now, I get pleased fuzzies when another character - especially one of the staff - notes my characters' existence.

0 Pierces Established 0 Pierces 0 5

Pierces

January 03, 2014 11:01 AM

Grr autocorrect by Pierces

The book that came out was Order of the Phoenix. I was trying to give the abbreviation for tha, not shout oops.

0 Pierces Grr autocorrect 0 Pierces 0 5

Professor Skies

January 03, 2014 2:49 PM

Hmm by Professor Skies

This is starting to head more into 'keeping new people once we get them' territory (an equally important and sometimes vexing area). In terms of having some sort of... recognition for their achievements, could we perhaps introduce something simple like an OOC award and every first year who gets their character to all their classes in the first term gets honoured? I mean, pretty much the being mentioned is the reward, possibly with a little gold star graphic... Or, to make it more short term and reel them in quickly, we offer an OOC honour/house points for any first year who writes [x] number of words in their first fortnight/[x] amount of time?

0 Professor Skies Hmm 26 Professor Skies 0 5

Pierces

January 03, 2014 6:18 PM

Re: Hmm by Pierces

Rewards are always exciting. And a goal to work towards (either attending all classes or x words) is satisfying once it is achieved (both for the accomplishment and the recognition), and once they have that much time invested to the character, they will hopefully not abandon them afterwards.

0 Pierces Re: Hmm 0 Pierces 0 5

Liliana Bannister and Ava Fletcher

January 04, 2014 11:56 PM

New (L.B.); Established (A.F.) (nm) by Liliana Bannister and Ava Fletcher

10 Liliana Bannister and Ava Fletcher New (L.B.); Established (A.F.) (nm) 274 Liliana Bannister and Ava Fletcher 0 5

Laurie Stratford

January 06, 2014 5:30 AM

New by Laurie Stratford

I had one story going when I joined our long-lost sister site SUM. The prospect of creating a whole new set of characters is what brought me in.

0 Laurie Stratford New 0 Laurie Stratford 0 5