I don't figure this post belongs, or would be most effective, in the Feedback sub-forum, but it might.
I feel awkward writing this but I see it as necessary.
I have contributed a number of topical submissions - articles - that appear on the front page. When I first joined Canonfire, I was one among any number of others who also regularly did so. For whatever reason, the number of CF members who now _regularly_ submit articles/topical submissions has dropped considerably. To be sure, there are still a number of CF members who regularly submit articles/topical submissions but the overall number has dropped.
During the same time period, the Postfests have all but dried up. There have been more than one Postfest where only 3 people submitted. It used to be that Postfests drew at least 12 participants. Something happened after the Postfest moved away from what I will call the "contest" model.
I see the two trends as related and they can be summed up as follows - fewer people are _regularly_ participating in the creation of CF content. These messageboards are doing well and are regularly participated in by many but the topical submissions/articles and the Postfests are, comparatively, going begging.
I have no particular insight into what has happened and I have no particular solutions to offer. I can, however, say this with certainty -
If more people do not decide to participate in CF's articles/topical submissions and Postfests, these will wither and everyone will have less content to enjoy on CF. CF will become more of a glorified messageboard, like the Wizard's GH messageboard, and little else. IMO, this would be a shame. To trade a creative community that also messages for just another messageboard. In other words - Participate. "Or else."
God knows people get busy and life issues come up. I do not mean to castigate anyone or point fingers and no one needs to "apologize" or "explain." The fact remain, however, if less is submitted, there will be less to enjoy.
A lassie faire approach, "waiting it out," may set everything to right with time. My concern is, it might not.
Cuss. Discuss. Ignore. CF is what you make it. _________________ GVD
I had been holding off on another call for a postfest, but as the cat is out of the bag. Lets have another Postfest! Summer '06! Woohooo!
Real adventures are too hard to write. (I'm tryng. "Dank Den of the Bull Wug Wug" for 1e is in the works and my work on it will slow down my submission of other articles.) So I was not too surprised that the last turnout was low.
If that idea is still of interest, perhaps "single encounters" would of interest to writers. Something less than, but possibly up to a side treck. It sounds like less work, but quite a bid of detail can go into it if desired.
Another way of thinking about Postfest is what do writers want to write about rather than what do readers what to read. Any ideas on that?
I will say that I would want to hold off on several of the topics I suggested in the past given the up coming Savage Tide.
We have puposefully decided against a Postfest this summer, given the low submission count for the last three. Since we we don't know why participation plunged it is hard to structure a Postfest to bring in the submissions. Improving the turn around did not help. Niether did hosting a Posfest where community members picked the topic. So, we thought we'd wait to see if interest builds again.
I'll add my voice to Mr. Dammerung's - make a submission to Canonfire! Pick a Greyhawk topic and go for it. No experience is necessary.
Here's a question. Would it seem like pandering or too desperate to visit other forums and e-mail lists and saying, "Hey, have a love for the World of Greyhawk? Click on over to Canonfire! and submit an article"? Is it appropriate for us to advertise such a thing?
I would certainly like to see more robust Postfests again - the kind that took me days of feverish work to format and post.
Just a few thoughts. Back to my lurking. _________________ Don (Greyson)
I check this page pretty much daily, and the WOG Forum is priceless. If I need a historical question answered, or need some advice, the geniuses (and I'm not using the word sarcastically) here invariably point me in the right direction. The traffic in the Forum actually seems slow to me, always wish there was more banter.
As to why I haven't submitted anything to CF - two reasons.
One, my campaign is currently being played via email, as I'm in NYC and all my players are in Wisconsin. At last count, I had over 150 pages of text recounting the adventures of my various PCs. It's a wonderful way to game, as the character development is unparalleled, but it's a lot of work. I just don't have much more free time for D&D than what I give to this. If anyone wants to read and comment on a 20+ page story about a quartet of dwarves fighting for survival in the Cairn Hills, I'd be happy to pass it along, but it's not the type of thing that belongs here, even if I thought it was a masterpiece (and I don't).
Two, my campaign is set in late 582 CY, so I'm literally decades behind most of you as far as current events. I'm basically running a 2E campaign (although I'm going to start stealing ideas from V3.5, which is clearly an upgrade), so I couldn't even submit adventures, unless someone else was willing to do all the work creating the stat blocks.
I actually considered contributing to a Postfest, but honestly, the last ones I saw had really dry (to me) topics, and I couldn't come up with anything I found interesting. Do another one this summer, and I'll make a good-faith effort to contribute.
In closing, I'll just say that I for one really appreciate the yeoman's work done by GV and a number of other contributors who keep funneling original content onto the front page (no doubt at the expense of their own home games).
OH, final thought, a year or two ago there were some really cool ideas bandied about here regarding the development of the various Underdarks of the Flanaess. A map was even generated (I still have a copy). Has this project totally died in the water, or does it live on somewhere? I would gladly have signed up to help develop that, as the subject matter was of great interest to me. Give me a sub-region in one of those greater regions, and turn me loose!
Two, my campaign is set in late 582 CY, so I'm literally decades behind most of you as far as current events. I'm basically running a 2E campaign (although I'm going to start stealing ideas from V3.5, which is clearly an upgrade), so I couldn't even submit adventures, unless someone else was willing to do all the work creating the stat blocks.
Time period, D&D edition and even statistical content is not mandatory for articles(although for adventures I can see the dilemma). Many articles submitted are rather brief and more fluff than anything. I've seen articles and forum topics from all eras of GH even 'what if' future GH.
CF has kept a pretty torrid publishing pace for a long time. It has slowed and sped back up at times, but it's my opinion the publishing schedule should match the pool of articles. Not only that, maybe even blurbing a few upcoming articles in advance so readers have something to look forward to, might not hurt. Upcoming releases is always the first thing I look at in Dragon and Dungeon mags. On one hand it is fun being surprised what you'll see on the front page on any given day, but on another it can be frustrating for newer authors to wonder when its their turn to be published. Just an idea.
... maybe even blurbing a few upcoming articles in advance so readers have something to look forward to, might not hurt ... it can be frustrating for newer authors to wonder when its their turn to be published. Just an idea.
And a really good one - let's give that a try. _________________ Don (Greyson)
I liked the previews of upcoming articles. That is a great new feature, so let's keep it!
Second, as far as Postfests go - I thought that we overdid them a bit last year, with three topics coming on all at the same time. It was just too much to try to contribute to more then one at a time.
As far as the average poster goes, they may submit a few articles here and there, but by and large the Postfests are best for a new comer to test the waters. I think they should be about once or twice a year, with a nice long period of build up and hyped on all the GH forums.
As far as what I see on CF, I remember when we had far less articles and the forums were much shorter. This site has ballooned up tremendously in the past couple of years, thanks largely to a few "mega-submitters". That's OK, and it is not a sign of stagnation to have a few big contributors and the majority of writers contribute less. We definitely need to encourage people to try their hands at it, and if they like posting they will continue, the trick is to post the first one. Maybe we can have a special Postfest for first time submittors only. Don't know if that would draw a lot of people, but we could float the idea out on Greytalk or the WotC forums and see if that generates any interest.
I admit I don't post or read the articles on Canonfire as much as I used to... *bad me* Also, I'm not a writer in any way shape or form. Still, the best GH site on the net though.
..................................Omote
FPQ _________________ Prince Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Castles and Crusades Society
Oh well - more articles from my County of Ulek campaign are on their way as I move back into more original creations. I'm just workshopping with my friends a set of affiliations for the County - see PHB2 - and I'll post those once they're ready.
The affiliations:
* Fochluchan Bardic College
* The Old Faith
* The Court of the Count of Ulek
* The Faith of Ehlonna
* Dwarves of the Principality of Ulek
* Barony of Copperleaf
* The Priests of Chaos
* Turmosh Mak
All being competing factions within the boundaries of the campaign. Whether this becomes one long article or several articles is still up in the air.
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