Possible new Nick/Greg community -- Input wanted!

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

So, the mod of this community, toxictouches, seems to be MIA. I've tried to contact her (him?) a few times, with no response, so basically what we've got is an unmoderated community with no recourse when it comes to abusive posts, things that are off topic, and spam.

I had an idea to start a new Nick/Greg community that would be moderated, and I've created a journal for it with the rather uninspired name of nick_greg. The intro post with some basic guidelines is here, and I'm really interested in your feedback. I want to create a community that's accessible and welcoming to all Nick/Greg fans, so community input on the guidelines is important. Do you think another comm would be a good idea? Do you think there are some guidelines to add/remove? Are you interested in being a co-mod (I'd ideally like at least two other people to help out) or one of the listed betas to contact? Let me know what you think.

Comments

[esia-x.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind being a co-mod. If I can't be that, then I'll be a listed BETA. I'd be pleased to be either!

[(Anonymous)]

The view so far. (http://community.livejournal.com/nickngreg/492409.html)

*rolls eyes at self*

[yo-helena.livejournal.com]

Oops! Sorry, I did this one anonymously. Just posting a link so people wouldn't have to rewrite anything. :D

Okay, off to write! ^_^

[wojo62.livejournal.com]

I think it's a very good idea, I esspecially like the idea of monitoring/deleting rude and unkind posts/comments (having been a victim of this myself-although it gave me something to laugh about). I would be all for it.

[(Anonymous)]

it wouldn't happen if you didn't suck ass at writing.

Hey.

[yo-helena.livejournal.com]

Hey, why don't you back off? No one asked you to be here and you're more than welcome to leave. And believe me, we don't need a mod to take up for ourselves or get rid of you.

Hit the road.

[just1tearforme.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing to co-mod or something.

[poteidia.livejournal.com]

I think that it'd be a real shame to switch to a new comm, this one has grown so much and is known by so many people. It would be good to be able to delete nuisance posts, but the disruption of moving everything...I'm not sure it'd be worth it.

[burningchaos.livejournal.com]

I will happily go where ever as long as I stil get Nick and Greg. I have to say keeping spam and off topic posts out would be really nice though.

[boy-ish.livejournal.com]

I am kinda in the lot that says if there's not a problem, don't fix it... People do have the ability to edit and clean up rude comments and the like in their own threads, and I think it'd just be likely to make more of a problem if someone popped in to say what somebody can or can't say, regardless of what he author thinks. That and it'll be even more like to make people egotistical if they get to be in charge, like they own or are in charge of the pairing, whereas this community, with it's nonexistent mod, leaves it belonging to everyone.

That being said, if it does end up going ahead, I'll put myself in the mod-running. I've got experience with (obviously) my own board and a BSB pic community...

However, since the owner of this community has been around or posted in their own journal, you can go to the LJ guys and ask that it be put in your name...it's been done before.

[boy-ish.livejournal.com]

*hasn't

[boy-ish.livejournal.com]

The existing maintainers are unresponsive or declare that they no longer wish to maintain the community.

There are situations occurring within the community – such as rampant harassment or spam – which require a maintainer's intervention.

If the above criteria are both satisfied, you can file a report with the Abuse Team.

http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=221&q=community But, most of the 'abuse' that you'd be able to use to prove need for modding has been deleted, so I guess that kinda leaves the community where it is.

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Cooncerning my story 'the last three words' I didn't delate any of these 'friendly and nice' commnets. Just thought delating them would actually give this guy what he wants, sorta. So I just let them were they were posted. Maybe that'll help that.

and concerning the change of names for who's responsible, I would say that geekwriter should just ask them, since she seems to be the maybe best qualified *no offense to all the other users in here, that's just my opinion*

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm not the most qualified, I'm just the bossiest. =)

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

Nah, I'm not the most qualified

Yes you are. I mean you already started one. I'm not saying that you shall give nick_greg up, but I mean having a communinty which you started or taking over an already existing community...doensn't make any differnce to me.

[boy-ish.livejournal.com]

Are you going to see about asking to take it over? Clearly I think you should, and I wouldn't doubt they'd agree... I've seen it done before. I mean, with 600+ members, they *have* to agree it needs an admin.

...

[yo-helena.livejournal.com]

Um... Geek's probably gonna hate me for this (I'm sorry!), but I really don't think there's anything wrong with this comm. There's over 600 members here and rejoining would lose some. Everyone knows this is the Nick/Greg LJ board and we're bound to leave someone scratching their head.

But like I said, until we run into something Really Sucky and Ev0l, there's really nothing wrong here.

And running from losers who post rude comments gives them undeserved joy. We shouldn't be scared into moving. Power!

Re: ...

[geekwriter143.livejournal.com]

Nope, don't hate you at all! If I wasn't cool with people disagreeing with me, I wouldn't ask.

There is a great history to this comm and some fantastic stories here, I just kind of wish we could make the layout prettier and have active tags and memories so people could find thing easier.

Re: ...

[fabiale.livejournal.com]

There is a great history to this comm and some fantastic stories here, I just kind of wish we could make the layout prettier and have active tags and memories so people could find thing easier.
As I already posted on the thread started by underhand_glory, I totally agree on the new layout point.

As far as moving the whole comm, would it mean that we would move but the posts would stay here and we could have access to old posts only by coming back here? (mmh I've been a little contorted... hope you understand what I mean); if it is so, I think we should definitely try and organize tags and memories as you suggested. Since only mods can do that though, we could try and ask LJ if there's a way to change the mod since he/she is no longer active in this comm.

[frogy.livejournal.com]

I barely read fanfic on here anymore because in general it's pretty bad. But I don't mind it showing on my flist because you never know when something will surprise you. What I hate more than life itself is posts looking for fic. If you don't remember where to find the fic you loved, why do you expect someone else to have the url memorized? So if the new community is either going to block spam or bad fic, I'm all for it. And if it's a little off of the beaten path, maybe all that means is that the retard masses won't flock to it.

(Or I might just be having an other people suck day)

[rhardin.livejournal.com]

Hmm what is a bad fic anyways. Maybe you read something and you hate it but I and about 20 other people read the same fic and enjoy it. How could you block out a fic just because you think it's bad but someone else may love it.

Isn't that what makes writing so much fun, that are so many different kind of fics out there and even more fans out there. I read a bad fic and think hmm well that didn't do it for me and I go on to the next one. No harm done. only wasted a bit of my time. I read a good on and smile. I read a great on and review and think god I wish I could write think that. We all have to start somewhere. I'm sure there are people out there at hate the stuff I write. But I don't care really, I know there are a lot that do enjoy it.

anyways sorry to go on and on.

P.s I will agree with what ever everyone else wants to do. I love this place. I check it more then once a day. hee hee.

[redrouged.livejournal.com]

Hmm what is a bad fic anyways. Maybe you read something and you hate it but I and about 20 other people read the same fic and enjoy it. How could you block out a fic just because you think it's bad but someone else may love it.
I think this can be potentially wanky. I agree that there's a surfeit of bad!fic around this comm, but I also agree that it's very much of a perception isse. To answer your question, people usually define a bad!fic as fic with excessive OOC-ness, bad english (not just grammar) etc. Also, fic-writers who write fics with the sole purpose of torturing the characters. For e.g., rape!fics that don't really go anywhere.

For me, I find fics where male characters are excessively effete annoying, and it tends to make it a bad fic for me, but not necessarily a bad!fic because I know a lot of people who adore such fics. I mean, I used to be waaay into the lotrps VO fandom, and I've seen so many fics where Orli cries and cries over things which wouldn't even make me bat an eyelid.

I keep the community watched in hopes of finding some good fics or good discussion posts, and I do come across some. :)

[playthefool.livejournal.com]

I deleted my comment, btw, because I basically posted the same thing in my comment below. ^^

[idiasm.livejournal.com]

Only very recently found CSI slash... coming here from other fandoms, like Harry Potter, which are huge.

As to layout -- I agree, it is plain, and a bit hard to read. And some tagging setup would be nice, especially for people like me who have just found the community, and would like to search for things by one author or something.

But, coming from other really big fandoms where I read a lot, it is hard to follow many comms all about the same pairing. Often, I think the authors will split themselves into a couple groups based on preferences, and you'll get major differences in the quality of the fiction from group to group, or major differences in the topics, although they are all in the same general pairing. And lots of those were started as split-off communities, and it seems like not everyone wants to move, so probably that would happen here, and some authors would post the same story on both and flists would be clogged that way.

I guess I think what might be nice is to see if LJ will take this over and give it to a new mod who is committed to staying around, because then people don't have to change their bookmarks and whatnot, but layout problems can be fixed.

[limmenel.livejournal.com]

Only very recently found CSI slash... coming here from other fandoms, like Harry Potter, which are huge.

Complete, 100% ditto. I only got into CSI about a week ago, honestly, and was thrilled to find nickandgreg.com, but this community is an awesome resource. I don't mind moving because I'm so new, but moving groups will only cause more problems, I think, and, like domtheknight said, not everyone wants to move.

So, I'm agreeing with the idea to see if LJ will let someone take over as mod. That way, everyone can stay in the comm and not have to worry about moving, but the comm can get cleaned up and straightened out, and have a mod. You may not need a mod now because there may not be situations that require it, but you'll regret not having one when a situation DOES arise and creates a wankfest on the community, with no mod to stop it.

[playthefool.livejournal.com]

I think we'd benefit from a modded community in these areas:

1. Harassment or spam in the form of anonymous commenters (instead of leaving the authors to fend for themselves, the community could turn off anonymous commenting if it's a problem)
2. Author resources in the userinfo & memories, such as information about the characters, links to episode guides, timelines, beta lists, editor lists, etc. This would reduce a lot of "spam", ie posts searching for "that one scene in that one episode where..." & "what is Greg's grandmother's name?", & "I read a fanfic I really liked but lost the link!" etc. I have several links that help me out when I want to know more about a character, or find a scene in an episode, & I'm sure there are several other community members willing to help out to provide the information.
3. An updated set of rules (or any at all, since currently we have none), & reinforcement of them.
4. Requirements for posted fics, such as a standard of information to be included before the LJ-cut (title, author, rating, warnings, spoilers, word count, etc), & also the requirement OF an lj-cut (though we actually don't have a lot of problems with this ^^)
5. A standard size for fic banners. Seriously guys, I don't like giant Nick/Greg banners stretching my flist to high heaven. This hasn't happened in the last weeks or so, but it HAS before.
6. Encouragement of authors to seek out beta & editor help, & to post quality work. I do have a problem with obviously unedited fic that seems like it was churned out in ten minutes. If your fic has 45 chapters - well that's great! I love long fanfic. But if your fic has 45 chapters consisting of two badly written paragraphs each, updated twice or more daily... that clogs my flist, guys, & it really downgrades the community. I like paragraph breaks. I like being able to read something without stumbling over horrible grammar & spelling, & it's such a shame that so many potentially great plotlines go down the drain because the form of the fic is horrible, or because little effort is present. I'm sympathetic of first timers or even non English speakers, but that's why I really think having an author resource list is a good idea, & thus having a mod is a good idea. This isn't fanfiction.net.

I'm by no means claiming we need to moderate fanfic as far as "Oh, this plotline is horrible & your characters are OOC", but it would be nice to encourage authors to seek help & improve the quality of their work. Ultimately, though, this is low on my list of priorities, & I do realize it's a hard thing to decide.

Most of these things I already see in the userinfo of the new community. I realize people are used to this one, & reluctant to move... but I do like having a mod or two hanging around, JUST in case that one flamewar happens that disrupts the community. I think geekwriter143 is qualified, & I don't think anyone has to worry about egos inflating in that case. (; & if she can't get LJ Abuse to hand the community ownership over to her, then I'll go ahead & join the other community, & see how it goes.

Obviously we don't want a hardass community that bans left & right, but I think the above issues are mostly ones concerning politeness, & neatness. & as for the acknowledgement that there's already a lot of great fic here - I'm all for a memory list in the new community! We could make a combined effort to go back through this one & document fanfics, & keep up the list in the new community, & then people could easily find what they want to read. (:

Anyway. XD

[playthefool.livejournal.com]

...I'm sure you've all realized that this comment was way longer than I intended. (;

peace, love, & nick_n_greg

[muse-de-redline.livejournal.com]

Geek,

I think you would be an awsome mod...but to be honest I would hate to let this site go; seems like its the place where all the comroderie is. There is nothing wrong with a peaceful takeover...and I do applaud you for taking initaitive and starting nick_greg; not too divergent of a path...and to me that name is very! inspirational. ^_^
Cheers to whatever the masses decide...just make it obvious...because it took me a long time to find this comm (nick x greg) and its my happy place.

and to those who are throwing flames...be constructive people, offer suggestions. I'll probably be shit for a beta but I'm puting my money where my mouth is and would be glad to offer help.

[callmerayray.livejournal.com]

I am personally on the side of remaining at this community, but having you (yes, you. you are qualified) and several others take over. I would love to see this community taken to a better level, i.e. a new layout would work wonders, rules would be great, and the helpful info in playthefool's number 2 suggestion would be awesome. I've always wished for something like that. (Actually, pretty much everything playthefool said was a good idea.)

This is a great little community and I would hate to see the split that would undoubtedly occur if we were to try to move. I have seen this happen many times in the past in my other fandoms. Someone wants a better community, but it starts up and then dies a horrible death because everyone already knows this one. Let's face it, it's human nature to do things the easy way, and staying is easy.

So yeah, takeover good, splitting bad. Let's hold on to this one and make it better if we can.

[iamtheenemy.livejournal.com]

I think that a new community would be interesting only if it offered something different for us. I don't think that the flames are that big of an issue, we seem pretty self-moderating here. However, the idea for a better layout and tags and links is good, as is the beta idea. I'd also suggest maybe running ficathons or remix challenges to shake things up and build more of a community in our community, so to speak. If you're still looking for help, I'd definitely be willing. Let me know.

On another note, I don't see anything wrong with coming to this community and asking about a fic you're looking for. I don't think there's a CSI fic finder comm, and what better place to ask about the location of a Nick/Greg fic than on a Nick/Greg comm? Seems logical to me, and those kinds of posts never take up much space on a flist, so I don't see the problem.

[0creativity.livejournal.com]

I'd say, if possible, it would be better to just try to become the admin of this community simply because this is where everything is and this is where people are used to coming. I really don't think it would be too difficult to move if it came to that, and if anyone gets left behind it would probably just be a few hundred people who don't even bother with this community anymore. Seriously, there are 600+ members (isn't that what a post above said?)? How many of those people are even active here anymore? Moving would definitely have the benefit of cleaning out the "fluff", that's for sure...

But, this is where everything is and this is where people are used to coming and if you could become an admin here, that would definitely be a better alternative.

Points two and six from playthefool's list will hopefully be taken care of by the beta (and more) program that will be launching on WMTDB in a few weeks. I'm still calling it a beta program but it will be able to offer a lot more. The content that is available there will be limited only to the users' imaginations. I'd like to encourage people who have questions about certain episodes or who are looking for pictures or searching for particular fic to start using those features when this all goes live so we can kind of start cleaning this place up a little. I know it's a community, but a lot of people join so they can have the latest fic delivered straight to their flist, not so they can read twenty-eight posts asking for someone else to search through tons and tons of fic for them.

[mikhale.livejournal.com]

I believe this was a community which was created in the early days of CSI slash. The moderator created an LJ account for the sake of being able to create this community. Afterwards, the LJ account was abandoned. Seeing that this community did not grow as quickly as the moderator expected, he/she abandoned it. Eventually, seeing that it did turn up quite high in the results list of a Nick/Greg LJ interest search. Eventually, it grew to enormous proportions and here we have it now.

I believe that the right course of action would be that someone take over this community as a moderator (through necessary and right actions, of course). And then, he or she would be able to moderate this community and change the layout as he or she desires.

A voting would be a viable idea but I believe it could become too messy.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I like the look of the new community and I noticed some people also crossposted there. And that's exactly what I fear will happen: lots of double posts, 'cause this is a familiar place, but the other one is pretty, so you want to be there as well. I visit lots of other sites to enjoy the whole online-N/G-experience, but this is where I go first. It does look messy and I do have to go through posts I don't care about, but it's still the place where I feel the most love(d).
So I hope someone will be able to take control of this existing community and just improve the look of it. (And with 'someone' I mean you: you already proved yourself worthy with that new journal you created;-)

I don't mind people asking for 'lost' fics, it makes me feel useful if I happen to know what they are looking for and I think it's one of the good things about this community: to share and help each other out. So even when you can't write or offer artwork, you can join in with your knowledge. I like that.

The community rules you wrote down in nick_greg seem to cover everything, but having read the comments so far, I think the vote is leaning towards "please save nickngreg", so fixing this place with a new lay-out and those rules seems like the thing to go for. If you want any help I am offering my services on an artistic and/or moderating-level, where ever you may need me:)