We already are encouraged to provide detailed criticism, I don't think there is a single member on this forum who only replies with one liners the majority of the time. We've all put effort into providing well thought out arguments in the time we've been here. Some more than others, however.

 

...I believe you should have started or ended your post with "INB4ITALREADYHAPPENED!" Because I'm fairly positive this has already happened!

As to the Library; Nothing is going to happen to it. It is staying where it is. We may add to it, but nothing is being removed. At best, I think we've (staff) talked about clumping all of HP into a single section and turning the library into a larger model of the Other Fandom section.

As to book reviews, see below...

I'm all for the regular members doing their own thing, but I don't think it should be labeled an officially sanctioned DLP thing. Just another forum-service we provide. The forums give everyone their own voice as it is.

As fore reviews more to this tone, I'm considering adding it to a feature of a podcast-style show I've wanted to do for ages.

As of right now, I'm not certain on who I am going to enlist to do it, but if two to five individuals want to volunteer to do an alternating style system, please feel free to contact me directly and make it known...

 

Out of curiosity, why not?

Personally, I like the idea of having a sub-forum somewhere on here dedicated to peoples opinions/full reviews on published works.

 

Mostly because if we did have something like that, I'd want a sort of set mandated standard of what we'd want to contain. Like, a word limit, grammar, yadda yadda.

Maybe not everyone would want to go so far into depth or could manage to do it regularly, etc. You know what I mean..

I would rather go the route of like, pick a select team who can and would dedicate the time and effort to the task. Maybe special titles and such for them. Iunno.

Also:

I agree.

Honestly, I'd rather we moved the Other Fandoms Library and Discussions section to a completely different forum on the server and keep DLP as is for nostalgia sake. Maybe integrate the two so one username logs in to both...

 

Did you mean a minimum word limit or a maximum? Because when I read this all I could think was "Oh lawd, Taure will need a maximum word limit." Just judging by how seriously he takes Harry Potter canon...do we really want to unleash that into the world of other books?

All fun aside, it seems like a really good idea to divide the sites in some way. I don't know how easily it would be, but it seems like a good idea. Just having a place to discuss published fiction with the people of dlp seems pretty awesome especially with threads devoted to individual works.

 

It's unlikely I'd write anything on other books. I don't really read any fiction other than fanfic and a few select series (e.g. SoIaF).

As for word limits, I feel massively restrictive limits either way would suffocate content. Require too much and people will be put off writing because of intimidation, require too little and you might frustrate people who really want to go into good levels of detail.

It's like Tehan said, we don't want to make this like work, or force people to contribute in a way that they don't like. It has to be entirely voluntary or it'll collapse.

 

Okay, I fucking LOLed hard.

 

This^.

Anyway I say we drop the whole Dark Lord Potter and just keep the DLP. The few people I know who read Harry Potter fanfics just know us as DLP already. Only one knew the meaning of the acronym and thats because she lurks. So my only thing is keep the DLP part lose the rest.

 

Fair enough. How about having a group of either mods or people (people who we know are solid writers/non-idiots) who would be willing to review any of the reviews that were submitted? I dunno, might just be better to keep a more open area for other types of books like we do now.

 

That... is sort of what I suggested isn't it? We've already got the Multimedia Books section for when people think something is awesome... Not really any reason to do more with it, reviews wise, you know?

:|

On the serious side... Both, actually. Maybe something like minimum five hundred words to a maximum of three thousand...

 

Good thing nobody cares what you say. DLP will always be Dark Lord Potter. Even if we shorten it to just DLP it will still mean the same thing.

 

Ah thought you meant that you would just have a group that would write everything. I was thinking have a group of 'editors' who would make sure anytime a serious review was submitted that it was up to snuff. I blame finals week

 

I'm not old school here and I doubt my opinion will count for much. But be that as it may, I'll give it a shot. Honestly, I feel that a lot of people have said what I will already say (since I will guiltily admit to only reading the first page of this thread. Too lazy to read the rest).

On the subject of HP Fanfiction:
Yes, it's dying. It's on the way out. That's not to say that there won't still be a dedicated core of fans who write fanfiction for it. Hell, anime like Ranma and Evangelion are over a decade old respectively and when people discover it (or old fans who still love it), they write fanfiction for it. I doubt HP fanfiction will completely die, but it will have seen better days as time goes on. As such, DLP's popularity will wane except for the community of friends and assholes that are loyal to the site.

The obvious solution to this problem is expanding our base. If we wish to remain noteworthy, we have to evolve beyond our origins as a HP fanfiction site. As some have suggested, perhaps a focus on fantasy literature, t.v. shows, manga, comics, or even plays would be a good idea. DLP, despite its dubious reputation, has always stood for quality and professionalism. At least when it comes to fanfiction. I would sincerely hate for DLP to go the way of TFF (The Fanfiction Forum), where genuine criticism is rare and has essentially become a FFnet clone. I also feel that perhaps a few subforums beyond the core fandom forums would serve us well.

On the subject of expanding:
This is something that staff and members need to cooperate on. It would take some very serious discussion to decide what fandoms should be listed and if it is popular enough to consider listing. Myself, I feel that so long as there are a few dedicated members who enjoy the fandom and actively post content and discussion, then there should be a listing for it. DLP is *not* a democracy, but I think that moderators and admins alike should consider asking the opinion of the members here, if it should be decided that DLP will expand.

On the subject of the name change:
I have some conflicting thoughts concerning this idea. I think that it's important to retain our roots and be proud of it. Changing the name entirely would, to me, feel like we were abandoning our origins in favor of merely trying to remain mainstream and modern.

On the other hand, change is inevitable if DLP wishes to continue to attract and retain new members that submit quality fanfiction and wish to hone their skills. Wouldn't you be confused with a website that claims to offer a variety of fandoms to the reader or writer that is searching for some quality fiction or criticism, yet displays a name that makes them think we still cater to a single category? That's kind of confusing even now, since we have the Dresden forums added to the site.

I think that this is a problem with no easy solution. How do you respect your origins while still looking toward the future? A name is a powerful thing. If we changed our name completely, we'd be losing the respect, the recognition, and the infamy that the DLP name affords us.

On the overall subject of change:
Change is inevitable, as I've already said. To be honest, I think it's a good thing that Raven has the foresight to recognize this and try to keep DLP abreast with the times. I've seen forums that failed to change and have become ghost towns. I've seen forums and communities change into something completely different than what they once aspired to be. I feel that DLP is capable of changing our direction and goals without losing our persona and our reputations as critics who don't give a damn about any kind of fanfic except for the best.

For those of you like Oz, I've got the condensed version:

tl;dr, I really agree with a lot of what has been said in this thread.

 

I agree that DLP needs to evolve from solely being based on Harry Potter. The fact is that HP fanfiction is dying. Think about it it, almost every half-way decent story out there is the usual Post-OotP fare. I haven't read anything great from this fandom in a long time. The fandom is stagnating and will eventually peter out. How many posts on DLP are even about Harry Potter these days anyway? Heck, the only reason I come here these days is to discuss Supernatural and look for Naruto fics.

DLP can endure if we can expand into other fandoms. I don't mean to lose the Harry Potter aspect of the site, but to give all fandoms equal focus.

For example, The Dresden Files is popular here and should get its own section. So should Naruto. Maybe even Supernatural (if it ever has any good fanfiction) since that seems to be the most popular show in the Multimedia section.

DLP can't survive on just Harry Potter. Not anymore.

 

If we create a Supernatural section, I don't mind lending a hand. I'm currently sitting on seventeen kickass SPN stories that I just haven't recommended yet for fear of swamping For Review with stuff that nobody wants to read. Hell, I'm even writing a couple different Supernatural fics myself.

If the majority of DLP is interested in having a Supernatural subsection, I'd like to be a part of it.

 

I fully advocate an anime/manga section, personally. I know that more than a handful of DLPers enjoy manga and/or anime of some sort.

 

This. A thousand times this. Supernatural has a big enough following on this site to merit its own section. Supernatural fanfiction is extremely fertile soil, as we'd have the only SN section on the internet with less slash stories than members.

 

PM me some links?

And a Supernatural section would be awesome.