For Discord, would it be possible to set something up similar to what HPFF has? They have a bot that transmits messages between IRC and Discord. This allows people to pick which platform they want and still be able to talk with everyone.

Secondly, I have no idea if this is possible, but is there a way to build a script that PMs a user on fanfiction.net when their story is posted for review? I was the one who invited Wu Gang to come check out the reviews of his story, but I feel like I may be one of the few who PMs authors whose stories I like. It would be a great way of bringing in potential authors if it's possible. Or, if not, someone would be willing to be like a mod for that forum, and part it their job is to let author's know their story is being reviewed. I'd be willing to be that person, if people believe this idea holds merit.

 

@Sorrows from what I remember it's better off to do single, larger donations, because Paypal or whatever is taking a slice of the pie or charging a set fee each time.

 

Inside your account cp there is a section called account upgrades.

 

Re: IRC, I've never been able to figure it out and I don't like it. Not the least of the reasons is that I never seem to hit the activity times. Discord is superbly easy to use. That's the one thing I'd push to change, but I understand that a lot of older members like IRC. I'm not even on Discord that much either, but I visit DLP daily.

 

Once you've got IRC set up it's much of a muchness with Discord, save for a lot of extra features. As a messaging service, it's the same as far as I can tell. I'm on both, but tend to use IRC cause that's where most of the conversation happens. The last five(?) or so hours have been pretty busy, with a lot of fic brainstorming and other discussion in the main channel.

 

I dunno man, I seem to be a human IRC repellant.

 

That's because we have to stop talking about you when you sign in.

 

Would it be possible to have an IRC/Discord counter like I've seen on r/globaloffensive for example? One of my gripes with IRC and Discord is a lot of the real discussion happens there. Several older members of the communities I'm a part of are regulars in IRC or discord but rarely participate on the boards they're attached to. It means from an outside perspective the site looks a lot quieter than it is. I'd like to see something that suggests the IRC/Discord is active, not that I suspect its not, just it would be nice to have something for people to see.

As to what can be done about DLP in general, well to me the core of DLP is the WBA section. I'm far more active on the HPffn sub-reddit but most of that is correcting idiots. There aren't many idiots to correct here and so I'm far less active. A lot of HP centered discussion has already been had. HP is getting old. Obviously there are still going to be things to be discussed but most discussions are newer people starting conversations that have been had a dozen times already. DLP isn't the place to have the 50th conversation about 'Is Ron the bravest of the main trio?' let the fools have that somewhere else. DLP's biggest appeal is the strength and talents of its authors. A story approved by DLP is one worth reading and so I agree that inviting promising authors across multiple fandoms is the way to go. Its hard to breathe life back into the forum as a forum when the subject matter is well over a decade old. Perhaps fresh authors might spark more discussion. The alternative would be to encourage IRC and Discord users to post their somewhat relevant chats in the forum. This I can see as being clunky, slow and a bit irritating but again, it shows a more active forum.

 

Kind of going a different way, but since we're talking about future changes, there's one item of note that's bugged me a little lately. DLP mods have been quick (compared to other sites) to hammer people who Necro threads. At times, this leads to newer members getting banned, especially because their contribution to the thread isn't worth necroing it. However, it seems lately we're also promoting necroing threads through the "Similar Threads" window at the bottom of the page. For instance, right now, There are five similar threads listed in the window for me, two from 2013, and three from 2008.

In all honesty, I think the mods are right for not allowing threads to be necroed unless the contribution is worth it, but it sends the wrong message to new members to then have old threads pop up at the bottom of the screen. Is there a way we can filter them for say, the last six months at least? Perhaps, we can create one of those kind DLP reminders in the title area about necroing?

Again, not that this is a big deal in and of itself, but it's just one more small thing that together, creates an insider culture here. We know not to post in them and to look at the dates. New posters? Not so much.

 

New posters can lurk moar. I don't know about you, but I don't barge in jovially when I join a new community. I feel my way around first. People are too used to the idea that anything they have to say matters because lolzInternet.

 

DLP doesn't have the same sort of anonimity as a website like reddit, for example, where you can post whatever the hell you want, and people will just forget about it pretty quickly. Since DLP is considerably smaller, newer users tend to be more easily recgonisable. There's an element of social pressure while using DLP that doesn't exist is many other communities.

I think people generally get turned away from it because they don't really like the fact that what they say and do on the site is associated with them specifically. It sort of forces them to put more care into what they say, which does filter out a lot of pointless discussion, but also stifles it to an extent.

This sort of pressure does increase the quality of the posts on DLP, but it decreases the amount.

I'm not saying that any of this should be changed, these things are contributing factors for DLP's appeal, but it may be possible for there to be some sort of balance between quality and quantity.

 

I think more pressing than retaining the people who do come here but get turned away due to bad experiences (don't get me wrong, that is a problem) is the matter of getting people to come here in the first place, making them aware that DLP exists.

Because the way I see it, barring a particularly lucky and rather unlikely google search it's either through word of mouth, a member inviting people directly or someone stumbling on the ff.net profile of one of the authors who has a link to DLP there.

Word of mouth has the problem that many people outside of DLP don't have a positive picture of DLP. Whether or not the picture is accurate anymore or ever was doesn't matter as much as the fact that it's the picture they have. Only way of changing that one is doing as DLP did so far and continue to act in its newer way so that the people who come check it out regardless of second hand impressions find it much better than expected and bring that view to others. It's slow, of course but nothing can be done about that.

Having more authors produce DLP only content or having at least the main discussion here that draws people is the other big step. That and outright writing other good authors to come here but that would need to be done with some grace. "Hey, in case you weren't aware, there is a thread about your story on the fanfiction forum DLP that is seeing some discussion about your story, check it out if you want" or something like that seems vastly superior to "everyone on X is shit, come to DLP there you will get actual honest, constructive criticism but you need a bit of a thick skin, we can be dicks over there". Unfortunately, the latter one is something that does shine through more often than not and it's one of the reasons DLP has a bit of a bad rep.

None of this is particularly new or groundbreaking, of course. Or fast for that matter. There is no trick to do that will suddenly do the trick of staying exactly as it is while increasing the user base. Nothing that hasn't really been said before but it really seems the best way to approach things. Quality of life changes are welcome, of course, but that's hardly a reason to come to a site, it only makes the stay there more pleasant but the real draw have to be the stories and discussions.

 

Don't know what you mean.

 

On the matter of more posting, here is a question I have:

What about shorter one-shots, the kind that is between 1 and 5k words? Should we make threads for them as well or should we open a thread for say Naruto One-Shots and the like? A whole thread for a one shot seems a bit wasteful and while I also prefer longer stories, there are some excellent short stories out there, in various fandoms. Not quite sure what the stance there is.