I just checked the Collaborative Projects section, and came away rather puzzled. It seems a somewhat vague category, at least at the moment, and far too broad. Finding a beta reader—somebody willing to critique a longer piece than what can be posted in the Workshop—is not exactly a 'collaborative project,' in the same sense as co-writing a novel, working with an artist to design a book cover, or creating a computer game by committee. Beta reading is simply a critique ...a 'bigger' critique than the Workshop currently offers. This is an essential step novelists need to take. We need a critique that takes in our entire story, not just the first few pages. At the moment, this opportunity is not officially offered via the forum; a beta-reading subforum is a chance to do so. I feel the beta-reading issue is going to get swamped in the Collaborative Projects section. I was hoping there would be a subforum specifically for people to hook up with beta readers. A separate subforum. Maybe even one that's cross-referenced with a sticky in the Workshop Novel section.
I actually agree, @jannert, and we knew this new area was going to be a little amorphous at first as we see who uses what, and what other areas members would think of as wanted once they saw the general idea. My personal preference is that this whole new subforum (Applied Writing) be taken out of Community Interaction and be brought up a level so that it lies in line with the other 4 major subforums of Creative Writing, Community Interaction, Writing Workshop and Site Information. It seems like a natural fit right after Creative Writing. JMHO, but I think there are several opportunities for refinement to these areas. I think you yourself also pointed out that a little segregation within Software and Tools might be nice for Windows, Mac and portable platforms, n'est-ce pas? I fully support that as well. I was talking with @Komposten the other day and he shared some screen-caps with me of Scrivener on a Windows machine and it was rather different to what I know from my Mac. It would be nice to have areas clearly marked so there's no confusion.
Yes, that would be fantastic. Then the sub-sub forums could all have a separate title, but they'd be immediately visible to anybody who visited the Community Page.
@jannert I see how that could be confusing. We could: 1) rename Collaborative Projects to Collaboration. You could find/seek beta readers by using the Beta Reader prefix. 2) Create a Beta Reading sub-forum under that forum, that I'm not 100% sure it won't get buried or unnecessarily confusing. 3) Give beta reading it's own forum on the same level as all the new applied writing forums, and limit threads to Seeking/Offering Beta Reading, or alternatively allow discussion of beta reading as well.
