I briefly looked over the rules and didn't see anything regarding posting multiple new threads to the workshop forums in a short period of time . While I am all for everyone who has met the requirements to get an opportunity to post their work in a workshop forum, I do feel there is the potential for spam of new postings from individual members. Perhaps limit the starting of new threads in each workshop forum to one per day per user? That does not seem unreasonable and would allow an active writer plenty of opportunities to post their work and give time for feedback to take place. To clarify, I'm not against a single member having multiple items up at the same time in a forum workshop for viewing by other members, I just think that to avoid spamming the forums with multiple works by one users in a very short period of time the moderators should consider limiting the speed at which new threads can be started by a single user in a short period of time. This would allow all posting members a better opportunity for their works to get viewed by others before falling down the list, and would help avoid the temptation to try to bump your own work to the top of the list which the rules do prohibit.
Our current medium of control is 1 new thread per every two critiques given. The need to give 2 constructive critiques prior to the posting of any new thread in the Workshop is usually enough of a control measure, time-wise, for what you mention. Once the initial two critiques are given that cause the automatic "gatekeeper" to move aside, the monitoring is manual on the part of the mods. It's not a perfect system given that it's manual. We're only human, but it's not often that someone goes on a posting "spree" unnoticed without having given the requisite number of critiques. But if they've complied with the 2 per 1 rule, then they're fine. And the rule is cumulative. Were you to go on a critique binge and give 6 constructive, qualifying critiques in a row, for example, you would have the right to post 3 new items to the workshop today. That would actually be fine, but I doubt a very common event.
I guess I was motivated by being able to make my first post in the workshop forum only to see it moved quickly down the list, partly by posts from one user who has been starting a lot of threads in the same forum recently. I guess it could also be what I posted really sucks and no one has the heart to tell me. LoL.
Posting a slew of new Workshop threads carries its own penalty. Anyone who does so will discover that none of those threads will receive adequate attention from those who truly take time to think about what they are reading and offer useful recommendations. Furthermore, the writer who posts such a flurry is missing a great opportunity to learn from the recommendations and apply them to the next piece of writing.
You spoke too soon friend, you have more responses than I do on any of my posts Perhaps part of the reason was the length of the piece more so. In any case...I wouldn't enjoy such a rule, primarily maybe what if I just have the weekend (on normal days) to write critiques and post my stuff. Would be annoying if I have to wait a whole day just to post a piece even though I meet the requirement.
I can understand what the OP is getting at here. If somebody suddenly floods a particular workshop with more than just a couple of pieces—even if they HAVE fulfilled the numerical requirements for critiques—they do push others down the queue. It's kind of like people who post endless numbers of jokes or sites on Facebook. You open your account, and nobody else gets a look-in. I know I partly block people who do this, not because they aren't good friends, but because this is just poor etiquette. I'd say it's just good manners to take turns as much as possible.
I tend to look at who wrote something and the length of the piece, choosing what to review. I would look right past multiple entries by the same person. And with long entries, I sometimes only critique a piece of it. Often the same issues occur throughout the piece so there's little to be gained from saying the same thing over and over.
Hmm, taking a brief look, my first question is, are replies in your own thread counting toward the two critiques?
And replies then push it back up, which goes with my last post, replying in your own thread bumps it.
@Wreybies, is there a page one can see everyone's total workshop entries in one place? Such a page would make it easy to flag certain member's for unusual activity. Short of that, there is one member I noted right away that might need his actual critiques counted. I'll try to get a better count of critiques vs entries and send you a PM.
No. Replies in one's own thread are never counted. Neither, frankly, are continued discussions within someone else's thread unless there were to be a rewrite posted which the critic subsequently critiqued. Were I to critique your thread, for example, Ginger, and we entered into a small back and forth banter, in-thread, that's still only one critique point in my favor.
The number of workshop entries are listed on the profiles of each member. I guess you might already know that but I thought it may help with the compilation. (Granted, for someone like me you may raise a gazillion read flags, because I have 60+ workshop entries, as most of my threads are from the old days when we didn't have the critique system in place.) Thanks for looking into it moderators/reviewers, as @123456789 said, there seems to something fishy going on.
Question: Do we need to fulfill the the two constructive critique requirement for rewrites? Like, I posted a story after critiquing two pieces, I got critiques, and now I want to post a rewrite, do I have to critique two pieces once again before posting it? I hope not, because I haven't done so myself and don't think anyone else does it, but just to be in the clear.
@Charisma, I did know that, yes, but thanks. If I looked at the same person others have noticed, he did have 15 short, but legit critiques for 7 new threads.
Welcome. I guess that brings us to the issue the OP raised--those critiques may be legit, but in doing so all others have been pushed down queue. Granted, as @Cogito pointed out it's really what goes around comes around, so in the end it might not really matter.
This may be a sentiment better expressed in another thread, but to me, the number one aspect of critique is the dialogue that occurs between members over any particular piece. Members coming together to improve a piece, light bulbs flickering. That's the magic of a writing workshop. Therefore, I'd prefer to see less works and more critique. Rules that help achieve this are good.
There was an idea floated a while back about showing workshop entries that lacked feedback. People can easily scan the threads in any forum for ones with fewer replies. I think people are fair in replying in the workshop and aren't all swayed by which thread is on the top of the list. It may be worthwhile to notice threads with few replies when deciding what to critique.
Yup, and this is still in the works. Daniel has been hashing this out with us the last couple of weeks.
Yes, I expect that's the best way forward at the moment. And now that the forum has a formal list of reviewers, this is likely to be less of a problem anyway. I do try to single out workshop entries (mostly novels because that's my 'field') that have had few responses. I think some of the entries that get lots of responses do so because the subject matter is currently popular—ie fantasy containing otherworldly beings with special powers—not because of any particular quality in the writing. Other entries that are not about these subjects have a lot of potential, however ...and may be more original as well. There is definitely gold in them thar unexplored hills!
Also, if all else fails and you feel your work is being bumped, there's no harm in just pm-ing someone and asking for a critique.
Seriously. Who's got time to read, digest, and process the feedback from so many threads? Getting ideas on how to improve our work, isn't that what the Workshop is there for? Determining the necessary revisions and getting them down takes time.
