This is a somewhat trivial suggestion, and if no action is taken, I can't say I will be too upset. Here's what I've noticed: the "Essay" section is apparently for only "Formal essays", as it says in the fine print underneath. The thing is, people don't always look very closely and often just post whatever they consider an essay in that section. Meanwhile, someone always comments that it is in the wrong section and that it should be moved to the "nonfiction section". Moving a post is more of a hassle than it's worth, usually, so the essays usually stay where they are, wrong section or not. So to get rid of the unnecessary confusion, I suggest we do one of three things: 1) We title the section "Formal Essays" instead of just essays so that there is no confusion. 2) We broaden the section to include "Personal and Formal Essays"--this would get rid of the question of what is "formal" or "personal", because sometimes it is a little unclear, and in the process just make it a lot simpler. After all, we don't have a forum for "free verse" or something like that--we just have "poetry"; form rules over genre in the case of poetry, and, in my opinion, in the case of essays as well. 3) We add an additional section for "Personal Essays"- this is probably overkill, but it's another option, nonetheless. Like I said, this is all a tad trivial and wouldn't change much. I just think it's an easy thing to do that would make things run slightly smoother. What do you all say?
Scrap it: - Tis not much used. One non-fiction section (encompassing essays and all other stuff) is suffcient. - Even with name changes there will always be some potential for confusion - some scope for the timid to feel anxiety at having to choose and for the captious to whine.
I dunno about scrapping it. I can see the point of having it. Honestly, I quite like jo's second suggestion. I don't think the difference between formal and informal essays is broadly enough understood, so the simplest thing to do would be to broaden the category to include both.
I support this idea as well. Spoiler Dang ol dang. Look at all this DEMOCRACY at work in this uber oppressive fascist writer's forum.
I'd say let the author decide if the piece fits better in that section or another one - the same as with every other subforum of the Review Room. Members don't always put a lot of thought into where they post something, but it doesn't have to be a huge problem. The category suggests the context for the critique, anmd you can always make the poor category choice one of the critique points.
It's not a huge problem. I just think: 1) It's easy to fix 2) It would give essay-writers a clear place to put their "personal" essays whereas now it's unclear where they should go 3) Not many people want to review a "formal" essay, so that subforum gets very little traffic as is. But the nonfiction forum seems to do OK because it allows for personal stories (and, in theory, essays) which are often more fun to read. If we open the essay forum to personal essays, the forum might get more attention which would be better for all parties. 4) If enough people agree and it wouldn't be too much of a hindrance, why not?
Edited to include formal and personal essays. I agree that limiting it to formal essays is unnecessary and could be confusing.
