Why did you pick Writing forums as your writing forum?

You mean that rather blocky, Windows XP style of some platforms, or the over-wrought motif design that was all the rage about a decade ago?

 

I was at a UK heavy forum where they didn't get the reference "gun porn" in some thread, and thought it was actually about sex with guns, which caused a slew of complaints/reports from other forum members (you guys know it's like 'food porn' or 'suit and tie porn', right? Pretty, glossy pictures of inanimate things). There was also a member who was bullying others but the mods didn't care 'cause he was their friend. It was friggin Animal Farm over there.

When I found writingforums.org, I was first happy to notice it's not just Brits here (nothing against Brits, but that other forum was a little inbred to begin with and not all that welcoming when it came to diversity), that there are actually members from all corners of the world, secondly I instantly took a liking to the values of our @Daniel , and I still feel as long as he owns this platform, it's not going to turn into something I can no longer be part of. And I still feel there's a diversity of ideas and points-of-view here, which has helped me with e.g. research and character development. On the other forum, you couldn't have asked a research question regarding topics that are common interest for SF/F writers, like firearms or historical martial arts, but I feel here you can always find someone who's in the know.

 

Not allowed over there, or just no responses?

 

The member pool was so small they couldn't offer answers or... let's say, they thought they knew what they were talking about, but the information was not confirmed by other sources.

 

Aha. Understood. Fictional responses to actual questions concerning depiction of actual items in fiction.

 

Here are a couple of examples:

Spoiler

As for forum software I'd say that XenForo is modern, while phpBB is still stuck in the past.

Disclaimer: These are some random images I picked up from a Google search.

 

So the answer, I guess, is all of the above. I see examples of "blocky Windows XP", "overwrought theme", "advertising spam-bonanza", and "pre-Windows XP, hard to know whether to take pity or applaud the fact that it's still alive".

 

Actually, of the four critique sites that I am on, this is the only one with a forum.

 

This is how I got here. It was around NaNoWriMo time in 2008 and I had just started to get into writing. I found an online resource for NaNo that was okay, but I didn't join up because I wasn't specifically doing NaNo. So I googled for a general writing forum and found this one. And here I am.

 

Like one of the Cuivienyarna awakened by Eru in the first days. I am always happy to see you around, one who holds to the old ways.

 

@Wreybies It's interesting to see how much this forum has changed over the almost-decade that I've been a member, only to realize it really is still the same great forum it's always been

 

Aye. It is like a great sea. It ebbs and flows. Sometimes there are squalls and sometimes doldrums, but on the whole, delightful.

 

Well I was in need of help with my first novel,
and I decided to go and find some.

A quick search, and some nosing around.
And Poof!
It has an easily navigate-able layout, and the community seems nice.

And the rest as they say is history.

 

I like that there's a good mix of people just starting out in the writing field and people who have had success and are published. AKA, a variety of experience levels.
It's well-monitored by admin, and issues are handled quickly.
Honest reviews, not a lot of talking-down or superiority complexes.
Usually quick responses to posts, so an active forum with lots of members.

 

Some of the moderators on this site are very bright, hew - but I like that. Whilst over on the mega-site [that people often refer to] there's some real cranks of the 'writing & cats' old school, they give me the heebee-jeebees. Also, they're so earnest it pains me.

I grazed a while on a British site dominated by one alpha male. An interesting and battle-scarred former mercenary, he wrote diary entries where invariably he'd thump the hooligan 'chav' when nobody was looking - order was restored in his local pub. 500 buddies always commented underneath his story:

'Nice one, Nige.'

'[Swoon]'

'U R d Man'

'Splash it on.'

'Knuckles for PM'


I didn't really like him, he didn't like my jokes about not wasting African children with his machine-gun back in '78 - from his chopper etcetera. I mean he'd write a new war (is hell) section, post it up, and that would inspire me to copy, but write it more butch, more death in my prose. Then I never got any likes for my soldiers. It didn't seem right.

Apparently 'Nige,' MC, DSO found out I lived in Brighton. When I saw the road block, the landrovers and the blacked out windows, all the signs of security down at Preston Park, I packed my shirt and left. That's why I'm living here, along the coast in this beach hut.

 

When I came here I didn't know I had a choice (and incidentally didn't for a moment think that I'd still be around, happily writing more than 18 months later). I don't really know why I stayed at the first, apart from that it was a place with (seemingly) endlessly diverse topics and friendly people, that allowed different opinions to stand.

In the meantime I've checked out other places as well and they have their usefulness—but this here is for openminded friends. And so I stay and call it 'home'

 

I originally started out on the now-defunct Fictionpost.com, which was a nice enough place, but very, very small in terms of membership. Despite that, they were very welcoming and friendly, not at all clique-ish, but...

It was really more of a lounge than a writing forum. Entries would get one, maybe two critiques, and the folks there were all very positive and encouraging. There seemed to be an unwritten rule of "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it", which is all well and good in the office breakroom, but when you need to know if your story is working or not, 35 views and no responses after a couple weeks isn't exactly constructive.

They ended up folding; the owner had been absentee for a few years and the mods would have to email him to try and get his attention when issues cropped up. I also don't think that the mods had much more power than the color of their nicknames, since a number of unpleasant people got in and ran slightly rampant right before the owner decided to shut it down. Some of the members announced they'd be forming a new site, but that was something like a year ago and nothing's happened.

So anyway, I googled "writing forums" or something like that, and found this place. May have looked at that other forum that seems to be semi-anathema here, don't remember, but this one seems to strike a good balance between coffee-shop and good critique, so here I am.

 

I picked this one as it seemed the best place for someone with little self confidence and no writing experience to learn the ropes. Simple as that. There's enough content here to learn from and aspire to and, if I'm any judge, my attempts are all the better for my involvement. That's all I ever wanted. I might not be the next great thing but I'm now able to look at my own work in a more objective light, without fear of criticism, and as that was always my biggest stumbling block, I owe mods and members a debt of gratitude.

 

Okay, I get it.

 

Rude people are a pain in the neck, I know. Great that it is civil in here.

 

I used to be on another writing forum specifically for young writers 13-25... and then that website was blocked on my school computer. Disheartened, I wrote without a writing forum for a while.

One September day, I grew frustrated with the lack of synonyms for the word 'smile'. Because I'm bitter, I smashed the words "Why are there so few words for smile" into the search bar, and scrolled a bit.

I found this thread: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/are-there-more-synonyms-for-smile.48191/

I thought to myself, huh, this is pretty helpful. Three minutes later, I had an account. A day later, my 'Hello' post had a few replies.

I think I'm gonna stay here a while.

 

You are highly decorated on Writing Forums, Wreybies. You are doing fine here even without your proper "monastic temperament".

 

Cool that you found your place, Skye.