Begging for links

[sophinisba]

We are collecting recs for hurt/comfort fics over at lotr_fic_recs. These can be LotR FP or RP, gen or any pairing, any rating or level of medical explicitness. (And in case you were wondering, Elanor and I had decided on this challenge theme before the latest round of controversy arose around Stories of Arda.) Even if you're not in a reccing mood, you might want to check out the entry to see the past and new h/c recs and find something to read. We already have three recs since late last night and I expect this to be a popular one. Hurt/Comfort recs

Lately I find myself saying and thinking "That's unfortunate" a lot. For instance, about the New York Times story about John McCain and that lobbyist, and about readers who read fics that squick them because they don't bother to read the warnings, and about the insanity theme at IJ, and about the LJ strike/boycott happening on Purim, and a bunch of other things. This is my way of being sad about things without assigning blame or responsibility, and I don't know whether that's a good thing or not. I mean, there's a phantom writing coach in my head (the same one who's yelling at me for saying "really" and "very" all the time) who detests this kind of vague and wishy-washy language, especially because most of these don't have anything to do with fortune but rather with bad decisions people have made. On the other hand, this is how my mind works (or has been working lately) and it's probably safer, as far as getting along with people in a community and all, than pointing fingers. I don't know. Maybe I am just a wishy-washy person.

Anway, I think it's unfortunate about SoA, but it has been nice to see an increase in posting at The Last Ship lately. I have been very lazy and haven't done much work there since we started up in November, but baranduin has been working on the site and just fixed the thing with e-mail notifications so now they'll take you directly to the reviews. You can also choose between several really pretty LotR-themed site schemes that we didn't have at the beginning. The thing I did work on early on and that I'd like to get back to now is the help site, which is a wiki, meaning that anybody who wants to can contribute to it. We did disable anonymous editing because we were getting some spam, but anyone who wants to can set up an account. If you're looking to contribute something, it would be great if you could add some links to other archives and communities on the External resources page. Just click on the "edit" link at the top of any page or section, and if you're not familiar with wiki language you can use the little icons at the top of the box to add links. It's easier to get used to than you probably think. :)

Comments

[elanorgardner.livejournal.com]

Heh. You are a lot like me in terms of seeing both sides of a situation and having to decide how far over on the teeter totter you are so you know where you will "come down" and how hard! Sometimes I just sit in the middle. But sometimes you are in a situation (like modding a comm) where you have to decide. Sometimes you aren't, and you sit back and say "How unfortunate" or "How sad" because nothing you do can change it and you really can't decide which side to slide over to anyway. It's one reason I am always trying NOT to end up on a jury, and it is also probably the reason I get elected foreperson when I am!

Re the whole "self-reccing" thing, we could probably do a single challenge where, like our "Love Affair with Fanfic" challenge (http://community.livejournal.com/lotr_fic_recs/82712.html), folks can rec one of their own fics for a given challenge (which they name) which was overlooked. We could jokingly call it the "Pimp Your Fic" challenge. I know which of my fics I would rec and exactly for which challenge, so I'm ready!!! *GRIN*

I really must get over and look around "The Last Ship". I am reluctant to post in archives because in most, you lose control of the fic (WOTM, Whether or No). Does "The Last Ship" allow you to delete and edit and reupload?

BTW, thanks for all your PR work for this challenge. It kind of "exploded" a bit, eh?

[sophinisba]

I think surgicalsteel's post earlier today probably had more to do with the explosion. That and, like I said to her there, the fact that the controversy put h/c on people's mind last week. But then we knew this was going to be a popular challenge anyway.

I like the idea of a single Pimp Your Fic challenge! Maybe we could do that next. And I like the idea of making them say which previous challenge it fits -- maybe we could make them give a link too, which forces them to go through the community archives. :D

Do come and give TLS a try. It's all automated, so all posting, editing, and deleting is up to the author. Even the people for whom Claudia's been uploading their fics will still be able to edit and delete using their own accounts. The admins mostly just get involved to answer technical questions or to add new fandom categories and characters as people request them.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I believe that you can easily delete and edit and upload...(at least I've found that so far)

If you have any trouble at all, just email us (read: baranduin) because she's awesome and will fix any glitches! :-)

We'd love to have your stuff there! :-)