When We Get To The Century...

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AgentPete

Capo Famiglia
Guardian
Full Member
May 19, 2014
London UK
Just a little advance warning. We’re about half way to the 100 member mark now. Many members are in fact familiar faces, which makes things particularly pleasant here.

When we get to the century, the Houses will reopen, but I’m also thinking about bringing in another measure, too. From that point onwards, new members may well have to get an invitation from an existing member before they can join.

My thinking on this is not to make Litopia in any way elitist or superior, but rather to (a) keep us small enough to still be a functional community; and (b) to try to ensure that our positive and supportive atmosphere is maintained. I suspect that a good way to achieve this is to let members themselves decide who they’d like to have as contemporaries here.

If anyone violently disagrees with this, by all means let me know.
 
That sounds like a great idea. You want to keep active members rather than lots of inactive members, which is a risk if hundreds more people join the colony at once... too busy will equate to annoyance and lack of activity because of that :)
 
Sounds like a good idea. I, for one, am raring to get stuck in.
 
I think it is a great idea to control the size of the Colony, and the mechanism for doing so, that you describe, makes perfect sense. My only concern is for those who would like to join at some point in the future, and who would make a positive contribution, but who would be unable to break in because they do not know any of the existing members. This would include virtually everybody starting out on their writing journey; and would have included me had I not had the good fortune to come across Litopia at its current early stage. Could there be some way of allowing individuals unknown to current Litopians apply for membership, perhaps by submission of some material which is then assessed by existing members, the application then being put to a vote? Perhaps that will just clog up the system....maybe there is no good answer.
 
I like Marc Joan's idea of finding a way to get sponsorship, to at least give new folks without an "in" to the Colony a fair chance. I'll meditate on possible ways to do this and let you know if I have anything I think resembles a good idea how. :)
 
I think it is a great idea to control the size of the Colony, and the mechanism for doing so, that you describe, makes perfect sense. My only concern is for those who would like to join at some point in the future, and who would make a positive contribution, but who would be unable to break in because they do not know any of the existing members. This would include virtually everybody starting out on their writing journey; and would have included me had I not had the good fortune to come across Litopia at its current early stage. Could there be some way of allowing individuals unknown to current Litopians apply for membership, perhaps by submission of some material which is then assessed by existing members, the application then being put to a vote? Perhaps that will just clog up the system....maybe there is no good answer.

I agree. I remember posting something here and getting over 300 reads and 160 replies That wouldn't happen with 100 people? fresh, new and hungry is the way forward. I was eighteen when I wrote my first book. I had no one. There was nothing like Litopia. This is an amazing opportunity for writers. Obviously, be aware of spammers and socks and everything obviously dubious. Make the registration complex, and verifiable, but please make it open up to everyone with a head full of ideas and a heart full of hope.
 
However we get there, I'm super stoked about the Houses re-opening. I owe so much to my critiquers. It's remarkable how much one can learn from their peers. I do agree with Elysium that the registration, or at least getting into the Houses, should be complex. On the old board, we had to "audition" for the houses. I found that everyone who made it past the barrier was constructive and kind. We can't always be so lucky, but on the whole, it was a great system.
 
Chaps and chapesses... I’m officially off-duty from now until late next Tuesday, away with patchy/non-existent internet connection. I’ll try to logon if I find a pub with wi-fi. Otherwise... see y’all next week!
 
I think it is a great idea to control the size of the Colony, and the mechanism for doing so, that you describe, makes perfect sense. My only concern is for those who would like to join at some point in the future, and who would make a positive contribution, but who would be unable to break in because they do not know any of the existing members. This would include virtually everybody starting out on their writing journey; and would have included me had I not had the good fortune to come across Litopia at its current early stage.
I don't know what the exact answer to it is, but this would be my concern, too - when I first joined Litopia, I'd heard of it and it came up in Google searches, but I didn't have any real idea what it was and while I think I actually unknowingly knew a person or two from elsewhere, I didn't know that I did. There were a couple of people who I was like, hey, I know him/her from X place, but I found that out after I joined. I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't known anyone and had needed an insight: I guess I would have just thrown up my hands and given up.

I do think it would be good if there was some mechanism to encourage people to be active members, not just members, but I think there needs also to be a recognition that some people are just starting out and don't have those kinds of connections yet,
 
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Book Review: Steven Petite, Huff-Po: Genre Fiction v Literary Fiction

Help! Could anyone recommend...?

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