The Most Important Blogpost I'll (Hopefully) Ever Make · 9:05pm May 1st, 2019
Howdy, folks. Today, I get to share something very special with you all.
I also need your help.
This is Penclash. It's a project I've been working on for some time now.
What's a Penclash? Glad you asked. It's a community-focused site built around writing contests.
"But RB", you may be asking. "Don't we already have that? Isn't that just the Writeoff?" And to an extent, you'd be right—but Penclash is a lot more.
Penclash features a monthly writing contest—the Monthly Penclash, which is similar to the Writeoff, although with a bit more variety. But it also lets users create their own contests—with very flexible tools. One of my design goals with this was to create a system that could handle every major contest type I've seen, on this site and outside it. You'll be able to make just about anything, and have Penclash handle the logistics of it for you.
But the other big feature of Penclash is Workshops. Workshops are user-created, user-run forums that can hold their ow contests—similar to subreddits, or Fimfic's group system. They'll have their own leaderboards, as well.
The big deal with these is that you can organize them around any topic. That includes fanfiction. So while Penclash is going to be mainly focused on original fiction, fanfiction still has a place on the platform.
(It's also planned to feature Fimfic/Genfic cross-login, so you won't have to worry about making a new account.)
You may have noticed that 'going to be' in the last paragraph. As you may have guessed, Penclash isn't actually done yet—it's only about 30% finished at the moment.
So why am I talking about it now?
Well, partly because I've been dying to talk about it for ages. But also because, as mentioned, I need your help.
In a perfect world, I would be able to continue working on this with no care for money, but unfortunately the world isn't perfect yet.
Simply put: I need to be able to pay my bills while I work on this.
That's where you come in.
I've started an Indiegogo campaign for Penclash. You can find more details about the project there.
Now, I'm not asking for money—well, okay, I am—but what I really need right now is exposure. In order for this campaign to succeed, in order for Penclash to succeed, I need the word to get out.
So here's what I need: Spread the word. Blog about the campaign here on Fimfiction. Post about it on Discord. Share it on whatever social media you feel comfortable with. Anything you can do will help.
I know Penclash can be successful, and I hope it will be a lot of fun. And I know that, together, we can make it happen.
And man, I really hope it does.
Yours in entrepreneurship and extending my own existence,
-RB
I chipped in my contribution. Good luck, man!
Interesting. I have questions, in a good way.
Site features
What exactly does the site do in order to support writing contests?
Flexibility
Having just run one of the most unusual contests, in which each author was given a randomly generated prompt, how would the site fit that model?
Integration
How closely can the site be integrated into Fim/Genfiction? Can stories be written off-site and entered into in Penclash contests?
Funding
How will the site be funded going forwards? What's your income model? What thresholds does it need to stay above in order to stay successful?
5052449
Thank you for your interest!
Site Features
For the most part, Penclash has implemented or is planned to implement everything you've listed. The site will host stories locally; formatting is being handled by a BBCode standard based on Fimfic's (a WYSIWYG editor is also being worked on—perks of writing my own parsers). Entries can be entered anonymously, though they will still be attributed to their authors on the backend for logistical/administrative purposes. New/relevant user contests will appear on the front page, and members will be notified of new contests in their workshops.
Regarding rule enforcement, wordcount, entry count, and submission deadlines are strictly and automatically enforced. Beyond that, it will be up to contest runners to police their entries; they will be given a limited toolset with which to do so, and any user can contact a site moderator (me, initially) if escalation is needed. Contests and contest entries will also be subject to site rules.
I'm still on the fence about whether or not to allow mature stories on the site, but currently I'm leaning towards yes, with a system similar to Fimfic's mature mode. More thought on this matter is required.
Judgement is something that is still being worked on. The current defaults are a slate-based system, with entries being anonymous as an option, and manual scoring. I would actually appreciate any input you had on this. 'Judge' is a contest-specific role that can be assigned to other users by the contest organizer. Penclash will have a private messaging system (with batch functionality for contest runners) which can be used to organize and trade notes, but no further tools for judge cooperation are currently planned.
Penclash will have a notification system. You'll be able to watch contests without entering them, which will subscribe you to any announcements made by the organizers, and participants will automatically receive the same. It is also planned for announcements to be automatically generated at the submissions deadline/start of judging period/end of judging period.
Flexibility
Something as user-specific and intricate as the Bingo contest would have to be organized primarily through the PM system, as it was on Fimfiction, at least initially.
Integration
Fimfic/Genfic compatability is something I want for Penclash. Fic importing is certainly something that could be done fairly easily with Fimfic's API, as would fic exporting, which I feel would be an equally handy feature (this was one reason I kept the BBCode spec similar). I would need to hash out the specifics with Knighty, but from what I've seen a contest-manager for Fimfic is something he's been wanting someone to tackle, so I think he'd be fairly amenable to giving me a second API key. I'd also like to offer similar services on other fiction platforms where possible.
Funding
Penclash will be primarily funded through advertising; the current plan is to utilize Google Adsense for general advertising, and to also offer in-house advertising to our users for a reasonable fee.
I expect running Penclash to cost around 200-300 dollars a month initially (it's hard to say exactly; double checking my expectations regarding hardware is part of the reason for the beta). While I don't want to go into specifics, I believe, based on data provided by Google's advertising services and some low-ball estimates on the possible size of our starting userbase, that this will be maintainable, though it may take a little while to build up to that point. Part of the reason for the crowdfunding is to cover server costs during this period.
And the good thing about web hosting is that load scales with traffic, which scales with revenue, so if my estimates prove true then keeping up server costs should not be a problem going forward.
I hope this helps. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask them!
Oh, sure. This wasn't a demand for you to support my very specific use case, so much as probing the outer edges of the flexibility.
I hadn't considered fic exporting, but it's a good idea. The ability to enter a contest, perhaps anonymously, on Penclash and then easily transfer that story to Fim/Genfiction with the formatting intact would make things much smoother. Of course that story shouldn't be automatically published, because there's often a cleaning-up stage to do between the contest version of a story and the final version.
The use case I was asking about, though, was for stories not hosted on Penclash, but on connected sites. Write a story on Fimfiiction, or any integrated site, and then enter into a contest on Penclash without importing it over. If my Fimfiction login is connected, it could be as smooth as a few clicks.
5052488
Ah, I see. Yes, it would definitely be possible to add an option to link to stories externally, although I would prefer to keep things local where possible, and fics done this way would still need their own pages on Penclash. I'll probably make it something contest runners can choose whether or not to allow, as this may not be desirable in all situations.
...this has my attention.
Quality
It may sound strangely petty, but one of the reasons I keep coming back to Fimfiction is the high quality site design. Compared to other fanfiction sites, it's just staggeringly nice. And first impressions can make a big difference to whether people stick with your site.
Things I think you need to include or consider from the beginning:
5052491
Yes, the story would have a page on Penclash, complete with information picked from the source site - cover picture, title, description, tags, etc. Then a link to the actual story source. If the site's API allows, it could even have direct chapter links.
Similarly, an author's page on Penclash could draw data from the external site(s) they're part of, connecting it with the data on Penclash - "RB_ has 19 stories, 4 of which are part of contests". Optionally, of course.
cool!
5052518
Not petty at all! Fimfic is an incredibly well-designed site.
Penclash is being developed under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and is ADA compliant. Things like site-wide font size will also be adjustable.
Dark mode is already in development (I use dark modes almost exclusively, as well).
Penclash's formatting is/is planned to be largely semantic, in an effort to keep the visual look of stories consistent and anonymous. This allows us a lot of freedom in providing options for the reading experience. Penclash is also bringing a lot of similar features to the writing experience, as well, with a customizable editor. Settings will be stored in localstorage, which is device specific, as is the norm.
Ebook exporting is not planned for launch, but will likely come later.
Story rights are retained in full by their authors (though you will, of course, have to grant us some rights regarding hosting your work on our platform, which will be outlined in our terms of service). No licensing necessary; copyright protections are granted automatically to creators of a work.
Penclash is already GDPR compliant. Also, I'm Welsh.
Moderation roles are already set up in the backend; we'll be looking for moderators once the beta ends or when deemed necessary. I don't expect moderation to be a major issue on Penclash, but I'm also expecting to be surprised. The DCDSM is a concern of mine, has been for a long time, but there's not a lot we can do specifically regarding it until individual member states begin implementing its recommendations.
5052601
Ha! I meant no offence. It's just a very common thing online.
Hi! I am certainly intrigued.
I guess I'll be the one to bring up the elephant in the room: How do you plan to distinguish this from the Writeoffs? I mean, that's not a reason not to do it — just like there's still a use case for Twitter and Instagram and tumblr even though Facebook exists — but there's enough of an overlap that I'm curious how you hope to find your niche, and what advantages would get authors migrating to your site rather than there, given how similar the sites currently sound.
Hit me with the sales pitch!
5052684
Thanks for the interest! I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up.
First and foremost, Penclash offers a lot more functionality than the Writeoff itself—the only real overlap here is the Monthly Penclash contest, which is admittedly also probably the biggest draw, so I'll focus on that for the moment.
In terms of pure functionality, Penclash offers more variety in terms of prompts. The Writeoff currently only supports text prompts; as of this moment Penclash can support text, images, and something I'm calling a Penclash Square, which you can find a picture of on the campaign page. It'll also—this is subjective, and I'm biased, but—have a greater focus on UI/UX design, making the whole process of using it a lot simpler and more comfortable. As a developer, I've thought the Writeoff site could do with a redesign for some time.
In terms of actual contest rules, Monthly Penclashes have a more lax timeframe, generally speaking. The actual submission period will span a week to several weeks, in contrast to the high-pressure environment of the Writeoff's week/weekend. Whether this is an improvement or not is up to you, but I'm hoping it'll result in more polished entries and more engaging stories (assuming people don't just leave it until the last minute anyway).
Like the Writeoff, the length of submission will also change between rounds. However, my plan is to make this something that participants can vote on, like with prompts (with some limitations, just so we don't end up with 'flash fic' five weeks in a row). Also, the site's leaderboard isn't planned to have a decay mechanic. I still don't like that thing.
But the thing with all of this is—if these differences don't sound appealing, that's fine, because you will be able to essentially recreate the Writeoff itself as a workshop on Penclash. That's the great thing about offering these sorts of tools to the general userbase—if you don't like how the main contest functions, you can set up your own relatively easily. I think the Writeoff will still have a place after Penclash launches—but that place could be on Penclash if so desired. I'd be fully willing to help migrate over the existing scoreboard if that ever ends up happening.
The other thing about the Writeoff is—and I hate to say this—is that it isn't going anywhere. Despite expansions into original fiction and other fandoms, it's still a little niche piece of the Fimfiction community, even after—what has it been, seven years?
And—that's not a bad thing! I like that the Writeoff has been able to form its own little tight-knit community. It's something I hope to be able to accomplish with Penclash. But what Penclash is meant to do is take what's great about the Writeoff—a community built around self-improvement and honing each others' writing through friendly competition—and bring it outside of Fimfic, to the general writing community.
Because I think we have something valuable, in the Writeoff, and it's a shame that it's been stuck here for so long.
5052702
Thanks for the answer!
Part of that has to do with the community it has historically attracted, I think, as well as the lack of outside advertising. If you're focusing more on genfic from the start and drawing in a large outside crowd, you'll get a different atmosphere. And the thing about longer-length competitions is not a small difference — I know writers like Bad Horse have been complaining about the tight deadlines for years, and a competition for "polished" pieces that have gone through an edit cycle would feel like a very different beast.
This is an absolutely fantastic concept made even more exciting by this little tid-bit:
In a year full of things ending it's wholesome to see some new things being born.
5052518
I've poked at the other sites. I think once this becomes GenFiction literally everything else will die because of how user-friendly, pretty, and powerful FimFiction is. It just works.
I might joke about Knighty breaking literally everything with literally every release, but FimFiction is hella nice.
If you're interested, WriteOff is free software and open to contributors. I can try my best to walk you through the code base and be available on Discord to answer any questions you have, and I can give you commit privileges to the GitHub repo.
I'm a little concerned that you'll be doing a lot of unnecessary work re-implementing stuff that's already been done, especially since you're asking for money to presumably quit your job to do so. It'd take a lot less work and time to build on top of what's already been done. All the features you've suggested would be pretty easy to implement in WriteOff. Renaming genres to workshops and having "original" as a default view is a particularly good idea that I'll probably steal. I'm not married to the design and can see how it could easily be improved. (Also, PenClash is definitely a better name.)
I know it's a lot less fun to work on existing software, though, so it's understandable why this might not interest you. You might even be deep in your own implementation already. Still, I think it's an option you should seriously consider, because if there aren't an issues it'd lead to a much better site for everyone.
5053671
I am deep enough into my own backend that starting over, even from a base, would be more work than not. Appreciate the offer, though!
5053704
If that were true, you'd be near ready to launch. You said yourself that you think it's about 30% done, and you're asking for money to finish the rest. That doesn't add up.
I think you're both underestimating how much work it'll be to get feature parity with WriteOff, and overestimating how difficult it'd be to build on top of what's already done. A programmer's desire to start entirely from scratch is very natural and understandable, but as the article I linked argues it's also terribly unwise.
I'm not sure what your motivation for making this site is, though. If it's to make a better writing contest site for everyone I think you're overlooking the best option for making that happen.
5053830
And I think you're underestimating me. Most of that 30% I have completed is backend. I already have a bare-bones version of the contest system set up, as well as login/signup, user roles, commenting, and story submission. I have already planned out how the majority of my other features will be implemented. What's more, the way I'm implementing contests has fundamental differences from how the WriteOff handles them in terms of submission and awards.
Call it sunk cost fallacy if you want, but I feel that I have very little to gain at this point in development from scrapping what I have to build on software I'm not familiar with, in a language I'm not familiar with, that was built with a very different feature set in mind.