...holy shit. I'm unblocked. I was getting fed up with the fact that blocked members could still get notifications from groups they were banned from, and I was finally about to PM an admin to unblock me so I could leave of my own accord... but I'm already an actual member. Who the hell...

Well, I was updating the MLP/MST Archive when I took notice of this, and an idea came to me. Rather than just slipping away into the night... I could promote a little expansion in my field of choice.

Hold those thumbs, guys. Hear me out first.

I know about the events that led to the inception of this group. In fact, I was heavily involved. The main problem came from the implied threat of a riff that addition to the F/F/T3K folders came with. My idea is something of a way to reconcile, now that I actually have the chance.

I think we could get a small riffing circle going here. Just... find a story, of ANY quality, that you think jokes could be made about, and go to town. If you want examples, there are links on my userpage and BOATLOADS of them here. All you need is Google Drive and a sense of humor.

A few guidelines first, because we'll obviously need those.

1. Get permission from the author first. I know I don't normally, but goddammit, if riffing is going to be a presence here, we need to keep to the group's ideals.
2. Don't just do BAD stories. Riffing is a labor of love as well; feel free to use it as a platform for paying homage to something you really like. You're free to do bad ones, but I suggest not focusing on them in the interest of fairness.
3. Avoid serious personal attacks on the author. The riff is supposed to stay focused on the work in question. You can take a few pot shots at the author, sure, but no threats of violence and no serious insults.
4. You can riff your own works if you so choose. Nothing wrong with self-promotion or self-deprecation.
5. You don't HAVE to keep the stories clean. If you think you want to go for a story flying the Mature flag, by all means.
6. Feel free to collaborate. Riffing can be even more fun when done with friends.
7. Post the link to the finished riff in this thread. If you so desire, I can even toss it into the "Other / Misc" section on the Archive. All you have to do is say the word. Hell, do enough of them and you could get your own subsection!

Point number one is the real important one, and point number three is just out of basic human decency. The rest are simply polite suggestions.

If you have any questions, I'm more than happy to answer them. In addition, if you think there should be other guidelines, I can add to the list. I don't think I should HAVE to add this, given the nature of the group, but... be polite when you do reply. Give nice, and you get nice back.

Take a look at my shitty stories.

1076792 Can we put our stories up for riffing, and receive the riffs as a "reward" of sorts?

Just a comment, but a folder would support said question.

Uhh... this is a weird thing to have here.

I'm going to leave it up, though, for now.

Doesnt this kill the point unicorn was making when she made this group?

1077117

The point was to guard against malicious or otherwise insulting riffs done against stories. Fallen here is providing an alternative.

His point being that riffs are a labor of love is indeed true. Look for popular stories, and you'll find people who have riffed them. Background Pony, Eternal, Xenophilia, plenty of famous, amazing stories all have people who riffed them.

It's a roast. We insult each other and ourselves and have a good laugh, and all come out as friends at the end of the day. It's what proves that you truly have a friend: you can punch each other, and still move on. Settle your differences, and still have that bridge of friendship to walk on.

It's how authors improve, and how critics find people to follow. It's the same attitude that makes the writing world go round.

1076812

I'd be more than happy to riff stories that pop up here, should I find the time. Hell, I'll even post some of my bad ones here, just to incite a couple!

I love being riffed, since it both shows me how I need to improve, and it's a really good way for people to show they love my stories.

1077252 I'd like my story riffed, even if it's only (well, currently) >4K words.

1077248
Ah

This is the reason the group was made. To be against riffing. I mean really, dude, come on.

1077590 Sir, I don't believe the title is "The Circle of Anti-Riffers". Please do your research before making a claim like that.

There's nothing in the group rules that says anything about riffing. There are no discussion threads that talk about how riffing is bad. You've got zero evidence to back that claim up right now.

1077590 Refer to 1077248 here.

1076812 ...-Bluejay or Elec should so make that folder. Unless you don't need decorations next to your name in the member list to make a folder, in which case I can go do that now.

1077683 I think you can only do that as an admin or contributor.

Actually, I don't remember anything about the contributor.

EDIT: Nevermind, admin only, it seems.

1077668
Did you know the group creator as well as I did. No, I'd didn't think so. She made this group BECAUSE of what happened. Her stories were riffed and she didn't like it. She made this group for her friends, like myself, who supported her through that time. We talked about that very thing, so before you go accusing me of making up claims, you might want to look into it a little deeper.

1077754 I recall saying "give nice and you get nice back." I can reinforce the opposite just as easily. You can have a disagreement, but watch your tone unless you want me or someone else unloading on you.

And there are two major issues with your argument:

1. The "not knowing her" thing. I think we saw enough of her that week to get a good idea of who she was. And my chats with Krishna and Sharky were pretty insightful as well, so even if Winter here doesn't have a good picture of her, I do. You can know someone without knowing them personally.

2. Uni spent her entire week accumulating bad publicity, which landed her a ban in the end. She has no pull in the group anymore, and minus the stunt with Bloodthirstygamer done in her name, it's been better for it.

1077813
I realize the "give nice and get back" argument, but I believe my tone was necessary and honestly, how much can you "unload" on me through the Internet. A d I have a point I'd like to make before I'm done with this tread that I take you didn't catch in my previous post so this time I'll put it in all caps so you'll see it. I KNEW HER PERSONALLY. YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T. Yes she made some bad choices in the end but your missing the point. She may have had some "bad publicity" in the end, but she made this group before that. I thought we were talking about the riffs, not our opinions of her.

1077842 Looking through the discussion, YOU were the one who brought Uni up like she factored much into the group as it exists now. And I noticed and ARGUED the knowing her personally point, whereas you seemed to miss my saying I've talked with two OTHER people who knew her personally and got a decent idea of what she's like. The thing is, though, what she's like has had nothing to do with this group since her forceful removal from the site.

Uni's gone. Stop stirring it back up.

1077813

And my chats with Krishna and Sharky were pretty insightful as well

I hope you aren't trying to paint that as a victory for yourself, especially over me. I told you lot, ya gotta try harder than that!

I'm sort of with D9 on this issue as the idea of riffing, all-in-good-fun or done respectfully or not, is against the group's original purpose (and the reasoning that some people have joined this place). Giving an open stage for riffing is going to make people uncomfortable. People will interpret it as an attack and this group has already had enough drama. I'm not personally against riffing and I always saw them as free traffic for the one being riffed (HINT. HINT.). I'm a big fan of MST3K-style videos (Retsuprae's cornshaq, billymc, electricalbeast, and navigtr videos pretty much made up what me and my friends watched all the time). I don't feel they belong in Circle of Friends by any description.

I know you and your buddies love a good debate, but Circle of Friends is not a good place to promote your riffs. Some of you guys have hundreds of followers. You have lots of groups to work with. Is the meager audience of Circle of Friends really that sparkle in your eye? It just seems to me like you're looking for another bite of that controversy pie.

I mean, c'mon, this is getting silly!

1078023 I wasn't trying to make that a victory for me. I was making a point that I had some idea of what Uni was like, countering claims that people didn't.

And yes, I do have other venues for promotion, the website I linked being the primary one. If I meant to promote my own riffs, I'd have just dumped the links and run, which would have led to me getting banned from the group AGAIN. I was proposing the idea as a token of good faith, as the guidelines I listed off clearly show. The storm's long over, and I have no intention of reviving it.

I wasn't trying to make that a victory for me. I was making a point that I had some idea of what Uni was like, countering claims that people didn't.

That's still not knowing a person for who they are, bro. But fair enough, in the context of the argument, I'll give you that.

I was proposing the idea as a token of good faith

Token of good faith? Really? You lot are Tauren paladins now, I see. Holy cow, indeed.

Alright, I'll throw my support into this. I was never on the staff here and that might not count for much, but it'll be one less naysayer. I'm curious to see this all unfold and to see if you guys can get support from unbiased members of this group and not just, shockingly, the same people involved in the controversy (Winter Storm, KillerSteel) or people who want their stuff riffed for the sake of being riffed.

I just don't want a repeat of the fiasco of the past.

1078198 The fiasco started because no one asked Uni before putting her story in that folder. To date, no one even knows who did it. The one guideline I set up as a rule should kill that, assuming this even gets off the ground.

As much as I admit I love a good shitstorm, I'm rather adverse to creating them, and I see reviving one intentionally as the ULTIMATE in knife-twisting, wound-salting douchebaggery. It's like someone just yelling "And another thing..." twenty minutes - or in this case, a week and a half - after they acknowledged that a fight was over. I'm many things, but I'm not a troll.

If this does turn into a thing, and not the thing I was going for, I'll gladly shut it down.

...this is NOT the sort of dialogue I was hoping this would open.

1078857

Just as a suggestion, it's a good idea, but maybe not the best idea here, since there are still people upset about everything that went down with unicorn92243. What if you created a new group, designed to be a nicer riffing circle with the rules you've posted, and advertised it here, and anyone interested joined that group?

You'd have a lot more room to do things, could have multiple folders for the riffs, even, and being admin would have some advantages.

Namely, something knighty added in the last update. If you are an admin, and you move your mouse over the trash can for deleting a fanfic out of a folder, it tells you who added it now. That would have been really helpful when that whole fiasco was going on.

Anyways, just my two bits...

1078990 I believe that there are a few groups already like that. Having links to them would be nice.

1078198

Alright, I'll throw my support into this. I was never on the staff here and that might not count for much, but it'll be one less naysayer.

Sir, you have my deepest respect for this line. You are a rarity on this site.

1079014

The groups I know about like that don't have the rules he posted, and generally riff things without permission, regardless of the authors wishes. One of them was the reason the whole fiasco started. That's why I was thinking he could create his own group. Then he'd have full control of it, and it could actually be a friendly place for riffs.

A large part of why the whole thing blew up the way it did was how the admin of one of those groups handled things, actually.

1079090 I bet that played its part. It was a two sided conflict, and I bet the riffer wasn't very kind when someone demanded that he take his riff down. But yea, a new group for this group would be a great idea.

1076792
I'm a riffer too, and I have to say; I really don't agree with this idea. While I love a good riff as much as you do Fallen, this is neither the time nor place for such a concept. It does indeed go against what the group was founded for, and I have a gut feeling that more people than not will take offense to their stories being riffed here, or few of them will give you their permission. If you really want to establish something like this, I can create a new group for you which you can offer to people who wish to have their own stories riffed. I understand your intentions, but this is not the place for them.