I haven't been on this site a Real Long Time, but I have realized that there is a flood of feed notices from some groups. The noise-to-signal ratio works all right for a voracious reader like myself -- I kind of scan along, looking for nifty titles or my favorite ships.

Some people haven't the time. Some people haven't the interest.

Some people, put bluntly, just want to read great stories, in the hopes that if it's determined to be great by a handful of people who kind of know what they're talking about, it'll at least be good for them, or maybe even great for them.

I'm still developing the rules, but I can promise a few things here.

Promises I'm Making Now

1. No author will ever get to vote on the status of their story here. Period.

This is about a casual, independent review process. Nothing absurdly strict, nothing pointlessly sterile. Having said that, writing for yourself is fine if you never show anyone. You aren't on this website to do that, and if you are, why the hell are you?

Sorry. Digressing. Point: The author is frequently the least objective judge of their own work.

2. I intend to put a Great Story into the main folder on an infrequent basis. The goal isn't volume. It's quality.

This isn't intended for high turnover. This is intended for a resource. I can hope, eventually, that the Previous Greats folder is spoken of as Great Reading by those on the site. It's a lofty goal, but Thoreau said it best:

Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.

It might not work out. If it does, it'll be a beautiful thing to behold, a dragon's hoard of gems and baubles and precious metal.

3. If this thing turns into another storygrinder, I'll chop it up and feed it to the sharks.

If you know you might fail immediately, the consequences of that shouldn't be something you shirk. If this shit doesn't work out, if the Cabal breaks down into petty infighting, if the penguins return with the titanium letter opener -- I'll flush this thing down the toity myself.

So yeah. I can't promise much else. There isn't a timetable.

I am open to any thoughts you folks have, but this isn't a democracy, either. It's an experiment, and I reserve every right to change things as I see fit (except the three promises to attempt Objectivity, Quality, and Acceptance Of Possible Failure.)

I love stories. I love reading them. If you love them too, hopefully we can find some good ones for you.

Oorah.

So when does our nomnomnomination process begin?

1137595

As soon as one of us has a nomination or two. Just create a thread with a subject that starts "Nomination: ".