Hello, just me.

No, not starting this group back up or anything, but one thing that has been on mind is the group list on the front page of this group. Mainly that it's getting more and more out of date. Some of the groups aren't actually active any more (WRITE certainly looks dead), and there are probably groups listed that aren't the main group for the topic they cover, and groups that should be in the list probably aren't.

So I thought I'd see what people think. Are there groups you'd like to see on the list, ones that you think should be removed, or ones that should be replaced? Should I even bother with updating it?

Of course, I could always just make a dedicated group to being a directory of groups, a meta-group, as such. That might have some merit, since you could do individual threads for different topics that groups are on, and it'd be easier to keep organized. It'd also give a lot more room to list groups. I'm not sure if anyone would be interested, though, and there may even be such a thing already out there.

Anyways, thoughts?

--arcum42

5375716

Maybe just go a cull the ones that appear abandoned or similar.

No need to go all out on it.

~Skeeter The Lurker

5375727

Eh, if I cull a couple, I'm going to want to add a few for balance anyways. Of course, I'm not really going to cull most of the individual pony groups unless they are both abandoned and have a replacement.

Telling the difference between a group that's abandoned and just sleeping can be difficult, too. All it takes is one admin who is still active on the site to revive things. Cadence's Library had a bunch of changes recently, for example.

--arcum42

I still miss this group though. :(

5375716
It's probably too small to get a place in that list, but I made a group for story reviews and discussions. So far I haven't been able to get anyone else in it to be active, so any promotion and new members would be appreciated.

I think adding active links is a great idea...

...as well as starting this Group back up. Please.

5381913

I think adding active links is a great idea...

Yeah. I'm just mainly not sure what should be added and taken out. The Goodfic Bin should be added in, and The Last Roundup should be clearly removed, at the very least.

...as well as starting this Group back up. Please.

Well... the issue with demand verses number of available reviewers would still be a problem. I've also barely read any fanfic for a good bit, though I may start up again, and most of the people we had running this group aren't very active or gone by now. If I were to try and start things up again and collect admins for it, I'd end up with a crew a lot like the Goodfic Bin has, and I think we'd be better off just letting the Goodfic Bin be the closest thing around.

As much as it'd be nice to see the group back and running, part of the trouble is that I don't want to run it, at least not the way it was before. I'd be fine with sprucing things up and letting it be a discussion group, rotating the admin staff a little, and such, since it really is a waste to have nothing happening in a 4000+ member group, and I'd be willing to let people run contests here and things like that. I'm just not interested in getting back into approving and rejecting things...

(Of course, it'd be interesting to see what would happen if I just gave all of the admins over at the Goodfics Bin admin rights here...)
--arcum42

5385677

As much as it'd be nice to see the group back and running, part of the trouble is that I don't want to run it, at least not the way it was before. I'd be fine with sprucing things up and letting it be a discussion group, rotating the admin staff a little, and such, since it really is a waste to have nothing happening in a 4000+ member group, and I'd be willing to let people run contests here and things like that. I'm just not interested in getting back into approving and rejecting things...

Y'know, a discussion group with an occasional contest and such actually sounds like a pretty good idea for here, to be honest.

5385677
I suppose that's the way of the world...good things just don't last.

I can understand your reluctance, as things did get pretty crazy towards the end there. But you're right: it just wouldn't be the same without Sir Truffles, Twilight the Pony, Elric, etc. While I'm sure we can find other reviewers, I suppose I just miss the old crew.

I'm sure there are admins and contribs over at The Goodfic Bin that would be willing to assume the mantle over here if need be. Who knows, maybe we can even open things back up like they were, but only a few times a year instead of once a month? I could oversee such an endeavor, once we get a few eager reviewers. Even so, the discussion group sounds plausible as well. As you mentioned, having over 4000 members is definitely something with which we can work and it seems a shame to let that many members have no activity.

5385733
It is. The main trouble is actually getting discussion to start up here, really. That, and, of course, finding people interested in running and judging the contests. I seem to recall we had one contest here once that had one entry, and later it got unpublished...

5386402

I suppose that's the way of the world...good things just don't last.

I can understand your reluctance, as things did get pretty crazy towards the end there. But you're right: it just wouldn't be the same without Sir Truffles, Twilight the Pony, Elric, etc. While I'm sure we can find other reviewers, I suppose I just miss the old crew.

Oh, I miss the old crew and when it was running too, and I do miss truffles and twilight. Elric still stops by fimfiction once a week or so and I've got his email, so we're still at least somewhat in touch.

I'm sure there are admins and contribs over at The Goodfic Bin that would be willing to assume the mantle over here if need be. Who knows, maybe we can even open things back up like they were, but only a few times a year instead of once a month? I could oversee such an endeavor, once we get a few eager reviewers. Even so, the discussion group sounds plausible as well. As you mentioned, having over 4000 members is definitely something with which we can work and it seems a shame to let that many members have no activity.

The trouble, really, is that I'm not sure they'd have time to do both, and they already have something working for them over there. Still, if you had enough people, had a plan for how you were going to approach things that sounded reasonable, and I wasn't running things, just acting as sort of a consultant, locking threads, and occasionally doing things like making a banner, it might be possible. If things restarted, I'd prefer it was significantly different then the way things were, though. I really don't want to be at the center of an ugly collapse like that again.

A discussion group, I could see more. We'd probably want to revise the admin list. I know you, me and SweetAI Belle are active. Haven't seen any of the other admins pop by. (SweetAI Belle hasn't either, but I know she's around...)

--arcum42