The Community Conudrum Continues

[kriadydragon]

The vote is pretty big that I go ahead with this critiquing Community, but I'm still hesitant as I continue to worry about it being seen as a lesser copy of sga_talk, and how it might get some people up in arms. I think SGA_Talk a very cool community and would hate to seem like I was stepping on their toes. But I like the concept of my community and feel that many could benefit from it.

So I need some advice. How can I keep the two communities separate in the eyes of others?

So far, my community will include :

Requesting private critiques via however you wish to handle them (e-mail, chats, on your own journal under friend's lock.)

Possibly making it so that discussions are between the author and reviewer, but that's a big maybe. Someone pointed out that the author would benefit more greatly if the reviewers were able to talk amongst themselves or join in on other threads, and I do agree. On the other hand, that would make it more like a discussion community, thus making it seem more like a copy of SGA_talk. Dilemmas, dilemmas :/

Screening the community so that only members can read the posts.

Someone else suggested I make the community multi-fandom. I have taken it into consideration but felt keeping the fandom narrowed to SG-1 and SGA would be easier on the authors and reviewers (but allowing for others to make similar communities for other fandoms) For one, there are some fandoms out there that are not well known, which I feel runs the risk of causing an author's work not to be read, or the critique to not be as good as it could should the reviewer not be familiar with the fandom. What do you think?

Keep in mind, there's a chance I may not go through with creating this community at all if things don't come together in a way I feel comfortable with. So, if you are interested in seeing such a community created, I could really use the help in making it happen.

Comments

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it would help to narrow down what you're wanting in a community that SGA_talk isn't fullfilling?

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

Another thing to consider is how much time you're willing to put into it. Starting a community is pretty easy; poking a community till comes to life and then keeping it breathing requires much more of a commitment. Additionally, the sort of community you're pondering has the potentially to need much moderating in terms of flames and hurt feelings and so on. Perhaps the way to start off is my making it sort of a private club, with people you trust, and then if it works on that limited scale, expand it out.

[kristen999.livejournal.com]

I think these are wise words. Start off small to see how you like it--- then expand it once you realize the what's and how's and if you even like doing it before involving a ton of people. I also agree that you'll have to be fairly active mod, keeping other members active and setting up schedules for reading and commenting.

Summer is a lot of downtime for some and for others there are a lot of challenges that are due, too.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of making it private, since that's what the community is supposed to be all about - providing a place where people can get helpful feedback as well as feel comfortable doing so. I think making it a private community would do just that.

Also, as I said before in my last post, I plan on allowing it so others can create the same community for other fandoms. For that reason, I think it makes it possible to keep the community private, which I think would do better in providing a comfortable environment for writers, especially writers nervous or self-conscious about their work.