Early Friday (yesterday) afternoon, I wrote a short story; an introduction to what would probbaly end up being a series of stories based on the life of Cyrano, my character for The Opera. (Personally, I'm still not sure if I like the way it turned out, but that's beside the point.) I showed it to a few of the closer friends I made from this board--Suddar, Solstyce, Kildarre and Kloie--and after mulling it over for awhile, decided to post the story here, to see what people thought of it.

The thread got three replies--technically only one, as two of those replies were from Kloie and Sol, who only replied because they already knew about and had read the story and saw the lack of reaction.

Understandably, this bothered me a bit. I was only seeking feedback; I wouldn't have cared if it was just "d00d that story sucked", as long as it was something. What I got in response was apathy. What I had been afraid of, what had caused me to consider NOT posting the story, was the fear that nobody's care either way, and that's just what happened.

In anger, I posted another thread. "This is an experiment and/or political statement." Complete and utter bullshit.

It got 8 replies (Sol posted on it before I had told her about it).

Even now that Kloie has bumped the story thread back to the first page, it's getting scrolled down by "Ph33r!" and "Pet the kitty".

All I ever asked for was some thought; there was none. Idiocy got a better response, eightfold.

I'm not going to put a conclusion here, because I'd rather people think about it. If people still want to think.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

-Carl, one more time.

I love these "Voice of Reason" types who love to come out of the woodwork and tell us exactly what's the matter with us, because, gosh darnit, we wouldn't be able to figure it out ourselves!

It's all somewhat cliquish. Don't get me started.

EC has always been a fun community. The trick is to filter out the crap that occasionally comes down the line and reply, let the good stuff get to you. True with life, too, and a very good skill to learn. Still, know how the story thing would hit you, and I wish there was something I could do, mmph...

I'll tell ya this... Most people generally don't like stories on forums. I like to read a lot and I don't like stories on forums. They hardly ever get any replies unless you're a figure of power. If you've seen it happen differently, then YOU have, but I haven't, on any forum, and this includes my own stories. People generally surf forums to read a couple sentences and post a couple sentence reply; a thousand paragraphs (or the threat of one, by your link) dissuades people, cause it's a lot of time they don't want to take.

(I posted a story before [not here] and got zero replies. Compared to mine, yours has OUTSTANDING success! )

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Originally posted by Leopold, the Voice of Reason:
All I ever asked for was some thought; there was none. Idiocy got a better response, eightfold.

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You expected something different? This is a message board spawned from a comic strip, idiocy is the norm here. Hell, even the arguments we have around here are pretty damn fruity.

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Originally posted by Drysart:
You expected something different? This is a message board spawned from a comic strip, idiocy is the norm here. Hell, even the arguments we have around here are pretty damn fruity.

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Second, the "political statement"... I hate political statements. Whenever possible (which isn't often enough), I avoid entangling myself in politics, and considering it was the first time I'd seen you post in more than a month (indicating I probably didn't notice your "short story" announcement), I avoided it. I still haven't looked at it.

Finally, this... People won't always notice you. I've posted a few pieces of my own, some I thought were very good. They rarely get attention. No big deal. If I really want to point them out, I repost them, or send private messages to those I want to read them. And that I only do rarely. So don't get all angry when people don't speak up. Your short story has 88 views now, 8 more than when I started writing this message. So accept it. People are reading your work. They're not insulting it. Consider that a good sign.

Maybe if the story was split into individually-lined sentences. Then we only have to tackle a bunch of little things instead of one big thing.

In my time I've written three stories (two of which are on my web page) that were scantily replied to, and started one story line that never recieved a single response. It's not your fault Leo.

I think the reason story threads are intimidating to many people vary greatly. For some, it's intimidating to read writing that you KNOW is better than your own. People like this tend to shy away from story threads, let alone respond to them.

Other times, people will read a story, enjoy it, but fail to post thier thoughts out of fear of accidentally being insulting.

Still other people simply don't have time to drop everything and read a long story. Even short stories are ten times as long as the usual post.

All in all, message boards are a very bad place to sell your story. When people come here, they're generally in a conversational, short-response mood.

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Originally posted by Fazumzen Fastfist:
I completely and wholly HATE everyone's antics around here.

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Which is why we don't like you as much.

But, anyways, Leopold, you shouldn't get upset that not as many people as you had hoped for posted in your thread. Just wait a couple of days, and try bumping the thread. It usually works.

[Edit: I cannot spell. Please ignore me.]

[ 07-14-2001: Message edited by: Kagrama ]

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Originally posted by Fazumzen Fastfist:
So does that mean if I say weird stuff and laugh at your jokes you will like me better?

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The best thing around here is role-play, at least in my opinion. If I had more time, I'd RP more myself. Stories are nice, but only when you have time for them. Quite frankly, many of us (note: us) do have a lot on our minds, and have a shortened attention span as a result.

People don't like being insulted, even if you don't like their humor. If you have something you think is funny, you can post it and see if people agree. If you get burned at the steak for it, then it's probably something offensive to some people (whether intended, accidental, or misinterpreted). Otherwise, it will either be liked (and maybe added to), ignored (for a number of reasons), or playfully prodded (see entry: Evolution of Delidgamond).

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Originally posted by Leopold, the Voice of Reason:

Early Friday (yesterday) afternoon, I wrote a short story; an introduction to what would probbaly end up being a series of stories based on the life of Cyrano, my character for The Opera. (Personally, I'm still not sure if I like the way it turned out, but that's beside the point.)

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I read almost everything you read, however I seem to have missed it. Rather a pity since I value what you have to say.

HOWEVER , on another topic I visited The Opera and well...this is the most amazing thing I've seen. I just finished the download and hope to God it works because I sure must not be the only person that tries these stunts in First Person Shooters. These men are geniuses. I figure you play this yes? If so, we must try a duel!

But I digress, sorry I haven't read the post since you are definatly "The Voice of Reason"

Ozius

I tend to agree with Drys...this is a forum based on quick humor (because you can't draw out a joke too long in a four-panel strip), and a long, drawn-out story is hard to plant yourself down to read. Should also try luring people in with a topic line like "Hey guys I need a favor..." since most of the folks here are generally good people who're likely to help out.

Oh and how many people viewed your story?

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Originally posted by Ja'Deth Issar Ka'bael:
Do you realize how many would-be writers there are around here? Or, more to the point, how many storytellers there are? Lots and Lots. If we were all petrified at being shown up none of us would ever do anything.

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By and large, we don't...

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Originally posted by Ozius The Unnlucky:

I read almost everything you read, however I seem to have missed it. Rather a pity since I value what you have to say.

HOWEVER , on another topic I visited The Opera and well...this is the most amazing thing I've seen. I just finished the download and hope to God it works because I sure must not be the only person that tries these stunts in First Person Shooters. These men are geniuses. I figure you play this yes? If so, we must try a duel!

But I digress, sorry I haven't read the post since you are definatly "The Voice of Reason"

Ozius

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Try Action Half Life too :P

Do you have the link? I'll give it a looksie when I get a chance.