How about a MefiFiction? May 5, 2007 1:59 AM Subscribe
Would adding a feature to upload original stories similar to Mefi Music be of interest to anyone?
That would be pretty interesting, yes. As far as being a good idea, the jury is out on that one.
posted by puke & cry at 3:41 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by puke & cry at 3:41 AM on May 5, 2007
Well, I'm interested. Half my Creative Writing class just wrote stories about how great pot and alcohol are. I'm not expecting great feedback from them.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:26 AM on May 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:26 AM on May 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
I am reminded of the frequently-used exhortation, so well-known at Metafilter that it has been reduced to an acronym, with which it is suggested that a person's creative output might best be relegated to their own personal, permalinked and reverse-chronological website, and which commonly ends with a gratuitous personal insult.
Which, I guess, means that someone might be interested in such a subsite, but me, not so much.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:33 AM on May 5, 2007
Which, I guess, means that someone might be interested in such a subsite, but me, not so much.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:33 AM on May 5, 2007
Stavros, do you mean the acronym "PCOMBBRTTOPPAR-CW(GPI)"?
posted by mmahaffie at 5:50 AM on May 5, 2007 [2 favorites]
posted by mmahaffie at 5:50 AM on May 5, 2007 [2 favorites]
I was nearly certain that this had been covered before, but I can't find it, so the memory merely taunts me.
I think the resolution would be do to some writing, stick it somewhere else, and then use Projects.
posted by that girl at 5:52 AM on May 5, 2007
I think the resolution would be do to some writing, stick it somewhere else, and then use Projects.
posted by that girl at 5:52 AM on May 5, 2007
Yes, and it's called Livejournal. Plus, there's that MeFi writers group that fizzled.
posted by Eideteker at 6:26 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by Eideteker at 6:26 AM on May 5, 2007
Stavros, do you mean the acronym "PCOMBBRTTOPPAR-CW(GPI)"?
That's the one!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:28 AM on May 5, 2007
That's the one!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:28 AM on May 5, 2007
I wouldn't mind having a "spoken word" section of MeFi Music but other than that, I can't see this being something that needs to be on MeFi (personal non-admin opinion).
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:48 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:48 AM on May 5, 2007
Once there was a comment here (and I think it was about a similar proposal to have a Writers Filter of some sort) that Mefi Music was already one creative outlet and that it was one too many already.
I found it really annoying. I don't think there could be such a thing as "too many" creative outlets, specially in such a big community and yet, judging by Metafilter Music, people don't really seem all that interested. This week there's been one song a day (sometimes there's been 4 a day) and fewer and fewer comments. I don't understand why, I'm madly in love with MetaFilter Music and I can't believe all the great music I've found there that I would have never heard otherwise.
Still, I'm with you, there can't be too many creative outlets and a Story Filter would be a good thing.
posted by micayetoca at 7:11 AM on May 5, 2007
I found it really annoying. I don't think there could be such a thing as "too many" creative outlets, specially in such a big community and yet, judging by Metafilter Music, people don't really seem all that interested. This week there's been one song a day (sometimes there's been 4 a day) and fewer and fewer comments. I don't understand why, I'm madly in love with MetaFilter Music and I can't believe all the great music I've found there that I would have never heard otherwise.
Still, I'm with you, there can't be too many creative outlets and a Story Filter would be a good thing.
posted by micayetoca at 7:11 AM on May 5, 2007
I'm skeptical. We've had a couple go-rounds with this idea before, including the aforementioned failed writers group, and I'm not (personally, anecdotally) convinced that it'd get up sufficient steam to really justify a subsite.
I'll suggest what I've suggested before: someone needs to really make it work as a pilot program. Do a simple Mefi Writers Zine: open up submissions, give it a two week window, and post what you've got to Projects. If it has some meat, do it again for a few issues, and if there's broad and sustained contributions of pretty decent quality, okay, that's a compelling argument.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:13 AM on May 5, 2007
I'll suggest what I've suggested before: someone needs to really make it work as a pilot program. Do a simple Mefi Writers Zine: open up submissions, give it a two week window, and post what you've got to Projects. If it has some meat, do it again for a few issues, and if there's broad and sustained contributions of pretty decent quality, okay, that's a compelling argument.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:13 AM on May 5, 2007
God, I long for the days when I would've had the time to do that, cortex. Still, if someone decides to try throwing something like that together, let me know. If I can make the time, I would love to help organize.
posted by Eideteker at 7:34 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by Eideteker at 7:34 AM on May 5, 2007
I'm very skeptical. Most writing is shit. Sure, a lot of music is shit too, but it doesn't take quite as much effort to write a piece of shit story than to compose, perform, record, and upload a piece of shit song.
This would suck. I am a strong opponent. Mathowie will end up wishing he hadn't done it, but by then there will be so many poor wounded oversensitive souls with crap posted on shitwriting.metafilter.com that he won't have the heart to take it down. And then it will just get worse and worse.
If reading this makes you angry, then your writing is probably shit, too. In fact, you're probably made out of shit. Fuck you.
posted by bingo at 7:44 AM on May 5, 2007 [7 favorites]
This would suck. I am a strong opponent. Mathowie will end up wishing he hadn't done it, but by then there will be so many poor wounded oversensitive souls with crap posted on shitwriting.metafilter.com that he won't have the heart to take it down. And then it will just get worse and worse.
If reading this makes you angry, then your writing is probably shit, too. In fact, you're probably made out of shit. Fuck you.
posted by bingo at 7:44 AM on May 5, 2007 [7 favorites]
I was told that I'm made of sugar & spice & everything nice. So unless shit is a spice, I'm gonna have to think you're wrong.
posted by miss lynnster at 8:05 AM on May 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by miss lynnster at 8:05 AM on May 5, 2007 [1 favorite]
I reckon the reason the previous attempts didn't pan out so well was mostly because of the interface... and because it was essentially separate from MeFi. And cortex, neither projects nor music or even Jobs for that matter get posts all the time, so the amount of posts is no argument against a subsite.
posted by dhruva at 8:07 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by dhruva at 8:07 AM on May 5, 2007
This being the Internet, you all damn well know that it'll be taken over by people writing furry erotica.
posted by cmonkey at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by cmonkey at 8:12 AM on May 5, 2007
We can build you.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 8:50 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by YoBananaBoy at 8:50 AM on May 5, 2007
OMGWTFBBQ, A Mefi zine would srsly kick ass. I'm a bit skeptical of something that's so strongly community-branded though, like an in-thing... but why would it take much time? All you need to do is reject the bad stories and layout the HTML for the good ones and then publicize like there's no tomorrow. Come to think of it, yeah, that does take time.
I guess what I'm saying is sure, I can take a whack at it, but: (a) a two-week submission time? kinda short. are we assuming the works were written previously (b) am I missing something in terms of the work involved in shepherding this?
posted by Firas at 9:13 AM on May 5, 2007
I guess what I'm saying is sure, I can take a whack at it, but: (a) a two-week submission time? kinda short. are we assuming the works were written previously (b) am I missing something in terms of the work involved in shepherding this?
posted by Firas at 9:13 AM on May 5, 2007
It wouldn't be of interest to me. Because good creative writing is so rare, it is likely that the section would be a real cesspool of amateurism, and people who visit the site would be disappointed in what they find there. I don't think it's good for Metafilter to have a sub-site where the prevailing opinion is, "the stuff there sucks."
What makes Metafilter so interesting is that it's not hard to make a good FPP. We all run across good and interesting stuff on the web, and it's easy to string a few links together into a compelling post. What makes AskMe so interesting is the combination of human drama, strange predicaments, moral and practical wisdom, and ingenious solutions that you find there. Both of those sections are consistently good and satisfying.
With creative writing, though, people generally have much higher estimations of the quality of their writing than other people do. I just think such a site would be doomed to be disappointing.
posted by jayder at 9:33 AM on May 5, 2007
What makes Metafilter so interesting is that it's not hard to make a good FPP. We all run across good and interesting stuff on the web, and it's easy to string a few links together into a compelling post. What makes AskMe so interesting is the combination of human drama, strange predicaments, moral and practical wisdom, and ingenious solutions that you find there. Both of those sections are consistently good and satisfying.
With creative writing, though, people generally have much higher estimations of the quality of their writing than other people do. I just think such a site would be doomed to be disappointing.
posted by jayder at 9:33 AM on May 5, 2007
However, a good collection of comment fables would be fun to peruse.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 9:49 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by YoBananaBoy at 9:49 AM on May 5, 2007
This week there's been one song a day (sometimes there's been 4 a day) and fewer and fewer comments. I don't understand why
my reason is that i can't multitask ... the music player HAS to be on the top window and visible or it won't play ... and therefore i can't do anything else while i'm listening
posted by pyramid termite at 9:55 AM on May 5, 2007
my reason is that i can't multitask ... the music player HAS to be on the top window and visible or it won't play ... and therefore i can't do anything else while i'm listening
posted by pyramid termite at 9:55 AM on May 5, 2007
(a) a two-week submission time? kinda short.
Intentionally so, for the purposes of stress-testing writing contributions as an active section of the site. Are there enough motivated writers on the site to produce some good content on short notice? Because if not, a subsite doesn't make much sense. If so, okay, things are looking more interesting.
If the whole purpose of the writing subsite was to showcase existing work my mefites, it sounds more like Projects material.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:11 AM on May 5, 2007
Intentionally so, for the purposes of stress-testing writing contributions as an active section of the site. Are there enough motivated writers on the site to produce some good content on short notice? Because if not, a subsite doesn't make much sense. If so, okay, things are looking more interesting.
If the whole purpose of the writing subsite was to showcase existing work my mefites, it sounds more like Projects material.
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:11 AM on May 5, 2007
my reason is that i can't multitask ... the music player HAS to be on the top window and visible or it won't play ... and therefore i can't do anything else while i'm listening
Agreed that this is a bummer.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:38 AM on May 5, 2007
Agreed that this is a bummer.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:38 AM on May 5, 2007
the music player HAS to be on the top window and visible
Only on Firefox tho. Just install IE Tab and switch the MefiMusic tab to that. Not ideal I concede, but an easy workaround.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 11:48 AM on May 5, 2007
Only on Firefox tho. Just install IE Tab and switch the MefiMusic tab to that. Not ideal I concede, but an easy workaround.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 11:48 AM on May 5, 2007
Crazy question: what do people think of an alternate pop-up link next to the player? Click it and a little 60*200 or whatever window spawns with the current song (or, from the front page, the current front page playlist; ditto for individual playlist pages)?
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:53 AM on May 5, 2007
posted by cortex (staff) at 11:53 AM on May 5, 2007
bring on the popup player.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:00 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:00 PM on May 5, 2007
I think spoken word original writing would be a nice, seamless addition to mefimusic. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whatever. Basically extend the mefi as group/community blog concept to include group podcast. I also don't see how it would hurt to try -- a lot of the music there, especially the generic garageband beat driven stuff, is not exactly riveting. Could the spoken word be any worse? Well, let's find out.
And yeah, the music interface right now sucks. I never figured out why it always stalls out but the tab-FF reason above fits. I almost never go there because in my mind it is "buggy" and "inconsistent" and so I can't be bothered -- my problem perhaps, I realize.
posted by Rumple at 12:24 PM on May 5, 2007
And yeah, the music interface right now sucks. I never figured out why it always stalls out but the tab-FF reason above fits. I almost never go there because in my mind it is "buggy" and "inconsistent" and so I can't be bothered -- my problem perhaps, I realize.
posted by Rumple at 12:24 PM on May 5, 2007
Another one for the pop-up player. I'm in favor of anything that takes more people to Music.
posted by micayetoca at 12:46 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by micayetoca at 12:46 PM on May 5, 2007
I've never had a problem playing HiFi in a background tab in FireFox.
posted by Eideteker at 2:47 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by Eideteker at 2:47 PM on May 5, 2007
I would not be interested in MetaFiction, but I'm not really a 'zine fan to begin with. I would not be opposed to the creation of such a subsite, but I would rather see the effort required to create such a subsite rolled into creating RelationshipFilter, LocationFilter or even PoliticsFilter. Not that I am a big fan of those subsites either, but if matthowie wanted to expand, those subsites seem to be a better fit.
Now, as for the pilot program suggestion, that seems sort of senseless to me. If someone goes to the trouble of creating MetaZine, posts it to projects and manages is well enough to prove it has legs, why wouldn't they just keep it and manage it on their own?
posted by necessitas at 3:29 PM on May 5, 2007
Now, as for the pilot program suggestion, that seems sort of senseless to me. If someone goes to the trouble of creating MetaZine, posts it to projects and manages is well enough to prove it has legs, why wouldn't they just keep it and manage it on their own?
posted by necessitas at 3:29 PM on May 5, 2007
If reading this makes you angry, then your writing is probably shit, too. In fact, you're probably made out of shit. Fuck you.
Well, what if we made a constitutional rule that mean-spirited feedback on stories wouldn't be deleted? I'd love to find somebody who thinks my writing sucks and is willing to tell me how & why.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:06 PM on May 5, 2007
Well, what if we made a constitutional rule that mean-spirited feedback on stories wouldn't be deleted? I'd love to find somebody who thinks my writing sucks and is willing to tell me how & why.
posted by Citizen Premier at 4:06 PM on May 5, 2007
I didn't know this had been discussed before and even tried (the writers group). There have been a couple of posts to short story sites recently and there seemed to be an interest in them, including me. I'm a huge fan of short stories. I just figured there would be a fairly large number of members here who write, just as there are musicians. Some of you have pointed out a few potential problems which I hadn't thought of. If anyone wants to pursue this though, count me in. I'd be more than happy to help any way I can.
posted by sluglicker at 8:02 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by sluglicker at 8:02 PM on May 5, 2007
Well, first off: is a periodical really the best way to go about this? Aren't continuously updated blogs the hot contemporary way to highlight other people's work? Once that decision is made we can figure out how to organize it.
posted by Firas at 10:24 PM on May 5, 2007
posted by Firas at 10:24 PM on May 5, 2007
Maybe lingua.phobo.us is what you're looking for? via Projects.
posted by carsonb at 9:25 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by carsonb at 9:25 AM on May 6, 2007
I'd love to see spoken word added, either to music or as a sub-site. Those of us who don't play an instrument would like to get in on the action, too.
posted by EarBucket at 10:54 AM on May 6, 2007
posted by EarBucket at 10:54 AM on May 6, 2007
the music player HAS to be on the top window and visible
Only on Firefox tho.
I don't have that problem in Firefox, as long as I use the player in the thread for a particular song rather than on the front page.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 5:09 PM on May 6, 2007
Only on Firefox tho.
I don't have that problem in Firefox, as long as I use the player in the thread for a particular song rather than on the front page.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 5:09 PM on May 6, 2007
Those of us who don't play an instrument would like to get in on the action, too.
Oh yeah, baby, it's just non-stop action over here at MeFi Music! We're partyin' down, 24/7!
But, uh, where's the audience?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:31 PM on May 6, 2007
Oh yeah, baby, it's just non-stop action over here at MeFi Music! We're partyin' down, 24/7!
But, uh, where's the audience?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:31 PM on May 6, 2007
I like this idea, it would be fun to read mefi slash fiction.
posted by jefbla at 9:19 AM on May 7, 2007
posted by jefbla at 9:19 AM on May 7, 2007
Firefox in Ubuntu doesn't have the flash problem: XP (&Vista?) / Firefox related.
posted by acro at 1:21 PM on May 7, 2007
posted by acro at 1:21 PM on May 7, 2007
Potential irony filter: but this would probably be a project that is a lot of work for everyone involved with little payoff in the way of other people caring at all.
posted by shownomercy at 2:58 PM on May 7, 2007
posted by shownomercy at 2:58 PM on May 7, 2007
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posted by sluglicker at 2:09 AM on May 5, 2007