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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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To all,
Please read, then visit the guild : http://www.gaywritersguild.org and see what it is about. We need readers to solicit authors and verify adherance to the Guild's guidelines. We need editors to work with new authors.
Marc.
Maybe I can explain what the problem is. I understand Marc’s dilemma because I am in the same boat. We had a long discussion on this last night and still didn’t get anywhere.
Problem #1 – Past volunteers and staff at the guild have given the guild a ‘bad name’ with things said and did in the name of the guild without the guild’s board knowledge or blessing. This ran off quite a bit of volunteers and authors alike and ticked off quite a few others as well tarnishing the name that others worked so hard for. There is a new board of directors and none of this activity had happened for over a year – but people still think that the trouble makers are still in power. They aren’t! There is also no pressure from anyone associated with the guild for authors to post a new chapter. This was never sanctioned and will never happen in the future.
Problem #2 – Past people associated with the guild were screaming for money to cover costs, turning people away. Money was never an issue – there are a certain number of us willing to gladly shoulder the costs of hosting the site and other expenses. This is only a few hundred dollars a year since moving to our newer and more stable host. We don’t need money. We have vowed to never ask for another penny again.
Problem #3 – Participation of Authors. We need authors to submit work, help other authors get better, and PARTICIPATE in the guild through the message board, pointing out good resources that they have found, etc. The guild is supposed to be a resource for others, but no one is using what is there, or helping to ask or create what others are looking for.
Problem #4 – HELP, HELP, HELP! We need people who have a good strong grasp of the English language and able to work well with others to help with the editing of work. We currently have two editors – one is working on a degree in college and doesn’t have the time while classes are in session, and the other is not able to due to health reasons. We currently have at least eight stories waiting to get assigned an editor to help them, not to mention the others that have asked for an editor to get them started. We have taken a few different avenues to relieve this, but so far nothing has helped.
Problem #5 – They look at us as strictly a story archive. The guild was never set up as an archive like Nifty to hold tons of stories with daily updates. The archive is secondary to what the guild was set up to do. Many people don’t understand this, and as such get upset and bad mouth the guild when updates don’t happen daily or weekly. They will happen when there is something to post.
Marc, Kevy, and I have been working at this for at least eight months trying to get the guild kick started again. Nothing we have tried has done any good other than cause others to take a peak for a few seconds. We even made email and web site hosting available for free to authors – and no one has asked. It gets very frustrating.
I don’t see the guild surviving myself if we can’t get past problems 1, 2 and 5 and see something happen with problems 3 and 4. We have been doing all we can for a while now - the rest is up to the authors and others. There are smaller little nitpicky things as well, but these are the biggies.
Jojoe
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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