Originally Posted by
Saxon
Yeah, actually removing Akashima as a subforum on that basis is a legitimate reason to do so. Adventwings (who is a guy, by the way), isn't around at all any more. And while Akashima had a bit of a following, it wasn't a cult favorite. And if activity in using it as a subforum is abyssmally low anyway, what's the point to keep it around? Fan service?
Akashima would be much better served if it were referenced in Corone's almanac. And since people do read the almanac, they can use it at their leisure rather then having somebody around whose sole function is to manage a subforum within a region. Which is stupid and a waste of time and resources.
I agree with Max here, more then you'd think. When I had my almanac for Salvar almost finished, I was frequently asked questions, thanked for my contributions and especially for the consolidation of information for a region that the definition of it was for a very long time was vague. Now, while I have my own opinions of the merit of what I did personally, I still think at some level the almanac as an idea is fantastic. Regardless if you or newer folks who haven't found their way around yet don't want to read it, the almanac definitely gives people a concentrated dose of exactly what that region has to offer them with canon that they can use and interpret themselves in their own way.
That is a good idea. I disagree with your thoughts that such tools would be completely disregarded by all the members here because it simply is not true. I've seen people use it and implement it at their own level through mentioning different things in their quests in passing, using some of the more fundamental aspects of it such as race or religion to identify with their own characters and generally use it to plan their own stories.
It works.
Being somebody who actually did it, I can tell you that being a region writer sucks. Sure, other region writers will probably furiously disagree with me on that, but hear me out. While you can develop projects to use for your region and you probably become more protective and watchful over it, you as a staff member have two functions. To a) Write canon, which in itself is very time consuming and with little reward outside of personal and community gratitude, and b) Do other stuff to pick up the slack like Judging, bazaar modding, etc.
There really isn't much of a future in region writing, and you essentially have no rights or any kind of ownership of what you implement to your region other then what you use personally with your character. Which, not many region writers really identify or care about, but somebody like me does. You're writing full-time for a region you have no rights over, and spending the time to plot and expand on your ideas for the region in a volunteer-based position is a poor choice of how you spend your time. I'd rather be paid for my efforts which I usually deliver very well, but you might feel differently.
Either way, region writing isn't much of a job. Management of it is a bueracratic nightmare, implementing changes is kind of cool to do but too time consuming to be worth the reward, and region writers utilize no other function other then to be the content administrator's secretary unless they choose to get their hands dirty by asking to do other things. It took me a good month or two before I could convince somebody to let me take a crack at judging, and I immediately walked away from the idea of moderating the bazaar when I read the archaic formulas for configuring your experience and the amount of money you're going to spend on your purchase.
But, if you're saying that region writing still has some kind of merit because of how long its been used, wait there's more.The future of a region writer is bleak considering most either get burnt out or quit to move onto other things to do with the staff, so the turnover rate is ridiculously high. We don't get paid, so there's no incentive to do this other then out of the goodness of our hearts and for the community's benefit.
I guess what I'm basically trying to say is that region writing as a mechanism for implementing canon is a poor one. The CM idea isn't much better because of the reality that few people will probably use what other people to do outside of what is mentioned in an almanac, but it is so much better then the idea of region writing. Leaving one person to run a region in the dilapadated system we already have is too much to ask without considering the idea of defining their responsibilities, giving them more oversight and paying them for their time.
But, if you think I'm just bitching about what a region writer does because of my disagreements with the staff, please do. But I'm willing to wager that many of the former region writers who read the entirety of this post can identify with or testify that they've encountered one of the problems I mentioned. But, take it for what its worth.
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