Hi Everyone,

So I just recently came back and submitted a thread and noticed the AP Program. So I read up on that and volunteered. We were discussing briefly in chat today so I thought I'd share some concerns. Others of course welcome to chime in.

Out of Character:
REMEMBER: It's still in testing and nothing is set in stone. Dirks admitted it's a huge gamble but he wants to play around with it, so maybe we can find a way to make this work. So just share what you think and we can put ideas on the table.


First point: I think there should be more methods to earn AP. One thing that came to mind was posting a vignette. Participating in something like that and exercising your writing I think deserves a point. I understand the judge for vignettes may have more submissions, but that isn't inherently bad. Activity is rather the goal I think.

Discounts would also maybe be nice. For example, winning a vignette or coming in second maybe earns you a voucher for a 2 or 3 AP discount on a thread submission. So I could get a full rubric for 2 instead of 5 points.

Second Point: It is still unclear if cost of thread submission is charged from the person submitting the thread, or of all participants. How is the cost distributed/allocated?

Third Point: Something to think about: are costs too high to get a thread judged? Is the purpose of the AP system to give the judges less to judge? In the end, I think many of the writers who come here are looking to improve and it is critical to have access to full rubric and full commentary judgments. Otherwise, why stay? Why write to just level up if you continue to suck and not learn?

Fourth Point: I'm just confused as to the point of book reports. What is their purpose? What are you going to do with those summaries? Is there any reason to collect them or is it just "good job, here's a cookie." If there is a purpose, what is it and what methods will help us achieve that?

Fifth Point: Will thread performance potentially change the cost of the judgment? For example, if you score 60+, do you get 1 point refund on a full commentary rubric? 70+ 2 points, 80+ 3 points, or anything of the sort?


Overall, I'm still confused by how this program will reward participation if there are few ways to earn points aside from book reports and judging threads, which each give 2 points. Whereas a story you wrote and submitted can cost five to get a full judgment on. Again, the commentary is sort of the point, and even workshop submissions for colleague feedback costs the 2 points.

Just some ofmy thoughts.