Authors missing in the sub-forums?

[jchris]

Which authors do you think are missing from the sub-forums?

I think they should include Ray Bradbury and R.A. Salvatore.

Which of their works are your favorites?

 

[Pyan]

As it says at the top of the "Authors" forum, jchris:

Discussions on some of the most talked about authors and their works on the chronicles network - to create a new board in this section, each author must have at least 5 discussion threads specifically about their work in the Books and Literature section.

Neither of the authors you mention have that support - ergo, no sub-forum. Perhaps if you were to start some interesting threads about either of them, and got other members involved, there might be a case for adding Bradbury and Salvatore. But unless this happens, I'm afraid they stay sub-forum-less...

 

[jchris]

Okie dokie. I'll go start one!

 

[The Ace]

It means that they don't have a degree of popular support.

It's a big forum, with members from all over the world, and while these authors may well be discussed, their threads don't attract the response of enough members to keep them going.

There's no rule against creating threads if you have something to contribute, nor is there a specific dislike of any particular author (except, maybe, Terry Brooks, but that's what he's for ), but the forum is a democracy and nobody can dictate what can be discussed here.

You have a perfect right to show support for your favourite authors, just as anyone else has, but it's our choice to contribute, or not, to discussions of their work.

 

[D_Davis]

Also, authors who also post here tend to get their own sub-forums quicker because of community interaction.

But yeah, that the web's largest SFF community doesn't have sub-forums for Bradbury, Sturgeon, etc., can seem a little off-putting.

It doesn't really say anything about the authors in question, it just helps to keep things more organized.

You'll get used to it though - I did.

 

[jchris]

You'll get used to it though - I did.

Where'd that "fish don't carry guns" come from?

 

[D_Davis]

Where'd that "fish don't carry guns" come from?

VALIS - Philip K. Dick

 

[The Ace]

Shrewd observation.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Can everybody talk about me please

 

[Boneman]

by Jchris
Where'd that "fish don't carry guns" come from?

Surely that was Sturgeon.?

That Stephen Palmer... I wish I'd had his sunglasses for a 70s party recently. (That okay?)

And I'm just off to check if there's 5 or more threads on Patrick Rothfuss....

And I found NINE threads in my search (okay, one was about Pat critiquing my work, but the rest were actually about his writing. One was a review of his new book, but that's still seven. Overdue his own sub-forum?)

 

[chrispenycate]

And I'm just off to check if there's 5 or more threads on Patrick Rothfuss....

And I found NINE threads in my search (okay, one was about Pat critiquing my work, but the rest were actually about his writing. One was a review of his new book, but that's still seven. Overdue his own sub-forum?)

SLAP!!

I've always considered the principal use of the Authors forums to be preventing the 'general writing' region from being totally overwhelmed with GRRM threads. I would move both Spider Robinson and Kage Baker, much as I enjoyed reading both of them, and 'Deathkiller' was one of the rereads I brought back with me this trip, to the general region, as they don't cause enough regular comment to be annoying; but if everybody's favorite author was included, it would be impossible to navigate without further subdivision.

Of course, one could introduce considerable discussion (to avoid words like screaming, vituperative argument) by making a list of subgenres, such as military SF and Epic Fantasy, and letting their supporters decide which author belonged where... (wicked grin smiley)
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[Vertigo]

Oooh that last suggestion is just plain evil Chris

I must admit I don't use the sub forums as such. I mostly use the new posts button, which works across all forums and if I want to find posts about a particular author I just search (usually with Google rather than the internal search). So I really find author sub-forums a little irrelvant, accept that, as Chris says, they nicely compartmentalise authors that receive a lot of traffic.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Brandon Sanderson - he's surely got more than 5 threads that are to do with his works?

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

A few of the threads have to be active though. If all the posts are months or even years old, it doesn't really matter how many there are.

There might be current discussions on Rothfuss and Sanderson. Someone should look that up.

 

[j d worthington]

As others have indicated, the important word here is "active", as in ongoing. Not continuous, but showing enough current interest to make establishing such a subforum worthwhile. No matter how many threads there may be, if the posts to them are sporadic, with long pauses between... then that level of activity simply doesn't merit the effort (and the addition of even more to the already overloaded index page)....

(And, just to avoid something we've seen before... if any threads suddenly start showing an upswing, that isn't enough, either. It has to be consistent enough over a period of time. Once that happens, then the option will be brought up among the mods and submitted to Brian and Dave.)

 

[J-Sun]

Is the authors subforums section ever cleaned up? There are many subforums that haven't had a post in months and one that has nine total threads and hasn't had a post in three years.

This goes to the consistency thing - if interest has to be expressed consistently over time to get a subforum, what happens when interest stops being expressed?

I agree with chris and Vertigo - I don't use them much and I think the main benefit, if you did use them, would be to declutter the main forum. But I also get why people continually ask this question - it looks like a status thing where certain authors are rewarded and so it seems like some great authors are "neglected".

What would be nice is if the board just provided finer-grained control - "anti-subscriptions" to go with the subscriptions - so there could be just the main "Books and Literature" forum and people could filter it for themselves. (That would be nice in general - I'm constantly tempted to click on the "What are you playing" thread (should be "What game are you playing"; answer: none) because it sounds like the "Now playing" thread. But that's what happens when you don't use the subforums as such. )

 

[j d worthington]

I find the sub-forums quite useful, myself, and would venture to say that many others do as well; so I don't have a problem with them on that level. I do agree, however, that the idea of a "clean-up" is worthy of discussion. I'm not sure how much trouble this would be for Brian or Dave, but it might at least be an option for consideration. (Of course, if it is a hassle, it isn't likely to happen, either.) And, if a writer's work does suddenly experience a resurgence of interest, then how to handle that can be discussed at that time....

 

[D_Davis]

I find them useful now as well.

However, as a new user I found them off putting to say the least, as I didn't really understand them. I found it totally bizarre that the internet's premier SFF forum had a sub-forum for Jim Butcher but not one for PKD, Bradbury, Sturgeon, Bester, etc. I was like, "really?"

But as I grew to understand them, I grew to appreciate what they are more.

They make things easier on the other general forums.

 

[Pyan]

We're aware of the inconsistencies - there's discussion going on at the moment in the Staff Room. Constructive ideas welcome...

 

[Cayal]

We're aware of the inconsistencies - there's discussion going on at the moment in the Staff Room. Constructive ideas welcome...

You have a staff room?