Wait. What? That's not what I heard...

[maygra]

The No Stairway Anthology


To be upfront and honest, we're not quite ready for the reveal. Neither the comm nor the website are entirely ready, not all the process and procedures have been honed or tested, and our proposed staff have neither been allowed to review the project nor opted in on any level.

However, I seem to be doing a poor job of defining just what this project is and what it intends -- mostly because we've been using the procedure process to help refine our scope and better define our mission and goals -- but I did hear what people were saying and we did make note of their concerns. We can't guarantee this will satisfy everybody, but we do hope it at least gives people a place to start assessing what we plan on doing instead of what they think we are doing -- or even why.

People form opinions and take positions that are entirely valid to them -- and the information in the link below may change no one's mind, and it is as likely as not to generate more questions and possibly more concerns. Fair enough. But I'm sincerely hoping that at least some information -- as opposed to speculation -- might at least give the project a chance.

So, please go here: http://community.livejournal.com/nostairway/

at least this way, if you still think it's a bad idea, at least it will be the right bad idea.

*and for anyone keeping track, the "Anthology" part of the idea jumped in and wrestled us all to the ground around midnight Friday. *g*

Comments

[maygra.livejournal.com]

And will be played as often as people care to submit it.

The irony did not escape us.

There are reasons it keeps showing up on the playlists...just as there will be here.

[esorlehcar.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure "irony" is how people would describe a radio station that called itself "no stairway to heaven," explained that it existed to put together great songs people have missed because they didn't get constant airtime, and then repeatedly played songs that get constant airtime everywhere because there's a reason those songs get played everywhere.

I actually think a comm to promote unknown or lesser-know fic would be a wonderful thing (if difficult, in practice, since defining what constitutes unknown is not an easy task), and the comm's name and description make it sound like it that's what this is. And that's very much not what it is, if well-known and popular fic is also solicited.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I've gotta say, I don't really have any idea how to make this work for everybody. If we eliminate well-known and popular authors just because they are well known and popular, as opposed to basing that decision on the merit of their work, we'll be accused of being exclusionary and prejudiced against those authors (as opposed to being prejudiced against their work and that's not any better.) And then we've got the entire "oh no, judging!" by having to set some arbitrary limit or try to define what popular and well known -- I mean exactly how do I set that standard? Anyone with over 500 people on their flist, more than 20 stories, with a combined comment count that exceeds 1000?

And say we stick to lesser known authors (with yet another set of criteria to define lesser known), given the comments already being leveled, who is going to read them? Or the anthology when people are already stating how they intend to avoid it at all costs?

So, what the actual goal is, what the best outcome could be, is to have a mix of old and popular or old and unknown and new and popular and new and unknown and hopefully a few who are just plain new,(or older fen with unpublished new works) and see if offering a broad range of stories and a broad range of authors doesn't actually offer the fandom something that actually does bring some benefit and joy, because it's familiar and they like to see their favorite authors do good, and because they might find a new favorite, and because we can promote new works as well as old and everyone wins.

It is open to anyone, any type of story, no matter how new or old, or the author's current standing or reputation in fandom.

[esorlehcar.livejournal.com]

And then we've got the entire "oh no, judging!" by having to set some arbitrary limit or try to define what popular and well known -- I mean exactly how do I set that standard? Anyone with over 500 people on their flist, more than 20 stories, with a combined comment count that exceeds 1000?

It would be extremely difficult, maybe impossible (and certainly impossible to do so in a way that didn't cause huge amounts of wank). My problem is not that you're not doing that; it's that the name of the community and the userinfo make it sound like you are in fact doing it. It's presenting the entire venture as something very different than it actually is.

I"m not going get into the rest of your comment, because, really, I'm already gone on at length about my problems with the comm -- you know how I feel, I know how you feel, there's almost no common ground on the issue, and there's no reason to rehash ad nauseam. I brought up this particular issue because the comm's name and description sounded very different past comments you'd made, and I wasn't clear if the comm's purpose had changed, or if it was just being marketed in a way that didn't reflect the comm's actual intent. When you clarified that it was the latter, it just became one more issue for me.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I get that. But what I can't quite get my head around, or apparently my reassurance-fu, is that for every issue I address, another comes up. Something that highlights "good" (however subjective) is an issue, literary is an issue, the name of he anthology is an issue, trying to promote lesser known authors is an issue as is trying to promote better known ones. The fact that people have issues with the people doing the layout and design and who are trying to generate interest is an issue.

I'm sincerely grateful that most folks seem to think that me being involved is if not a good thing, at least it's not a bad thing. And for those people who are saying "Hey, let them do it, even if you don't want to play", because at least they aren't making us out to be fandom wreckers.

I've got some awfully talented people waiting in the wings who really want an opportunity to work with writers new and old.

I'm sorry that the name and userinfo seems to misrepresent what we're doing. Obviously it didn't hit me the same way when we put the comm together -- we thought it was a pretty interesting and inclusive statement about it without the (issue) of being too pretentious.

I know you think this whole thing is a bad idea and while I can respect your concerns, you're right that we really are seeing this through entirely different lenses. I see something that could bridge the gap between what's well known and what's going by without note, as comes up every time we have any discussion at all about writers and readers and audiences and who gets the attention and who doesn't. I mean that is, all this aside, why you and I and Killa and everyone else makes recs and why we are really thrilled when we find someone new whose work we really love.

This isn't a rec list, but it's not really a zine either. I really do see it as a way to get a bunch of good things in one place. I'm sorry you don't see it the same way.

[gekizetsu.livejournal.com]

HEY

HEY YOU

FANDOM IS SEIRIUS BIDNESS!

Is this the same Maygra who was getting busted quite awhile ago for being a BNF and then not encouraging the emerging and deserving writers out there? Can't you stay out of trouble? Do I need to move there, or something?

I'm glad I'm too simple to understand half of this.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be me.

PLEASE, PLEASE MOVE HERE. And Bring Red. And the cats. And Mom

[maygra.livejournal.com]

And I probably do need to add, that my aspirations and my expectations for this project are pretty far apart at this point.