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Writers thread: how could we introduce original writing features into the site? Any good ideas? Any pitfalls?
Hi @earlichka, thank you so much for contributing. I agree with most of what you said, and I also believe that getting exposed to original writing that you simply give no fucks about is quite demoralizing and annoying. Also hard to control quality. This isn't a feature I'm planning to rush, so I will carefully think about it, and as time passes, hopefully the answer emerges one way or another. For now, my focus will be on making the site better and more performant in general. Considering I can't even reply to your comment, we have a long way to go! Cheers.
I think a monthly newsletter would do a lot to solve the 2nd problem. As a mediocre writer I wouldn't mind circlejerking a little with people whose tastes I share while the newsletter highlights anything written of actual value.
1) All web based rich text editor libraries are buggy and can have surprising issues. Having users submit writing in a standard format and rendering it in a standard format could get you up and going faster. Or to go really fast, create a "writing" tab on this site where people can submit links to their writing hosted elsewhere with the comments left here, and have a most-recent sort much like how the lists work currently. 2) Most writers are stylistically or thematically tedious but eager to trade validation for validation, so it can become a cicle-jerk of mediocrity fast. Maybe have moderation to discourage a culture of "it was good, I liked it." Or whatever, maybe it's fine, it's not a crime to encourage the efforts of hobbyists even if the motive is partially transactional. 3) A writer tagging their list of influences can help people self-select what they read or at least go in with calibrated expectations. If someone is really into Otessa Moshfegh and Honor Levy and is trying to write for that audience, my reaction to it will always be "stop writing low effort autofiction about the struggles of a tired social climber with rich parents." But I'd be wrong , since there's an audience which recognizes and appreciates that style and those themes, I'm just not part of it; the easier I can self-select out, the better for everyone.
a monthly newsletter would be very cool!