Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Since May 5th, I know.

So... twofold.

One - I've been busier than hell.

Two - I'm trying to figure out what to do with this 'blog... but I'm smart enough to know that if I, for any reason, let it go, it would be snapped up and end up pointing to a gay porn site.

So... what to do, right? Here is what I'm thinking.

1) Start moderating discussions. Honestly - that every debate turned into a flame war didn't help this place become a calm, rational spot to discuss writing. I'd like to change that.

2) Keep anonymity - But filter it. And yeah, that means me filtering, I guess. The fact is, every decent site has that kind of check and balance and I think the whole "lets leave it wide open" experiment failed. All Bees nest, no honey.

3) Have other authors. But perhaps knowing that the 'blog will be moderated will help bring other voices here. Hell... I really like it here and even I got tired of the constant fighting. To that end, I'll be deleting all author privs... and giving it to people who want to post regularly.

So that's the update that's open for discussion. One last "open for discussion" before I change the focus and reinvest in it.

Thoughts?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well the fact that flamewars occur here shows what people think of writers in cartoons...

Or they just do it for the lulz.

Anonymous said...

I think that as long as you're not thought-policing, the moderation is fine. Anybody has the right to express their opinion; it's whether they're trying to pick a nasty fight that's the problem.

Anonymous said...

"Well the fact that flamewars occur here shows what people think of writers in cartoons..."

oh but according to this blog everyone who's upset by shitty writing in cartoons is just a johnk disciple or a troll or unjustifiably bitter...

oh well... this site will become another lameass Animationnation.

just as well.

enjoy your hugs.

Anonymous said...

Changing the dynamic of this board is not necessarily a bad thing I suppose. It would be nice for this to be an actual blog discussing "writing in animation" without the concept of writers contributing to the production of animation being constantly devalued by flamers.

Personally, I think there will always be animosity from the artists toward the writers no matter what is said or done - but having an oasis where a civil discussion can take place would be nice. Too bad a set of controls has to be enacted to make sure that everyone plays nice.

And regarding anon: "...everyone who's upset by shitty writing in cartoons is just a johnk disciple or a troll or unjustifiably bitter..."

I think we ALL agree that bad writing in animation needs to be fixed, just as much as BAD ANIMATION should be fixed... but that never seems to be at issue. The general tone of the artists who post here is that ALL writing in animation is shitty, end of story. And that's just not the case.

It's hard to have a discussion when "all writers suck" is the prevailing attitude.

Anonymous said...

"I think there will always be animosity from the artists toward the writers no matter what is said or done"

this is just nonsense. as an artist in the biz, I count the GOOD writers I know to be among my dearest friends (as do most of my other artist friends).

"The general tone of the artists who post here is that ALL writing in animation is shitty, end of story."

also nonsense. the general tone of the artists who post here has been that MOST writing in animation is shitty. and it is sadly true.


"I think we ALL agree that bad writing in animation needs to be fixed, just as much as BAD ANIMATION should be fixed"

but this is a writer blog... so we talk about writing. start a bad animation blog and I, for one, would be happy to rage on all the hacks who make lousy animation.

Steve said...

Okay then. So, I think the direction is not a bad one.

One whiny troll out of five posts... But that whiny troll, were this a topic worth debating could have thrown a grenade into the entire process.

And I agree - no thought policing. But... definately trying to keep things on track.

Keep chatting it out, but... I think I know where it's going.

- Steve

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, I just can't wrap my head around the acid-tongued meanness of the annonymous commenters on this site.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is there any animation website where writers are biting and nasty to artists? Does that even happen in the workplace?

And why isn't more frustration expressed towards the studios and corporate-speak note givers who are the actual holders of power?

Anonymous said...

There was some exec bashing on here, but for obvious reasons, always under the cloak of Anon.

Good luck with the site, but I think when you take away the cloak, you'll end up with a room full of very quiet crickets.

Of course it'll be good for planning parties.

Anonymous said...

I vote for the gay porn

Anonymous said...

"also nonsense. the general tone of the artists who post here has been that MOST writing in animation is shitty. and it is sadly true."

This is a difficult comment to expand upon, as what does "most" mean? Is it the basic common slate of what's currently available? Do you object to certain prominent styles of writing?

That's why saying MOST animation writing is shitty is a type of conversation-killer, since it's not something that can really be either agreed or disagreed with. And that's because it's just kinda blank. Details sure would help.

Anonymous said...

Take your time, Steve. I'm still trying to figure out whether I'm Sponge Bob...

And Evan, I'm with you. Do those commenters really think all the animation writers are going to go away?

Actually, it's looking more and more like they might, as more and more jobs go to Canada and France. Canadian writers and French board artists -- now we'll see us some Toons!!!

Anonymous said...

And why isn't more frustration expressed towards the studios and corporate-speak note givers who are the actual holders of power?

Because that would mean at some point the creatives on both the writing and animating end of things might actually have to take a stand, and that's too scary for them right now.

The era of of writers and artists taking a stand a la the early-to-mid 20th century with examples such as Art Babbitt against Disney to the blackballed McCarthy-era writers are LONG GONE. Complacency has taken its hold and the artistic lambs patiently wait for their own slaughter.

It's easier to just rip on each other in the hell everyone knows instead of getting together and either finding a way to deal with bean-counting studio execs or breaking out of the studio system and doing their own thing via the internet or some other ever-expanding form of mass communication.

warren said...

"Canadian writers and French board artists -- now we'll see us some Toons!!!"

Zut Alors! Tant pis, m'seu.