Suggestions and ideas

[big soft moose]

I'm not trying to be an asshole, but does this not feel a bit like "boys can't be expected to keep their eyes to themselves so girls can't wear short skirts"?

well no... its more like the girls want to be able to wear short skirts without being hassled by a bunch of skeavy creeps who can't keep their eyes to themselves, so a club has a no oggling the girls rule

but now a few people want that rule altered because they're not skeezy creeps and are just their to admire the girl's aesthetic beauty, and expect the bouncers to be able to tell the difference, and are getting bent out of shape because the management don't want to make a rule change that they know from past experience will bring in all the skeezy creepers and ruin the club for all the girls and boys who just want to dance... and potentially lead to the city taking away their licence

 

[JT Woody]

So again, immature assholes ruin it for others.

I'm not trying to be an asshole, but does this not feel a bit like "boys can't be expected to keep their eyes to themselves so girls can't wear short skirts"?

And again, I understand why it's a problem, but it's disappointing that no one seems to see a problem with it being a problem. Instead of expecting people not to shoot for no reason the answer is "be a smaller target".

Its like ants to a picnic.
Most people enjoy picnics, but picnics attract ants. We can take precautions or pluck them off, but ants will always be there. And, as enjoyable as picnics are, spending the time worrying about ants in your food or on you clothes gets kinda old real fast.
Only way to NOT be annoyed by ants, is not to picnic
(OR move your picnic to a picnic table/DMs)

At least... that how i view the whole thing

 

[big soft moose]

And again, I understand why it's a problem, but it's disappointing that no one seems to see a problem with it being a problem. Instead of expecting people not to shoot for no reason the answer is "be a smaller target".

The other thing is it could be that people don't see it as a problem because its not a problem for them becasuse they have no interest in reading eroitica and/or don't want the problems that go along with it

again its not about expecting people not to shoot for no reason, its about not varying the rule that says this is a library not a shooting range

 

[big soft moose]

Anyway to draw this to a close because i want to go to bed (its gone 3am here), we'll discuss it in the staff room, but for now the rules are unchanged.

 

[Trish]

. basically she was a sexual predator who was pressuring a young and naive girl to have a threesome with her and her partner... she got banned (by wrey, this was before i was a mod) of course but the operative point ws that she was an established member... also she was a freakshow who was into vampire role play erotica.

I definitely wasn't there for that.

well no... its more like the girls want to be able to wear short skirts without being hassled by a bunchof skeavy creeps who can't keep their eues to themselves, so a club has a no oggling the girls rule

I've always been a fairly adequate bouncer on my own.

but now a few people want that rule altered because they're not skeezy creeps and are just their to admire the girl's aesthic beaty, and expect the bouncers to be able to tell the difference and are getting bent out of shape because the bouncers don't want to make a rule change that they know frompast experience will bring in all the skeezy creepers

I don't actually. I get it. I understand. I just asked if we're allowed to do it in DM's which (as far as I know, wouldn't require rule changes?). Or do you guys have to monitor DM's as well?

again its not about expecting people not to shoot for no reason, its about not varying the rule that says this is a library not a shooting range

Libraries have erotica. At least the ones I've been to, because erotica is a valid form of literature, which I'm not even asking about at this point - I'm asking about sex scenes from romance novels. I could shop the "clean" parts in the regular workshop as planned.

Also - if you've already answered the DM thing and I've missed it, I apologize but my power keeps flickering and then new messages pop up so I'm not sure if I'm up to date with what's been said.
Really though, I'm not even asking that anymore- I'm asking about the DM thing. Is that okay if people are willing to do it?

 

[big soft moose]

the rules apply everywhere on site including in the dms... that said we don't police them unless we really have to, we can only see them if someone reports them (or in the nuclear option where we take an account over... which we'd only ever do in the most extreme circumstances where the law was being broken)

ergo freinds can discuss anything they want in DMs within reason but if someone complains they are being sent anything that breaks the rules we'll act acordingly

 

[Trish]

the rules apply everywhere on site including in the dms... that said we don't police them unless we really have to, we can only see them if someone reports them (or in the nuclear option where we take an account over... which we'd only ever do in the most extreme circumstances where the law was being broken)

ergo freinds can discuss anything they want in DMs within reason but if someone complains they are being sent anything that breaks the rules we'll act acordingly

Fair enough. Thank you for answering. Have a good night.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Final answer: no erotica anywhere. I apologize for any confusion. Moving on....

 

[CdnWriter]

I'd like to know if there could be a "job board" where people could drop links to writing jobs they're seen?

TBH, most of the "jobs" I have seen recently are requests for people to write for newsletters to drum up support for local non-profits and get things done - adopt a dog, donate food/clothes/toys for wildfire refugees, etc.

It *MIGHT* lead to paying work at some point for someone but it definitely would help people to develop their portfolios of writing gigs if they can say that they wrote personal ads for dogs for the local Humane Society & contributed to 8, 20, 56 whatever animals finding forever homes.

Think of Reddit's r/freelancewriting, r/commission, r/writinggigs, etc. I'm not too fond of Reddit at the moment so I personally want to avoid it.

Similarity, a contest board where people can post contests they have seen advertised in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine or Issac Asimov's Sci-Fic magazine or other locations. It's weird what you'll see - I've seen contests from publishing houses advertised in the local newspaper for example.

 

[big soft moose]

We’ll talk about external contests

A job board is unlikely as it would be a pain in the ass to moderate and keep from filling up with spam , scam, and and iffy content

 

[CdnWriter]

We need a "questions" forum! I wanted to check a couple things about the short story contests but my questions don't fit that forum...sigh.

So...here goes:

1. Can someone enter two stories in the same contest? I understand that I would be competing against myself if I did that....or should I enter the "best" one and throw the other one into the workshop for critique?

2. By entering my work into a contest in this forum, does that prohibit me from publishing the work somewhere else? Submitting it somewhere else?

3. Can the short story contest include illustrations? Photos? Think like a book cover...? It wouldn't be part of the textual story, just a bit of a prologue as to what is coming in the story...?

Thanks!

 

[Louanne Learning]

We need a "questions" forum! I wanted to check a couple things about the short story contests but my questions don't fit that forum...sigh.

So...here goes:

1. Can someone enter two stories in the same contest? I understand that I would be competing against myself if I did that....or should I enter the "best" one and throw the other one into the workshop for critique?

2. By entering my work into a contest in this forum, does that prohibit me from publishing the work somewhere else? Submitting it somewhere else?

3. Can the short story contest include illustrations? Photos? Think like a book cover...? It wouldn't be part of the textual story, just a bit of a prologue as to what is coming in the story...?

Thanks!

Your first and third questions are answered in the opening post to the short story contest

https://writingforum.org/threads/july-short-story-contest.399/post-8742

 

[Naomasa298]

We’ll talk about external contests

I posted one here a while ago:

Thread 'The HG Wells Short Story Competition 2025'

May 24, 2025

In case this is of any interest to anyone here:

The HG Wells Short Story Competition

The annual HG Wells Fiction Short Story Competition offers a £500 Senior and £1,000 Junior prize and free publication of all shortlisted entries in a quality, professionally published paperback anthology.

hgwellscompetition.com

As the name suggests, it's open to science fiction, from 1500-5000 words. It charges an entry fee, unless you're under 21 though. Open until 8th of July.

• Naomasa298
• Replies: 4
• Forum: General Writing Discussions

• 

Hope that was OK.

 

[Naomasa298]

2. By entering my work into a contest in this forum, does that prohibit me from publishing the work somewhere else? Submitting it somewhere else?

Generally no, as most publications don't consider a story published if it's posted on a forum that requires login, BUT policies differ from publication to publication. Best to check with them to be sure.

 

[Seven Crowns]

We need a "questions" forum! I wanted to check a couple things about the short story contests but my questions don't fit that forum...sigh.

So...here goes:

1. Can someone enter two stories in the same contest? I understand that I would be competing against myself if I did that....or should I enter the "best" one and throw the other one into the workshop for critique?

2. By entering my work into a contest in this forum, does that prohibit me from publishing the work somewhere else? Submitting it somewhere else?

3. Can the short story contest include illustrations? Photos? Think like a book cover...? It wouldn't be part of the textual story, just a bit of a prologue as to what is coming in the story...?

Thanks!

1. Only one story per person.
2. You can submit your work elsewhere. The contest sub-forum is not publicly visible and so the work is still "unseen" by the net. I've seen publications state directly that they didn't care about this, and you can have stories in forums to be critiqued / edited. I've never seen one say anything to the contrary, i.e., your work was on a private forum, received feedback, and so now they don't want it. Since anything is possible, you would have to ask the publication directly if that were the case with them, but it would be very strange if it was. I've dealt with many pubs and never had this issue. Yes, I've published contest pieces elsewhere.
3. Text only. Someone's going to try to be silly and add ascii art . . . I can see it now, haha, but no illustrations. I would delete them out of there. We're interested in pure story.

 

[Set2Stun]

2. You can submit your work elsewhere. The contest sub-forum is not publicly visible and so the work is still "unseen" by the net. I've seen publications state directly that they didn't care about this, and you can have stories in forums to be critiqued / edited. I've never seen one say anything to the contrary, i.e., your work was on a private forum, received feedback, and so now they don't want it. Since anything is possible, you would have to ask the publication directly if that were the case with them, but it would be very strange if it was. I've dealt with many pubs and never had this issue. Yes, I've published contest pieces elsewhere.

Yeah this is generally the correct answer. Comes up every now and then. It's fine, and I'd actually not recommend even mentioning it in a query letter. Every story I've ever had published made an appearance in a contest thread and/or critique post (all login protected).

 

[Set2Stun]

Regarding a jobs/contests kind of thread - I was thinking about something sort of similar. When I go on little submission sprees every other week, maybe I (and others) could post about magazines that are open to submissions.

It would be helpful as sometimes it can be a slog for me to identify SFFH publishers who pay decently and want a word count that fits some of the stories I'm trying to sell. Will that increase competition against my own submissions? Sure, but like...a lot of these places will get over a thousand submissions when they open for a month or less.

 

[Naomasa298]

maybe I (and others) could post about magazines that are open to submissions.

I'm happy to look up that kind of information for people on Duotrope, but on request. If one is seriously in the game, it's worth paying for an account there, or use Submission Grinder.

 

[big soft moose]

Well talk about it in the staff room, we’d have to limit it to members and up I think or we’d get buried in spam