[HPFGU-Feedback] Re: What Price Success? Improving Posting Quality on HPfGU

[susiequsie23]

SSSusan, postin' nekkid again from my non-elfy computer chair.

Shaun said:
>> But I suppose that I would say I think a 'quality list' comes from 
two broad places.  

The lowest possible number of 'low quality' posts, and the highest 
possible number of 'high quality' posts.

A two week hiatus *might* have a positive effect by reducing the 
former. The problem is, I think it is likely to have a negative 
effect by reducing the latter over the medium term. <snip>

So on the 30th of July, 20 3,000 word essays hit the list. How many 
of those are likely to get read and get decent responses? 
Especially as there are very likely to be dozens or hundreds of 
smaller posts. A two week hiatus, in my view, is likely to ensure 
that any 'high quality' posts (however you define the term - there 
may be several parallel definitions, and this may apply to all of 
them at once) will hit the list within a 6 to 12 hour period, as 
opposed to over the course of a couple of weeks (or longer....  <<


SSSusan:
Then there's at least one simple solution.  Make the hiatus shorter than 2 weeks but still a hiatus long enough to ensure: a) *most* readers have had time to read HBP; and b) Admin has had ample time to read *and* prepare for the onslaught.  Admin last time had a 45-hour hiatus.  Perhaps something *between* the two lengths of time would be a happy medium?


Shaun:
There's also the factor that at least some of the people who write 
substantial posts will have other places to post them (and those 
who currently don't, may well decide to look for somewhere else if 
there is an imposed hiatus on HPFGU). If I decide to write a 
substantial post on 'Half Blood Prince' I have other places I can 
easily post it. Even if I posted it to HPFGU after the end of a 
hiatus (and I probably would do so), by that stage, I've likely 
already chewed the meat off a lot of the points that could have 
been discussed about it, so even if it attracts comment on HPFGU, I 
am less likely to want to repeat myself in detail about issues I'd 
addressed elsewhere a week earlier.

SSSusan:
Nothing would prevent you from doing this.  In fact, HPfGU might *benefit* from it.  If you post elsewhere because you're raring to go and have a terrific post all formulated... and you do post elsewhere... and you get some great feedback... and you spend some time re-visiting the text, rethinking your position, etc.... then aren't you in PERFECT position to be able to whip off a *more* finely crafted version once HPfGU comes up?

In fact, if the other place you would have been posting happens to be smaller than the 13k+ HPfGU, you might be really excited to be presenting a polished version of your super-duper post to a larger audience.

Just my two knuts.

Siriusly Snapey Susan




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