Kind of quiet here. Any suggestion on how to liven up the place? Games? Odd month OWC? 6 week feature challenge? Brawl...   :D

Arguments over formatting and style?  

I say BAN the Oxford comma!

But I would be up for another OWC. A short one.

I'm ready for an OWC or another quickie challenge like we did a few years ago.

I would love a feature challenge. I'm definitely behind on my NY resolutions...

This place has been slowlying down year by year.

The discussions have never been very lively, sans the same old formating disputes, but the number of scripts posted used to be so much higher just a few years ago. The views too. You can't even compare the numbers from 5-6 years ago.

I would suggest a complete site redesign and everyone to pitch their ideas on how to get this place to be more active.

I think script reviews on the main page, plus some sort of articles, featured success stories of writers from SS that have made it, exclusive intereviews and so on. I know the site has some of these things already, but in the current design, they don't pop and are kinda lost. It needs recognizable voices with hot-takes that shake things up.

These challenges appeal to the already small and active community. They rarely bring new people in. At least that's my perception of things. I want this place to grow, but it seems to slowly be fading away. Which is a shame. However this just could be a general trend when it comes to screenwriting websites, as I think youtube has taken a chunk of this audience. Instead of people coming here to learn, they watch youtube videos and go to sites like no film school. Visual content trumps text nowadays.

I'm ready for a OWC challenge. It does make the place a bit more lively.

I'll have a think about how to increase participation around here and list my crappy ideas  ;)

It’s several factors. Summer time. Life outside of writing. You’re dreams of getting your work filmed dying a slow agonizing death. Lol. Writers not able to take a critique. So much but, this site keeps chugging along defining all odds. It’s got a couple more years in it.

Gabe

Demento, I think you are right, but I wish it wasn´t so. Other forums are slowing down too and some even quitting all together. When I first joined, this was a hopping forum even if the number of members were much fewer. I don´t know how to change that. I wish I could. There are so many things out there that are screaming for attention everything is sort of becoming diluted.  

On the short term, I´m all for a quickie or a longer more involved thing. I think there will be a regular October OWC, so whatever you guys want to do before that, just chime in with ideas.

I think there are more people on this site than you think, a lot of them being producers looking for inexpensive scripts to film.  You look at the number of clicks to this site on the home page (down at the bottom) and it shows over 11,000 clicks.  Most of those obviously are not participating in the forums, they're just browsing.

I think in this new age of technology, people are always moving around, looking for the next thing that will provide them with some short-term gratification.  Staying power is rare, without commitment from the community to build it.  Don does an unbelievable job in keeping this site running but part of the responsibility lies on us to make this a welcoming community, not only in how we interact with others, but how we treat and mentor new writers. It also involves recruiting new blood to the site. I introduced Paul (PKCardinal) to the site and I know you all have been welcoming to him and impressed by his writing skills.  If we could all could just recruit an active member to the site each year, over time it will grow exponentially (and tax Don's band server!).

Maybe site design might help, I don't know.  I think content is, and has always been, king. You look at a site like the Drudge Report and it gets a billion hits a month and it's the most bland looking site on the internet.  It's all about what's on the site that's bringing the eyeballs and the interaction.

Gary

Quoted from Gary in Houston I think there are more people on this site than you think, a lot of them being producers looking for inexpensive scripts to film.  You look at the number of clicks to this site on the home page (down at the bottom) and it shows over 11,000 clicks.  Most of those obviously are not participating in the forums, they're just browsing. I think in this new age of technology, people are always moving around, looking for the next thing that will provide them with some short-term gratification.  Staying power is rare, without commitment from the community to build it.  Don does an unbelievable job in keeping this site running but part of the responsibility lies on us to make this a welcoming community, not only in how we interact with others, but how we treat and mentor new writers. It also involves recruiting new blood to the site. I introduced Paul (PKCardinal) to the site and I know you all have been welcoming to him and impressed by his writing skills.  If we could all could just recruit an active member to the site each year, over time it will grow exponentially (and tax Don's band server!). Maybe site design might help, I don't know.  I think content is, and has always been, king. You look at a site like the Drudge Report and it gets a billion hits a month and it's the most bland looking site on the internet.  It's all about what's on the site that's bringing the eyeballs and the interaction. Gary

Though I think recruiting would be a great boon, I'd temper expectations a bit about those clicks per day... I'm sure a lot of them are from bots and scrapers.

The software running this site is no longer maintained by the developer, so any serious upgrade would entail Don migrating the site data to some new platform. That's a nontrivial effort.

So Gary,  you're responsible for Paul?  ;D

Who's the culprit then who foisted Frank and Matt upon us? I kid.

I think the site is active when regulars are posting Shorts (and Features) and obviously that ebbs and flows depending on our individual productivity and the time of the year.

And of course SS is periodically revitalised when challenges are on. We need more of those imho.
Feature challenges are great but they attract less numbers so I think a mix of both is ideal.

There's bound to be lull periods - I've noticed it's typically in the Northern Summer when a lot of you guys are on vacation or at the beach, more outdoorsy activities happening etc. We in the south are usually hibernating and shivering, although today in Oz it's a lovely 25° - Spring, here we come!

No matter what, SS prevails.

Definitely bring on more challenges imho.

P.S. Love the thread title, Pia. :)

Quoted from Gary in Houston You look at the number of clicks to this site on the home page (down at the bottom) and it shows over 11,000 clicks.  Most of those obviously are not participating in the forums, they're just browsing.

But I think that number used to be so much higher. I remember, maybe 2 years ago I was looking into the numbers and I think (not sure) I saw a number of 36.000. And this forum was already way, way less active than what it was in 2013-14.

These types of conversations have moved on to comments sections on websites, twitter, fb groups, youtube and so on. Forums are slowly fading away. Although, IMO, they are a supperior medium for this kind of thing. This is just the reality of things. Things change.

If people want an in-between OWC, I'd be happy to run one. It's actually very easy to do. Don does all the real work, then I get to take the credit. Unless Pia's original post was an offer to run one herself, in which case carry on.

As for doing a feature challenge at some point, I'd definitely partake if the parameters were optional. I realize that goes against the whole idea of a challenge... but a feature is such a big undertaking I don't want to commit to an idea I don't believe in 100%.

In regards to the inexorable death of Simply Scripts... I'm still holding on to the belief that social media is a fad and one day people will stop turning real life into the most terrifying sci-fi/horror/satire ever written.

https://youtu.be/h24D87SqaLQ

Forgot how to link a YouTube vid.

Gabe

Just my own opinion of course.

The two types of threads that generated the most activity (outside the OWC) are the technical issues (love or hate asides, etc.) and nature of reviews (be kind, be cruel, etc.). Those have lost their steam as they have been beat to death.

I have stop commenting on new scripts as much as I used to because:

- a lot of the time the writer never weighs in anyway so why should I give a shit if they don't. I'll wait to really get involved when it's from a peep that's genuinely engaged in the site.

- The writing is so bad - it's hard to figure out where to start. There seems to be more of these lately - e.g., where it's obvious that the writer has never even read a script or googled a thing about format. I don't know why. but some reason that pisses me off a bit. Like - really - how hard is it to Google how to right a scene heading. Anyway - again - that's just me and I got my own set of baggage.

I do think a thread entitled ONE PAGE OF YOUR SCRIPT -  my spur some activity.  Under the
there is an admonition against posting scripts that aren't at least halfway done.  I think a spot where a writer could post one page - and get feedback on whether they are headed in the right direction would generate interest - especially for writers just starting out -

I also have an OWC format idea percolating in my head - will share for feedback later.


One page

Quoted from MarkItZero If people want an in-between OWC, I'd be happy to run one. It's actually very easy to do. Don does all the real work, then I get to take the credit. Unless Pia's original post was an offer to run one herself, in which case carry on.

No plans on my part. Just noticed how quiet it´s been here for awhile. I will be busy from now on until at least the first week in January. Shooting that short Call On Me next weekend and then hopefully one or two for Halloween.

Quoted from MarkItZero As for doing a feature challenge at some point, I'd definitely partake if the parameters were optional. I realize that goes against the whole idea of a challenge... but a feature is such a big undertaking I don't want to commit to an idea I don't believe in 100%.

The ones we have done before are not run like the OWCs. It´s more of a challenge to see if you can write a first draft of a feature in 6 weeks. We´ve had things like Thriller, Female lead for example. We came up with that after that was and still is a constant WANTED at InkTip. Both Dena and I ended selling our scripts from that challenge.  8)

Yeah, I've noticed the site tapering off in recent years. My presence has been sporadic but when I am around I try to read and review scripts, offer exchanges. That is the heart of the site,  the platform it offers which no other site does (to my knowledge)

It seems, as others have pointed out, that it only becomes active when a format/rules thread starts up (yet again) or an OWC. However, during the OWC everything else dries up even more and even less new scripts generate discussion. As someone who doesn't enter OWCs this can be frustrating but that's on me, not the site. Plus, I haven't submitted anything new in a few years anyway.

So is it because there is so much other stuff out there to compete for people’s attention? There is surely some truth to that but, as I surmised, is there another site like this which offers writers to share their work? If so, then it would make sense but I don't think there is. Someone can correct me on that.

I agree with what Dave said too about offering thoughts on a script and getting nothing in response. It can be disheartening. Reading and commenting on a script is time consuming. I'll never know why people take the time to write a script, post it here and then disappear. Yeah, some might be just hoping for producers/filmmakers to come across it but if it’s not generating discussion then it just falls down the list and gets forgotten about. Even if that is the reason, the proportion of scripts posted and the writer not following it up seem unfathomably high.

It feels like there are not the same number of core members here who take the craft somewhat seriously and are willing to engage. Are there less people trying to write screenplays nowadays? That seems unlikely as there is more content out there than ever. So where are all these potential writers going?

Col.

Quoted from Grandma Bear The ones we have done before are not run like the OWCs. It´s more of a challenge to see if you can write a first draft of a feature in 6 weeks. We´ve had things like Thriller, Female lead for example. We came up with that after that was and still is a constant WANTED at InkTip. Both Dena and I ended selling our scripts from that challenge.  8)

Yeah, I want the tight deadline. That would be great. Long as the parameters are more broad like the example you gave. Or, I could run it myself and coincidentally make the criteria exactly the type of script I was planning to write anyways...

Quoted from LC Who's the culprit then who foisted Frank and Matt upon us? I kid

You've got Google to blame for my arrival  :)

I'm a fan of features, I really like those 7WC's. And then we could submit them to comps... and wait for the outcome. Cause features are features.
But I'm with James - I would be very loose with the parameters too. We could have very loose parameters if at all and accept work from regulars only. That way we make sure there's no old script in the pile. Cause we know each other work and I believe we can trust each other at this point.

Two things and an idea.

1. The site used to be simpler. When it got expanded and shorts all got divided into genre, it made me less likely to trawl through. That is me but in general website design, UX (user experience) can make a big difference.

2. I’m too busy writing particular projects to take part in writing challenges that deviate from the stuff i’m writing. This is a shame because I enjoy a challenge. And most people do. So here’s -

AN IDEA. An SS comp that members can enter any material to. It would obviously need to be designed in such a way that it runs itself. For instance - everyone enters the first five of their scripts. You have to read, score and comment on at least five of the entries. The top scripts go through to the next round - more pages - You get the idea. I realise this would take some serious organisation. But it would get a lot of engagement / new members / winners would get producer interest.

Essentially its a bigger carrot to ensure more engagement. And writers only have to commit to comments and scores. There could be a system so you score the scripts in a different category/genre to ensure fairness. Now - I realise there’s work involved setting it up. But boy would it get people fired up. An open comp where the judging has total visibility.

I NEED an OWC or something... Anything!

Personally I find the challenge parameters useful to generate story ideas. Even the Writer’s Tournament with Sean’s hyper-specific “Professor Plum in the Study with the Lead Pipe” parameters we got an impressive variety of submissions.

Story prompts don’t need to be organized challenges, but I wager they get much better engagement that way.

But if they are organized as challenges, then it’s only fair to have parameters that make the scripts comparable. The bigger contests divide things up by genre for that reason.

One a broader note, the best ideas for driving engagement with core users are not going to be the best ideas for attracting new users. To cite an obvious example of the tension, this thread is not the first time I’ve seen the suggestion of restricting contests to regular users.

Getting new users means getting in front of their eyes at a time they’d be interested in what we do here. Showing up in search engine results is awesome, and generally indicates high interest in that particular searcher, but there are other places an aspiring writer or producer might be hanging out that indicates vaguely aligned interest.

Think of places where people tend to fall into a black hole of recommended content (Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, etc.) and how to get glimpses of SS there. Posting contest announcements and thread highlights on Twitter would take someone’s time but wouldn’t require anything radically new. Curating and SEOing a library of YouTube videos (both SS-listed films and “instructional”/“interview”/“debate” stuff) is considerably more complicated.

Could it be because a lot in the movie/tv content development world has changed during the last 5 years? It's hard to keep up with.

The old model: write a spec script, put it out there, and if it somehow survives the gauntlet, maybe a producer picks it up.

But so much has changed.

Before, you had studios making movies and small producers making stuff for a DVD market.

Now, there are hundreds of content producers for features and series.
There is a huge podcast market paying for stories.
And new technology allows more people to make movies on smaller budgets.

The content producers no longer limit themselves to screenplays. They scour the planet for novels, graphic novels, comic books, short stories, etc.

Most features are a pain to read, especially if the writing sticks to the weird rules that have evolved. Much easier to read a short story, much easier to pass it around to others you work with. A good concept can be developed.

Twenty years ago, people that loved movies and had an inclination to give it a try wrote screenplays. Many ended up in places like this.

But now they have more options. They can delve into podcasts, create comic books and graphic novels, etc.

I'm not tapped into any of things, so I could be way off. Just wondering if these changes might effect things here.

There are two possibilities that I keep coming back to. One is a way to advance your writing career and the other is purely for fun.

1 (Fun). The Killer Game. Michael Cornetto used to run these every once in a while and they were fun as all hell. A few years ago, I tried getting one set up again, but it ran into too many logistical issues. I think, if there were enough interest, I would be willing to set that back up again.

2 (Career). A horror anthology. The quickest and easiest way to write a feature, I've found, is to not write something feature length. Somebody could plan out the bones of a story (I believe Kirk White was going to film something like this years back, but don't quote me), pick out a few writers to each write a segment, then the lead would be responsible for copyrighting and things of that nature.

With all the other ideas you guys had listed so far, these were the only ones I hadn't seen mentioned yet.

Quoted from Anon Two things and an idea. 1. The site used to be simpler. When it got expanded and shorts all got divided into genre, it made me less likely to trawl through. That is me but in general website design, UX (user experience) can make a big difference. 2. I’m too busy writing particular projects to take part in writing challenges that deviate from the stuff i’m writing. This is a shame because I enjoy a challenge. And most people do. So here’s - AN IDEA. An SS comp that members can enter any material to. It would obviously need to be designed in such a way that it runs itself. For instance - everyone enters the first five of their scripts. You have to read, score and comment on at least five of the entries. The top scripts go through to the next round - more pages - You get the idea. I realise this would take some serious organisation. But it would get a lot of engagement / new members / winners would get producer interest. Essentially its a bigger carrot to ensure more engagement. And writers only have to commit to comments and scores. There could be a system so you score the scripts in a different category/genre to ensure fairness. Now - I realise there’s work involved setting it up. But boy would it get people fired up. An open comp where the judging has total visibility.

I has a very similar idea for kind of an annual event. Going to post it on a separate thread

Ramblings below:

1) Embrace social media. I see SS has a twitter account, but why is it not used to direct people to the site? Every week when new scripts are posted, send a tweet "New original screenplays for consideration *link to site*" - new challenge? tweet it, new review/interview/film whatever gets posted to the main site, tweet it and provide links to the site.
I'm sure Don has a trusted circle of members who wouldn't mind helping out operating the twitter account.

2) Separate optioned/sold/filmed script threads into its own category (Success stories - or something similar) to highlight to new users that scripts can and do get picked up from the site.

3) Move the "getting to know you" section to the top of the boards - hopefully, would encourage newbies to post in it? maybe...

4) sign up process - To me it was strange, having to email, never seen it anywhere else - why not a simple sign up form? maybe it discourages some from signing up.

5) "Highlights of the month"... or something similar. Basically, any member who reads newly posted screenplays can put their top 3..4..5 however many, into a post. It can be done monthly, bi-monthly, with a rotating cast of posters - basically just to put extra emphasis on those scripts which stand out above the rest, at the moment they can get lost in the mix. (Highlights would be entirely the views of that particular poster, and not those of SS as a whole  :))

6) It would be interesting to hear from filmmakers who use the site to search for material - how they go about searching through the many threads, what would make it easier for them to find the material they are after etc.

I’m largely with Matthew on these, though there is more to social media than just Twitter. Not sure where aspiring writers would actually be most easily found.

I personally found the site searching for the answer to a script formatting question.

Any video associated with the site ought to get cross-posted thru a single SS account (might need to have an account on each distinct video service to make a one-video “playlist” pointing at members’ films, SS’s own content can be where it is easiest to maintain).

Quoted from Matthew Taylor 1) Embrace social media. I see SS has a twitter account, but why is it not used to direct people to the site? Every week when new scripts are posted, send a tweet "New original screenplays for consideration *link to site*" - new challenge? tweet it, new review/interview/film whatever gets posted to the main site, tweet it and provide links to the site.

Don has promoted the OWCs on social media in the past. The result is typically that we get too many entries and a lot of them are from people who have no intention to participate on the forum. Not even reading the other entries. Plenty of regulars get pissed off at this.

Quoted from Matthew Taylor 6) It would be interesting to hear from filmmakers who use the site to search for material - how they go about searching through the many threads, what would make it easier for them to find the material they are after etc.

I´ve had a LOT of scripts picked up from here. Probably near 50 or so by now in total. Including features. From what I understand, none of them go to the forum. They typically go to the home page and click on unproduced scripts page or the Original scripts Sunday link.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Don has promoted the OWCs on social media in the past. The result is typically that we get too many entries and a lot of them are from people who have no intention to participate on the forum. Not even reading the other entries. Plenty of regulars get pissed off at this.

Fair enough, then omit promoting the OWC and leave that for forum regulars - other stuff should be promoted though, especially when new original screenplays are added in an attempt to direct filmakers to the site.

Quoted from Grandma Bear I´ve had a LOT of scripts picked up from here. Probably near 50 or so by now in total. Including features. From what I understand, none of them go to the forum. They typically go to the home page and click on unproduced scripts page or the Original scripts Sunday link.

Which could link to my point 3) - I know reviews are sometimes posted there, but not everyone has time to leave detailed reveiws - if people can instead post their top 5 new original scripts (Shorts, features or even the first 10 pages for features) to highlight those that they think stand above the rest. that can be a post on the main site which might attract filmakers to look at the scripts highlighted.

Quoted from Matthew Taylor I know reviews are sometimes posted there, but not everyone has time to leave detailed reveiws - if people can instead post their top 5 new original scripts (Shorts, features or even the first 10 pages for features) to highlight those that they think stand above the rest. that can be a post on the main site which might attract filmakers to look at the scripts highlighted.

We´ve actually had that too. The problem seems to be that not as many people read scripts anymore unless they know the writer is an active member.

Not trying to be negative or anything. Just chiming in with my thoughts.   :)

If you Google free scripts, or un-produced scripts this site is always listed near the top of results. So, I think it has a decent presence.

Guess we also have a different view of "quiet".  There's a healthy amount of new scripts every day and newbies come at a pretty stable flow - 10 new members so far this month.

Where I see it as "quiet" isn't on new members or media presence - it's on participation. I joined the site five years ago. Maybe I'm being nostalgic (although not sure 5 years qualifies for nostalgic), but the comments then seemed to be script heavy - i.e., most the comments were on scripts rather than topics. Other than the OWCs - it seems to be the inverse today. Scripts get little attention and topics - like this one - get the bulk.  Post something about how to use asides and the comments blow up, etc.

I can't speak for others, but I have been less "quiet" on reviews as opposed to when I first started because:

- Writers often don't respond - so why bother.

- A lot of my reviews/comments are now done via PMs.

- The scripts are far worse than when I first started. At least to my eyes. Can't count the number of times I've opened something and it was so far off the grid format wise that I thought - well, if they didn't give a shit about Googling how write a basic scene heading - why should I bother reading? Or perhaps I am just getting older and crankier.  

So, if topics rule the day - then maybe we could generate noise by having a monthly  or bi -monthly or whatever topic (e.g., Save the Cat, Unfilmables, Best Sci-fi of all time, etc. etc.).

Couple months back, there was a new member named Kevin S trying to get involved. No one would give him the time of day. I PM'd him and suggested he do a bunch of reviews. And so he did just that, reviewing a whole bunch of shorts in the 5 week challenge thing. He's still lurking, messaged me recently even though I only pop in occasionally. Unless I missed it, all of his reviews were ignored. At no point was he offensive. He just wasn't in the club, and the truth is it's not at all easy to get into the club. That's why activity is down. Older members move on, but it's not easy for newer members to feel welcome.

Dustin will say something like, well, no one's holding the door for you, you either have the balls to push your way in or you don't. And he'd be correct.

But if you really want more activity, you have to consider the experience of newbs exploring the forum. That has nothing to do with reformatting the place. It's a matter of recognizing newbs and being a bit less cliquey.

Quoted from leitskev Couple months back, there was a new member named Kevin S trying to get involved. No one would give him the time of day. I PM'd him and suggested he do a bunch of reviews. And so he did just that, reviewing a whole bunch of shorts in the 5 week challenge thing. He's still lurking, messaged me recently even though I only pop in occasionally. Unless I missed it, all of his reviews were ignored. At no point was he offensive. He just wasn't in the club, and the truth is it's not at all easy to get into the club. That's why activity is down. Older members move on, but it's not easy for newer members to feel welcome. Dustin will say something like, well, no one's holding the door for you, you either have the balls to push your way in or you don't. And he'd be correct. But if you really want more activity, you have to consider the experience of newbs exploring the forum. That has nothing to do with reformatting the place. It's a matter of recognizing newbs and being a bit less cliquey.

1) Has Kevin posted his own work and not gotten reviews - or is it his comments on reviews that are ignored?

2) I think there is some merit to your point.  Not sure what to do about it. (Newbie mentor program?)

Quoted from leitskev Couple months back, there was a new member named Kevin S trying to get involved. No one would give him the time of day. I PM'd him and suggested he do a bunch of reviews. And so he did just that, reviewing a whole bunch of shorts in the 5 week challenge thing. He's still lurking, messaged me recently even though I only pop in occasionally. Unless I missed it, all of his reviews were ignored. At no point was he offensive. He just wasn't in the club, and the truth is it's not at all easy to get into the club. That's why activity is down. Older members move on, but it's not easy for newer members to feel welcome. Dustin will say something like, well, no one's holding the door for you, you either have the balls to push your way in or you don't. And he'd be correct. But if you really want more activity, you have to consider the experience of newbs exploring the forum. That has nothing to do with reformatting the place. It's a matter of recognizing newbs and being a bit less cliquey.

There's not much merit in your example.

https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-knowyou/m-1560537779/s-new/ - His welcome to the boards thread seems welcoming enough

His reviews here were not ignored -
https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1562502120/s-1/highlight-/#num1
https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1559581963/s-4/highlight-/#num4

This one wasn't responded to directly (but neither did the author respond to Dave)
https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1561822243/s-5/highlight-/#num5

But the author did review Kevin's WIP (along with another author who's work Kevin reviewed)
https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1562709947/s-1/highlight-/#num1

Not to mention the encouragment he got when he was asking if he could join the WT in round 2

So not really sure how he could be made to feel more welcome.

His WT reviews would have been ignored (IE not directly responded to, you have no idea if the writer took the comments onboard or not) - along with 99% of the others. There wasn't much time to respond to 20+ reviews for each entry in a 5 week tournament

Quoted from Matthew Taylor There's not much merit in your example. https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-knowyou/m-1560537779/s-new/ - His welcome to the boards thread seems welcoming enough His reviews here were not ignored - https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1562502120/s-1/highlight-/#num1 https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1559581963/s-4/highlight-/#num4 This one wasn't responded to directly (but neither did the author respond to Dave) https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1561822243/s-5/highlight-/#num5 But the author did review Kevin's WIP (along with another author who's work Kevin reviewed) https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1562709947/s-1/highlight-/#num1 Not to mention the encouragment he got when he was asking if he could join the WT in round 2 So not really sure how he could be made to feel more welcome. His WT reviews would have been ignored (IE not directly responded to, you have no idea if the writer took the comments onboard or not) - along with 99% of the others. There wasn't much time to respond to 20+ reviews for each entry in a 5 week tournament

Not sure if I’m impressed or horrified.

Point well and truly made though.

I check in on SS almost every day, though not as active as I was when I was a newb and I was was writing like five shorts a month! Those were the salad days for me - still new and so much to learn. It was fun and exciting and I enjoyed it immensely, and that was only five years ago but it seems like forever now. Weird.

I think we should all make a concerted effort to read more scripts, and I do think there might be something to the commenter who spoke of the site redesign and the shorts being categorized. I’ll admit i kinda liked it when it was more of a potpourri. Pot luck, everything lumped together.

And even five years ago we had some colorful characters here. Jeff doesn’t pop up nearly as much as he used to. There was others who would engage in arguments, threads that would go on forever that, admittedly, were just so damn fun to read. One even went on from night until early next morning - it was crazy. And more quickie challenges in between OWC’s. Stuff like that. That bracket thing we did last year was great because it pitted member against member, final elimination. That was a lot of fun! So new ideas are always welcome, as well as more participation.

I, for one, will start reading more. I’ve kind of fallen away from that a little and I miss it.  

And I will also change my avatar to kinda mix things up a little.

Steve

Here's what we do:

• 1.  A monthly 3 page OWC.  
  
  Something simple.  
  Beginning, middle, end.  
  How did Moviepoet do it?  Was it monthly?
  
  
• 2.  A big RED button on the blog home page for the discussion board.  
  
  This is where all the magic happens anyway, and there's no easy way to find it.
  
  
• 3.  A quid pro quo method of reviews.  
  
  You have to earn the right to get feedback on your script if you want it.  
  Review a script to get a review.  
  And it has to be at least a 100 word review.  Not:  "U R gud riter FTW!"  
  It's frustrating when you take the time to review someone's work and all you get are crickets.
  
  
• 4.  Copious amounts of cocaine for the OWC winners.  
  
  And hookers...just...in general...more hookers for everybody.
  
  
• 5.  A landing page redesign.  
  
  It's just plain and not easy on the eyes.  
  Someone on here must know of a quality web designer who will work for peanuts.  
  Maybe we all chip in $5 to hire someone and we get a lifetime membership where our scripts are unlocked for review without first having to review other's scripts.  
  Something like that.
  
  
• 6.  I may hate myself for saying this...but a..."Like" button...ugh... I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Create an easy way to show that I agree with someone's comment or script.
  

I pop in here every once in a while, but I have small children to tend to and apparently it's illegal to send them to the store at 1 in the morning to get smokes and Jagermeister, so that cuts into my writing time.

But it's getting better.

-Jordan

I feel that a monthly OWC has the potential to kill the OWC. It'll become the norm and boring and eventually die.

A 'like' button may help those who feel underappreciated. I've read a few comments where people feel they are being ignored.

There are free forum solutions like phpBB.. possibly more these days. I'm going back ten years at least. I'm pretty sure this BB would have been old even back then. This solution (E-Blah) may not be updated anymore and will be full of holes security-wise. However, who's heard of E-Blah before? All the hackers, script kiddies, pick on the top solutions like Vbulletin and IPB because the vulnerabilities in old software (and sometimes new) are available on Google.

However, if you did piss the wrong person off, they could do a search like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=e-blah+vulnerabilities&oq=e-blah+vulnerabilities&aqs=chrome..69i57.6567j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

And find this:

https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list/vendor_id-4090/E-blah.html

Finding that there is indeed a vulnerability here where somebody could possibly hack into the backend using something like SQL injection. You don't even need any hacking skills. Everything you need to achieve your aim is Googlable and you can even obtain free tools that will search a website's databases for vulnerabilities for you while you sleep. Once you get into the files then you can obtain things like hash keys for passwords. Run those through another free software program and boom, you have our passwords... no matter how complicated you've made them.

Like I said though, the script kiddies pick on the top solutions. This forum is relatively safe... meaning it's not likely to have some random. If somebody attacks this site, it's because they know it.

There are limits to what can be changed without having to export all the E-Blah data and setting up an entirely new board. There are instructions on the Web on how to export E-Blah data to more standard formats, but the site has a lot of uploaded files and links to externally hosted scripts and videos.

Security-wise, the most valuable thing on the site is the massive pile of IP in the scripts, and those are all public. There’s also the passwords (in case someone re-used their password on a bank site) and private messages (though I doubt anyone here PMs financially valuable information). No, the only reason someone would really want to hack SS is to infect the visitors with something like a keylogger, botnet client, or Bitcoin miner.

Dustin is probably right that the current software’s low profile offers a measure of protection (we won’t get caught up in those “One hundred eighty thousand Wordpress sites hacked” events), but if someone decides to target the producers who search the site, it wouldn’t be difficult. The SS server basically needs to make sure none of its HTML or Perl files get changed without authorization, but that’s true of any Web server and it happens anyway on an alarmingly regular basis.

Coming back to how this affects suggestions, E-Blah has certain features and it probably makes sense to keep suggestions within those bounds unless it’s worth migrating the whole site to something new, which takes a lot of effort and inevitably gets rewarded with users bitching about how things were better before. I don’t know why, but that always happens after a migration.

Yeah, that's very true. Everyone will be screaming for change... then, when change happens, they go quiet and the members that were quiet before scream about how much the change has ruined their entire experience of the site and they don't know if they're going to be able to visit any more.

Also, that vulnerability I pointed out may have been patched for this version of E-Blah, which is 9.71. I find it hard to believe though that there aren't more if the software isn't kept updated. It's likely that because the software is no longer kept updated that nobody has bothered looking for vulnerabilities.

In truth, I feel far safer with my account here than I do with companies like Amazon and Ebay. Even Google isn't completely safe.

There can be other problems associated with outdated software, like compatability issues, but I still use an old version of desktop Celtx on my Ubuntu 14 OS just fine.

It's all up to Don... migrating a forum like this should be fairly straightforward and fast as there are no image files. Most of the problems come from databases with large galleries, I've found. Just because of the amount of time it takes and the strain can sometimes crash the server. I'm also not sure that aesthetics is the problem... or that there is even a problem.

Quoted from DustinBowcot In truth, I feel far safer with my account here than I do with companies like Amazon and Ebay. Even Google isn't completely safe.

Kind of funny because those companies, and FB of course, can spy on us and get all our data whenever they want.

Yeah, I agree with Dave again and Steven. There is just not the same quantity of serious members who read, review and discuss scripts as before. That is the essence of what makes this site so great and unique.

Yet some thread about format will go on and on. Much easier to chime in about the proper use of an aside of course than read scripts and offer your thoughts.

And once again, I will never understand the high percentage of scripts that are dropped here with zero follow up.

E-Blah is basically a large collection of Perl scripts that run on a server. There's an Administration Center that Don can use to manipulate the options (it wasn't too long ago that the forum ranks were colors, now they're descriptive-ish). If these are actual options I wouldn't mind:

• Some kind of thumbs-up on individual posts or threads (the thread-level star rating system has a bug in it).
  
• Spoiler tags. It's like a quote block, but only the header portion is visible until a user clicks on it.
  
• Full Unicode support, by which I mean not filtering out Unicode characters. Client Web browsers can render them even if E-Blah doesn't understand what they are. Probably won't be able to use them in the search bar, but that's not a big deal.
  
• Better notification of new Private Messages.

Mucking around with the CSS and Perl underpinning the site allows for making new themes, adding new Smileys (though Unicode emojis give more bang for the buck), and possibly new features.

Making the forum more obvious from the homepage is a good idea. Making the homepage more obvious from the forum wouldn't hurt either.

Please move the introductions board to the top group.

Quoted from Colkurtz8 And once again, I will never understand the high percentage of scripts that are dropped here with zero follow up.

There's a checkbox on the upload form to request feedback. Maybe this can be made more salient to the uploaders, as in telling them it implicitly promises they will interact with the reviewers?

Quoted from FrankM There's a checkbox on the upload form to request feedback. Maybe this can be made more salient to the uploaders, as in telling them it implicitly promises they will interact with the reviewers?

May work. Although Libby been's doing a lot of work with writers in this regard - i.e., asking them to reciprocate. Some do - many don't.

When submitting a script, by default it is set to "Yes, I am open to feedback" - Many probably don't know it is there, or just leave it set to the default.

Changing the default to "No" might mean more submissions come through with the "For production consideration - No comments are required" and less time is wasted leaving reviews for those with no intention to reciprocate. And when we see the "yes, writer is open to feedback" we know that the writer had to physically choose that option, rather than it be the default answer, and may (wishful thinking) be more open to discussion.

If I do a review I usually do a summary of my thoughts and ask the writer if they want more detailed comments.
If they're around then they'll chime in and we can go from there.  

I've decided not to chime in on the "format", "aside", "orphan", flame wars.  I'm looking for a good story.
If the writing isn't of a Seussian quality, then I'll usually give them a pass.

I've been away for some time, but I'm going to make an effort to get back on here and stir the pot at least once a week.  I have to be the change I want to see.

On that note:  Who has a short that they would like a fresh set of eyes on to provide some thoughts?

As far as a complete site redesign:  That's not necessary.  

We want more engagement here on the discussion board. That can be achieved by directing traffic from the home page.  At this point we just need warm bodies to find there way here.
Sell it to them by touting the forum as a place to get feedback on their scripts.
Maybe a button "Upload your script for review"  or "Free script review".  

Everybody loves "free", right?

-Jordan

Quoted from FrankM There's a checkbox on the upload form to request feedback. Maybe this can be made more salient to the uploaders, as in telling them it implicitly promises they will interact with the reviewers?

Mmm, I dunno. Horses and water come to mind. I think there is only so much guiding and hand holding you can do. In the end, it's up to people to decide how they should conduct themselves on a site like this. i.e. Quid pro quo.

It seemed logical and just plain courteous to me when I first joined here that if you want people to read your work, you should read others.

Yet so many new members come on here expecting to get reads without giving anything back. This isn't a new trend by the way, it's always been like that, just the nature of some people, and no amount of instruction will help them. Its common decency, you shouldn't have to be told.

Quoted from Colkurtz8 Mmm, I dunno. Horses and water come to mind. I think there is only so much guiding and hand holding you can do. In the end, it's up to people to decide how they should conduct themselves on a site like this. i.e. Quid pro quo. It seemed logical and just plain courteous to me when I first joined here that if you want people to read your work, you should read others. Yet so many new members come on here expecting to get reads without giving anything back. This isn't a new trend by the way, it's always been like that, just the nature of some people, and no amount of instruction will help them. Its common decency, you shouldn't have to be told.

Simpatico.

I know that I get an email every time someone makes a comment on my script. I assume that is true for everyone. So - how effing hard is it for someone to respond to a comment???

I think I'm done with comments to members I don't know/haven't interacted with.  I'm going to craft a statement something akin to:

I only read and comment on scripts where the writer (a) responds to the comments made and (b) has already or intends to read scripts by others and offer them feedback. Please respond if you agree with these conditions. If so, I'll be glad to read and comment on your script.

Quoted from eldave1 I know that I get an email every time someone makes a comment on my script. I assume that is true for everyone.

Really? I don't have that feature but yeah if you are active on the site, you won't miss comments on your own work. It's the first thing most of us will check.

Quoted from eldave1 I think I'm done with comments to members I don't know/haven't interacted with.

Yeah, I made that call a long time ago. A quick scan of the script's discussion board will tell you if they are in any way active. Like yourself, I do most of my exchanges off the boards nowadays.

Quoted from eldave1 I'm going to craft a statement something akin to: I only read and comment on scripts where the writer (a) responds to the comments made and (b) has already or intends to read scripts by others and offer them feedback. Please respond if you agree with these conditions. If so, I'll be glad to read and comment on your script.

Yep, hard to argue with that. Again, it's just basic, common courtesy. It's a shame you have to resort to those measures but there you go.

Quoted from Colkurtz8 Really? I don't have that feature but yeah if you are active on the site, you won't miss comments on your own work. It's the first thing most of us will check.

My mistake. It's not automatic. You have to check the box:

Check this to be e-mailed each time someone replies to this topic.

If you don't. You won't see your responses. Maybe it out to be programmed to be the inverse. i.e., you'll automatically get notifications unless you check a box not asking for them.

Quoted from eldave1 My mistake. It's not automatic. You have to check the box: Check this to be e-mailed each time someone replies to this topic. If you don't. You won't see your responses. Maybe it out to be programmed to be the inverse. i.e., you'll automatically get notifications unless you check a box not asking for them.

Ah ok, I never saw that. Yeah, maybe defaulting it the other way will work better.

Hey all, I haven't read the comments so my apologies if this has been said before.

The main difference I see between 2009 and now is that newcomers don't jump in and read first, sort of a pay your dues type thing. They either dump their project and run, or ask for a swap read right off the bat. And then some bail on the swap, to boot.

Not all, I have been following from (mostly) afar and I have seen newcomers approach the board the right way, and ingratiate themselves accordingly. But I think a majority do not.

AJR