(no subject)

[podmod.livejournal.com]

okay, as we are about to wrap up (though everyone has LOADS of time to record/post more. just saying), i have some preliminary poll results to share, and i can also tell you some of the conclusions the mods have already made about how this has all gone this year, and how we are likely to move forward.

1) early on in the challenge, i received a very nice, very helpful suggestion about fandom tags. i (me, general_jinjur) shot it down. i'm not sure why, in retrospect. tags are necessary. i think i was just being weird and defensive. :/ we are currently putting fandom tags into place, and we will add tags as we go next year. (credit goes to both twasadark and jadesfire2808 for this suggestion.)

2) we are working on a scheme of points for length. yes, we agree that it's necessary. but i want to make this very clear: short podfics are completely valid by the terms of this challenge. ficlets are awesome. my personal suspicion is that if we had disallowed or discouraged them during this iteration of the challenge, we would simply have wound up with fewer podfics, not more long podfics. we are working on putting together some ficlet anthologies to address the concerns of listeners who want something long enough for a commute. yes, i think we would all like to encourage longer recordings - but we really don't want to discourage new readers, and i think short fics are a way in for them.

3) after the challenge is over, we do have many ideas for moving forward, some from feedback, some from the hivebrain. we're currently consensusing about them, you'll hear soon. we do want to continue to encourage people to make recordings, and to discover rare fandom fic, and to build community, and to have stuff to listen to. on that tip, fish_echo mentioned the librivox project - it's not fannish, and wouldn't include unpublished original fic, but i think it does sound appealing. :) also, it's a way to create/find/share audiobooks that you can listen to while carpooling, which podfic might not necessarily be suited to. :p

4) the poll! it's still open. please fill it out - replies are all private, so feel free to say what you think (i promise that if you make me cry, i will keep that private, too. heh.)
if you said yes to a physical prize, please fill out the address answer! or email us, audmod at gmail. or email me, jinjurly at gmail.
if you volunteered to create an internet deliverable prize, expect to be contacted pretty soon. :)
if you have feedback you don't want to leave in a poll, please comment or email.

i am very grumpy today. my apologies if that comes across here. it's not you, it's me. y'all are awesome.

Comments

[cybel]

All sounds awesome! Except, when are you not weird (if not defensive)? Tags, yay!

Also, don't be a spoilsport. If we make you cry, we want to know about it so we can gloat. The, of course, is the imperial 'we'.

Looking forward to making lots and lots more podbooks for everyone!

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

Hey, this was a great contest and I've enjoyed doing the podfics. I've got one more I'm trying to finish up before the deadline. I kind of had a dual purpose, since I wanted to record t_verano's The Sentinel stories and I was going to do that regardless of the contest, but it was nice to be able to combine the two. And I have downloaded the crap out of everybody's else podfics. I'm doing a lot of walking, and listening to podfic is my motivator. I've listened to In The City of Seven Walls twice now, that story will never get old.

Will you have this one again next year, and/or run a different contest? I'd particpate again.

Laurie

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

PS. I'm listening to some Jeeves/Wooster podfic, which I adore and I never would have heard about it without this contest.
Laurie

[malnpudl.livejournal.com]

I fangirl you hugely for all you've done with this challenge and with the archive. This has rocked hardcore, and I am delighted and deeply grateful.

As for the points/length thing: I'm one of the people who has benefited from racking up points for very short podficlets. For me, it was wonderful to learn that drabbles/ficlets were allowed and welcomed. That's a big part of what gave me the courage to pop my podfic virginity and try it for the first time. It let me learn all the requisite reading and editing and Audacity skills on small stuff that I could work on in manageable little chunks, and if I screwed something up and had to start over from scratch, it wasn't discouraging enough to make me give up and lose heart. So you gave a big shot of motivation and encouragement to this newbie, at least.

That said, there's nothing I love more than a long, tasty podfic, and I now have a very deep appreciation for what goes into making them. The stamina and dedication that go into recording longer works absolutely does deserve recognition and reward.

As for me, I'd be perfectly happy to plummet in the standings based on point adjustments for length. Lower points for really short stuff, higher points for long stuff, whatever makes it feel fair, I'm all for it.

In conclusion, thanks so very much to you and your co-mods for the enormous amount of hard work you've put into this challenge. I've come out of it with lots of lovely new stuff to listen to, and I'm also hooked hard on contributing to the wealth by recording things for others to enjoy. I can't thank you all enough. You rock beyond the telling of it.

[general-jinjur.livejournal.com]

yes, exactly - anything longer than a ficlet is hard to do - the longer it gets, the more involved the editing is, and editing is officially no fun. a 15-20 minute podfic takes me 30-50 minutes to record, and up to an hour to edit. a three minute podfic takes five minutes to record, six minutes to edit. i do not want to kill people's joy in the process early just to make a point.

the way we reckon points isn't going to change this time. the people who did a billion short fics are SUPERSTARS. i love that they managed to be so prolific. it's awesome, and i wish they would do even more. we just need to alter the infrastructure a little so that no one feels that there's unfairness, and i need to alter the archive infrastructure a little so that it's friendlier to people searching for stuff by length.

you, ma'am, are a sweetheart. i'm very glad you decided to participate.

[cadeira.livejournal.com]

I was one of those who thought that IF you decide to give points than length of the podfics should definitely be taken into consideration but I really see your point about that scaring away new readers. So I´d rather have the points abandoned altogehter so we can bath in each others awesomeness fair-mindedly.
This challenge was the so awesome and I´m more than glad that there are people like you mods who come up with such things.

[podmod.livejournal.com]

:)

did you have ideas for what the challenge structure would be in the absence of points? all three members of podmod have been burned on exchanges in the past, so i think i can say pretty confidently that we'll continue to steer clear of that.

personally, i've found the points part kind of exciting, but i also know it's not perfect. i'd be interested to hear your ideas.

[cadeira.livejournal.com]

(with than I obviously meant then...)
I was all exited, too when I saw there were points to grab *g*
You could probably choose "winners" in different categories, like, "Most podfics" (this is how it is now somehow only that you managed to encourage rare fandoms and pairing by you point system - an aspect I really liked) or "Longest recording duration" (in which you could average out length and number of fics) or something like that.
Does that make sense to you?

[podmod.livejournal.com]

(isn't it weird how so many typos are homophones?)

well, we're already doing those prizes, too, so i guess i don't see what would replace the points system to drive things forward overall. perhaps it needs more thinking, but i know the weekly points update generated a lot of interest in keeping things lively as well. while we're doing plenty of side-awards, i'm not sure i see an effective way to make any of them central. hmmm.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

You guys have done an incredible job - keeping up with the posting volume must have been such hard work. The fandom tags would be handy in the comm, but given the speed that you've been uploading things to the archive, finding things there has been nice and easy.

Having done both long and short stuff (although not over 30 mins since that scares even me...) I think weighting for length sounds like a good plan, but maybe only once you've recorded over 5 fics, if that's not too fiddly. That way, people can ease themselves in gently, and I've enjoyed listening to the little ones as much as the big ones! Anyhoo, given how great this year has been, I think we'll all trust you to do what's best for next year :D

I have a whole bunch of stuff sitting on my computer waiting to be edited - I was in a talking mood but not a 'faffing with Audacity' mood, so there may be a bit of a fic dump over the next few days...

Thanks so much for all your work - it's been an absolute blast. I think I'm addicted!

[dodificus.livejournal.com]

Oops, I should have paid more attention to where I clicked:( Sorry!

[podmod.livejournal.com]

:p

[dodificus.livejournal.com]

This has been a lot of time and effort on the parts of the mods and it's definitely paid off. I'm not sure I'll ever catch up on all the podfic I've got bookmarked to download and listen:)

I'm just really greatful and excited to have had a challenge where I could actively participate and contribute. So thank you for that as well.

[podmod.livejournal.com]

yes! exactly. i (me, g_j) have a post in the works on this topic - about active participation in fandom when you aren't a writer or artist. reccing is a great way to participate, but it's hard to make your mark, to personalize that. even though reccing isn't just aggregation, sometimes it feels like it is - erm, i'm hoping you know what i mean, here. i love reccing, but i do so very rarely, and haven't with any seriousness in the past 3 years. even though you produce (fan)work, it still feels like consuming, not producing. podficcing feels very clearly like production.

i am not putting this very clearly. hopefully when i finally post, it will make more sense.

secondary fanworks = fanworks about fanworks = fandom appreciating its own value = incredible levels of awesome.

[podfic-lover.livejournal.com]

Merci Beaucoup again for creating this challenge and giving our podfics a permanent home!

I had a lot of fun discovering new fandoms not only by listening but also reading. Inviting authors to pimp their work to us was a brilliant idea, completely unexpected opportunities came up.

A point system that takes the length into account would be nice, because some people have taken on real lindworms and should be rewarded.

[podmod.livejournal.com]

ZOMG what on earth is a lindworm? it sounds scary. also, vaguely scandinavian.

[podfic-lover.livejournal.com]

You're correct :). In scandinavian and european tales a lindworm is a gigantic draconic, often limbless serpent that needs to be defeated by a hero. And when you see what long stories some readers finished, it's in my opinion an act of bravery and a proof of determination and dedication.