Hell yes, John!

At least that’s what I believed until now. But I can't help thinking back to the days of the Great Epitaph Quest. I’ll email you…

Dee

Oh stuff it; Richard told me it was safe to come down off my fence and now I have, and I don't really want to hike up there again, so I'm going to do what my mother told me not to and stick my oar in (and I've never even written an RLG!!).

In my humble little opinion it seems strange to offend (however inadvertently) the core members of this site who, let's face it, contribute the most on a day-to-day basis. Of course there must be structure, of course there must be editorial choices and of course newbies must be welcomed with open arms and not frightened by talk of spades, booze and Muffin the Mule. But if the people who have chipped in on this thread suddenly disappeared Write Words would be the lesser for it.

I'm sure the WW team are in heavy discussion as they all seem to have vanished of late. No doubt an arrangement of some sort will be made once they've talked it over. In the meantime, please don't despair. They've done a fantastic job so far and seem like reasonable folk to me.

And while we're at it, I'd just like to say that I can understand David's point about the chit-chat straying from the literary path now and again. Howvever, without a sense of humour and a bit of fun we're all doomed in the midst of these depressing days. And I think it's the relaxed and friendly tone of the site that draws new people in. It's something to be celebrated rather than silenced.

Oh hell's bells. Forget falling off the fence; I think I've just set fire to it...

K

Give that woman a round of applause!

Well said, Katie. Very well said. When I first discovered WW it was the mixture of informative discussion and silly chit-chat that drew me in and got me hooked.

Dee.

Blimey Katie!

I can hear those fire engines in the distance (wonder if hunky fireman are coming too?!).

Thanks for adding your voice to this - much appreciated - and since our words haven't 'seemed' to reach the ears of the Admin team (silence)I hope that yours don't get lost in the wilderness also.

N

Oh dear, my spade is intimidating.. that's a blow. I suppose Patrick is intimidating , too?
(no, Patrick, back in the cage, dear..)

Well, Katie, I thank you for voicing an opinion, It's obviously hard for you and I 'm glad someone (kinda) from the other side is happy to still speak to us. (Hope you know what I mean?)

I am sad if my silly chatter bothers people. It seems inevitable really. as in I can't keep my mouth shut, or as in when we get together, for what is usualy a serious debate at some point, we are bound to go off at tangents and little "things" will develop. I see it as an inevitable part of human communication.
And yeah, maybe new people don't understand it all, but I really don't see it's the major intimidatory force that its been labelled as. We were all new once, joined at different times, and yet we have managed to integrate and form a vibrant part of this community. Seems a shame we should be penalised for that.
Take the Quest. Now that started from a very reasonable and erudite discussion of favourite poets that quite a few contributed to...then we tired to find Dee's poem, which again surely was legitimate? Now we did "tangentify" (hee, hee), but it was just such a ripe subject, I defy anyone to be sniffy about what we said...and then right into the middle of it pops Wordy, BRAND NEW MEMBER (if I receall correctly), and solves it.
Intimidating? Can't quite see it....just look at the number of hits threads like that get.....

See, if that's really what this is about, that we are supposed to post "I have now posted my RLG piece" and that's it, then I'm afraid this is not a place I want to be. Writing is very lonely. I have no one near me who can enthuse or comment with any knowledge. This place makes it not quite such a lonely business, and I value the feedback I get immensely. But I also value the 'chat' just as much, and if this is saying we can't chat, and have normal interraction, then I will go elsewhere.. If we do 'chat' it's not insulting or rude or anything, and is usually tied up within the serious discussions we have. And some of it is bloody funny. We are writers; our chat is high quality chat. And usually spelt correctly, with full stops an' everything..

When I first joined WW I said where I was going to members on my previous site which was closing. More than one contacted me and said this was a good site but very 'starchy'.....maybe they had a point.
If the chat goes, so do I. And my spade. And Patrick. And we're sorry if we intimidate anyone.

Well said Katie and tc!!

Has anyone any idea how mny people have posted work for this month's RLG? It would also be interesting to go back to January and look at the number of entries. I suspect the numbers are going up every month.

Didn't we have a list monitor? I expect she's hiding somewhere, polishing her spade!

Jumbo xx

If the chat goes, so do I. And my spade. And Patrick. And we're sorry if we intimidate anyone

So do I, but I'll take my club, and Viggo too! And I'm not sorry because we've done nothing wrong, least of all intimidate new comers. If anything, the Admin team's reaction (and lack of the same too) over this has done that.

11 RLGs so far this time, or at least those that say RLG in the title. I think this is the most we've had.. and if I can ever write again, mine's still to come.. so that's 12.

tc!

Of course you'll write again! Log off from the internet - do whatever it is that gets you in a writing state of mind - and let your pen or fingers flow...

*whispered* you can do it, tc...

Thanks, tc!

Back to your shovel shining!

Yeah, I gotta go. Have a poem to write.
I think the idea of holding off for a few days is good, by the way. OK, I know last night I was keen to get going with a decision, but I think those that are advising a cease fire are probs right. Maybe we will hear from the admins, if Katie thinks they are pondering the issue.

I shall return avec RLG..
A bientot.
x
tc,
spade,
&
Patrick xxx (for Sue)

She's polishing it so she can use it to dig up that thing that's been buried for sixty years...

Hi Everyone

Firstly appologies for not getting back to some of you sooner. This was a) to allow everyone (including us) time to cool off and b) to allow us time to seriously reflect on things.

We have decided to take the following approach:

1) ALL writing exercise threads - not just the RLGs - will appear only in the exercises forum (as currently happens with lounge threads). This removes any sense of discrimination against the RLGs - there was never any intended, but I appologise if it came across as such.

I will however look at ways to adjust the design of the forum slightly to clarify the fact that these two forums are separate.

2) With respect to the RLGs, when the new exercise arrives each month, it should be posted in the exercise forum, and then the member who posted should contact me and I will put a highlight thread in the main forum.

I hope that will be an acceptable solution to one and all.

If nothing else this has demonstrated how strongly a lot of people feel about the site, so I thank you all for that committment. I do hope we can all begin to put this behind us now and get on with the real business of the site - helping each other to become better writers!

David

Well, looks like I timed this just right! Haven't digested the above yet, just wanted to say: My RLG effort is there - title: Harvest.
No doubt speak more later...
x
tc

David,

Thank you for your apology..

I'm a little confused by your suggestion though. I understand when you say that all writing exercises will be confined to the writing exercise forum - but then you say that that you will adapt and change the forum slightly to show that they are two different forums?? Are they two separate forums? Will there be a RLG forum and a Writing Exercise Forum? Would this perhaps be an easier alternative?

Also instead of having to email you to highlight that a new RLG is running - if RLG is a separate forum with an intro describing what it is about for new comers then it'll lessen your work in regards to moving threads and highlighting things etc. People will know to go to RLG at the beginning of every month.

Just a thought - but perhaps that's what you meant but I misunderstood it?

Nahed