I've read both the post on access_fandom and I've followed some of the discussion regarding the AO3 move and Yuletide. I definitely agree that the mods are doing a great job on making it as stress free as possible. If, like you mentioned, it became more of a rule that people with questions were directed to the faq or a mod directly answered their questions, things would probably run smoother.
I've seen fests where guilt was often tossed around and it made me uncomfortable but, thankfully, the challenges I've been involved in have all had excellent mods.
As someone who deals with social anxiety, I've had to adjust how I deal with my internet time, and I haven't always made the right decision at first. Nanowrimo sent me into fits the first year, this year was a bit better, and I had to drop out of two different challenges. It was upsetting for me because I hate not finishing things but the mods were never horrible towards me. (If they had negative feelings about any of it, none of it leaked publicly so I think they did a good job.)
But this is why I avoid exchanges. I get upset enough at just writing fic for challenges, let alone fic for someone else. I wonder how much of the 'energy' surrounding this yuletide stuff is because yuletide is a fan exchange challenge. The whole 'gift' nature of the challenge has been popping up a lot in these discussions.
Running a fest in mind for people with social anxiety isn't catering as much as it is running the best fest possible. Having clear rules, due dates, and not trying to make people feel guilty if they can't produce the fic/art/vid/mix in time. Also, having enough pinch hitters for those people who do produce the fanwork in time, get something in exchange. That's just good modding.
This seems to have run long, but in sum: if someone doesn't feel comfortable with their story being in yuletide, they can orphan or even delete their stories if that's what they want to do. The mods allow it (I think the only repercussion is not being able to participate in yuletide in the following years but if the person is uncomfortable with AO3, I wouldn't see how they would want to anyhow) and it's not the other members of yuletide place to jump on the person.
(I'm not addressing the specifics of merrickat because I didn't read their post because by the time they had posted I was done with reading stuff about AO3/Yuletide unless they were pieces of fiction. I don't know how the flow of information came but I assumed the information about the move was readily available but I follow metafandom closely and I know not everyone does that.)
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Date: 2010-01-08 08:20 pm (UTC)I've read both the post on access_fandom and I've followed some of the discussion regarding the AO3 move and Yuletide. I definitely agree that the mods are doing a great job on making it as stress free as possible. If, like you mentioned, it became more of a rule that people with questions were directed to the faq or a mod directly answered their questions, things would probably run smoother.
I've seen fests where guilt was often tossed around and it made me uncomfortable but, thankfully, the challenges I've been involved in have all had excellent mods.
As someone who deals with social anxiety, I've had to adjust how I deal with my internet time, and I haven't always made the right decision at first. Nanowrimo sent me into fits the first year, this year was a bit better, and I had to drop out of two different challenges. It was upsetting for me because I hate not finishing things but the mods were never horrible towards me. (If they had negative feelings about any of it, none of it leaked publicly so I think they did a good job.)
But this is why I avoid exchanges. I get upset enough at just writing fic for challenges, let alone fic for someone else. I wonder how much of the 'energy' surrounding this yuletide stuff is because yuletide is a fan exchange challenge. The whole 'gift' nature of the challenge has been popping up a lot in these discussions.
Running a fest in mind for people with social anxiety isn't catering as much as it is running the best fest possible. Having clear rules, due dates, and not trying to make people feel guilty if they can't produce the fic/art/vid/mix in time. Also, having enough pinch hitters for those people who do produce the fanwork in time, get something in exchange. That's just good modding.
This seems to have run long, but in sum: if someone doesn't feel comfortable with their story being in yuletide, they can orphan or even delete their stories if that's what they want to do. The mods allow it (I think the only repercussion is not being able to participate in yuletide in the following years but if the person is uncomfortable with AO3, I wouldn't see how they would want to anyhow) and it's not the other members of yuletide place to jump on the person.
(I'm not addressing the specifics of merrickat because I didn't read their post because by the time they had posted I was done with reading stuff about AO3/Yuletide unless they were pieces of fiction. I don't know how the flow of information came but I assumed the information about the move was readily available but I follow metafandom closely and I know not everyone does that.)