So, my own proposal is for a 'ghost stories' themed event for the summer.

To be clear, I don't necessarily mean horror stories. I think ghost stories can be spooky, funny, and many other things besides. As long as they're stories that have a clear 'supernatural' element, they fall into that umbrella, in my opinion. That'd be the general theme.

As to the form of such an event, I don't have a real clear idea. I don't think a contest is really warranted, personally. Contests are already sort of old-hat here, and some have even been put off participating by the faux-competitive aspect. Accordingly, it probably should be more of an 'exhibition' than anything. How that should play out from a procedural perspective is the lingering question.

That's where the rest of you come in. I'd really like to see a fair show of support for an event like that before putting in the time and effort to plan it out. And it'd be nice to hear any ideas anyone else might have. The floor's open.

This is a fun sounding idea, I agree that there's no need to make it a competition though.

if we were to do an event like this when would we do it?

>>16261
I really like the idea of a ghost stories theme, and making it "more of an exhibition" also appeals to me, its far easier to justify posting something if I don't have to worry about it being explicitly measured against other peoples.

>>16261
>As long as they're stories that have a clear 'supernatural' element, they fall into that umbrella
Sort of sounds like Touhou, in general, but I understand what you mean. I think it's an interesting theme with plenty of potential. Not sure if I'd participate as it would depend on getting a workable idea.

>>16263
The previous contests barely measured much of anything. Sure, there was a "winner" but it's not like many people bothered to put much thought into the actual judging part.

>>16263
>when
I didn't come in with a particular date or time in mind, since I doubted there'd even be interest, but let's say August or September for the sake of argument. If anyone wants to push for something different, the floor is, as stated, open for discussion.

That said, there'd first need to be more people giving definite affirmatives on participation for that to even become a question to seriously address.

I would almost definitely contribute a story to this, as I've already started to write one because of it, and hope other people will too.

I'll put my hat in the ring; I think I've got an idea or two left around to dust off.

>>16270
Thats the attitude! Gin-berry!

As long as I'm permitted to lood the spewks, you can count on my chipping in.

If you do something, I'll make some kind of attempt. I'd personally want to do something "scary" even if "scary" isn't the true theme, but, we'll see

>>16272
Yes, lewd is fine, as far as I'm concerned.

ill give it a honest shot for what it's worth
i've had something in mind that falls somewhere in the "spooky" camp and have so far failed every time when i've tried to write it. Third time's the charm?

Sorry for the lack of discussion for some days. I got a bit sidetracked with other projects.

I'm seeing a showing of five people giving reasonably solid affirmatives, so I guess we can call that a fair interest. So, that leaves a more solid date and the actual form of the event to be decided. I tentatively named 'August or September' above, but I'd like to hear some feedback on that.

What works for everyone? What doesn't work? If possible, it'd be nice to catch some stretch when no one expects to be too busy to participate. Weigh in.

A Spooktember sounds like a pretty fun idea.

I've had an idea to make something like a horror with some comedy in it too but wasn't sure how to balance that.

This event may be a good way to gain some experience with it. I can already imagine Yukari calling you by the phone a la the ring.

I'm not massively worried about scheduling, so as long as I have a month or two to actually write im happy, ill weigh in for spooktember.

Yeah, Spooktember. Get ready for the spooky month after/still technically summer, good for ghost stories

I'd be up for a Spooktember event. I just don't really get what OP means by a "ghost story". From the sounds of it, any kind of youkai hijink would fit the bill, and that's not quite what I imagine a spook related theme to be about.

Fair enough, define ghost story then.

I just understand it as a spooky story like oooh you're house is haunted or something

>>16285
>>16295
Here's the thing: As I see it, this isn't a contest, so there's no need to fit some kind of narrow criteria just to 'qualify'. If you think a ghost story is one thing, then go with that. It's not like I'm going to shout "That doesn't count! Disqualified!" or some such.

Really, I avoid setting an explicit definition for the express purpose of the event being able to include anyone's definition of a ghost story; none of us are likely to understand such a term the exact same way.

>>16298
That said, I should also note that I'm not the sole arbiter of how things happen. If you guys want there to be one definition of a ghost story for the event or whatever, then that seems like something to discuss amongst yourselves. For my part, I'm not interested in setting such a limitation, but majority rules.

I mostly just took "ghost story" themed to mean "either tangentially themed after campfire/ghost/horror stories, or involving them in some way" with literally anything being valid for the event, so long as its got some relation to the event theme, which I think is a good idea, keep it open with the stipulation its at least related to the theme in some way, but no limitation on how that's done.

Though if people decide it needs to be more specific, I personally think the best way to narrow it down would be that the story either has to be one, include one, or have one as a plot point/prop.

>>16300

I agree with that sentiment and let's just take it like that

I already said much of this on the Discord, but I suppose I ought to restate it for, if nothing else, consistency with my 'do things on the site' ethos:

Considering we're getting towards the middle of July already with little in the way of particulars discussed, I believe it would be a good idea for anyone who has any strong feeling at all about the figurative Spooktember to stir up some conversation on how the event should be conducted. Personally, I have no preconceived notion as to what such an even would look like in practical terms, so I'll be no help there.

Which brings me to another big point: Even though I've been the one propping up discussions at this point, it hasn't been because I necessarily want to be the 'leader' of this venture. I don't even have plans to participate in Spooktember should it come to fruition. In general, I feel it'd be better for someone who does plan to participate (or at least has stronger feelings on it than I do) to take the reins. So, y'know, if you feel confident enough in your cat-herding skills, take it away.

How have similar events been conducted in the past?

That's a good question, it'd be my first time in such an event too so I dunno how that is handled

>>16307
Contests have been like
1. main thread for the contest talking about the rules and dates in OP
2. separate threads for the actual entries in different categories
3. everybody posts before the end date
4. readers vote in main thread
5. winners announced after voting ends

It's not gonna be a contest so maybe no categories needed? Might not need a different thread for entries too unless it's more like the masks carnival deal, but that would be a bigger thing than OP was talking about I think

Oh actually what are we gonna do if we're not voting for something? Feedback?? That's kinda what we do normally for contests, just no votes along with it in this case

I see, knowing that I guess we can all make spooky themed stories and update every day from day 1 to day 31 in September.

Also why not a contest? well even without it I'll go take a look at the earlier rules and contests and we can all figure stuff out.

Guess we could all put our stories in the right location or general or others?

>>16309
this seems like a fairly solid way to go about things honestly, dont see any reason not to still do it like this even if it remains a non-competition, just as you said, skip the votes and categories and just do feedback.

infact screw it, if anyone wants to put their own hat in this ring they can list their own set but i say we just

[X] Do a "competition" with no votes or categories.
-stories have their own threads, and are posted from the 1st of September to the 31st.

[X] Do a "competition" with no votes or categories.

That works by me, that just makes it a sort of update marathon in a way.

I'll participate in that

>>16310
the only thing about updating every day is some people could be doing shorts instead of long stories so that would be a bit different, plus that overlaps kinda with nanowrimo [ are we doing that this year? ]

and about it not being a contest, something was said about others not liking the competition part so it's probably a way of including those people as well

so sort of like others but a slight different idea
[x] a non-competition with no votes
-maybe categories for shorts versus long stories
-sure everything in its own thread, post a link in the contest one to show you're taking part

A non-competition with no votes would kind of defeat the idea of a "contest"-like. I'm thinking doing something similar to the mask carnival event might be a better option to draw more participants in and ease them into the whole anonymity thing that is common in imageboards (there's been several new people on the Discord confused about how it works/why we don't identify ourselves like at a regular forum). People would post their shorts/stories in their respective votes, while we could use a central thread to have general discussions about why this or that story is good and why everybody else should read it.

>>16314
>defeat the idea of a "contest"-like
I don't think that was ever the point?? OP suggested an "exhibition" and some people agreed with that. anyway I don't see how what you're suggesting is any different, like it's just people posting stories and others talking about them instead of deciding a "winner" right?

Don't mind either really, whether it's an contest or exhibition getting to write down a story and update it every day along side another bunch of writers just sounds like fun.

Bunch of stuff to read and procrastination won't be a problem since if they can update every day then so can I

And yeah it's just us posting stories and others talking about them irc.

Spooktember is coming soon lads!

Like 13 days from now, and boy am I excited for it.

What is everyone else thinking of it? I'll be sure to participate and can't wait to see what y'all have in mind.

Spooktember begins very soon. In a matter of a few hours for me.

I'll try to write something and post it after the day ends

This might sound crazy, but... annual contest 2022?

I'm all ears to whatever that implies

>>16496
Aside from last year for whatever reason, we've tended to have at least a single general writing contest every year. Nothing fancy — just a bunch of blokes submitting short entries and being judged by anon.

>>16495
>>16497
So, no interest, I take it?

>>16496

Here. Actually I'd love to join in on this event. Is there a speficic date we do all these short entries?

>>16523
Would need to be a lot more responses than a single affirmative to even decide that. At the very least, I'm not going to just plunk down a date and hope people show up. That always ends in disappointment.

In the meantime, here's a selection of previous annual contests for everyone to know what they're dealing with:
>>16126
>>15455
>>15086
>>14305
>>13738

Seeing the previous contest threads, I want to participate in one too!

Probably won't be able to get anything out in time, but I'd welcome having some shorts as a change of pace.

Somebody on Matrix said August or September would be the only general timeframe they'd be available and interested, so how does that sound to anyone on the fence?

>>16527 September would be fine with me.

We're also discussing a "Prominent women of color" theme. It's about characters who have a color in their title, which are quite a few.

>>16528
>theme
I don't care either way, since I'm not going to be writing, but I do wonder if some people might not be put off by the idea of a themed annual contest. They were all pretty much free-for-alls in the past. Granted, that did tend to make voting essentially a popularity contest rather than any real measure of an entry's quality, but it is something to consider as far as possible participant numbers.

>>16528
That was a stupid joke and not a serious suggestion.

>>16530
In hindsight, I should have caught it earlier, oh well.

What do you guys think of a 'red' theme

>>16530
I was replying seriously in an attempt to steer things away from a horrendous 'joke', but sure.

>>16531
Well, there's at least one person here who would be pretty enthusiastic about that one. I guess there's a couple of semi-interesting characters that would fit, so I'm fine with it, speaking as a reader/voter.

I'm not sure I'd participate as it'd depend on my free time. But insofar themes are concerned I think anything that is specific enough to narrow things down while also being broad enough to give people space for their own takes is good. I think you can more or less just pick anything and if no one objects, go with it. Just be clear what it entails.

Like, "red", does that mean characters that wear red or also stuff like blood or a sunset or whatever? Make sure everyone is on the same page for what is and isn't allowed/expected.

>>16533
To me, 'red' sounds like primarily a hair colour/general colour scheme thing. Dunno if I'd go as broad as the other examples, personally.

That might be a little too broad. Something more restrictive like... "writing a letter" or "accomplishing a goal" for example might be better as far as themes go. Instead of just saying that you can only use X cast or whatever, you give a general idea what the story has to be about. I think that might make it easier for (some?) people to think about what to write, anyway.

>>16533
Guy who >>16532 is probably talking a out here. I threw out the "red" suggestion as a joke following the previous idea of "prominent women of color" (which was also initially a shitpost, I believe) but if you guys really want to take it seriously, I' day go for it. As I've said back in Matrix, I was thinking it could be anything so long as something red is prominent in the story - be it something as superficial as a redhead Touhou character as a protagonist or a red object that catches any one character's attention; or something merely technically related like a retelling of the Scarlet Mist Incident, or even something as abstract as an angry character being so angry they cam only see red.

If someone else can come up with a more serious, better idea for a theme, by all means do so, I just threw mine on a whim. Although, in my experience from past contests, limiting the theme to a particular cast of characters, like the "nameless characters" idea mentioned above, tends to attract less people to participate if they're simply not interested in said cast.

Overall, themes are going to screen out certain people who aren't interested, anyway. It's just a trade-off between either a) people can't decide what to write and don't bother or b) some people don't like the theme and don't bother.

That all said, I do think it might be best to narrow it down a little further. I wouldn't be able to really make up my mind what to do just given 'anything to do with red'.

Something that comes to me off-hand is 'a hot day in Gensokyo'. To be more specific, every entry would need to be about something involving high temperatures; that could be anything from a forest on fire to a nuclear reactor to an oven in someone's kitchen. It's timely — considering everybody's on fire right now — and it's narrow enough as far as a subject whilst being broad enough to allow for a lot of things. You want to do something about a nuclear meltdown, or 2hus frolicking by the river to cool off? All good.

And, I mean, you could work some kind of red-hot colour component into it if you're still dead-set on that, I guess.

Dunno, though. That's just a thought off the top of my head. How does it sound?

I know I said I wasn't going to run this, but I'm seeing a lack of discussion now, so I'm strongly tempted to give it a go anyway. If nobody objects to >>16537 within the next couple of days, I'm going to pick a Friday in late August and declare that the start.

So, any objections?

>>16538
I'm down with that idea!

>>16538

So to summarize: The theme will be something 'a hot day in gensokyo' or the colour red and the contest but also not a contest starts at a late friday august.

Did I get that right?

>>16540
To be more precise: 'A hot day in Gensokyo' and optionally include something to do with red — whether that's a character with red hair, character wearing something red, blood, fire, etc.

Correct on the late August Friday start.

Okay, that's a challenge accepted. Count me in bud, cause that already gives me the idea of an abnormal heat-stroke bothering gensokyo and Tenshi goes to solve it because Heaven is one of the highest places there and thus she's inconvencienced the most by it. Something like that.

The sword of hisou happens to be red too, so that would cover both themes in one stone!

Question though: Can we prepare for this event or can you only write the moment that day hits? I may be mistaking this for a nanowrimo not gonna lie. If the former I can just start writing now.

>>16542
Technically, people have been allowed to submit stuff written prior, but my own take is that it defeats the purpose of a contest to allow pre-written entries. So, hold off, if you would.

Then I shall hold off until that fateful day!

>>16538
Slight clarification: Starting Friday 22 July 2022, 12:00 Central US Time, if no one has voiced any opposing opinions by that time, I will adopt a tripcode for organisational purposes and put forward for consideration any further proposals as to procedural details as they come to mind. Please voice any objections to these procedings before that time.

Alright, as no one has objected, I hereby accept responsibility for the 2022 Annual Contest and its conduct. This will be my tripcode as organiser.

My first act is to set the starting date for submissions as Friday, 26 August 2022, the ending date for submissions/starting date for voting as Friday, 16 September 2022, and the ending date for voting as Friday, 23 September 2022. Any submissions after the final cutoff date will not be accepted.

My second act is to put forth a proposal regarding categories:

As we aren't likely to have as many entries as years previous, and there is the inclusion of a theme, I see no reason to split the submissions between 'Veteran' and 'Newbie'. I propose that we have two categories of 'General' and 'NSFW', inclusive of newcomers and otherwise. Should there be any objections to this proposal, please register them within the next week. If none are heard by then, I will consider this proposal accepted. Alternative proposals are welcome.

To be clear about contest procedure:
* Do not begin writing before the starting date. Pre-written entries defeat the purpose of a contest as a show of skill under constraints of time and theme.
* All submissions must be anonymous. You may, if you wish, reveal which piece you wrote after the voting is finished and the result is announced; identifying your submission beforehand will result in disqualification in the vote.
* A general thread will be posted in /gensokyo/ for the contest itself. This is where all discussions and votes will take place. There is no set timeframe for posting this thread. Should none be posted less than two weeks prior to the starting date of the contest, efforts should be made to remind me in this thread and on Matrix/Discord. Should none be posted less than a week prior, a new organiser may be appointed or appoint themselves.
* In accordance with whatever number of categories are decided, there will be that number of threads posted in /shorts/. These threads are where all submissions will go. They will be posted after the beginning of the contest.
* Submissions posted outside of the appropriate thread will not be accepted. Similarly, submissions made after the contest end date will not be accepted. Other criteria may exclude contest entries from judgement. These will not be exhaustively enumerated and are at my discretion.
* An announcement will be made when voting begins. The qualified entries will be listed at that time. Please vote only for the submissions on that list. Abstentions will be allowed for categories that voters do not wish to vote on; for the sake of clarity, please note when you choose to abstain and from what category.
* There may be extensions of the deadline at my discretion, but only under very compelling circumstances. Should you wish for an extension, you will make your case in the appropriate thread no more than two weeks and no less than five days prior to the closing date of submissions. Early or last-minute calls for extensions will be ignored. Should it be determined that the timeframe will be extended, an announcement will be made to accommodate for a new voting period.

Please address all proposals, objections thereto, and enquiries regarding procedure to this thread; I will not answer further questions off-site. Announcements regarding the contest will be made in this thread and on Matrix/Discord.

As no objections have been put forth in the timeframe set, I will consider the proposal accepted.

Accordingly, the categories for the contest will now follow this scheme:
* There will be two categories for entry submission — General and NSFW.
* The General category will be open to all entries from newcomers and veterans alike as a catch-all category for non-pornographic entries.
* The NSFW category will be open to all entries from newcomers and veterans alike as a catch-all category for pornographic entries.

Also, some errata to the previous announcement:
* '[...] there will be that number of threads posted in /shorts/[,]' should read, '[...] there will be that number of threads posted in /shorts/ and /at/.'
* 'Similarly, submissions made after the contest end date will not be accepted[,]' should read, 'Similarly, submissions made after the submissions window will not be accepted.'

Any further errata will be announced as necessary.

As of this time, I have no other proposals to make regarding contest procedure. Should you wish to propose anything, please present it here to this thread for discussion. Otherwise, look forward to Friday, 26 August 2022, the start date of the submissions window.

Does anyone think we need an explicit rule against voting for yourself for any hypothetical future contest? I didn't have any problem with it because it wasn't against any rule, but some people seemed kind of iffy about it even then.

The obvious, naïve solution would be to just make it a rule. Of course, the problem would be how to enforce that. At best, we're working on an honour system for everything. Still, I suppose it's more a matter of policy than anything; it's reasonable to expect most would be able to abide by a strong admonition.

Dunno, though. Any thoughts from anyone out there?

>>16606
I personally don't think it should be explicitly said, but it goes against the spirit of things to vote for your own entry in an anonymous contest. Unless the person genuinely thinks their entry was the best out of the bunch (and I know you authors never think that's the case), they shouldn't even consider that as an option.

For what it's worth, the 2018 contest had this statement in the "rules":

>>15518
> Also, voting for yourself is in bad taste, so don't.

I cannot find analogous statements for any of the other contests going back to 2015.

>>16607
Come to think of it, the thought came to mind that we probably ought to call these things something other than 'contests' in future, considering they're less like true competitions and more like exhibitions than anything. Without the (fictional) auspices of a competition, I don't think it would be very far out of line for people to self-vote.

Regarding the vote of no confidence, I wonder if it might not be better to simply do all SFW for the next thing and have NSFW as a separate event altogether. That way, people who care about that can vote, and we don't have the majority making it a no contest by default. Then again, maybe the voting system could be different too?

Not a contest/exhibition/whatever, but I've batted around the idea of a sort of on-site 'book club' a couple of times. Basically, everybody would read the same story, and we'd all get together in a designated thread to discuss it, update by update.

I had a story picked out, but someone told me they wouldn't participate if it was that one, and I'd like to be accommodating to anyone even remotely interested. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to suggest them. I know finding a middle ground for people's tastes might be tricky, but I'd like to think it's possible. Ideally, it wouldn't be anything immensely well-known or long.

>>16625
Out of curiosity, what would qualify as well-known or long?

>>16626
Hard to give a comprehensive definition of that, but I guess I'm thinking of stuff like You Wake Up in Gensokyo, A Wizard is You, Being Meiling, Hakugyokurou LA, The Game, Do the Right Thing... Basically, the kinds of stories that have been recommended a lot on other sites or just generally talked about a lot in THP's history. IIRC, they also all have over ten threads each, which is a bit much; half that or less would be ideal, in my opinion.

So, given our somewhat pathetic turnout on the naughty side of things in the last contest – both in the, hurr hurr, input and the output – I’ve made the decision to host a remedial, all-you-can-smut, all-smut, all-smutty, smut-smut contest sometime soon. The time frame would likely encompass some part of January, as the pre-Christmas ball-busting and around-Christmas obligations would surely get in the writing way of many. Or provide a sweet, tempting excuse, anyway.

On this occasion, I’d like to request some feedback regarding the contest’s theme. My first and preferred idea would be something specifically non-specific akin to, say, one of the arbitrarily assigned Danbooru pools – for their particularity combined with the relative freedom of qualification. A preliminary discussion and later solitary cogitation gave rise to these example themes:

- Uncommon Stimulation – 2hus with weird parts, or perhaps weirdoes with regular parts, getting it on and themselves off. Has Youmu lost her phantom half in the Human Village again? And is… someone making out with it? Can Satori match her sister’s nimbleness in the tentacle department – in bed? What’s that strange thing on Misumaru’s head, and why does it look like it might feel really good to the touch…?

- Age Difference – Time for the hags of Gensokyo to show the young studs what they’re made of. Or maybe it’s the other way around… Nemuno has got her job cut out with that young man in her custody and only one bed to sleep on. Mokou may have been around since they were babies, but the village boys have no idea who that Westermarck guy was. And, wait. What about the male seniors? I hear Agatha Chris Q has an arrangement with Kosuzu’s grandfather for printing all those books at such a large rebate…

- Perversion of Canon – Take a canon situation. An incident from a game. A scene from the manga. Then grab it by the heredity and drag it screaming into the magical realm of porn. The animal spirits from WBaWC? Now slaves to their instincts as much as their bosses and pent-up as all hells. The Anxious Moustached Villager miraculously recovering from his doldrums? Reisen may have had something to do with it, on it, under and around it. Hey, wait a minute. Is that a Forbidden Template card in Takane’s stock…?

– OR –

We could do the eviller thing. The draconian thing. Stuff of despots. We could centre the contest around a single, predetermined character. Village Bicycle Bonanza: Akyuu’s Nine Nights of Infidelity, everyone gets a ride, whether they want to or not! Sanae’s Succession of Sexy Skirmishes, a coming-of-age compilation! Maybe even a Cortege of Kasen: Copulate or be Killed, a race for the favour of lewdy lady pink! This’d obviously narrow the playing field down a great deal, but you know what they say about writers with no constraints.

These are all simple suggestions anyway, and I’d welcome a soul more perverse than I coming up with a theme both more interesting and focused-yet-flexible to get those juices (creative ones) flowing. If you have any fancies you’d like to see turned into an entire contest for your personal pleasure, do let us know. Additionally, if the time frame has immediately set your face a-frown and your schedule a-fire, do comment also.

Failure to provide feedback may be faced with myself picking the time and theme on my own, with disastrous effects.

>>16675
I expect life's gonna keep kicking me in the nuts until well into February, so I don't think I can afford the time to enter any kind of contest.

As for the theme, I'd be down for the Uncommon Stimulation, as I think it's about the closest it can get to a good balance between freedom and focus, plus it lets the 2hus' more monsterly bits shine, which I believe is a big part of the series' appeal. Age theme is a bit too restrictive in terms of how many characters would lend themselves well to the kind of excuse plots it plays to, and personally I've never been a fan of perverting canon.

Above all else, however, I'd like to stress how focusing a contest on one specific character is a bad idea. There's historical precedent on this site that prove those never garner much interest, even without the smut negative modifier tacked on. And speaking for myself, I'm a very opinionated person about which 2hus are objectively good and which belong in the trash with ur waifu; opinions that get multiplied tenfold when it comes to porn. I'd know for a fact I have zero interest in reading smut of certain 2hus, let alone participate in a contest starring them alone.

>>16675
Going to be honest, I don't really care all that much for 'smut' as usually conceived by people here, so my interest in the majority of what's likely to appear is probably limited by default.

That said, if — and that is a massive if — I were to find some way to participate, the age-difference option would probably be the least disagreeable. I'm not a huge fan of 'uncommon stimulation' because people's ideas for it are usually lazy and cheap, and double for 'perversion of canon'.

An alternative I could counter-offer would be along the lines of: a focus on the ways rendezvouses go wrong and become uncomfortable, less than pleasing, or simply lacking, and perhaps how the concerned parties deal with that. That wouldn't be the most appealing to the low-effort smut peddlers, but I don't care what they think.

>>16676
>There's historical precedent on this site that prove those never garner much interest
A single data point, and there were numerous mitigating factors that weren't apparent on-site.

I don't really think limiting entries is necessarily bad. People will always find crap excuses to not participate in things around here.

I've noticed we got some picky, picky pears around here when it comes to smut.

Hows about a contest were readers submit their three favorite Gelbooru images in the contest thread, and authors claim one to write their entry. This way, a certain level of support/buy-in/satisfaction is guaranteed.

>>16679
An image wouldn't be enough to do anything for me.

>>16679
I think it's an innovative idea and will probably do more for me than a verbally stated theme that I'll probably not be into.

>>16680

What do you mean by this? Are you a reader or an author?

>>16682
I'm speaking from both perspectives, honestly.

>>16679
What's to stop me from posting an image myself and then writing an entry based on it? This system can be gamed too easily!

>>16684
It's not gaming the system if the system still profits by getting you to write.

>>16682
Hard to be one without being the other — but I'm talking from the perspective of a writer.

Oh, I've >>16683 misread which post this >>16682 was replying to. Yeah, >>16686 this is the one you were after.

>>16682
...and, well, as to what I mean, pretty much what I said: an image isn't going to really jog any thoughts worthy of writing from me, especially most of the things people are likely to post; an image of a 2hu mid-coitus or in the nude is just inert to me.

>>16684

Your very own tell-tale heart would stop you from enacting such a dastardly plan, Anon.


>>16688

Fair enough. What if each image had to be accompanied by a brief explanation of why the reader choose it. That way the author(s) can zero in on the thoughts/emotions of their chosen victims. I'd be pretty similar to the prompt system used in previous contests, except with a significantly higher amount of flexibility, and a moderately higher amount of cringe.

>>16689
>a brief explanation of why the reader chose it
It's hard to really affirm or deny. I have a generally pessimistic feeling about the chances of someone else's enthusiasms for some image stirring much feeling in me; again, most of THP's conception of 'smut' is personally unappealing on a basic level.

>>16689
I'm still in support of the idea. Generally I'm quite the same way as the other anon with regard to not really enjoying what's often seen on THP qua 'smut', but I think it comes from a different place for me and I'd be more receptive to exogenous enthusiasms submitted from a reader-centric perspective than to what would ultimately still be enthusiasms as set by writerly committee.

>>16689
>brief explanation
>implying it's not going to end up being a string of "idk but it get my penor hard" if anything
>implying the bare effort of posting an image and writing a description isn't more effort than most of THP is willing to exert on any given day

>>16692
I'm open to hearing your suggestion.

>>16693

Fringe taste contest. Authors have to choose a theme from Degenerate and below. Maybe these authors with evolved smut tastes can show us normies what we've been missing.

SmutOP here. While I do dig the idea of pictures-to-stories, there may be a problem with it in the context of a contest. How will we grade the entries against each other if they end up – potentially – as different from one another as pictures can be? By accuracy? The specific poster’s gushiness of response?

>>16694
>NTR that low
I wish it were, so I wouldn't have to filter it out all the damn time. As it stands it belongs up in "weird", right next to normal-ass farts and whatnot.

>>16694
>nonsense about fetishes
It isn't about that at all. It's more about literary merit than anything. I'd simply rather read a decent story that happens to involve sexual content rather than someone's masturbatory fantasy in prose.

>>16695
On one hand, I would make the case that these events hardly even need be 'contests' as such.

On the other, I do think there's some risk of turning the whole ordeal into a tawdry popularity contest without some narrowed lanes for critique. What those would be, I haven't the faintest. Could the sum of us ever agree on such criteria?

I'm a proponent of the spirit of the masses. An across-the-board vote just like always would be fine. Maybe with the option of multiple voting for up to, say, 33% of the total entry count, just so people can express their enjoyment a little more broadly.

I mean, it's not like there are prizes.

>>16696


NTR is a really nice concept held back by an Absolutely abysmal doujin quality showing.


>>16697

That makes sense. I thought your original post was more of a jab at the specific tags that people enjoy. My bad.

>>16699
If we're talking multiple choice, then it may as well be a ranked voting system; i.e., the overall winner is the one with the most votes for top pick... or I suppose there could be a points scheme based on what place the voter gives it, but that might be a little bit of a pain for those keeping tally...

Captcha: 5NARUMI

>>16704
Sounds way too complicated, apportioning points or ranks or whatever. I was thinking everyone just gets as many votes as would number about a third or so of the entries, and they could use as many or as few of them as they wanted. Just with the limit of one vote for one story from one person, and maybe the stipulation that it has to come with some sort of basic comment about why.

Yeah, it would mean voting power wouldn't technically be equal, but who gives a shit about that.

Oh, I guess it's called approval voting. Well, sure, that.

>>16705
To me "you get X votes to assign" feels more complicated than "rank the ones you like from 1 to 3 (or 5 or 10 or whatever), the one voted 1 most wins"

>>16707
I feel like "vote for up to X entries, the one with the most votes wins" is pretty easy to understand.

>>16704

I don't know about you guys, but when contests entries are all centered around the same premise, I get tired of reading/critiquing them very quickly. As long as the contest format encourages some diverse entries, I'd be willing to capitulate to whatever annoying/arbitrary voting method get's decided on. I'd be a more than worthwhile trade.

I mean, we could always just... not have votes? It's not like it has to be a "competition" when it's barely one to start with.

'Cause I think the basic assumption is that without some sort of explicitated mechanism for giving feedback, most people just won't bother.

>>16711
A single-digit number of votes is more feedback than silence, but it's still not that meaningful.

>>16712
It's something rather than nothing and requires negligible effort to set up.

For fuck's sake, I have to get back into the habit of long-form posting again.

Look, I don't mean to be short with you. I just think that there's value in even one single, unqualified bare vote—there's a value to the writer who receives it in hearing that thin, reedy note of approval and there's a value to the voter in having the little blade of grass to blow it out on—and even if there are no votes whatsoever then there's value at least in having sent around the invitation to come and be a part of all that's going on.

And, shit, I'll do it for you. I'll decide on a means of voting and I'll put the call out and I'll tally them and pronounce the frilly-hatted un-maid of honour myself, and if people don't like the colour of my bike shed then they can set up their own.

>>16714
Well, my dude, assuming you're the original proposer on this whole thing, I'm afraid you were going to have to make pretty arbitrary decisions from the start, since THPsies ain't exactly effective when it comes to basic fucking communication, much less collective decision making. So, sure, do what you like.

>>16715
I'm not even the smutOP. The details of the event are up to him. I'm just trying to grease the wheels in any way possible, short of grabbing the starting pistol out of his hand and firing it off at the first passing cormorant.

>>16716
Maybe we ought to wait for him to weigh in, then.

All right. I'll make my case for approval voting in the meantime.

>good
Same minimal barrier to entry as simple plurality voting, but with the opportunity to express wider preferences if so desired. Contrariwise, doesn't put an onus on voters to pass specific judgment on every single entry including those they might just not be interested in. Therefore, (hopefully) promotes both voter turnout and the expressive value of individual votes.
>bad
Less nuanced than ranked voting. Likely not very different from simple plurality voting in terms of outcomes. Still basically a tawdry popularity contest.

Aren't you guys putting the cart before the stallion, so to speak? There's no use spending effort in developing a convoluted voting system if we haven't even agreed on what we're voting on.

>>16675
I'm not really a fan of most of those ideas. Of the alternatives, I'd prefer a character. And even if it is just character-focused, I'd suggest broadening it out a little bit into categories (eg oni, servants, magicians) so that there's something for every prospective writer.

I'd mostly want to read (and maybe write!) an interesting story first rather than having something be in service to a fetish. Well, maybe that's a little unfair as the proposed thematic ideas seem vague enough as to allow for creative interpretation. But it's mostly how I feel about porn in general. The more mechanical side of things is quickly boring, especially in text form.

With that said, I'd also suggest ignoring some of the loudest voices or calls for too much democracy here. THP doesn't know what it wants most of the time and most people will always turn to this or that excuse not to participate or to disengage at a hat's drop. Just look no further than nanowrimo. Or, indeed, some of the replies here. It's probably best to see how many people (writers) are interested in participating in general first and moving on from there.

Oh and maybe this being a "contest" isn't necessary? Could just be a showcase, festival, exhibition, or something along those lines? People get stupid and petty about voting or their own fetishes.

Geez, had I known the voting system of all things would cause such controversy, I would’ve concretised it from the start. I meant all along to have a two-tier grading vote: you pick two entries; your first place gets 2 points; your second place gets 1 point. It’s already complicated enough for my disenfolded brain. And all of this is presupposing we even get numerous enough entries to worry about grading.


We’ve still got to decide the theme, people. And on this note.

>>16720
>Well, maybe that's a little unfair as the proposed thematic ideas seem vague enough as to allow for creative interpretation.
That was my thought, more or less. With enough creative wiggle, you can interpret anyone in Gensokyo as the older party. Heck, Reimu and Marisa are already Christmas cakes. Canon pornification? Years of material to pick from. You could lewd the Fortune Teller, even, if you’d like! And it could really be anything, the strike zone’s that wide. Uncommon stimulation? Good lord, do feet if you can’t fathom anything else. They’re good themes. I like them all. Can’t say they feel constraining at all, at least to me.
>Oh and maybe this being a "contest" isn't necessary?
I’ll be the first to admit competition does nothing for me, but I imagine it does for others. Not to mention the allure of (near) guaranteed, somewhat critical feedback the format usually invites.

I’ll still host the thing if I have to pick the theme myself and am the only entrant. But then I will make you hiney hobbits go through all the motions with me regardless.

>>16721
>controversy
As the one who technically kicked off the mess, I didn't really intend to start a debate; I merely think we ought to experiment, as doing (in essence) the same thing for years with little variation and expecting different results, etc.

>decide the theme
I think the impasse is that some people don't even want a theme for their own reasons. If we can't even agree on that, then I don't think there's much to be done other than doing the Benevolent Dictator™ thing and making our decision for us.

I've already expressed support for one option, and offered a fairly broad alternative in turn, so I'm not sure what else to say on the matter.

>competition
Does absolutely nothing for me; I've been proposing replacing 'contests' with exhibitions for a while.

>go through all the motions with me regardless
Please. Even when I'm willing, there's little hope of output.

My bad. I popped off a little.

I'm still fond of the reader-submitted ideas angle, but if it has to be from the top down then Age Difference strikes me as least worst; though only because it seems like the easiest one to tick off by pure technicality and otherwise totally ignore. I think something like what >>16677 proposed would be better, addressing a story theme instead of a fetish directly so that there isn't the saminess or the instant barrier of "not my thing".

What would be an example of a "story theme"?

SmutOP made me post this.

Another idea for a theme got thrown around at matrix dot tee eich pee dot raisins: since this prospective contest is solely NSFW, why not make it all about that? As in, doing unsafe activities at workplaces (or places that approach the purpose of a workplace, since there's not many of those in Gensokyo). Call it "Professional Unprofessionalism," "Unprofessional Professionalism," "Workplace Shenanigans" or simply "Not Safe /at/ Work" – the matter is showing your supposedly hard-working 2hu of your choice being hard at work on something that doesn't figure on their original contracts, whether by demand of their superiors or of their own pent-up volition, or maybe just because breaking the workplace taboo and/or the risk of getting caught by a(nother) coworker is their preferred spice for their biological needs.

>>16727
I believe what >>16726 is saying is that he'd rather have a general guideline that says "the story is about something like this" rather than specific situations that have to be adhered to for the sake of a fetish or whatever; i.e., >>16677’s "ways rendezvouses can go wrong, etc." proposal was a pretty broad one that could cover a lot of things without being prescriptive about the actual content.

I also like the idea.

>>16728
This idea sounds pretty nice to me.

>>16728
Going to be honest, I can't really think of anything that would work with that and not be some kind of stretch, which I don't like doing.

Here, let's do something for the sake of expediency:

If you write or are interested in writing, how do you feel about the idea of an event/contest/exhibition/whatever dedicated to erotic fiction held in January 2023?
[ ] Interested, would definitely participate
[ ] Interested, don't know if participation would be possible/desirable
[ ] Interested, probably/definitely can't participate (because timeframe is wrong, subject isn't interesting, etc.) (please provide some feedback here, if you can)
[ ] Not interested

Please answer so there's actually some idea how many writers might be willing/able to participate. Low turnout would make the whole thing pointless. If you feel there is some strong contingency about your participation, then name it so we know.

Btw, don't assume anything about themes, format, or whatever in your answer. This is just about the basic idea, nothing up for debate or discussion.

[x] Interested, would definitely participate

[X] Interested, would definitely participate

free space

[X] Interested, don't know if participation would be possible/desirable

[x] Interested, probably/definitely can't participate (because timeframe is wrong, subject isn't interesting, etc.)

Dunno if I can even come up with anything. If there was a sufficiently narrow theme, maybe, but I don't even know then.

[X] Interested, probably/definitely can't participate (because timeframe is wrong, subject isn't interesting, etc.) (please provide some feedback here, if you can)

January (and February) is just not a good time for me. I would definitely read and vote on all entries, however, unless the theme or character happen to be wholly unappealing to me.

[X] Interested, would definitely participate

I wouldn't mind trying that.

[ X] Interested, would definitely participate

Sure, why the hell not?

Taking a trip just to keep things orderly.

>>16739
Does that mean March would be a better time?

>>16737
Is there anything that would make you more or less likely to participate? Do you just not know how you feel about it generally?

>>16735
>>16736
>>16741
>>16744
So, do the four of you have any opinion on such an event being a competition versus just an exhibition? Would you prefer one over the other?

Would any of you be opposed to holding off until, say, March? Would it cause schedule clashes? Any definite problems?

>>16746
March would be a better time, yes, but don't hold back the contest on my account alone. Even if I had the time I'm still not sure I'd be able to write for a contest.

>>16747
All right.

>>16735
>>16736
>>16741
>>16744
Disregard the question about March, then.

>>16746
I don't care very strongly about competition versus exhibition per se, but I think people ought to have the opportunity to vote on things just because.

>>16748
I have no strong opinion of the two, but if it is a competition, how would voting work? I vaguely remember someone talking about different ways of voting, or are we going to do standard?

Still would like to hear from the other two anons if they're around at all. There seems to be a very small consensus forming at this point, but if there's any dissent, it would be nice to hear it now.

>>16749
Well, having votes would make it a competition, so that's what I'm going to take your opinion as.

>>16750
That would be next to discuss if the general consensus was to make it a competition. Until such time, it's undecided.

On further consideration, I'm stepping back from trying to help with this thing. I don't have any personal interest, and what interest there is seems too scattered and mild to make for an effective decision-making process.

So, dunno, maybe >>16675 can make an arbitrary decision and get back to us if he still really wants it to happen.

Anything, SmutOP?

>>16721
>I’ll still host the thing if I have to pick the theme myself and am the only entrant. But then I will make you hiney hobbits go through all the motions with me regardless.
I'm going to hold you to that and that's why I'm going to change the topic for a moment.

>>16625
Let's do this. Here's asking for a count of noses for the THP book club. The finer details can be found here >>16758 on Fluffy's wobpage, but the gist of it is we'll read through some of the (completed) stories on the site, one bit at a time and week over week (or biweekly or whatever the preference might hash out to be), and share our thoughts and impressions of them as we go along together.

Feel free to begin throwing out some story suggestions as well, but let's see if we can't get, say, five bare noses first. Stick 'em out right proudly, if you're in.

[👺]

>>16759
As the proposer, [japanese goblin] by default.

>>16759
I'll participate.

>>16759
[👺]

sure
[👺]

Provisional maybe on my end. Depends on the stories selected.

>>16759
As it looks like we've got five yes-es and one maybe, we've hit the minimum threshold. That means we should talk what story to start with.

I should note, since you've touched on this, that I've since reconsidered (see: >>16762) the completeness criterion; after having a look at the storylist, it just doesn't seem all that reasonable for the selection available.

Thus, there's only two (mostly) firm criteria:

One, that the chosen story not be one of the more famous examples of THP writing bandied about in discussion or promotion.

Two, that it not be of considerable length threadwise — the firm limit is ten threads, though that might be waiveable in select cases.

Two-and-a-half, that it be more than a handful of updates, preferably more than two threads worth; this is mostly a non-concern, but it wouldn't be too fun to cover something that didn't carry on for very long, or simply didn't get off the ground.

I'll be having a look myself for potential candidates and try to name them within the next week or so. How about we call a two or three week deadline for a consensus? Sound good?

Whew, criteria 1 and 2.5 taken together are a bit of a doozy. Maybe we can relax them as time goes on, or alternate between longer, more well-known stories (the two tend to correlate anyhow) and shorter wildcards that might be interesting, if ultimately inchoate, as a way of splitting the difference.

Still, that's getting ahead of things a little bit, and so for this first round I think I've got a good candidate—a fair bit of length, charming subject matter, and not from one of the go-to authors (whom we all still surely love; but it is a little dreadful to be read, and actively at that, whilst you're still in the room (as it were)).

Anyhow:
[x] Marisa's Magically Magnificent Maktaba

I submit for consideration:
[X] Corruption Quest
I find it unique considering which board it occupies and how it turned out.

I really don't feel like either of the presented choices. Not interested stuff that's mainly porn, especially not that kind and, well, I have something of an admitted personal reason why I don't want to engage with anything by the author of Maktaba. Sorry, I didn't think I would be too picky but I'd sit this round out if either won.

I think it's probably best to start with something short for the first time around. So, in order to nominate something, I'll suggest something that I haven't read before and is complete:
[x] Girl of Death

>>16768
To be a bit overly blunt, I have a deeply personal dislike of the writer of that story, and I don't believe I could in good faith read his shit without being a bit ill-tempered over it.

>>16769
I'm tired of shitposts. We have enough of those in more recent days. Besides, how did you get the notion that an /at/ story would be a good idea? I'm sorry, but no. Categorically vetoed.

>>16770
I have negative interest in PC-98s. I know it's not that big a deal for some, but I dislike their usage pretty much by default for a number of reasons. I could go along if it got the support, but I'd rather exhaust other options first.

Speaking of other options, countering other offers, I've done a little storylist crawling as promised and... not dredged up much. For want of time and energy to do further digging, I'll suggest two stories that I have admittedly read before, albeit one of them not in too much depth.

The first is Scarlet Tycoon. Yes, it has been mentioned once or twice in conversation in the past, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily in the realm of "overhyped" like the hugest examples of THP writing. It's short, a little meandering, and ends very abruptly, but there's enough going on to dig a few things out, I think.

The second is All roads lead.... It didn't get too far but is still of okay length, and it's neither too shitposty nor too serious.

I apologise if all of this comes off a bit obstructive.

>>16770
>>16771
>personal animosity against the writer of Maktaba
I hadn't expected a landmine like that. But, oh well; it can't be helped.

Still, now that we've got a fair smattering of suggestions, let's fix a date for when we'll open the vote (or other mode of consensus) and a date for when that ought to conclude, letsn't we? Us? We?

Not to say that suggestions ought to close straightaway, I mean. It is the weekend after all, so if anyone else finds a story to propose then absolutely do so for now.

>>16772
>I hadn't expected a landmine like that.
Eh, no particular need to worry overmuch over a bunch of old ghosts and their old grievances. I only mention it for the sake of transparency and frankness.

>date to open
How about we go for a generous allowance of two weeks? I would imagine if no one's said anything else in that time, nothing further is likely forthcoming. That would put our formal vote at 28 January. Let's say UTC for consistency's sake.

>date to close
Give it a week, let's say? That would be 4 February, again sometime UTC.

A word on voting. Whatever the size of our pool, I propose we conduct a ranked choice vote. Top three or something like that. That way, we can have a couple of next-in-lines if we do continue after this experiment. Plus, strict consensus voting tends to incentivise strategic dogpiling, which I feel can overly polarise things, and I'd rather we shed as few as possible over a lost vote.

Perhaps a bit of a fidgety position to hold, but I would like if we could retain all interested participants if at all feasible.

My main concern here is that I'm also categorically against anything in /at. If I'm to participate, it will be to read a story, not porn.

>>16775
Sure, I also share that position. There's not really anything on /at/ that I would say has "literary merit" enough to warrant examination. But, well, I think the only thing to be done for it is to keep throwing out suggestions that do appeal. I highly doubt anything from /at/ would win even a simple majority, anyway.

Also, I will just note for fairness' sake that Corruption Quest isn't actually porn, despite the title and being on /at/. Of course, it's essentially a shitpost from start to finish, so I'm not disposed to feeling very warmly towards it either.

Throwing on a trip once more for the sake of order.

I take it no one has any objections to anything proposed in >>16774 ? We're not too long off from the date of a vote, so I'd like to be sure we can all agree on proceedings. To be clear: I'm proposing we begin a vote on 28 January, to be concluded 4 February. We will disregard the candidates that have been outright vetoed, and any that remain will be subject to a ranked-choice vote. If this is in any way disagreeable, speak now.

Until the start of voting, there is still opportunity to name stories, so please speak now or forever hold your peace.

>>16778
I think the proposed dates are fine.

>>16721
Anything, SmutOP? Not many days left in the month.

Alright, as nothing further seems forthcoming, let's go ahead and do this vote.

First off, Marisa's Magically Magnificent Maktaba and Corruption Quest were outright vetoed, so those will not be up to vote.

Secondly, we will, as mentioned prior, be conducting this as a ranked-choice vote. That means that the vote will follow the following format:

[1] First choice
[2] Second choice
[3] Third choice

In other words, you're indicating that, if you had your preference, [1] is the one you'd pick first, [2] is the next, and [3] the next after that. The one with the most rank [1] votes will be the winner, and this will also provide an idea of what stories to possibly follow up with if we do continue with this venture.

N.B. You can simply indicate your first choice among the candidates.

Those preliminaries out of the way, these are the candidates:

* Scarlet Tycoon
* All roads lead...
* Girl of Death

Votes will conclude 4 February.

>>16793
>The one with the most rank [1] votes will be the winner
Doesn't that make it mechanically identical to single-choice voting; just with a bit of extra non-decisional polling? Usually ranked choice is conducted with instant runoff; so the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is bumped off, and those votes which had that candidate in first place then have their second-place votes counted in; et cetera...

My vote regardless goes:
[1] Scarlet Tycoon
[2] Girl of Death
[3] All roads lead...

>>16794
Sure. I mean, I was banking on more candidates being forthcoming in the first instance, but nothing to be done about it at this stage.

Anyway, my own votes:
[1] All roads lead...
[2] Scarlet Tycoon
[3] Girl of Death

[1] All roads lead...
[2] Scarlet Tycoon
[3] Girl of Death

⑴ All roads lead…
⑵ Scarlet Tycoon
⑶ Girl of Death

I took a look at scarlet tycoon a while back, and I don't think I liked what I saw given I never got very far. As for between All Roads Lead and Girl of Death, it's hard to vote for something that has no tags or synopsis, and start entrenched firmly in media res.
It is however a good reminder of how important tagging is I think, if it's one of the ones recommended regardless.

And my votes will be:
[1] All roads lead...
[2] Girl of Death
[3] Scarlet Tycoon

>>16798
>no tags or synopsis
I don't have enough time to dedicate to skimming stories that are more than a couple of threads long in order to write synopses or suss out tags, especially ones I don't give much of a toss about. Until people who do actually care about some of those untagged stories step up to fix that, you get what you get.

[1] Girl of Death
Would honestly prefer something that's been finished. If it has to be the other two, whichever is fine.

>>16793
[1] Scarlet Tycoon
[2] Girl of Death
[3] All roads lead...

>>16793
(1) Scarlet Tycoon
(2) Girl of Death
(3) All roads lead...
Better late than never.

All right, that's the vote.

With a general majority of four votes out of eight for [1], the winner is All roads lead....

Considering the general non-point in having a ranked choice vote, I'll just say as a side note that Girl of Death seemed like the overwhelming second choice, but I guess we'd have to see in another vote.

In the meantime, we've got our winner, so I guess next is setting down procedure. Does anyone have any strong opinions as to how to divide up 'chapters' and how long to give for people to read? The posts for All roads lead... are of reasonably consistent size, so we could simply go post-by-post if that's what people want. In that case, though, since they're not particularly long, I don't think we'd need longer than a week at longest. Probably more like five days or so.

I dunno, though, I'd love to hear other thoughts before we dive in.

>>16803
Tripless follow-up because I was just organising votes.

Do we just want to start on 6 February? Some other date?

Alternatively, if someone wants to unilaterally take over now that I'm done acting as temporary secretary, feel free.

>>16803
I think it'd be best to stick to weekly intervals, just because it'd give everyone a chance to find some time in the face of external obligations and whatnot.

That being the case, I count 24 posts and I think it might drag on a little taking two whole seasons to get through an unfinished story. And, let's be honest; once someone has found the time to sit down and read a post, they can probably fit in at least one or two more in the same sitting.

My initial suggestion would be something like 2–6 posts biweekly, but let's see what sorts of timescales other people have got in mind first.

>>16804
Seems like we've got mostly eager Ayayas who respond to these things the same day or right afterwards, and lazy Hatatoes who only slip in when deadlines are approaching—or in shikigami parlance, a bimodal distribution. I'd even be willing to bet that some of us two-time alternate between the two. That being the case, there's probably no need to deliberate another week about it.

A starting date on a Monday also seems all right to me, since people usually have more opportunities throughout the week to read a story than to collect their thoughts about it in writing, so having the whole weekend there at the end of the period makes sense.

All that is to say, yeah, Feburary 6th, sure. Works for me.

>>16803
Having skimmed over the thread to get an idea of the post length I agree with >>16805 that we should read multiple posts a week, though my estimate is a bit more conservative, maybe 3-4? It'll take slightly longer if we go for smaller numbers of posts, but it'll also be a lot harder to run out of time and fall behind.
I'm also fine starting today.
>>16805
>Ywn tengu binodes

For those who aren't on the sundry usernamed side channels linked at the bottom of the page, the smut contest proposed upthread hasn't been forgotten about, but advenient real-life circumstances have forced a delay upon it.

Also, for anyone who's fallen behind with the Book Club thread, here's a post that might be relevant to you: >>16845.

Hey, folks, we're getting about to the end of the first outing of the Book Club. As far as I can tell, we had slightly over six or seven people who were interested initially, which fell to three or four regular participants with time. I suppose if we can keep at least a small handful of regulars, that's some kind of victory.

Going by at least one... comment (putting it generously), there may have been people dissatisfied for whatever reason. Choice of story may have had a lot to do with it, but I don't think that could (or can) really be helped; we only had three viable candidates going into a vote. Still, if there's anything else in particular that could be done differently, maybe we could discuss it? Either way, I guess this should be considered an open comment period on whether or not we keep going. What do you want to do? What do you want to see? Pitch in.

>>16905
Probably more updates per week if the updates are short/not much happens. The rest really depends on the people commenting as sometimes there's not much to add for whatever reason.

>>16906
Oh, also forgot to add but I'd like to do a story that finished or at least reached a more substantial point in the plot.

>>16907
Suggestions welcome.

>>16908
Suggestion made from the get-go. (>>16800
>>16770)
Now do you have anything useful to add or is it just sass?

>>16909
No sass here, friend, just a simple statement. And, sure, that's a start. A few more like it to widen the pool would be great if you have any.

I'll make my own suggestions at some point, but I don't have any right this moment.

>>16905
I think we should keep going and I'm fine with the current format. Maybe we should take a week off to digest things and let people look for new story suggestions? Other than that I don't have too much to say at the moment; but I'll be around for whatever comes next.

>>16910
How about Not-Life? It is completed, only a few threads long, not by one of the most well-known authors, and the premise seems interesting.

I think it's time we set up the vote for the next round, now that we've had our week off. One more show of hands before we do that, though?

>>16937
Soft NACK on my part. Right now, it's basically Scarlet Tycoon and Girl of Death, with (I guess) the addition of Not-Life now. Maybe we could go on with that, but it kind of seems like the choices available put off some people last time. I haven't had time or energy to come up with additional suggestions, so I feel kind of bad about not having much to add to the process. If others want to go ahead as-is, then I guess I'd come along, however.

>>16938
Hmm. Well, I won't push for it, since I'm kind of slammed with work at the moment, but I'm not giving up on it either. We've got the contest going on right now, anyhow, so maybe I'll refloat it once we wrap that up.

This is kind of a repeat topic in some ways, but it came up again in the outer communities.

For whatever event we hold next, there is always the possibility that we could abandon the pretext of 'competition' and just have an exhibition, whether a general one or based on some sort of thematic element. Given the lack of stakes (e.g., meaningful prizes) for contests beyond 'bragging rights', there's little difference beyond a somewhat formalised voting process. Were we to transition to an exhibition, we would essentially just be doing away with voting as a procedural element.

Some out-of-band communication has involved some dissatisfaction with what could be perceived as a lack of serious scrutiny involved in judging contests, leading to contests being, at best, popularity contests. Leaving the veneer of 'competition' out of things would alleviate any perceived need to tailor an entry to any particular sensibilities to 'win'. By the same token, the objection has been raised that even the thinnest pretext of 'competition' might be necessary to motivate some entrants. There is also the fear that removing the voting process will lead to a dearth of feedback desired by those submitting entries.

There's probably much more to be said, but I'll leave that to the rest of you to discuss. Considering there's nothing yet in mind for another event, competition or otherwise, there's not much pressure to make a decision right this minute, but it would behoove those interested to make it at some point.

So, we didn't really have an annual free-for-all contest/exhibition last year as in years previous. Any interest in doing that this year?

Hey all, I want a little feedback following the Luck & Fate exhibition (>>17300) that happened a little while ago.

I think it was moderately successful and well-worth putting together. So I was thinking it may be nice to organize such events more regularly in the future as it gives the community a chance to come up with all sorts of interesting stories. So, as the success of community events depends on the community, I’m going to pose a few questions that may provide helpful feedback going forward. I suppose only the first two questions are mandatory but I’d appreciate it if you would answer as many as you could.

1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?

2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held? (eg twice a year, three or four times a year etc)

3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?

4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?

5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?

6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?

7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?

>>17450
>1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If [not?], why not?
I intended to take part as a writer but was unable to finish anything, so I was left as just a reader this time. There are a number of reasons I could offer as to why I didn't have a piece prepared, many of them personal, but I suppose the most immediate is simply inopportune timing; I was away for a week and unable to do any direct work, not to mention that a concept only generally coalesced about a week from the submission period. Since the end of the exhibition, I've wondered if I should make any attempt to continue with it anyway and try to submit it late, but I feel it has conceptually failed to adhere together to a degree, so I'm not sure at all.

As to why I participated as a reader, well, that's for the sake of the community. Even if I was not bound to like the majority, I still generally believe in the need for participation for the health of THP as a community. I don't feel there needs to be much more motivation than that; if one wants the site to be alive, one has to be part of what happens.

>2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held?
I'm of the mind that events on the site do, regardless of opinions about them, make for more sustained activity on the site, so I feel they ought to be as often as reasonable. That said, holding events, say, monthly might risk exhaustion, so I think nothing more frequent than bi-monthly ought to be the rule. In short, four or five times a year would be ideal, I think.

>3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?
The theme was certainly interesting enough. I felt there was enough breadth in it to accommodate quite a bit of range, though interpretations did trend narrow; I'll admit a lack of creativity in viewing the theme played no small part of in being dissatisfied with my own attempted piece. How well pieces meshed with the theme varied quite a bit, which is I suppose interesting in its own way, though it does seem like adherence was mostly surface-level in many cases. I don't think that's the fault of the theme, of course.

>4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?
I couldn't say right out whether or not it ought to be narrower, but I don't believe it should be any broader than in this instance. Though I didn't manage for many other reasons, I'd say that indecision — or an inability to make determinations, I would be more apt in saying — in all things is a great culprit for my not doing more in general, and an especially broad theme would be anathema to any efforts on my own part. As such, all else being equal, I'd probably welcome even a slightly narrower theme. I'd also be fine with restrictions to locations, particular casts of characters, word count, prose format, and so on. Whatever guarantee I can't give as to being able to conceive of a piece, I generally see such limits as a challenge, which is, to my mind, the greater part of the spirit of an exhibition like this.

>5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?
For my part, it doesn't matter. I aim to participate in whatever way I can no matter what.

>6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?
Selfishly, I'd say longer, due to my inherent indecisiveness and dull-wittedness, but I can't reasonably ask that, I think. Unless we were to restrict ourselves to quarterly-or-more-infrequent kinds of events, a month is probably within the strike zone of allowing enough time for would-be participants to make up their minds and put the work in. Of course, the case could be made that attention spans are what they are and perhaps long submission periods don't guarantee fruitfulness. I'm not sure if that's a problem of temperament, awareness, inclination, or what on the part of most. I can mostly only speak to my own deficiencies in the matter, I suppose.

>7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?
I was generally pleased with the turnout of the most recent event in spite of lingering doubts. Things could always have been better, of course, but that there was even a singular piece I genuinely liked was an overall victory, I feel. If I had to complain about anything broadly, I'd of course resort to the old refrain of jeering at a hesitancy on the part of others to say much. Most who had anything to say were the writers themselves, and not even all of them seemed to be present, which is a shame. What can be done about that, though, is always a frustratingly open question. I hope that this bit of questioning directed at the community can provide even the barest hint at answers, however fleeting.

>>17450
>>17451
One small point I'd like to add onto this post that I only thought of afterwards:

In general, I appreciate events like these because they present an opportunity for people to experiment and do things that have at least the chance to be more interesting than the norm. I gravitate towards them because, frankly, most of the time, there isn't much I care to read on THP these days; what I do care to read mostly seems stalled or slow at this point. So much of what constitutes 'average' activity around here tends to fall into patterns, and just the chance to see something different is refreshing. I'd love if more people took that sort of thing to heart and tried to go a little further out from their comfort zone for these events. This past exhibition had a fair variety, at least, so I'm thankful for that.

>>17450

>1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?
I participated as a writer. This event came around at a good time for me to think about writing both the submission piece and the ongoing story I'm also writing. That alone was great as it kept my mind a little more open to how I write in a voice I'm not so used to. Since that part was never mentioned other than in the positive I consider my main goal in the process a success that I was allowed to experiment with, and all other feedback highlights where I should be looking to improve more on my creative structuring. I also participated as a reader, of course. I wanted an excuse to look at the other writer's hard work and get my toes wet at making criticisms that I felt were valid. I highly enjoyed the whole beginning to end of this event for those things.

>2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held?
I would think three to four times a year would be ideal. It gives a good rotation of working on the posts, seeing any feedback, and letting it rumi(a)nate for a while after.

>3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?
I liked the theme. I knew that there was a lot of room for interpretation, though I myself made a story almost entirely in line with expectations. I knew I could have branched out to other more outside the box interpretations for a theme of luck/fate, but I seemed to have an unknown itch for gambling that I wished to scratch.

>4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?
I think our open ended interpretations of the theme gives a lot of power to these events, where it's easy to pick out where a writer came to the idea of their story, but doesn't pigeon hole anyone into a single mindset. That said, it was difficult to write before for the summer heat event where the only theme was the color red, so maybe it would be better to give a specific concept rather than being too abstract.

>5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?
I participate regardless as a writer because I like to write for Touhou, but it may be worth saying that as a reader (and especially as a writer who identified themselves) it was easier to give my direct thoughts on the other stories without feeling harsh or unwarranted in doing so.

>6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?
A month was exactly how long I needed to go from inception to finished writing. It's also an easy enough time frame to understand as the writer, allowing me to plan how often I would think or write the story itself instead of my ongoing one.

>7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?
Again, I highly enjoyed this event. It was very fun to poke and prod with the other writers for how they were doing with their own story ideas, and it was satisfying to write and read the entries and critiques.

>>17453
>That said, it was difficult to write before for the summer heat event where the only theme was the color red, so maybe it would be better to give a specific concept rather than being too abstract.
As the person who ended up organising that event, I'd like to point out >>16541, because that's what the theme actually was. I'm sure it could have been communicated better, but what was I to do? The event itself was the product of very... sparse discussions, mostly off-site. I made some attempts at marshalling further conversation on the subject, but there was largely silence when I asked, so I had little feedback to go by. The substance I'd got from what others were saying was that there was no desire for prescribing content beyond a fairly broad thematic statement; harder limits on 'what to write about' seemed to draw degrees of objection from those who had anything to say.

I bring all of this up to point out that chiming in on discussions about site events, like the present one, is critical to being able to accommodate anyone with the barest inclination to participate. You've done your part here, but it's important to note that the aforementioned event didn't have that benefit.

>>17458
I would like to apologize for not checking back on the details of the previous event. I was asserting ideas I only knew off of memory.

>1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?

Both reader and writer. The reason why? Well, it's more of a coincidence than anything. I recently just fell in love with the gambling genre; the genius twists and turns the characters would pull off and the clash of ideals between these characters have tempted me to create a story with those same elements. It's also really convenient that the theme endorses these kinds of stories, so I saw the opportunity and was like "Yeah, I can't miss this". I also participated as a reader, of course. It is nice to see the strengths and weaknesses of each writer as well as myself. It's also a great way to improve my writing.

>2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held? (eg twice a year, three or four times a year etc)

I am not yet familiar with these kinds of events, so I'm just going to follow other posts and say that four times a year is probably the ideal. I think that's a good enough timeframe to push the activity of the site, while also being sparse enough that it wouldn't exhaust anyone involved.

>3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?

Certainly interesting. Well, I think the concept of fate in itself is interesting enough, things such as the age-old argument about "Can we change fate or has it been determined from the beginning?" pop up in my mind whenever I think about these kinds of topics.

>4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?

I think the current theme has just the right range in that it doesn't restrict anyone with their ideas, while also being broad enough that it allows multiple interpretations. I say that we should keep it like this.

>5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?

I'm not really sure about this one. On one hand, having a clear prize would be a good motivator to lure more participants, on the other hand, it'd make it a chore for the voters and maybe the organizer to wrap up the whole thing. I personally participated regardless of the prize because I thought the feedback alone was enough motivation for me to work on my piece.

>6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?

I think a month is just the right amount. I'm the type of person who'd only work moments prior to the deadline. Any longer and I would've kept procrastinating instead of writing my piece.

>7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?

Thank you for organizing the event! It's really nice to work on my piece and present the ideas I've kept in my mind for a while. It's also really fun to read other's work and to analyze them.

>>17463
That's fine; I had to look back at past activity to recall things with any degree of clarity, myself. I'm just a little prickly over what I feel is a failure for people to speak up back then despite my best efforts.

>>17450

>1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?
I did participate, but I was a late entry. I joined because I thought it would be fun to make short story about Chimata

>2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held? (eg twice a year, three or four times a year etc)
Two-to-Three sounds good to me.

>3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?
Having the theme revolve around fate made an interesting premise to write anything pre-Gensokyo since we already know that no matter what they'll be there and alive.

>4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?
This is a tough because this theme of fate and luck hit the sweet spot of being vague and specific at the same time for me. I don't have a particular preference to what the future themes should be.

>5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?
No strong preference for this either. I did participate in the summer heat contest that had people voting for a winner, but if I have to say which one was more receptive, it would be the Luck and Fate exhibition.

>6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?
A month seems fine, I don't have any complaints about it.

>7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?
I think whenever we start an event, we should @everyone in discord. Everyone (or most) joined the server for touhou contents after all, so we as a community should notify them when an event is about to start in case, they don't visit thp often.

1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?
I did not participate. the theme just didn't grab me, and without a prize there was no reason for me to participate if it didn't grab me.

2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held? (eg twice a year, three or four times a year etc)
anywhere from two to four, depending on momentum.

3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?
Personally, it felt like it was a combination of almost too vague and too specific. It says a lot that about half of the stories zeroed in on gambling as a theme. fate could be literally anything, luck very few things.

4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?
I don't think the theme's specificity is a problem, just the topic itself was more pigeonholy than it might seem at first glance.

5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?
It can be a deciding factor. It definitely was at least partially that for me. but i think it did fine.

6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?
I think any longer, and it'd become too easy to forget about.

7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?
>>17467's suggestion about the @ing is probably really good. I'd also consider having some sort of lead-in short by the host/writer to lure in crowds from other places.

Not strictly related, but... would people mind overmuch if I decided to run a comp/exhibition for October this year? I may have an appropriate spoOoOoky theme for it.

>>17468
>lead-in short by the host/writer
The thing with this is that the host often participates as well, and entrants generally (are supposed to) remain anonymous until afterward in hopes of reducing audience bias. If THP had a more numerous and (consistently) active userbase, I might agree that something like this could work, but it sounds like this is basically 'host sits out', which wouldn't help the numbers problem. In any case, I'm not sure I see how it would necessarily lure people from 'other places'. Why does it need to be something the host does? Why does it have to a piece purpose-written for advertisement? I think efforts would be better spent recommending existing things on THP if convincing others from elsewhere to come here is the concern, to be somewhat blunt; ideas as to the 'elsewhere' and how best to reach out are always welcome, as we've not had any real concerted advertising/recruitment efforts beyond some writers independently cross-posting to some place.

>October event
I have no real opinion either way. Go for it if you think you can. Perhaps test out the host-written lead-in idea and see if it works, too.

1) Did you participate in the exhibition as either a writer or a reader? If so, why? If so, why not?
Initially planned to write but did not complete an entry. I also wasn't satisfied with the concept I had. Honestly, I don't have enough time and energy to do everything I want, and I chose to give other things priority. I feel bad that I did so, though. I think that I struggle to write something to fit a predefined theme, which is a major obstacle for completing a story for events unless I already have an idea in mind that fits.

2) How often do you think that these types of events should be held? (eg twice a year, three or four times a year etc)
I think 3 times per year is a good pace to try. I don't have specific times in mind.

3) Did you think that the theme was interesting? Why or why not?
I thought the theme of fortune and luck was good. Having things be uncertain is a universal experience that can resonate with an audience in any number of ways, from outright games of chance to making more mundane decisions in money, career, school, romance, etc. - the stuff you see on omikuji, which would have been appropriate for the setting. Really, I think that the limiting factor for these events as a whole isn't the choice of theme, but the imagination and skill of the writers. As others pointed out, most of the stories used gambling as the main means to include the theme and left it at that. My opinion is that only one story had something to say about the theme of fortune itself, and the rest ranged from having it on a superficial level to approaching the finish line but not crossing it. I noticed a trend in the entries of spending significant attention on detailing the rules and minutia of the game featured. I don't care in the slightest about games of chance in of themselves; in this context they are merely devices for discussing the theme of the story - what it's supposed to be building up to from the beginning. I care about fortune itself and whether the story had something interesting to say about that.
Concrete examples of ways to approach the theme, in addition to a clarification of the theme itself, were included in the OP for the contest to address this exact situation. I don't think more guidance would help. This might honestly be a skill issue that we will have to live with.

4) For future events should the theme be more specific, broader, focused on specific characters or locations, or something else?
I think this sort of theme was good. I think it's better to start with a theme that allows writers to approach it as they see fit than to mandate a specific character, locale, dynamic, or whatever that you then have to figure out how to use without rewriting it from scratch, at which point you might as well have used a different basis.

5) Does not having a prize or voting for a winner like with previous contests better or worse? Or does it not matter at all?
I think it's simpler and better to not have a prize.

6) Is a month a good amount of time between announcing the exhibition and the submissions? Should it be longer? Shorter?
I think a month is a good amount of time between announcement and entry cutoff.

7) Do you have any other suggestions, feedback, or thoughts that you would like to share?
I don't have anything else to say about others. I only wish that my own ability to write was greater.