Blatant Self-Promotion of Story Hours?

[Wisdom Penalty]

i don't think players of a story hour should post/bump their DM's tale to self-promote it.

im all for players posting on their DM's thread if they have something substantial to offer readers, but barely veiled posts that do nothing more than bump their DM's story seem childish and uncessary. "wow! this is a GREAT read! i love that elf sorceress, she's awesome...oh wait - that's my character. ha ha ha...." blech.

all of this seems too incestuous a relationship for me. we are starting to see quite a bit of that sort of thing, and we're also seeing story hour authors who engage in quid-pro-quo bumps/posts; in other words, they do the old "ill post in your thread if you post in mine" bit.

normally this wouldn't bother me - except that this self-pimping cycle has resulted in the front page being cluttered with the same ill-fated stories. folks who write without self-pimping see their own (often better) stories drift backward into the nether of page four.

not fair, i say. but that's just me. what about you?

W.P.

 

[Droid101]

recently on destan's story hour
snip...

I agree with you. In my opinion, the only time a story hour thread should be posted in is if:

A) you are adding a new update.
B) you are asking a question about something in the story.
C) you are answering a question that was asked about the story.
D) it is your first time reading, and you want to tell the person you like their story [this should be done only once].
E) you are a player in that story, and want to let others know this [this should be done only once].
F) you have a relevant detail about what happened in the story, and wish to share it.

That's my stand.

Being a story hour author, I'm lucky because I update the story almost every day, so my thread will never sink to the bottom, even without *bump* posts.

Not that anyone posts in my story hour, anyway.... but I'm not bitter.

 

[Rel]

Meh, this sort of thing doesn't bother me at all. Frankly I don't see a whole lot of it in the Story Hours that I read, not from the players themselves anyway.

And I definately am in favor of people letting me know that they are still reading, even if they don't post anything terribly substantive. If they just pop in and say, "Still loving this story hour! Keep up the good work!", that makes me feel great.

I post somewhat similar stuff myself though usually with a more detailed comment if not a question. I'll say, "I love the descriptions you've given to the Demon spawn. Those guys sound nasty!" instead of just "lovin' it!"

As far a Bumps in general and from players in particular, I find that I sometimes get in a bit of a writing slump and won't update for several weeks. Having someone pop in and just say, "Hey, Rel, when are we going to get some more of this cool Story Hour?" helps keep the fire lit under me.

So I got no problem with it. Bump all you want, I say.

 

[BSF]

Hmm, I have been known to bump threads from time-to-time. Often I try to make it vaguely relevant. Sometimes I blatantly bump just to let the author know I am still grooving on the story. I try not to be annoying about it though. However, I am mostly interested in not annoying the author. I want them to know I like the story and would be happy to see more, but I don't want to whine about not having an update.

As far as player bumping, or quid-pro-quo, it doesn't bother me really. There are a lot of stories out there. I think that all the story hour authors should be proud of their efforts and should try to drum up a little bit of an audience.

To put it another way, your story can stand on it's own merit. That's great. But as a reader, I might not ever see it. I don't have time to read them all so I am a bit selective and I try to add a few here and there to my "must-read" lists. So the more activity you have related to your story hour, the more likely I am to notice it. Links in .sigs, the fact that I happen to find your posts compelling in other messageboard areas, the fact that I notice somebody posting in it, the fact that you shamelessly pimp it yourself, whatever it takes.

So I don't find it annoying at all. It just keeps stuff moving on the front page of the Story Hour forum a lot faster.

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

i made a booboo. upon further review, the post i was referring too that was the last straw wasn't in actuality one of the players in the sins campaign - he was just another fan. sorry about that.

but my point still stands.

W.P.

 

[ragboy]

I don't know. At this level of writing, everyone needs to know that someone out there is liking/disliking their story hour. Feedback is pretty much our 'payment,' and 'fame' in lieu of getting bags of money and bothered every time we go to public places. The episodic nature of story hours makes it almost imperative that feedback comes after every episode. And whether you're a player commenting on how well the writer is capturing the mood or a 'paid off' story hour writer, separating those from the simply captivated readers that just want to give you quick feedback ("Great SH!") is too difficult to determine and, frankly, not that big a deal.

 

[Terwox]

I don't read many story hours, but the ones I have read, I've been really happy when the players popped in for a little bit to discuss things -- like when Jo popped in to talk about Jonrog's dark*matter campaign, and Lombard drops by to talk about playing Eadric.

As to the whole "only bump once" ... no way! Getting continual feedback from a single person is a big part of keeping going, or at least it would be for me if I could ever actively write a SH.

 

[Lazybones]

Reader feedback is one of the things that keeps me going in my Story Hour. I don't have players (my SH is entirely fictionalized), so I don't have to worry about that, but I do appreciate bumps, praise, questions, critiques, suggestions, and other feedback. As for the front page being "cluttered," I guess it's just a question of taste; the better SHs get more attention and all the bumps in the world isn't going to get a mediocre store more readers. I mean, Sepulchrave and Piratecat probably get hundreds of bumps/non-essential posts for every actual story update they post. Does it bother me? Not in the least. As for other threads that may be considered (by some) "less deserving", again I don't think it matters. I usually know within 1-2 posts if I'm going to be reading a SH over the long term, and a hundred bumps aren't going to change that.

Where I might agree with the original poster is if the bumps become spam, i.e. if a author or reader bumps the thread every few hours to keep it on the top. But I haven't seen any threads that reflect that.

 

[Rebecca M]

It doesn't bother me at all. Even before I began posting, I enjoyed it when other players posted. It's nice to have interaction between the readers and the "characters." That's what makes a message board different from a novel. I've also been known to post in my DMs story hour. Sometimes I've clarified a point or answered a question, other times I've just said "nice job." The people who write these stories put a lot of effort into them and they should know that it's appreciated--at the very least by their own group. Along those lines, I think anyone should post in any story hour if an update is particularly intriguing and they want to compliment the author on a job well done, even if they've said it in relation to a previous segment. Of course, there's the potential for people to go overboard with self-promotion, but it's not something I've seen on here.

 

[Joachim]

It doesn't bother me at all. Even before I began posting, I enjoyed it when other players posted. It's nice to have interaction between the readers and the "characters." That's what makes a message board different from a novel. I've also been known to post in my DMs story hour. Sometimes I've clarified a point or answered a question, other times I've just said "nice job." The people who write these stories put a lot of effort into them and they should know that it's appreciated--at the very least by their own group. Along those lines, I think anyone should post in any story hour if an update is particularly intriguing and they want to compliment the author on a job well done, even if they've said it in relation to a previous segment. Of course, there's the potential for people to go overboard with self-promotion, but it's not something I've seen on here.

I couldn't put it any better myself. The interaction between the readership, the author (or in the case of our Story Hour, authors), and the characters is what makes the Story Hour worth writing. Otherwise, what's the point of spending hours upon hours writing the stuff? We're not getting paid to do this, we (despite what anyone else here might attest) are only doing it to share the story and for the praise. Anyone who claims otherwise is kidding themselves.

Quite often, a lot of the recognition the writer receives comes from the circle of friends that are playing the game with him/her.

My 2 cents...