Union Suggestions and Commentary

Hello Writers Round!

Now that the insanity of E3 is over and most of us have returned to our normal routines, it's time to focus our attention here for a moment and show our little union some love.

Lets be honest: The Writer's Round Table has grown, but life around here can be a little stagnant at times. Although the union has the potential for greatness, right now we're sputtering, and fine-tuning our functionally to best serve our membership is something that's long overdue.

Simply put: We need your help. 

So, rather than just assuming we know what you want, we'd like to open the floor to your comments and suggestions. Please answer any or all of the questions below (or feel free to ask or add your own) and thank you for your help.

1) Ideally, want do you want from the union?

2) What would you like to see more / less of?

3) How can the Justicars be of further assistance?

4) What can we do to make the union more of a community for writers?

5) What can we do to keep you coming back on a daily basis?

6) Ideally, what do you see the union becoming?

7) What would it take for you to recommend the union to your friends?

Thank you for your help and suggestions!

-Saigo- 

Hello Writers Round!

Now that the insanity of E3 is over and most of us have returned to our normal routines, it's time to focus our attention here for a moment and show our little union some love.

Lets be honest: The Writer's Round Table has grown, but life around here can be a little stagnant at times. Although the union has the potential for greatness, right now we're sputtering, and fine-tuning our functionally to best serve our membership is something that's long overdue.

Simply put: We need your help. 

So, rather than just assuming we know what you want, we'd like to open the floor to your comments and suggestions. Please answer any or all of the questions below (or feel free to ask or add your own) and thank you for your help.

 

1) Ideally, want do you want from the union?

2) What would you like to see more / less of?

3) How can the Justicars be of further assistance?

4) What can we do to make the union more of a community for writers?

5) What can we do to keep you coming back on a daily basis?

6) Ideally, what do you see the union becoming?

7) What would it take for you to recommend the union to your friends?

 

Thank you for your help and suggestions!

-Saigo- 

-Saigo-

 what i would want and the purpose of joining this union is for the chance to get a soapbox spotlight. improving writing would be good if it meant that you get the spotlight. i turned in one editorial, and all i got were suggestions on how to write, but i didn't get featured while i see other editorials with "less" effort make it on a soapbox feature. if this doesn't lead to a spotlight, then i really wouldnt have a purpose for being here. 

this union is just a grammar and sentence structure corrector.it has to be more than that. how about a place where these editorials get more of a discussion that can maybe lead to a better overall editorial. get these writters who submitt a chance where their idea can grow into something else. 

if you want people to keep coming back, it cant just be about writing, because i im like a lot of people that join...we submit. some of us, especialy me, don't feel i have the right to critique other peoples work,so what can i do in the union other than just submitt editorials.

member spotlights where you interview members about gaming could help build the community. contests, competition, challenges will build not just a strong sense of what it is to have union members, but also will keep them from forgetting about the union. i know i do that with my other union ccu (candid collectors union) 

 don't make this union unknown to people. i say talk to synthia in making this a public forum thread. 

this is just my suggestions. hope this helps you guys

Those are some great suggestions. I agree, we need to be more than simple grammar police, but that will require some discussion within the community and help from members like you. While you may not feel like you have the right to critique someone else's work, your critique is welcome and appreciated. I hope that one purpose of this union can be for all members to feel comfortable discussing submissions so that we may have a dynamic discussion about each submission!

I also like the idea of competitions and contests. Maybe we should have a banner contest for the union as well!

One thing I'd like to comment about is the Soapbox emblem/AUB. I think that a lot of people are under the misconception that every submission is screened by the GS staff, when, from my understanding, that is not the case. Once a user receives the emblem, they are free to post any article to the AUB by marking it as "editorial". This means that the GS staff has more approved the user than the actual content, and it appears that this happens through MANY submissions on the user's part before they become emblem holders with that priviledge. 

But, while it is unlikely that one submission here or as an "editorial" will get you the Soapbox emblem, this Union can help foster your writing and give you ideas on what to write about so that you are in better shape to get the emblem. 

 what i would want and the purpose of joining this union is for the chance to get a soapbox spotlight. improving writing would be good if it meant that you get the spotlight. i turned in one editorial, and all i got were suggestions on how to write, but i didn't get featured while i see other editorials with "less" effort make it on a soapbox feature. if this doesn't lead to a spotlight, then i really wouldnt have a purpose for being here. 

this union is just a grammar and sentence structure corrector.it has to be more than that. how about a place where these editorials get more of a discussion that can maybe lead to a better overall editorial. get these writters who submitt a chance where their idea can grow into something else. 

if you want people to keep coming back, it cant just be about writing, because i im like a lot of people that join...we submit. some of us, especialy me, don't feel i have the right to critique other peoples work,so what can i do in the union other than just submitt editorials.

member spotlights where you interview members about gaming could help build the community. contests, competition, challenges will build not just a strong sense of what it is to have union members, but also will keep them from forgetting about the union. i know i do that with my other union ccu (candid collectors union) 

 

 don't make this union unknown to people. i say talk to synthia in making this a public forum thread. 

 

this is just my suggestions. hope this helps you guys

jsmoke03

As someone already said, I think the chance to be featured (blogs or reviews) would be great. It's an incentive to improve your writing.

I would also be interested in maybe a section of the union that goes outside Gamespot and focuses on personal writings maybe? I think that'd be neat. 

Hey everyone, I'm rather new to this union but here are my answers to the questions.

1) Ideally, want do you want from the union?

 I would like for my reviews and other writings to have a chance of being seen by a broader audience.

2) What would you like to see more / less of?

More PM communication. For me and most of my unions, I forget to check them on a regular basis. However, when I received notice from zyxe about this thread it reminded me about this union. Now I don't mean that we should PM the masses for everything but it would help for the more important matters. 

3) How can the Justicars be of further assistance?

Just like question 2. More PMing to the masses about important happenings in the union. 

4) What can we do to make the union more of a community for writers?

I think you guys do a really good job of that now. Making this a place for reviewers and writers to get recognized and critiqued is exactly a place for writers to commune to. 

5) What can we do to keep you coming back on a daily basis?

More chances for being recognized and following through on the those chances. We had a great E3 expectations blog idea but nothing ever came of that. 

6) Ideally, what do you see the union becoming?

A great place for reviewers and writers to come together for help and widespread recognition. 

7) What would it take for you to recommend the union to your friends? 

Pretty much a lot of what I said in questions 1-6.

I hope this helps. 

I do have an issue with the idea of this union being invite-only due to the fact that one of the main purposes is to keep away from an elitist vibe and welcome all sorts of writers to participate and have their works critiqued as well as join in the discussion. I'd say that if we want an exclusive union that could feed from this one and include only the "elite", we should make a GS Knights of the Writers Round Table Union where Justicars and "elite" writers could discuss more officer-only issues and ideas for this particular union.

As for my own critiques, I have been focusing on grammar and more technical issues partially because those need to be up to par and are easy to give feedback about, but I do try to also get writers to clarify their views or delve more deeply into something. That said, it would certainly be helpful if more Justicars were active to help foster more elevated discussion on various submissions.

Lastly, here's a radical idea: make the union invite only. Make it exclusive of only GS's finest - this exclusivity and club-like atmosphere could improve its status and reputation of it being some sort of an elite club that everyone will want to get into but won't be able to - and make sure you let people know about that fact, hehe. After all, this union will not become mainstream and will be sectional anyway - so don't really see a disadvantage to doing this, especially as users will have plenty of opportunity anyway to participate in discussions via the comments on contributions. Do I think that idea will work? Absolutely no clue. But you could try it - you'd be at least trying something new instead of the same old things.michaelP4

Noted about the PMing, perhaps we should employ that whenever a new contest (like Chalktalk) is announced. Sorry about the E3 one, I'm not sure what happened. Personally, I'd love to see a Chalk Talk button with the active assignments' description and a link to the new blogs above the AUB section on the front page, maybe even a link to the union. That would give members exposure and more reasons to participate in assignments.

Welcome to the Union, too!

Hey everyone, I'm rather new to this union but here are my answers to the questions.

1) Ideally, want do you want from the union?

 I would like for my reviews and other writings to have a chance of being seen by a broader audience.

2) What would you like to see more / less of?

More PM communication. For me and most of my unions, I forget to check them on a regular basis. However, when I received notice from zyxe about this thread it reminded me about this union. Now I don't mean that we should PM the masses for everything but it would help for the more important matters. 

3) How can the Justicars be of further assistance?

Just like question 2. More PMing to the masses about important happenings in the union. 

4) What can we do to make the union more of a community for writers?

I think you guys do a really good job of that now. Making this a place for reviewers and writers to get recognized and critiqued is exactly a place for writers to commune to. 

5) What can we do to keep you coming back on a daily basis?

More chances for being recognized and following through on the those chances. We had a great E3 expectations blog idea but nothing ever came of that. 

6) Ideally, what do you see the union becoming?

A great place for reviewers and writers to come together for help and widespread recognition. 

7) What would it take for you to recommend the union to your friends? 

Pretty much a lot of what I said in questions 1-6.

I hope this helps. 

Garrison_Ford

I would like a chance for my reviews and other writings to be viewed by a broader audienceGarrison_Ford

Well, if you would be interested in more pure exposure, and if I might engage in a bit of shameless advertisement here, System Wars Magazine is something i've been contributing to for awhile, but it's getting pretty starved for writers. 

Nothing has to relate directly to System Wars, if you or anyone else is interested in contributing, let's talk.