Question Asking Post

[clachnaben]

We appreciate this is a new format for a challenge, so we wanted to give people a chance to ask questions. This is a post to ask questions where everyone can see and we can post public answers. If you’d like to send us a question privately, you can email us at remixapod@gmail.com, or send us a dm @remixapod.

Comments

[yue_ix]

Would you be open to reconsidering? From a moderator perspective, there's implementation complexity, width of challenge and broadcasting of changes to weight in, but since this is the very beginning of your fest it seems like now or never to suggest it.

I, personnally, think it would benefit your fest to include other types of fanworks than fanfiction. At least other types of written works. My reasoning is:

Considering podficcers are often the "not everyone likes it so we aren't allowing them in our challenge" fan-works;

Considering the popularity of not!fics read by podficcers and the latest steep rise of oral!not!fics on Ao3 and conventions;

Considering this challenge seems worried it might not get a high podficcer/writer ratio, to the point of having already considered maxing out the number of podficcer participants to make sure everyone could get matched;

Considering the apparent love for meta and experimental fanworks in my podfic circle (of course not representative of the whole fandom, but perhaps indicative of some trends);

Considering the sign-ups are not yet open for anyone, so adding an opt-in change now won't blindside anyone;


I think it would serve and represent podficcers better to permit other types of fanworks to be welcomed and treated as equally desirable outcomes. It will certainly opens the fest to more participants and allows the fic-writers more remixing options. If "what types of remix would you like to be made of your work?" is presented in the sign-ups, no one who doesn't want that type of remix would get matched on it. (Here I am working on a basis that even people who do prefer fics over meta might prefer meta to not being matched to anyone because of lack of writer). Last but not least, allowing meta/poetry/rewriting/not!fics and other written works should, hopefully, not add a sudden load of extra work on the mods since everything but some wording can remain the same.

And all that said, since I cannot speak for anyone but myself, and this is your fest and your spoons and your reasons are valid: if you are wiling to reconsider this, what I am really asking is if you could please run a poll about it and see the reception the concept gets?

[frecklebombfic]

Because we don’t know what the workload is going to be like for this challenge, we aren’t going to consider changing the scope - THIS time. Next time it gets run, when we have a better understanding of what the hand-matching process is like, then we can assess whether we are willing to take on a higher workload by complicating the assignment matching process. Neither of us has ever modded a challenge like this before! Please bear with us.

(We are aiming to get a 1:1 podficcer to writer ratio, and closing podficcer sign-ups early would be step that we hope we won’t have to take.)

Thank you so much for your response here! It’s really given us a lot to think about!

[lunatique]

While I fully acknowledge your modding decision, I would simply like to add my voice to support the possibility of future challenges be open to more than fics. I believe that opening up the event to creators other than writers will widen the pool of potential participants and allow podficcers to receive more varied and creative remixes of their work. (EX: making an animatic of a scene! creating and cooking a recipe to enjoy while listening! a stained-glass style fanart of a scene that u can color while u listen! creating an original cover song or bgm! inspired oral not!fic! etc etc)

I would love to participate in this challenge but writing fic is probably the one medium I cannot handle. :( While I could participate as a podficcer, I know for a fact that none of my podficced fandoms would be matchable. Thus I am sad to have to sit this one out.

[frecklebombfic]

I'm sorry you feel that this challenge isn't the one for you. Please know that you can still participate, though! As I said in my first response in this thread:
"All these restrictions only apply if you sign up as a writer to be matched to a podficcer by us. [...] If you want to make a treat, you may make a remix of any kind, with no minimums. We would still ask that you provide a transcript for accessibility reasons."

[bessyboo]

While I’m absolutely sympathetic to the points you’re raising here, I just want to emphatically add, as an experienced mod uninvolved in this challenge, how MONUMENTALLY more complex this would make this challenge from a mod-side perspective. I agree that more things should be more open to more formats! You’re right that podficcers on the whole tend to be more open to that than larger fandom communities! But the fact that the mods want to make sure that this first-year challenge is doable without adding further complications actually gives me a huge amount of confidence in them, and makes me want to sign up more. Further, I think that allowing more experimental and non-text forms of remix as treats is a perfect compromise.

I get it, I feel you—you know I do, as someone who creates basically everything BUT traditional text-based fic. But not every fest or exchange can have EVERY thing, this is just a practical modding fact.