With apologies for the delay. - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 16/10/2010 12:49:37 PM
I relate a little too well to what Wongers was saying, if for different reasons. Hell, I'm moving out the country in less than three weeks and have scarcely done a thing to prepare.
One of the main reasons I started The OF Blog back in August 2004 was because even then Mike was not active and I had to have an independent, separate center in order to draw more interest to OF for the reviews, interviews, and the like. Dom and Linda experienced some of this last year when they began to hob-nob with others in WoT Fandom; Mike never really interacted much with any but Jason and it was refreshing for other WoT fandom leaders to be able to get to know those who used to co-run (with others, of course) the old WoT MB during its last year or two.
Insularity stifles interaction and creativity. At times, the level of discussion at this site is in variety akin to three generations' worth of incestual unions gathering together for a country dance. If it weren't for say a half-dozen people (I'm maybe being too generous with that number), then how long would it take for the hoi polloi here to become aware of certain emerging trends in fiction? Since I never posted about it here, but I bet no more than 2-3 at this site even know that I'm up for an award that will be awarded at the Capclave Convention in two weeks and that is minor in comparison to knowing which are the "hottest" books of the past couple of years
It's difficult for me to disagree with much of that. I was always more about WoT and the CMB than I was about books, fiction or even fantasy, though that's probably my biggest single fiction interest. By the time I was introduced to WoT I'd pretty much given up on fantasy after at least a decade of fanaticism. Maybe Tolkien spoiled me, but it seemed like the whole genre was nothing but verbose wannabes like me. Frankly, I'm not sure much has changed; if you have a flair for marketing and no self respect you can make a pretty good living as a hack without the need for any actual talent, because the bottom line is the bottom line.
Inactivity stifles inactivity, too, though, and if I don't always agree with every decision made here it's not like there's a stampede of people presenting multiple other options. Sometimes I feel like it's just me and the Admins around here, and while it's awfully generous of them to provide me a place to rant, that's not a recipe for site longevity. The main reason the discussions have gotten both bitter and stale is because a lot of it is the same few people who stuck around as wotmania dwindled and died, now recycling the same debates they were having four or five years ago. One thing wotmania should've taught us we can't just rely on the Admins to generate all our content; even when they're willing, it's too great a demand for a healthy site. So I've tried to be around a bit more since I'm no longer working, but I do still have stuff to do, and it's hard for me to get too worked up about other books any more, in part because it's hard to find time to read them. One guy's not going to make the difference though, especially when he's still got some bitterness of his own.
We need fresh blood. We need reasons for people to BECOME fresh blood, and I think the less WoT fare we have the next couple years the less of those reasons we'll have. It's still a team effort though, and it wouldn't hurt a bit if more of us (including me) took advantage of the NON-WoT fare.
Like I say, I only get my little slice of it, and it's really my own fault if I don't check in with The Thirteenth Depository or the OF Blog (sorry about that, guess I'd know if I was there more often 
let alone Dragonmount. Part of it is part of the problem Mike had: With a new full time (at least) job, an overseas courtship, life, sleep and everything else I just didn't have time to keep up with much of the online world; reading webcomics once a week was hard. That's changed a little since I've been off work the past month, but how much and how long will depend on my dentist, my insurance, my retirement managers and packing for Europe and a wedding. 
Ultimately I think minimizing WoT content on RAFO would be a grave mistake any time in the next 2-3 years because that portion of the RAFO audience is bound to increase a great deal. Of course, that is, once again, from the outside looking in to things.
let alone Dragonmount. Part of it is part of the problem Mike had: With a new full time (at least) job, an overseas courtship, life, sleep and everything else I just didn't have time to keep up with much of the online world; reading webcomics once a week was hard. That's changed a little since I've been off work the past month, but how much and how long will depend on my dentist, my insurance, my retirement managers and packing for Europe and a wedding. Ultimately I think minimizing WoT content on RAFO would be a grave mistake any time in the next 2-3 years because that portion of the RAFO audience is bound to increase a great deal. Of course, that is, once again, from the outside looking in to things.
One of the main reasons I started The OF Blog back in August 2004 was because even then Mike was not active and I had to have an independent, separate center in order to draw more interest to OF for the reviews, interviews, and the like. Dom and Linda experienced some of this last year when they began to hob-nob with others in WoT Fandom; Mike never really interacted much with any but Jason and it was refreshing for other WoT fandom leaders to be able to get to know those who used to co-run (with others, of course) the old WoT MB during its last year or two.
Insularity stifles interaction and creativity. At times, the level of discussion at this site is in variety akin to three generations' worth of incestual unions gathering together for a country dance. If it weren't for say a half-dozen people (I'm maybe being too generous with that number), then how long would it take for the hoi polloi here to become aware of certain emerging trends in fiction? Since I never posted about it here, but I bet no more than 2-3 at this site even know that I'm up for an award that will be awarded at the Capclave Convention in two weeks and that is minor in comparison to knowing which are the "hottest" books of the past couple of years
It's difficult for me to disagree with much of that. I was always more about WoT and the CMB than I was about books, fiction or even fantasy, though that's probably my biggest single fiction interest. By the time I was introduced to WoT I'd pretty much given up on fantasy after at least a decade of fanaticism. Maybe Tolkien spoiled me, but it seemed like the whole genre was nothing but verbose wannabes like me. Frankly, I'm not sure much has changed; if you have a flair for marketing and no self respect you can make a pretty good living as a hack without the need for any actual talent, because the bottom line is the bottom line.
Inactivity stifles inactivity, too, though, and if I don't always agree with every decision made here it's not like there's a stampede of people presenting multiple other options. Sometimes I feel like it's just me and the Admins around here, and while it's awfully generous of them to provide me a place to rant, that's not a recipe for site longevity. The main reason the discussions have gotten both bitter and stale is because a lot of it is the same few people who stuck around as wotmania dwindled and died, now recycling the same debates they were having four or five years ago. One thing wotmania should've taught us we can't just rely on the Admins to generate all our content; even when they're willing, it's too great a demand for a healthy site. So I've tried to be around a bit more since I'm no longer working, but I do still have stuff to do, and it's hard for me to get too worked up about other books any more, in part because it's hard to find time to read them. One guy's not going to make the difference though, especially when he's still got some bitterness of his own.
We need fresh blood. We need reasons for people to BECOME fresh blood, and I think the less WoT fare we have the next couple years the less of those reasons we'll have. It's still a team effort though, and it wouldn't hurt a bit if more of us (including me) took advantage of the NON-WoT fare.