GoW-only tool?

[andylegate]

So 'story' is becoming part of the domain of the Maintainers as well?

No. Please don't jump to that conclusion.

As we said, we've actually been working with Cyan on this for weeks and weeks....literally.

Cyan told us (GoW and GoMa guild leaders) that one of the things that would be looked at is "Fan Story Line Conflict"

I make an Age and in a journal there I say that BladeLakem was eaten by a Bahro there. So sad.......

You of course pop up in another Fan story line that says you're alive and well and having a big ol party with said Bahro.....

Conflict there obviously.

We then turned around and asked Cyan about Fans being allowed to mess with their story line. We expected a big "NO WAY"
but instead were told "We can have RAWA provide outlines and guildlines"

We of course responded with:
As we almost couldn't believe it.

So again: the FCA Panel will be checking for conflicts. And they will be following Cyan's Guidelines if it pertains to Cyan Story Line. Again, CYAN has the bottom line here, NOT the Guilds or the FCA Panel.

Please, again, let me stress that: The Guilds are here to help. We will do what CYAN tells us to do, not what we (the guilds) want to do.

Please try not to assume that any guild or guilds are trying to "take over" Cyan or anything. Cyan came to us and asked for help. They can't do it all on their own and give you a Uru Live too. But they can, with the low amount of staff that they have now, direct us, guide us and set policies for us to follow.

[dtierce]

Frisky Badger wrote:

First off, dtierce, see the FCAL process that was posted today. It's on the MOUL forum as well as the GoMa forum. We've already got a start on this, with some help from Cyan.

I appreciate what you are saying, but I don't think I mentioned FCAL anywhere in my post. I only intended to describe the publication process. You are correct that I should have incorporated the steps involved in an FCAL in there as well. My post assumed an FCAL was already in place. My bad.

I know you are quite familiar with current GoMa processes, but my post was made here in the GoW forum to show those existing writers and aspiring writers that this is not some dictatorial methodology. We all have to answer to somebody and everyone has an alternative if they don't like what's going on.

As for criteria for GoMa approval of a submission, I should clarify. I meant such criteria as a minimum number of inspectors and how their individual reports are combined into a pass/fail result if there is any variance between them. It may take a while, but it is inevitable that such a case will arise someday. That is something to decide in the GoMa forums, not here. It could be something as simple as re-inspecting until the judgment is unanimous.

You definitely have a point, though, when you say we can't please everybody every time.

[BladeLakem]

Well, I didn't mean to imply an accusation. Rather, I was looking for clarification that story concerns (as opposed to more technical aspects of fan content) were also going to be handled by the Maintainers.

So it sounds like what you are saying is that RAWA is writing up guidelines on which areas of Canon are 'open source', as it were, and that the Maintainers will be involved in making sure that area is clean and tidy. Is that correct?

[andylegate]

Partially Maintainers. The FCA Panel is suppose to be made up of Maintainers and Writers.

Yes, RAWA is suppose to be working on these things for us.......Rather Chogon mentioned something about having to go find him again ........large stick.........something like that.

But yes, he said that RAWA would be talking to point out what the guidelines are, outlines for story etc, etc.

All the FCA Panel will be doing is making sure the guidelines he puts out are followed is all. They don't dictate what is a guideline or not, only quote the ones given to them. IF an area comes up that is gray or unclear, RAWA will be more than happy to provide both the FCA Panel and the Writer doing the story answers for that.

We just have to wait for them to come along and give us that info. For now, they keep twillight hours there at Cyan, and I believe Chogon said that RAWA is busy with another project too.

[Frisky Badger]

Frisky Badger wrote:

First off, dtierce, see the FCAL process that was posted today. It's on the MOUL forum as well as the GoMa forum. We've already got a start on this, with some help from Cyan.

I appreciate what you are saying, but I don't think I mentioned FCAL anywhere in my post. I only intended to describe the publication process. You are correct that I should have incorporated the steps involved in an FCAL in there as well. My post assumed an FCAL was already in place. My bad.

I know you are quite familiar with current GoMa processes, but my post was made here in the GoW forum to show those existing writers and aspiring writers that this is not some dictatorial methodology. We all have to answer to somebody and everyone has an alternative if they don't like what's going on.

As for criteria for GoMa approval of a submission, I should clarify. I meant such criteria as a minimum number of inspectors and how their individual reports are combined into a pass/fail result if there is any variance between them. It may take a while, but it is inevitable that such a case will arise someday. That is something to decide in the GoMa forums, not here. It could be something as simple as re-inspecting until the judgment is unanimous.

You definitely have a point, though, when you say we can't please everybody every time.

Thanks for the clarification, David; I completely misread your post.

[Chacal]

Ok, I'm big on processes, so here is my impression of what the process for fan publications should be.

1) Writer creates a submission.
2) Each Maintainer inspecting that submission provides feedback to the Writer. This provides an avenue for improvement for GoW.
3) The GoMa determines (by their own criteria) whether to forward the submission to Cyan for final approval along with an inspection summary. A copy is also forwarded to the GoC for mapping (unless the author has already done this). An official GoMa summary report is sent to the Writer to signal acceptance.
4) Cyan provides feedback to the GoMa regarding their inspection summary. This provides an avenue for improvement for GoMa.
5) Cyan determines (by their own criteria) whether to publish the submission. An official Cyan summary report is sent to the Writer and to the GoMa inspectors to signal acceptance. Notification of published submissions is sent to GoMe.

EXCEPTIONS:
... Any Writer can contact Cyan directly with a copy of their submission (along with the GoMa feedback) if they feel the GoMa is overly severe or discriminatory in their approvals.
... Cyan can censor or block contact from any particular Writer for abuse of the process exceptions.
... Cyan can request the GoMa to revise inspection criteria that they feel are out of line.

As guild operation smooths out, I would expect a submission to move quickly after getting past step 3. Additional content in the form of Hints and/or Walk-through guides may be created by anyone, but would most likely come from (IMHO) the GoMa.

I hope a process such as this provides enough checks and balances to alleviate the fears expressed in this thread. At the same time, I hope it does not pose any significant obstacle to the publication of fan content.

David Tierce

It might be interesting to continue this discussion in this thread which already deals about the publication process. Maybe we can combine all of this together.

[Paradox]

Chogon has made a post on the Uru Live forums explaining how the distribution of the plugin source will work.

http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=264142#264142

[Chacal]

Mmmmmm, soup.

[Marten]

Also, to clarify questions about whether the Maintainers will be delving into QA on stories as well as Ages, my understanding is the task of assisting storywriters to stay within the (newly posted) guidelines will rest within the domain of the Guild of Archivists. Discussion about that can be placed / found here: http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15860