ADMIN: Locking the comm, another poll

[virtualinsomnia]

Okay, so thanks to many concerned parties giving me information in the earlier thread about locking the comm, we've managed to clarify that some of the more worrisome aspects of LJ's TOS are specified for photos/art, and not for text/stories. However, due to the craziness at LJ lately, it's hard to 100% trust in anything they say. So I have decided that no matter what we need to lock the adult material down. It's safer for the comm's maintainers; it's safer for all the authors, and it's just safer for the comm in general. However, I don't necessarily think that EVERYTHING needs to be locked.

So here's the deal. We have a script that will allow us to automatically comment on all unlocked posts asking for locks. It's been tested on a dummy comm, and it passed with flying colors. This same script will help us search out unlocked posts for deletion should it come to that. Basically, by using this script, doing a full-comm lockdown will be fairly easy and stress free, and it won't require a bunch of extra help from you guys (other than the simple act of locking any stories you get comment notifications on).

But just locking the adult fic? That makes everything MUCH more complex. That requires people to go through and check each month, evaluating each fic on a case-by-case basis to see if it requires locking. Sure, we can modify the script to look for certain trigger words like R, NC17, adult, CSI, Tamcest, etc. However, that isn't 100% guaranteed, and should only be used as a way to get us started. Also, even after all the past stuff is sorted, what about the future stuff? We'll need to have people continually checking to make sure the guidelines are being followed.

Basically, to lock the whole comm, we won't need much (if any) help. But to only lock adult fic, we need help. Serious help.

So here's the poll. Please vote honestly. If you want only adult fic locked, but you can't help out at all, then say so. Do not promise help if you can't give it. And be honest about the amount of help you can give. Don't say you can help a lot, when you can really only help a little, if at all.

I know I asked some of this before in the old poll, but please indulge me by voting again. And don't sign up for more than you know you can do.

And just to be clear, if I don't get enough of a response, I'll be locking the whole comm. This isn't a threat or anything; it's just facts. If I don't have enough people to help, the task becomes too monumental for me to undertake alone.

Thanks for your input! And I promise that this will all be sorted out soon.

[Poll #1042468]

Oh, and remember that "a month's worth" just means one month of fic in the archive (i.e. you might be assigned the month of June 2005, for example). To comment on them shouldn't take more than a few hours on average if you sat down and just did the whole month at once. At the most, it might be a job for a couple of nights in a row, I should think. This has yet to be officially tested, but that's my ballpark guess. And all amounts are negotiable. I'm just trying to get a feel for who can help more and who can't.

Comments

[virtualinsomnia]

Thanks for your input! We're already pretty well decided that at least the adult fic will be locked, though.

[vae]

I'd suggest running the script anyway - that way it alerts authors to everything they've posted here - and then let the individuals lock the appropriate rated fic?

Also, might be worth having tags for ratings, perhaps? I know not everyone tags fic, but it would be an easier way to keep track in future, and I know that there's a lot less being posted now than there has been in the past.

[thegiantkiller.livejournal.com]

I like this thinking.

[virtualinsomnia]

If we wind up getting enough help to do the "adult only" lockdown, I'll most likely still run the script, as you suggested. That's a very good idea. Thanks! :-)

[annabelle43.livejournal.com]

If somebody gave me instructions on how to do a lock (not tech savvy) I would be happy to help. I have time most every day so that wouldn't be a problem. Plus I don't write so that would make me feel more involved and maybe a bit more fair about what needs to be locked and what doesn't

[nursedianaklim.livejournal.com]

I don't think mods can alter security settings, only delete the entry.

[virtualinsomnia]

Correct. We can tag and delete, but the authors themselves must do the actual locking.

[tree00faery.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of conflicted- It's fine by me if the comm is all flocked (but that does mean I'd have to join, right?) but I think it would be nicer if we could keep a lot of stuff public.
(I can't really help right now, btw, but I don't have any stories posted here.)
Also, if stuff is flocked, would you need people to leave an age statement or something somewhere?

[virtualinsomnia]

Yes, you'd need to join if it goes totally locked. Hopefully that's not too much of a problem.

Perhaps, though with a member list that already tops out over 1000, that would be a tricky piece of business. For right now, I'm just worried about what should be locked. I'll deal with the age statement later if it seems necessary.

[invisibleshrew.livejournal.com]

I didn't fill out the poll before, because I've already said that I don't think any fic (as opposed to pictures) needs to be flocked at all - and I really, really, didn't want to be pushy and say it again.

If it does come to flocking, what will you do with the fic that people don't lock? There'll be a lot - especially from the early days, when people have had more time to move on from lj, or switch off emailed comments, or are just AFK (or suffering from lj's periodic glitch on notifying comments).

[virtualinsomnia]

Well, it doesn't have to happen over a single day or anything. We're going to do this over a time period of a few weeks, so if people are AFK for a few days or more, they'll still have time to get the comment and lock the fic when they return. And as for the occasional glitch on comment notifications, I'm planning on doing a second comment before moving on to the next step, so hopefully that will help account for that.

And on the bright side, since I posted my last admin message, more people have offered to help, so I'll be reevaluating the possibility of locking only adult fic. If we do get enough people to help (which looks a little more likely now), that would allow us to leave everything with a lower rating unlocked.

And I'm sorry you don't agree with me about this issue. Your emails about the FAQ were greatly appreciated and part of why I decided to talk to the comm about coordinating the adult-only thing. Hopefully, if we're able to get enough help, this solution will be a good middle ground. I'm optimistic.

[invisibleshrew.livejournal.com]

And this is why I shouldn't comment at ungodly hours of the morning...

No - truly I think you should do just what you need to : this is your comm. I pretty much polled so that I could offer to help, since I too would much rather see only the adult fic vanish under flock/get deleted (I'm guessing deletion is the only option you have for what doesn't get flocked?).

The AFK that I worry about is the semester long hiatus while someone finishes up their thesis, and the journals that have been abandoned since (say) 2005 - I'm guessing that mail will never get read.

And I don't want to add to your hassles at all. It's just that this comm is one of the things that nudged me into starting to delurk (still a work in progress). When I first read through swathes of it I wasn't commenting, wasn't bookmarking, and reading pretty narrowly *cough*gen*cough*. Now I'm reading more widely, but have instead been eaten by RL to the extent that I'm permanently behind on new fic, let alone eating into the backlog of feedback that I owe people - but it has been great knowing that all this fic was here waiting for me when I had time to read again.

I'd love for it to be available for the next lurker in line - so please do tap me for help when/if it comes to it.

[ru-salki99.livejournal.com]

I think only the adult posts should be locked. And I'm free to help check as far back as is needed and any future posts also.