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Young Writers Society


YWS History



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Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:47 pm
yubbies21 says...



Dear YWS,

I’m writing a research report for school. I had trouble choosing a topic, but finally chose YWS History. Since you are the members of the site, I’d like to ask you a few questions, if it’s all right. Also, would I be allowed to quote you? I might try and turn it into a Squills article too.

So, here are my questions:


How and why was the YWS created?

What have been some of the main issues YWS has overcome?

How has YWS evolved over the past nine years?

Many things have happened on YWS, but what were some of the main events and celebrations?

How has YWS grown as a community? (members, friendliness, activities…)

How did Squills and Writing Gooder come about?

How did YWS’s most cherished tradition, “Review Day”, start? Who came up with it? How were the rules decided on? How have site statistics been affected since it began?

How has YWS changed your life?

What are you most proud of about YWS?


Thanks for your time everybody! Just copy the questions and post them, along with your answers! Please remember to tell me whether or not I can quote you!


yubbies21
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Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:48 pm
Iggy says...



Hey, Yubs! This looks awesome. :) When I have time, I'll definitely answer the questions!

If you'd like, I can move this to the Lounge for you, as this is more of a broad questionnaire and may get more responses than here. What say you? ^^

Also, if you do make this into a Squills article, send it my merry way!
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Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:45 pm
yubbies21 says...



Sounds good @Iggy ! And thanks!
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:03 am
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Snoink says...



I am surprised that @Nate hasn't used this as an opportunity to wax on about coding. ;)

How and why was the YWS created?

Before YWS was a website that was known as "The Young Writers Society" or TYWC. Nate and I were both on it, though we really didn't hang out on it much. It was run by a man who had created the website back in the early days of the web for his daughter who liked creative writing. Anyway, throughout the years, teenage Nate did his best to help out the owner, but the site died a slow, miserable death. As it was going through its death throes, Nate decided on a whim to create a website for young writers that any young person could go on and feel comfortable. He didn't realize how successful it would be... he still is quite amazed at how successful it is, in fact!

What have been some of the main issues YWS has overcome?

There are a lot of issues that most people don't even realize... which is a good thing, probably! ;) One thing that surprises a lot of people (since YWS looks pretty professional) is that YWS was basically coded by Nate in his spare time. So, basically this is more of a pet project of his than a money-making venture. It would be cool if it were, but alas! It isn't. So, Nate, over the years, has had frustrations with trying to keep YWS modern and hacker-free... which is not always so easy, especially when he is also trying to earn a living!

Another thing that many people are surprised about is that YWS is entirely user-run by volunteers. Yes. We also do our best to keep our moderating staff updated and active. As you can figure, this causes its own various day-to-day issues! Though, it's all good at the end. ;)

How has YWS evolved over the past nine years?

Check this out.

Partly, I want to say that it's changed a lot in everything, but the community is still kind of the same community that was before, though some faces have gone and some faces are new. So, I think mostly me that has changed. ;)

Many things have happened on YWS, but what were some of the main events and celebrations?

Uh... there's been a lot that's happened? *old and senile*

How has YWS grown as a community? (members, friendliness, activities…)

More members. YWS is more family-friendly and "nicer" in some ways and definitely less crude in language. I was looking at old blog entries of mine back when I was 16 or so (8 or 9 years ago!), and I found one entitled, "F***ity F*** F*** F***." That sort of thing would be censored now, as far as titles go. Which is definitely a good thing!

How did Squills and Writing Gooder come about?

Squills used to be the same thing as Writing Gooder, believe it or not! Nate separated Writing Gooder as its own entity a couple of years ago. And as far as Squills newest recreation, I think @Griffinkeeper suggested that it should be YWS news, and then @Hannah went all out and made it into what it is now. It's really neat! :)

How did YWS’s most cherished tradition, “Review Day”, start? Who came up with it? How were the rules decided on? How have site statistics been affected since it began?

Well... I still think that's a work in progress. xD

I want to point a finger and say @Rosey%20Unicorn would know a lot about this... I do know that it used to be an informal thing, and then it has gradually gotten fancier. It used to have four teams as well! But, that's shrunk down... probably a good thing! We sometimes try new things and hope/pray it works out. We're glad you liked it!

How has YWS changed your life?

It's made me a lot kinder to people.

What are you most proud of about YWS?

Like... everything? Or is that too broad? :P

I am so proud of the members. They have grown to be such wonderful people... it's really inspiring! It's so fun to see everyone grow up. Plus, if it weren't for all of you, and especially those of you who actively volunteer around YWS (even with just reviewing!) YWS would not be as awesome as it is. Y'all deserve a round of applause!
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:30 am
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Griffinkeeper says...



What have been some of the main issues YWS has overcome?

The greatest issue was the Great Blackout. YWS actually shut down for a period of months after the cost of running YWS became prohibitively high. A few days prior to the shut-down, Nate announced that YWS would be shut down.

In a last minute effort, a new writing forum called "The Society Revisited" was formed by YWS members and became the rally point for those that wanted to keep the YWS Community together. The close knit nature of the community meant that the word was sent quickly; so that when the black out occurred, the core community of YWS survived.

A few months later, financial conditions changed and YWS returned back. It was quickly repopulated and has been operating more or less continuously ever since.
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 4:52 am
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Rosendorn says...



Snoink wrote:How did YWS’s most cherished tradition, “Review Day”, start? Who came up with it? How were the rules decided on? How have site statistics been affected since it began?

Well... I still think that's a work in progress. xD

I want to point a finger and say @Rosey Unicorn would know a lot about this... I do know that it used to be an informal thing, and then it has gradually gotten fancier. It used to have four teams as well! But, that's shrunk down... probably a good thing! We sometimes try new things and hope/pray it works out. We're glad you liked it!


Aha, yes, Snoink found me. I do know a lot about this!

Review day started off as a way to clean out works with 0 and 1 reviews. Once that was implemented, the staff started to see a lot of works that just stayed there. So we began review day, and very shortly after started review teams.

The review day rules were pretty collaborative when it comes to the staff. We basically wanted some motivating event to clear out the lists which we now call the green room. I believe works with 1/0 review got expanded from only holding works over the past 30 days to holding works from the past three months, just to really try to clear it out.

Now excuse me I'm going to gush about review teams because I love them and they are very dear to me, plus they're what helped make review day such a success.

Review teams started when me, Squall, Lethro and I think Master_Yoda (I think. It's been years) were in chat, and we all came up with the idea for how cool it'd be for YWS to have video-game like guilds for reviewing.

I ended up bringing the idea to Instructors (top reviewers on the site, of which I was a part. Names in purple) only for it to get shot down. Guilds would cause too much competition, because at the time the idea was to make them permanent.

A few months/a year later I brought it up again, only different this time. It got shot down again. Repeat I think one more time (for a total of three) before I got a PM from Nate saying "Write it out how you want to go and I'll implement it."

So! That finally got in place, and it was way different from the initial idea (mostly what I had learned over the multiple years of getting feedback). The first one was actually still very formal: four teams, a leaderboard for all the teams, names, team leaders (it was actually more formal in this regard! Only staff were allowed to be team leaders the first few times, and the team leaders were supposed to teach newer members how to review) and a one month long competition.

That burned everybody out, so the next review team competition was just on review day. And that's how it's stayed ever since.

Site statistics weren't affected by review day that much until review teams came in. Once we had temporary competitions, people really started to try and push themselves to the limit both to clear out the green room and beat the other team. We've cleared or nearly cleared the green room out pretty much every review day since reviewing teams were implemented.

Also it's only about... two and a half years old? I believe the first one was in May 2011. I brought it up in about May of 2009.

I think I'll just answer the rest, since I'm here...

What have been some of the main issues YWS has overcome?

I actually think one of the big ones is the general apathy towards writing as a pass time in the world, and/or how people can be very sensitive about their work. YWS not only provide a huge volume of fantastic work from teenagers and young adults, but provide top-notch commentary on it that focuses on improving writing even if the feedback hurts a little.

And yes. All volunteers. Having an all volunteer, online based staff is all sorts of interesting, lol

How has YWS evolved over the past nine years?

How has it not? lol

Seriously it went from this small messy site mostly done for fun to a giant enterprise with a couple dozen staff and over twenty five thousand members all dedicated to writing as a pass time, and it's all still coded by one guy.

Many things have happened on YWS, but what were some of the main events and celebrations?

Writing Olympics was a big thing. We'd host it during the regular and winter Olympics. There are also the various birthday bashes, Christmas gift weekends, Project Snowflurries, the YWStival... it goes on. We hold a lot of events.

How has YWS grown as a community? (members, friendliness, activities…)

Lots of new members, more activities, and the amount of niche pockets exploding onto the mainstream or at least becoming larger than a handful of members.

How has YWS changed your life?

More like how hasn't it. I found people here who stuck with me through some of the roughest parts of my life, and I have no idea if I would've ended up acing my degree and getting a second without them.

What are you most proud of about YWS?

Resources <333 This is my little corner of the site and I love it.

Also the quality of reviews and work we put out.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Thu Dec 12, 2013 6:47 pm
yubbies21 says...



@Snoink @Rosey%20Unicorn @Griffinkeeper Thanks for all of your answers! They are big help! Would it be all right if I quote you?
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:20 pm
Snoink says...



If you want!
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Thu Dec 12, 2013 8:58 pm
Rosendorn says...



Go for it.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

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Fri Dec 13, 2013 7:35 am
Griffinkeeper says...



Sure!
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