Young Writers Society

I do not wish to make this into a big deal. I post this only because if I don't, it'll just become bigger and bigger until it explodes into an all-out site war, which is something I absolutely do not want to see occur.

For those of you who do not know (or for those of you reading this months or years from now!), TW is teenagewriters.com. About a week ago, TW and YWS began to forge a working relationship. However, several incidents have since made it difficult to go forward in this relationship. This is not to say that this relationship is now totally ruined, but rather is strained at this point and it will take longer than earlier imagined to become essentially "sister sites." Although since even sisters fight a lot....

Let me begin by saying that YWS is not just a Web site, and is not just a place to hang out. YWS is a community of young writers, and I will always put my reputation as an unbiased site admin on the line if a member from this site has been wronged. I want to also say that I think YWS has always been great at welcoming and absorbing new members. I am not sure if it's because of the type of person who comes here, or if it is the type of person who stays here, but the members here make moderating the site very easy. There has never been blatant vulgarity outside of a literary piece, and I have never seen one member attacking another member simply because they are new to the site.

I also want to say that I have enjoyed welcoming many of the members from TW onto YWS, and I hope they found a welcoming environment here. I also hope they continue to visit the site, and I want to express that I highly respect them. The problems we are experiencing right now is not between the members of the two sites, but between the moderating staff of the two sites.

Different sites have different moderating cultures. YWS has been fortunate enough to strongly benefit from an administration staff that has remained constant since day 1. I speak not only of myself, but also of Firestarter (who has been a site admin since May 2005 and a moderator since almost the beginning), and moderators like Hunter, Crysi, Chevy, and EBM, who have all been mods for a very long time (EBM was the first). There is also Meshugenah, who was a mod since at least January 2005, and who was recently made a site admin late last year. The rest of the mod squad (Snoink, Griffinkeeper, Areida, Matt Bellamy, Poor Imp) are all well established members and highly respected on the site. Most of them have been here for years (Matt Bellamy was one of the first 100).

A recent incident, however, showed that our moderating cultures do not mesh well. For those who do not know, Incandescence was recently accused of plagiarism at TW. Instead of asking for comment from Incan, the moderators decided instead to make an announcement entitled "I told you so," and did not seek input from us here. If they had done so, they would've discovered that the piece in question is a transcript from an event on the very author Incan was accused of plagiarizing. More than that, if one bothers to read both pieces, then it becomes very clear that plagiarism did not occur as Incan disagrees with the viewpoint of the original author.

The decision was rash on the part of the moderators, and they still have not offered a complete public apology for the incident (although they have offered one in private). They further claim it was merely a random check, but based on past incidents that do not all involve Incandescence, it is clear to me that this was part of a witch-hunt on their part.

Based on the public apology TW has issued, I do not wish to sever the currently existing relationship, but nor do I wish to see it go any further for now. As one of the mods here pointed out to me, if one of them were to do something like this, I would kick them out of the mod squad.

However, I do want to express again that the current troubles only lie with the moderating staff of TW. They do not lie with the members of TW, and I do beseech the members of YWS to put this incident behind us.

Furthermore, if anyone has any questions or wishes to outline any points of disagreement, I will be in the chatroom tonight (May 17, 2007) at 11 p.m. EDT (or 3 a.m. GMT on May 18 ). I am usually in the chatroom at that time about 2 to 3 times a week if you want to speak with me, but cannot catch me tonight.

- Nate

Very well-spoken, Nate

I agree with you completely and I admire your level-headedness and wisdom in this matter.

I'd like to make my own sort of statement, just as a way to hopefully keep things clean and say my own opinion, as I do feel very much a part of this site.

Though this did happen I still would like to say that I hope the two sites can still work together and share members and knowledge. Problems like this always occur on forums, and through the many sites I've been on I've seen more than one. At the time they cause slight chaos, but they eventually go away and are part of the forums history.

The idea was good from the beginning. Despite this mishap, I'm sure we'll still find good things that will come out of it.

I'm really hoping no site hating is formed.

That would be really stupid if there was, Clau. Good point.

Nate, as always, brilliant explanation of a problem. You surely are the best site admin around.

I don't know about you guys, but I'll always support YWS first. This is our site, and yet we are welcoming. To put it bluntly, don't take any bull, but remember to respect everyone from anywhere, which I don't see is a problem.

I hope Brad is okay (I read his blog entry), and my best thoughts, regards, and wishes to all involved.

I've always known we were lucky when it came to admins, Nate, but now you've just reaffirmed that belief. ^_^ Well said! And I'll echo Clau when I say, I truly do admire you.

I've poked around several different writing forums, and have come to the conclusion that the moderators are a big part of what makes a writing site a good one. I was involved in something similar at a different site, and was, in short, wrongly attacked because of something trivial. I wouldn't think so much of it if it hadn't been the moderators doing the attacking. This is my primary forum because the mods are so great, and the atmosphere is good. You guys really do a wonderful job. Props to you guys.

Yeah, the moderators and admins do a fine job making YWS what it is Perhaps both sites should be kept separate; theres no real harm in that, and even a bit of competition never hurt anyone

Total props to the admins and mods--you guys make this site what it is: cookies all around!

Man, that's bullcrap! They should know better than that! Maybe I should say something to make fun of them in my next submitment of my Q & A thread, but you said we're trying to mend our relationship between the two sites or something so I won't. But I'm very tempted to.

The first YWS political scandal. I like it.

To stay on topic, the admins and mods do a very good job and shouldn't be underestimtaed. So don't think that you can get away with something stupid, like disobeying copyright laws.

Our mods and admins are awesome. They do a fantabulous job and never slack off (like some mods on other boards I post on... it's really quite pathetic). Cookies for all!

And of course, props to our fearless leader Nate for being the awesome guy he is.

We should establish a Mod/Admin Apperication Day. =D

Can we go to war?

As a somewhat objective member of these forums i have to say, just because you're called 'young' and 'teen' writers does that really mean you have to act like it?
This all seems like conflict for conflicts sake

kudos to Nate for not making a mountain out of the mole hill and trying keeping it that way and to the mods... there should be a "Moderator and Admin" day on the forums, some time

I agree with Denouement. When I post, sometimes I forget I'm talking to people around my age.

Muse wrote:Can we go to war?

In a word....No.