This is a very powerful post. No tip-toeing around the issue.

And I think it important to weigh how each feature is utilized, and whether it brings users closer to, or farther from, creation of inspired media. I think this is what will help bring and keep more people on the long run.

As to the ages, myself being 20 and being of moderate-ish skill puts me in the middle of both age groups. And I feel that it is a richness to have knowing and experienced authors contribute to helping budding authors blossom into great “word smiths”.

In fact I once came across an author, whom I believe was a teacher… On his profile picture was a well made badge (as if made by the site), and on his profile he said in many words, but which the basic message being that he was there to help anyone who needed a hand from someone who really knew his stuff. And when I saw that I thought “this is such an awesome idea!” Now, this might be a new feature of the site, and I’ve simply been too busy to notice it’s appearance. But I’d very much like to see more of it. It would certainly foster greater bonds between the young starting artists, and the experienced age-wizened. How it would work, I don’t know, but perhaps those who feel they are made of the right stuff could submit themselves and their credentials, for a badge of knowledge or something similar with which we could more easily recognize them? :)

As we’re on the subject of Protagonize’s changes, I imagine a problem which I think YouTube might also have… The way I understand how things basically work, is that the very popular stuff is show first and often, which is natural, and the more exposure it gets, the more it becomes popular, and so on and so forth until something new attracts our attention and we move on to that… Yet along the way some smaller stories, though perhaps well rated and well written didn’t have the same exposure because people didn’t jump to them, maybe because lots of people started stories at the same time, or due to time or day, or a random event outside the site… made that these stories pass through with little notice… eventually accumulating at the bottom, waiting that people search a genre or tag. This I think would take up a lot of space, and would leave the authors disappointed. I also know that Nick has done a lot of work to get more people in contact with more stories, like showing related stories to the ones we read, or search, and the like. But perhaps we could use a lonely section, where old yet well-rated stories might get an other shot at fame, or those which passed through unnoticed could see the light of day once again… It’s just a thought, and perhaps a bit of a selfish one. :)

Well it is very late by all standards of time, so please forgive me if things aren’t too clear at places… But I just had to tap it all down while the inspiration was still fresh. And… Thanks for taking the time to read my lengthy ranting. ;)

And though we may criticize at times, and make his life hard at others, we gotta hand it to Nick for staying in touch with his people… If only more sites were like that!

Kevin

Dont know about you but thats a great post and vvery thoughful, hmmmm.
Life is change, always a shifting of the old with the new, this is inevtible, we can adjust to the force of change, find our place and morph with it, or whither into a dry husk of a human..
Any way my 2 cents

If you want to chat, there are MANY places you can do so. I find the trend towards chatting over writing is not an age specific issue. And I have nothing against chatting. Once upon a time I spent close to a month at the top of the commenter’s list, but I was writing almost as much and the stories I was collaborating in were frequently seen in the Top 5. These were NOT the 1-2 paragraph stories but rather what drew me to the site in the first place… actual collaborations.

I myself find that if I’m inclined to develop a friendship with a fellow author on the site I offer up my email and/or gTalk info so that we can actually chat, leaving the site for pure writing. :)