Author society board

I just realised the Author Society board has disappeared. It is also quite depressing to note that Alice has not posted here for a long time. Nor has Lin Robinson, nor Zada. What is the status with all these people?

Has there been a sudden loss of motivation?

Zada is literally on the move and will check back as soon as she can. Lin is probably busy promoting his latest book and Alice is writing another book -- a work of fiction I think.

The Author Society was a good board until it was taken over by troublemakers. Once they gain a foothold. . .

Dick Stodghill wrote:

The Author Society was a good board until it was taken over by troublemakers. Once they gain a foothold. . .

I agree with Dick. The reason we have survived such attacks, to my way of thinking, has been Shelagh's discretion, and her way of handling the situations.

We owe her a vote of "Thanks."

Ann

alj wrote:

Dick Stodghill wrote:

The Author Society was a good board until it was taken over by troublemakers. Once they gain a foothold. . .

I agree with Dick. The reason we have survived such attacks, to my way of thinking, has been Shelagh's discretion, and her way of handling the situations.

We owe her a vote of "Thanks."

Ann

That's the funniest thing I've read in a long, long time.

You're the funniest member to join the forum -- ever!

Sorry. I totally disagree about the AS board. It wasn’t the ‘outside troublemakers,’ who brought it down. It was something else. I was there.

The majority of the members of the Author Society board were current and former PA authors and a lot of the posts were chatting about the usual - marketing, publishers, etc. But when someone from ‘the outside,’ particularly the AW board, dared to come on and offer advice, they were attacked and bullied. Innocent posts offering information were slammed, accused of having an agenda. I got very upset as I wanted to talk about the information offered, but it always got lost in the fighting. One AS member would challenge the poster and others would join the attack. I’d say I wanted to hear and the others would say they didn’t want to be preached to.

Well, I didn’t care if anyone was preaching; I wanted the information. Mel tried to see both sides and her ‘friends’ accused her of being influenced by ‘the other side,’ as if we were the Hatfields and McCoys instead of a writing forum where we were trying to learn. She finally couldn’t take it any longer and left. Chatty became mod.

Then we all started fighting on the boards. Some left in tears, others were thrown off because of their constant sarcasm and biting remarks. There were only about three or four left on the board and no matter how some tried to keep it going, it finally died.

It was not ‘outsiders.’ It was the group attitude of most of the forum members that brought it down.

I'm sure they do, Marie. It's just like eye-witnesses in an accident. Everyone sees it a little differently.

But I'm glad you were treated decently. Most from AW were not.

Most of the former members of AS joined this forum, including cturkel (zizban). The discussions here have been lively and not without rancour. Recently, the forum has been quiet and many thoughtful and thought-provoking discussions have taken place. The issues over PA seem less important with the passing of the years. I am still a member of the AW forum and I visit from time to time. The arguments over PA seem stale and trapped in a time warp. One thing I did notice that was reassuring -- AW members seem to be less hostile to PA authors than they were in the past. Moderators seem to remind less often that PA is the target and not their authors. Who knows, eventually, they may be able to discuss PA's business practices without reference to any authors. The son of PAMB will die and common sense and decency will prevail. Stranger things have been known to happen.

I agree, Shelagh. I'm still an AW member altho I seldom post. And I think several forums are quiet now.

Brenda, those people who were offering advice on the AS board did not have the credentials to back up what they were saying. You didn't miss a thing.

I knew who they were, Dick. I was there and I looked them up - at least the ones I could. They may not have signed with Random House or Bantam, but some had better publishers than I and I wanted to hear the differences. That's just an example.

Some tried to talk about print runs or bookstore placement and I wanted to hear, but few had the chance to talk.

And some I might not have personally liked, but as it was when I attended school, I might not like every instructor, but I wanted to hear what they said.

Brenda, I was also there at the time and I recall that a lot of the people who came along would not tell anyone what they had written, nor whom they were published with. The proceeded, however, to tell all of the PA authors how dumb we were and that the only way to a real publishing contract was by the tried and true methods that they used. Of course, by not posting anything that they had done, how was anyone to know exactly how well those methods had worked for them?

The people on the AW board did not treat the AW members nearly as bad as PA authors were and are treated on the AW board, and yet we were made out to be the bad guys.

I have since mended fences with Mel and with Chatty, but the fact was at the time that Mel did indeed turn on the ones of us who had been friendly with her on the AS board, and for whatever reason she began to think that her new best buds on AW were going to point her on the one true path to publishising success.

I have long maintained that there is no one true path to gaining a contract with a major publisher, and yet every time I post that I hear the same old tired arguments. You have to do it their way or no way, and I still don't believe that.

The people here have resisted the influx of would be teachers and asked for credentials, which of course, many of them are still unwilling to give. Anyone can have an opinion, and most are about equal, but when most of us allow you to see everything we've done, we feel that you can repay the courtesy.

I can tell you anything at all on a message board, ask that you believe me on faith, and get mad when you won't do it. That's what most of those people were doing on the AS board, and after it escalated into an all out war they moved on. Most of us did also, and the board died. I say let it rest in peace.

Night Don. Night Brenda. Night Dick. Night Marie. Night Chris. Night Ann. Night Abdul. See you tomorrow.

Chatty was a nice lady, I wish she would join us here.

I liked Chatty, too. She crocheted a couple of baby afgans for me. Nice.

Love,
Betty

Nite, Shelagh!

Betty and Ahad, shall I ask her to drop by?

The people on AS as well as the people on the PAMB, as well as here, gave me a great deal of support last fall when I was ill. Some even sent me cards in the mail. That support was priceless. At times like I was experiencing I needed all the good wishes I could get.

Chatty was especially supportive.

I think Chatty needed some support as well, and she would be welcome here as far as I am concerned.

I disagree with Brenda and agree with E. Don.

I felt very often it was one-sided, with the PA people not being listened to. I always felt IF I agreed with the AW people and said PA was absolutely terrible and that I had made the biggest mistake of my life, the anti-PA people would have been my best friends, cheering that they had another person they had saved from doom.

Many of the AW people write books in a different genre than I do. They have different publishers than I would ever pursue, so their information is not something that would be helpful.. One even spoke of a reputable publisher in my small town that I had never heard of and I've lived there over 30 years.

Carol

Here's to you, Don S:

Don,
you're right in my view.
I was one of the first members and left about the same time as Dick and never looked back. I didn't need a daily dose of conflict.

Brenda Hill wrote:

Here's to you, Don S:

I know you meant to include me too, didn't you Brenda? Or is that a brick I see in your hand?

But AS did become calm and quiet and there was no further conflict.

It seems we need some sort of conflict to keep our interest, but not too much.

I think we had heard everything before.

And Don, I agree. It seemed if we agreed we were intelligent, okay people, but otherwise were not.

Mel and Chatty did their best.

Opinions very seldom are either/or, but somehow they became that way.

Love, Carol

Darn, you saw that brick, Dick? Guess I need better camouflage.

As usual, I agree with Carol, Dick and Marie.