On 15 Apr 2000, at 1:01, Charles wrote:

> So the fact that the deadlines were introduced may in > fact be an indication that interest was already > falling. Because I have to say, if you enjoy writing, > you MAKE time for it.

Actually, there have always been deadlines, from day one. This probably heralds back to some of the original writers coming from the ffrpg.

The deadlines came into existance not to spark interest, but largely for the situation where a good writer winds up stuck depending on a lazy one. If the lazy writer doesn't write anything for a long time, then theoretically they'd fall off the list, and the good writer wouldn't have to wait forever on them, to the point where they'd lose interest or fade into obscurity.

Of course, this stems from my understanding that back in the ol' days, authors didn't cowrite, they merely traded off chapters (which may not be correct). Still, it applies even today. Say everyone is waiting for so and so to post a chapter so that they can all react to it. Then the author decides to become a drifter and just starts walking one day. Well, none of us know that.. and we're all still waiting on his chapter. With the deadlines, we'd have to wait three months at most, and then we'd decide how we'd want to carry on.

Though many faults might be able to be found with the above, let's remember what the deadlines boil down to here. You merely need to write two or three pages of material four times a year. And if you talk to the CA about it, you might be able to do it even less often than that. The rule has been bent before, and can be again, though only if you have a good enough reason. I'm not the CA, but I assume that "I just haven't gotten around to doing it" is not good enough a reason.

Honestly, if you can't write four times a year, then you probably don't have enough interest or motivation to actually write chapters on a regular basis (or in my case, just suck at it). Does this mean you can't write for Nu at all? Well, no. You could write standalone stories for Tales of Nu (and better still, you could really let the shit hit the fan (well, moreso) since it doesn't have to follow continuity). You could help another author write their chapter; I don't believe there's a rule against that (though, that would require the author to agree to it). I'm sure more imaginative minds than mine could come up with even more ways.

In short, deadlines are not a new issue, and have been hashed out several times before. So far, there has not been compelling evidence that abolishing them would benefit the group more than it would harm it, and as such the Administrative team has held fast to this rule.

Michael Springer