December 01, 2003
Dear Dykewrite
If you are not a member of Dykewrite.com - this post will mean zip, zero, nada to you. If you are a member, perhaps I'm not alone in my opinions...
It's time for me to go girls.
I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but kept waiting for something to really kick me in the ass. I hope no one takes this personally - as it is not written to single anyone out.
I tried posting this on the new discussion board but after registering, confirming, validating, logging in, jumping up and down and sideways through the flaming hoops, I was unable to create an appropriate topic for it, nor was I able to post a reply on the Dykewrite News board, which totally reinforces my point :/
From a visual standpoint, kudos to Jenna for the redesign.
From a community standpoint, I just don't get it.
Since I joined the group in May of 2002, I've watched Dykewrite drift further and further away from what drew me to it in the first place.
Dykewrite (the .com site, not the ring sites) has gone from insightful, member driven, interactive, fun, witty, serious and thought provoking to no new posts for weeks/months at a time, to the same two or three people occasionally posting.
And now with the redesign, all I see is a portal-like shell used to promote of a select group of authors and has very little to do with the people that actually make up the Dykewrite rings.
Personally, I see nothing there that improves or promotes community and interaction, but that's me. It feels less and less like a diverse collection of interesting women bloggers/writers.
I understand you're trying to steer member interaction over to the discussion boards, however I doubt that it's going to create much of a community, if that is in fact what you want. Maybe it's not. Maybe you're actually trying to create a portal and not a community site.
Perhaps it's that I have never been a good fit for Dykewrite.
It would seem now that the only reason for me to remain a member is to drive traffic to my site. Driving traffic is not why I joined. That said, I'm thinking it would be best for me to withdraw my membership.
I hope nothing but the best for Dykewrite and I appreciate everyone's efforts to improve the site, it's really just not for me anymore. I'm sure I'll continue to surf the rings. There are some awesome women out there!
Cheers - MJ
Posted by MJ at December 1, 2003 12:04 PMWow MJ. I haven't thought much about these issues that you brought up. I will be thinking about them now.
I have to say, whatever I decide, I'm sad to see you go. Yours was the first Dykewrite Site that I got "hooked" on. It won't be the same without you.
Posted by: Mopsie at December 1, 2003 06:37 PMYou are not alone. I've been teetering for awhile.
Posted by: jadedju at December 1, 2003 07:05 PMI was very sad to get your email today. My response is up on the DykeWrite site, but also, I'll add here that I didn't get DykeWrite in the best of shape. There wasn't much I could do with it. There was little to no communication among the "community" that was created by Tracy as it was. I thought that I was doing a favor to the community by making it more aesthetically pleasing. Maybe I made some mistakes in the architecture, but I didn't get many replies saying so, and if I did, I changed them. Mostly, I am pretty easy going about those things. I guess what I am saying is that two people do not a community make. I'm sorry to see you go. But I'm even more sorry to see DykeWrite go. (And I'm also sorry my comment was so long.)
Posted by: Jenna at December 2, 2003 06:03 AMHurting your feelings was not my intent. I also didn't expect this reaction or publicity.
Since we are putting it all out here, let me say this...
It's not you personally Jenna. I had hoped I'd made that clear. It's where Dykewrite as a concept, an idea, has gone.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, that does not ride on one persons shoulders.
What started out as a group blog under Tracy, became an autocracy, died on the vine and now has evolved to the point where it's members are even more excluded by giving little, if any, ability to interact with each other on the main site. I never agreed with the "closed group" blog concept. It's too exclusive. I was never allowed in. Yet I stayed, because it was still a great group of women.
By closing access and requiring people to "submit samples of their work" Dykewrite alienates a fair chuck of it's members. And a statement like "if we decide it's Dykewrite material..." is very intimidating. I don't take it quite that seriously.
If people want to use this collective as a means to advance their writing careers and be "published" here - so be it, but I don't want to be a part of it. Simple as that. Not your fault, not any one persons fault.
It's just not for me. Besides I am a lousy writer and grammarian. I still haven't gotten the whole apostrophe thing and probably never will, but I digress...
What IS for me, what brought me here, is an unrestricted exchange of ideas, being exposed to things or concepts that are new. Making me think... Making me laugh.... And allowing me to be a part of it.
It's not that hard really to make it interesting and lively and a community. I brought this up prior to your taking the reins and was quickly and completely shut down.
It's simple: Make it a group blog again. Allow ALL members to post. When you join the ring, you receive author rights. Do not be selective in what goes up. Do not censor or act as editor, unless it stretches beyond certain standards (whatever those might be...). This is NOT the same thing as having message boards. Message boards (or "discussion" boards) are very different from the group blog format.
Even opening up comments helps...
But again... This is just my opinion. There are 100 others out there.
Shall I post this in comments on Dykewrite? I don't want to create any more drama than I already unfortunately have...
Posted by: MJ at December 2, 2003 08:04 AM(I emailed you this, but since you're keeping it in the comments, I may as well post it here.)
Let me explain something..
When I took over DykeWrite, I have to say that I was probably more like you than you may think. I don't think that Tracy did a very good job at including everyone into the community. It was very clique-y and I have never been like that. The one thing that I wanted to do away with was the elite-ness of the whole thing.
My idea on this redesign was to have a separate entity for the "articles" (ie the girls that wanted to remain clique-y) and one for the weblog. For the weblog, I wanted to keep it open to everyone, but the thing is that I didn't know how I was going to "chaperone". It's really hard keeping track of the current DykeWriters. I can't just give people posting priveleges. Or maybe I can.
The thing with the discussion board was an oversight. I didn't realize (because I had admin powers) that regular users couldn't start new threads. I posted to the weblog that guest posting was enabled, so there is no need to register.
The about page does make DykeWrite look rather exclusive in selecting writers. I think my idea there was to eliminate the idiots that email me every now and then asking silly questions about DykeWrite. Maybe my choice of words was wrong.
I don't think that we are on opposite sides here, MJ. I think that we are both wanting the same thing.
I have an errand to run. I have a lot more to say and I hope that you will reconsider leaving DykeWrite. In fact, I'd like for you to continue this open dialogue about making it better.
PS- I've never been one for drama, so I don't know if I should leave the article about this on DykeWrite, or if I should remove it. (Another knee-jerk reaction, I guess).
Posted by: Jenna at December 2, 2003 08:33 AMOne more thing...
I removed the section on how to become a DykeWriter for now. I do agree that the wording was a bit much.
Posted by: Jenna at December 2, 2003 08:34 AMBeing one of the original band of DykeWriters, I miss what DykeWrite was. I haven't posted much at all in the past year. It has definitely morphed into something different than it had been... but that's probably true of all of our blogs. And it's not Jenna's fault at all.
DykeWrite came about during a time when all of us were fervently *into* blogs, blogging and writing. Things like that always happen when something new and wonderful is coming into its own. Now, we're more into our own blogs and their content. That's good. DykeWrite defintely needs more contributing writers. Not just the same few who post all the time. I'm guilty of not posting, so I'm not deflecting any blame.
It's hard enough lately for me to come up with anything to post on my own dang blog, let alone come up with content for another one. :(
I do wish the comments would be turned back on, though. I don't like bulletin boards... but that's just me.
Posted by: Chari at December 2, 2003 10:26 AMWow. I'll jump in here too. Maybe there's something here that has to do with having been part of this from the beginning, as Chari, MJ, and I have all been.
I too had become quite alienated from the concept of Dykewrite long before Tracy left it. It had me utterly confused why there would be a group blog that would only have some of us writing on it if we were all theoretically equal members of the group. I acknowledge that I never said anything about it because I didn't have the sense that the opinion of the members was relevant to how policy was set. But I had been uncomfortable pretty much since the decree that we had to surf the ring at least once a day.
I hate the idea of leaving, primarily because of the feelings that might be hurt as a result. I have nothing but respect and admiration for how much energy Jenna has put into attempting to energize the concept. The new design is beautiful, and Jenna has been utterly welcoming of feedback, both solicited and not.
Still, I don't feel engaged by the concept any longer. I never liked blogging rings to begin with, and made an exception in this case. It's time for me to rethink that exception.
Posted by: jadedju at December 2, 2003 02:08 PMWell, I didn't expect this to get quite as involved as this. But I should have realized I was opening a can of worms.
There is a lively discussion taking place over at DykeWrite. Please take your comments over there as that's the most appropriate place now.
Thanks everyone.
:::COMMENTS CLOSED:::
