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Post by Huntress on May 28, 2021 5:41:16 GMT -5
That is a a good point, we shouldn't try putting the cart before the horse and come up with possible solutions to a problem whose details we don't know in full. From the outside, some possible changes can seem like simple or obvious fixes, but in the end it's hard to say what's best without knowing TNT's full circumstances. Well, as a bit of devil's advocacy, not knowing why they don't do what they don't do isn't necessarily an impediment - it's not really our fault that they have all the transparency of a healthy swamp. We can still make a statement to the effect of "these are the things we the clientele, ahem, userbase see as a problem and these are the potential solutions we see". What they do with that is up to them. For instance, we can say something like "the workload put upon the NT editor appears excessive to the point where he's unable to devote proper time and care to his tasks as the NT editor, leading to sizable shortfalls in the Series section and creating a bottleneck of entries that is very frustrating to us as the contributors to the Times. We recommend finding the means to ease his workload, possibly by utilizing an intern to help with the Neopian Times or finding ways to engage the userbase to have a more active role in assembling the Times." And then they might go "ahahaha lol you cute kids" and scrap the whole thing, or stare numbly at their miserable bottom line through a bottle of scotch and wallow in the despair of knowing that the whole operation is past saving, or have a eureka moment and make actual positive changes. But one way or another, hey, we tried. The point, as I see it, is not in exercising successful leverage by somehow magically providing the right solutions by x-raying through the swamp, but more about making a stand. Having a unified voice as this long-running long-standing group of writers and telling them that we're here and we have this voice. (can't help but feel that this would also require the "do not cite the deep magic to me" meme somewhere.)
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Post by Kat on Jun 6, 2021 8:07:03 GMT -5
Well, in the succeeding issue, they published Herdy's new series. Although, I have to wonder if Aesop managed to find room because mine was put on hold for my Fyora Day short story, bringing down the number of continued series to 2. While this is a good sign, if the hard cap on series will continue to be enforced from there on out or be tightened somehow, it's only going to look like Aesop tried to appease Herdy after he brought the complaint to the editorial even if that was not the case at all. And quite honestly, that will make me think, "well, then I probably should have complained last year too when I couldn't submit the series that was supposed to be my milestone 200th publication for months until the dubious distinction of my 200th trophy instead went to a series I wrote for a collab issue, and when I couldn't even submit a shorter series" A question worth asking is, should we still come out with a statement at this point? LAST EDIT: I'm sorry if I don't sound very optimistic, I suppose I really am stuck in my pre-hiatus past.
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Post by Herdy on Jun 6, 2021 14:57:09 GMT -5
Yeah, I also submitted a new editorial question clarifying that I'd been submitting consistently for six months so the advice he gave wasn't all that great - and shot down his argument that having one new series start each week would open the floodgates like he made out. I ran the numbers and it should end up with an average of 6 Continued Series at a time. Well less than half of what previous editors were juggling. I fully expect it was a mixture of Kat's series hiatus and that follow up complaint that caused me to get published, not any change to policy, but we'll see.
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Post by Kat on Jun 26, 2021 6:19:43 GMT -5
Going back to this, it looks like Aesop will be announcing when certain series will end or are at their second to the last part. The blurb for my series mentioned that it was already on the penultimate part (I was hoping for a nice blurb or excerpt but ah well), which is like other series writers' cue to go and submit something.
I've always known that they mention when a series is at its final chapter but it looks like it will also be mentioned when a series is at the penultimate chapter.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Jun 26, 2021 9:13:11 GMT -5
Going back to this, it looks like Aesop will be announcing when certain series will end or are at their second to the last part. The blurb for my series mentioned that it was already on the penultimate part (I was hoping for a nice blurb or excerpt but ah well), which is like other series writers' cue to go and submit something. I've always known that they mention when a series is at its final chapter but it looks like it will also be mentioned when a series is at the penultimate chapter. The heart's in the right place, I'm just not sure it's going to help much.
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Post by Kat on Aug 11, 2021 5:24:40 GMT -5
Time to put these new rules plus the biweekly NT updates to the test with the 9-part direct sequel to A Hero's Journey: Rivalry.
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Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Aug 15, 2021 15:14:43 GMT -5
If my Mutant Day series gets TMGE'd, I'll split it into a bunch of standalone stories and submit them separately. It'll be the same total amount of reading for Aesop, though. :/ I'm not sure the hard cap is doing much to lighten the total workload.
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Post by Kat on Aug 15, 2021 23:32:01 GMT -5
If my Mutant Day series gets TMGE'd, I'll split it into a bunch of standalone stories and submit them separately. It'll be the same total amount of reading for Aesop, though. :/ I'm not sure the hard cap is doing much to lighten the total workload. He makes exceptions for series that are submitted for special issues at least, so if Mutant Day is going to happen, you're not going to get a TMGE. On the other hand, I DID GET A TMGE though I really should have expected that with four series still running.
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Post by Kat on Aug 28, 2021 0:15:46 GMT -5
With two series put on hold for the Mutant Day issue, that brings the number of continued series down to one, but Aesop accepted two new series this week. Which means there will be five next issue.
It looks like another workaround is to submit a series for an issue wherein you know some series writers will have theirs put on hold for a collab or a special issue, reducing the number of continued series to less than 3. You'll either get lucky, or keep close tabs on collab issues to see which series writers will take a hiatus.
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Post by downrightdude on Aug 28, 2021 16:27:49 GMT -5
I just submitted mine randomly. It had nothing to do with the Mutants collab.
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Post by Kat on Aug 29, 2021 1:25:14 GMT -5
Yeah, but the Mutant collab only had one continued series after two series were put on hold, so he published it and another new series in the collab. In any case, congrats, Snaw!
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Post by downrightdude on Aug 30, 2021 17:30:07 GMT -5
Yeah, but the Mutant collab only had one continued series after two series were put on hold, so he published it and another new series in the collab. In any case, congrats, Snaw! Thanks Kat! Took me over a year to get it in.
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Post by Ian Wolf-Park on Sept 17, 2021 19:14:13 GMT -5
With two series put on hold for the Mutant Day issue, that brings the number of continued series down to one, but Aesop accepted two new series this week. Which means there will be five next issue. It looks like another workaround is to submit a series for an issue wherein you know some series writers will have theirs put on hold for a collab or a special issue, reducing the number of continued series to less than 3. You'll either get lucky, or keep close tabs on collab issues to see which series writers will take a hiatus. Looks that way. This issue (943) has all 5 series returning, with no new series. I expect that once it drops down to two series, then we'll see the return of the usual. Still don't like the idea of caps on series and these workarounds are temporary, at best.
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