Sci-Fi Romance discussion
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Does Group Need a Re-Boot?
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by
Celestine
(new)
Aug 17, 2015 02:04PM
Does anyone else feel as though discussion topics for this group are a little stagnant and there is little directed interaction? Discovered today that the two moderators for this group have not made a post in Sci-Fi Romance since Feb. 15, 2012 and July 30, 2010. Any suggestions about how to go about a reboot and see more activity on here? I would love to see SFR readers sharing more!
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I like the "Books for Free or Reduced Price" topic in one of the groups. So handy. Would a movie/tv sci-fi topic be fun, especially if we compare to favorite reads?
I love this group but it has been slowly losing discussions. I would love more activity.
I confess to not being very active on this group.Just noticed that the challenge on the main page is 3 years out of date.
I don't mind a reboot. The main thread I seem to read is the 'which sfr are you reading'.No idea how to do a reboot, though.
AnnaM wrote: "I don't mind a reboot. The main thread I seem to read is the 'which sfr are you reading'.No idea how to do a reboot, though."
Well, I've just this evening been adding new comments on older threads that are still interesting, but need some newer book discussions. Maybe it just takes a few of us dedicated SFR fans to post more often and things will upswing. Not sure we can do much about the absent moderators.
Can you message the one who is still on goodreads and ask to take over as a moderator? Or be added as one?
Mary: Harry Dresden's Love Slave wrote: "Can you message the one who is still on goodreads and ask to take over as a moderator? Or be added as one?"Sooo...that's a maybe. There are 387 non-archived thread topics (and who knows how many actual comments). I'm still working my way through them to see what kind of job this might be. Plus, I am no expert on SFR. I'm not an author, or a blogger, and I don't have decades-old knowledge of this topic like some of the other members of this group. I am simply an avid reader of romance adventures in several sub-genres (although SF is a fav). Are there others also interested? Please say yes.
I swear I thought AnnaM was a moderator. I vote for your AnnaM!!!
A reboot might be good, if nothing else it would be nice to get the old challenge off the front of the group homepage. When something from 2012 is still lingering so prominently it makes the group look kinda abandoned.
Hey, I certainly wasn't a veteran to the genre either. Maybe I shouldn't have de-modded myself, LOL. I could have given you the reins. You can ask Jan to make you a mod. The "Which SFR are you reading?" topic still sees responses, but I'd love to see more discussion. I tried to spur discussions on TV and movies, but there didn't seem to be interest. But I'd love to see those topics too. I need somewhere to discuss Extant. :)Also, I know GR can add mods to groups whose mods have abandoned them, if all else fails.
You all have great ideas. Under the Help section for groups it says that only a current moderator or Goodreads employee can promote a member to moderator. Perhaps if the person willing to moderate emails Goodreads, they could make the appropriate changes.Celestine, my reasons for not volunteering to moderate are the same as yours. Plus, I don't want to commit to it and then find that I cannot fit the time to moderate into my schedule. What do you think the duties of a moderator would entail...I'm thinking about it.
Jen, a mod organizes topics into their folders and ensures everyone's following the rules, but most importantly, engages the group in some discussions or challenges/group reads, if that's applicable. If you're unsure of the time commitment, I would assign a co-mod.
Merry wrote: "I hope you don't mind, Celestine, that I've posted this over at the Sci Fi Romance Facebook group.https://www.facebook.com/groups/the.s..."
Merry, Thanks for posting this on SciFi Romance Group on FB. I browse there for SFR news also. I agree that people might not want to follow on multiple platforms. Do you think the FB group has supplanted this goodreads group? Are there advantages/disadvantages to the goodreads or FB platforms? Some discussion on this might help to answer the question on whether a re-boot is wanted, needed or necessary.
Carolyn F. wrote: "I swear I thought AnnaM was a moderator. I vote for your AnnaM!!!"LOL. Thanks. :-) Kinda busy though now that I'm working. I just try to post every so often.
How many mods are we allowed to have? 3 or 4 might be able to fill any time holes. I like both groups. This one is easier to find new books, for me, since I log all my books onto GR and love to browse other people's lists. Plus Listopia is fun. I like the FB group for the news, authors, and fast pace.
But I haven't spent a lot of time on either this year. I've been crazy busy. I'm so far behind in my SFR reading I may not be able to help with the Galaxy Awards.
Hey! So glad to see this group coming back to life. :) I'm here, I'm here!
I don't use the FB group so would be sorry to see this group close. I'll admit I only really participate in the what SFR are you reading discussion.
I'm just learning that this SFR group is coming to life. So glad to see it. I'll try to participate more. And I think readers are the very best people to be mods. ;)
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F.P. wrote: "Hi--again. I wish this place would make a comeback--it used to be hopping. I wanted to rejoin and post months ago...but it seemed no one had been around for months (including the original creators ..."Hi F.P.! I was thinking the other day that maybe we should start some new threads. Your message is full of great topics for discussion. I never get tired of thinking about the role and incarnations of SFR. I started out reading SF and found Ann McCaffrey. These days I am more about the romance. But I think it is all good for the genre. Labeling is always hard. And it has gotten even more convoluted now that authors and publishers tag or categorize books by what will help them get on a list rather than actually reflecting the book content. It is understandable - they need to sell books to stay in business and we all want more books. LOL. (Disclaimer I'm an author as well as a reader.) It can just make it really hard to find what you're looking for.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I'm an SFR author as well, and a voracious romance reader. I came to SFR from romance, and don't actually read straight SF.As a romance reader, I adore labels. I can find exactly what I'm looking for, and stay away from the things I don't like. We romance readers love our tropes and labels. Accurate labeling and tagging is crucial to getting romance readers to buy into SFR as a viable genre.
As a romance reader, I'm not interested in SFR independent of the romance genre. Because I'm not going to find what I want, which is Romance first and SF a distant second. It's why I'm now cross-marketing my work as paranormal. That's where my readers are.
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We're limited in in genre "shelving" by what's known as BISAC codes. Romance > Science Fiction hasn't been around more than a couple of years. I'm familiar with the romance BISAC categories, but not the others.BISAC categories don't exist to divide things up the way you're talking about, which is kind of unfortunate as it would make categorizing SFR a lot easier.
LOL, FP, I feel the same way about the word "claim." It kind of degrades and undermines the relationship that the author has been building for X pages.
I haven't been very active because I've had a lot of health issues this year, which includes problems with using my hands. That makes it really hard to interact online. Also, there didn't seem to be much happening in this group so I admit I kind of lost interest. If there was more information about books being shared, I'd be very interested. Just found "Twin Flames" by Cassandra L. Shaw and started reading it today.
Merry wrote: "I hope you don't mind, Celestine, that I've posted this over at the Sci Fi Romance Facebook group.https://www.facebook.com/groups/the.s..."
I didn't know about this group, and I'm very interested. Thanks.
Rachel wrote: "I'm an SFR author as well, and a voracious romance reader. I came to SFR from romance, and don't actually read straight SF.As a romance reader, I adore labels. I can find exactly what I'm looking..."
You've mentioned one of my biggest peeves. By the usual definition. the main conflict of a romance centers on the hero and heroine, and whether they'll get together. But most of what we called Sci Fi or Futuristic romance has virtually no conflict of that nature, just a man and a woman together as they face one of the usual sci fi plots. I think that's one of the main reasons more "mainstream" romance fans tend to look down on SFR and tend to avoid it. They want romance, not science fiction with romantic elements.
Hi!When I go to Amazon and search Science Fiction, I can eventually get to an option for "romantic".
TKay wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm an SFR author as well, and a voracious romance reader. I came to SFR from romance, and don't actually read straight SF.As a romance reader, I adore labels. I can find exactly w..."
But whether they'll get together can still be a conflict at the same time. :)
Pippa wrote: "I don't use the FB group so would be sorry to see this group close. I'll admit I only really participate in the what SFR are you reading discussion."I do that too. See whether I'd be interested in a new author/book.
TKay wrote: "They want romance, not science fiction with romantic elements."I'm the opposite, I want science fiction with romantic elements.
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Other than that, if someone is interested in taking it on the simplest way would be to start another group and place messages on the threads here to head over to the new group.
Running a group isn't that difficult, but it does take time. And as much as I'd like to help, I've got my hands plenty full with https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Emma wrote: "Only a mod can add new mods or remove them. I don't know if a goodreads librarian could help if an individual wanted to take over this group if the only two mods are AWOL.Other than that, if some..."
I'm pretty sure that GR staff can make someone a moderator if a group has been abandoned by it's mods. But I'm not sure what the process is beyond contacting staff.
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Maybe she's lost interest in this group?
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Some of the topics are a little dated, and when you look at some of the writers that are being highlighted, they're ones that haven't produced much lately or the works are older - books written at least 10 or more years ago. They're classics, mind you, but where is the new stuff? I can see why interest might be waning. Science fiction has so many cool new ideas coming out lately. Where are those books?
I messaged "Jan" months ago about her intent to reestablish interaction with this group, but received no response. I recall the other moderator was inactive.
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Some groups have competitions, read alongs, recommended reads, sections for authors to request reviews etc.
The most basic function is to try and stimulate debates, and make sure everyone is playing 'nice'. This involves keeping an eye on the threads, deleting inappropriate posts, etc.
I spend up to 12 hours a week moderating my group, then again, it is the largest peer review group on goodreads and we have a dozen mods looking after up to fifteen review rounds at one time. So it's BUSY.
Hi Everyone!I apologize for leaving this group unattended. It was never my intention to end up being the lone moderator for this group, but nevertheless I apologize for leaving you all hanging. I've had a lot going on in my personal life, and have in fact been on hiatus for over a year. I've only recently occasionally been back to GR, and mostly to track books, not really for the social features.
All that to apologize and to offer at least somewhat of an explanation.
Unfortunately I don't really expect to be back on the social side of Gr, which means I'm not really the person to reboot this Group.
I think it would be best for me to leave the moderating to people who are actually active, so the Group's public face can at least reflect that you guys have been active and florishing, even without a Mod Team.
The easiest way for this to happen would be if someone (or multiple someones) stepped forward, so I can appoint them as a Mod in my stead. That way you guys can figure out amongst yourself where to take the Group, and can appoint some moderators amongst yourselves.
I've put notifications on this thread, so just reply here.
Apologies again.
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