ADMIN POST: The Mission Report Challenge

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

Okay, this comes from an idea by nudaydreamer and it's like, three--three!--cool challenges in one! As she puts it:

I'd love to see a Mission Report Challenge. We all know some crazy shit happens on those other worlds, and authors could choose to a) write a (pornalicious?) Report That Will Never Actually Be Filed Because Elizabeth Would Freak Out And Such, b) write a euphemistically suggestive report that leaves those of us with dirty minds quite clear on what happened, without being explicit, or possibly c) take another author's story and write a report of type a or b for it.

Everybody got that? See, it's kind of a Document Challenge and it's kind of a Remix and it's kind of Classified and Porny--or not; it's a festival, really. Now to clarify about option c)--if you choose to write a mission report of somebody else's story, we'll ask you to credit them, but we won't require you to ask their permission Edited to add: and get their permission, or check the links below. HOWEVER, if you want to opt OUT of option c)--i.e. tell people that they can't write a mission report of your story or stories, even with credit--please leave a comment in this post ASAP. Edited to add: link to new opt-out post below! We WILL ask challenge respondents to check before posting that the writer hasn't opted out of the challenge. Edited to add: Merryish reminds me to say that it is, of course, perfectly acceptable to write a mission report on one of your own stories!

It's August 21st; stories will be due on Monday, September 4th, Labor Day, at midnight.


Edited to add: Freezing comments here: click here for a policy clarification, opt-in, and opt-out posts are above.

Comments

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[debc.livejournal.com]

Replying again because something just occurred to me.

You said (quoting you) that the challenge is NOT to remix stories, just to write a mission report about a story, but if you look at this orginal post (the post introducing the challenge itself), the mod openly calls it a remix.

Quoting original post, with pertaining part bolded:

Everybody got that? See, it's kind of a Document Challenge and it's kind of a Remix and it's kind of Classified and Porny--or not; it's a festival, really.

Therefore, I'm not wrong at all in calling a remix, because the challenge itself (as written) calls itself a remix.

And still, I stand my original opinion that the people running this challenge have done so in poor taste and ever poorer manners by not requiring that people chosing the remix option gain permission first.

Most remix challenges I've seen so far only allow stories to be bemixed if 1) the author is question is also particiapting in the remix themself and 2) if said author has listed the fic as something they don't care if it gets remixed.

This challenge says that anything, regardless of if the author is a member of this comm, is up for grabs without permission or even prior knowledge from the original author and that is what I find objectionable about the whole thing.

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I went back and read that again and saw the same thing. I concede the point completely; it seems that my vision of what a "remix" is is different from a lot of people -- I've been corrected elsewhere! I'd just see this challenge more along the idea of writing a coda or an episode tag, not as rewriting the plot.

Still, I agree that asking for permission is the polite thing to do in either case.

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[debc.livejournal.com]

I honestly would have the same reaction if someone wrote a coda, tag or sequel to one of my fics without seeking my permission, and I know I'm not alone because I've seen it happen to friends of mine before and seen their reactions, too. There's a difference between knowing someone is going to do something and being okay with it and not having any warning/knowledge that it happened until you accidentally stumbled across it on some archive.

But then, I just may be old-fashioned in what I consider good fandom etiquette. ;-)

Still, I agree that asking for permission is the polite thing to do in either case.

It is, yes.

And I would like to apologize to you, personally, for sounding in anyway like I was jumping down your throat. (If I did.) I tend to get "over eager" when debating opinions and trying to get mine across.

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[misspamela.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, not at all. No worries!

I think my reaction was more based on seeing people say "don't turn mine into McShep" or whetver, which wouldn't happen in this challenge as written.

But that's probably me missing the point of the permission thing, which I agree was probably worded badly.

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[khriskin]

Could it be that the poster meant it was a remix of previous challenges? They've had a 'Documentation' challenge before as well as a other challenges that were similar to this idea... no clue, just thinking that folks may be jumping into the assumption that challenges should rewrite the fic when that wasn't what was intended.

The whole thing is rather ambiguous though.. hopefully the mod will log back on and help clarify things. *crosses fingers*

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[debc.livejournal.com]

It's not the "remix" that's getting to me, however. It's the "no permission necessary" part.

(frozen) Re: Won't Be Joining this Comm Ever.

[khriskin]

Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding then, the whole thing just confuses me at this point. *sighs*