fanart_recs | any ideas to promote this comm more and encourage reccing?

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any ideas to promote this comm more and encourage reccing?

I'd love for this comm to become a bit livelier in this new year, and to broaden the reccer base.

While it is absolutely great that a handful of people rec so regularly, making sure the comm isn't (near-)dead, and there are also some new reccers every now and then, just reccing for a month, there often aren't enough reccers to average a rec per day, so

fanart_recs definitely could be more active.

One way would be to make this comm more widely known and grow in numbers, some of whom then might rec eventually. I think for that having a banner to offer people prettier linking with some embedding code would be nice, but I suck at making attractive banners myself. So if anyone felt like making some we could offer, that would be great. Maybe if we had such pretties and a pre-made promotion they could just c&p more would spread the word than now. I could also use something like that to advertise again on

dw_community_promo which I haven't done in a while.

The second way would be to encourage more current members and subscribers to make the jump to reccing, but I'm not sure what the barriers to that are there now. Is there anything that could be made easier and would make you consider reccing? Like, for example the comm could do occasional open posting periods outside the regular structure, allowing every member to rec a fanart they wanted to, without having to commit to a whole set but still dip their toes in. (though really, it's only four! *puppy dog eyes*)

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What if people choose a month to do a weekly post?

Um, I hadn't realized that posting was limited. Not sure if this would work with the structure you've got. Is there some reason people can't post rec's whenever they want? I know that if I don't rec something pretty much as soon as I see it, it doesn't happen. Out of sight, out of mind.

Edited 2013-01-07 22:24 (UTC)

I don't understand what you mean. Right now people pick a month and over its course post at least four recs for a fandom of their choice.
ETA: Having seen your edit, right now it is this way because this format works so well for crack_van on the fanfic side, and because in my experience many comms not nurtured by structure have a flurry of activity and then go dead.

Edited 2013-01-07 22:27 (UTC)

Ah, so that's basically what I suggested, except they can pick any four days to do it.

I don't have a lot of experience with multi-fandom comms and zero experience with rec coms.

I'll be curious to see what other people have to say.

I really modelled it onto crack_van, because that format worked well for them and all the fandom-specific clones of that comm, and I thought it would be transferable to fanart. So it seemed a tried model to keep a comm alive and interest up long-term, and considering this comm is now over two years and at least still has some regular traffic (which is more than can be said for some open posting fannish comms) it worked somewhat.

Another reason why I picked this setup is that many people like to prepare recs in advance, and if you aren't sure to be the only one to rec a popular fandom, another might have just recced that currently hot fanart if it is just melee posting.

Ideally being able to claim a month had the goal to ensure steady content and traffic to keep up interests and to give reccers the opportunity to highlight their fandom in the space. Personally I actually find this kind of setup less intimidating? (that's not quite the word, I mean, the effect where in an unstructured crowd you can't know what others might do and keep back to lurk and see, hoping others will start and post so you won't have take space, compared to when you sign up and have a space given to you to fill out).

I'd consider changing the structure if many member say they'd prefer more free-form reccing in this space over the crack_van format, though.

I found out about this comm through the snowflake challenge and I actually liked that the traffic wasn't high. I hadn't had the idea that I would actually post anything here, at least not for a while. I tend to be very voluble in my own space and much quieter in comms, if I'm even in a comm.

I can totally see that having a structure is good. I'm brand new to the comm, as I said, so I hadn't even checked out how things worked here!

Welcome! Glad you joined (and that someone promoted this comm in their challenge response). Subscribing without posting is certainly welcome. After all what good would reccing be if nobody saw them?

I would be more likely to participate if there were free-rec threads - I'm really hesitant to sign up for a whole month because I'm not really a person who goes looking for fanart, I just enjoy it when it crosses my sight - but I'd be willing to put up a favorite or two in a free-recs post every so often

I'm not sure how well that would work at tempting me to sign up for a month, though.

I'm against reccing in comments, because the browsing organization relies on tags, and I absolutely hate the kink_meme model where everything is squished into comments, and you need outside services to organize. I won't have that in my comm. (Sorry to be dictatorial on that point, but the mere thought makes my inner tagger recoil. *g*)

Opening posts to everyone, whether for a short period, like open weekends, or announced open months, or even a switch to just open reccing are things I'd consider, but not reccing in comments.

Oh, I didn't mean to be suggesting threads rather than a free-posting period - it's just that every other comm I've been on that has periodic free-for-alls does it in comments, and I didn't read your post very carefully, so I assumed. A posting period would maybe be even better!

Replying to both of you here:

What if there was a post, say once a week, where people could make free recs in the comments and then a mod collected those comments into another post where tagging was used properly?

I totally agree with

ratcreature. I hate the KM model. I can't read anything there.

Since I'm the only active mod (there is a backup moderator to keep an eye on things in a pinch, but the general work load now is low), I'm not that fond of creating c&p work for me *ponts to icon*, when people might just as well make a regular post themselves as posting a comment without more effort for themselves.

LOL (at your icon). I'm a terrible mod. I like to set up comms and then hope that people play in them.

*ponders* It's a great comm, but I'm not sure how to make the comm more active. My main reason for not reccing in the last year or so is that I'm in fandoms that don't have a significant fanart component (there is next to zero White Collar fanart, for whatever reason) but there is also a pretty big element of apathy/laziness to my nonparticipation, too. And I'm not sure how to overcome that, let alone how to get other people interested. Spreading the word is a good idea! I think that's the main reason why crack-van does as well as it does, because it's so large that there's a big pool of potential reccers to draw from.

Regarding posting format, I expect the crack-van style discourages some people, but it probably also encourages others. Having to sign up to rec is a hurdle to overcome, but it's also an incentive to collect recs and actually post them. And freestyle reccing communities don't seem to do any better when the interest isn't there; stargategenrec has been basically dead for a couple of years now.

Honestly, I think the system you've got is simple and easy, and couldn't really be made any simpler/easier without losing some of its functionality. I'm not sure how to handle the "overcoming apathy" part, though, except just by finding a wider pool of people to post recs.

I do think your monthly reminder posts are very helpful! Hmmm ... is there some way to streamline the signup process a bit? I know it makes the record-keeping easier if it's all in one place, but I wonder if something so simple as allowing people to sign up by commenting on the reminder post, rather than having to click through a couple of links, might help.

I'd like to echo the streamlining the signup comment. Maybe even having a sticky post at the top of the comm that includes the profile info and a link to the sign-up post? I know whenever I've signed up before I've gone to the profile page first, and it can be a little frustrating to click through multiple links to get to a page you can't find otherwise.

+1, having a sticky post and info in the profile with the quick links would help make it easier.

That is a good idea. I always have to click through the tags to find the sign-up post when I compile the reccer recruiting posts to see what's coming up too. Initially that only the intro was linked in the profile was intentional, so everybody who wanted to rec had to see the rules post, but it does get tedious.

I wish I had useful ideas to offer; I think the model you're currently using is great, and I'd be all over it ... I'm hoping that once I graduate from my masters program I'll be able to start signing up again! (It's not the time commitment for reccing that I can't manage; it's the fact that I never get to spend time browsing for fanart anymore!)

I wonder if some combination of the crack_van-esque model you have now, and the "free-reccing" people have suggested above, might help? Maybe have people sign up for fandoms each month as before, but also host a free-for-all week where anyone who wants to can post recs in any fandom they like (in posts, not comments)?

I'll probably do a poll to gauge the interest in an open reccing period. If there is enough interest, it's worth a try.

One thing that would make it a little easier for me is having the code in a format that I can easily copy and paste when on the run. For this community I tend to use RTF so I can just copy from the post into the comment, but it sometimes comes out a bit mangled and kills the links. (and when I'm on an iphone and what not it's not as easy to post and edit the details.) Having it in a html format I can copy and paste from would make it a lot easier for myself.

(I made a copy in my journal that I could use to copy and paste from, before but I keep losing it.)

I can do the coding for it when I'm at home, if it's something you would need assistance with? But having something like that in the profile would make it easier for myself to be able to drop in more recs when I'm on my lunch break.

http://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=199 (is how to create a sticky post FAQ)

Banners are a great idea. Promotions to comms like

fandomcalendar might be good as well - a reminder maybe in the last week of the month?

I think if you had the copy and paste box in the sticky notice at the top that would be very useful. I have a template file that I use for my recs that looks like this:

(the code for that, by the way, is

About the form itself... as a non-art person I always have trouble figuring out what the medium is. Maybe a simple choice between manip/drawn would make that easier for me. I often can't tell hand-drawn from computer-drawn. As well, it always takes me more time than I expect to collect and type up links (Artist on DW/LJ, Artist Website/Gallery). Either it's fairly evident (artistname @ LJ, artistname @ DW, artistname @ deviantart, artistname @ tumblr) or it requires esoteric googling (to discover that artistname @ LJ is thing-thing @ tumblr), but most of the art I link to is on LJ, DW, or DeviantArt, and people should be able to find galleries on their own after following the link.... (I know I can leave things blank, but I feel like I should be complete.)

For people who don't have the time or ability to post recs, it might be nice to have a place (Pinboard, Delicious, open post) where they can point out cool art in different fandoms ("Wicked DW manip! [link]") as a resource for reccers. Sometimes I only have 3 recs and need just one more, and it would be helpful to have some recs to check out instead of searching the whole internet. /lazy

I didn't think fandomcalendar would take comm promotions. I thought it was only for events.

I like the medium field because it gives information whether it's even worth clicking (or whether it's a medium you loathe) in the absence of preview images (which are not in the template because of the particular issues that arise from having images on a rec comm, e.g. the NSFW issue, problems of having to either hotlink or copy the image, the different attitudes artists have about displaying their art in shrunk/cropped format anywhere, and different ideas about needed permissions and so on, so that seemed far more trouble than I'd want to put on reccers or the comm). But FWIW, it's perfectly fine if you just say simply "drawing" there if the artist doesn't say and you can't tell any more.

As for the gallery link, that is true for some sites, but I find it very hard to navigate some other sites, especially ones in different languages I don't speak, and the artist name is often different from the user name if the name is not in Latin characters. So in those cases it is not redundant, but may be a real help for the casual rec browser to explore more of the artist, even though they are in a very different corner of fandom on an unfamiliar site.

Like I explained above, I'm completely opposed to any kind of reccing in comments, because it is either soon a complete mess where you don't find anything, or takes an enormous effort for someone (likely me) to go through and build a parallel structure (like on pinboard) to tag like kink memes do, or repost recs posted in comments to utilize the tags here, and since I'm lazy too, my willingness to take over work for others to allow them to rec only goes so far. I mean, I want to make it easy and convenient for others to participate, but I want the result be a neatly organized repository of recs without having to redo every rec in some way or another.

Do you ever promote the comm in

dw_community_promo? I try to remember and promote mine there at least once a year. There is also

lj_refugees where I know I've seen people post comm promos.

I have promoted in dw_community_promo twice so far. Once when the comm started, and once in 2011 when it was established for a while, but not recently. I intend to post there again once any tweaks arising from this discussion have been sorted out (and maybe someone will have felt inspired to make a pretty banner).

I didn't mean to collect recs in comments for the comm, but for the reccers, who might be looking for art to rec. So the mod would not have to do anything with recs left in comments, but if I saw something that looked cool there I could add it to my rec-set and post it to the comm. (I'm pretty sure Delicious had the feature where you could send a link to someone, not sure if Pinboard has that; I know Twitter was kind of made for that.)

I'm one of the lurkers on this comm.

I've thought about reccing, but committing to a whole month/at least four works is not something I feel comfortable with. For one because I don't always have four works I would like to rec - maybe there's one or two which I really liked in a specific fandom, and that's it, and also because I'm not very good at committing to specific terms/times.

Also, I'm often not sure about the fandoms. I find myself thinking "oh, I could rec for fandom x" and the next thing would be "again? People have recced for that one in several months already".

not a mod, but if a fandom is lucky enough to have lots of participation, I don't think anyone begrudges that/wishes fewer reccers would sign up? At least, I've never felt that.

Hm, I don't know. My own reaction to that is very often "fandom x has taken over, time to move on".

Something I'd add is that if I'm the only person reccing a fandom in a community like this? I feel more pressured to represent the fandom well and provide something for everyone. Even if I'm not personally interested in some of it. As opposed to now when I'm reccing Avengers here, and don't have to feel guilty about focusing on my OTP because I'm not the only Avengers abassador the community will ever have.

(I do see what you mean about fancake, but I feel like this comm is set up differently enough for it to not be the same.)

I feel more pressured to represent the fandom well and provide something for everyone. Even if I'm not personally interested in some of it.

I've heard that from other reccers, too, but I always wonder about that. Depending on the fandom I either have my OTP or I have my little black dress character. Or it's simply a matter of time priorities - I might like lots of characters/pairings, but as my time is limited I favour reading/looking at the ones that intrigue me the most at the moment.

And I assume it's the same for most people, so why try reccing out of one's comfort zone? Or feeling guilty or pressured about about it?

Theoretically, I'm all for no one feeling guilty about anything fannish. But in practice: I might want to encourage people to join a small fandom, and feel that's likelier to happen if I give a representative sample of everything that's in it. Or get people hooked to what's popular. Or I may be into a pairing that's not that well-shipped in a fandom that's got a dominant OTP. So I would spend the whole month thinking my recs are boring everybody.

I have actually been asked, during overviews at crack_van, whether I'm going to be reccing fandom bandwagon OTP X, or just (my personal OTP that only 4 other people care about). So not an issue that's wholly invented, you know? It sucks and no one should feel bad about what they like, but I don't want to be wasting time either.

So I would spend the whole month thinking my recs are boring everybody.
Well, yes? But that's normal with reccing I think? There's always someone deeply uninterested in your/my favourites, and they will be bored out of their mind when you/I rec. And even if you/I try to present a broader selection, there are the small fandom/unpopular pairing shippers you/I can't make happy.

So not an issue that's wholly invented, you know?
I know, but I still don't get it. See above. Also, I'm a slash & gen reader exclusively, so I would never be the right person to rec het. I couldn't represent it, because I have no idea about the popular pairings, the most loved authors, the best works, etc.
It's like asking about my favourite recipes when I don't cook - I can neither give an informed opinion, nor a personal recommendation, because I just have no idea.

I think it's a mistake to think that reccing means "reccing/representing a whole fandom", at least in specific comms like

fanart_recs. It's about reccing a fanwork that you love, for whatever reason. For example, there's artwork I adore for fandoms I can't stand. I would rec the artwork in a heartbeat, but never the fandom.

Again, don't disagree in principle. It's just not that easy in practice, for *me*, to decide I don't give a crap whether my recs are boring everybody. I hang out in a lot of fandoms where there is a massively dominant pairing, that I don't necessarily get. I'm not talking about boring a few people. I'm talking about boring *everybody*.

But this is reminding me a lot of an lj conversation I had a long time ago, where the person really didn't get why anyone would read outside their preferred pairing without a gun to their head. And I didn't get what the big deal was. So personality is a factor, I'd say. No universal way to approach it. Or universal reason to rec.

Oh yeah, definitely different personality/different approach here, and I think a wholly different fandom experience in general. *g* I'm starting to get where you're coming from - and thanks, this is a very interesting discussion!

I'm used to hanging out in either very small fandoms or in very huge ones, and I'm mostly rare-pairing shipper. So, I'm used to being bored by or uninterested in 99% of the recs I stumble upon - I believe that's a huge part of the reason why I don't give a damn about boring people with my own recs.
Boredom or disinterest is simply the way I'm used to feel or even expect to feel when I see other people's recs, so I assume others will feel the same about mine.

And yep, there has to be a huge reason for me to even consider reading out of my preferred fandom or pairing. For me to even be interested in reading/looking at something, I have to have established some kind of connection to at least one of the characters first. No connection means no interest in reading/watching/etc in my case, no matter if it's something produced by one of my favourite authors or artists in a fandom.

Also, I'm someone who doesn't often get squicked by content, but who has major character squicks. To the point that I even skip stories with my favourite pairings when I see certain character names mentioned in the summary.

Another major factor is time. Life's too short to read bad fic (unless I'm getting really desperate *g*). Or uninteresting fic. Regardless of quality, I wouldn't even think about reading a fic out of my comfort zone/my preferences when I have a long backlog of fic that fits my preferences very well and only about two hours a day to read, for example. Or I'd rather read bad!fic for my favourite pairing than a quality fic with a pairings I'm not interested in. Uhm, yeah...

No universal way to approach it. Or universal reason to rec.
I agree. Also, no universal reaction towards recs. For example, recs are not the way for me to get introduced into a new fandom - they only work for me if I'm already invested.

But it is awesome if a fandom is recced for several months in a row! A steady stream of recs in a popular fandom is a great attraction for people to subscribe, if they happen to like that fandom. I'd love if a fandom I particularly like, say X-Men: First Class, was recced every month.

So would you post the recs you do have during an open period? Like say if the comm announced a "February Reccing Frenzy" for a week in an open period, would that make you post then? Or would that still count as specific time, and wouldn't be a turn-off?

This is the concern that's kept me from signing up. My fandom is Harry Potter, and I don't ever leave it, but there are already 70+ tags for it here. I felt signing up for "huge, often-recced fandom" might be a bit eyerolling for watchers, but if it's not, I'll definitely consider signing up for a month ~~or several~~.

I certainly would be happy to see more HP recs, and I'm sure everybody else is too. And if they are not, on DW you can fine-tune your reading list by tags, so if anyone absolutely did not want to see HP recs, they could just subscribe to this comm and filter them out.

Gonna repeat something from above, since it might be relevant for a multiship fandom like you're in. Maybe *some* people are tired of HP? but there may also be some HP fans who are waiting for a reccer to come along who shares their thematic interests or rarer OTP. And maybe you're that fan, you know? You shouldn't think of your recs as just being more of the same imo. They might be totally unique and exciting to someone watching. :)

But it is awesome if a fandom is recced for several months in a row!
Okay, two people in a row saying the same thing? Tells me my perception might be a bit weird. For me it's mostly "fandom x has taken over, time to move on". As in, ignore/leave the comm, or stop subscribing.

It took me ten rounds until I stopped thinking of

fancake as "that bandom recs community" and get my own first recs in.

Possibly, I'm not sure. It could go both ways for me - saying hey, that open period is far away enough that I can prepare (I'm the person who saves art to her hard drive, but doesn't bookmark - finding certain art again on the net can be a bit difficult sometimes), but it could easily turn into me saying "now? Argh, no way, I'll never manage".

I might be better off as a lurker here. :(

For me it's mostly "fandom x has taken over, time to move on". As in, ignore/leave the comm, or stop subscribing.

But under the current sign-up model that can't even happen. I mean, even if a fandom is recced every month, it is still only one reccer posting for it, unlike the fancake model. And okay, there is no upper limit, so it could be more than four recs, but usually not that many more, and the FAQ even explains that when considering the upper limit, posters should pick something that doesn't swamp the other recs through volume.

Well, I'm still here and watching, right? *g*

Yeah, it can't happen here like in other comms. And my reaction isn't really logical. But sometimes, when I think I should give it a try I take a look at the tags. And then it goes "okay, not this fandom, and not that one, or that over there..."

I'll have a go at making a couple of promo banners! :)

I like how the comm works and think the posting system's pretty straightforward. Maybe an occasional less structured reccing free-for-all or amnesty week? That might draw in a few people. But I think the month at a time structure's good, and 4 reccs really isn't very much.

I like how the comm works and think the posting system's pretty straightforward. Maybe an occasional less structured reccing free-for-all or amnesty week? That might draw in a few people. But I think the month at a time structure's good, and 4 reccs really isn't very much.

I completely agree with this.

I'm glad it works for you.

I particularly like that you get to choose yourself when you want to rec. So much better than the way crack_van does it.

Well, I imagine they have competition over slots? Really, trying to set up a schedule beyond "the first to claim a month for a fandom gets it" is too much effort and wrangling for my taste. If one month is convenient for lots of people, and another is not, the posting frequency may be more uneven, but as long as at least a couple of people can be found for a months, it's fine with me.

Having banners would be awesome! <3!

And I'm glad to hear you like the structure. (Like I said in my comment above, personally I find it easier to sign up for something within a structure than to just participate in amorphous things.)

I haven't read through all the responses yet, so it may have already been mentioned, but just in case... one thing that came immediately to my mind was a pimping banner. If you had a banner that we could promote the comm with, I think that would be very helpful!

Well, yes. Like I said in the post, I'd like a banner too, but I have no talent whatsoever for creating banners myself. One commenter above said they'd try, but obviously more choices are better, so anyone who wants to make some could submit them, and I'd collect them in a banner post or something like that.

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any ideas to promote this comm more and encourage reccing?

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