I’m happy with the forum’s atmosphere. It’s welcoming.
Sometimes I don’t see a topic I want to join but I don’t know exactly how that could be improved. Maybe we could look at the layout of categories? Maybe adding some new ones? Basically to make finding meaningful conversations easier and also make it easier to choose where to categorize new topics. 90% of the time none of the existing ones fit the topics I create.
I agree with this.
This is SUPER helpful, thank you!
This is super true, as far as not being able to get true “reviews.” That’s one of the things I like about Inkitt and miss about Inkpop. Comments throughout a chapter aren’t exactly the same. Maybe we could set up a kind of leaderboard for reviewers? Maybe people who like to review can post what payment they’d want in return (if any) and authors can sign up for slots. Some kind of exchange system, at any rate. Then you get points here for the review? It would be hard to quantify quality + word count + depth, but we could probably put together some badges and a ranking system for at least quantity? I had that 600 word review thing going for a while (and it just got to be too much so it’s still on hiatus) but that seemed pretty well-received, so I definitely can see how writers want places they can solicit more feedback/reviews. I will contemplate the best way to implement something like this. I’ve already been considering a kind of “user of the week” concept where you get featured here along with your socials/books, that may be something we could use as an incentive for reviewers, too.
It’s a great suggestion, thanks!
We absolutely can do this. A lot of the categories are carryovers from the very beginning. Let me know what categories you think we’re missing, we can set up a poll! Always willing to better organize the forums if there’s an opportunity to do so!
Another update: after a suggestion from the mods, we’re going to allow fast chats for personal threads so if you post something and someone wants to talk to you about it, you can do so in the fast chat area (but leave the thread posting to the OP please!) If you want your personal thread fast chat turned on, just post it in the Chat Enable Request thread that’s pinned!
I’d have to look through my old topics to see what categories I’d envision them in. Will return later.
Regarding reviews, since there are multiple platforms that have it. Maybe we could have a place where people can get it from their site? For example Inkitt. The payment depends of course on the site they request from.
If official reviews (differentiating from comments) ever becomes a thing, I think it’d be helpful as a reader to have a required field that makes it clear how far the individual read.
For example:
“Read Chapters 1-5”, or maybe a selection type thing where all current chapters are listed and you click the buttons of the ones you’ve read (with the system automatically formatting it for the individual, so it’s easier and they don’t have to type it out).
There could be a “select all” option, or “read to present (auto-dated)”.
I seldom ever see reviewers mention how far they got, so it’s difficult to know where their criticism begins and ends. Some people even read the most current chapter and never read the beginning chapters. There is of course still merit to what may be said, but knowing what chapters they did and didn’t read helps give context. 
That was helpful, but I can see how it’ll be too much for one person. Maybe some people could sign up to be reviewers (like six?) and each month it rotates so a new group of reviewers gets selected (another six) and those who were reviewers the previous month can now get reviews? Because it’s the thing with writers, we like helping, but we’d like to be helped, too 
But then that might be difficult for you to keep on top of… Essentially it’ll be like a Wacky Book Club.
Hmm…could that be an idea? Together with your “user of the week” idea? Maybe the rotated reviewers would run the book club? I don’t know, but it’s a thought.
I love the forum’s atmosphere.
I just thought of a couple of suggestions. I dont know if they’re possible, but yeah 
. I remember that reading contest you guys held was it 2 years ago now? Where people signed up with books to be read and the one with the most readers won, as well as the reader who read the most. (my years thanks to covid lockdowns have meshed into one lol I can’t remember, but I think it was 2021)
Not necessarily for monetary value, but I think contests like that are cool; a great way to engage readers and writers.
. I love the idea of the 500/600 word review thing above. Maybe a few writers with experience (Stars, Paid, published, editors that kind of thing) could sign up with “payments” (reads or whatever) so it’s not all on one person?
. Another idea I thought of, and idk if this would work per se, but a book club? a bit like the wattpad ones, and maybe there could be one for each site if there’s enough members here for one site, there could even be a “traditional published” one. Maybe it might reignite the read for reads part of the forums? Again, idk if it’s possible to run but just an idea to float around
I don’t have a specific solution but maybe it could be discussed as part of keeping this a friendly place. It might fall under the rules of moderation or user conduct. Not sure if this is the right place to talk about it but I’d file it under “making this an awesome forum” category.
I had a situation not long ago where I started a topic with the intention of it becoming a place to discuss something specific and I got trolled.
The problem is that I don’t think this person knew they were being a troll. It was pretty confusing because they seemed to be agreeing with me but said it in such a way as if they weren’t. Maybe they were using the opportunity to vent about the world that didn’t agree with them, I don’t know, but since it was on my topic, it felt directed at me (no matter how many times the troll insisted it wasn’t).
In the end, I stopped engaging in conversation with them since it led nowhere and abandoned my thread since it had been derailed.
I think it about it often because it sucks that I didn’t finish discussing my topic with those who weren’t trolls and I wonder, what’s the best way to handle this type of situation? Reporting a user for being annoying feels a bit extreme. I wasn’t sure if the mod would agree with me about the definition of trolling since it felt more like the user was only venting. Should I have opened a new thread for the topic?
Ideally, I would have liked to be able to hide the troll’s messages kinda like how Twitter does it so the conversation could go on (not sure if discourse has an option like that), but that could have only added fuel to the fire. I imagine some would call it censorship.
So I guess what I’m asking is a direction on self-moderation. If a user is derailing a topic without explicitly breaking any rules of conduct, what is the right approach? I fear bringing mods to every conversation because that can backfire in so many ways.
What if we had a gentle go-to method for reminding people when they start crossing the line? Because some situations aren’t black and white and I think many people don’t realize what they’re doing and we can’t call the forum police for every little thing. That would create an unfriendly atmosphere and I don’t want to ruin the delicate balance we have here.
As the forum grows, we might get more gray-area trolls so I think it’s worth discussing the topic.
And, to add to this, is it possible to advertise the services you already offer as a reviewer? I am one of the reviewers in a club book on Wattpad, and I write 600 words + reviews, with a specific process etc, and all of my reviews are available publicly. So, obviously, I would love to advertise that service to new potential applicants instead of doing a parallel one. I am thinking about expanding more into reviewing and editing.
Yes I think this would be necessary because not everyone is on every platform.
Yes, for official reviews, I think this would need to be included.
I’ve actually been surprised we haven’t had more users interested in starting a Wacky Book Club. I wasn’t involved in any on the Wattpad forums, so I’m not sure what goes into starting one, but I would love to be pointed in the right direction. If anyone wants to start a Wacky-authorized book club and run it, I’m all ears! 
Yay 
Yes, I added the monetary prize for more incentive. We can definitely do that again if there’s enough interest in it!
It appears book clubs and official reviews are rising to the top of desired features. I don’t know how to run a book club, but I’d love to have pointers and we can start one! We had book club categories in the very very very beginning but there was such little engagement we ended up scratching them from the forum. What we want to do is make sure we’re not “overclogging” the categories with stuff almost no one uses (it’s why we don’t refresh the SYS threads much).
I was actually thinking how much easier it would be to partner with users who already have a review service (as well as any users interested in starting a new one). Kind of like a “Wacky Verified” reviewer or something along those lines. I think moving forward we need to partner with more users in ways like this. I’m open to the idea, we’d just need to figure out the best way to try and draw new users/engagement on the forum as well as getting you new applicants, if that makes sense. A mutually beneficial relationship, so to speak.
This is the best place, yes. Suggestions and concerns of all kinds.
We want to empower users, especially thread owners, to feel like they can “self-moderate” their threads for situations exactly like this. We don’t want people calling other people trolls, just because as you pointed out, they may be unaware that’s what they’re doing, but from a moderation perspective, we DO like to see when thread owners get involved to reorient their own threads. Because then, if the behavior doesn’t stop, you can reach out to us and we can intervene. Sometimes there’s not much we can do (especially in Chatters) when someone flags a user for something like trolling or derailing because the topic owner themselves hasn’t asked for the conversation to be redirected. We do have the following language in our Code of Conduct for this exact reason:
If a user is derailing your thread, as the thread owner, you have every right to request that the conversation be brought back to the subject you originally wanted to talk about. I agree with bringing in the mods to every conversation, because it does tend to lean into things like censorship or suggestions of “overreaction.” However, if you ask a user to stop derailing the thread and that user continues to ignore your request, THEN you can bring it to our attention and we can immediately take action to back you up. We do see frequent instances of derailing conversation, but especially in places like The Chatters, if we haven’t seen the topic owner request the conversation be brought back to the point at hand, we can’t automatically assume that the OP considers it derailing.
I absolutely agree. And you’re exactly right, sometimes there aren’t black and white solutions (we actually come across these pretty frequently). Some users aren’t outright violating the CoC, but their behavior is still detrimental to the conversation. So please feel empowered, especially on your own threads, to gently redirect the conversation. That request could look something like this:
While I appreciate/understand/sympathize/respect your point/description/opinion, I’m going to ask now that we reorient the conversation back to the original topic. If you want to keep discussing XYZ, please start your own new thread in Chatters.
This is a polite but firm example of setting expectations. This isn’t necessarily a template, but it acknowledges the user’s responses, redirects the conversation back to the original point, and acknowledges the user may want to continue their discussion and gives them a suggestion for how to continue doing so. This is a reply that wouldn’t violate our Code of Conduct and very clearly gives you a path to recourse in the event the user continues their behavior moving forward (meaning you could notify us to reinforce your request if it is ignored).
I am sorry you had this experience in your topic–we do want to empower our users to feel they can self-moderate their own threads. It helps us and you while maintaining the “delicate balance” here (this is a very accurate description lol).
I think a Wacky Book Club would be cool.
Maybe we could have chapters depending on where or what format the book club operates.
I think it’s nice to have private and public spaces depending on the preference.
Because there’s definitely a value in watching others give and receive critique but not everyone might want it to be public.
Another option to consider is book club reputation to allow people to give points for valuable feedback.
Of course this isn’t an ideal solution as it would suck if you put in a ton of work into it and then didn’t get any points.
So maybe instead, have a running tally, how many critiques we’re given, counted in chapters or words, etc.
I agree that a book club would be a great idea. One issue I’ve had with the book clubs I’ve joined on Wattpad is that there’s unequal participation between participants, and having everything be public here—and the participants be people we all know well—should provide the social pressure needed for things to run smoothly.
Yes.
And I think it’s important to be able to choose. We should have book club profiles where we’d list out what type of feedback we give and maybe samples so there’s a clear expectation. So basically, people could “shop” for the right fit and not just get someone random.
Not sure what the best way to keep track of it is but I’d love to see something consistent so that no matter what platform the critiquing takes place on, we know what to expect.
What comes to mind is how fanfiction.net has the beta reader profile - you fill it out to indicate if you’re active or on a break, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what you’re willing to read.
Not for me, particularly not now (God, Watty prep!). I usually end up with plenty of points and nobody reading my book anyway. Hence, exchange is the only form that interests me & I rather read books I like w/o expecting any reciprocation than feeling like my book sucks.
Same—I hate it when out of all the options, nobody picks my book. It’s happened far too many times at this point.
Same. A huge blow to self-esteem.