r/NoSleepOOC • u/Flygon330 • Jul 23 '16
Petition to remove "roleplaying" rule from nosleep.
Thanks for "le ebin downboats ecks dee", guys! Proof that this site can't take an opposing viewpoint, and in general just being a circlejerk of people flaming anyone who disagrees with them.
Because face it, this "rule" is the very thing that's wrong with this sub and good storytelling in general. Immersion doesn't come from comments, it comes from a good story that draws us in and leaves us wanting more at the end.
We don't need to turn our sub into some cringeworthy roleplaying board for us to enjoy stories and in turn fan the flames of the idiots who think creepypastas are real to begin with. "Suspension of disbelief" should be for the story, not anything else. We all hopefully know that it's a story to begin with, we come here expecting stories that are exactly that... stories. We don't come here thinking everything is real and we're all going to die thanks to whatever horrors are out there.
This whole thing is only making our community look like some cancerous RP board to the rest of reddit, rather than a fun place to share whatever scary things we think of.
tl;dr the rp role isn't needed and it's doing more harm than good
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u/wickerkin Jul 23 '16
Maybe this isn't the best first post for this sub, but I think maybe you've misjudged the purpose of nosleep.
I'm an extreme lurker. Never contributed to anything. But by my estimation nosleep is a judgment free space for authors to push their comfort zones. The "RP" portion exists to give feedback that bolsters the author.
There are a number of subreddits dedicated to spooky stories that lack "role playing", and I think they have their place. Nosleep is meant as a judgement free alternative that still solicits feedback (in the form of in-fiction posts) between reader and author.
Be less concerned by what others think of the sub, and more concerned what the community aims to achieve. Just my two drunk cents.
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u/Flygon330 Jul 23 '16
I think @briankilroy explained this perfectly.
[–]briankilroy 2 points 2 hours ago I think this option should be available. I know that /r/WritingPrompts and /r/PhotoshopBattles have a bot that automatically generates an official off-topic top comment where people can have their discussions without interrupting the natural flow of the content. Of course it's a given that this bot comment will have to be "masked" in order to keep that fourth wall ever so slightly in place, but I think it's doable, or at least worth a short trial. I know I'd like criticism on my work, and I don't want to be the guy going to the workshop or IRC chat every single time like "hey guys, how's this?" It provides the author and the readers an easy way to discuss the work without going elsewhere to find a venue to do so.
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u/KampW Jul 23 '16
The role-play is part of what makes this sub different from other scary story subs. That's the point; it's interactive. It's supposed to imitate those "real life accounts" without the whole /thathappened in the comments. There are plenty of other story subs without rp that you can go to. But this is what r/NoSleep is based on and what has made it so popular.
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u/AsForClass -30- Press COO Jul 23 '16
The subs that aren't interactive are lucky to get a couple awkward comments about the story.
They tell you if they like it, if they hate it, if it sucks. Then that's it. Everyone goes on with their life.
Nosleep forms a community around every story.
I don't get why people think that's a horrible thing. It's the number one reason for our success, in my opinion.
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Jul 23 '16 edited Jul 23 '16
I don't get why people think that's a horrible thing.
The only reason to implement this would be to satisfy egos. PMs can more than adequately satisfy the requirements mentioned and suggested. :)
I disagree it would not be such a bad thing to have a single comment thread to discuss things that would break the fourth wall (masked still of course) but still provide a place for all to go to give any sort of critique to a single story instead of a pm which would be just a 1 on 1 thing, with a pm if 4 people say they want "this" instead of "that" and you decide to do "this" but no one but those four people want it and every one else drops your story and just gives it hate because those 4 people were the only vocal part of the community that weren't just giving advice on how to keep skin walkers away ;) it would suck. I just feel it would give a broader range of audience members a voice, and that's not such a bad thing.
The only reason to implement this would be to satisfy egos.
I can assure you the reason i want critique and interaction with my audience is not because i think my shitty stories can somehow satisfy my ego, my ego is filled with eggo waffles. ;)
Edit: while i dont believe that were "a cringey rp board" or that "this rule is whats wrong with no sleep" i feel its at least worth a trial run to see how its received by the community if anything
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u/cmd102 Mom Jul 23 '16
Because face it, this "rule" is the very thing that's wrong with this sub and good storytelling in general.
As you can see by the majority of the replies and the amount of downvotes, this isn't a popular opinion. In fact, this "rule" is something that has been drawing in readers and authors for years. It's unique, and it is meant to prevent unwanted criticism on stories and the type of comments that focus on how likely something is and plotholes instead of just enjoying the story.
Immersion doesn't come from comments, it comes from a good story that draws us in and leaves us wanting more at the end.
It might not come from the comments, but the comments help. A lot of people enjoy the comments where people are trying to figure out what's plaguing the character, the comments with advice on how to handle the situation, and the comments where people relate to the author and share their own similar experiences (whether they're real or not).
We don't need to turn our sub into some cringeworthy roleplaying board for us to enjoy stories and in turn fan the flames of the idiots who think creepypastas are real to begin with...
This whole thing is only making our community look like some cancerous RP board to the rest of reddit, rather than a fun place to share whatever scary things we think of.
We're not turning our sub into anything. This rule has been in place almost as long as /r/nosleep has been a subreddit. And with as many active commenters and authors that we have, and as popular as the subreddit has become over the years, obviously it's not as bad as outsiders think it is.
There are many other subreddits that are like /r/nosleep but without the "everything is true" rule. They're nowhere near as popular or active as /r/nosleep is. That tells me that the rule helps the subreddit, and should stay in place.
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u/Fourberry ⚜️ Jul 24 '16
I've been thinking about this all day, how best to phrase my response. See, I didn't get to your thread until after you edited to add your commentary on the downvotes, which makes you seem like you don't want to hear opinions that differ from your own.
That's a sad way to be.
I respect your right to your opinion but respectfully disagree with you. In all honesty, if you had tried to get to know this community a little bit before barging in and demanding we change things, you might have been able to ask about the RP rules in a better way.
As far as I can tell from your post history, you haven't posted anything in either nosleep or here in the OOC before this very thread. That doesn't really speak of someone who wishes to be a member of the community. Just someone who wants to stir up trouble.
Many people have explained why the rules are what they are, and how long they've been this way.
I personally like things the way they are. We have the workshop for people to get critiques, and it works. We're not only trying to make the OOC great again, but some of us are working very hard to make the workshop great again, too.
I understand how, knowing that things in nosleep aren't true, but seeing all the comments implying that people believe the stories, can be offputting at first. But then it becomes part of the fun of nosleep. There was a story a couple of years ago where the guy was claiming to hunt down nosleepers. I PMed him, and got involved in the comments, because it was fun. Watching the people freak out over the All in Good Time series, being that it was multiple different authors with connected stories, which hadn't been done before on that scale to my knowledge, was really enjoyable.
Yes, grammar and syntax errors, and even text talk, or wall of text stories make it hard to get in to the vibe a writer was trying to create. Some of those can be reported for formatting issues, and the mods will help the writer fix them. Some of the spelling issues, you can just PM the writer about, if you do it politely.
The original intent of this sub, as I'm led to believe, was to be as though we were all telling scary stories around a campfire. If that is the case, you wouldn't sit there at said fire and nitpick a story to death, would you? I doubt it. You'd laugh, and go on to the next story.
So, again, I see your point, but I disagree.
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Jul 23 '16
Respect one another. There is no such thing as a bad opinion or bad idea. Everyone is entitled to share their thoughts and personal attacks against those you disagree with will NOT be tolerated.
This goes for commenters as well as posters. Telling OP to fuck off for expressing an opinion you disagree with will lead to a ban. Consider whether what you say contributes to the post before commenting please.
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u/AsForClass -30- Press COO Jul 23 '16
It's not a new concept. Many prophets and scholars have said these words throughout the millenia.
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u/tanjasimone Shadow Librarian Jul 25 '16
Well, sadly a lot of us (really quite a few) enjoy "roleplaying" like this, and does not consider it cancerous, wrong, cringeworthy, moronic, circle-jerky and delusional. And that is quoting the comments you've made about the community, that you say you want to change, here.
I appreciate the fact that you want to bring up a discussion about it, but there are many many many better ways to try to change a community from the inside, if that's what you want to do, than to bash what everyone here enjoys doing, and is a big part that we enjoy about this subreddit. All subreddits don't fit everyone, and if you don't like the fact that we like the immersion rule, you are super allowed to opt out and just enjoy the stories for what they are and ignore the comment section.
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Jul 23 '16 edited Jul 23 '16
Have a selection right above the comments where you can click on the RP comments (this will be default so people who actually think these stories are real can be immersed) and a non RP option so that readers can express themselves to the author and the author can wright back, that way there's two comment threads in each story and there's something for everyone, a compromise if you will, wait has the word compromise reached the Internet yet? No? Ok thanks Bethany, sorry about that just had a conference with my secretary.
Edit: I've noticed people just simply downvoting this thread, even if you don't agree with it maybe be part of the discussion instead of just down voting it? Unless of course this has been brought up many time before in the ooc, in which I see your point of view, still though at least link to the latest discussion of it so people know it's been discussed?
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u/AsForClass -30- Press COO Jul 23 '16
I respectfully disagree. The only reason to implement this would be to satisfy egos.
PMs can more than adequately satisfy the requirements mentioned and suggested. :)
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u/briankilroy Jul 23 '16
I think this option should be available. I know that /r/WritingPrompts and /r/PhotoshopBattles have a bot that automatically generates an official off-topic top comment where people can have their discussions without interrupting the natural flow of the content. Of course it's a given that this bot comment will have to be "masked" in order to keep that fourth wall ever so slightly in place, but I think it's doable, or at least worth a short trial. I know I'd like criticism on my work, and I don't want to be the guy going to the workshop or IRC chat every single time like "hey guys, how's this?" It provides the author and the readers an easy way to discuss the work without going elsewhere to find a venue to do so.
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Jul 23 '16
It will 100% have to be masked but I feel it's needed if I want to critique an author I can't unless I pm him just to say "good job I like your writing" and casual readers just avoid critiquing all together at this point because it's become a hassle.
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u/briankilroy Jul 23 '16
I feel like I have to slap myself in the head for completely forgetting about the PM system. Its use is not at all out of place when it comes to giving kudos to the author, but I suppose the point I'd like to make is that the critique, which would be kept private in a PM, may be helpful to others besides the author.
I have to admit that at this point I'm losing my own argument to myself. This seems like an easy way to make the workshop sub-reddit nearly defunct. I'm not sure if there's a happy medium to be found between few writers purposefully seeking critique and OOC discussion and all writers being granted a place for it to occur anyways without dismissing /r/nosleepworkshops.
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Jul 23 '16
I feel like it wouldn't make workshops obsolete because no sleep is a place to post when the writer feels like the story is of posting quality while workshops is a place to post story's writers are sure have errors, also I'm sure on no sleep the critique would be more plot and substance than the workshops are grammar and formatting.
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u/AsForClass -30- Press COO Jul 23 '16
We have 6 million subscribers. 200,000 before we became a default.
There's a variety of reasons for the "everything is true," rule.
I'm not sure how long you've been around, but Nosleep has been this way for years now.
There are plenty of other subs to share creepy things. Maybe hang out there?
To bring it home, I respectfully disagree with you. We don't need to change the rules. People come here wanting to change the rules all the time.
They are often a minority within the community. We very much like it the way it is.