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On March 24 2009 16:11 inlagdsil wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 15:53 Klaz wrote:Hey, Would you TL'ers mind taking a look at the book and voting for it if you think it deserves it? http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=7578Just click "back the book" to vote. I've made it this far, so close now, need to get to the top 5 and stay there for a week. Would really appreciate any help! Thanks. Klaz. Been backed from the start. Now I have turned my energies to writing a book in order to increase the value of my vote (and because I've always wanted to write but never had the impetus). I have just written one of the biggest loads of crap in my existence. If I persist and it reaches several pages in length, it might actually end up being funny and I'll post it here. EDIT spelling
Go for it mate... 10k words and you can post it up on Auth and make public... you never know... your perception that what you have written is crap, might just turn out to be the diamond in the wood pile!
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You should watch some of klazart's commentaries on youtube.
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Mockingbird
Thinking about this more, I actually think it would be better if HC did away with the rankings ENTIRELY, just had it be an online slush-pile that would work like this.
After 3 months on the site, your first 1000 words would be read by an editor/representative of HC and if they liked it, maybe more.
In those 3 months authors could continue to edit, read and give each other feedback. With no rankings to climb, or TSR's to protect, the feedback would be genuine and heart felt, and you'd still have the incentive to hang around the site.
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@Mockingbird Welcome, you are a very good poster and I hope that you find many things of interest in this site and stay with us!
The ranking system on authonomy does seem extremely open to manipulations of all sorts. Maybe the best thing to do would be to keep the numbers secret and not tell people exactly how it works. Perhaps then members would tone down their self-promotional activities and just enjoy the great possibilities offered by a forum like that.
EDIT haha Klazart it seems that we came to similar conclusions
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On March 24 2009 17:14 Mockingbird wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 10:04 Descent wrote:
Mockingbird, we aren't even directly singling you out -- at least, my post wasn't. Rather, there are more extreme and severe fellow Authonomy members of yours who we are referring to; unfortunately, only a small handful of them have decided to try to engage in discussion outside of their own forum. I know hunny, I was just trying to give my reasons and perspective behind some pull-outs. What's happened has really only confirmed to some of us that have been there a long time that it really is time to try something new and different. That there was a lot of crap going on long before Klazart appeared, and what's happened actually hasn't changed our minds, just confirmed what we already knew. Yes, some folk are leaving in anger. Me, I'm more philosophical about it, and I'm not pulling out immediately. Because as people are pointing out, there are new readers there now. But the system does really only work as a popularity contest. Klaz's attempt for glory is just the latest new wrinkle, If you look around in the threads you will find reference to the concept of Disney Shelvings. People spinning through books faster than the speed of light, leaving two or three line relatively generic comments and shelving books for five minutes each. That was the previous system breaker. Before that, it was the spam messages "read my book". I created a second identity on there for my collaboration novel with my writing partner. Within half an hour, I had fifteen messages from people who had swooped on the "newbie" about reading their book. Even though I had made it perfectly clear that "A K Levecque" was me and my writing partner! I was curious, so I came to engage. Some folk are not quite so open, they find it a lot more difficult to talk to people about things outside their comfort zone. Me, I'll talk to anyone about anything... The games I play are on my X Box and not online, and I had never heard of Starcraft until the weekend. But I was extremely curious to know more about the folk who devotedly follow it. So devotedly that they were prepared to follow a guy into a different genre based on their enjoyment of his commentaries on their game.
From my perspective, my point still stands. You are, relatively speaking, an Authonomy veteran, and as a level-minded and accepted member there, you should have done more to prevent the discrimination of newcomers by the other, more angry Authonomites. Your forum has no moderator, and thus it seems the policy was for the members to keep themselves in line. And regardless of whether or not it worked prior, that was far from the case when Klazart entered. True, he adapted your rules to suit him (although his actions have now been approved of by those running the site). But the senseless accusations made by the veteran Authonomy members were hardly befitting of them, nor do gamers venturing onto the forums deserve to be bashed as simple, Klazart-following idiots. To be honest, I went on the forums, and I feel trolled myself by some forum veterans of Authonomy. Also, an alternative: Klazart asked TL for further votes, and he's been quickly refuted. On Authonomy, Klazart's played by the rules, and Authonomites are still throwing little fits. In any case, TL isn't directly supporting Klazart. This is just a well-known foreign SC site, but if you want to see his fanbase, YouTube might be a bit more appropriate. Although, as others have suggested, I don't really mean to kick you out, either. That wasn't/isn't my intention.
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On March 24 2009 17:19 Mockingbird wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 16:11 inlagdsil wrote:On March 24 2009 15:53 Klaz wrote:Hey, Would you TL'ers mind taking a look at the book and voting for it if you think it deserves it? http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=7578Just click "back the book" to vote. I've made it this far, so close now, need to get to the top 5 and stay there for a week. Would really appreciate any help! Thanks. Klaz. Been backed from the start. Now I have turned my energies to writing a book in order to increase the value of my vote (and because I've always wanted to write but never had the impetus). I have just written one of the biggest loads of crap in my existence. If I persist and it reaches several pages in length, it might actually end up being funny and I'll post it here. EDIT spelling Go for it mate... 10k words and you can post it up on Auth and make public... you never know... your perception that what you have written is crap, might just turn out to be the diamond in the wood pile!
Thanks for the encouragement. The style I have chosen is an extremely pun-heavy tongue in cheek prose that has the advantage of being funny but can also be lacking in development. 400 words so far 
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Okay. To be absolutely clear about what has and has not happened viz Editor's Desk picks and the three people who's books were picked.
All three went through traditional routes and were picked by Harper Collins that way, not through Authonomy. None of the top five books have been picked since the Top Five began which was (I believe) last August.
Some of the crits have been absolutely hilariously bad. One was a three paragraph summary of the story with No at the end. Er?? Your average twelve year old could give a better crit than that. Another crit was nearly as long as the book, extremely confused (contradicting itself in several places)... but still said no.
There are some of us who actually doubt that these crits are done by real editors. Certainly by editors with any real power to say yay or nay. And.... and this is the biggie... we just hit a major credit crunch. Authonomy was created in a bull market. Jam for everybody forever. Just around the time the ED was coming into being, banks worldwide starting falling apart at the seams.
So Harper Collins was left with a bit of a problem. In the first place, the bumpf implied that if you made the ED you had a real shot at a publishing contract. Expectations were raised. No to all of September's books... still expecting.... No to October's books.... pattern emerging?... No to November's books. Muttering starts to get fiercer.
Sudden announcement that three books have got contracts.
Battle royal breaks out for ED for December, still no to all the books on it. January's battle positively psychotic. And I do mean psychotic. Nature red in tooth and claw. Nothing remotely funny about it. It has calmed down quite a bit actually. But Klaz's arrival stirred the shit-storm again, and unfortunately, some members chose to express their fury to the newcomers in terms that I personally am embarrassed to be associated with even by distant connection.
Do remember this. The prize is only co-incidently a gold star review from the ED. People are still going on dreaming about that contract with the six figure advance, and three book deal. When you factor money into the equation, the viciousness of response suddenly seems slightly more understandable. People aren't frightened that Klaz will make the desk in March. They're frightened that he might just get a book contract out of it... and after all the schmoozing and reading and putting yourself out there for months, someone comes along and just maybe trumps their efforts?! Think about it. Money is a very powerful imperative.
Me... I write for the fun of it. I started out writing fanfic twenty years ago, and I still do. I don't want to make millions or get a six figure advance. That's not what it's about for me. I want to entertain people, and have a good time doing it. If Authonomy's taught me anything it's that the traditional publishing route actually sucks quite a lot of the fun and originality out of it. So... there you have it.
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On March 24 2009 17:32 Descent wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 17:14 Mockingbird wrote:On March 24 2009 10:04 Descent wrote:
Mockingbird, we aren't even directly singling you out -- at least, my post wasn't. Rather, there are more extreme and severe fellow Authonomy members of yours who we are referring to; unfortunately, only a small handful of them have decided to try to engage in discussion outside of their own forum. I know hunny, I was just trying to give my reasons and perspective behind some pull-outs. What's happened has really only confirmed to some of us that have been there a long time that it really is time to try something new and different. That there was a lot of crap going on long before Klazart appeared, and what's happened actually hasn't changed our minds, just confirmed what we already knew. Yes, some folk are leaving in anger. Me, I'm more philosophical about it, and I'm not pulling out immediately. Because as people are pointing out, there are new readers there now. But the system does really only work as a popularity contest. Klaz's attempt for glory is just the latest new wrinkle, If you look around in the threads you will find reference to the concept of Disney Shelvings. People spinning through books faster than the speed of light, leaving two or three line relatively generic comments and shelving books for five minutes each. That was the previous system breaker. Before that, it was the spam messages "read my book". I created a second identity on there for my collaboration novel with my writing partner. Within half an hour, I had fifteen messages from people who had swooped on the "newbie" about reading their book. Even though I had made it perfectly clear that "A K Levecque" was me and my writing partner! I was curious, so I came to engage. Some folk are not quite so open, they find it a lot more difficult to talk to people about things outside their comfort zone. Me, I'll talk to anyone about anything... The games I play are on my X Box and not online, and I had never heard of Starcraft until the weekend. But I was extremely curious to know more about the folk who devotedly follow it. So devotedly that they were prepared to follow a guy into a different genre based on their enjoyment of his commentaries on their game. From my perspective, my point still stands. You are, relatively speaking, an Authonomy veteran, and as a level-minded and accepted member there, you should have done more to prevent the discrimination of newcomers by the other, more angry Authonomites. Your forum has no moderator, and thus it seems the policy was for the members to keep themselves in line. And regardless of whether or not it worked prior, that was far from the case when Klazart entered. True, he adapted your rules to suit him (although his actions have now been approved of by those running the site). But the senseless accusations made by the veteran Authonomy members were hardly befitting of them, nor do gamers venturing onto the forums deserve to be bashed as simple, Klazart-following idiots. To be honest, I went on the forums, and I feel trolled myself by some forum veterans of Authonomy. Also, an alternative: Klazart asked TL for further votes, and he's been quickly refuted. On Authonomy, Klazart's played by the rules, and Authonomites are still throwing little fits. In any case, TL isn't directly supporting Klazart. This is just a well-known foreign SC site, but if you want to see his fanbase, YouTube might be a bit more appropriate. Although, as others have suggested, I don't really mean to kick you out, either. That wasn't/isn't my intention.
Hunny, I am sincerely sorry that people have been poisonous. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of clout over there because I've been disconnecting for months. And (as you have discovered) there are some really vicious trolls. Actually, one or two of them, I am dead glad this is the internet and not face to face because they're not only vicious, they're sinister too.
I have my own merry little band of nutjobs who enjoy my stuff and I have a ball with, and I tend to drift through the forums in a bit of a shell, not really noticing the outside stuff.
I know it's hard to take, but please take some of the more spiteful windbags with a pinch of salt. And remember at the bottom of it, you will find lies this dream of a contract and money. Money does sour a lot of things. As I said in my other post, this is the imperative that drives some people, and is driving some of them still to say some really, really vicious things.
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The thing I don't really understand about this is why Klazart has so many fans. I mean, he's terrible at commentating, has a very bad understanding of starcraft and has a very irritating voice, why should he have FANS in the first place? And in such a large number? wtf? It's pretty much like Daniel Lee, really bad at commentating and yet people screaming he's so good for some unknown reason. It's funny how most of the times people very bad at what they do get the most attention.
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On March 24 2009 17:21 Klaz wrote:
Mockingbird
Thinking about this more, I actually think it would be better if HC did away with the rankings ENTIRELY, just had it be an online slush-pile that would work like this.
After 3 months on the site, your first 1000 words would be read by an editor/representative of HC and if they liked it, maybe more.
In those 3 months authors could continue to edit, read and give each other feedback. With no rankings to climb, or TSR's to protect, the feedback would be genuine and heart felt, and you'd still have the incentive to hang around the site.
Okay, hunny. That's not how Auth was designed to work. The whole point of it was pretty much to take the hassle out of the Slush Pile.... It's essentially a Slush Pile that reads itself, and to ease off the flood of unsolicited mss that fall through Harper Collins' door every day of the week.
What you're describing makes a lot of sense. But there are sites out there that already cover that.
I think that HC needs to give Auth a real re-think. And decide what it is, and what it isn't. Because at the moment, they don't really know. And it shows. I've been in there a long time, and I've seen the way they've tried to re-direct it, as the credit crunch bit, they've tried to damp down people's expectations, but I think they've handled it exceptionally badly.
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On March 24 2009 18:05 iG.ClouD wrote:
The thing I don't really understand about this is why Klazart has so many fans. I mean, he's terrible at commentating, has a very bad understanding of starcraft and has a very irritating voice, why should he have FANS in the first place? And in such a large number? wtf? It's pretty much like Daniel Lee, really bad at commentating and yet people screaming he's so good for some unknown reason. It's funny how most of the times people very bad at what they do get the most attention.
Chill said:
Can people stop arguing about whether they like Klazart's commentary or not?
This thread is to discuss his book and authonomy.com, please stay on topic. If we head down the "why do people hate Klaz?" road, the result will be lots of bans and closings. Let's just say people have a lot of different opinions on which commentators are good and leave it at that.
Consider this an official warning, 2 day temp bans for people that keep bringing this up.
There are many other threads to say what you think about Klazart and other commentators, let's try to stay on topic.
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My point was rather on why he has so many fans, I was not trolling Klazart. I was just saying he isn't supposed to get as much attention as he does, nor so much support for a book no one of them has ever read. That's just plain retarded.
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On March 24 2009 18:12 inlagdsil wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 18:05 iG.ClouD wrote:
The thing I don't really understand about this is why Klazart has so many fans. I mean, he's terrible at commentating, has a very bad understanding of starcraft and has a very irritating voice, why should he have FANS in the first place? And in such a large number? wtf? It's pretty much like Daniel Lee, really bad at commentating and yet people screaming he's so good for some unknown reason. It's funny how most of the times people very bad at what they do get the most attention. Chill said: Show nested quote +Can people stop arguing about whether they like Klazart's commentary or not?
This thread is to discuss his book and authonomy.com, please stay on topic. If we head down the "why do people hate Klaz?" road, the result will be lots of bans and closings. Let's just say people have a lot of different opinions on which commentators are good and leave it at that.
Consider this an official warning, 2 day temp bans for people that keep bringing this up. There are many other threads to say what you think about Klazart and other commentators, let's try to stay on topic.
*slightly off topic
I really enjoy Chill's insightful commentaries (though I haven't watched a lot of them)
I think it might be an interesting experiment to do a dual with him. He can be the technical expert and I can do the colour and the screaming. Might be fun.
*back to topic.
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On March 24 2009 17:24 inlagdsil wrote:
@Mockingbird Welcome, you are a very good poster and I hope that you find many things of interest in this site and stay with us!
The ranking system on authonomy does seem extremely open to manipulations of all sorts. Maybe the best thing to do would be to keep the numbers secret and not tell people exactly how it works. Perhaps then members would tone down their self-promotional activities and just enjoy the great possibilities offered by a forum like that.
EDIT haha Klazart it seems that we came to similar conclusions
Hey, thanks hunny.
I wish that you guys could have seen it when shameless book plugging was only possible in the forum under the relevant headings. Because we had people who plugged with real style. It was funny, occasionally there was vitriol, but mostly it was civilised and a good time was had by all.
Ironically the pm system which was designed to keep stuff that was not directly related to your book out of your book's comments section has since become the bane of Auth existence.
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On March 24 2009 18:15 iG.ClouD wrote:
My point was rather on why he has so many fans, I was not trolling Klazart. I was just saying he isn't supposed to get as much attention as he does, nor so much support for a book no one of them has ever read. That's just plain retarded.
I think I can explain that to some extent. He is the portal into the SC world to many people, including myself. Though I feel that I have now "outgrown" his commentaries with respect to their technical content, and seldom watch them anymore, I still find them extremely entertaining. I also feel like I owe Klazart a lot for bringing me into this world and making it fun. I think that this is one of the main ways in which he garners loyalty. Considering all of the passion that he puts into his commentaries, it is not surpising that so many people, myself included, want to give a little something back.
EDIT: for clarification, I rarely watch any english commentaries of korean games anymore (except for GOMTV) because I find that they actually distract me from following the intricacies of what is going on.
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Hello mockingbird and welcome to tl.net!
There is a tool bar near the top of the page that is blue, you may use the bronzing horse as your immediately vertical eye marker look back down, be sure your logged in, click that very last little button and post a chapter from one of your books.
I wouldn't be surprised if over 60% of this forum is in college or just out and in those numbers I'm sure there are a number greater then 5 but less then 500'00 that would enjoy to read some good work.
Thanks for your future blogs I look forward to reading them.
P.S.
Klaz, you are a stud. Even are biggest trolls and attention seekers (read:rekrul) couldn't dream of creating the tidal wave of destruction you wield like a battle tested sword. It is times like these that I feel the need to hum "You are beautifull like a rainbow". Bah I disgress. In terms both literal and metaphorical and of course sarcastic, I envy you and want to make the sweet sounds that fill africian jungles with you. The rolling river and winding wind have met there match in you.
Klaz > Earth/Wind/Authonomy.com GG no re chobo's.
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On March 24 2009 15:53 Klaz wrote:Hey, Would you TL'ers mind taking a look at the book and voting for it if you think it deserves it? http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=7578Just click "back the book" to vote. I've made it this far, so close now, need to get to the top 5 and stay there for a week. Would really appreciate any help! Thanks. Klaz.
Are you fucking serious?
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Klaz has reached the coveted top five.
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On March 24 2009 10:43 Kuja900 wrote:
Just out of curiosity this question is for those who frequent the site. Have the been any success stories like so and so novel went on to be published ect that originated on the site?
A couple months or so ago HC advised Authonomy members via an editorial that three authors who had posted on Authonomy had been signed by HC. All three books had fared relatively poorly in the Authonomy voting system at the time of the announcement.
We had been told by HC that their editors 'trolled' Authonomy (fishing term, not Internet term) and this was proof of it. None of us had any idea they fished for work so deep in the pile.
I read all three excerpts and couldn't see how they were that different from the ones not selected. But HC editors did and that was what counted.
Then, HC posted articles on the Authonomy home page by each signed author in which they told their story of being discovered.
It was all very interesting and did show that some who posted on Authonomy have received a publishing contract.
By the way, many who post on Authonomy also send query letters to agents and editors. For them, Authonomy is one of many ways they are employing to get their book on the desk of an agent or editor.
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EPT
