User blog:Vauseman/*IMPORTANT* Something That Needs to be Addressed/UFSW XMas *IMPORTANT*

Hello, everyone. This is Bait. It's come to my attention that something needs to be addressed here at UFSW.

'''We aren't a very good community. '''Meaning we, overall, don't encourage and support one another as much as we should. It takes a lot to take something you've written and actually post it for others to see. Nervewracking for some people, expecting the feedback they're going to get.

But here, a majority of our users receive no feedback. They never know what's good about their story, what they could improve on--which is the cristicism and feedback they wished to receive when posting. It discourages a lot of people (as I've seen lately). And this hurts Bait's soul.

I'm not off the hook myself. I could do a lot more to contribute here, by reading others stories and leaving comments. To be as ambigious as possible, I've seen users that advertise and advertise their own stories, rejoice when someone reads it, and don't return the favor at all (I've done this myself--as I said, I'm not off the hook). And I understand that. People are busy, have things to do, sometimes leaving a valuable comment is just too time consuming. Those are all valid excuses. And those of you who are critizing yourselves over not having as many comments as you would like should...really understand this. Sometimes things just aren't that simple. Usually, it's nothing against you, or your writing--some poeple just don't have the time.

With that, I still think we can do more to support each other here. No one is occupied 24/7. Most stories here don't have issues over 3,000-4,000 words. If that means taking 10-15 minutes out of your day to read something and leave a comment, I really encourage each and every one of us to do it. You never know: it really could make someone's day.

CUE TRANSITION INTO UFSW XMAS

UFSW Christmas Time!
Christmas is my favorite holiday; you give gifts, you get gifts. Those gifts usually being something solid, tangible. However, even though most of us live hundreds of miles away from each other, we can still spread the Christmas spirit. Therefore, I'm proposing we do something special for the month of December (and hopefully this carries on long after Xmas time):

''' Choose a story you've never read before. Maybe you haven't even heard of it. Read it and leave a comment--full of praise, constructive criticism, both, whatever you want. '''

That's all there is to it. Read something and leave a comment, in the giving spirit of Christmas. Now, this doesn't mean that once it's December 26, this is over. My hope is that this encourages everyone to keep leaving comments and to keep reading. Maybe you'll find a story you really, really love.

Here are all of the story options. Choose one, and get to commenting! :D

Stories in progress

Finished stories

Community Stories

LOOK AT ALL THEM OPTIONS DAMN. There has to be something you like in there.

Early-Merry Christmas, everyone.