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Forward Motion for Writers

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Some of you have noticed a few changes in the chat rooms. Writing with Zette disappeared and Zette's Crazed Writing Club appeared. (Now we have I Love Writing instead. What does that mean? It means that some of us are having a lot of fun writing, and this is the room where those who enjoy doing the work can hang out. Sometimes the exuberance of people who are are having a great time creating their new story is annoying and depressing to some who are having problems. In that case, this is likely not the room where you want to go.

This room is not General Chat, though it often appears to be so. People start to gather in there (whether I'm in or not) and before long everyone is chatting happily along.

But. . . .

You will sometimes notice several people drop out of the room and move off to one of the Writing Only rooms. Quite often this is because the chat has become distracting rather than helpful. The authors can no longer easily ask a quick writing-related question or cheer on someone else, because the people writing get lost in the constant talk about anything but writing. And let's face it -- the chatting is fun and distracting, and when some of us have things which must be done, it's just wiser to move to a very restricted room.

This is why FM has several chat rooms -- so people can spread out and find their comfort zone, whether that is in a busy room like General Chat or a quieter room like Writing Only.

Zette's Crazed Writing Club is a room that allows some fun, off-topic chat, but the people there will often be writing and this should be respected. If you are there to chat (and not to help others who are writing or to cheer them on -- you do not have to be writing as well), then you should go to General Chat. You can ask others to join you there if a group is chatting and it needs to be in a different room.

We will be enforcing the rule of nothing but writing-related discussions in Writing Only. This is to allow people a place to go to work without any chatty distractions. If you are in Writing Only and the conversation has veered off subject, remind people they need to take it elsewhere.

The site has many rooms. Get used to using them as they should be.

Important New Rule: You can be in more than one room at once. This means if you want to stay in a room like Writing Only to work, but still chat with others, you can do so. This should keep the general chatting out of the rooms where it does not belong. However, if the room fills up and you are not responsive, you can be kicked from the room. This is not an excuse to ghost in all the rooms. You have to be active in whatever rooms you happen to be in and moderators will check when possible.

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Thanks, Zette, those look like very sensible changes.

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I have received a complaint (and this is not the first lately) about people coming into Writing Only and chatting about things that do not belong there.

If you find yourself discussing movies, TV, personal life, food -- anything that goes on for more than two pages -- then take it to General Chat. There is no reason why you should be in this room if you are not there to write and work out writing problems.

Writing Only (rooms 1 & 2) are the only rooms with this rule. There are plenty of other rooms. If you are in one and want someone in another room to join you, drop down there long enough to ask them to come to GC with you or click their name on the "Who is Chatting" List and send them a private message. Private Messages do not always go through, however.

Staying in Writing Only just to chat is rude to the people who use the chat room for the purpose it was intended. If this continues, I will start giving out warnings and kick people from chat.

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