Some stuff that I believe is worth discussing, copied from my introduction thread:
Perhaps - I've been very much debating in past weeks never posting there again.
Another westeros tangent:
Honestly the main reason I abstain from going there is because... well then I wouldn't be here. I selfishly think of the Bakker threads there as parasitic. No one new, or with a new budding interest, will seek out Westeros to learn about Bakker. Or, worse, they will find that as the only place... And then give up since its far too complicated to jump into the middle of "WLW mega-thread XXVII". If the most active Bakker forum is ASOIAF sub thread... what kind of message does that send? To me, that RSB is just a mid-list author with a less than active fanbase thats content with hipster-esque obscurity.
Certainly its impossible to ask everyone to go from there to here. Most people there are probably more interested in GRRM than RSB anyway, which is fine. Let them stay there. But those interested in Bakker, interested in his works' dissemination and success, who want Bakker to become the next GRRM or achieve some kind of popularity above obscurity, should really consider trying to move the conversation here.
Are those few threads more active than all the topics on this site combined? I don't know, maybe.
Are there bigger brains and better think-tanks there then here? Probably.
But the knowledge that the few gain there is not disseminated. Its not dispersed, and its pretty much lost after a few posts except within the minds of the participants. Move them here, to a place that actually cares about what your talking about rather than wonders who you are and what these RSB super threads are doing on ASOIAF boards. (why don't they have their own forum....)
But these are just, as I said, my selfish thoughts. Maybe I like to think that some of those here are somehow better/more fanatical, which is likely not the case.
Wilshire - I changed your spoiler to a direct quote, to improve the readability.
Anyway, my take is that it isn't either/or, for me it's more a question of "one or both". We can't really do much about what is or isn't said on Westeros.
What we can do, is limited to this forum. Like, always post Bakker related questions here, in clearly labeled threads, or - even better - add to existing threads on the same theme. This greatly improves searchability for new readers. We should also be really careful about spoilers... This should be the go-to place for questions about the books.
Westeros I think is invaluable as a general SF&F resource. I have great respect for many of the posters there, and wouldn't want that place to change a lot. There will always be different opinions of Bakker there, since different people have ended up there for different reasons. Different people love different aspects of GRRMs books, not to mention the TV show.
This place will always be more Bakker friendly, since you really need to like his books to bother posting here. Westeros will always have non-fans chiming in, which I think is as it should be - no book is for everyone, and if I'm curious about a new book or author, I will always find a very wide spectrum of opinions of it on Westeros. And I know this - I need to weigh these opinions myself, and judge from my impression of the posters, etc. Most are sensible people.
I would still say that having your name on the first page there is a good thing in most cases. The only authors that are genuinely losing out on Westeros PR-wise, are the thoroughly bad ones, that are systematically made fun of (G**dkind and St*nek comes to mind). Bakker is not in this group, in my mind - I would say he has quite a good reputation there. Most of the Westerosi who love Bakker can make fun of some of his quirks though. Me too, though I don't consider myself a "proper" Westerosi - I haven't really posted a lot there. Also, there are quite a lot of authors being discussed there and I have no idea of who is "mid-list" or not (well I do know that GRRM isn't).
PR-wise, I'm thinking that we maybe should have a Bakker for beginners thread here, titled "If you consider reading Bakker, read this first" or somesuch. Preferrably stickied and prominent. Containing information like the following:
- TDTCB is a difficult read for many. However, don't give up on it until you've read at least 200 pages. Ideally, the entire book. Then you will probably know if you like the rest or not. Also, know that the books generally are considered to improve with each volume.
- The PoN trilogy is only the first third of the SA series - don't expect everything to be entirely resolved by the end.
- The names will grow on you. They are headache-inducing for many in the beginning, but you get used to them and will in some cases even love them.
- After reading the first book, consider the possibility that Kellhus is not actually a hero.
- How to find the books (can be problematic in the US, I've heard)
- Links to good (but balanced) reviews.
- Explain a little about how these fora work, what subfora are spoiler minefields, etc.
