storyFUCK
June 1, 2001 10:38 AM Subscribe
storyFUCK launches today. Another fine Web Product from glassdog world domination.
Love the design, but seriously, I think a few people will have issues with the number of characters per line. It doesn't seem conducive to readability. Or maybe I'm just lazy...
posted by xiffix at 11:11 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by xiffix at 11:11 AM on June 1, 2001
Do any of you remember when they wouldn't let you register a domain name with "fuck" (or even some less strong explatives) in it? A friend of mine got hell from NSI before he could register berashith.com; he finally got the name on religous grounds (it means "blessing" in, ah, Hebrew?)
Kind of a tangent, my apologies ^_^
posted by atfrost at 11:14 AM on June 1, 2001
Kind of a tangent, my apologies ^_^
posted by atfrost at 11:14 AM on June 1, 2001
hell. i remember when domains were free...they roamed the plains as far as a man could walk. All you had to do was call them and they would come to you.
posted by th3ph17 at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by th3ph17 at 11:20 AM on June 1, 2001
well, the porn cos are somehow able to register www.teenass.com, so i don't see how storyfuck wouldn't work.
posted by moz at 11:32 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by moz at 11:32 AM on June 1, 2001
lovely. the internet has done (and more) in 10 years what took television half a decade. wonderful ain't it?
posted by wantwit at 11:43 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by wantwit at 11:43 AM on June 1, 2001
I got much less grief from NSI for my domain (blogfucker.com - can't be a self-link if I don't link to it, right?) than I did from my mother. :-)
posted by jpoulos at 11:47 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by jpoulos at 11:47 AM on June 1, 2001
I think I remember* Betty Ray telling a funny story about registering fucker.com (appears to be porn now, be warned if you're surfing from your cube) back in the day, when NSI was the only U.S. registrar and wouldn't let you do such scandalous things... the story involved finding some European registrar's site in a language she couldn't read and basically feeling her way through the interface, minus helpful things like text instructions and feedback, in order to get the job done.
The web's a better place now that I can go to joker.com and register whatever obscene domain name I can come up with.
* there was a party, and i was under the influence. i might have just made all this up. i hope not. it would be embarrassing, and a waste of a good story.
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:49 AM on June 1, 2001
The web's a better place now that I can go to joker.com and register whatever obscene domain name I can come up with.
* there was a party, and i was under the influence. i might have just made all this up. i hope not. it would be embarrassing, and a waste of a good story.
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:49 AM on June 1, 2001
Weird filtering madness -- on my through-work connection, I can reach StoryFuck, blogfucker and fuckedcompany just fine, but I'm barred from accessing heartless-bitches, Misanthropic Bitch and (one of) my sites, SarkyBitch. Fucking = good. Bitches = bad.
posted by Dreama at 11:58 AM on June 1, 2001
posted by Dreama at 11:58 AM on June 1, 2001
Fucking = good. Bitches = bad.
I think that's a reasonable summary of life on Earth...
posted by kindall at 1:10 PM on June 1, 2001
I think that's a reasonable summary of life on Earth...
posted by kindall at 1:10 PM on June 1, 2001
Why, yes, Dreama, I'm inclined to agree with you.
Damn, beaten to the punch. Oh well...
posted by jammer at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2001
Damn, beaten to the punch. Oh well...
posted by jammer at 1:16 PM on June 1, 2001
Once again, I am left wanting from the insightfully obtuse comments of metafilterians.
But anyhoo..
I like the StoryFuck idea. (NSI and vugarity is such a 1997 topic). While it may not be completely innovative in itself (I sense that the idea may have come originally from the Colors experiment Maggy had going a few years ago, and how some people just couldn't seem to play nice).
But playing nice was never the point of Colors, but to task the mind of the writers to explore the depths of creativity. And I think StoryFuck has that potential.
However I do have two issues;
1. the story seeds used are both quite, uh... well.. leading, yet not leading.. but I think they both set a sort of similar tone, and it may have been nice to see a couple of contrasting genres, or anti-genres instead.
2. Who are the authors? I know Lance picked them, but the only problem I may have is if they come from the usual cast of 'popular' writers. Now, now, I don't want to start the whole cabal thing and elistism arguments.. but I'm hoping that he kind of scoured the net for some less read, yet talented people.
The creative side of this is huge, however, and I think both the writers will be taxed to the limit of their skills and the readers will benefit from it.
posted by rich at 1:18 PM on June 1, 2001
But anyhoo..
I like the StoryFuck idea. (NSI and vugarity is such a 1997 topic). While it may not be completely innovative in itself (I sense that the idea may have come originally from the Colors experiment Maggy had going a few years ago, and how some people just couldn't seem to play nice).
But playing nice was never the point of Colors, but to task the mind of the writers to explore the depths of creativity. And I think StoryFuck has that potential.
However I do have two issues;
1. the story seeds used are both quite, uh... well.. leading, yet not leading.. but I think they both set a sort of similar tone, and it may have been nice to see a couple of contrasting genres, or anti-genres instead.
2. Who are the authors? I know Lance picked them, but the only problem I may have is if they come from the usual cast of 'popular' writers. Now, now, I don't want to start the whole cabal thing and elistism arguments.. but I'm hoping that he kind of scoured the net for some less read, yet talented people.
The creative side of this is huge, however, and I think both the writers will be taxed to the limit of their skills and the readers will benefit from it.
posted by rich at 1:18 PM on June 1, 2001
Now, now, I don't want to start the whole cabal thing and elistism arguments.. but ...
mmm hmmm...
For the record I think he had a pretty straight "anybody but rich" policy in selecting writers, which is much better than the original rule where you had to be born into a storyfuck family.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 1:41 PM on June 1, 2001
mmm hmmm...
For the record I think he had a pretty straight "anybody but rich" policy in selecting writers, which is much better than the original rule where you had to be born into a storyfuck family.
posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 1:41 PM on June 1, 2001
the internet has done (and more) in 10 years what took television half a decade
either i missed the sarcasm here, or decade = century. or i'm just a moron, pick any two.
posted by pnevares at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2001
either i missed the sarcasm here, or decade = century. or i'm just a moron, pick any two.
posted by pnevares at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2001
Once again, I am left wanting from the insightfully obtuse comments of metafilterians.
Sorry about the slip in quality, Rich, but I didn't receive your check this month.
posted by kindall at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2001
Sorry about the slip in quality, Rich, but I didn't receive your check this month.
posted by kindall at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2001
you have to admit, if we made some big graph of discussion quality, fridays would show a big spike for obtuse tangents.
posted by th3ph17 at 5:59 PM on June 1, 2001
posted by th3ph17 at 5:59 PM on June 1, 2001
don't you people hold any opinions on things other than internet hoaxes and six-month old elections?
StoryFUCK, regardless of the name, is a revival of what the Internet can be about.. some quality creative collaboration.
For all your whinings in metatalk about quality on metafilter, you'd all apparantly still rather all try and out-wit eachother with short quips than actually discuss an attempt to spark something new - one of few new types of creative endevours that have graced our screens in awhile.
posted by rich at 7:53 PM on June 1, 2001
StoryFUCK, regardless of the name, is a revival of what the Internet can be about.. some quality creative collaboration.
For all your whinings in metatalk about quality on metafilter, you'd all apparantly still rather all try and out-wit eachother with short quips than actually discuss an attempt to spark something new - one of few new types of creative endevours that have graced our screens in awhile.
posted by rich at 7:53 PM on June 1, 2001
Oh, please, rich. This is hardly groundbreaking stuff. It could be fun, sure, but did you read the rules? "The only rule is that each successive chapter should try its hardest to fuck up whatever's gone on in earlier chapters while maintaining the spirit of the work." We're not talking about Dostoyevsky here. Try not to take yourself too seriously. It's a real turn-off.
posted by jpoulos at 8:13 PM on June 1, 2001
posted by jpoulos at 8:13 PM on June 1, 2001
Since you asked so nicely, Rich:
"storyFUCK" is a gussied-up version of the collaborative stories I used to see on BBSs in the '80s. Such endeavors have always been happening in one form or another virtually every online forum that has ever existed. The primary difference is that this one has an attractive design. Also, it has the word "fuck" in its name, and just to make sure we notice they're being naughty, they put it in all capital letters. Presumably an exclamation point would be gilding the lily.
The writing looks to be a good bit better than most such efforts, or at least mostly grammatical, probably due to the fact that it's not a free-for-all. However, the guideline that each chapter should attempt to "fuck up" the preceding one will likely result in any semblance of plot going to hell in a handbasket in short order. (This is not something you usually have to tell the writers to do -- they'll naturally do it all by themselves. It might be more interesting and challenging if the guidelines prohibited fucking up the other author's work and somehow rewarded cooperation.) Because of this guideline, I would expect that no story on this site will actually end; stories will just stop when the writers get bored.
It was worth a few minutes now and it might be worth another look in a few months when there's more content. "New," however, it's not. Not really.
Most of this goes without saying, which is why nobody bothered saying it, I guess...
posted by kindall at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2001
"storyFUCK" is a gussied-up version of the collaborative stories I used to see on BBSs in the '80s. Such endeavors have always been happening in one form or another virtually every online forum that has ever existed. The primary difference is that this one has an attractive design. Also, it has the word "fuck" in its name, and just to make sure we notice they're being naughty, they put it in all capital letters. Presumably an exclamation point would be gilding the lily.
The writing looks to be a good bit better than most such efforts, or at least mostly grammatical, probably due to the fact that it's not a free-for-all. However, the guideline that each chapter should attempt to "fuck up" the preceding one will likely result in any semblance of plot going to hell in a handbasket in short order. (This is not something you usually have to tell the writers to do -- they'll naturally do it all by themselves. It might be more interesting and challenging if the guidelines prohibited fucking up the other author's work and somehow rewarded cooperation.) Because of this guideline, I would expect that no story on this site will actually end; stories will just stop when the writers get bored.
It was worth a few minutes now and it might be worth another look in a few months when there's more content. "New," however, it's not. Not really.
Most of this goes without saying, which is why nobody bothered saying it, I guess...
posted by kindall at 8:25 PM on June 1, 2001
Sometimes I feel like everyone is trying to take the higher moral ground and in racing to the top we didn't notice that we had crested some time ago.
This does remind me of creative writing class in High School. We had these exercises where everyone would start writing for about 10 minutes and then pass the paper to the next student. Repeat. I don't know who it was, but someone kept on writing the same segue, "The director then yelled cut..." and turned every story into a damn TV show backstory. Whoever you are...you suck dude!
posted by john at 8:32 PM on June 1, 2001
This does remind me of creative writing class in High School. We had these exercises where everyone would start writing for about 10 minutes and then pass the paper to the next student. Repeat. I don't know who it was, but someone kept on writing the same segue, "The director then yelled cut..." and turned every story into a damn TV show backstory. Whoever you are...you suck dude!
posted by john at 8:32 PM on June 1, 2001
Damn Kindall!
Now you reminded me of all the stories I lost on the HD of my Amiga 2000 when it went belly up. We had tons of those stories on my BBS...First I'm forced into dredging up bad HS memories and now this. It's the MeFI buzz kill, but you can't keep a good man down!
You can tell it's friday.
posted by john at 8:38 PM on June 1, 2001
Now you reminded me of all the stories I lost on the HD of my Amiga 2000 when it went belly up. We had tons of those stories on my BBS...First I'm forced into dredging up bad HS memories and now this. It's the MeFI buzz kill, but you can't keep a good man down!
You can tell it's friday.
posted by john at 8:38 PM on June 1, 2001
"Another fine Web Product from glassdog world domination."
each to their own.
posted by kv at 9:52 PM on June 1, 2001
each to their own.
posted by kv at 9:52 PM on June 1, 2001
either i missed the sarcasm here, or decade = century. or i'm just a moron, pick any two.
i'm a...it's been a really long friday.
We're not talking about Dostoyevsky here. Try not to take yourself too seriously. It's a real turn-off.
give me a break. good writing is good writing. Dostoyevsky is great and i admire his work but on some level this is more difficult than anything D. had to put on paper. (and more fun for everybody)
posted by wantwit at 10:41 PM on June 1, 2001
i'm a...it's been a really long friday.
We're not talking about Dostoyevsky here. Try not to take yourself too seriously. It's a real turn-off.
give me a break. good writing is good writing. Dostoyevsky is great and i admire his work but on some level this is more difficult than anything D. had to put on paper. (and more fun for everybody)
posted by wantwit at 10:41 PM on June 1, 2001
wantwit, the creator of cryptic posts. (I can say this b/c he lives 20 feet away from me.)
posted by ktheory at 1:25 AM on June 2, 2001
posted by ktheory at 1:25 AM on June 2, 2001
rich: egads, man. i wasn't aware this site or this topic constituted any kind of sacred cow. why the outrage?
1. MetaFilter discussions are the original Home of Topic Drift. why is it suddenly a cardinal sin to go that route on this thread? especially since...
2. truth be told there's not much to discuss yet. it's an idea that could end up being really well-done or end up being, as others have pointed out, a rehash of busywork Creative Writing exercises. Since it's just launched there's little around which to form an informed opinion regarding which direction it will take. We could all sit around and go "well, you know, this sort of thing has been done but it's Lance and he does good stuff" but then we'd have another A-list-resentment thread and that really *has* gotten old. I'm glad the link was pointed out because now I know there's a new creative project I can go check out periodically and see how it's coming along, but while there are only two chapters to one story and one to the second, there's not much that can be said other than "new site, might be interesting, check it out".
In any event, derisive postings in any thread about the perceived lack of quality *of* the thread (let alone the discussion habits of the community as a whole which you find personally offensive) is certainly no way to encourage us all to stick to the topic of creative writing on the web, or the future of collaborative writing, or experimental fiction as an art form, or whatever rich-approved topic would be deemed most appropriate to this space.
(this needed to go in metatalk but i can't seem to post over there... will email Matt a bug report I suppose, since metatalk doesn't want me to post in either etiquette *or* bugs.)
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:32 AM on June 2, 2001
1. MetaFilter discussions are the original Home of Topic Drift. why is it suddenly a cardinal sin to go that route on this thread? especially since...
2. truth be told there's not much to discuss yet. it's an idea that could end up being really well-done or end up being, as others have pointed out, a rehash of busywork Creative Writing exercises. Since it's just launched there's little around which to form an informed opinion regarding which direction it will take. We could all sit around and go "well, you know, this sort of thing has been done but it's Lance and he does good stuff" but then we'd have another A-list-resentment thread and that really *has* gotten old. I'm glad the link was pointed out because now I know there's a new creative project I can go check out periodically and see how it's coming along, but while there are only two chapters to one story and one to the second, there's not much that can be said other than "new site, might be interesting, check it out".
In any event, derisive postings in any thread about the perceived lack of quality *of* the thread (let alone the discussion habits of the community as a whole which you find personally offensive) is certainly no way to encourage us all to stick to the topic of creative writing on the web, or the future of collaborative writing, or experimental fiction as an art form, or whatever rich-approved topic would be deemed most appropriate to this space.
(this needed to go in metatalk but i can't seem to post over there... will email Matt a bug report I suppose, since metatalk doesn't want me to post in either etiquette *or* bugs.)
posted by Sapphireblue at 11:32 AM on June 2, 2001
Well, I wasn't talking about storyFUCK being a sacred cow, or the need to stick to 'rich-approved' topics. I didn't even post the original link.
But I guess this is an example of why I've tended to drift away from metafilter.. but that just goes to the whole rehashed metatalk discussions, and is all rather silly in itself.
As for evaluating it based upon only 3 items being posted - Shapphireblue, if oyu want to reserve any opinions until more content is there, no problem. I just noted some things about it from what was there already.
Ah well, time to move on.
posted by rich at 7:41 AM on June 4, 2001
But I guess this is an example of why I've tended to drift away from metafilter.. but that just goes to the whole rehashed metatalk discussions, and is all rather silly in itself.
As for evaluating it based upon only 3 items being posted - Shapphireblue, if oyu want to reserve any opinions until more content is there, no problem. I just noted some things about it from what was there already.
Ah well, time to move on.
posted by rich at 7:41 AM on June 4, 2001
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posted by starvingartist at 10:56 AM on June 1, 2001