The "Topic of the Month Club"

[Nomadic]

I was agreeing with Llum's assessment that general topics could be backed up by subtopics. So I'm not sure we disagree on anything here.

Though I might add you cannot expect every member of the community can or will be capable of working on every topic.
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Since your examples were explicitly counterexamples to Llum's (via the "or something like" line), I'm not sure you can claim anyone disputing them as "semantics"--any degree to which the discussion is semantic was precipitated by the choice to offer alternatives in first place.
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They were nothing of the sort, I was approving of what Llum had put forward in regards to my earlier idea and reinforcing it with my own concept of what I felt he was getting at (something I completely agree with).

Also... cheese! (ha, take that)

[Jharviss]

I'm not huge on why we need subtopics.  If we're talking about travel for these two weeks, doesn't that lend itself to all forms of travel?  The subtopics just sounds like a guiding hand sort of thing.

[Nomadic]

I'm not huge on why we need subtopics.  If we're talking about travel for these two weeks, doesn't that lend itself to all forms of travel?  The subtopics just sounds like a guiding hand sort of thing.

The subtopic concept was an attempt to connect the two camps (the one that wanted specific ideas and the one that wanted general ideas). As an aside... the whole point of this thing is to have a guiding hand, so subtopics being a guiding hand can only be a good thing.

[Polycarp]

The other thing to consider here is that for every topic we will have an accompanying thread, and that thread would be a fine place for people to propose subtopics and other related or more precise areas of exploration.  Since the topic is only a suggestion anyway, there's not much of a difference between the "real topic" and various permutations that people come up with when discussing the topic.

Example:

A: The new topic is livestock.  Tell us about meat on the hoof!
B: Aww, but my dystopian future world full of questionable genetic experiments doesn't have livestock.
C: So what to they eat then?
B: Well, they mostly eat gruel, but they can also grow flesh in vats...
C: Gross!  You should write about meat vats then.
B: Ok!

I don't think we should expect every topic to apply equally well to everyone.  Sometimes, strictly speaking, a topic won't apply to you - it's not big deal.  Even with 2 weeks each, I don't intend to religiously write something for each one (though I may try).  Sure, we'll never do something like "elves" or "steam engines" because that automatically excludes many/most settings, but being left out of a topic every now and then isn't really something I'm concerned about.

I think I'll do some random generation and post a real thread for this tomorrow.  I'll try and write up a somewhat general topic, but suggest some possible areas of inquiry within that topic, and you folks can give feedback in the thread.  If it's too general, we'll get more specific for the next one, and vice versa.

[LD]

Sounds good Polycarp!, I am looking forward to seeing the first results!

[Matt Larkin (author)]

The TFC isn't a contest or competition; there are no judges, no winners, and no prizes.

Maybe we should have a prize, like a badge for the most inspiring each fortnight.

[Superfluous Crow]

Well, that would require more voting

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Well, that would require more voting

Or a rotating (non-participating) judge or panel.

[Polycarp]

My personal view on this is that people will be more likely to participate if they are not concerned about competition - that is, if the topic club is understood as an informal discussion and exploration of a specific topic rather than something that is judged and ranked.  The point is to give people an optional topic to explore and to share relevant work between authors and settings, and I'm unsure that creating a prize furthers that point.  Contests inevitably insert at least a bit of drama into the whole affair, and I'd like the TFC to be as informal and drama-free as possible.

Additionally, one of the attractions of the idea (in my mind) was that it would take so little effort to do - someone makes a topic post every two weeks, and lets people discuss and post about it.  Maintaining a judge/panel and making that judgment every two weeks considerably increases the required time investment.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

You're probably right.

[Polycarp]

Remember too that we can always change/add in the future - it's just an experiment right now.  If this becomes popular and there is general agreement that a prize would be good/useful/cool, we can re-consider it then.