Hey guys, been really enjoying being part of GWA for the past couple of weeks (I used to just lurk for a long time). It's lovely when you can get feedback on something you've done, and it's amazing to be blown away by an incredible performance of a script that breathes so much life into your words in unexpected ways.

As a new contributor, I have found that visibility and feedback are absolutely crucial to making newcomers feel welcome. It is extremely disheartening to put a lot of effort into something, then get one or two upvotes and no comments. Some of my scripts have done really well, and two performances of different scripts of mine have gained around 170 and 260 upvotes respectively, which I feel reflects both excellent performances and (hopefully) solid scripts.

But other times, my scripts fall off the front page rapidly due to active nature of the subreddit, and I feel as though I put a lot of effort in to be barely noticed by anyone.

Anyway, I recently wrote a F4M and a M4F version of the same beginner script. And a number of males have attempted it, and these people have clearly put so much effort into their work, and really put themselves out there in quite a vulnerable way, but then their efforts gather perhaps a couple of upvotes and very few comments, if any (other than mine, as I always try to leave feedback for other newbies, even male ones even though I prefer F4M, especially when they have gone to the trouble of having a go at one of my beginner scripts). I can't speak for them, but I can't help feeling this must be a bit crushing for them at a time when they most crave feedback and responses and encouragement.

Here is a comment I recently left for one such male performer, who currently has 2 upvotes (probably mine starting one) and no comments other than mine (post is 6 hours old). It's steadily falling down the front page at #17.

Also I feel like you deserve more upvotes for your effort. I hate how sometimes someone can fall off the front page so quickly, I'm starting to think there should be a male and female version of GWA, it's getting pretty crowded and active and two different audiences are split (3 if you count script submissions, for which the audience is performers)... And women tend to get more upvotes due to the majority male audience, so males drop off the front page like a stone...

If you look at my comment history, you will find that I have been trying very hard to leave detailed feedback and encouragement to a range of different people, from new male and female performers, new verification posts, and to both popular and new contributors. If I leave feedback on a script fill, I try to acknowledge the scriptwriter (tagging them in my comment) as well as a performer, who I've noticed gets a disproportionate amount of praise and responses (well-deserved, but disproportionate).

So in summary, my concerns are:

• New contributors, who need feedback the most, tend to get the least

• Male contributors often tend get far less visibility than their female counterparts, which is not surprising due to the transient nature of reddit (where rapid, sudden popularity is king) in the context of a pretty male-dominated audience (I may be wrong, but GWA content seems to reflect that). And this is no doubt self-fulfilling if males get discouraged.

• The subreddit (GWA) is highly active and crowded, while trying to meet the needs of at least 3 pretty distinct audiences (male and female listeners, and people looking to find, offer and receive feedback on scripts)

• Script writers spend a lot of time and craftsmanship on trying to supply good scripts, because they enjoy hearing them performed. But it can be discouraging when scripts get such little feedback, while performers are swarmed with praise when they fill your script. It's not that they don't deserve it, of course, but it sometimes feels a little hurtful to read the comments on a script fill and see everyone praising the performer as if they were responsible for every aspect of the performance by themselves.

• Scripts aren't easy to write, and I do it as a hobby because I've found I quite enjoy it, but it is honestly crushing to get all excited to finally put something out there and then watch the hours tick by with near-complete indifference. I could easily put my valuable writing time and experience to more profitable use, if I wanted, but the sheer quality of many performances of my scripts has kept me going. There is nothing much better than seeing one of your scripts being brought skilfully to life. But had it not been for one or two performers who happened to see my early contributions and blow me away with their fantastic renditions, I may have simply given up.

• Related subreddits like the Script Writer's guild are essentially dead, forcing me to submit to an over-crowded GWA if I want any feedback or response at all. I submit all my scripts to both, but I have received a grand total of one brief comment and a handful of upvotes in the Script guild. Barely worth the effort tbh.

That's probably enough for now! I just wanted to give you a view into the perspective of a new contributor to what I feel is one of the best, most unique and wonderful subreddits out there, full of people trying hard to provide each other with great experiences. But there is definitely room for improvement.

How to do this? That's up to you guys, I'm new here :) But I question the wisdom, as the subreddit seems to become ever more active, of trying to serve such diverse and distinct purposes and preferences in a single subreddit, while others are barely active. In my mind I see GWA as the parent subreddit, or perhaps GWA for male listeners and GWA for female listeners, and then a range of more specialised subreddits under this umbrella. Say, a GWA for people who don't fit into the common F4M or M4F standard, and one for new performers, and one for new scriptwriters. Then people can get focused feedback and visibility, but can be encouraged by other to submit to the main subreddit(s) if their work is viewed as high quality. These can thus be feeding grounds of high quality content into GWA, while allowing newer people to have a comfortable place to experiment and gain feedback in a less pressurised, competitive environment. This may not be workable for many reasons, but it is just the first thought that occurred to me.

Now that I have helpfully provided people with an appropriately terrifying wall of text on Christmas Eve, all that's left for me to do is to wish you all a very nice Christmas and/or happy holidays!

Cheers, and I actually do love it here,

RescindableStare :)

p.s. that's almost 1200 words now that I check in my word doc. Sorry! Where's an editor when you need one?