help the clueless

[ratcreature]

I was reading the daily_snitch and saw in the community section "fantasyverse is a new land community." My reaction then was "what is a 'land community'?" so I headed over to the comm profile, which in the about section also only says that it is a "land community" but does not explain what that is, but it apparently involves teams and challenges. I then head to the FAQs which unfortunately don't give a definition either.

At this point I assume that it must be some sort of incredibly common thing that everybody (except apparently me) in fandom is familiar with. I tried looking in Fanlore, but that wiki failed me too, because it does not have an article on this. I tried following affiliated links, but aside from ending up on a master list of land comms that showed me that there are a ton of them, I didn't easily find a link to a clear definition what they are either.

Could anyone on my flist give me an explanation what these communities are/do?

Comments

[busaikko]

I am laughing so hard, but only because there is a Stargateland comm and I've been trying to figure out what they do for ages! But apparently secrecy and flock are norms....

As far as I know, a "land comm" divides members into teams, which compete with each other in games and contests (logic puzzles, drabbles/drawbles, etc.). Because it is meant to be "all in good fun", the flock is meant to protect members from non-members' criticism.

Stargateland members are evangelically passionate about how fun it is! and how everyone should join! and make new friends! I like to know what I'm getting into before I commit. They say it's easy to quit if it doesn't work for me. So who knows!

[ratcreature]

I like to know what I'm getting into before I commit. They say it's easy to quit if it doesn't work for me. So who knows!

LOL, that sounds like a cult! But yeah, I've been looking at the comm infos of a couple, and then still go "but what is going on exactly?" and then everything is all locked, which just isn't very inviting. I like to know what a comm is about before joining too, especially things that you have to "apply" for, rather than just joining some comm, and that are less than clear in their descriptions.

[busaikko]

Yeah, my husband is in a cult, and it makes me super-sensitive a lot.

I think members find the secrecy protective; some of the challenges might be embarrassing? (because of the time limits, fic and art produced isn't up to the public standards of the creators - unbeta'd and sketchy would be my guess; I have seen some people repost stuff they made for Stargateland, but I think that's the best efforts of the creators.)

In my experience, land comms are very much against the idea of participation by lurking....

[ratcreature]

I must have less shame than some people: I regularly post drawbles I did in five minutes. (Somewhat crushingly for my artistic ego those often get as many or more comments than things I worked on for many hours too! which I sort of get on a social level, because they are often more interactive stuff, but still.)

Anyway even with participation requirements, they didn't have to be so murky about it. I mean, there always were participation only spaces, like I remember a mailing list way back when I was in TS fandom that had posting requirements, so that is not new.

[brownbetty]

Kind of like HP sorting comms, but hopefully less wanky, then?

[ratcreature]

So what exactly do HP sorting comms do besides forming four teams? By now I understand that there are challenges and teams compete for points, but who gives out these points if everything is locked? I mean, with Snarry Games and McShep Match the general audience votes, iirc, but if only members can vote and participation is a must, and thus all members are in teams, won't they just vote for their team?