Azalea's Arcane Alcove: Community Space Now Open!
Added 2023-12-29 01:18:35 +0000 UTCHey guys!
EXCITING NEWS: Today we're opening the discussion board, Azalea's Arcane Alcove, which will be a community space for us to spend time discussing the books and anything else that we feel like!
For now, this announcement is only going to you guys. In a little while we'll open up the Alcove to everyone.
Moderation will be handled by Stef, who most of you know from her comments here on Patreon.
If you have any questions about how to use the board once you're logged in with your Patreon credentials, please make a post or send her a private message. Likewise, if you have any issues or concerns with someone's behavior on the Alcove, please report it or send her a message.
This has been a goal of mine for a long time, and I'm genuinely so excited that we finally have a community space! I will be involved in the forum, but due to my writing and publishing commitments, I won't be involved on a daily basis.
Now, the Alcove is largely a space for you guys to discuss and debate your theories about the books, but we'll also be doing a lot of other neat stuff that having our own "property" allows. I wanted a place that encouraged more long-term, thoughtful discussion, but that would also allow me to do more stuff to give back and get you guys involved. More cool content, giveaways, contests, polls, etc.
We have already started a few Q&A threads that are ready for you to jump right in and comment on—or, better yet, start your own discussion!
And for those of you who love the rewards...
I have another challenge for you, with a brand new reward that we've never done before.
If my Patrons who sign up over the next week make at least 50 posts (total, not individually) on the Alcove, I will start an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread there next Thursday!
The AMA will be in the General Discussion section and will start at 6:00PM Mountain Time and end at 9:00PM Mountain Time. I will be there and answering questions as fast as my little fingers can type!
(For those of you who are on the opposite part of the world, or work the night shift and will be asleep by then, make sure to PM Stef with one question per person. I want everyone to get an opportunity to participate without sacrificing any sleep.)
Link to The Alcove: https://alcove.azaleaellis.com/categories
To join, click the link, select "Login" at the top right, and select "Log in With Patreon."
P.S. — If you like helping me name things, we need a name for the General Discussion section, and there's another bonus character card as a reward: https://alcove.azaleaellis.com/t/reader-challenge-help-us-name-the-general-discussion-section/28)
Comments
Alliterate Always!
Jason Brodman
2024-01-15 14:50:15 +0000 UTCOne additional note: I have been using the Alcove on my cell phone using Safari for about 2ish weeks. I can't guarantee that it will work just as well on mobile for everyone, but on Safari, it's fantastic on mobile for me. I have all the same functionality, zero clutter, and making posts and replies is just as easy as it is on desktop. There are no ads to clutter the view, and the links are all large enough to make navigation simple. (And it's not buggy and weird like Patreon.) If you do decide to sign up when we enable Google log in, we look forward to seeing you! Make sure to PM me if you're a Master tier Patron so I can add you to the Patreon group.
Stefanie
2023-12-31 23:35:08 +0000 UTCRavishard, There's a Discourse Hub app that can hold the Alcove and any other discourse boards you were part of. As for other sign-ons like Google, that's a feature I just have to go through and activate one by one while entering the relevant keys and codes. I just haven't gotten around to it for all of the various optional login integrations yet, but it should be done within a week or so. But having said that, I'm certainly not trying to pressure you to join. If you don't want to, you don't have to, and that's that. Edit: And as far as not doing both, I'm not entirely opposed to that idea, but chances of succeeding in any endeavor are lessened when you split your focus and efforts rather than pouring them all into one place. We will see what happens as we grow and develop, but for the moment there's no plan for a Discord.
Azalea Ellis
2023-12-30 00:45:18 +0000 UTCFair points, but discord is an industry standard for patreon creators already...
Alex
2023-12-29 10:35:50 +0000 UTCAwesome! Thanks for clarifying that.
begna112
2023-12-29 05:28:46 +0000 UTCDiscord certainly has its issues, yes. My overall take on the matter: why not use both? I'd say the 2k character limit only matters if there needs to be a space for setting down large uninterrupted blocks of text. If that's the case, then yeah, discord is not ideal even for people with nitro. If not, then it's just a matter of posting in chunks, which is instant, as it's a messenger format. But yeah, if any of your list of cons are deal-breakers for you, not much else matters. For mobile optimization, I think my main questions would be: - is there an app for it? - can I quickly and easily sign up with a Google, etc account without needing to create yet another password that I won't remember or fill in forms? Patreon doesn't count. I'm not using that as login credentials anywhere. Anyway, I looked at the site and answered those questions for myself, so it's unlikely that I'll ever be seen on the alcove.
Raivshard
2023-12-29 03:57:57 +0000 UTCDid a little research, and I believe you should be able to create an account separately from your Patreon account, then within the Alcove go to Account > Preferences > scroll down to Associated Accounts and connect your Patreon account through there. It should still allow you to access the Patreon-only discussions that way. Let us know if you have any difficulties with that!
Azalea Ellis
2023-12-29 03:42:57 +0000 UTCI know some people like discord, but several things about it made it an imperfect option for what I want for this community space, and a few of those things were deal-breakers, like the inability to post more than 2k characters at a time without paying for Nitro. We did some fairly extensive research and pros-cons lists before deciding on Discourse. I'm not sure what your standards for mobile optimization are, but IMO it works pretty great. However, the Alcove is an optional space to hang out, so, you know, we'll try to make it as awesome and as valuable a use of your time as possible, but it'll be up to you to decide if you want to be there or not.
Azalea Ellis
2023-12-29 03:26:24 +0000 UTCIf we login with our Patreon credentials, that means our account will be tied to our Patreon account, right? I'd rather have just a normal email account and then link my Patreon, personally. Not a fan of "login with other service account" systems. If I delete or lose access to it for any reason, I wouldn't be able to access my account on the forum.
begna112
2023-12-29 02:17:44 +0000 UTCI prefer discord, personally. Extra hoops to jump through just to use something that's not optimized for mobile sounds less than ideal. Better than Patreon, but what isn't?
Raivshard
2023-12-29 01:34:21 +0000 UTC
