The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

But I kinda...see what you were trying to get at?

I’ll respond by saying that having elections with secure, reliable results is also important in a republic.

—Ls

But what I did understand I thought looked really exciting! I’d like to do this, if at all possible.

—Ls

I read the first chapter, and just, wow.

Spiffy.

—Ls

This brings back memories. Going back through this chapter, it's... well, very reference-dense. Which I didn't really remember in full? I mean, I kind of did. But I didn't really associate that with Suedom... my immediate association with Suedom are the chapters that came later and were... much darker.

But it was fun to see this again.

...But can we have a webring? Yes, yes we can.

The approach you described in the first link is actually a pretty good one. We host a data file everyone points to, which gets fetched by a snippet of Javascript and then the webpage figures out where it is in the webring and uses this to generate forward and back links (and a random link). Just stick a div in the page at the right place and put a script tag in your header, and you're all set.

However, as you have pointed out, we have to operate in contexts where javascript is not present. Fortunately, we have a website, so I can suggest a hack to use as a fallback. We provide the URLs plotprotectors.org/webring/{next,previous,random} or whatever else we want there to be buttons for, and when you want to add yourself to the webring you put a link to https://plotprotectors.org/webring/next/the.url/of/the/webpage/you/put/this/link/on (and likewise for previous, random, etc). When you click the link, you get bounced out to the board's server, from which we can figure out where the link should go and redirect you.

Another thing we can actually do is utilize bookmarklets: you could have a folder on your bookmarks bar called "PPC Webring" with "next", "previous", "random", etc in it as bookmarks, and then when you click one it will run a bit of javascript that figures out if you're in the webring, what the next and/or previous site is if you are, and sends you there. Which would allow us to link docs we no longer can edit into the ring... But that might be a bit Much.

For those who are under about 30 years old, Webrings were banners that you could place on your personal website (back when the internet ran on personal websites) which would automatically link to other sites in the same ring. So you could sign up to, say, an LotR Fanfic Webring, and visitors would be directed to your site from other LotR fic sites, and on from your site to others in the ring.

Thing is, that sounds like exactly what the PPC needs. The Wiki exists, but it's not set up to send you to a given PPC writer's website, or show you all their stories, or even show you the entirety of one spinoff! Most missions are on GDocs at the moment, so one mission with a given agent won't necessarily let you find others, or tell you where it sits in a series. I miss the days of browsing an author's entire body of work (like this), and I feel like a PPC Webring would be a way to bring that back.

The internet suggests that it might actually be... dare I say it... quite easy to do? This article talks about cobbling one together from CSS and a JSON file on GitHub, while this one... er... does something? I don't know; if I understood it, I wouldn't be asking for help from more tech-y minds than mine. ^_^

The downfall of this idea might be that a lot of PPC "homepages" are either GDocs themselves, or on blogs (LJ and Tumblr spring to mind). You probably can't embed CSS into a Tumblr, and I'm positive GDocs won't let you; but might there be a way to create a weird hybrid... thing that would still work?

hS

The prologue last time may have given a false impression of Suedom as a story of short, snappy chapters. NOPE! The actual Chapter 1 comes in at 10K words, and I don't think they're getting shorter, folks...

Suedom Chapter 1: Enter the Dragons by Andy & Saphie

I need to come up with some sensible way to archive this story; 30-odd disparate GDocs isn't a great approach. But given that it was a) consciously abandoned by b) people wot still exist, I'm loath to put it up on AO3 or anything. I think the best option is probably to add the Suedom homepage to my archive of Miss Cam's site, so it can be read in (roughly) its original form. I'll do that. ^_^

EDIT: And lo, I hath did it. Both chapters of Suedom are now hosted on my cargo-cult Misssandman.com. What's that you say? More chapters? Nonsense - it's November 2002, this is all there is. :D

hS

I could much more believably buy a Jane Austen-like Wizarding World if the story was set in the 1800s or so. Without all the Mother Magic gibberish, I would definitely read Pride and Prejudice + Magic.

Oh, and I haven’t been reading because I don’t have the time. I’d like to get caught up at some point, because what you’ve written is definitely a goodfic.

—Ls

I can explain what I said if it's really not clear, though?

~Neshomeh

There's also fics in the series that have Harry time travelling to the past to get with younger versions of Voldemort, so it's pretty clear the original timelines in canon are still accepted. Plus, one of the requirements for being a Most Ancient House is having 750+ years of history with no marriages to Muggles (or, presumably, Muggle-borns).

Given how wizards in canon already dress several centuries out of style, it's clear Pureblood Culture enthusiasts assume their social mores are also out of style.

If you're uncomfortable with the fic, I can respect your decision not to read it further. I did warn at the start of the fic that it would deal with topics that can be difficult for some people. Your political experience is not the same as other people's, so calling strawmen for something other people have experienced is a little disingenuous, but I'm not going to engage with you on this topic further.

So, sorry for the late reply, but I was rather uncomfortable with the political discussion because while the discussed parallels weren’t things I agree with per se, they seemed rather close to being strawmen of those beliefs.

As for Purityworld, I had a thought:

It’s pointless.

See, Purityworld is kinda supposed to be based on a past world, right? So...why not just set your story in the Past!Potterverse? The whole thing is pointless, because you could just set it in the past!

—Ls

Your reply had nothing to do with what I was saying. You didn’t even use “republic” or make a point about what it had to do with the term “democracy”. I assume you just wanted to get in a political debate with me. I’ll take that as a compliment.

—Ls didn’t find anything to disagree with in your arguments.

Hey, sorry it took me so long to get to reading this. It's been quite some busy weeks for me!

I really, really enjoyed this! It's a very PPC story, through and through. You made incredible use of so many elements of Headquarters: not just the physical elements like the Escher room and all the cameos, but the Marquis's drive for recruits, the discussion with Freedenberg over all the options the PPC has at its disposal, and my favorite of all, bending the usual protocols to have Intel seek out a goodfic, and turning it into a low-key mission to both give Mellon the opportunity he needed, and provide Gadrik and Fellrazer the mental enrichment they've been lacking. It's such a great little package you've tied together! (And speaking of Gadrik, he feels like a very realistic toddler here, too; you did a great job of describing a two-year-old's mannerisms!) I also loved all the detail you went into describing Mellon's thought process as a crow. Crows are tricky, being non-sapient animals that nonetheless have very complex mental faculties, and I think you did a great job of getting across a level of abstract thought without just resorting to using words. The conversation with the Marquis, with the emojis standing in for speech, was especially funny and expressive!

Some other, minor details I enjoyed: I like the idea that the lighting in HQ comes out of plotholes. I've always just figured HQ had visibility simply because the narrative laws required it for our characters to serve their roles, but the plothole detail really helps reinforce the patchwork nature of the "building." Also, I enjoyed Granny Weatherwax's little diatribe about choice vs. decision. Good stuff!

—doctorlit is proud to have one of his characters present in such a wonderful story!

If you didn't want to think about the implications of those words in regard to US elections, you shouldn't have brought them up in a US election thread. {= P

Since you asked: Yep. Seeing as most people* don't commit violent crime, those who do are unlikely to do it again,** and "violent crime" doesn't even always mean crime that physically harmed a person,*** I lean toward empowering incarcerated people to improve upon the circumstances that pushed them toward crime** with rehabilitation, education, and agency.

* Source: There are still more people out of prison/jail than in it for any reason, right? Right?? If that's not the case, I'm done with humanity, just end me now.

** Actual source: "Why states should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms," Prison Policy Initiative

*** Actual source: "When 'Violent Offenders' Commit Nonviolent Crimes," The Marshall Project

~Neshomeh

I will notify you once it’s up.

—Ls

That's a, um, counterintuitive way for them to demonstrate the value of privacy?

Beside the point, though.

You can set up most email accounts to forward messages to a different account so you receive everything in one place, and Gmail will even let you send messages from a linked address, too—but then the challenge is to remember to switch the From field before hitting Send. I've accidentally doxxed myself a few times by forgetting. ^_^;

Still, the Board is obviously not a viable solution for communicating with non-PPCers. Perhaps switching entirely to an address that doesn't contain any personal information is something to consider at this time?

~Neshomeh

I was more talking about semantics than actual political policies, but...ok then.

I guess you’re pro-granting felons voting rights? And...stuff?

shrugs

—Ls, not going overboard with political argue-fest-ing.

I liked the fact that Inasuke was looking for a specific mini, the idea is quite hilarious. The Mirror Chamber malfunction was pretty amusing too.

I think you did quite a good job of incorporating the badfic text into the mission. And yet another Stu with an uncanon species? Wow.

—Ls

But I’m not sure why it would be rude to delete notifications. I do it all the time.

—Ls has notified other Asylum members of this MST. Just to keep you informed.

Thing is, my folks have access to my email, and dealing with more than one email account is too much for me, I fear. I like The Board as a means of communication, probably somewhat because of this. Does that make sense?

About the registering thing, I forgot about that. If I did use the contact form, I suppose I could just delete notifications/emails after I receive and read them. But would that be rude? I'm not sure.

• Bookworm

—and I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be parody or not. It’s so incoherent, hard to tell.

As to Nesh’s comment, I’ll just add that I have no less than three emails, for such reasons. And, to register for the Board, one needs to submit an email—one that Tomash and Delta Juliette, at least, have access to.

—Ls will post this if he has time

I think most of us have at least two email addresses, one for real-life stuff (may or may not include a real name) and one for Internet stuff (definitely doesn't include a real name). What's preventing you from having an anonymous email account with your Internet handle?

~Neshomeh

It is certainly worth remembering that we're only a democracy if the popular vote actually has an impact on our elections and national policies thereby. If you want YOUR vote to matter more than spitting into the wind, be sure to support candidates who support voting rights and ease of access for all citizens.

~Neshomeh