LNH/META: To Reboot or Not to Reboot....

[Arthur Spitzer]

This is a reply to a post on the LNH Authors Group...

On Oct 26, 2011, at 10:56 AM, Lalo Martins wrote:

 >Maybe I'm spending too much time reading about managing and marketing, 
 >but —

 >I'd go with a full reboot. As in, when it's done, that's the world we 
 >continue writing in.

 >The reasons are: when is the last time we got a new writer?

Well, Wil Alambre started writing LNH this year... although yes it's 
been awhile since we've gotten new blood.

 >I think I'm not the last but the, well, last but one. For the LNH to 
 >survive as a concept it needs both new writers and new readers.

I agree...

 >And one of the reasons we get no new readers is because we're this 
 >obscure club on Usenet (really, Usenet?) and another is that it's 
 >intimidating, it's like picking up an X-Men book in the mid-90s, you 
 >know the funny parts are funny and you know the super-hero parts are 
 >interesting but 80% of them make no sense whatsoever if you haven't 
 >read everything in the archives.

I don't think that's entirely true (well, the part about no one knowing 
about it is true)... the LNH kind of started out as a chaotic mess that 
wasn't the greatest prose and it developed a huge backstory in a very 
short time.  I think the real reason it was popular in the 90s and not 
as popular now is simply there was less competing with the typical 
person's attention span back then.  The LNH was cool back in the 90s 
because there was not much else to do on the internet.

Now days it has to compete with all kinds of things like youtube, 
webcomics, bit torrent stuff, and a bunch of other stuff.  Now it's 
possible that if it had its own messageboard maybe it would do a little 
better than being on Usenet... although you'd still have to lead 
everyone who doesn't know about it to it.

Back in 2004, I kind of tried my own LNH reboot with LNHY... and at 
least in getting new writers it was kind of a failure.  Maybe it would 
have done better with some classic LNH characters thrown in the mix.

 >And it's intimidating for writers because there's all these characters 
 >that are important for this or that reason and that you just can't use 
 >(either because they're reserved or because you're terrified you'll 
 >get them wrong and the ghost of wReam will come in the night and give 
 >you a wedgie. I'm pretty sure wReam is still alive, but you get my 
 >point. Or — because you can't be bothered to go dig up all the archive 
 >issues they've ever been in. Or because the original author didn't 
 >actually finish the last storyline they were in [I'm looking at you, 
 >Jennifer, and, well, Lalo].)

Don't worry about the ghost of wReam... he doesn't care what you do to 
his characters.  :)


 >Which doesn't mean people who want to keep writing on the “classic” 
 >universe can't do whatever they want, this is not an ISO committee. 
 >But a Looniverse somewhere between Ultimate and New 52 is something 
 >I'd feel comfortable making a push for friends to read and even try 
 >their hands writing for. Or, heck, my kids.

Well, there goes my idea for a Erotic LNH reboot.  :)


Arthur "On the singing USENET ship..." Spitzer