Personal opinion time - I don't believe it is proper, with the amount of time an effort that goes into BCing plays, to BC one that you haven't read, that you personally can't understand or that you have not researched well enough. I personally believe that, in order to BC a dramatic project, it should have been prepared at least a month before launch so that you have time to get to know it. If a BC isn't passionate about a play, how can one expect anyone else to be?!SweetPea wrote:... I also don't think some BC's know the play well enough to provide descriptions. (I'm talking about plays now, with DR's the BC knows everything about the book from turning it into a script ). ...
I also believe that, thinking back, this is a non-issue. Dramatic people come and go. The projects ebb and flow. I think the issue is that people are easily excited/too impatient. Dramatic projects in the past took on average 5 months to fill up a play and around a year to a year and a half for a small (5 hour?) dramatic reading. There's always been more roles than people to fill them, but eventually as people come and go they get filled. It just requires people to stop rushing and start appreciating that it will take a long time!
As for friendliness, I disagree wholeheartedly. I have tried my very best to welcome as many people to the dramatic forum as possible. I PM people after their first role if it's on one of my projects to see how they're getting on at Librivox and to explain how things work. I have linked all of my newbie friendly wiki articles. People stay or people don't. We do not have any fewer or any more very active members of the forum than we have ever had. We are welcoming. That isn't a problem. The problem is that people lack the patience to wait for enough people to fill their projects.