A Cleaning Month In June?

[miss stav]

Hello all,
so, again, the readers wanted: books is flowing with wonderful projects. But some older projects need more attention, and some need a push towards the finishing line. I think it is so for plays, but I am less involved with that. So I was wondering if you want a cleaning month in June. I can help more with proof listening. What ever you see fit. Have fun,
Stav.

[Rapunzelina]

Hello Stav!

I personally don't feel the need for a clean-up month now (and I think I am still recovering from last year's effort ). Maybe we'll have more activity during the summer months either way, if people have more free time. And of course you can help with proof-listening if you can, any time!

We have time until June/July/August, to discuss it further. Your post is a good way to see how other librivoxers feel, and a good reminder for those who like to help with older projects!

Specifically for the dramatic works, there is a post as an ongoing "clean-up" effort, here: viewtopic.php?f=27&t=60875

[AdeledePignerolles]

I'd love there to be some sort of clean up. Especially in DWs there's a lot of projects that have been sitting for a while...

[Availle]

Dramatic works have never been a part of any cleanup.

Maybe simply not start that many DR's while others are still languishing?

[Availle]

Okay, that remark made me curious; I've looked it up now, only Dramatic Readings:

17 ongoing, 10 of which are fully subscribed or in editing mode.

Longest open:
The Betrothed (since May 2014, and the BC did get a lot of pushback if I remember correctly....)
Count of Monte Christo (since April 2015)
Crime and Punishment (since June 2015)

All of those are very, very long books with an endless (and mostly insignificant) cast. I can see that when the handful big roles are taken there's less incentive to read for the one-liners.
Also, it seems for some reason or other, BCs are less inclined to orphan parts in DRs and plays than they would be in normal group projects. Maybe that would be another way to keep things moving more steadily? I can see that it's annoying, especially if a main character isn't responsive and the choice is to wait just a little bit longer or to ditch the whole (possibly assembled) recording and start afresh. However, Huck Finn for example has been gone for 18 months, I would say he found greener pastures since then...


Anyway, I don't think it is that bad wrt "sitting for a while". For a DR, anything under 2 years I'd consider a "fast mover".

[jasonb]

I came to this section of the forum specifically to see if there was anything like this being considered. I am personally going to be trying to get involved in older works that have just a few sections left and push them across the line during June - It would be nice to see us cross 11k books by the anniversary, and maybe even start to ramp up to closer to 100 per month!

I am trying to get more interest here in Panama in making time for volunteer projects; unfortunately, it isn't really in the culture here, so I have my work cut out for me.

Anyways, I would support a push to clean up anything, even if it is just a few of us trying to get some old stuff done.

[TriciaG]

We've had some discussion behind the scenes. We just had a big push last July for the anniversary. We're not sure there's a need for more than one every 12 months.

We have two pages of projects in Readers Wanted: Books, so we're really not that overloaded with book projects. Dramatic works are a different kettle of fish, and usually don't work well for a cleanup.

So basically, we aren't certain one is needed right now, but we think that if we have one, it won't be until at least August.

(Any admin may correct me on any of my points, but I am confident that this was the consensus.)

[linny]

My initial thought was oh, no. Already? Then a flood of memories came back.

Last year, there seemed to be pages and pages of open projects but maybe I'm remembering solos which always has a lot. Do we have enough lingering projects where a clean up month is even warranted? (See Tricia's post). A couple of pages of projects doesn't seem like that many to me. There are currently 67 open projects in Short Works and 88 in Readers Wanted: Books. I wonder how many we had before the effort last year?

Then I remembered that wonderful cover posting Ava put together. It listed the projects started more than 1 year ago and younger ones with only 5 sections remaining. This got me curious. I didn't go through Short Works but in Books there are 16 older than 1 year and only 1 within a year with 5 or less sections remaining.

I don't know what I would have done without Ava's listing but looking at it now it does in some ways remind me of the DW listing of oldest projects. I'm wondering if a similar post wouldn't do well in the reader's wanted section. I couldn't imagine it being updated more than monthly but I imagine there are readers this would appeal to. It might even be a nice compromise instead of an all out clean up month.

Well, that’s my assortment of thoughts, helpful or useless as they may be. I got distracted with it so I figured I would post. Oh, and if anyone is interested in the 16 projects here they are:
Readers Wanted - Older than 1 year: 16
T. De Witt Talmage As I Knew Him by Thomas De Witt Talmage 9 sections
Discovery & Exploration of the Mississippi Valley 10 sections
Say and Seal by Susan Warner 21 sections
The Glory Of The Conquered-Susan Glaspell 12 sections
Carmen by Prosper Merimee 7 sections
Recollections of Old Liverpool by J.Stonehouse 14 sections
The Emancipated by George Gissing 19 sections
Pretty Sister Of José-Frances Hodgson Burnett 8 sections
Potash and Perlmutter: Copartnership by Glass 2 sections
Lives of the Artists Vol. 5 by G. Vasari 3 sections
Woodstock by Sir Walter Scott 21 sections
Diana Of The Crossways By George Meredith 5 sections
Hunting In Many Lands 1 section
Selected Letters of St. Jane Frances de Chantal 33 sections
Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished--R.M.Ballantyne 12 sections
A Cruising Voyage Around the World by Woodes Rogers – 11 sections

Readers Wanted – Fewer than 5 sections remaining
The Little Minister by J. M. Barrie 1 section
A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Methods to Be Used to Prevent it by Richard Mead – 3 sections

List updated June 10
Completed
Pamela vol 2 by Samuel Richardson