Snowflake Challenge #15

[kate]

In your own space, Talk about Your Snowflake Experience.

What did you come into it thinking or wanting? Did you get that? Did you get something else? Did you learn anything new about fandom, others, yourself? Are you glad you did it or thought it a waste of time and energy? You can tell us. We’re all here to learn and grow. What did you learn? How did you grow?

I'm an old hat at snowflake these days, and while this was a good snowflake for me - I finished all of the challenges except one, which I should finish in another day or two - it wasn't my best snowflake. As my professional life gets busier and busier, the time I have available to continue interactions on the level I prefer is not what it used to be. I always seem to be saying "when x happens, I'll have more time" but even when x happens (which is maybe 50/50), it doesn't seem to bring the free time I expect. Which just means I have to be more and more careful about my time.

It's more about the interaction for me. I love looking over everyone's answers and commenting all over DW in places and on journals I might not otherwise. I like making connections and sometimes new friendships. So while I did some of that this snowflake, and it was pretty great, it wasn't as much as I have in the past and I miss it.

SO! That said - this is a pretty lowkey challenge for me, just enough for me to keep a hand in and have some nice interactions and not so much that I feel guilty if I can't participate at my maximum all the time. There is a similar challenge in the summer called sunshine_challenge, which is also fantastic and I can recommend, despite failing to do it myself (because I only remember snowflake because of when it happens - for whatever reason, sunshine_challenge hasn't imprinted itself on my seasonal memory yet).

Six months is a long time for me, though, and I miss the interaction, so I was thinking maybe we want to do a spring and fall themed challenge as well. I wrote a post on this and called for comments. I believe many hands make light work, so if we got enough volunteers to do this sort of challenge on a quarterly basis, it would be fun ways to increase interactions on DW and broadly across fandoms. If you have any interest in that (or ideas about it!) please comment over there.

Comments

[dreamersdare]

Honestly? I think the challenges are really just the vehicle to hang the interactions from. In many ways, it doesn't matter what they are, because a lot of the appeal about them is in getting people to talk to each other about all sorts of crap (y'know, like Baymax's superiority in the event of a zombie apocalypse :D)

I also think this year has been a tough one for people on that. There's a lot of extra burdens and challenges on a lot of folks at the moment that make those interactions more difficult to maintain, especially at any sort of deep/meaningful level. So, basically, what I'm saying is: a curse on this decade of the two thousand and twenties, which has simultanously lasted 13 months and 300 years!

[enemytosleep]

I do feel you on the annual Snowflake commenting surge that wanes by mid-Feb for many folks. I definitely don't have the time or spoons to contribute more, but I wonder about a non-fandom/multifandom coffee house community page? Maybe you have a weekly discussion prompt, maybe not? Maybe you just post the coffee special each Sunday and have a space for folks to drop in and chat each week in a loose format? It could be fun to have folks share what new shows they've seen/books they've read and casual conversation that could lead to people friending or not. I know I mod at a few places, but I'm actually quite private and find it difficult to welcome new people into my locked journal, so things like Snowflake let me have those conversations in less intrusive places. I'm not sure this comment was helpful, but anyway. Thank you for participating in Snowflake, and thank you for volunteering for Sunshine!