Open Mic: How to make the most of the Open MIc

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>
Author
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (2) Likes(2)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: How to make the most of the Open MIc
    Posted: 13 September 2015 at 6:08pm
Purpose of this post is to introduce the open mic to those who are new to the site (whether new to writing or not).

Bottom line, you get out what you put in with the open mic. Used correctly it's a great way to sharpen your sword, but you need to participate actively and listen and respond to feedback in order to improve.

The best way to get high quality and meaningful impact is to pro-actively give that feedback to other members. That means taking time to read and understand others drops and give them your opinion on what was good, what was bad, what worked well & what could be improved.

Through that process it will give you a deeper understanding of how to improve your own work and will drastically improve you as a writer. It's a tried and tested formula. 

What you'll also find is that if you give good quality feedback it will be noticed by others on the board, who will in turn seek out and feedback on your drops because they have confidence that you will respond in kind. 

As a rule of thumb I would aim to give out as many pieces of feedback as you expect to receive. If you want 3 people to comment on your drop, read & comment on three other drops. If you are happy with one comment, try and make one comment. Getting feedback isn't magic, it requires the thought and effort of other members of the community. If everyone just dropped verses and never commented then nobody will get any feedback!! Please try and reward those who give feedback by giving them some in return. 

Finally, if you are ever struggling for ideas or are looking for a challenge please go to The Gauntlet where we issue you with a range of Open Mic & Cypher Games challenges.
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 6:44pm
My goal now is to try and drop feed on at least one of the OMs from every site I'm on pretty much every day. Been taking a while to get feedback on my two OM drops here though as it stands. Law dropped feed on one but I had to ask um.
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 6:58pm
I'm trying to encourage a "give and get back" culture...the point is you shouldn't have to ask people to give feed to your verses, if you contribute that should then come back around to you. Will become a virtuous circle.

It's a "sum of the parts" thing, everyone together can create a vibrant and active open mic. But people have to work together to achieve it. Hopefully having this sticky will help people understand and work towards that.
Back to Top
Sky Scrapur View Drop Down
Standard Member
Standard Member
Avatar

Joined: 21 October 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 1133
Crew: Lyricist Inc.

Audio Rank: Unranked
Stats: 0-1-0
Form: L
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Sky Scrapur Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 7:37pm
Thumbs up Cube....I'll start giving others feed from now on although i'm not active when it comes to writing my own oms. Writing is hard.
Back to Top
Rutter knows best View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator
Avatar

Joined: 15 March 2014
Location: Manny hood
Status: Offline
Points: 4529
Crew: EMPIRE

Text Champ

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 44-12-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Rutter knows best Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 8:39pm
We also need to start feeding across the board.
The audio heads only feed the audio heads, so no one else feeds them much.
A lot of people make a point of refusing to vote on a battle under some holier than though stance.... Which is straight retarded. Yet you want the battlers to feed you? Foh

Basically people need to stop shooting themselves in the foot..

#bananas
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 10:10pm
Originally posted by Cuba Cuba wrote:

I'm trying to encourage a "give and get back" culture...the point is you shouldn't have to ask people to give feed to your verses, if you contribute that should then come back around to you. Will become a virtuous circle.

It's a "sum of the parts" thing, everyone together can create a vibrant and active open mic. But people have to work together to achieve it. Hopefully having this sticky will help people understand and work towards that.

Yeah defo. I personally am not big on the feedlink rule, but mods from other sites evidently have had problems getting feedback on stuff so it's a common enough rule people enforce. 
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 10:41pm
I'm against a feedback links rule because you get people who clearly don't read the drop and leave some generic comment just to get feed...whereas if everyone understands that it's for their benefit in the long run it should be better for everyone.
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 10:52pm
Originally posted by Cuba Cuba wrote:

I'm against a feedback links rule because you get people who clearly don't read the drop and leave some generic comment just to get feed...whereas if everyone understands that it's for their benefit in the long run it should be better for everyone.

Yeah I've got a couple of people leaving me feedback on the drop I had on other sites saying like "This was dope". I'm like "I mean, thanks, I'm glad to hear it.....but any more insight there man?".

Because this doesn't seem like the biggest group of people in the world right now, it wouldn't be too hard to monitor the OM section and talk to the people leaving little amounts of feedback for their feedlinks though. As I said I'm not really a fan of that style because sometimes you've just been in a writing mood and want to drop a verse for feed. Like you said, maybe people wont check it because you didnt check other stuff first but that's more of an "it's on you" situation than it is "this is the rules".
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:06pm
I don't want to say too much about it at the moment as it's in the ideas stage, but I've put forward to the other senior mods that we should try & make crews more central to the site. Hopefully if people were in a crew other members could give them that feedback / guidance like "that comment you left on that open mic could've been better by doing this and that" rather than a mod swooping in and being like "you must do this!!!"
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:13pm
Well if there aren't a tonne of guys around, which I'm solely taking from the fact that I kind of feel like I know most of the people already haha, then crews might be a little bit hard to centralize on. I love crews though, always have, and once I get my name out a little bit more across the sites or build it back up in some cases, I'll probably be looking to make one topical / collab crew which spans across several websites just so there are guys who would never usually write with each other producing work together.

I'm sweeping the OM as we speak anyways, getting everything on the front page. That at the very least should earn a few lines of feedback from Cuba on my Why Do I Write Topicals? piece :D
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:15pm
For the OM, I think if you give one of the SMODS the specific duty of making the OM successful you might see a bit more work coming out. There are guys like me, Law, Soul and some others who would likely give feedback on anything if we were PMed to do so. One of the SMODS could be in charge of making sure every drop gets at the bare minimum like 3 decent responses to their drop, and they could do that by being annoying pricks and hitting up guys constantly to check something out etc. Also, the mod in question of course would have to lead by example. I'm not seeing too many guys in charge dropping feed in the OMs either so you'd want to make sure that you guys are the ones showing everyone else "Look, it's easy to help this shit grow" you know?
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:24pm
I hear you but I guess my challenge would be why does it need to be a "mod" as such, as you don't need any forum related powers to perform that role.

Don't get me wrong I think it's dope & I'd happily recognise it in some form I just don't see why it'd have to be a "mod".

I will peep your drop, will give it a quick scan and most likely give it a proper run down later in the week.
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:26pm
In my experience the quick scans are usually the last time they ever get opened :D

Yeah I was only saying a mod since you know the guys work hard and can trust their judgement on stuff, that's why they're mods in the first place. Essentially you could designate anyone with it. Having some responsible for something like that though makes them feel obliged to take control.
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 September 2015 at 11:48pm
I went and broke it down for you in any case, and it's more a time thing as have to get up for work in the morning!

I'm hoping to try and move away from a "mod" driven site and want to encourage members to step up and make the site a more vibrant and enjoyable place. The more organically it grows then the more sustainable it is. I don't want this to be a pyramid command structure where I sit on the top and tell everyone what to do. I'd much prefer people to go "oh there's this thing that could be done here, let me just do it rather than getting Cuba to fix it"
Back to Top
EtH View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 11 September 2015
Location: Glasgow
Status: Offline
Points: 91
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote EtH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 September 2015 at 12:09am
Yeah when you've got everyone trying to step up and stand out as the guy who's putting in work, it's much better than just giving everyone who's been on the site a while and isn't a dick a mod spot (cough, LB, cough) :D
Back to Top
Storm $hadow View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie


Joined: 25 July 2015
Location: Abuja
Status: Offline
Points: 329

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 0-4-0
Form: LLLL
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Storm $hadow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 September 2015 at 12:48am
Nice idea; and for the feeds part, its really a tested and trusted experiment cause i've had same issue with people.. Soul feed my OM and i was forced to do the same, i feed Arsenic diss to me and he did feed mine too so i think you're drifting to the right part
Back to Top
Cuba View Drop Down
Senior Moderator
Senior Moderator

Legendary Assassin

Joined: 14 June 2004
Location: England
Status: Offline
Points: 12327

King of LA

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 47-22-0
Form: WWWWLW
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Cuba Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 November 2015 at 6:04pm
P.S. please like the initial post if you find it useful as it will give good indication to the admin whether to do more things like this.
Back to Top
snowmanIAm View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 18 January 2016
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 21
Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote snowmanIAm Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2016 at 12:48am
This really helped me!I just joined today and had absolutely no idea what I was doing or what I needed to do. Thank you! I'll be sure to make my feedback longer and more in depth and let them know what I liked and didn't, but I just want to say thank you a lot! Before I got in too much trouble because of my feedback
Back to Top
Gnarly Teef View Drop Down
Groupie
Groupie
Avatar

Joined: 30 January 2016
Location: your mommas
Status: Offline
Points: 85
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Gnarly Teef Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 January 2016 at 2:15pm
Practice makes perfect and coaching does help, go it alone, get knocked like a whelp. Leeroy Jenkins with chicken an shit, run in with no plan you gonna get split.
Back to Top
SELF ACTIVATE View Drop Down
Standard Member
Standard Member
Avatar

Joined: 05 February 2016
Location: Kemet
Status: Offline
Points: 1380
Crew: Elision

Text Rank: Unranked
Stats: 1-1-0
Form: WL
Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote SELF ACTIVATE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 February 2016 at 8:18pm
How do you nom a piece for HOF?
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  12>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down