So as we've learned from the first [b]gigantic[/b] batch of entries for RPGC, sometimes, critiquing can take a lot of effort. Reviews are probably the most important part of this (or almost any) contest, and I'd like to facilitate them a little bit if I can.... now unfortunately I can't make them easier to WRITE, because any effort towards accomplishing that would also take away from the value of the critique. But I thought maybe we could do something to make sure reviews are a little easier to RECEIVE -- and it's a simple method, that requires just a little bit of coordination by readers.

As it stands, by default, we like to read things from the top and work our way down. That puts all the emphasis on the order in which I post things -- whoever is lucky enough to get posted first gets like a dozen critiques, and whoever winds up at the end is left waiting for weeks. I can mix up the order a little but there's only so much I can do -- someone's going to be first, someone's going to be last, that's how text works. If we're going to help writers get more exposure, it can't come from my end -- that's not a problem I'm equipped to fix. We could simply have a few people start from the bottom -- but then the people in the middle become the new class in waiting. And granted -- that's only a big problem if we have a large batch of entries, but I'm kind of hoping that we [i]always[/i] have a large batch of entries.

So, what I thought was, what if people who are committed to critiquing had a place to coordinate with each other? Thus, the Critique Society. This thread is meant as a tool to help people who don't have time to write thirty in-depth reviews, to organize, and make sure that their efforts are going to good use. How you approach that is totally up to you -- wanna pair up with someone and alternate even-odd numbers? Maybe you're planning on doing everybody anyway, but you need somebody extra-mean to offset your glowing praise? Perhaps there's one story that you think deserves lots of attention, but you're only comfortable talking about grammar, and you want a plot-specialist to help you offer another perspective? Maybe you just have a certain method of structuring your critiques that you'd like to share, so that it's out in the open and others can use it?

Basically, you can come here and talk about what you're doing on the review front, and team up with other readers to plan your efforts more deliberately. If you want.