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New "Stunning" Cthulhu Website!

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Franz

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Jan 20, 2002, 6:14:03 PM1/20/02
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A new website inspired by H.P. Lovecrafts writings has seen the light
of dawn. On http://cthulhu.imperial-literature.com/ you will find
mythos fiction and art and scenarios for Call of Cthulhu. Please stop
by and have a look and feel free to submit your stories, art and
scenarios.

Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman

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Jan 21, 2002, 1:56:10 PM1/21/02
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Imperial Literatures Call of Cthulhu page looks remarkably like
Shoggoth.net... both in functionality, purpose, content, and basic design.
Besides art, what does imperial literature have to offer that shoggoth.net
lacks? Shoggoth.net has been in operation for coming up on one year and has
been serving the mythos communtiy loyally in that time.


--
Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman
Webmaster: Shoggoth.net
Site Designer: phpslash.org
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
-H.P. Lovecraft
---------------------------------------------------------
Please do not resell my e-mail address
to anyone or send me unsolicited e-mail
---------------------------------------------------------

"Franz" <cth...@imperial-literature.com> wrote in message
news:41895071.02012...@posting.google.com...

Franz

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Jan 21, 2002, 6:23:44 PM1/21/02
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QUOTE:

"Besides art, what does imperial literature have to offer that
shoggoth.net lacks?"

Art counts and a message board that works and is easy to
operate/survey - cthulhu.imperial-literature has got it all in one!
Then Imperial Literature has thousands of visitors already who also
visits the Cthulhu section of the site. So
cthulhu.imperial-literature.com is the place to get published if you
want to get read or exhibit your art. It is the place to meet fellow
mythos "worshippers" and discuss your passion ALSO if you are a Call
of Cthulhu gamer.
Imperial Literature has nearly two years of experience of
communicating fiction and art. The Cthulhu expansion of the site has
been welcomed by a lot of regular visitors who are hungering for more
fiction, art and scenarios.

QUOTE:


"Shoggoth.net has been in operation for coming up on one year and has
been serving the mythos communtiy loyally in that time."

I can ensure that cthulhu.imperial-literature.com will do the same.

Shonokin

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Jan 21, 2002, 7:09:01 PM1/21/02
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It does seem to have a lot of the same design elements, that's for sure. The
art gallery is interesting though.

Daniel Ross

Matt \"TrollBoy\" Wiseman wrote:

--
-The Voice of the Mountains-
http://www.manlywadewellman.com
S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S


Doctor TOC

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Jan 21, 2002, 9:43:05 PM1/21/02
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Franz wrote:


Looks *awfully* familiar. Very little content, though the art gallery
had some interesting pieces. Overall though, Shoggoth.Net does the same
thing better, and they were there first. Let me know when you've found
some originality. Oh, and those images you're using are copyright to
Chaosium (the dragon, for instance, is their corporate symbol). I'd
change that, if I were you.


Doctor TOC
--
The Reverend Doctor "The Other Chris"
Secret Elf, Jive Talkin' Choirboy, God of Cowboy Spurs
ICQ # 4814586
Daleks! 3D - http://users.rcn.com/otherchris/
Time War RPG - http://jump.to/TimeWar
alt.tv.sevendays FAQ - http://welcome.to/7-Days
The TOC Files - http://members.fortunecity.com/toc

james ambuehl

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Jan 22, 2002, 2:11:15 AM1/22/02
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My own thoughts on the two websites:

Yes, Imperial-Literature seems to have copied the design of Shoggoth.Net
almost to the letter. I hated Shoggoth.Net at first, because it's so
busy with frames, and especially because it buries everything all
together: fiction, gaming articles, poetry, book announcements and what
have you -- although you can separate them with side links evidently,
which I just recently found out how to use myself -- rather than
sub-sectioning them, which most sites do. But it's nice that once you
do locate what you were looking for, you can get a printable copy
on-screen and then print it out with ease; I have a small pile of
fictions printed out from here, which I've yet to read, so no comments
on the fiction quality just yet. The other nice thing is that
everything is dated for when it's been posted, which is a big help to us
Mythos Bibliographer types! With these pluses, the site is growing on
me. Bravo, Matt!

Imperial-Literature, on the other hand, has the annoying habit of
breaking the fiction up into pieces and posting the various bits of a
given story on different days. I don't know about you, but I tend not
to read a story unless the whole thing is there, in the often likely
event the rest never does make it up there. Also, if it's not all
there, I might make a mental not to go back and read it or print it
until it's done and all posted, yet I'm sure I'll forget to go back and
get the story; also, I tend to lose interest in a given story if I can't
read it then and there -- there's just too much other complete Mythos
story stuff on other sites all over the Net to bother with this
'waiting.'

So, my advice to both sites: Shoggoth.Net, don't change a thing (except
perhaps add a separate bar for 'Fiction' since 'Stories' seems to
encompass everything too broadly) and Imperial-Literature, print the
fiction whole or not at all.

-- Jim


"Currently she was standing in the middle of what appeared to be his
TARDIS library. But it was a library of the evil and the arcane, where
the godless 'Necronomicon' was sandwiched between those terrible works
'Liber Inducens in Evangelium Aeternum' and 'The Black Scrolls of
Rassilon'. Where the infamous 'Book of Vile' and its Black Appendix sat
next to 'The Ambuehl Lores' and the wretched 'Insidium of Astrolabus'
.."

-- THE QUANTUM ARCHANGEL by Craig Hinton


Arinn Dembo

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Jan 22, 2002, 3:08:28 AM1/22/02
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"Doctor TOC" wrote:

> Let me know when you've found
> some originality.

*cough cough choke* Excuse me, but weren't we talking about the relative
merits of two websites which collect Mythos fanfiction?

Am I the only person who appreciates the hilarious irony of bringing the
word "originality" into this discussion?

--Arinn Dembo

Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman

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Jan 22, 2002, 3:12:38 AM1/22/02
to
> With these pluses, the site is growing on
> me. Bravo, Matt!

Thanks, we've a bunch of new features in the works that will be based off of
our core engine upgrade in around (hopefully) a month or two... But in the
mean time, the Bravo should go to the kickass staff..
Nicole "Kthulah" Lasher, Poetry Administrator, kth...@shoggoth.net
Jeremy "Bolthy" Zimmerman, RPG Administrator, bol...@shoggoth.net
Chris "HeartWyrm" Loveless, Literary Administrator, hear...@shoggoth.net

We are currently accepting new editors as well ;-)

Dan Norder

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Jan 22, 2002, 11:24:37 AM1/22/02
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>*cough cough choke* Excuse me, but weren't we talking about the relative
>merits of two websites which collect Mythos fanfiction?
>
>Am I the only person who appreciates the hilarious irony of bringing the
>word "originality" into this discussion?
>
>--Arinn Dembo

No, but then I don't care for either site enough to make a comment.

Oh, wait, guess that was a comment. Sorry.

--
Dan Norder
No song is ever over-played on the radio...
some people just listen to the radio too much.

Matt TrollBoy Wiseman

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Jan 22, 2002, 12:14:37 PM1/22/02
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I do have to agree with Arinn, we're both merely fanfic sites.
Nothing that new. I hate to see this turn into a flame war as it
looks like its turning that way. The intent of my original post was
merely to point out that the notion of a database driven, commentable
mythos site had been done, so imperial wasn't that "Stunningly new".
I have already mailed Franz offlist and wished him all the best.

On the other hand, I've been online long enough to some people just
like the concept of a holy war. SO be it, here's what you do. If you
hate old obsolete shoggoth.net, send as many stories as possible to
imperial. If you hate this new upstart imperial, then send as much as
you can to shoggoth.net. If the fire's going to be burning, then we
may as well put a steam engine around it. If this little flame
war/announcement turns into a content flood, I doubt franz or I will
complain that much :-).

Instigator of content floods,


Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman
Webmaster: Shoggoth.net
Site Designer: phpslash.org
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
-H.P. Lovecraft
---------------------------------------------------------
Please do not resell my e-mail address
to anyone or send me unsolicited e-mail
---------------------------------------------------------


"Arinn Dembo" <erinyst...@spammityspamspamhotmail.com> wrote in message news:<06938.15289$V_4.6...@news3.calgary.shaw.ca>...

Andrew Ian Dodge

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Jan 22, 2002, 12:21:44 PM1/22/02
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"Arinn Dembo" <erinyst...@spammityspamspamhotmail.com> wrote in message news:<06938.15289$V_4.6...@news3.calgary.shaw.ca>...

There is in fact a difference between plagiarism and being influenced
by something. My mythos fiction is influenced by Lovecraft et al, but
I do everything I can to make sure it is not copied.

In regards to Cthulhu sites, Shoggoth.net is original and the new one
is similar in many ways. Besides the fact that it should be asked, is
there any need for another site that is so similar in content?

Andrew

Edward Parsons

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Jan 22, 2002, 1:40:50 PM1/22/02
to
Both Old and New site suffer from the same problem: Not enough content. I
will be satisfied with neither till each click of a link brings up at least
something.

The answer? Everyone, start writing and send it in to your site of choice.


Yog-Bear

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Jan 22, 2002, 2:26:58 PM1/22/02
to
Well,

I happen to run Yog-Sothoth(.com) which looks somewhat different to these
two (not black, no frames), and I think is aimed at a slightly different
audience (no Fan Fiction, some HPL- eventually- and the majority Chaosium's
CoC RPG).

Hands-up, not a great deal of content on the site at the moment, due purely
to the fact I have the 'Call of Cthulhu - job of the year' (2001), and so
work for a living. Having said that, I'm certainly not alone it it's
production and new content is due to go online (Music related, foreign
language supplments, and a proper relational database of fully illustrated
CoC material with all those interesting little facts for the insane
collector...)

The Players' directory seems rather popular though.

Ho & Humm

PM

www.yog-sothoth.com
Cthulhu Rocks

Arinn Dembo

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Jan 22, 2002, 2:49:31 PM1/22/02
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"Andrew Ian Dodge"

> There is in fact a difference between plagiarism and being influenced
> by something.

In my opinion, there's also a difference between something being "not
plagiarised" and something being "original".

> In regards to Cthulhu sites, Shoggoth.net is original and the new one
> is similar in many ways. Besides the fact that it should be asked, is
> there any need for another site that is so similar in content?

*shrug* If everything that exists in the universe had to justify its
existence by being both original and necessary, there wouldn't be much to
see...

If it was up to me (and its not), situations like this would be resolved by
a more life-affirming method than the usual social Darwinist's "battle to
the death".

According to the posters on this thread, both shoggoth.net and
imperial-literature have their strengths and weaknesses. The webmasters of
both sites would be wiser to collaborate and cross-link rather than directly
compete, in my opinion; if imperial-lit has a superior message board and
better art resources, shoggoth-net should either link to them directly or
figure out how these things were done, so they can incorporate those ideas
and make shog.net a stronger site.

Ditto with shoggoth.net's superior presentation of its fiction resources.
Ambuehl has explained why the shoggoth.net approach is better for a
dedicated reader of this material, and imperial-literature would be very
foolish to ignore his comments. James knows whereof he speaks.

--Arinn Dembo


Franz

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Jan 22, 2002, 4:09:42 PM1/22/02
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I have good news for you all.

I've just had a pleasant talk with Trollboy of Shoggoth.net and we
agreed on instead of fighting each other (which was never the
intention) we are going to cooperate to the benefit of all Mythos
fans.

Prepare for changes of both sites in near future.

You can withhold your flaming now and rejoice. :-)

Doctor TOC

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Jan 22, 2002, 4:39:54 PM1/22/02
to
Arinn Dembo wrote:

>
> Am I the only person who appreciates the hilarious irony of bringing the
> word "originality" into this discussion?


Possibly. I assumed most people would appreciate the difference between
content and presentation, but perhaps that was a mistake. Don't let that
interfere with your amusement though; I'd hate to get in the way of a
good giggle, and we all need to laugh every now and then.

ManoDogs

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Jan 28, 2002, 10:16:07 PM1/28/02
to
In article <a2kee1$6dd$1...@knossos.btinternet.com>, "Yog-Bear" <r...@skai.net>
writes:

>I happen to run Yog-Sothoth(.com) which looks somewhat different to these
>two (not black, no frames), and I think is aimed at a slightly different
>audience (no Fan Fiction, some HPL- eventually- and the majority Chaosium's
>CoC RPG).

I have webspace and original content for all things concerning horror gaming
and Lovecraftian mythology, in general. Like you, I am having time problems.
I see that you may need some help and the other sites are looking for editors
and content. Maybe we can all work together somehow to amass a really good
collection of Mythos-related materials?

Let me know. I'd love to contribute.

ManoDogs

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Jan 28, 2002, 10:16:06 PM1/28/02
to
In article <fnj38.15804$4M4.7...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca>, "Arinn Dembo"
<erinyst...@spammityspamspamhotmail.com> writes:

> The webmasters of
>both sites would be wiser to collaborate and cross-link rather than directly
>compete, in my opinion; if imperial-lit has a superior message board and
>better art resources, shoggoth-net should either link to them directly or
>figure out how these things were done, so they can incorporate those ideas
>and make shog.net a stronger site.

I agree 100%. With combined resources, it may turn out ot be a collection of
really strong content, not unlike Lovecraft's own circle of friends back in his
day.

Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman

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Jan 29, 2002, 2:35:19 PM1/29/02
to
I agree 100% as well, thus shoggoth.net's new callobration with Imperial
Literature.


--


Matt "TrollBoy" Wiseman
Webmaster: Shoggoth.net
Site Designer: phpslash.org
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear,
and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.
-H.P. Lovecraft
---------------------------------------------------------
Please do not resell my e-mail address
to anyone or send me unsolicited e-mail
---------------------------------------------------------

"ManoDogs" <mano...@cs.com0spam> wrote in message
news:20020128221606...@mb-bh.news.cs.com...

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