If modding involves sending assignments to an individual or tracking them in some way, then every additional participant represents additional work on the part of the mod.
Sure, but I think in some cases when you balance that against the hypothetical additional work that it might save you later, it could actually be a net savings on time/energy. I was thinking of Comica Obscura specifically when I mentioned reminder letters, and harriet_spy and I came up with that idea because we knew it would be an incredibly harrying if not nearly impossible to find timely pinch-hitters for super-obscure indie comics characters, etc. And, I don't know whether it was the reminder letters or some other factor, but we always had a very low drop-out rate compared to most ficathons. (IIRC, the second year we ran it, no one dropped out at all.)
On the other hand, if we're just talking about, say, a Rodney/Teyla ficathon or something, where it's not the most obscure pairing in the entire world and pinch-hitters would be relatively easy to find, then maybe sending out letters isn't actually an efficient use of the mod's time. (Although on LJ/DW I can see other ways of doing it besides mass-email-- posting a poll in the comm and having people check in that way, maybe?)
no subject
If modding involves sending assignments to an individual or tracking them in some way, then every additional participant represents additional work on the part of the mod.
Sure, but I think in some cases when you balance that against the hypothetical additional work that it might save you later, it could actually be a net savings on time/energy. I was thinking of Comica Obscura specifically when I mentioned reminder letters, and harriet_spy and I came up with that idea because we knew it would be an incredibly harrying if not nearly impossible to find timely pinch-hitters for super-obscure indie comics characters, etc. And, I don't know whether it was the reminder letters or some other factor, but we always had a very low drop-out rate compared to most ficathons. (IIRC, the second year we ran it, no one dropped out at all.)
On the other hand, if we're just talking about, say, a Rodney/Teyla ficathon or something, where it's not the most obscure pairing in the entire world and pinch-hitters would be relatively easy to find, then maybe sending out letters isn't actually an efficient use of the mod's time. (Although on LJ/DW I can see other ways of doing it besides mass-email-- posting a poll in the comm and having people check in that way, maybe?)