Nice post Shafe, good thoughts. Seeing as you asked for comment I feel I should oblige you. Apologies, I ramble.
I firmly believe that the Bolthole can help the aims and aspirations of the aspiring professionals AND be a place for the casual user who simpy wants to relax, or share their own fiction (original or franchise) with a casual group of like minded people. All things to all men (and women, natch), so to speak. Shafe made a great point in his post that the Bolthole can (and should) both serve the existing members and attract new members to further strengthen the community.
I believe that these two aims are effectively one and the same - the best way to improve the community for existing members is to strengthen it with new members. I also believe that the blog, Facebook and the anthologies are all great ways to do this - they provide greater visibility of the Bolthole to the wider world and hopefully inspire people to visit the forum and see what's what (to check out 'the haps' in Shafe-speak

).
For the purposes of this post I'm not talking about Facebook (which I think just needs a wording tweak) or the forum itself (which is brilliant), I'm just focusing on the blog and the anthologies, and the 'what I want to see' bit of Shafe's request for responses.
It is my opinion that for these things to be a success they do need to be managed. If they are to attract the highest possible number of new forumites, if they are to further the ambitions of those who wish to seek a professional 'next step', and even if they are not to frustrate those contributing to them then I believe things like deadlines are inevitable.
Note I'm not saying that they could not be produced without them. Of course they could, and potentially very successfully, but I don't think that success would be as great as if they were properly managed.
Let me take you through my thought processes. Think of some of the most successful YouTube channels (and my measure of success for YouTube is going to be number of views, although there are other ways to do it). With few exceptions, the YouTube channels that have the most followers have a set schedule of uploads - the subscribers know that every day / week / month (delete as appropriate) they will be able to view, comment on and share new content from that channel. Again, there are exceptions (Birgirpall's gaming channel is hugely popular and he only uploads when he feels like it, for example) but they are in the minority.
It applies to webcomics too - XKCD, SMBC, Basic Instructions, Cyanide and Happiness - they all have a set schedule for publication. When they miss it, they publicly apologise to the readers. One of the first tips you see in any guide to blogging is to make sure that you have a schedule and stick to it to aid reader retention. For an example where this doesn't happen, check out Aaron Dembski-Bowden's blog - it's hugely entertaining but rarely and irregularly updated which is frustrating as a reader.
For him, that works - I don't think the aim of his blog is to attract readers, I think it's as a place to vent and to amuse his friends and family. The Bolthole blog however is clearly designed (based on its content) to attract readers, both to the blog itself and to the forum, and so I think a schedule is important.
At this point you're probably thinking "but Wrath, we already have a schedule for the blog and we already have deadlines set for the anthology submissions". Yes, we do, and it is a good thing. What I'm trying to get at is that if these things are approached on a more 'casual' basis than they have been in the past, without someone managing them (and yes, even cracking the whip if required) then we may not be making the most of the benefit we can all get from it.
Perhaps if we are to attempt further projects (more anthologies, for example) then before anyone does any work on it everyone who is interested agrees what sort of project it should be. Should it be one managed in a more strict fashion? Should it be (a potentially just as good) one where there isn't heavy management, where there aren't deadlines, where people can work at thier own pace and in thier own time? There's no reason we can't do both. What I don't think works is trying to do both in the same piece of work - different contributors (be they writers, editors, publishers etc) who are not able or willing to provide the same levels of time commitment will inevitably clash, as we have seen.
Um, that's it, I think I've rambled enough. To end on a positive note, I
really like the Bolthole. I don't have any issues with anyone, and I'm pretty sure no-one has any issues with me. The forum works well. We have engagement from a friendly and amazingly engaged group of writing professionals who are always willing to answer questions and get involved. Most importantly the group has produced, and will continue to produce some fantastic and amazing writing both in published works and on the forum itself.
Long live the Bolthole.
Simon (serious post, real name used - scary huh?)