Aside from being an open-source advocate and hacker, I also like to write stories and screenplays when I get inspired. I decided to put the stories on the Net, hoping to get peer review. Nevertheless, it still cannot duplicate the "Freshmeat Effect" of a software that appears there, release after release for a given time.
I recently made a collection of fortune files that I collected
publicly available on my web-site. I posted an announcement for it on Freshmeat only to discover that its operators have decided to stop accepting fortune collections. Recently I wrote the first episode of
#!/usr/bin/perl,
which is a series of screenplays for a sitcom - distributed under the Open Publication License and which deals with users of free software. It too was rejected claiming that Freshmeat was not intended for such things.
I do not intend to defame Freshmeat here, just to point out that there is a need for a directory and release board that will focus on other things besides software and technical documentation. I believe I'm not the only "Net Publisher" around, who just wants better publicity. I am fully willing to contribute part of my time for setting up the server and for moderating it. But I need references to existing codebases, and a web hosting.
Those who support this cause and wish to join me, please send me an E-mail. I think that expanding open source to other fields is a very promising direction, and I do not want it to lose momentum out of lack of proper resources that are present for its software-equivalent.
Maybe if there is no freshmeat for open contents, it may means that most
of Libre Software community thinks Libre Software is only a matter of
software/tools.
I don't think so, and I face the same problem as you do. But when
writing, is is seldom a problem of tools (such as a portal) but a
problem of finding the readers creating a new dynamic.
I find your idea interesting.
<true lie>By the way I coded exactly what you wanted this night http://dmoz.org/. :P
</true lie>
The resource you're looking for already
exists. Check it out. ibiblio is an outgrowth of the old UNC SunSite, and they have expanded their mission considerably.
The person in charge was recently
interviewed
on Slashdot. Read it to learn more.
Andamooka is a place where authors can put their work online. Cool, but
hosting for works is usually not a problem. The Assayer seems like a
concentration of reviews, but I'm just looking for ways for people to
learn about the piece and be informed of its releases. That and a
comprehensive directory.
ibiblio is so huge that I cannot find the Freshmeat-like part of it as
far as linking to content is concerned.
You wrote you hoped to get "peer review", and both Andamooka and
Assayer exists to give the author, if not peer review, at least
feedback.
For publicity, you can always try to publish them on some existing
online journal. kuro5hin accepts
most everything that is properly written (and a lot that isn't), and
I'm sure there also exist some appropriate Usenet group. Both places
will give you feedback as well, and neither are exclusive.