Suggestions On Fac Fanficiton

Lasher · Posted: Sat May 08, 2004 2:34 pm Post subject:

I spoke to Denis today and he said that FanFiction is on his list of things to improve for the site.

He also said he was open to suggestions from me, since i'm well in his words "Since you are the most....outspoken user of it, I'll take specific suggestions on its improvement." A nice way of saying i've bugged him about it since the very first day i joined this place.

As to be expected, i have my suggestions, and i'll make them know and be more than happy to let him know of them as i get them. But i thought it might be good to make this thread so others might be able to make their own suggestions for Denis to see as not to many people will go looking for his usernames on any of the messengers we all us or e-mail by which to tell him these. I guess i'm part of a rare breed who would do that as i did *chuckles* Any how. Here's what i got so far that's always been a bother to me personally. Maybe some of you can agree, or disagree.

Suggestions -

Regarding Comments and Reviews:

In my eyes, the comment situation for the fanfiction right now is just a little messed up and more than annoying. As a writier, i want to be able to go onto a site where my stories are posting, click on one link that will send me to one place, where all the comments are gathered and listed.

As is, you have to go through each chapter to view different comments, whether old or new, which is more than annoying and an inconvience. It's much more easier, to have a link to a page that would contain all of them, listed in order, from top to bottom, from your profile, at the end of the story title/description, category, rating, and all that. Just have it at the end "Reviews"

Also, there is no delete option at the end of the comments. So if someone is putting up the same comment repeatdly, which people have done on mine, and it annoys me because i can't delete them and just leave the one. And for those people who get flammed, that might come in handy. It personally doesn't bother me but it is something that a lot of people count on.

For an example of this, look at this link for how there's a link at other sites at the end of the title, category, date, rating, all that.

http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/authors.php?no=5360

The next, is a link to the actually review link at the end you see there with the number of reviews (also a good thing, under the title reviews if you do that, just have it show the number of reviews) to see how it's set up.

http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/review.php...t=read&no=19820

Regarding Chapter Titles:

Chapter title on FAC do not show up at all in the drop box you click to move and select a new chapter to read, if it's longer than "Regarding Chapter" for example. That can be a hassle as people start thinking there's a problem with the site, the story, the uploading of a chapter. Readers will skip and chapter and miss things. And it just confuses people in general.

I can understand a long as title like "The man who cried because he could for he was weak and frail like no other they had ever known" now that's just stupid but a title like "The Breaking of A Seal" and or "A Princes Introduction, The Arrival of A Friend" should be able to show up.

If you click on this link, and then click on the chapter drop box, you'll see how it adjusts to fit all the chapter titles properly.

http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/story.php?no=10834

Also denis, i would strongly advice maybe just joining that site so you can look at what the "Add a story" and "Add a Chapter" all those options they have, and how they have them set up.

They are much easier, while at the same time leaving open for more details to be displayed, as well as it looks a lot more organized and simple, yet what's needed to be done.

These are all i'll state right now. It's all i can really think of that would turn off a person or upset them and annoy them with posting their work on a site and be most important to any other writer. But I'm sure others might have their two cents to put in.

And i might add on later and make my views known as usual.

Stratadrake · Posted: Sat May 08, 2004 6:09 pm Post subject:

I've been working on uploading my story, and in doing so I've noticed a few quirks:

[i]Fanfic ratings[/i]. I don't mind the content ratings (violence/spoilers/etc.) but I would also like to be able to insert a G/PG/etc. rating to them, like we can for images. (Edit) For example, there's a fair chasm of difference between PG-level violence and R-level violence, or G and NC-17 nudity or yaoi....

[i]Comments/reviews[/i]. What if there was a limit of one comment for each chapter? Like FF.net .

[i]Uploading HTML[/i]. So far, whenever I've added a new chapter to my story, the

tags are initially stripped from the chapter, causing all the paragraphs to jumble together. (Everything else,
, , , etc. tags remain intact). But when I edit the chapter later, it leaves the

tags intact. So I end up having to upload each chapter twice.
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Silver_Charm · Member Joined: 19 Feb 2004 Posts: 54

On the fanfic ratings thing, there should be an explaination or a link to an explaination of them. I'm used to a different system so I'm never a hundered percent sure as to what to put, so I find the warnings system rather useful.

What would be really good, is if it were possible to preview a story before you added it. That way a final brief proof-read and check for html errors would be possible.

Or maybe uploading a word document like some sites do. I personally don't mind the way it is now, seems a lot less hassle, but html is one tricky bugger for inepts. *coughing fit* Like moi.

Stratadrake · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 7:44 pm Post subject:

[quote] On the fanfic ratings thing, there should be an explaination or a link to an explaination of them. I'm used to a different system so I'm never a hundered percent sure as to what to put, so I find the warnings system rather useful. [/quote]

Also I see the warnings are labelled differently between the "Add/Edit Picture" page and the author profile page. This isn't a big deal but I get confused when the labels don't match, especially when I don't know what terms like "yaoi" mean.
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Lasher · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 8:57 pm Post subject:

One thing that bothers me actually that i just remember. At the top of the main page, there's no link to the fanfiction. I think there should be one just liek there is the for the forums and chatroom (although that's dead now but still) you get it.

And the idea of the warning is a good one. All other sites, when you click on any thing with R or NC-17 rated fanfics, it comes up with a warning. Just like you have it with the pictures Denis.

Stratadrake · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 10:13 pm Post subject:

Which reminds me: The other day I saw some R/NC-17 images from an artist's profile page and encountered a bug. I'll mention that in the Help forum, where it belongs.

But back on subject, another thing that came to mind is that the drop-down box for fanfiction chapter listings doesn't include chapter numbers. This isn't a big deal, I probably wouldn't of even noticed were it not for me being on FF.net as well.

Although, if I had to choose just one item about FAC fanfiction, it would be being able to assign a G/PG/etc. rating to the story in addition to specific content info.
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cstdenis · Posted: Sun May 09, 2004 11:27 pm Post subject:

[quote]One thing that bothers me actually that i just remember. At the top of the main page, there's no link to the fanfiction. I think there should be one just liek there is the for the forums and chatroom (although that's dead now but still) you get it. [/quote]

There is no link to fanart either. They are fully integrated into the site. Just browse to the category of what you want, or the artist you want. Its listed along with the pictures.

The other suggestions all look good. Maybe I'll do them next weekend, depends on my amount of school work, and work work.
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Lasher · Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 11:07 am Post subject:

*whimpers* Now that sucks... but your the boss, and for the rest being incorruperated possibly, well, that would more than make up for all.

*coughs and smiles* Thank you denis! ^_^

*walks off whistling*

jhonenfreak · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 6:38 pm Post subject:

There should be one of those birthdate questions required for signups that would restrict certain people from viewing certain pages on the random image board or specifically rated pics on the main site.

You guys might want to check out the spam board for a topic on this.
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fallenangel · Posted: Mon May 17, 2004 7:03 pm Post subject:

Kids will lie. Hell, according to Oekaki Central I'm 21. Rolling eyes

Those who want to see will always find a way to do so.

Suppose it couldn't hurt. But I'll be the first to lie about birthdate. Razz

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Stratadrake · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 4:31 pm Post subject:

Here's another, this isn't related specifically to FAC fan-fiction but could be applied to fanfiction nonetheless.

What about the addition of a numerical rating to the comments page? Like from 1 to 5 stars, where 1=crap, 2=average, 3=good, 4=great, 5=stellar/perfect.

But what would the implications of it be...?
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cstdenis · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 7:04 pm Post subject:

There has already been discusssion about quality ratings (regarding pictures). Go find the other topic on it.
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Stratadrake · Posted: Wed May 19, 2004 8:31 pm Post subject:

I see. Hmm... which thread was it . . . searching . . . .

...still searching . . . aha! There they are.
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...p?showtopic=153
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...p?showtopic=742
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WynaHIros · Rookie Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 29

A function where you could upload the file (a la ff.net) would be nice. Everytime I try to cut and paste some of the html of my fics here, they usually get jumbled up for some reason into one huge paragraph.

--Wyna

Lasher · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 1:33 pm Post subject:

Why don't you just upload your fics from your computer? Anyone who writes fanfics won't write them, then delete them from their computer without saving them somewhere or on something. There you go, problem solved.

As for the 5 star thing mentioned before. And i'm saying specifically about the fanfiction, not pictures here, that it's a good idea. On AFF they have it, and on other sites i use. It helps me know how i'm doing even if people are really lazy bastards and won't review. 75% of the time someone will click the option to rate it 1-5 stars. And that would be greatttttt for me.

So far, on every other site i've had my work on, it's been 5 star, lucky me.

Any how, back to work i'm falling behind. *chuckles* i'm being a bad employee while the boss is away and taking for to many breaks. But my head hurts though. Damn pc screens really play with my eyes.

fallenangel · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:37 pm Post subject:

Good in theory, horrible in practice. Especially on fanart and even more so on a fanart site with a young user population. Far too many people will rate low or high depending on the subject matter, particular artist, etc. AFF.net has the benefit of a (for the most part) older and more responsible group of users.
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Stratadrake · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 5:15 pm Post subject:

[quote]A function where you could upload the file (a la ff.net) would be nice. Everytime I try to cut and paste some of the html of my fics here, they usually get jumbled up for some reason into one huge paragraph.[/quote]

The paragraphs problem happens to me too, every time I upload a new chapter. BUT, when I edit the chapter, the problem goes away. Why? Why does it always happen the first time, and [b]only[/b] the first time?

Count me in on that suggestion too!
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cstdenis · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 3:31 am Post subject:

[quote]As is, you have to go through each chapter to view different comments, whether old or new, which is more than annoying and an inconvience. It's much more easier, to have a link to a page that would contain all of them, listed in order, from top to bottom, from your profile, at the end of the story title/description, category, rating, and all that. Just have it at the end "Reviews" [/quote]

I listed comments from each chapter on that chaper for spoiler reasons. The comments are not sorted by date, but they were probebly showing in date order before anyway.

I also added a link at the bottom of the page that shows a page of all comments from all chapters together sorted by date. This is also the link that is used in the notification email now.

[quote]Also, there is no delete option at the end of the comments. So if someone is putting up the same comment repeatdly, which people have done on mine, and it annoys me because i can't delete them and just leave the one. And for those people who get flammed, that might come in handy. It personally doesn't bother me but it is something that a lot of people count on. [/quote]

I added delete ability to comments....and deleted all the comments in the process :'(
I restored them from backup, but about a days comments were lost....My bad :unsure:

It has not been heavily tested since I am an admin and can delete any comment. I'll need others to test it as well.

[quote]Chapter title on FAC do not show up at all in the drop box you click to move and select a new chapter to read, if it's longer than "Regarding Chapter" for example. That can be a hassle as people start thinking there's a problem with the site, the story, the uploading of a chapter. Readers will skip and chapter and miss things. And it just confuses people in general. [/quote]

The title is limited to 50 characters, that should be enough for a normal title. If I make it much longer it would adding horizontal scroll bars at 800x600. I just added a long one and it seems to work fine.

[quote]Also denis, i would strongly advice maybe just joining that site so you can look at what the "Add a story" and "Add a Chapter" all those options they have, and how they have them set up.[/quote]
Yah, I know the adding needs much improvement.

[quote]
Fanfic ratings. I don't mind the content ratings (violence/spoilers/etc.) but I would also like to be able to insert a G/PG/etc. rating to them, like we can for images. (Edit) For example, there's a fair chasm of difference between PG-level violence and R-level violence, or G and NC-17 nudity or yaoi....[/quote]
I will be making a new rating system that is kinda a combination of the 2 existing ones that will replace them both.

[quote]Comments/reviews. What if there was a limit of one comment for each chapter? Like FF.net .[/quote]
I dont really see any need for this.

[quote]Uploading HTML. So far, whenever I've added a new chapter to my story, the

tags are initially stripped from the chapter, causing all the paragraphs to jumble together. (Everything else,
, , , etc. tags remain intact). But when I edit the chapter later, it leaves the

tags intact. So I end up having to upload each chapter twice. [/quote]
[quote]A function where you could upload the file (a la ff.net) would be nice. Everytime I try to cut and paste some of the html of my fics here, they usually get jumbled up for some reason into one huge paragraph.[/quote]
I have plans for submissions in rtf format and stuff in the future.

[quote]What would be really good, is if it were possible to preview a story before you added it. That way a final brief proof-read and check for html errors would be possible.[/quote]
I'll make that part of the improved submission system when I do that.

[quote]And the idea of the warning is a good one. All other sites, when you click on any thing with R or NC-17 rated fanfics, it comes up with a warning. Just like you have it with the pictures Denis. [/quote]
I'll make that part of the new rating system.

[quote]But back on subject, another thing that came to mind is that the drop-down box for fanfiction chapter listings doesn't include chapter numbers. This isn't a big deal, I probably wouldn't of even noticed were it not for me being on FF.net as well.[/quote]
Added. Will cause missing numbers tho if a chapter in the middle somewhere gets deleted.

[quote]There should be one of those birthdate questions required for signups that would restrict certain people from viewing certain pages on the random image board or specifically rated pics on the main site.[/quote]
Pointless. If they want to see it they will lie. If they don't, they will obay the rating warnings.

[quote]What about the addition of a numerical rating to the comments page?[/quote]
Probebly won't happen due to its potential problems, but I will consider it eventually.

[b]Remaining todo for fanfiction[/b]
Improve submission system.
Redo rating system
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