Fanfiction.net

silver_dreams · Elder Than Dirt Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 5102

i use mediaminer.org now, when i tried to register at ff.net it wouldn't let me. and you're right, it is all s**t. FC pwns ff.net Laughing

Stratadrake · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:19 am Post subject:

It was so annoying, I just have to commemorate yesterday with a smiley I spotted elsewhere -- I think you'll like him:
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TomtheMighty · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 107

I don't know how off topic this thread has gotten in its 7th page, cuz I haven't read it Razz

. But I do believe FF.net is getting worse mostly because it is filled with fics that have not been or never will be finished. I think that the site owners should get rid of all of the "dead fics" i.e. the ones that have not been updated in who knows how long. It would save them terrabytes of storage (probably) and make looking for a good fic a lot easier.

Stratadrake · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:05 pm Post subject:

[quote]I think that the site owners should get rid of all of the "dead fics" i.e. the ones that have not been updated in who knows how long.[/quote]

Agreed, but with the condition that only [i]unfinished[/i] dead stories should be removed. Completed stories should remain Smile

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silver_dreams · Elder Than Dirt Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 5102

they just need to shape up and delete half the s**t. then maybe they would be slightly better Very Happy

fallenangel · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:05 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, the only way for a site to have only the best, and a large amount of it, is for a site to be like Epilogue. There's just no way to have a completely free, unmoderated site without the "bad" authors also submitting (the ones that put in no effort, never finish anything, don't even write actual stories, etc.).
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Stratadrake · Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 7:47 pm Post subject:

Here's an e-mail I sent them with just about everything that came to mind:

[quote]I have got a question. Several, actually.

For awhile, I've been wondering if there is a specific e-mail address for future feature suggestions, or if those should be sent to help@fanfiction.net .

Recently I've had a few technical problems when trying to update chapters of my stories on Fanfiction.net. (my username is Stratadrake, http://www.fanfiction.net/~stratadrake )

Computer: Windows 98, Second Edition
Browsers: Netscape 7, Internet Explorer 5

First problem: Could you separate the 'Quickedit' and 'Document Preview' into two separate links? I use Netscape 7 for virtually all of my browsing. Lately, when I upload one of my chapters (HTML format, typed by hand), if I try to preview the document to make sure it was uploaded correctly, Netscape crashes on me! Grr. I believe this is because Netscape 7 doesn't like the RichTextBox interface used by QuickEdit. Which means I can't preview or check my uploaded documents in Netscape. (My browser crashed at least six times yesterday, each and every time when it was loading the QuickEdit page)

Answer: Use Internet Explorer, right?

Enter my second recent problem. When I upload one of my chapters using Internet Explorer 5 (HTML format, again typed by hand), the HTML formatting doesn't upload! When I preview an HTML chapter I uploaded via IE5, it shows all the HTML markup as text, instead of as formatting!
Grr. This does not occur when I upload my HTML chapters in Netscape 7. I don't know if this helps, but under my account I uploaded one of my chapters twice as an example -- once using Netscape 7, and the other using Internet Explorer 5 (they are labelled as such). The formatting on the one I uploaded through Netscape 7 was translated properly, but the formatting on the one I uploaded through Internet Explorer 5 was not. Currently I have resorted to using both of my browsers simultaneously -- Netscape 7 for uploading, and IE5 for previewing/checking the uploads . . . but it's no fun having to operate two browsers at once.

Another problem I encountered recently, I have been using asterisks to create small (mid-chapter) visual dividers in my stories. But lately it seems as if the asterisks are being stripped from my chapters when I upload them (still HTML format). Rather annoying, because then there isn't a visual divider where one should be there. I know we can use the

tag for visual dividers, and I do use it to separate each chapter from the Author Notes at the end of them (and that works fine), but when I want a visual divider to separate two scenes in the same chapter I want a "smaller" visual divider, like an

.
It would be nice if we could use the width attribute of the

tag to specify the size of a visual divider instead of all

tags being translated as full-width dividers. I notice we can resize the visual dividers using click-and-drag during QuickEdit, but they still default to full-width dividers.

These are the only problems I've ever had when updating my stories on Fanfiction.net, and they (particularly the asterisks problem) seem to have sprouted recently.

On a different subject, I wish that we could be able to delete our OWN signed reviews from stories we've commented on. There are several valid scenarios where we should be able to do so. For example, if the author re-writes a chapter and updates it (Chapter Manager -> Replace Chapter), I am unable to leave a review for the updated version because my old review (which is no longer needed) is still there.
One possible way to implement this, would be to add a "Remove" link to the reviews that show up in our "Review History".

Also, if we re-order the chapters of a story using the Chapter Manager (Story Chapters/Texts interface), the reviews submitted to each chapter are not updated to reflect the new chapter numbers that they correspond to. For example, somebody writes a story and I review chapter one. Then they write a prologue sequence, upload it, and organize it so that the prologue comes first (Chapter Manager -> Story Texts/Chapters). Chapter one is now considered chapter 'two'. But I am unable to leave a review for the prologue (the first chapter) because my previous signed review is still marked as being for chapter one, even though the old chapter one is now chapter two.

And finally, if we delete a chapter from one of our own stories, any reviews for that chapter should probably be deleted also. For example, somebody writes a story with four chapters and I leave one review for each chapter. But they delete chapter four and begin writing the story in a different direction. Months later, they finish the new chapter four and upload it. Now, I am unable to review the new chapter because my old review (which is no longer relevant) is still there. (This could also be addressed with the ability to remove our own signed reviews)

I read the news about the "Highly recommend this story to others" function and it sounds interesting. Unfortunately, I can't use it unless I leave a review for the story.

For example, this story:
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1566919
I have read this story, I have reviewed it, and I would love to recommend it to others using the new test feature. But there's just one problem -- I have already left a signed review for every single chapter of the story. I cannot leave another review until its next update, and I cannot recommend it with the new test feature until I leave another review.
It would be nice for the "Highly recommend this story" function to show up in the drop-down box on each story chapter. Of course, this should only work if (1) we are signed in, and (2) we have already left at least one signed review for that story. If those conditions are not met, the function would return an error message (either a "please sign in" or a "you have not reviewed this story yet" message). Can't recommend what we haven't read, after all....

The "Highly Recommend this story" function sounds like a great idea, I hope the potential for abuse doesn't kill it.[/quote]

Part of me is worried (first time sending an e-mail to FF.net), the other part of my hopes that they'll at least look into or address some of the bugs.
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TomtheMighty · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 107

I don't like having to wade through hundreds of mediocre to just plain awful stories to just find maybe a half a dozen readable ones and only 2 or 3 actually GOOD pieces of work!

Stratadrake · Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 12:46 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, trash is a fact of life, so if you want to go looking for good fics, you'll need a slash-proof suit.

Most of the time, you can identify agood story by its title, author's nom de plume, and (most importantly) summary. For example, if the summary contains a "PLZ R&R!" or the ilk, chances are the story's going to suck.
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fallenangel · Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 12:50 pm Post subject:

Kinda like the people who upload art and beg for comments in the description? Razz

(no offense if anyone reading this does that)
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TomtheMighty · Member Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 107

Too true. Once I find an author I like, I tend to stick with em. But, like I said, they are few and far between.

Juzlovnsora · Newb Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 4

Hiya everybody i go to ff.net i am Juzlovnsora there. Yea, the site is kind of messed up they need to fix stuff like the ratings and everything. But i hate yaio Grr!

B~bye

xWildfirEx · Has No Life Joined: 31 Dec 1969 Posts: 521

Is it me, or are the reviewers maturing? Six months ago, I was getting fangirly reviews - you know, the 'whoever is so cute' and 'whoever is mine' and whoever this, whoever that.

Now i go put up another fic, and I get a detailed paragraph, the way constructive critsizm is supposed to work.

The again, it could be the category... more mature audiences and stuff. Oh well.