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Post by Lee on Sept 19, 2012 8:31:03 GMT -5
I was just looking over the comments to Jane's story and this is one thing the commenter wrote at the end:
"I do appreciate your efforts. I wouldn't bother to write to you if I didn't think you had skill as a writer. You definitely have a talent with description, but I think dialogue is an area you can work on to flesh out your characters. I look forward to your future efforts."
Again, my opinion is that this is a polite comment with constructive ideas, and a generally positive sentiment. Hopefully, this is not something people feel should be censored.
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Post by Lee on Sept 19, 2012 8:22:48 GMT -5
Actually, Jane, the comments on your story were something that Devogirl and I discussed. We decided that it did not constitute trolling because the person was polite and did not seem to be attacking you. Obviously, people read stories differently and may not "get" what you're trying to express.... this may be frustrating as a writer, although I don't think it's necessarily the fault of the reader. Remember that there are plenty of books that are loved by some and hated by others. It's a matter of taste.
Jane, would you have preferred that the comments from that person have been censored? Or the big argument when that person didn't like the dramatic updates? This could all be censored so that you'd never see it.
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Post by Lee on Sept 19, 2012 7:32:30 GMT -5
Not to rehash what was said, but this was one of the comments from the Anon: "Meanwhile I suggest you join a grammar school. You know the alphabet, I am presuming?"
This is not constructive and obviously downright mean. I can't imagine any respectable editor would write that in a rejection letter.
In contrast, this is a comment that was written on anther story, which I would NOT consider trolling:
"I like the story but the huge blocks of text is a little tiresome. Maybe if you put the dialogs in a diferent format could be less fatiguing. Just a thought."
I think it's pretty clear what the difference is.
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Post by Lee on Sept 19, 2012 6:54:43 GMT -5
I think that both Tuna and Tabby have good points. Writers DO have to deal with negative comments and they should be able to deal with that. But the difference here is that nobody would put what that anonymous commenter said in a review. It was essentially a personal attack.
Negative comments will be allowed. Comments that are rude or mocking will not. In the past, there have been writers with grammar issues, and commenters have managed to point this out to them gently, without resorting to the kind of language that was used in the comments on Sean's story.
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Post by Lee on Sept 17, 2012 18:34:53 GMT -5
OK, I am late to the game on this one. Just got home from work.
I actually reinstated anon commenting when I got home, because I thought authors wouldn't like eliminating anonymous commenting. For example, I am looking at Ruth's last story, and more than half of the comments she got were from anonymous commenters, all very very positive. Would those people have created an account just to write a comment on her story? Likely not.
As far as I know, this is the first troll we've had on the stories board. There have been some negative comments in the past, but I think they've always been respectful and constructive. So my instinct is to keep things the way they are.
Alternately, I can make a setting to approve all comments, which will eliminating trolling as well. But then you'll have to wait till I'm around to approve. I can probably manage to log in once a day.
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Rant
Sept 16, 2012 10:54:41 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 16, 2012 10:54:41 GMT -5
So in summary, I think we've decided to add the TOC to the initial chapter, before the story begins. I supposed this can be added by the author when there's at least two parts. At the author's discretion, you can also put a date for each chapter that it was published.
Enid: I think it's a great idea to put a link to the next chapter at the bottom of the previous chapter. I will add that as a suggestion to the authors, although these things are a little hard to enforce. I always used to do that myself on the old stories page... that was why it was a PITA for me... because I always had to alter 3 files to make an update.
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Rant
Sept 15, 2012 21:52:45 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 15, 2012 21:52:45 GMT -5
Edited to ask, if it would not be better to discuss the issues here, come up with solutions and agree on one - which Lee then implements? Otherwise he would have to make changes based on just one suggestion - and he would have to make them every time someone had an issue? No. Because if I'm going to be the one implementing a solution, I think I should have some input into whether it's something I could do or want to do. It seems like a waste of everyone's time to brainstorm a solution that isn't viable. You guys are welcome to talk about whatever you want. But if you want stuff to actually change and improve on a site that I run, it makes sense to include me in the discussion. Devogirl alerted me to the presence of this thread. I do log in daily so a simple PM would be enough to let me know. I think I've been really receptive to everyone's suggestions about the site. No need to be scared of me or anything.
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Rant
Sept 15, 2012 17:12:41 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 15, 2012 17:12:41 GMT -5
Whatever you guys want.
My two cents is that I think only a fraction of authors will participate in this page and will bother to figure out how to do it. It is actually pretty agonizing trying to explain to everyone how to post to the blog and getting them to do it properly. I don't want to be the one to explain to people that they also have to set up an author's page, and update two separate sites every time they write something.
I think if there is one TOC/summary post associated with each story, that might be something at least some people would actually do.
But I may be wrong. It's happened once or twice before.
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Rant
Sept 15, 2012 13:09:25 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 15, 2012 13:09:25 GMT -5
OK, I just did it for the completed story A Date to Remember. Now if you click on the label on the sidebar, it will bring you to this: paradevostories.blogspot.com/search/label/A%20Date%20to%20RememberIt didn't take me that long to do, but I'd shoot myself in the head if I had to do it for every story on the site. So if you like this idea, I'd leave it to the authors to include a TOC if they wanted. Alternately, instead of making a separate post for the TOC, it could be placed at the beginning or the end of the first chapter.
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Rant
Sept 15, 2012 12:59:22 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 15, 2012 12:59:22 GMT -5
If authors date the table of contents later than the first chapter and label it with the story name (i.e. chapter one dated July 1 and TOC dated July 2), then if you click on the story name, the TOC should come up first. I'll test it out on one of the stories and you can see how it would work.
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Rant
Sept 15, 2012 7:35:34 GMT -5
Post by Lee on Sept 15, 2012 7:35:34 GMT -5
I am open to any good suggestions for making the site better. I even put up a post asking for suggestions.
I am going to do a monthly moderator post (I was going to do it every 15th of the month) with updates that month, and maybe this time I'll do it by chapters.
I thought the old stories page was better organized and easier to navigate, yes. But only I could post to it. People obviously really like posting their own stories and I want to encourage that. When I started up, I looked into doing the site like one of the fanfiction sites, but the coding was insane.
If individual authors want to make a table of contents for their stories, that might be a good idea. I can think of ways it might work.
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Post by Lee on Aug 8, 2012 11:18:10 GMT -5
If you wouldn't like the idea of wheelers putting together a list of Bad Devs, then you can see why this may be offensive. I'm sure nobody here would want their faults put on a list.
Like Devogirl said, if there is anyone on this board who is deceiving people, then they will be banned immediately. I think that's the best way to ensure the safety of the devs on the board.
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Post by Lee on Jul 31, 2012 6:33:31 GMT -5
Would a dev really want a story about a guy who has the emotional and mental development of a three year old? I didn't read the book so I didn't know that's the case. But I don't know, maybe that's something that turns her on. Maybe she's not a straight-up dev like the people on this board, but maybe there's something about that particular weird situation that turns her on, even if she doesn't even know it. Can't throw stones.
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Post by Lee on Jul 30, 2012 21:07:39 GMT -5
You have to wonder what was going through this author's mind when she wrote that book though. Was she doing it for shock value? Or is it possible she's a closet devotee?
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Post by Lee on Jul 26, 2012 6:21:24 GMT -5
Still hoping for another good review though!
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