It has taken a lot by a small group of people to get this far, but as promised and with nothing removed, the story archive is open (http://www.eunuchworld.org) (at least in testing mode).
Located at http://www.eunuchworld.org, we present a new way of looking at favorite material. While in no way even close to complete, each story has been hand redone to make it's presentation easier to read and index.
To view the stories you must have a valid vbulletin login and use it at the log in screen. You will also have to agree to a disclaimer.
The index is small and simple now because we don't have a lot of stories done. This will change as time goes along. If you don't see a story you wrote, or a favorite of yours, rest assured that is because we have not gotten to it yet. We figure it will take a year to complete processing every story.
A big addition to the fiction archive is shown at the bottom of every story. A rating is available and everyone can rate each story based upon a 1-5 scale with 1 being less liked and 5 being really liked. You can change your vote on a story as many times as you wish but your vote still only counts once.
More additions to the way stories can be viewed will occur as time goes on, the same with how you can find a story in the index and other functions. For now we just have the basics.
If you find any troubles with the new software please PM me with as much details as to the error as possible. These things happen.
Also, please take a moment and thank the proofreaders. This is taking much of thier time and they are doing it out of love for the fiction archive. This whole job could not be done without them!
Want to help? PM Kristoff.
tal
The Story Archive
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MacTheWolf (imported)
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Dave (imported)
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Losethem (imported)
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Re: The Story Archive
I appreciate the undertaking and generally like the new look that you've made. I think ultimately you'll have a better system when you're done with this reformat. It will also be nice to have some of those nearly unreadable stories fixed so that a person doesn't go crazy trying to read them. 
I have some observations. Note - observations, you can do whatever you like with them, but I thought I might put these out there since you're at the beginning of this process and before you get too far along since you have a golden opportunity to make additions or subtractions and it would be easier at the beginning rather than when you're nearly finished, having worked on similar projects myself.
I'm sure there is a lot going on behind the scenes that the average user will not see so perhaps some of what I say below is being worked out and simply isn't where the public can view it at this point.
On the old system one of the things I thought worked very well was that the stories were presented both alphabetically and by author. There were two ways to access the stories. I see on the new system that there is a sort of alpha set-up, but that they are grouped "A-H", "I-M", and so on. While at the beginning of this process that will be manageable from a user point of view, I can see as time goes on and more stories get added how this is going to create four or five VERY large sections given how big the story archive is. Returning to an A, B, C, D, etc. format might make these huge bites more manageable for the users. Also, many have a favorite author, and doing an alpha by author name may facilitate a quicker access to those stories the user is looking for.
Is there going to be some sort of keyword search? I know logistically this is more difficult than it seems to the average user (I'm having an issue with something like this over on MBM) so can understand if that will be left out. I know that can be a huge programming issue, depending on site architecture.
The biggest thing I think you have a great opportunity to fix is the story genre tags. IE Gay, Straight, Bi-sexual, Male, female, castration, nullo, penectomy, etc. Is there a way to tag the stories so a user could bring up a list that will show only straight stories, gay stories, castration stories, nullo stories, etc.? That would cut a lot of wandering through the larger story database by the users and the could more readily narrow their search by going to those stories specific to the genre they are looking for. Again, I imagine this would take some programming to add radio buttons or tick-boxes on the system.
Again, I appreciate your undertaking on this huge task. I know at this point all of you that are working on it are at the base of a rather tall mountain and it's going to take a long time for you to climb to the summit. If there is something I can help with, please let me know. I may not be able to give a lot of time, but I'm sure that getting a few more folks on board would help you get through the backlog more quickly, so I'm willing to contribute.
Thanks again for working through this. I appreciate it as I'm sure many other users do.
--LT
I have some observations. Note - observations, you can do whatever you like with them, but I thought I might put these out there since you're at the beginning of this process and before you get too far along since you have a golden opportunity to make additions or subtractions and it would be easier at the beginning rather than when you're nearly finished, having worked on similar projects myself.
I'm sure there is a lot going on behind the scenes that the average user will not see so perhaps some of what I say below is being worked out and simply isn't where the public can view it at this point.
On the old system one of the things I thought worked very well was that the stories were presented both alphabetically and by author. There were two ways to access the stories. I see on the new system that there is a sort of alpha set-up, but that they are grouped "A-H", "I-M", and so on. While at the beginning of this process that will be manageable from a user point of view, I can see as time goes on and more stories get added how this is going to create four or five VERY large sections given how big the story archive is. Returning to an A, B, C, D, etc. format might make these huge bites more manageable for the users. Also, many have a favorite author, and doing an alpha by author name may facilitate a quicker access to those stories the user is looking for.
Is there going to be some sort of keyword search? I know logistically this is more difficult than it seems to the average user (I'm having an issue with something like this over on MBM) so can understand if that will be left out. I know that can be a huge programming issue, depending on site architecture.
The biggest thing I think you have a great opportunity to fix is the story genre tags. IE Gay, Straight, Bi-sexual, Male, female, castration, nullo, penectomy, etc. Is there a way to tag the stories so a user could bring up a list that will show only straight stories, gay stories, castration stories, nullo stories, etc.? That would cut a lot of wandering through the larger story database by the users and the could more readily narrow their search by going to those stories specific to the genre they are looking for. Again, I imagine this would take some programming to add radio buttons or tick-boxes on the system.
Again, I appreciate your undertaking on this huge task. I know at this point all of you that are working on it are at the base of a rather tall mountain and it's going to take a long time for you to climb to the summit. If there is something I can help with, please let me know. I may not be able to give a lot of time, but I'm sure that getting a few more folks on board would help you get through the backlog more quickly, so I'm willing to contribute.
Thanks again for working through this. I appreciate it as I'm sure many other users do.
--LT
Re: The Story Archive
Yes you are correct. Right now we have it set for the A-H, etc soley because we don't have that many stories repaired and we wanted to get something out to the end user fast but it won't last long.
I have an awful lot of index ideas. Index by story title, author, tag, indended audience, language, submission date, random, and more. We are making liberal use of the custom tag cloud also.
Like you say this is all behind the scenes and I can't give any definte date nor specific functions as I do not want anyone to get any hopes up. I've even considered a favorite story function.
We will just have to see. Suggestions are always welcome. Patience is crutial. Watch our dust.
tal
I have an awful lot of index ideas. Index by story title, author, tag, indended audience, language, submission date, random, and more. We are making liberal use of the custom tag cloud also.
Like you say this is all behind the scenes and I can't give any definte date nor specific functions as I do not want anyone to get any hopes up. I've even considered a favorite story function.
We will just have to see. Suggestions are always welcome. Patience is crutial. Watch our dust.
tal
Re: The Story Archive
Do not interrupt the worm when he's eating and coding.
Eating, coding, drinking coffee, smoking, yelling at Gem, dodging cats, shouting to the Heavens, or wandering aimlessly about with new programming spinning in his head!
LOL
I have learned this the hard way! hehehe
Surely there is more to come in searching, etc.
If the new user interface in the end is anything like the editing interface, it's going to be fabulous, and we have no comprehension of the awesomeness that talula has in mind.
Eating, coding, drinking coffee, smoking, yelling at Gem, dodging cats, shouting to the Heavens, or wandering aimlessly about with new programming spinning in his head!
LOL
I have learned this the hard way! hehehe
Surely there is more to come in searching, etc.
If the new user interface in the end is anything like the editing interface, it's going to be fabulous, and we have no comprehension of the awesomeness that talula has in mind.
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Losethem (imported)
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Re: The Story Archive
I had a hunch much more was being planned.
I look forward to the finished product when you finally get there. I know it's a long slog and this user greatly appreciates it.
--LT
I look forward to the finished product when you finally get there. I know it's a long slog and this user greatly appreciates it.
--LT
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BullGator (imported)
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speedvogel (imported)
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Re: The Story Archive
Wow! The interface is certainly simple enough. I like the look. I appreciate how much effort has been invested in this (I am a moderator on a couple of boards, totally unrelated to this area, and I know the level of work involved. I am especially impressed with the editing. Some of the stories were, uh how should I put this, challenging to read account formatting and grammatical errors.
Speed
Speed