Reviews - This is Pathetic

[Paolo]

On another site, not castration or sex related, I have posted 2 stories since February of this year.

In 6 months, I have had more feedback and reviews on that site than I have had at the Archive here in 11 years.

Isn't that amazing?:-\

[BossTamsin (imported)]

Yes, we definitely need to get more feedback and reviews posted. It's one thing to watch the hit counters go up, but if people don't post anything about the story, it's hard to know if they liked it or not.

[DeaconBlues (imported)]

OK OK OK ALREADY!

I will start giving more story feedback.

[Batman (imported)]

I don't think the site's software is review friendly. Drupal based sites like Big Closet http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/ or Fictionmania (don't know what software they use) have facilities connected directly to the stories for adding comments.

I don't know if that's something you guys could do here or not, but it would be nicer if the review is connected directly to the story instead of on a separate message area.

My 2 cents

Batman

[Slammr (imported)]

I don't think the site's software is review friendly. Drupal based sites like Big Closet http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/ or Fictionmania (don't know what software they use) have facilities connected directly to the stories for adding comments.

I don't know if that's something you guys could do here or not, but it would be nicer if the review is connected directly to the story instead of on a separate message area.

My 2 cents

Batman

Batman has a point. It is difficult to give feedback on a story. One has to either write an email or post on the message board, which, even though one doesn't have to register, takes much more effort than clicking on a reply or comment icon and adding a comment does.

The problem with providing for anonymus comments though is that they open the door for spam, so registration would probably need be required to post comments. Actually, it might not be a bad idea to require registration to read stories in the first place.

[BossTamsin (imported)]

One of the major hurdles of such a change, of course, would be the massive amount of time and manpower to convert nearly 8500 stories over to any other type of system. Were it a full-time job, assuming it took 5 minutes a story to move, clean up, and verify, you are looking at 3 months of work. That's doing nothing but working on stories, 8 hours a day, every day. That's the optimistic version.

There may be something in the works to help with this, but it will take time. Sadly, lots and lots and lots of time.... *sigh*

(Please try to bear in mind that when it comes to coding for this site, you only have one volunteer monkey, with one typewriter, so Shakespeare tends to take longer.)

[Slammr (imported)]

There may be something in the works to help with this, but it will take time. Sadly, lots and lots and lots of time.... *sigh*

(Please try to bear in mind that when it comes to coding for this site, you only have one volunteer monkey, with one typewriter, so Shakespeare tends to take longer.)

When I wrote my reply, I realized the obstacles you were facing. One possible solution might be to archive all the old stories and to use new story submission and comment code or software for the new stories. Of course, you know much better than I whether or not this would be possible.

[sailorboy (imported)]

I try and mail my story reviews directly to the authors, but most of the recent reviews were returned as "address unknown." I guess I need to start posting on the Message Board. Perhaps the author can find out how we readers critiqued his/her story, especially if we liked it!!!

Sailorboy

[transward (imported)]

I would not want to pry if it is private, but I have enjoyed Paolo's stories and would welcome a link to his non EA stories. I might even promise to provide feedback.

Transward

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Good points, all.

I fully agree particularly that the ability to click a button on a story, giving the reader a pop-up feedback page, is THE way to go to encourage feedback. Due to the nature of the setup of EA, one must expect far fewer replies.

Sadly, this is because of the lazy nature of the world today. I'm at fault too; I haven't started enough 'thank you' threads either...

One other factor of course has to be the subject matter. No matter how much a reader enjoys a story, the more 'riske' a site/subject is, the less inclined the highly appreciative yet equally highly nervous Mr. White-Bread of 2.4 children and 1.2 dogs fame will be to actually 'leave tracks' and reply.

Fictionmania, BigCloset, ARarchive, etc etc rate somewhere around one or two replies per thousand reads, for a good story. That varies of course.... the EA, on the other hand, seems to rate about one reply per 10,000 reads (board replies only).

Sad, yes. I have to lean towards Slammrs recommendation; archive the entire library as it stands now to preserve everything that is here, but plug in a brand new, customized library and submission zone as a 2008-and-on library.

Anywho, thats just my two cents . Now, 'scuze me while I quickly write more thank-you notes for stories!!