Congratulations, nic and team on another milestone! I think there were only some 120K when I joined.
And thanks to everyone, past and present who has worked to keep the site running, functioning and enjoyable by all.
Walt
Congratulations to the Winners and the rest of the top ten! Well done!
I think the one-liner and tags should be plenty. No need to add scores or views. And without overloading the page. In fact, it the stories could remain in single lines on the table that would likely be best.
Thanks!
Okay, one more thing, and then I'll shut up.
On the mobile page it shows what appears to be story counts by category. Yet the front page of the full site does not. Not a deal breaker, just curious as to why it would be seen as beneficial in one place and not in the other.
Respectfully,
Walt NRN
I don't post much in the forums as I rarely have the time to hang out, but as a regular story poster and former avid reader I wanted to make a suggestion about the front page. As the membership, and specifically the submitting membership has grown, the mod squad has done a terrific job of keeping up the pace of approvals. (Well done, folks, and thanks!). This, however has created a very brief appearance period for any new work on the front page. Any reader not checking the front page twice a day is likely to miss half the posted work.
With the number of stories/poems on the front page limited to fifteen, the benefit of having your first five lines included with your title and one-liner, which can be used as a hook to draw readers, feels like it is falling short of the designed benefit. When I first came here, I thought the “5 line tease” was a brilliant concept, and I still do. I’d hate to lose it, but I would sacrifice that benefit for more time on the front page (my opinion, others may disagree). I did some unofficial research over the last few weeks; it looks like about 14 pages per week, or two per day. So you get about 12 hours, on the average.
I would propose several possible solutions.
1. Extended the front page capacity to say, 30 stories. This would theoretically double the time on page one.
2. Reduce the number of text lines included. If the page space is the issue you would be able to fit more in the same space. It would also challenge authors to make better use of the tag line, rather than the first five lines. (Though I'll admit the gain here is minimal, and using the opening lines as hooks is...fun).
3. Create an alternate front page for poetry. (Easy, read it through first...) I have nothing against poetry. It's not my favorite, for sure, but I'm not a hater. It's just not my thing, for the most part. I've read some very good ones by very talented authors. But over the last 6 weeks or so the two poetry groups account for over 27% (unofficial tally) of posted work. It's a little frustrating to work a few weeks on a story, see it appear, and then vanish after ten or twelve hours when 6 or 7 poems hit the front page.
I'm not suggesting an end to poetry. I'm suggesting an alternate front page for poetry only, where poets and their readers can commune in verse, thus buying the story authors a little more time on the stories front page.
Respectfully
Walt NRN
I'm sure someone will let me know if this is a contest question or belongs in the improvement suggestion thread. But why does the page of current contest submissions (or past contest pages) not look like the Front page? It includes only the title and author; no tags, no one-liner, no opening text. Basically, nothing to draw the reader to your story but your title and name.
This occurred to me as I was perusing stories in the current comp, and noticing the low readership. Admittedly, I have not read many either, (which I will remedy, to the best of my ability) as supernatural is not my thing. But seriously, Steph after two weeks has only 1200 views? I blog my work. I could send out the marketing emails, but then it leads one to 'collect' friends to add to my mailing list. And many folks don't go for that anyway, hence the option to turn that function off.
Is there a way to make the list of Comp Stories more appealing to readers? Especially with a category like Supernatural, where there appears to be a small but dedicated readership, it seems like many stories in this Comp may not get enough views to accumulate the necessary votes to qualify.
Respectfully,
Walt NRN
Hi, Nic. Sounds exciting and very different! I'm already thinking of ideas...
Just wanted to clarify....does the story need to be submitted to the Supernatural Category? Can it be in another category, but have a supernatural slant? Is Fantasy and Sci Fi included?
And sorry, one more thing... it feels like "points of reference" listed in the announcement are mixing touchpoints of Supernatural with the Fantasy & Sci Fi. Ghosts, Vampires, Werewolves are Supernatural.. the alternate planes of existence and creatures of cultural mythology.
Robots, Alternate Universes, Aliens, are more akin to the Fantasy and Sci-Fi category.
IMHO
On second thought, that was just too much... (shuddering)
She wasn't a virgin when we got married? Uh, oh. I guess we need to talk more...
;)
