I really wish there was a way to tell that the fic I was looking at was read.  I've read so many fics that I've lost track of all their names.  For authors who have a lot of fics, it's even harder, because I may have read quite a few of the writer's fics, but it's hard to tell without reopening the fic and starting it again, especially after a few weeks or months. 

On one site I'm on, if you're logged in, your read stories have a green check mark (tick), wheras your unread stories have a red 'x'.  Others are bold when unread, and unbold when read or bright when unread, and greyed out when read. 

Read
Unread

When you look through a list and some part of the story intro/description is highlighted in some way, you can figure out what you'e read... that would be wonderful.

Thanks

Blue

I really wish there was a way to tell that the fic I was looking at was read.  I've read so many fics that I've lost track of all their names.  For authors who have a lot of fics, it's even harder, because I may have read quite a few of the writer's fics, but it's hard to tell without reopening the fic and starting it again, especially after a few weeks or months. 

On one site I'm on, if you're logged in, your read stories have a green check mark (tick), wheras your unread stories have a red 'x'.  Others are bold when unread, and unbold when read or bright when unread, and greyed out when read. 

Read
Unread

When you look through a list and some part of the story intro/description is highlighted in some way, you can figure out what you'e read... that would be wonderful.

Thanks

Blue

Interesting idea! I don't think I've ever seen that anywhere - but then, I rarely read anywhere but here and LJ anymore, so who knows what new-fangled things have been added to archives.   I'll be interested to see what Dia says about it. She's working on stuff now, I think, so it's a good time to mention additions and changes. I imagine something like that could be very helpful to people working their way through the archive.  I remember back when I was doing that. Just find an archive and park myself until I'd read everything on it.

Good idea, I've been trying to solve this via the coloring of visited links, but it's just too unreliable with all those different browsers and constant updates; plus, people like me who use several different computers. But linking it to the accounts would e a workable solution - I'll put it on my list. Thanks.

I would love something like that. I wind up rereading stories because I can't remember if I read them already. There are too many for me to make a list of those that I have read so anyway that we can mark a story or at least a chapter as read would be great.

I agree.  It would be a wonderful addition.  I've tried to keep track of which stories I've read, on my own, but it is getting to be difficult. 

It would be a great addition  - but, and you will forgive me if I am back on this topic, I still think a really useful thing would be to have a category for stories or at least a Reader Note when a story is a Permanent WIP  or a story that has not been updated within the last year.  For older works that have not been updated it would be easy to remove the Readers Note once the writer does new work. 

It would be a great addition  - but, and you will forgive me if I am back on this topic, I still think a really useful thing would be to have a category for stories or at least a Reader Note when a story is a Permanent WIP  or a story that has not been updated within the last year.  For older works that have not been updated it would be easy to remove the Readers Note once the writer does new work. 

Are there really that many stories that haven't been updated or appear to be abandoned? I really can't think of any off the top of my head (I know of one or two, but that's because I know about them from way back when). Maybe that means I wasn't reading them, but I'd be surprised if that's the case. Back in the day, I read everything. Now, I suppose it's possible that there are more recent fics I haven't been following and don't realize seem to be permanent wip, but it just seems like I'd have heard about them.  I'd think the notation as to whether or not a fic was complete, along with the date of the last chapter would be sufficient to warn a reader off of those that haven't been updated in a long time.

I'd think the notation as to whether or not a fic was complete, along with the date of the last chapter would be sufficient to warn a reader off of those that haven't been updated in a long time.

I agree... Given that you can see when the fic was last updated, I see no need for any further notation.

If it isn't broke it doesn't need fixing, as my old mother-in-law used to say.

While I understand the frustration, just seeing that a story hasn't been updated in god knows how long is my red flag.  Many unfinished stories that haven't been updated for a while is also not a great sign.  If I haven't read any of the author's other stories...  or in fact, on this site, if I haven't read all or most of the authors other stories, I don't start works that haven't been updated in more than a year.  I will sometimes read an unfinished story by someone whose work I really like, knowing that it may never be finished, especially if all the other stories have long since been finished and there are no new stories. 

I have plenty stories I followed for a while that stopped being updated, of course, and that's frustrating, but since I write, I get how hard it can be to finish some stories.  Some stories come out whole, while others come out in bits...  I've never abandoned a story and I can usually tell if someone's still writing that they may come back to the story.  Of course, if this is an early story and they have lots of completed stories, maybe this one's a false start.  

One reason it would be hard to have a 'WIP' notification of any kind is that the reasons for unfinished stories and whether they'll be finished and when are almost infinite. 

People who feel they can't finish a story sometimes make a note in the story info, and that's nice...  I do wish more people would do that. 

Note to writers: Please let people know if you're on 'haitus' with your story... or if you can't/don't plan to finish it at all. 

But the truth is, many people are in my situation: they start a story in good faith, they even have an outline and know how it will end, but some factor within the story is just hard to resolve, or something in their lives hits too close to home... and they end up not finishing the story for a while.  I tend to rotate through the stories I'm working on, but some get updated much more often b/c they're easier to write.

When my dad was dying, there was one story I had to stop writing -- I couldn't handle the subject matter objectively and couldn't decide on a plot point because it brought up too many feelings, whatever I decided -- the story affected my feelings and my feelings were warping the story.  So instead, another epic story came out almost fully formed and it was finished before the other story, which I only was able to finish after my dad died. 

Good clue that someone's likely to be still writing: if they're still writing other stuff.  If they're writing and they're doing good work, I usually give them a 'nudge' (drop them a line) and see what they say...  Usually it's a 'please be patient' in one form or another, and that's just what's necessary.   If they don't respond, I know that's not a good sign.  Just knowing people are still interested in an old story of mine is often the kick I need to get back to working on finishing it.

Of course, sometimes stories I've tracked from years ago are suddenly updated, and I'd read 100,000 words or more of story and now, it's 3 years later and I can't even remember the story...  then I have to ask myself is it worth it to try to remember...  A lot of times, I wait until these stories are actually complete before coming back to them....  So, for the stories I'm working on that are older, I'm trying to finish them before I start posting sporadic updates.  I have one story that I've written the closing chapters to, and all it lacks is a final battle chapter/chapters to bridge to the ending chapters... but those battle scenes are proving harder to write than any I've ever written and I have NO idea why.  Grrr... 

Hope your favorites are updated soon.

Blue

PS: if you hate unfinished, there's that great category of 'completed' that you can search for stories... It's neat...  every story is finished...  I use it a lot. 

While I understand the frustration, just seeing that a story hasn't been updated in god knows how long is my red flag.  Many unfinished stories that haven't been updated for a while is also not a great sign.  If I haven't read any of the author's other stories...  or in fact, on this site, if I haven't read all or most of the authors other stories, I don't start works that haven't been updated in more than a year.  I will sometimes read an unfinished story by someone whose work I really like, knowing that it may never be finished, especially if all the other stories have long since been finished and there are no new stories. 

I have plenty stories I followed for a while that stopped being updated, of course, and that's frustrating, but since I write, I get how hard it can be to finish some stories.  Some stories come out whole, while others come out in bits...  I've never abandoned a story and I can usually tell if someone's still writing that they may come back to the story.  Of course, if this is an early story and they have lots of completed stories, maybe this one's a false start.  

One reason it would be hard to have a 'WIP' notification of any kind is that the reasons for unfinished stories and whether they'll be finished and when are almost infinite. 

People who feel they can't finish a story sometimes make a note in the story info, and that's nice...  I do wish more people would do that. 

Note to writers: Please let people know if you're on 'haitus' with your story... or if you can't/don't plan to finish it at all. 

But the truth is, many people are in my situation: they start a story in good faith, they even have an outline and know how it will end, but some factor within the story is just hard to resolve, or something in their lives hits too close to home... and they end up not finishing the story for a while.  I tend to rotate through the stories I'm working on, but some get updated much more often b/c they're easier to write.

When my dad was dying, there was one story I had to stop writing -- I couldn't handle the subject matter objectively and couldn't decide on a plot point because it brought up too many feelings, whatever I decided -- the story affected my feelings and my feelings were warping the story.  So instead, another epic story came out almost fully formed and it was finished before the other story, which I only was able to finish after my dad died. 

Good clue that someone's likely to be still writing: if they're still writing other stuff.  If they're writing and they're doing good work, I usually give them a 'nudge' (drop them a line) and see what they say...  Usually it's a 'please be patient' in one form or another, and that's just what's necessary.   If they don't respond, I know that's not a good sign.  Just knowing people are still interested in an old story of mine is often the kick I need to get back to working on finishing it.

Of course, sometimes stories I've tracked from years ago are suddenly updated, and I'd read 100K of story and now, it's 3 years later and I can't even remember the story...  then I have to ask myself is it worth it to try to remember...  A lot of times, I wait until these stories are actually complete before coming back to them....  So, for the stories I'm working on that are older, I'm trying to finish them before I start posting sporadic updates.  I have one story that I've written the closing chapters to, and all it lacks is a final battle chapter/chapters to bridge to the ending chapters... but those battle scenes are proving harder to write than any I've ever written and I have NO idea why.  Grrr... 

Hope your favorites are updated soon.

Blue

PS: if you hate unfinished, there's that great category of 'completed' that you can search for stories... It's neat...  every story is finished...  I use it a lot. 


Thanks, Blue, for the excellent summation from the pov of both an avid reader and an author.  I think you've covered all the bases. :)

Hi everyone - does any one have a copy of a youtube of Spike that had a jazz singer singing He's a Tramp?  It's no longer available.  Boo Hoo.   

Still hoping for the 'marked as read' feature.  Was back reading slaymesoftly's great stories again, but once again found myself having to open the story, go to the last chapter and see if I reviewed it in order to see if I've read the story.  It's hard b/c there are stories that look familiar, b/c I've looked at her list before...  but I don't know if they description is familiar because I've read the story, or just the description.  Since there are 126 stories, I've pretty much lost track of which stories I've read...   

If, when logged in, the stories I'd read (or even the stories I've tracked) were bolded, or greyed out, then I'd know at least that I'd started them...  It's really hard to find stories I haven't read unless I just start selecting brand new authors I've never read, and even that isn't reliable, b/c as you might know, when I start reading, I can read a lot.

If it were keyed to stories I was 'tracking', that would work fine, b/c I tend to track stories I'm reading...  Feel free to write me if you want to discuss some ways this could work... I'd really, really love this feature.  I actually end up stopping reading here for periods of time b/c I get tired not being able to find new stories easily, even though I know they're there...  then I come back, b/c there are so many great stories...  I really do think this feature is helpful.

Since the way I think it would work best would be only for people who are logged in, you wouldn't have to keep track of every person who ever visited the site...  Hopefully, this would make it easier to do. 

pm me if I can be of help.  I can give you examples of something I think works well, though of course, your software may or may not support something similar, you can see how something like this might work.

Thanks again for a great site.

Peace,

blue

Still hoping for the 'marked as read' feature.  Was back reading slaymesoftly's great stories again, but once again found myself having to open the story, go to the last chapter and see if I reviewed it in order to see if I've read the story.  It's hard b/c there are stories that look familiar, b/c I've looked at her list before...  but I don't know if they description is familiar because I've read the story, or just the description.  Since there are 126 stories, I've pretty much lost track of which stories I've read...   

If, when logged in, the stories I'd read (or even the stories I've tracked) were bolded, or greyed out, then I'd know at least that I'd started them...  It's really hard to find stories I haven't read unless I just start selecting brand new authors I've never read, and even that isn't reliable, b/c as you might know, when I start reading, I can read a lot.

If it were keyed to stories I was 'tracking', that would work fine, b/c I tend to track stories I'm reading...  Feel free to write me if you want to discuss some ways this could work... I'd really, really love this feature.  I actually end up stopping reading here for periods of time b/c I get tired not being able to find new stories easily, even though I know they're there...  then I come back, b/c there are so many great stories...  I really do think this feature is helpful.

Since the way I think it would work best would be only for people who are logged in, you wouldn't have to keep track of every person who ever visited the site...  Hopefully, this would make it easier to do. 

pm me if I can be of help.  I can give you examples of something I think works well, though of course, your software may or may not support something similar, you can see how something like this might work.

Thanks again for a great site.

Peace,

blue

Good timing for this requst again, Blue. We've got another request for updates/changes to the script for Dia to think about. I know when she makes changes, she likes to do several at a time, so it's good to have a reminder up here.

Good timing for this request again, Blue. We've got another request for updates/changes to the script for Dia to think about. I know when she makes changes, she likes to do several at a time, so it's good to have a reminder up here.

I'm very excited!!  I really hope it will be workable.

Thank you!

Blue

Good timing for this request again, Blue. We've got another request for updates/changes to the script for Dia to think about. I know when she makes changes, she likes to do several at a time, so it's good to have a reminder up here.

I'm very excited!!  I really hope it will be workable.

Thank you!

Blue

Don't get too excited.  First she has to see the requests and then she has to decide if and how to make the changes. :)

Mark as read/unread is definitely planned.

Sorry all this is taking so long, I seem to have fixated on the idea to add all the changes at once and upload a completely revamped version of the verse. One of the latest changes I did was adding an option for series, and it ended up being such a major change that I have to modify almost every page just to get things working again.

So yes, I'm aware of most of the things you'd like to have added/changed, and I'm working/planning on or have already implemented most of what's feasible (and what makes sense to me), I'm just slooooooow.

But even though I'm slow, keep the ideas coming. What good is a new version if it's still missing all those features you've always hoped for. (I did a little happy dance when AO3 added RSS-feeds.) ;-)