Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHING

Want to talk about the site itself -- problems, technical issues, ideas, etc.? Here's the place to do it!

Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHING

Postby KyraBenoit » Sat Nov 25, 2017 2:34 pm

This is, by far, the best transformation site I've seen. I've read 85% of the all the stories on this site over the past several months, save the TG stories, which don't interest me. Many of the stories are terrific. The writers are often talented and prolific. The fans provide thoughtful, meaningful, helpful feedback. In a few cases, I've tried to encourage authors too. That said, THIS IS ONE OF THE WORST SITES FOR SEARCHING AND FOLLOWING THAT I'VE EVER SEEN.

Mixing stories and feedback is a nice idea. But when a reader has to look at EVERY posting to see if the author has posted anything new, or what popped up is just a single piece of feedback, or is just the author responding to feedback - it really makes you angry and impatient. If I want to read a story, I WANT TO READ A STORY! If I want to review feedback,THEN I'LL LOOK FOR FEEDBACK. If there's a new post about a story, I WANT TO KNOW IF IT'S AN ADDITION, FEEDBACK FROM A READER, OR FEEDBACK FROM A WRITER!

In addition, if I search for some one or some thing, I WANT THAT ITEM! I DON'T CARE IF IT WAS DAYS AGO OR YEARS AGO. I don't want to search twice - for old stuff and newer stuff.

If you could fix the search engine for this site, it would be the top place in this genre - like ever!

One additional item: you should REQUIRE ALL AUTHORS TO LIST AT LEAST 3 DESCRIPTORS. E.G., IF THE STORY IS TG, FINE, BUT THEY NEED TO SAY THAT IT'S TG! A few other descriptors would be INCREDIBLY USEFUL, and require no more than a moment from the author. If they don't give at least 3 descriptors? Don't allow them to publish until they do. BTW, TG or not TG is a big deal to readers.

Bottom line: I have so many things to do, that I HAVE NO TIME TO, AND I HATE TO WASTE MY TIME TRYING TO FIGURE OUT IF THERE IS A NEW/EXPANDED STORY POSTED VERSUS MERELY FEEDBACK, OR IF IT'S LIKELY TO BE OF INTEREST TO ME!

- Kyra
User avatar
KyraBenoit
Member
 
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 8:03 am
Location: Chicago, IL, USA

Re: Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHI

Postby mercury01 » Sun Nov 26, 2017 4:33 pm

I'm inclined to agree about story tags... I would like to know what kind of story it is before I read it.

One suggestion for the issue about story posts: why don't we just update the original post with the story in it, and use the thread itself for updates and feedback?
User avatar
mercury01
Member
 
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 1:17 pm

Re: Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHI

Postby TheoW » Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:04 pm

Yeah, some of that is just the downside of it being a forum. There's only so much you can do with it really has the mixing of story and feedback are just a part of how it works. If we went to a more story archive format (which would cause a great deal of history to be lost) it could be separated out. But for the moment...

There might be some mods that could help, so I'll look around for that.

And you right, I think it's time we start getting a bit harder on story tags. Coming up with an official list (something that has been asked for before) and requiring new stories to have them might be a good choice at this point in time.
Pretends to be the boss around here.
User avatar
TheoW
Boss Lion
 
Posts: 581
Joined: Tue May 22, 2012 10:26 pm
Location: Third star to the left

Re: Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHI

Postby Anostus » Mon Dec 04, 2017 9:01 pm

mercury01 wrote:One suggestion for the issue about story posts: why don't we just update the original post with the story in it, and use the thread itself for updates and feedback?


That wouldn't work without some additional accommodations. Posts have a size limit, so for stories the author anticipates will be super long, they would have to start the thread with a few [Reserved] posts for editing later.
Anostus
Transformation Master
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Thu Jun 08, 2017 11:01 pm

Re: Wonderful Site, Terrible for Finding or Following ANYTHI

Postby jsmt » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:19 am

I frankly don't like the tone of the original message, especially the final statement: I find it too demanding for something that she is receiving for free; writing the stories and paying and managing the infrastructure to share them surely involves more time investment than searching for what you want.

I think Theo has done a great job keeping this place alive and working smoothly (which many of us take it for granted, but it isn't).

That said, there is always room for improvement.

Theo, this could probably help with the tags (and search on tags) https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2263616

Authors could help by editing the title of the thread each time they add a chapter just as AlwaysClassy did in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5360
jsmt
Transformation Master
 
Posts: 176
Joined: Fri May 25, 2012 6:10 am


Return to Site Issues/Feedback

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests