Forum: Site Announcements

Yes. Per the other thread, The stories to be archived are stories from authors who have not logged into the site for at least 5 years.

i.e. If an author doesn't want his stories archived, it's his obligation not to die, otherwise his wishes no longer matter. :(

Note: The most obvious solution to this is to make arrangements with either your family or your editors to sign into your account periodically if you pass-on just to keep your stories in front of readers (that's assuming your editors don't pass on before you do!).

Or said author could make sure

Didn't Lazeez mention that authors could make arrangements ahead of time to keep their stories in the FREE area, if they become unreachable.

Interesting. Today two authors have come back to the site because of this news. News travel fast I guess.

Now that's good news! Was that because of the new messaging system, or the revised email notification (in your best-guess mode, of course).

Whatever draws in the most authors/readers is best for everyone at the site (i.e. more readers is best for the site, while more authors leads to more readers, thus more authors indirectly benefit the site.

According to both messages it was about the archiving feature. Neither mentioned anything about the notification.

Interestinger and interestinger (to quote the old "Rowan and Martin" sketch comedy routine). That means you retained the authors you lost because of the switch over to the new messaging system, rather than winning those who'd quit the site earlier.

Either way, ALL the changes help authors, readers and the site, and the many changes rectify the majority of issues any of us have had with it.

As always, well-done Lazeez. You manage to address all of our minor whines (best served with wine, of course).

I for one, can easily live with the current system.

If I never log out of SOL, does that mean I'm active (thinking about the 5 year inactivity)?

Or do I have to periodically log out and then log back in?

If you don't visit the site, it doesn't matter if the cookie is set in your browser, the site keeps record of the last visit.

OK, just checked my story stats. I'm safe for another 5 years. :)

OK, just checked my story stats. I'm safe for another 5 years. :)

Time for a long nap, in that case.

I know this might be a dumb idea, but wouldn't the list be shorter if just the author's names were listed with links to their blog pages? Especially since it appears to be all the stories by a given author.

That makes sense, especially since the user could click on the link to read the story description. Oh, wait, they can't!

Try it just click on the writer/author's name for any story listing and it will open the first page automatically.

Sorry, I was assuming you were suggesting clicking on the story link, not the author link (which I didn't even consider, duh!).

You're right, that would work and would allow most of the revised list to fit on a single page (hopefully).

So for your example, that story next week will go away from the to-be-archived list and won't be archived until a time when aubie stays away from the site for more than 5 years.

So a possible solution is to periodically add a younger, healthier author to post corrections to the story, just to keep it active for longer in case something happens to the author?

I know that Lazeez probably doesn't want to hear this but as a free reader I guess I should say it because as I have begun to browse the forums they seem to be filled with regular authors whom I understand get upgraded to premier: I feel like Lazeez is BURNING BOOKS. Sorry to be so blunt, as a poor person on very limited income I literally would have to not eat for a day and a half to afford to become a member at the yearly rate. All these authors who wrote wanted their stories out there to be read. This will be lost to me so essentially Lazeez is burning those books on me. Is this right or wrong I can't say.

I'm sure Lazeez won't delete your account over this, as he KNEW going in that he was unlikely to garner many new Premium members with this. Instead, it seems it's more of an effort to 'erase' the adjustment bias which has accumilated over the years, where older authors almost routines got 9s and 10s, while newer authors have trouble achieving 7s and 8s due the score adjustments Lazeez has implemented over the years. As such, it's more an effort to be 'fair' to new authors more than it's an effort to 'burn books' (i.e. get most of the stories on a level playing field).

As an alternative, rather than considering investing in a yearly subscription, try reviewing the list of 'soon to be archived' stories, see which one's you like and get recommendations of which of those stories others recommend, then get the smallest subscription (either 14-day or a month, I believe) and download the lot.

If you do that periodically, you'll be able to read whatever you want, without paying an exorbitant amount, and everyone wins. I KNOW that's not ideal for you, but it at least makes the stories 'reachable' and you can aim for a big story exposition (or ask family for 'book gift money) to fund it. But that's the best alternative I can think of.

By the way, "The Count of MC" is one of the 'free books' Lazeez uses to beef-up his story content. He no longer does it on SOL, but continues to do it on FS and especially Sci-Fi since the stories are scarce there. Again, it's an effort to prune the content to make the more recent stories by SOL authors more appealing to SOL readers, rather than an attempt to 'steal' books that are already free to anyone who wants them. Just sayin'

Correction: Given Lazeez's refutation, I'll change my 'it's more an effort to ...' argument, though I still maintain that's a worthy byproduct of the move. Lazeez does need to ensure enough incoming funds to keep the site operational over time, but he's trying to minimize the impact on the majority or readers.

Instead, it seems it's more of an effort to 'erase' the adjustment bias which has accumilated over the years, where older authors almost routines got 9s and 10s, while newer authors have trouble achieving 7s and 8s due the score adjustments Lazeez has implemented over the years.

I doubt that.

I think books like this one fall into the public domain category. I am not sure but the copy rights have probably expired on all of them. I highly doubt Laz would add books which were still under a copy right.

That's exactly what he's doing, which was my point: that you can get those same stories for free online with a little searching. It's the SOL authors we're (readers) are primarily concerned with.

@Switch

I doubt that.

I qualified my initial supposition after Lazeez corrected me. I was mistaken, though, for practical purposes, it's effectively how the system functions, even if that's not it's intent, so I still see it as benefiting newer authors over those long gone from the site.

It's perfectly legal to make mony on books that are in the public domain.

And if you don't want to pay for them (say by subscribing to the site), you can always find them yourself. Most are available online on several different sites.

If it is a book about Mouhamed Ali, then it would be Ali mony.

I wouldn't mind a share of Ali's money, but now, I think he needs most of it for medical care due to his complication from being pounded in the face (so much for 'rope-a-dope' as an athletic strategy). If he'd never been prosecuted for his religious objections NOT to fight in the Vietnam War, chances are he'd be fine today.

I wouldn't mind a share of Ali's money, but now, I think he needs most of it for medical care

He's dead.

He's dead.

Ah, the memory must be going. I forg—what was I saying?

Say it correctly. You forgot the proper name.

He's dead.

He's dead, Jim.

He's dead, Jim.

Sorry, but I missed the reference. Was that from an original Star Trek episode?

The technical quality of your post is very good. Have you considered earning Premier status by writing stories?

AJ

We all worked for an employer or were self employed; this site is Lazeez profession and it is how he earns his living.

Lazeez is "selling" all of the site's members the opportunity to read stories for free with a relatively low story access limitation on the Free Membership accounts. Lazeez is also providing a set of features and virtually unlimited access to the stories posted to the site for a fee. That fee is what pays his personal and business's bills.

Enough of that though. I still wonder if Lazeez caught the first part of my post regarding multiple authors and the fact their stories are listed for archiving even though authors singular stories aren't listed like John Wales Rebirth series?

I think you misread the triggering post. Lazeez explained that, with multiple authors, as long as a single author remained alive and active on the site, the book would remain active (unless they place it behind the paywall themselves). Thus just because one author's books are available free doesn't mean that ALL of his will be. Instead, it's tied to their activity on the site and/or desire to remove their material from the site. :(

sadly I'm just a college grad with poor creative writing skills.

I am a high school grad who had no creative writing skills. Around the time I turned 45, I developed a desire to be a story teller and started writing. I was atrocious, but life intervened and sidetracked me. I am now 70, so it took me about 20 years from the time I tried to write my first story until I posted/published my first story.

If you want to be an author and earn that Premier Membership, there are people on this site who will work with you and help you develop the skills you need to succeed. I recognize my weaknesses and faults as an Author, but I persevere and produce reasonably acceptable stories. You can do the same if you want to put in the effort.

Edited to add: The first story I tried to write is my story Time Scope. Part 1 is my original concept, and Part 2, currently being posted, is a result of my readers asking for a sequel.

Thanks for the compliment but sadly I'm just a college grad with poor creative writing skills. I have listed myself as an available editor but have received no responses.

Anyone wanting a good editor just let me know and I will be glad to help.

Don't discount you skills. I never studied writing or English, since I never saw myself as an author. It was only after I was disabled, and shuffled my medication enough to become functional again, that I started searching for something to do.

Since I've always read a lot, I've got a decent grasp of English and my accumulated life-experiences give me decent storytelling skills. The rest is just practice and hard work (and helpful input from authors on the forum and volunteer editors).

As for editing, the editing site is notoriously hard to get jobs from. Your best bet in volunteering is to contact authors you admire, suggest corrections, and if they like your eye (i.e. you don't make that many mistakes), they may ask you to edit for them.

That system works, because they'll ask you WHEN they need you, they already know you like their work, are familiar with their writing style, and don't object to their story topics, which counts for a lot!

Unfortunately, editors aren't eligible for the Premium services, only authors and reviewers (for some odd reason). I can see not treating them the same as authors, but I'd give them partial credit, at least.

Unfortunately, editors aren't eligible for the Premium services, only authors and reviewers (for some odd reason). I can see not treating them the same as authors, but I'd give them partial credit, at least.

I can see how Lazeez can have ready stats on who writes a story and on who writes a review, but how does he get reliable information on who edited a story? Can't be done, so he doesn't try.

However, I have dealt with that myself by giving Lazeez a list of my editors and asking how many were using a free account, and then I bought those on a free account a year's subscription as a Thank you for the work they do for me. That's something all author can do. But note it takes a couple of emails to Lazeez to organise it right, so touch base with him for how to do it. I hope you soon introduces an easy way to buy a gift subscription, but that will take work and coding, and he has other priorities to deal with first.

However, I have dealt with that myself by giving Lazeez a list of my editors and asking how many were using a free account, and then I bought those on a free account a year's subscription as a Thank you for the work they do for me. That's something all author can do. But note it takes a couple of emails to Lazeez to organise it right, so touch base with him for how to do it. I hope you soon introduces an easy way to buy a gift subscription, but that will take work and coding, and he has other priorities to deal with first.

That's an intriguing thought. I typically send my editors a copy of my published works, sort of as a 'brag book' so they can tell their families "See, I wasn't wasting my time on a porn site, I was creating something". But purchasing them a free-subscription sounds even better (if a bit trickier). They can't brag about it, but they do get the free porn! 'D

The original point I was trying to make regarding multiple authors was about Rebirth by John Wales & Wires & Dr. Stan. I was pointing out that if you sort the "To Be Archived List" by size and descending that on #85 is listed Rebirth by John Wales & Wires & Dr. Stan.

In an earlier post on this subject, I'm not sure which thread, Lazeez did say the initial algorithm had a minor issue in it listed a few stories where one author had been absent and he had fixed the code to check all authors first. He also said that some stories on the list won't be archived because that will be done via the new code and some listed now will drop out of the process when the new code is run.

In July 1, SOL turns 18 - some of the stories being "archived" were posted (or started posting) that day.

Damn! It'd be interested to check the stories that are that old and see whether they still stand up to the current fare.

If Lazeez had time, it might be interesting to have a 'anniversary' party for the site, where he lists all the original stories (from the same year) for a short period just to highlight how much the site has changed over time.

It's not gonna happen, but it's interesting to consider!

He also said that some stories on the list won't be archived because that will be done via the new code and some listed now will drop out of the process when the new code is run.

The 'new code' runs when they remove the active stories, the 'old code' was what initially created the lists, thus the mistakes would be 'self-correcting' and wouldn't need adjusting.

Rebirth is still in the query.

If I recall Lazeez also said that it would take several weeks before his algorithm finalized the listing and stories that should not be listed should be deleted.

I was just saying that as of today; Rebirth is still in the query.

Since Lazeez assures us the author is still logging onto the site, and that that's the only story affected (or was it? I seem to remember it wasn't on the sorted list), the only conclusion would be that the author chose for it to be archived.

Whether it matters or not, I hope that Lazeez appreciates a reader informing him of a possible glitch, I don't truly know.

he does, but he doesn't always see them when they're posted in general forum threads. However, send him a message via the Webmaster link or in the Bug Report forum and he'll get an immediate notification of them.

If you'd prefer the list to be sorted by author rather than story title, change 'alpha' to 'author_name'; for by-score change it to 'story_score' and for by-size to 'story_size' although for the last two it would also be good to sort in descending order (largest first) by changing 'so=asc' to 'so=desc'

I wonder how many 18-year-patrons are still active on the site (and thus their stories will remain).

I'm guessing not more than a couple, at most. :(

I wonder how many 18-year-patrons are still active on the site (and thus their stories will remain).

I did a Category Search by date in ascending order. Unfortunately I had to select one tag so I chose M/F.

Looks like the first stories were posted on 7/1/1999.

The 1st, 3rd, and 4th are premier only. The 2nd and 5th–11th are free to all. However, 5–10 are all from the same author — Losgud.

The 1st 46 stories are "much sex." Ah, the good old days. That was the SOL I fell in love with.

ETA: Just out of curiosity, I changed the M/F to M/M. The first story with an M/M code was 7/9/1999. Eight days after the site started. And it has a score of 7.21 so readers back then were more open-minded. Again, the good old days.

I had used the advanced search with an end date and "date ascending"

Yeah, that worked great. Since no story codes were selected, it was for all stories.

Not sure if it does it for anyone else, but the list of stories to be archived, lists each story twice.

They're probably the stories with 2 authors, so each author gets it listed - thus twice.

They're probably the stories with 2 authors, so each author gets it listed - thus twice.

Also, if they're sorted alphabetically, it'll list those duplicates together, making them seem more prevalent than in a straightforward list (not sorted by author).

It's a shame that stories on the Top Classics and similar lists aren't exempted from this.

Over time, those lists are inevitably going to become mostly premier-only lists, making them increasingly worthless for newcomers just checking out the site. This also seems to make things like the Clitorides much less useful to the community, as the years in which most of the nominees were SOL stories will gradually end up being locked away from the public.

You're likely right about the various lists, mostly because of the site's artificial score deflation (meaning the older stories all had higher scores than the newer ones, even if they received the exact same votes), but the Clitorides is a different story.

True, free readers can't read the entire historic list of winners, but each of the nominees is, as far as I know, still living, so it's still an ideal way to discover the great stories you may have missed during the past (several) years.

Also, as has been mentioned, even if someone can't afford a perpetual membership, they can always keep a list of the stories they want to read, and purchase the more limited temporary memberships to catch up. While some credit/debit cards might limit this, it's still a viable option for most.

You're likely right about the various lists, mostly because of the site's artificial score deflation

which is also applied to the old scores on the stories that existed at that time. The system was to balance out that old over-scoring process.

SOL stories will gradually end up being locked away from the public.

Keep in mind what the alternative might be. No SOL.

Years ago, I used to run a story site. It was free. I spent hours each week maintaining the site, much less than I expect Lazeez does.

My only income came from people clicking on ad banners (which SOL does not have). At one point, I told people that if not enough people clicked on the banners I'd shut the site down. They didn't. I shut it down.

The stories of both Volterin and Russell Hoisington are fully accessible.

Are you a Premier member?

Archive means the stories are only available to Premier members.

Are you a Premier member?

Archive means the stories are only available to Premier members.

Specifically, Archiving means the stories are 'hidden' behind a 'pay-to-play' wall. While many authors have free Premium Services due to their donations in time and energy to the site, most have to pay for the privilege.

most authors have to pay for the privilege

Surprisingly, Not true. More than 50% of author accounts get free premier service.

Sorry. That was a typo. I meant that most (at least those who post frequently) have Free access. Also, of those 4457 pen names, I'm sure quite a few are duplicates (i.e. belonging to a single author ID).

Pen names without stories is 335.

And before you ask, that happens because some people combine their stories from different pen names under one and leave the old ones in place so anyone who has a bookmark for a story can still find it from the bookmark.

To simplify management of the stories I've been involved with the writing of I moved them all under my main account name some time back. The ones I wrote under Ernest Edwards were originally under another name due to a request from the publisher I first released them under. When that contract expired I moved them back under my name on the books and here. At the same time I moved the stories I co-wrote with Cazna into my main account as well and added my name to the books.

By leaving the old pen name accounts in place the bookmarked story links stayed the same, just some of the database links changed to assist with the management. Thus I have 3 pen names and only one of them is active and the other two have no stories listed against them njow

Actually, you're a peculiar case.

That's true, I always have been, and always will be.

I can't understand why they would create an author pen name and then not use it.

I can't understand why they would create an author pen name and then not use it.

They have grand dreams to being the next 'great novelist', only to learn they can't write worth a damn, and after months of trying to write something even moderately interesting, eventually give up in disgust and move on to other pastimes.

A lot of people come to the site, read a couple of stories or ten and browse around, stumble on author facilities, they create a pen name and then simply leave the site for good.

It gotten so bad, that I had to implement a clean up routine to delete unused pen names. The first time I ran it, it deleted 3000+ pen names that were there taking up entries in the database without being used. The routine deletes pen names without stories that were created more than a year in the past.

Sounds like a good (and necessary) idea. But I think, in most cases, people use the pseudonyms correctly when they suspect posting a particular story will reflect badly on their other stories. We've all heard of the mystery writers who write romances under a female name, or women authors who can't get published under their own names, but get snapped up when they publish under a name pseudonym.

When you add in the 1-bomber squick factor, there's good reason to avoid attaching your own name to something which many feel hostile towards.

I specifically said '4457 user account have pen names', the number of pen names with stories on the site is 5683. Pen names without stories is 335.

Thanks for clearing that up (although I could have done the math myself, if I was thinking clearly, that is).

Yes, I am.

That's why you can see them.