I made a change last week that I failed to give you guys the heads up about.
As of last week, blog entries that have external links are excluded from the site's home page.
This is due to some authors posting just links in their blogs or a link with few words.
As of last week, blog entries that have external links are excluded from the site's home page.
This is due to some authors posting just links in their blogs or a link with few words.
It sadly never ceases to amaze than people can be so self-centred, thoughtless and down right rude.
I'm only surprised that such entries are not simply deleted completely. Then again, perhaps I'm not surprised. However, there is a fine line between indulgence for reasons of fairness, and being taken for granted.
Thank you, Lazeez. I wasn't enjoying the trend myself. I am here a lot. It was beginning to feel like I was surrounded by used car salesmen.
Is that why Jason Samson's latest blog entry doesn't appear on the SOL Home Page? It contains a link to a SOL forum topic he started about story ideas.
AJ
It contains a link to a SOL forum topic he started about story ideas.
I don't recall seeing links from blogs to the forum before, it may not be 'allowed'. Perhaps that is the cause?
I notice Jason Samson has made another blog post with no forum link and this time it appeared on the SOL Home Page.
(Both blog posts are about his recent story 'Sixteen', a very good story scoring over 8 until the rather sudden 'final' chapter.)
AJ
Well, I believe Laz wrote that external links were the problem. If a link to a forum topic on this site is not appearing in the main page then there is probably another reason for it.
I wondered about what happened, but didn't think much of it. I posted a blog entry because a couple of people had sent my messages asking about how things were with all the tornadoes and flooding here in Oklahoma. I had posted a link to a news story showing a rather dramatic water rescue in that blog entry. I thought several other people had posted at about the same time, so it never made it to the home page.
I'm not sure my recent blog posts without links show either; at least, they don't appear on the homepage when I look.
Oh well. Hope everyone likes the direction the next bit of sixteen takes all the same.
Your latest blog entry has a full URL in it. The easiest way to code to stop links is to code to look for the start of a URL and then block the post. Try re-posting the blog entry without the https:// part of the URL and it may then appear.
Try re-posting the blog entry without the https:// part of the URL and it may then appear.
Doesn't that violate the spirit of the rule?
Doesn't that violate the spirit of the rule?
Not in this case. The rule is to stop people providing links to other websites. Drop the sectioned mentioned and it isn't a link at all, just the address which you have to do a lot more than just click on. However, more importantly in this case, the URL is for the story on SoL so it promotes a SoL story within the SoL website.
Try re-posting the blog entry without the https:// part of the URL and it may then appear.
I bet Lazeez is smart enough to avoid that if he hasn't already. It's quite easy. It's also easy to detect if the link is to a SOL page.
The question is how often does it happen? Too many times and he has to automate the link removal; just a few occurrences and he can look at them himself and decide if the link is allowed or not.
I have to agree with Michael that using a possible loophole does violate the spirit of the rule (if it works at all that is).
The question is how often does it happen? Too many times and he has to automate the link removal; just a few occurrences and he can look at them himself and decide if the link is allowed or not.
Looking back to the announcement at the top of this thread, it is automated. There would appear to be a bug in the process if it is blocking links to within SoL (or FineStories / SciFiStories).
There would appear to be a bug in the process if it is blocking links to within SoL (or FineStories / SciFiStories).
My thought too, and it does seem to be blocking blogs with links to SOL. I wonder whether Lazeez is monitoring this topic.
AJ
I ended up pasting a link to my stories list in the endnotes because people were messaging me to ask what other stories I had written...
Really, links to other pages on this site ought not be discouraged. What is the point of a blog post about some story if linking to the story is a no-no? This can't be the kind of thing that Lazeez meant to stop?
This can't be the kind of thing that Lazeez meant to stop?
The first post in this thread is by Lazeez where he says:
As of last week, blog entries that have external links are excluded from the site's home page.
This is due to some authors posting just links in their blogs or a link with few words.
It is not as if every single blog entry doesn't have a link to the author's page already, just tell them to click it. Same with the stories, every single one had a link to the other stories the author has written.
So rather than try to find ways around the rule, whether it is a good one or not, work with the plethora of existing avenues and educate the readers.
Adding a link to the end notes (or in the blog) is just a waste of time for you unless your goal is to drive traffic to a specific story.
Just my 0.02.
I think readers confusion is that you have to click on a link called "Author's Name Page" rather than something obvious like "More stories by Author's Name" etc.
Oh well. Lazeez's intention was to block "external links". Seems it's also blocking _internal links_. Looks like a bug. I can suggest regexes etc if that's the challenge here.
Looks like a bug. I can suggest regexes etc if that's the challenge here.
If you believe it is a bug, then report it along with the symptoms.
