One of the things I enjoy about SOL is the Random Story From the Archive post. I just finished Jay Cantrell's Lifeline, a story I know I read before but had been pushed to the back shelf of my memory. These posts help connect me to authors I may have neglected or forgotten about. I don't know what algorithm selects the post… they aren't all winners in my mind… but thanks to the SOL team for putting them out there.
One big advantage to being a paid member is you can set preferences to the randomizer. I have it set to only return stories rated at 8 or higher, when I run out of those I'll lower the minimum score.
This works when you click on the 'more', not the random story that is on the stream page.
Restricting stories to 8+ acts as a bias against shorter (as in 1 chapter) stories, although maybe you see that as a good thing.
True. I didn't say it was a perfect system, only the one I used.
I often look at the author's page instead of reading the suggested story, and do read many
acts as a bias against shorter (as in 1 chapter) stories
It is true that longer stories tend to have higher ratings. It is also true that it is difficult to develop the plot and characters in a short story. Although there is no limit to the length of a 1-chapter story.
According to Geoge-1, he apparently receives enough stories to satisfy his reading choices, and he has a plan as to what to do if the number of stories drops too low.
I, too, like the random story feature, although I hardly ever look at the main page, using the library along with the new and updated stories pages instead.
I could not agree more.
It's odd to see how focused people are on the "updated" page waiting for the "newest" story, when there are so many classics on the site just sitting fallow.
I have a back catalog of stories that don't get much traction after they fall off the main page.
It's kind of like music these days. People listen to the "new stuff" when so much of the older stuff like Led Zepplin and AC/DC are far superior and many of them never heard it before.
The random is one outlet to get people to at least notice an old story that catches their eyes.
It's odd to see how focused people are on the "updated" page waiting for the "newest" story, when there are so many classics on the site just sitting fallow.
I couldn't agree more. For a looong time now I've been following very few newer stories, even though some have high scores, and have been re-reading the "oldies but goodies" :D
SunSeeker
I spent twice as much time on with the random generator (tuned to filter out what I don't want) than I do new stories.