Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

if you mean comments from the author - that's already there.

No, to enable reader comments. Unless it's there and I missed it :(

AJ

No, to enable reader comments. Unless it's there and I missed it :(

To enable the Reader Comments on a story you have to wait until the first chapter is up on the site. You log in, then you go to the 'Author / Editors' page - - go to the 'Detailed info and stats' page for the story concerned, and at the top of the stats column is a bunch of buttons, - the middle row, almost in the middle but third from the left will have either 'Show Public Comments' or 'Hide Public Comments' - the default is to hide the comments so it should read 'Show Public Comments' - you click on the button to toggle it to display the action you don't want. Then exit the page because it's done.

edit to add: as a reader your account settings have a way for you to view or not view the public comments.

To enable the Reader Comments on a story you have to wait until the first chapter is up on the site.

Early readers may be denied the opportunity to comment on a story, depending on how long it takes the author to realise the first installment has been uploaded and activate comments.

(Thanks for the instructions, btw. I keep forgetting where to find the switch.)

AJ

(Thanks for the instructions, btw. I keep forgetting where to find the switch.)

Then set them all quick, before you forget again!

It sounds like the SOL author's equivalent of "Groundhog Day".

Early readers may be denied the opportunity to comment on a story, depending on how long it takes the author to realise the first installment has been uploaded and activate comments.

don't worry, they'll comment on the second chapter, as long as you remember to toggle the switch.

don't worry, they'll comment on the second chapter, as long as you remember to toggle the switch.

I don't know whether you've noticed but new single chapter stories outnumber new multi-chapter stories at the moment.

I'm not sure what proportion of authors are aware of the reader comment facility, but judging from forum posts and blogs, there's some way to go to make everyone aware. Putting it in the submission wizard should help propagate the awareness.

AJ

I don't know whether you've noticed but new single chapter stories outnumber new multi-chapter stories at the moment.

I've noticed the high number of single post stories, but so many are so short they don't even have a full chapter.

but so many are so short they don't even have a full chapter.

James Patterson would be jealous of how long they are :)

AJ

I don't know whether you've noticed but new single chapter stories outnumber new multi-chapter stories at the moment.

I'm not sure what proportion of authors are aware of the reader comment facility, but judging from forum posts and blogs, there's some way to go to make everyone aware. Putting it in the submission wizard should help propagate the awareness.

That's a valid point, and it makes sense enabling them to receive comments, especially since short stories tend to focus on effect, rather than a slow character/plot development of longer stories. Thus readers would (presumably) be more likely to respond quickly, whereas with longer stories they'd be more likely to wait to see how the story finally unfolds (especially when we longer story writers continually throw in surprises, red-herrings and various cliff-hangers).

It's a worthy consideration, though I'm not sure Lazeez has any handy answers for it yet.

To enable the Reader Comments on a story you have to wait until the first chapter is up

You are defining the way Reader Comments function is currently enabled/disabled.

It sounds as if Awnlee is asking for a change to the posting algorithm that would allow an Author to check a box when posting that 1st chapter that would enable/disable Reader Comments immediately after the 1st chapter is posted so the Author does not have to take a separate action.

It sounds as if Awnlee is asking for a change to the posting algorithm that would allow an Author to check a box when posting that 1st chapter that would enable/disable Reader Comments immediately after the 1st chapter is posted so the Author does not have to take a separate action.

It would actually be a more logical construct, clicking when first posting whether you accept story comments, rather than waiting until it's been up several hours before you 'get around to it'. As it is, it unintentionally penalizes short stories over sagas, which already have an unfair advantage on the site (see the multiple scoring discussions).

Thank you.

It's no wonder my story scores are so average: I'm awful at explaining things.

I think the Reader Comments facility has passed its trial without any instances of the trolling that authors were concerned about, so perhaps now is an appropriate time to integrate the facility more seamlessly.

AJ

without any instances of the trolling that authors were concerned about

I am one of those Authors, and I still am not sold on the idea. However, I have and am still considering giving it a try.

I am one of those Authors, and I still am not sold on the idea. However, I have and am still considering giving it a try.

I've long had some very consistent trolls (1-bombers) who'd read each new chapter within a couple of days of posting, but who'd vote every single story a 1 before they even had a chance to read it, even though they followed the story religiously. As a result, I was highly skeptical about offering readers free access to commenting on the story. But I'm happy to report I've had no harrassment of any kind, and I haven't heard of anyone else having any, either.

I think you can trust the system, but if you remain skeptical, do what I did. Allow commenting on a currently posting story. If you get flak, turn it off again. But if not, then turn it on for the next story.

Readers don't always notice right away, and they'll often not respond except for something that sparks their curiosity, but when they respond, you'll be inundated with comments.

How can you tell if someone reads every chapter but rates the story a 1? I can't see how you'd know that unless a) they were telling you of b) you only had like 2 reads per chapter.

Just curious, since I'd be interested if that kind of analytics was in the author section. But I haven't seen anything that in depth.

How can you tell if someone reads every chapter but rates the story a 1? I can't see how you'd know that unless a) they were telling you of b) you only had like 2 reads per chapter.

Just curious, since I'd be interested if that kind of analytics was in the author section. But I haven't seen anything that in depth.

I've discussed this multiple times to skeptics, but I'll try again. It's easy. Most of my votes are 10s. I only have a couple of 1s. I know they read each chapter, because every time I have an exciting cliffhanger, they boost their 1 scores to 3s, and then drop it when the story returns to normal. By watching when those few 1s become 3s and back again, I can determine how soon they read each chapter. They 1-bombed me like clockwork.

It was funny, because I warned them always voting 1 was dangerous, because if they read something else they disliked, they couldn't protest. It didn't phase them, so I wrote a passage JUST to piss them off. After that day, their 1-bombs became 3-bombs, and instead of jumping to 3, they instead jumped to 5s. It was so predictable, it was hilarious.

After several years of this, though, they finally tired of it, mainly because I quit baiting them. They'd gotten upset because I created an dumb-witted conservative character, and they took it as a personal, political attack. When I moved onto a new story (some 8 stories later) they eventually figured out I wasn't making an issue of politics.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a stats junkie. I love studying statistics and picking trends out of seemingly random numbers. I do it for fun, so I'm more interested in changes in my scores than I am in the scores themselves.

Stats (junkie) looks like statis (quo), the more things change the more they stay the same. Most of the time, 8 is the new 10.

Yep, general rule, if you get mostly solid 10s, your adjusted score will be an 8.

But, yeah, I'm more interested in the percentage change than in either the score or the changes in the score (an old economic obsession to detect economic trends).

Allow commenting on a currently posting story. If you get flak, turn it off again.

That is what I was considering.