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Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

Revision Date for Completed Stories

PrincelyGuy ๐Ÿšซ

On the web page, we can see when a story was posted and when it was last updated. However, the last updated date changes to a completion date when the story is concluded, as it should. However, once the story is completed, there is no indication that the author updated a story to fix grammar or to add additional material.

I think a last revision date would be helpful to those who downloaded a completed story, especially when a newer story in that series is posted and we want to refresh failing memory. Currently, I open each of the older stories in the series and check "More Info" to see if any chapters have changed.

Does anyone else think that this would be useful? Or am I just too anal? Or both?

Replies:   Gauthier
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

When you open a page of the story in the top right hand corner is the date and time the that chapter was posted, and below that is the date that chapter and time was last revised, if it was revised at all. They're listed as Posted: and Updated:

This way you know when each chapter was last revised / updated / fixed.

PrincelyGuy ๐Ÿšซ

That is true, but I am lazy and think it would be really nice if the update date was shown on the author's story page. This way you do not waste a story count just checking on a story. And yes, I have a paid subscription with a 100 count. But not everyone does.

For example, Ernest Bywater's story '01-03 The Dareed War' has the following information on his page:

No. 01-03 - Granite Mannheim and his new regiment are on exercises when they see the neighbours invading. They're all that stands between the invaders and the bulk of the country, so they do what they're trained for; head for a spot to stand and fight while they wait for help to arrive. One regiment against 50,000 enemy troops and his men learn why they call him Granite.
[More Info]
Tags: Fiction, Military, War, Royalty, Politics
Sex Contents: No Sex
Posted: 4/12/2015, 6:15:43 AM Concluded: 4/13/2015, 5:39:57 PM

I think the following change to the date portion would be useful.

Posted: 4/12/2015, 6:15:43 AM Concluded: 4/13/2015, 5:39:57 PM Last Revised: 11/05/2017

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@PrincelyGuy

Good idea, however it still leaves you with several problems.

If you didn't read the story while it was being posted, you still have the problem of remembering whether you read the story before or after the chapters were revised.

Then there is the problem of your not knowing the impact the revisions have on the originally posted chapters. Most of us wouldn't want to reread the story if the revisions only corrected a few grammatical errors. If the revisions changed the plot, then it might be worth rereading the story.

PrincelyGuy ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

https://storiesonline.net/a/REP

it still leaves you with several problems.

I agree with both problems, but I tend to read the downloaded stories once and then go back to that author or story later and that is where I check for updates. Since I am a little anal about getting words right, small grammatical corrections are a good thing.

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

If the revisions changed the plot, then it might be worth rereading the story.

If the plot changes then it's a rewrite not a revision. I've revised my stories many times, and in each case it was to either correct a typo or similar error, or to provide a version that's easier to read due to an improved writing style and better word choices.

Centaur ๐Ÿšซ

I don't see how that would be useful. you have revisions on each chapter now. Having the revisions on the author page won't tell you if it was one chapter or multiple chapters that have had changed.

The only way something like this would work is if it listed all the chapters that had been changed. However, this would add too much clutter to the author page for little gain.

My 2 pennys

Gauthier ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@PrincelyGuy

ld be really nice if the update date was shown on the author's story page. This way you do not waste a story count just checking on a story. And yes, I have a paid subscription with a 100 count. But not everyone does.

For example, Ernest Bywater's story '01-03 The Dareed War' has the following information on his page:

If you have a Premium account, the download links visible in the stories listings have this format:

https://storiesonline.net/s/11825-1509903902.zip

Where 11825is the story id and 1509903902 is the unix epoch time of the last modification or in this case about November 5, 2017 5:45:02 PM.

[The modification can either be a change in the story author name, title, description, tags or a change to any chapter.] Hence if you systematically download one of the format, and keep an infinite browser history, any story where the download button is not blue indicate a revised story at least worth redownloading to keep the last version.

Replies:   REP
REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Gauthier

1509903902 is the unix epoch time of the last modification or in this case about November 5, 2017 5:45:02 PM.

Of course we all know how to do the time conversion. Yeah, sure we do.

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

On a related note, a general question for authors: how many of you revise and repost your previous stories when you post a sequel (i.e. is it generally worth it to reread an earlier story unless you can't remember anything about the basic premise)?

In my case, I'll generally do a clean-up, but now I've got a couple hard-core editors who insist on revising each prior book in a series, and the series as a whole are better because of it.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater  REP
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

for authors: how many of you revise and repost your previous stories

Whenever my writing style improves enough to warrant it. Of my over 100 stories I've several to work on to post some typo edits or revise for style change.

REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

how many of you revise and repost your previous stories

I submit the revised files, but don't repost the story.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

I submit the revised files, but don't repost the story.

I tried reposting a story before, while it makes sense, in theory, it's just not worth the effort, because readers simply don't notice 'easier to read', 'more consistent' or even 'fewer unrelated threads', if the plot doesn't change substantially, they continually ask 'what's different'.

But that's what I was looking for, whether it's worth rereading older stories when new ones come out or not.

Replies:   REP  PrincelyGuy
REP ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

whether it's worth rereading older stories when new ones come out or not.

Some stories are worth rereading even if there have been no changes.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@REP

Some stories are worth rereading even if there have been no changes.

I'm well-aware of that, as many of my readers are on their eighth to tenth reread of my stories, which is why many of us continue revising and cleaning up the story as we go, to ensure the story remains as pleasing to read as possible.

PrincelyGuy ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

https://storiesonline.net/a/REP

But that's what I was looking for, whether it's worth rereading older stories when new ones come out or not.

As I get older, the amount to remember must be exceeding memory capacity as I have to reread just to figure out what went on before. So I find it useful to reread older chapters just to get back into the story.

Now, if the new books show up quickly, that is not so much of a problem. And for some books, I read chapters as they post. That eliminates some of the memory issues.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@PrincelyGuy

As I get older, the amount to remember must be exceeding memory capacity as I have to reread just to figure out what went on before. So I find it useful to reread older chapters just to get back into the story.

It also depends on the complexity of the story. For the 'find new chick and plug them then dump them for the next', there's really not much to remember, but for stories where numerous people appear at different instances, or where certain people play multiple roles, it gets trickier.

PrincelyGuy ๐Ÿšซ

It looks like adding a revision date is not strongly endorsed. Thanks for the feedback and keeping it polite.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I am off soon to spend time with relatives. Keep it safe. I would say keep it sane, but where is the fun in that?!

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@PrincelyGuy

I hope you all have a great weekend. I am off soon to spend time with relatives. Keep it safe.

Have fun and Say hi for me. If they ask, well, you can document who I am easily enough.

Keet ๐Ÿšซ

For those not in the knowing: The unix epoch time is the number of seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 (UTC).
There are numerous on-line converters to get a 'normal' date-time from that number. Or have a go at calculating the number of days from that, find out all leap years, calculate those days/years from 1970, etc, etc. You get the point, just use a calculator.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Keet

There are numerous on-line converters to get a 'normal' date-time from that number. Or have a go at calculating the number of days from that, find out all leap years, calculate those days/years from 1970, etc, etc. You get the point, just use a calculator.

As always, I hate to say it, but ... just ask Google!

Replies:   Keet
Keet ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

As always, I hate to say it, but ... just ask Google!

As always, I hate to say it, but ... just don't ask Google, ask DuckDuckGo or StartPage!

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Keet

As always, I hate to say it, but ... just don't ask Google, ask DuckDuckGo or StartPage!

Ha-ha. You're right, of course, but "StartPage" just doesn't make as good of a verb as Google does. I can hear it now, "Just DuckDuckGo it!"

Nah, I think I'll avoid that whenever possible. Readers understand what "Googling" means, even if they never use Google itself.

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