I've watched this site almost from its beginning, and later joined at the encouragement of Sephrina. In those early days, I think there might have been less than 100 members here.
There was a warm camaraderie then and most stories, no matter how amateurish got at least a few votes and comments. The authors seemed to care about each other. New, unpolished authors got encouragement and help to improve, and I am grateful for the help that I got despite my limited talent.
These days, it is a struggle to get votes, and even harder to get comments. Is that old core of members who cared about each other gone? I feel sad about this.
Comments
comments
I am relatively new here but getting comments is hard. Comments are what I need to improve. I am sad as well.
Kat H
Lack of Comments
I think there are a number of reasons why things have changed.
From my perspective, there are many more stories, most of them good, and simply not enough time in my day to read those I would wish to. Unless I find something obviously wrong or praiseworthy I'm afraid I have to restrict myself to a Kudos and then move on to the next one.
I find it hard to devote large chunks of my day to reading stories that are either too large or too frequent, despite the fact I know the tales might be of a kind I like. The Kayda tales by Morpheus are an example of the former since at around ~27,000 words a go that's an hour of my day I can't easily spare - although I'd like to.
The time of year probably doesn't help, either. Most people are probably doing more now the weather is good and have less time to curl up with a laptop and a good read in the evening. Then there's Wimbledon...
For me, Real Life is about to intervene when my son, his wife and twin daughters arrive in two weeks. Guess how much time I'll have to read or write, once that happens? :( Other people have similar personal circumstances meaning it is difficult to give more attention to BC.
As for the warm cameraderie, I think it is still around but perhaps diluted a little as the site has grown in size. I wonder if Erin or the elves have any interesting ideas in the pipeline? Oh, right, I forgot: Real Life again. They need roller skates just to keep the site working!
We're trying, Gwen, we really are. BC is a big beast now and that inevitably means changes. We just have to make sure they are the right changes.
Penny
You mean Elrod
not Morpheus.
We have several stories I gave up reading for the simple reason of formatting. I could not plow through the dense set of text I was presented with.
Please people, get an editor. I will edit if asked! It matters, a lot.
I simply don't have time to read everything, which means I have to be choosy. If a story doesn't catch my interest in 2 paragraphs I usually move on.
If I like a story I comment. If I read through story and don't have anything kind to say I kudo. Critiquing a story is like commenting on a baby, risky at best, hurtful at worst.
Some of my best friends are on this site. I met them here, and here is where I maintain the friendship.
I use MS Word and am not PC
I love to write with MS Word because of the accessories and developed a work around to prevent the text from being packed on BCTS.
Sometimes my stories are verbally awkward, I write about the cultures I have seen, to include religious aspects and that makes some uncomfortable. Some here view me as a religious fanatic, not realizing that I am just being faithful to the plot.
Perhaps if I changed what I write to please people I would be more popular. Instead I write to please myself.
You have to write what you write
You have to write what you want to write Gwen.
People may like them or not. Nothing you can do about that. we write for our own pleasure here, their is no pay check at the end of it.
I do comment, but not
I do comment, but not constantly. I comment when I see something that I think an additional piece of information, or even an opinion, will contribute to. Or even if there's a question that I'm looking for clarification.
I don't tend to just post a "Good job!" comment, because that defeats the purpose of a kudo. I'll give a kudo to something I enjoyed spending some time reading - if I didn't like it, or I couldn't force myself through the text, then I don't kudo. Sometimes I'll comment on those if I think I have something to contribute or suggest to fix an issue, but often I'll PM those. People here REALLY get nasty and abusive if you post anything in a comment that might be taken as a criticism - even if it might help them as well if thought through.
I almost didn't even read or comment on this one, because it didn't catch my eye. I'll be honest and say that 90% or more of what's posted here in the last year or so aren't fun to read - for me. If someone asks me in private, I'll give more information, but I won't say it here.
I _will_ say that I'm unhappy with the fact that I can't read summaries on many stories lately. The images posted are so large that they push the text off of my screen. I'm only on 1024x600!
Oh - one thing I can suggest to everyone. WRITE A SUMMARY. Just like the back of a book jacket. A lot of the stories just get thrown up on the front page, often with an image, and no information other than the little tags. (That said, unlike on a couple of stories I read, the summary doesn't need to be on every.. single.. serial.. post. In fact, when you finish your serial story, put the summary on the 'title' page, then have the rest underneath. Too many 'title' pages have nothing. They're just empty. )
Gwen - I don't know that I've really read any of your writings. They just don't appeal to me, but at least unlike others, they don't offend me either :)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Summaries
Absolutely agree.
Nothing annoys me more than seeing a front page post which tells me nothing about the post itself.
They are called 'teasers' for a reason, folks! The reader needs some kind of hook to whet their appetite for when they click on the chapter.
I don't mind pictures, but as Bib mentions when they are too large they crowd text off the entry - and may even push other posts off the front page!
What I don't like are front page posts which just trot out the same information (or no information) for every post. There's also little point filling your teaser with a copyright notice! We understand they must be present but the teaser section has a more important function, and that is to encourage people to read the story. Legal notices can be placed anywhere in the text once the chapter is opened.
Penny
On summaries
The summary doesn't need to be in every serial post
That presupposes that everyone sees the first episode when it's first posted, and starts following the series.
I rarely start reading on a first post, as you never know there's going to be a second. And if there's more than a week between postings, I'll have forgotten what happened in the previous episode. My eye is caught by serials which have been running for some time and which will hopefully continue. So the teaser on each episode is quite important to me. I will then start at episode 1 and read right the way through. In any case, what is so wrong with trying to attract new readers with each posting of a story?
I do agree that so few teasers do prompt you to read the story.
I'm not talking about the
I'm not talking about the short summary/teaser of the serial posting (such as Sarah Carrera), I'm talking about a half page of full story summary on every serial post. Especially when the story is complete.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I think there is also a decline in the common courtesies
There was a recent posting of a fairly new serial and it contained a noticeable and significant continuity error (one character left the room with his mother, leaving a second character there, but the author, a few paragraphs later said that the SECOND character and his mother returned to the room)
Rather than pointing this error out in public, I chose to send the author a PM. The text was changed, but I never received even an acknowledgement of my message, let alone a thank you.
There's one author I shall not bother reading again.
It's not difficult, folks, to say thank you for help in making improvements.
That is generally what Kudos and comments are about - they are saying 'thank you'.
Therefore, they should be FAR more frequent!
Julia
I tend to be quite critical...
...of most stories, and, being aware of many authors' sensitivities, simply keep quiet. Far too many authors have left this site because of adverse criticism.
If an author blogs, bemoaning the lack of comments on a story I've read, I will give my feedback.
But mainly, I give a kudos simply to say thank you for posting a readable story.