While reading I often encounter errors. Does the Author want to know? Has someone else already reacted? I want to help, but maybe the author doesn't want help, in which case, I don't want to impose on the author. And, I don't want to divert my attention far from the story I am reading.
The following BC site feature concept solves this concern:
. Provide for readers to highlight location or phrases in the displayed text and supply brief notation of issue.
. BC stores the feedback for retrieval by the author and, possibly, to others who are about to provide new feedback.
. Feedback is stored, keyed to the document version and location within the text.
. Review by the author shows the feedback in context and in order with the option to only view new feedback.
. Feedback is performed in a pop-up window containing buttons for common issues (e.g. Spelling, Wrong word, Missing word, Trigger), a text area for suggested change and disposition buttons for "Save" or "Ignore".
. Reviewer's ID, if any, is saved with the feedback in case clarification is needed.
I believe that this proposed feature is feasible, though developing and integrating it into the software might be nontrivial.
Comments
I ocasionally write
This post is perfect timing for me I am a published author here and I will be looking for proofersand edito for some stories I will be writing.The forums used to have thread for writers Forums are haviving technical dificulties at th moment. I have Let Erinknow abot them.
For the recod I am willing to help however I can
proofing and editing included.
Feature
As described, this would be awesome but would probably involve several thousands of dollars in programming. Which would mean hiring an outside programmer because Cat, Piper nor I have time to do this.
Perhaps a flag that authors could mark that would say they were willing to receive PMs with corrections?
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Would there be a plugin?
Would there be a plugin to integrate wiki-style editing and tracking? I could look intro an implementation — you're using Drupal 6, right?
Drupal 7 Currently
Drupal 7, looking towards Drupal 8
OK, so no promises but…
I'll spin up an install and see if there's a relatively low-cost solution already available that might be able to be used. And then you and Erin can decide from there.
No promises, but no commitment from anyone either.
"Please PM me with any corrections"
After posting, an author could post the very first comment to her story, saying: "Please PM me with any corrections."
Not as elegant as the OP suggested, but no cost to the site and no new work for Erin & Co.
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
It would be great, BUT ...
Immediately I thought of the nightmare and cost of setting it up, and then I read Erin's comment, so ...
My own two cents? People post for a number of reasons and it's a case-by-case situation whether they even want feedback other than "Great story! Loved it!" But some writers are a bit tetchy, as it were, and the fingers go in the ears and they shout "La-la-la-la!"
Some of us like the feedback, though. I can only state my own position (which has been echoed by some other authors I know) -- I welcome the noting of errors, especially of grammar, plot, or character. They tell me by PM here, my email, or through my website.
The reader who spots the blue-eyed boy in Chapter 2 somehow has green eyes in Chapter 12? Invaluable!
Karin
My thought
Jusr ask for help There are folks her who ar willing. I try to proof my stuff myselk but mstroke does get the way a fressh eye always helps
Open Edit function
There used to be an open edit function, and I had it but apparently someone bitched. I only corrected spelling and punctuation. So, I no longer have it.
AND, some people set themselves up as language police. Years ago, around 2005 or 2008 (?) someone would quietly fix some of the more egregious errors in my stories, but over the years, that stopped. I like it if someone does that, but when I am trying to make my dialogue culturally authentic, I wish they wouldn't.
Yeah that's a real issue.
It's like reading about the deletion squads on Wikipedia.
Personally, I think if readers could submit revisions, but the original poster or an admin had approval, that might be a way to lower friction, but you're right, there's probably always going to be some frustration on both sides.
Someone kept changing the title of one of my stories
Someone kept changing the title of The Vicar of Diddley so that it was the same as the UK TV series, so this kind of thing still goes on. I'm sure they were trying to be helpful but I've heard other examples (not mine) where UK spellings were changed to US spellings.
I personally feel it's the right of the author, and the author alone, to 'correct' what some may feel is incorrect. If their story reads like rubbish, that's then solely their problem and no one else's.
Open Edit function
This is a valid concern, dear Gwen, but does not apply to the suggested concept. Specific comments are shown in two cases:
1. The author asks to read the story edit suggestions.
2. The reader who starts to comment on a specific location in the story is shown the prior comment about that location.
It might make sense for a reader to see his/her own prior comments upon rereading the story, but I did not suggest that.
It also might make sense to limit exposure of prior comments to the fact of and, maybe, the category of, but not the content of, prior comments. The author does not need to see a "comment war."
Sara
Between the wrinkles, the orthopedic shoes, and nine decades of gravity, it is really hard to be alluring. My icon, you ask? It is the last picture I allowed to escape the camera ... back before most BC authors were born.
Wow
I thought this was a grand announcement of new features for the site. Then I realized it was a request, or suggestion.
As Erin said, it would require a lot of effort to add. There is already the ability to comment. But you are requesting the ability to highlight the text within a story and add comments to that, that only the author can see. Sure, it is very feasible. I see that in editing software. But it would require probably a week and very extensive additions to a site that is already overstretched, and from people that are already giving everything they can. The site is running on a shoestring budget. Erin practically has to get on her knees and beg for donations every month. She has to leave message and have it stay at the top of every other post at the end of every month. And the site barely gets half of what she asks for. The site has suffered crippling loses last year. A few very valuable authors and one who donated a large chunk of her royalties to the site. The site can no longer rely on that since she is gone. I remember when Erin had to only ask for 500 a month, well I think I remember when she only asked for 200 a month. Now she has to ask for 5000 a month and it only gets half of that.
I really wonder if the site will survive to be honest.
Some Authors Reject Criticism
I am not one of them. I would certainly welcome a critical eye to be cast over my spelling, typos,etc. I would even welcome critiques of my style and story-telling ability. Anything that doesn't kill me must make me stronger!
I have found that, as hard as I try, if my eye slides over a typo once, it slides over it on every subsequent reading, and I HATE that. Similarly, if I omit a word accidentally, my self-editing fails to pick it up. Then there are the boo-boos that I make in the telling of the story itself. There are times, for instance, when readers infer something entirely different into a passage from what I intended. If someone is noble enough to help me correct these faults and thus make my tales more readable and pleasurable to readers, then, please....have at it.
There are a couple of current stories going on in BC right now (no names, no pack drill) where the narratives and the story-telling are excellent and the research is impeccable but the spelling is execrable. On such a previous occasion I tried to point out such errors to one of the authors, only to be told in no uncertain terms to go and make love elsewhere. I find it very difficult to understand such an attitude. I think it displays an arrogance on the part of the author and disdain for the reader.
I can only believe that some authors are not natural readers
A spell checker can only go so far. It is excellent at picking out typographic errors, and has already done that for me three times while typing this.
It is however no good at picking out correct spellings in the wrong place, where the word used sounds the same as the one intended, but (because it is spelled differently) actually has a totally different, and sometimes completely unrelated, meaning. These are called homophones. I read whole words these days, in spite of initially being taught (more than 70 years ago) by the "spell and say" method. I have no difficulty in assigning the correct meaning on hearing the word in context when spoken. My problem comes when seeing the word as a whole thing (I am NOT reading aloud, I have read silently from before I started school) I see its meaning and a wrong spelling thus destroys the sense of the writing. No offense intended to some of your authors who I believe are "hearing" what they have written, but I would like them to understand that not everybody has the sane reading methods. I choose to notify the authors privately in PMs, often describing myself as a "pedant". Sometimes they ignore me, sometimes they reply with annoyance, and on other times with gratitude. It takes all sorts!
Homophones, Verb Tense, and Noun Number
Good observations, dear Outsider. Homophones, verb tense, noun number and occasional spelling issues were the triggers form my original post.
As an experiment, I pushed the first chapter of the otherwise delightful story through Microsoft Word's current "spelling and grammar" checker. Ineffective other than spelling issues.
I considered some cut and paste approaches to preparing a separate PM to the author, but, given the number of issues, I would certainly lost my place in, as well as the thread of, the story.
Sara
Between the wrinkles, the orthopedic shoes, and nine decades of gravity, it is really hard to be alluring. My icon, you ask? It is the last picture I allowed to escape the camera ... back before most BC authors were born.
If we had money to spend on software...
...I'm afraid this wouldn't be top of my list. After all, anyone who's remotely interested in finding spelling and grammar mistakes simply has to turn on their spell and grammar checker, which is included in most free word processors, never mind software like MS Word.
No, top of my list would be an improved browser facility, so one could browse Top Shelf like a bookshop. The big problems I have with the current system is that that there's no way of filtering out serials. So if you search on a tag used by Bike, you'll get your pages swamped by episodes of Bike. (I've used Bike as an extreme example, but every serial of more than a few episodes has the same page clogging function.) If you really were searching the Top Shelf at a bookshop, your eye would just flit across a collection of identical books in a second. If you could simply view the top of the tree of each series on this website, there'd be just one return for Bike.
I find it frustrating that there's so much excellent stuff on here, you really can't see the wood for the serials.
Still, since we don't have a spare wodge of cash floating around, I'll shut up
Not Perfect
The search system if far from perfect, but one thing you could try.... Would be to use an and/or search to "not include" terms... Here's and example.
https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/search/site/%252Bschool-or-co...
(Search for "School or College Life" but don't include "Angharad", I literally put ' +"school-or-college-life" -"angharad" ' into the search box.)
-Piper
Another Option
As long as the chapters are properly marked (and bike appears to be) you can also do this:
+school-or-college-life -"Sequel or Series Episode"
-Piper