Forums:
I'm a recent arrival to the site, and have had great difficulty finding the sort of content I want to find.
I've took an instant dislike to the way stories are provided, though I'm not suggesting it changes, it's more about how I choose to read, than how authors, and the site provide it. I expect advertising is the main income of the site, and page views of new posts help that. I adblock the entire internet, so don't see it. Just to be clear, I do support the site financially, with a year's subscription, as I don't want to see any online ads.
I just can't get into a story, when it's delivered in small chunks, and no guarantee of it ever being finished.
After having tried two, or three times, only to have the stories suddenly stop, with no explanation, and seeing the number of stories that never get completed, I'm not willing to read any more that aren't already completed.
I prefer the novel length fiction, and especially series/serials.
So I'm only really interested in completed Novels, and when I can get it an entire Serial.
Serials Heading Link
I define a serial, as a Collection (2, or more) of Stories, that are set in the same fictional universe, and/or have common characters that link those stories. Each story may be of any length, from short stories, to an entire novel.
A sequential series of novels, such as a trilogy, isn't technically a serial, it's a single story broken into smaller chunks for publishing reasons.
As with any generalisation, exceptions exist.
The "Serials" heading doesn't list serials at all, it Opens a Page with the Heading "Books", but is essentially just a list of Authors.
That list takes you to the same page as the the Author Name Heading Link, from the top any Story/Chapter Post
Generic Example
Author's Name » Story Series/Serial » Story/Novel
While of some use to providing a shortcut to Author's that have written "Books" (Novels?), it is of absolutely no use to Providing links to actual "Serials", that author may have written.
Search - Filter by publication: Complete (538)
Again this seems like the obvious way to go, but it seems to mainly list short one post stories, better found using the "Solo" Heading Link.
Given that, over 35 thousand fiction posts exist, 538 Complete seems inadequate, for my purposes.
Ideally, I would like some way to find completed novels, that are part of a Series and/or Serial, but I can't find any means to do so.
I'm quite proficient in using such search features, so don't think I've missed anything obvious
However, in writing this post I may have discovered the easiest way of finding completed multi-chapter stories at least, but it was by accident, and I can't find it listed in the Category filters page, so it wasn't obvious at all, and it's this hidden category found on a last chapter posts filter list.
Publication: Final Chapter
This seems to be the only method I have found of finding completed multi-chapter stories
I suggest this be added to the Categories section of the search function, and any others that are absent.
There's little point in having them, if users don't see them listed.
These category filters seem to rely on authors adding them to their posts, and doing it correctly, and I see no easier way to determine if a stories complete than the final chapter filter.
Serials heading, should be changed to the Books one it links to, or be reorganised to only list actual serials.
Some authors group them together, under a series section.
The listing under each author is Alphabetical, when order written would be much more useful (Series order when it's appropriate)
Lastly Author A to Z goes to a post listing, but I can find no direct links to their stories list, which I find much more useful
Example
Authors Post List A-Z (Current Authors A-Z)
Anistasia Allread
Authors Serials/Series/Story List A-Z
Anistasia Allread
The dot to indicate single post entries is very useful, and a good idea, and I'll have to see exactly how useful the final chapter link is.
There are some great stories here, when I can find them, and It's by far the best TG Fiction site I've found, and certainly seems to be the most active.
These Are Wonderful Suggestions
When you create your own website you should do all of these things.
By the way, you can read any of my stories. They're all complete.
Well . . . I deem them complete.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Mine are always complete
when posted here. I may just post one part a week but I do not (and hope to never) post incomplete works here.
That said, I have two pieces 'under construction' that don't have logical conclusions but mostly, each part is a story in its own right in that there is a beginning, a middle and and end. One has 4 episodes either complete or nearly so. The other has 10 again either complete or nearly do. The latter has a lot of holes in the plot-line to fill so it will be a while before it appears here although two parts have already done so. There I go again, contradicting myself... My excuse is that these were written before I got the idea for the wider story.
Samantha
Hope this helps ...
I understand. I am one of the guilty ones who has a series that is incomplete. ( A Friend in Need is a Friend in Deed )
However, the rest of my work is complete.
What I do sometimes is to use Google to do the search. For example, to search for a completed series in which there is an accidental change but no magic, I could use in the search box ...
site:bigclosetr.us complete series -magic accidental
The site: sets it to BigCloset The -magic rejects hits with magic in them.
Hope this helps,
AuP
If you see my name on a serial you can bet it's not complete
I try to finish 'em, but I spend most of my time chasing squirrels.
~Laika
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Not complaining stories are incomplete
I understand there are many reasons why that may be the case.
I'm just asking if there's a better way for a new user to find the ones that are completed.
With nearly 20 years of content here, it's not that easy to find the completed ones.
Whilst some of my ideas may not work, one should be very easy to implement.
Adding already existing category filters, that authors already use, to the relevant Categories section, should be a trivial matter
Filter by publication:
Final Chapter
Dark Elven Sissy Slut – Uhuru N’Uru
the problem with the search for complete stories
The problem isn't the fault of the site owners, it is the author's fault for NOT marking the story complete when they post the final chapter.
They might have a reason for not doing so, like planning on a sequel, but without the completed switch toggled then the search for completed stories is broken.
Likely the most productive search, post a blog entry on what type of content you are looking for ( including the completed serials ) and ask for recommendations.
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Sort of
Sure the Authors need to actually set the filters correctly, and that is a big downside of using this type of system, one that has no easy fix.
Systems that rely on the poster to do the organisational work for the site, are never going to be used correctly by all posters.
They would all have to already know what's the right filter for every situation, and even then exceptions will always break any rule.
It's never going to be perfect, but unless the search algorithms can automate it, which is very unlikely, setting by the author the best option.
The main problem with complete filter, is that it can be set on single post stories, and that should be done by a separate filter.
I think most authors will be users first, and if they have seen what's already grouped under complete, would not ever bother using it correctly.
It's far to late for that, and not going to improve. I certainly wouldn't use it. The Final Chapter filter is more appropriate
Dark Elven Sissy Slut – Uhuru N’Uru
Speaking of which how
Speaking of which how accurate are the numbers on that page, when I save the page as HTML, they appear to be embedded as plain text, which would require manual editing, so are unlikely to be accurate.
Example of HTML code for the "Fiction (35562)", shows the writing + bracketed number as simple plain text.
Note I used the editor button <> for code, which shows in my post as bbcode tags, but that doesn't show the code in my preview, like it should
Dark Elven Sissy Slut – Uhuru N’Uru
Search Statistics
Those numbers are based on the available stats as provided by our SOLR search server. The SOLR server is updated every 5 minutes, so at any time could be almost 5 minutes out of date.
When we do a MAJOR site upgrade (think moving from Drupal 5 to 6, or 6 to 7, or the impending 7 to 8) we tend to NUKE the solar database and re-create it from scratch. That can take anywhere from a few days, to a few weeks depending on how much resources we throw at it. But that won't be happening for quite a while, as we have now pending necessity to upgrade to Drupal 8 at this time.
On a side note, if you are NOT logged in, we do do heavy caching of the site. We cache PHP Code using APC, we cache result sets using MEMCACHED, we cache static PAGE content using VARNISH and CLOUDFLARE. If you are not logged in/anonymous it is possible for you to get a completely static representation of the site, and in theory our servers could be serving data that is nearly 6 hours out of sync. We do this since the vast majority of our visitors are anonymous and it helps us keep the site up and running without as much resources.
Completed
If you look at my stories, they are either solos (necessarily complete) or the have one marked as final chapter, if they are complete. So if you open one and look at the author box on the right, You'll see if it has a final chapter.
"What if?" by me and "Warrior Princess" by BarbieLee should perhaps both be read before "Fighting the Homm", but only "Warrior Proncess" is really necessary to understand the series which is complete. Nevertheless so far I have completed all my stories, there is only one of over 200K words, that just needs the finishing chapters and has taken 3 years. It won't appear here before it is finished and might just appear as a novel to buy, if I am honest.
Monique.
Monique S
Some authors have been posting complete stories here since 2005
Gee, I guess I agree with Jill on this. New people always want to fix things that aren't broken. This is a site for people to write and post stories, short ones or long ones. Not necessarily for readers, who are important too. Often a series of books aren't finished, for a lot of reasons, boredom, or a new idea strikes them.
I used to enjoy waiting for an author to finish her/his story before reading. Then I started to write and post my own stories ! I still look forward to one of my favorite authors posting a new chapter of a favorite series. Or turning to Kindle to read their newest book, note, this site isn't Amazon.
I do it this way, Click on a story. When it pulls up, the author's other stories are listed on the right. you check the last chapter, you find out if it's finished or not.
Karen
I wan't to fix things that are broken
While my original post tried to show the issues, and offer a few possible solutions, it was only while writing this, and testing things I have discovereda solution that uses the existing system.
First let me comment on all the authors that are posting, that they use the correct filters, it's much appreciated by many users, including me.
Howvever, I'm not really complaining about the incorrect use, as it's a complex system, that can be confusing.
The point I've been making, since the first post, is that even when author's use the filters, correctly (or incorrectly).
NOT ALL fIlters even show up on the Categories page, which makes them even more difficult to use
The Final Chapter filter, I've already mentioned, but I'll repeat it again for emphasis
Adding existing category filters, that authors are already use, to the relevant Categories section, should be a trivial matter
Filter by publication:
Final Chapter
I've also mentioned that the Authors A to Z page, takes you to a post by post listing for the author, but I find the story page more useful, but could find no general listing, well now I have.
I'm very adept at finding such things, and if I've struggled, many users will never discover such links.
Like the Next Chapter filter, I found it by being on an authors page, where it was used by the author in creating that page.
Under the Organizational heading, and that entire section is missing from the Categories section
Organizational:
Author Page
Many filters can found under the heading, and very relevant to my OP, but took a lot of effort that most users wouldn't make.
Organizational:
Author Page
Section Page
Series Page
Universe Page
Adding these, and any other missing filters to the Categories section, would be a relatively simple change, that would go a long way to fixing the problem, whilst they all rely on correct usage by the one posting, that applies to every filter.
Dark Elven Sissy Slut – Uhuru N’Uru
Some history
There are a number of things that conspire to prevent what you want. I'll try and explain some of them, but I'm only a reader/author, I don't run the site and I don't claim to know everything that happens. All I see is a punter's eye view.
In the 8+ years I have been coming here (it says on my account page; I've been here a bit longer than that), the software which the elves use has gone through a number of version updates. Each one of those has meant rewriting the site-specific code and, in many cases, adapting to new features that don't quite replicate old features and finding ways of redoing desired features that have since disappeared.
Kudos is like that, that is what is available now but we had a different system for a long time. Now think: all those people who gave the old equivalent of thumbs up in the older system - that's all gone, so any older posts won't appear to be as popular as newer stuff.
Similarly, the completed flag or flags. Those just plain didn't exist originally, or if they did I never saw them or knew how to use them. Result: many older stories were actually completed, but before the new flags existed so are not marked. I do know that Erin and Sephrena go through sometimes and tidy up but this is a big site with many, many contributors over the years. They won't find them all.
Another factor is the software used: Drupal. This is a generalized tool designed just for websites like BC, but of course every site has to customize it to suit their purposes. Sometimes what is available can't be tweaked to do what is required. Sometimes it takes a long while to figure out what it is doing that is different now.
You're posting this through a forum, right? Think about all those weird empty 'forum' entries on that first page. Those are the result, so we were told, of a new feature called "taxonomy upgrades" where anything you type into that field when posting a story creates a new line in that list! Piper goes and clears them out every so often but the software fights back. I don't think that 'feature' can be suppressed.
You're asking for a lot. Most of it isn't unreasonable, I know, but the elves are working as hard as they can and obviously the most important things have to be handled first. Some of this involves hardware upgrades and associated transfers to the new boxes. This has happened several times since I've been here, and it is because the site has gotten insanely popular. There are also a number of concentrated attacks on the site by people who don't like what we represent, and they have to be mitigated. Work is being done behind the scenes but there are only so many people available to look at what needs doing, and they all need to eat, sleep and be paid from somewhere.
Short answer: If you can program in Drupal and you live anywhere near the elves, feel free to contribute. Some of what you ask for may seem simple but because of the underlying structure can be anything but. Like any software, it is never going to do exactly what so many people want it to do. Mostly it has to be 'good enough' for most uses, and that's fine with me.
Penny
BOOKS
Not everything on this site are automated. Some of them are quite manual still.
EG. When someone posts their first story, we still need to add an Author Taxonomy for that user. As such most first posts are tagged "New Author" and that tells us to add a new Author tag to the Author Taxonomy.
Also not all "Authors" have an organizational page. For the record, Drupal calls them BOOKs. EG, The Organizational page for Anistasia Allread is actually the Anistaia Allread Book. And then any stories or organizational pages added to that book are sub books. I guess you could call them "chapters" if you wanted.
Some authors have specifically requested to NOT have an author page/book and so we don't create one. As such we can't link to a default content that does not exist for everyone. And in fact these things do not exist by default, and need to be manually created by us or the author or one of our helpers.
Outlining a book does not happen automatically either. It's something sometimes we do, sometimes the author does, sometimes no one does. We can't monitor everything everywhere and do our best.
Completion
If you give us an idea of what sort of stories you are looking for, people here will point you the right way.
For myself, I have 12 complete novels here as well as a bundle of shorter stuff. I will admit to using the site as a sort of widescreen beta-reader, as I post chapters here for comment as they are completed. While I sell my books commercially on completion, my writing started out as a way of dealing with the crap I experienced during and post transition. It began as an experiment, and then exploded, and I will be forever grateful to this site for allowing me the support I was in dire need of, and letting me make some good friends in the process.
So let us know what sort of thing you enjoy in a tale, and I am certain, as noted above, that you will get a tsunami of suggestions.
Word for this site: "HUGE".
Welcome to Erin's site.
Two stories that I can recommend, though it remains a matter of discussion as to if they are complete, are: "Easy as Falling off a Bike", by Angharad. (I think that name is Welsh). It has over 3000, 1200 word episodes.
Another that I think is equally entertaining is "Somewhere Else Entirely", by Penny Lane. I've lost track but I think it is somewhere around 150 episodes, with numerous side stories.
I believe that both are in the process of being published on Amazon or elsewhere.
complete stories
A lot of authors will put 'final chapter', or 'epologue' in the title, and close with 'the end'
The following google search will pull up a lot of these
site:bigclosetr.us "final chapter" OR epilogue OR "the end"
Complete???????
Please define complete.
I would postulate that no story is complete. The world turns and life continues beyond the ending of any story. I certainly understand the frustration of wanting more at the end of a story (are you listening Bron????). I also understand that each author writes from within a different time/space continuum than another. The authors that contribute to this site are writing their own tales and balancing/juggling/mangling their own lives as they struggle to do so. Many so-called 'completed' stories on this site become extended by the original author, or by another whose own consciousness was stirred and inspired by their tale.
This is an organic environment. Please do not take offense at anything I am saying, as I am sure Erin and Piper and others are happy to hear constructive criticism about the mechanics of the site. Just please understand that they have created this space as a labour of love, and they go to the ragged edges every month just to pay the bills and keep it open. I am sure that if they had a huge monetary donation along with these suggestions that they would be thrilled to hire more help and make the website even more user-friendly.
In any event, I am happy that you have found this place and I think that you will find that one of the true thrills you will find here, is when you sift through obscure tales and discover some of the gorgeous gems that are buried within the volume of it's substance. In other words, it is a lot like shopping for that just perfect dress. Half the fun is in the hunt.
waif
Be kind to those who are unkind, tolerant toward those who treat you with intolerance, loving to those who withhold their love, and always smile through the pains of life.