This is simply a thought, and it might be more work than the admins and moderators wish to take upon themselves.
After re-reading several older stories, it occurred to me that with many of the authors that have ceased to post, their status is unknown for most people.
Might it not help to add a line to authors pages to give whatever information was last known about them? Active authors, of course, could do something similar. "As of 11/14/1776, I'll be going dark to pursue my goal as a crab fisherman in Maui."
For Lillith Langtree, it might be "Left to pursue other goals as of X date (I'd have to look it up). Stories unlikely to be continued."
Thoughts?
BW
Comments
To be honest
We seldom know what's happened to authors who no longer post. Of course a number of them can be found listed in the 'In Memoriam' on the right side of the page. Most simply vanish for whatever reason. Some reappear like a phoenix. It's not that it would be difficult so much as just a mystery. Like war a number are just MIA and we will never know why.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
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I'm certain that's the case
I'm certain that's the case with many, but there are just as many that someone has some inkling of what happened - like when Blot left FM and other sites. It's a way to help with the "what ever happened to X?" questions.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Maybe just a flag?
Perhaps just posting something like "Not logged in > 6 Months" or "Not logged in > 1 Year" may be appropriate if we don't know what happened? Maybe a combination of both, "Not logged in > 1 year, unknown status" or something like that. As someone who's hit the wall a few times on an unfinished story it would be appreciated when it could be accomplished. I have no idea how much work would be involved though.
Forums, Blogs, Games, VRs, Online Whatever!
A good idea, but it may only be possible in a a limited way, if at all.
-and this reminds me-
Forums, Blogs, Games, VRs, Online Whatever!
As a long time denizen of all of these, there will always be some I wonder about.
People come and people go, that is the way of things.
Some become friends at least of a sort, some more then others.
And although we may never have any other contact with them,
still we wonder and wish them well.
And so again, this time reminded by this post,
and as I do now and then,
I will send out a wish and a prayer,
for all the missing friends, that I have never actually met,
"That life has been kind, and that they are doing well,
wherever they may be."
~Hypatia(Dizzy, and many other names)
I Ain't Dead Yet
Just waitin' for my muse to find something for me.
Portia
Cool.
I like it that way. I like your stories and I like chatting with you.
I came very close to disappearing
due to a brain hemorrhage that only 17% survive 3+ years ago.Looks like this wheelchair is forever.
Per story flag
I've been thinking about flagging incomplete stories as "abandoned" after say five years. This would include current authors that have walked away from a story while continuing to write others, as well as absent authors. But I have no clue how this could be accomplished without added duties on the part of Erin and Piper. Something I'm very reluctant to do for obvious reasons.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
I wish
that there was someone everyone(s) could trust with their contact information. This would allow for communication with members so that we could know how they are. I know that the trustees cannot be Erin and company, just because they are already doing so much. I guess this task would be similar to an outreach ministry. I know that I am not making myself very clear, but there have been many times when I wish I knew what was happening with someone and had no way of knowing how they were. This would allow us to do that kind of thing.
Stories
Just an idea. If anyone wishes to abandon a story, or already has, maybe they could mark it as such in the title (Ab.) and allow someone else to pick it up? That way a few of the stories folk wish to read get finished and maybe someone casting about in search of someting to write about gets given something to get their teeth into? I don't know how to follow up on missing authors and the above suggestion is not meant to callously suggest their stories are more important than they are, because that's not true. I was just contributing what I could and I think this is something authors could do without imposing any additional burdens on the site administration.
Regards,
Eolwaen
Eolwaen
Transgender Lifeline
There was once a try at this. Several friends started a site called "Transgender Lifeline" and the purpose was to not share your info/contact/status with one person everyone trusts, but to share it with ANYONE you trust, and then mark that person as "who to contact in case of question" type thing. It created a lifeline/chain of people where A could contact B could Contact C that would pass down info about D.... It was a great idea, but never made it very far. It could be possible to create such a database again, if someone were interested.
-Piper
TG-Lifeline
Piper
A long time ago Sandra Pal and myself came up with an idea about setting up a website we called TG-Lifeline. "Stay in contact with your friends and the community. Find someone you can talk to when you feel down." was the message we were going with. We hoped to have volunteers monitoring the site and talk to anyone who needed it. The first part of the message was to set up an email relay service where a person could mail somebody to tell them they were okay, but the mail addy it showed as orginator would be generic and would not show or track where the orginating mail came from.
In the end Sandra moved from Austria to Canada (I think) and got married. We lost touch and the idea died. I didn't think anyone would remember it. Thank you Piper and I hope that you are well.
Sam Jay
When Life Gets Too Big For an Author
Perhaps some of those who have gone to ground are simply burdened by real life? Bailey Summers had some deeply heartfelt stories going and then stopped. I can only hope that at some time, life will give her a break?
Rudeness of Real Life Intrudes....
Speaking as a quasi-vanished author, I haven't abandoned my stories. The demands of real life, however, take precedence.
Working significantly more than a normal work-week leaves no time or energy - mental or physical - to write.
The in-work story files are handy, and I will get back to writing when I can.
Please don't assume, without trying to contact an author, that a story is truly abandoned.
A very busy, tired, stressed Nicole
Nicole (a.k.a. Itinerant)
--
Veni, Vidi, Velcro:
I came, I saw, I stuck around.
As for me, I was simply
As for me, I was simply talking about adding a clip to the _author_ page, with a 'last known status'. What you just wrote would be perfect for that :)
As for abandoned stories? That would be ones such as Lilith Langtree, or Babs Yerunkle.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.