Fiction Section categorizing

[Miko]

From what I can see, there's a bit of a two-fold problem here.

On one hand, the Fiction section modification's limitations do not allow readers to physically browse listings by genre,fandom or other tags.
On the other hand - a great number of authors either don't understand the system well or care enough to add that information to existing or even new entries in order to make the search function effective.

As far as solutions go, one thing mentioned above - manually creating an index... that was done before would be very time consuming and would probably work out if there were a number of volunteers willing to dedicate their time and energy to an endeavor like that again. If the threads from the old system still exist - that might be a great place to start but chances are, it would eventually become obsolete... for the same reasons we have this problem now... I think?

I'm not familiar with vBulletin - but I'm fairly certain that the Fiction modification... well, that's probably as advanced as it's going to get.

Since the Fiction section has become such a significant (I'd venture to say - important) part of this community, it might be worthwhile to implement Directory of fiction on site. It is possible using a component built for Joomla CMS - the CMS that drives the main aarinfantasy.com homepage.

The benefits of that would be a single entry could fall under various categories/sub-categories, which makes it easily browsable and searchable as well. Any registered member of the site could add entries to the listing... the owners/writers are able to claim a listing even if they didn't add it to the directory themselves, etc.

The drawbacks to suggesting something like that (ie: the reason the staff would probably not go for it) are:
1. The component is not free
2. Would still take staff's time and effort to implement.
3. It would be separate and completely independent of the Fiction section. All it would be is a directory.
4. If people wouldn't make use of it and submit listings - it would become obsolete as well - and be a total waste of time, effort and money.

I have one particular component on mind - which can be seen in action here:

http://www.tonyamoore.com/Web-Fiction-Directory/

(sorry for posting a link to my own site - it's just for an example/demo purposes only. Feel free to remove the link! if it's a problem)

It's not the only viable option out there though, I'm sure.

I guess what I'm really getting at is that any solution to be considered will require time and effort of both staff and other members of the community.
Maybe the first thing that should be determined is how important the Fiction part of the site is to the community as a whole - and how much we're willing to do collectively, to keep it alive or make it as beneficial as possible to writers and readers alike..?

[tina21]

I know its a boatload of work and I'm not asking for editing other members stories only categorizing the fandoms! That's why I tried for the simplest solution of having them categorizing as such! and I don't measn Asami x Akihito under the letter A but under the letter F the title Finder Series, after that I'll work my way through itles even if the pairing isn't stated in the thread's title, that is for maybe not making myself clear.

If mods and a couple of other people would agree to join and help we -normal memders- could make lists with the thread title and the fandoms and give them to the mods just to ease their load a bit!
example:
Naruto: 1. xhsgks
2.jdfkjsgjsh etc

As for very old and un-updated stories we could certainly use a graveyard where every story that hasn't been updated for over a year would go there!

[Artemis Moonsong]

Tina~! I'll gladly help in any way I can. I couldn't fully follow what you guys were saying, but give me a task and I'll do it. I just finished all of my exams and life is finally slowing down ... for a while. So I can definitely commit to this

And Cris, I remember you were SO incredibly kind as to type out a detailed explanation on how to convert my old stories, so now that I have time, I will look for that thread again and do so

I'm sure there are others like me, who care about the fiction section and eagerly want people to read their stories, but haven't had time to re-learn how to post and update their stories.

I actually really like the new fiction section; that is, I like that it is it's "own" section. However, it is loaded with bugs (I can't access it right now, for instance ... none of it), and like you said, Tina, searching for specific pairings and fandoms is a problem.

I know I'm really ignorant here, but how come there can't be a set-up similar to fanfiction.net? There I just type in the pairing I'm looking for into the search box and get pages of responses.

[tina21]

Thnx Artemis but it depends on what the mods will decide!

[SexyRyu28]

Well, T me dear, you are not the only one having that problem which is why sadly I have almost given up. I managed to fish around some of the stories I had in my subcriptions and that I did only because I searched by author (I still haven't been able to find a few of them). The search function is, to put it mildly, very difficult. I have not read any new stories since the new section went up. I, like Artemis, like that it's a separate section but it is a task to locate anything.

but how come there can't be a set-up similar to fanfiction.net? There I just type in the pairing I'm looking for into the search box and get pages of responses.

Good question. That would be fantastic, unfortunately I'm as ignorant as you in this. I don't know if it's something that would need to be paid for (to aquire a system like that). It also would mean a lot of work.

[tina21]

Well as I said it depends on the mods on what they want to do!
The simplest is what I suggested and in that we can help them by making the lists I proposed!

I can do sth as simple as marking the titles of the fandoms, and I believe you SR and Artemis can help! I think that Cris also would!

It might take some time, a month or 2 even but it'll be done!

Maybe if we had a listing like the one in the Manga Section! Like A to E, F to K etc!
And then lists like the ones Yavannah has in the same section for easy browsing?!

[SexyRyu28]

I could, if the mods approve. If we get a few people to help we can divide the fandoms for each one, that way we wouldn't have 2 people doing the same fandom. I take that's what you mean, T, categorize by fandom instead of ABC order.

[orangewillow]

There are a lot of issues that come along with a new fanfiction index and sadly it does not solve the problem itself. There are several other options being looked into. The index is being discussed by the staff however, so please be patient.

The reason why aarin can not be set up like FF.net is that vBullentin does not have the capability as far as I can tell.

[tina21]

Its enough for me if I know that the stuff despite their work loads are willing to look at it!
Thank you!