Lazeez's Corner

Some authors on the site often beg for reader feedback, and some others contacted me and complained that the site's feedback system is not working for them, or is broken. I took it upon myself to test various issues with the feedback system. The biggest thing that I've noticed is that authors explicitly asking for feedback or complaining that the system does not work, do not answer their fan mail. How do I know that? Well, simple, I tried it. I emailed many of the authors who complained about the lack of feedback from readers through the system with comments about their stories. Some were simply a 'thank you, keep up the good work' notes and other more detailed feedback. I sent three messages to each author, and the three messages to prolific authors that don't complain. Of course, I used different email addresses to identify myself. I received no reply from the authors that complain and received a reply to each message from the authors that don't co...

I read all the comments on the previous post. One important issue that most of those expressing their opinions keep forgetting: the voting system should serve reader goals as well as author goal. While authors view story scores as a kind of feedback - which it is, an author should not forget that the score should also help readers decide what to read and what not to read. I know it's hard to think that there should exist a mechanism to help readers eliminate stories from their potential reading choices, but it is important. As a reader, wouldn't you want something to help you wade through the thousands of stories on the site? There is no perfect system, but for a site like storiesonline where readers are limited in how many stories they can access per 24 hours, some kind of help must be provided for them to find something to read without wasting their download allocations. Codes and scores serve that purpose. No reader can judge each and every story on the site for themselve...

I knew that as soon as I create this Blog, that the issue of scoring on the site will be brought up into the discussion of every article that I ever post. So, I thought I would address the issue with my first actual article. I hope, whether you're an author, or a reader, you'll read this article with an open mind and a bit of understanding. I've dealt with the subject for the longest time, since the scoring system started on the site in 1999. And rest assured, ever since the start, the subject is brought to my attention by an author or a reader a minimum of once a month, if not more. Needless to say, I've put quite a bit of thought into it over the years, and in this article, I'll try to share the results of these thoughts. The concept of scoring an artistic work like stories by people is a difficult one to tackle. Ideally, scores on the site would enable any reader to take a story's score as a measure of what to expect of the story in any facet. The...

As you can see, I have a new blog online. I know it sounds and looks a little strange for somebody with a site like storiesonline to have a blog on another service. I have good reasons to have this little blog here. I don't want to add more load onto the site's line, it's already loaded enough. What I will be posting here may or may not have anything to do with going ons on the site. I don't feel like creating a full blogging system with comments and everything that goes with it, the services that I want to use are all ready available here, and I do want a comments section for you to post replies and discuss things. So, hopefully, this blog becomes more useful with time and a spot for interaction with me, something that is not really possible on storiesonline the way it is now (and which I don't really want to put in the effort to change).