Lazeez's Corner

Well, the new reviewing system is mostly finished. I revamped the review display page completely and made it accessible to everybody. The old reviewing system has been integrated with the site. No more need for a separate log in page and different ID. Reviewing is easier than ever for those with reviewer accounts. A new reviewers section has been added to the site and it's only accessible for those with reviewer accounts. The funny part about this change is that it came with no real planning. I know I had discussed a new reviewing system on this blog a long time ago, but it seemed that I could never really plan it and implement it properly within a reasonable amount of time. So I kept putting it off for later. The way this started was with me thinking that the old reviews listing page is not particularly useful to either authors or reviewers if only premier members could access it. So I decided to give access to everybody and started by revamping the interface. Before this change, ...

To encourage readers to send feedback to authors, storiesonline provides an easy to use form at the end of every story and an email contact link in every author's page as well as a feedback link at the end of every blog entry. In order to encourage those who are reluctant to disclose their email address to still send feedback, the mailing system provided allows for anonymous messages. The system works very well and storiesonline, according to many authors, is the source of the most feedback received; which is very good for authors. However, like every system, it is possible to abuse it. Hiding behind the afforded anonymity, some cowardly people abuse authors by sending them abusive messages through the anonymous system. To deal with the problem, the mail system has been updated to allow authors to refuse all mail, or to refuse just anonymous email. When an author chooses to refuse all email, the site won't show any mail forms or links. When an author choose to refuse anonymous ...

This was a frustrating weekend. Inexplicably, still, some people are unable to access the site. The servers are online as usual. The DNS entries for the site are configured correctly. So why some Comcast, then Earthlink and now MSN users are unable to access the site? I don't know, and can't figure it out yet. Most of the problem areas were cleared yesterday about 1 pm - as evidenced by a sustained usage spike on the site; and for a period I thought the problems were cleared. However, today, when I got to work and checked my email, there were several messages still complaining about the inability to reach the site. To help with this problem, I've added two links on the left of this blog. For a long time now, since 2002, I've owned the domain storiesonline.xxx, but since.xxx is not supported by the ICANN, normal DNS servers don't lead you to the site if you simply typed 'http://storiesonline.xxx' into your browser's address bar. The company selling t...

I've been receiving quite a bit of comments and reports about the site's new layout currently available in the beta area of the site. Some favourable, some not. The most common negative common so far is that there is nothing wrong with the current layout, so no need to change, and don't fix what isn't broken. Maybe from a reader's point of view, who's been using the site for a while and used to the current layout, nothing is broken. However, from my side, it is broken, and broken badly enough for me to put a big effort into fixing it. Each day, at least once, somebody contacts me and ask how they go about posting their stories on the site. And as often, somebody requests a feature that is already available on the site. The first issue is the most frustrating. The links to post stories are on the front page of the site, however, currently, they are low enough to require people to scroll down and look to the left of the site's home page. It seems that no one s...

As many of you who've read the previous entries in this blog know, I'm working on a new reviewing system for the site. I have the feature set ready and have already started with the implementation. However, I've hit few snags. Let me tell you a bit about my way of developing features. I don't work in a conventional manner. I learned programing on my own, as in no formal training, and over time have developed my own way of working. One of the most important issues for me is the user interface. When designing something, I start with a feature set, then with the interface, then the actual implementation. The reviewing system has a feature set, but no user interface. While it was easy to decide on how to make the review submission system work and where to place the link to it (the end of the story of course), I still can't figure out how to give the users access to already submitted reviews for editing (where do you put something like that?). How to display the re...

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).