Post suggestions here!

Since the new CHYOO is still a work-in-progress it would be great if people offer suggestions on possible features that Friedman could possibly implement.

 

Here's suggestion:

Have Linked (currently manually done with "#LINKTO {thread #}" in the "Write your thread" text box) threads appear a different highlighted color or bold (like in the old CHYOO) in the story map.

 

Maybe a page that lists and explains the current features? I'm in the dark about what #LINKTO is. Heh.

 

Two things
1: Report a thread. Like the original chyoo.
2: Maybe have a something on the cover page where the editor of a story can put all the characters and their bios. Something like Zingiber did for When the Cat's Away.

 

I'm still really confused about the categories. I wish they could be based on standards of mutual exclusivity, or something to that effect. What if a story is both "Sci Fi / Fantasy" and "Non-Con"? Selecting multiple categories for a story just makes categories function like tags.

 

A new, more obvious tutorial story to help writers get started. There are a few hidden tricks etc. that aren't very apparent unless they're explicitly told to others.

 

It would be handy if there was a way to save threads in a 'draft mode', so you could work on them on the site without bugging the editor. When working on mobile, it is easier to just work on the site than to use a separate editor.

 

There's a tutorial story to begin with?

By mobile, do you mean a phone? I sincerely hope you're able to graduate to a real computer some day soon. It's so much more. Trust me, you will be amazed at how better it is for concentrating on any task. My tabbed browsers don't help me much.

 

There was one for the original CHYOO that got migrated over to CHYOA called "CHYOO FAQ" and was translated at least twice. It's irrelevant at this point - given that there's practically no connection to Literotica anymore for password changes, the fifth thread trick has been removed and rendered obsolete by the removal of the thread cap, and much more - but it could be mistakenly seen as useful for CHYOA.

 

Maybe an updated tutorial could be useful on the front page. It could explain the features and usage, a definitive explanation of the policies as they stand up to rational criticism, and the relation to Literotica's policy of "Free Speech, No Spam!" Though I'm uncertain how relevant Literotica is anymore.

 

Yes, a tutorial or Guide for new authors would be Fantastic!

 

This post is probably useless, since Friedman or Kaitou probably already have this things in the "to do" list
Anyway..here's my list, in order of importance (imo)

- Approval of threads system and rules

- Threads linking system (you know what I mean)

- The dedicated page on chyoa functioning\rules (a page with some kind of menu (tabs?) that touches the main themes like general info on the site, approval of threads system and rules, main rules of the Markdown text formatting (http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax#p), quick info on the functioning of the site (creation\modification\linking of stories\threads, etc..), some useful links (dictionaries, etc..see the topic of greenbanana) and so on..

- If possible add (in the story map page) a button to "mark all threads as read" or similar. What happens now is that we have a lot of stories from the old chyoo all "green", and if something gets updated we have to look for the date (as the color remains green).

- A way (a new column?) to see how many comments your threads have
- (this is totally optional)..a more immediate way to rate and comment a thread...currently you have to click one time to *enter* the vote\comment section of a thread, it would be better to have the five stars vote and the form for the comment directly available on the page.

- If I'm not asking too much, I think It could be useful to have a "save" button (while editing a thread) on the bottom of the page too. To avoid having to scroll all the way up again each time.

- Correction of the issues on text formatting of imported stories (from old chyoo)

 

While the new site is a vast improvement over the older one the one thing I do miss is the Comment section.

I think the Comments needs its own section or something to allow writers to check. One can look under threads and see new votes easily but one has to check the threads themselves to see if the voter also added new comments which can be a little time consuming. Though I have no idea how hard this would be to implament.

 

Would the XenForo forums allow for automatic links to a user's Chyoa author page? That way, we could jump straight to a user's stories with just a couple of clicks. My current system is to just type in the URL and transcribe their username. Of course, I'm guessing some people use multiple pen names.

 

A link to the author page from the forums would be a nice touch. I guess for now we can link via signature block, like the Lit forums.

 

A way to sort the threads in manage threads.

 

Hvast ( author page: https://chyoa.com/writer/Hvast ) has a comment here in Chyoo Challenges which is related to collection permission from multiple authors when translating stories.

https://chyoa.com/story/chyoo-challenges/thread/problem-with-translation ->

Let me propose an answer as a suggestion:

"As part of story setup, allow the author to mark an option that says: [X] By contributing to this story, you give permission for your threads to be translated and posted on Chyoo, with credit to your original thread.".

 

One of my favorite forums on Lit is the story ideas, maybe we can have one here as well to allow people to suggest stories ideas that could make a good story as well as to seek others for collaborations and such.

 

Good idea. I've added the forum.

 

What would we do with it? Brainstorm half a story idea to come up with a more solid idea? Then who gets to start the story as the owner and who gets to be the editors? I feel as though it would be more prudent simply to start the story and wait for others to build on the ideas in action, so that the story's getting written rather than planned to death.

Conceptual planning, such as planning out how the story unfolds along its branches, might not be such a reach, but it feels like there's overlap between the above paragraph and the feature submissions in the stories. That's just my take on it, anyhow. It makes more sense to me to just do the writing than to say what stories people want to see. Once they start the story going, explaining the guidelines and so forth, then that would cover the request, and other writers are welcome to fulfill that request by collaborating on the chapters for it.

I think anything can be a good story if the author believes it can. Apart from that, I have my own personal perspectives about what I'd rather read and write for, and with the core site already being about collaboration, everyone's inherently going to tweak it to reflect their own style, no matter how radical or subtle those differences may be.

Writing about the writing is a process of the writing itself, as well, and I'm worried that some people less attuned to the subtleties of the writing process might cite such threads as an example of plagiarism, even though ideas become intrinsically unique based on who's telling them, and whether a detail is subtle or not can be subjective.

Maybe I'm just being a stickler for simplicity. I see "Story Feedback" which is about reactions to specific stories, which seems to functionally mirror the comments and rating options of the site, but with the added effects of "advertising" the story on the forums. The "Authors' Hangout" section states it's to "Ask for help with your Chyoo story, organize projects, discuss, etc.", and I can't help but feel that perhaps this renders "Story Ideas" a bit redundant? Sorry to sound like a devil's advocate about this. I'm just seeing how this isn't exactly mutually exclusive, which can result in looking for the same thing in two different places. I just hope that makes sense. I know I can be a bit too wordy when it comes to explaining my thoughts about these things.

In terms of suggestions, I don't want to look like I'm double-posting, even though this post spins off into a different topic:
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What if we used the tags not only for searching stories, but also to give readers a warning about what the next thread was going to contain? The plus side is that if a story breaks off into content some readers aren't into, such as a fetish they dislike, they won't have to stumble upon reading it. The downside is that this might be a minor form of spoilers. Maybe users could set up tags they want to flag, and story threads in the stories and their maps could have some kind of indicator, such as red hover text, that will warn readers of a flagged tag.