Two Questions (thread linking & notification about comments)

First, thank you to everyone who has put in the time and talent to create the new Chyoo, it is greatly appreciated. I have two questions about how the new site works.

First question: Can one link one thread to another thread like in the old Chyoo?

Second question: I noticed there is no notification (either my email or on Chyoo) when someone leaves a comment about a thread. Is there a setting where this can be changed? I love reading other people's feedback and will like to be notified when it happens. If not, I would like to recommend this be made as a new feature.

Thank you again.

 

There is no user interface at the moment. But you can link to another thread using the following syntax. Just type "#LINKTO {THREAD ID}" into the text field and the user will be redirected to the specified thread (for example, "#LINKTO 39493"). You can look up the thread id under "Manage stories". I hope this helps for now.

The feedback system needs to be and will be improved. I'll integrate a notification that lets you know if someone has written a comment.

 

This does not appear to work in the body of the story nor in the link section for "What happens next?"

 

It should work if it is placed in the body of the thread. Make sure that the thread id belongs to the story you're editing.

Here is an example: The link https://chyoa.com/story/the-temptress/thread/they-head-to-the-pub has "#LINKTO 169760" in the body of the thread, and therefore points to https://chyoa.com/story/the-temptress/thread/169760

Let me know whether it works or not.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that worked, Friedman. I'm curious about what this #LINKTO function is, so I decided to take a look.

When I visited "They Head to the Pub," I didn't notice a link in the body of the text. I saw one thread at the bottom to "The Two Girls." Incidentally, the two links you've posted (as of this writing, assuming this was merely a typo) point me to the same thread. Actually, the "They Head to the Pub" links me to a thread with the title "Yes."

Anyway, I tried this method myself. At the end of the text body, I typed "#LINKTO xxxxxx" (where "xxxxxx" refers to the number of the thread according to Manage Threads). After saving, the only change I noticed was large, bold text reading "#LINKTO xxxxxx". As an experiment for myself, I also enclosed it with quotation marks, but this just included the text verbatim, including quotes.

Am I right in assuming this method is meant to create a link from one thread to another that's already been written beforehand? So, hypothetically, you could write two branching threads, but the second branch ultimately leads back around to the first. I wonder how that would conflict with continuity issues of opportunity cost--where one branch relies on an assumption that the other branch was not taken. This might be confusing in more open-ended stories. I also wonder if this lets us link two separate stories together, perhaps as a sort of crossover.

Noticing the customization options for a story, these are sort of like variables. I wonder if it'd be possible to secretly modify these variables if they're hidden, and program customizable story threads that only appear if these variables have the correct text. Let's say the first branch leads to a special item like a plank that can be used as a bridge across a gap in a second branch. This makes things seem a lot more like an adventure game of sorts. Although interesting, that'd be extremely hard to keep track of, especially with collaborative authors, I think. There's probably a solution for that, though, such as letting the reader see certain variables, but just be unable to edit them.

 

I personally would love an option where a similar function allows you to place a pre-written option at the end of a thread by using a link function (for those times when someone writes a thread that can fit between two sections and then allow the story to come back to the part it was set at originally):

For example, thread A has options 1 and 2 written. 1 goes to thread B and 2 goes to thread C. Someone else wants to put a segment after A but before B. They write a thread number 3 after A and at the end it's #LINKTO 1 ... so the story goes back to option 1 but allows for some additional options.

This way it appears as a regular option and not just a part of the body. I think it would maintain the continuity of the site.

 

Here's how it worked for me:

-As Friedman suggested, go to 'Manage Stories'
-Click 'My Threads', find the thread that you are linking to
-Jot down both the thread number to the left of it as well as the thread name
-Find the thread that says <NO TITLE> that you want to edit. You can verify you have the right one by jotting down the thread number, going into the story map, and finding the right <NO TITLE> in the story map. The story map shows non-links by the name of the 'answer', whereas Links will show as a number. You can see the number by hovering the mouse over the <NO TITLE> thread and looking at the status bar (or wherever the url pops up)
-From the 'My Threads' list click edit
-Replace Answer with the Answer of the thread you are linking to.
-Replace the body with #LINKTO
-Put a space after #LINKTO and type the thread number of the thread you are linking TO. The thread that matches the name whose answer you just used.
-Follow-up question can be anything, but I used the same #LINKTO <thread#> that I used in the body

This worked for me

The thread with the branches I was trying to link to:
https://chyoa.com/story/cheater-3/thread/a-night-club-where-tia-quickly-makes-an-acquaintance

The thread which was trying to link to the above thread's two children thread:
https://chyoa.com/story/cheater-3/t...night-of-dancing-will-tire-her-enough-to-talk

If you look in the story map and mouse-hover over the links below those you'll see that one has the thread title at the end of the url whereas the other two have numbers. The ones with numbers were originally links.

 

As an update to the above thread, I tried to find another link so I could test using the name of the thread rather than the number. It wasn't working so I tried using the number. I thought the problem might have been because I was linking TO a thread I didn't own FROM a thread I didn't own. Only the link was 'mine' and it was to 'fix' a story where it seemed the author meant to link the two. Or something like that. I made the link more than a year ago so leave me alone. .

Anyway, I found out that you NEED to use caps for #LINKTO, and that you can link threads you don't own using this.

You can also find out what the thread number of a thread you are in is by hovering the mouse over the 'Add To' link. It will show in your status bar the url of the thread and it will show the thread number instead of the thread name.

Now back to finding out if you can #LINKTO <threadname> instead of <thread number>.

And it turns out that you can't. Oh well.

 

I feel more confused now than ever. :<

So you have to go to the later chapter and replace its title and text with #LINKTO {Thread ID}? Those two example threads look like they'd link together naturally simply by answering the first thread with the second. On the story map, it appears that someone went to the first thread, "A Night Club," and added a new thread which they entitled "Tia's Wanton Ways." Isn't that naturally how threads get linked together? Now I feel like I don't know what #LINKTO is meant to accomplished. I thought it was a way of rerouting one thread to another that wouldn't normally be directly linked, or were spaced apart, as if the reader was taking a shortcut.

Plus, going by the instructions given above, it sounds as if you're erasing all the text in the thread. If you're "replacing" it, isn't that the result? I'm thoroughly confused. Sorry I'm having so much trouble with this.

 

Oops, guess I didn't explain it well.

You need the number of the thread you are linking TO. That will not be the one that says <NO TITLE>.

Go to the thread that says <NO TITLE>. That is the link that is not working. Put #LINKTO in the body of the thread, followed by space and the thread number of the post that you want showing up when a reader clicks the link. It appears you can put whatever you want in the Answer and follow-up question.

Hopefully that makes it more understandable.

 

I'm afraid I'm still a bit lost as to the purpose of the #LINKTO function. Is it a fix for broken threads? I have no threads that read specifically <NO TITLE>.

 

#LINKTO replaces Chyoo2's linked threads, allowing you to have more than one way to reach a particular page.

 

Friedman,

Thank you for the assistance and the knowledge, it is greatly appreciated.

 

Okay I think I understand now. Thanks!

 

The issue I was running into was that I had the #LINKTO function in quotes.

The easiest explanation I can provide is - It's basically a tool that allows you to tell a side story or add another scene and then loop back into an existing storyline.

As simple as I can explain (for my own benefit I had to break it down like this):

Go to the thread you want to branch off from
Create a new thread at the end of it (called NOTHING - or some name easy to remember)
Save the thread
Look in the thread list for the already existing thread ID number you want to link back to
Edit the new thread called NOTHING
Past the answer of the thread you want to link to in the "Answer" field
In the body, just type #LINKTO and the thread number right after it. Like: #LINKTO 169892
Save the thread.
Now when you go back to the previous thread, you should see the option to choose a path to the existing storyline

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks! I applied your recipe to fix a few threads in When The Cat's Away. Some others are still dangling, needing closer inspection. I ended up getting the target thread number not from My Threads (I have much too long a list to easily page through to older threads), but by choosing the target thread from the story map, clicking through to view it, then "Edit Thread". The editor pane reveals the story ID in the URL, after which I proceeded with your recipe.

-Z.

 

you can see the id also in the "Rate this thread or leave a comment"-box. This would also work for target-threads not written by you, if you aren't the editor of that story

 

So, is there a way to unlink the threads? Remove the Linkto function?

While trying to fix a <no title> thread I managed to mess up and link to the wrong thread. In a failed attempt to fix it I ended up linking more threads to the wrong places lol. As far as I can tell I ended up with 2 threads linking to the wrong place. Anytime I go to those threads to fix it it just forwards me to the linked thread.

The threads in question.
25.1. (FIX NEEDED) Max has to comply.

26.1. Two days later with Gibbons
27.1. Simmons gives it to Max on her bike

Since two of them are at the end of a thread tree I was just going to cut my losses and reupload the original text as new threads, just curious if there was a cleaner solution that I had missed.

 

To edit the linkto-thread, go to "manage stories" - "my threads"; search for the specific thread and click on "edit" in the last column.