I kinda miss the old layout

DarkSoulDrinker

DarkSoulDrinker

Experienced
Maybe I'm just an old dog that can't be taught new tricks, but the new layout and look of the site sucks. I definitely hate that comments are now all the way at the bottom of the page instead of the side bar. That is a definite downgrade. Everything else is probably just visual differences (although the AI category images are annoying). Anyway, I just miss the old CHYOA. Feels like this place is going further and further away from what it used to be and turning into just another trash porn site.
 
Eh, I really like the new functionality with the new poll feature and the new icons showing if a chapter has images.

I'd much rather the site images be replaced eventually with commissioned art. I'd put that recommendation in the site feedback forum.
 
I'm also a fan of the new layout, after an adjustment period. I've come to like the comments at the bottom, and the quick-click to navigate there from the sidebar was an inspired move. The story-map upgrades also added some much needed quality of life improvements, such as filtering for new/updated chapters, 'image' tags, and generally cleaning it up.

Still not sold on the 'popular categories' on the front page. I'm not sure it adds anything, but I'm mostly ambivalent to it.

Overall, it looks and runs much better than some other sites out there, so it's a plus for me.
 
I'm slowly adjusting to comments on the bottom. I definitely don't like popular categories. They seem to change every time I come to the site, which begs to question what logic is driving the "popularity." As I wouldn't expect massive changes to the list frequently. It also leads to extra clicks a lot since half the time it seems none of the categories I care about are "popular."
 
The story summaries seem severely truncated now. It basically shows about two short sentences worth and then ... if your description is longer than that. Makes for a LOT of stories that you can't really see much of the summary for.
 
It may be a good idea to add a hint on the story creation page about what the right length for a story description is. Because I agree that super-long descriptions are bad, but cutting them short a sentence or two in isn't great either.
 
I am starting to come around to the new layout. Comments are fine now that I've adjusted to it. And I do like knowing if a chapter has an image in it at a quick glance in the chapter breakout. I still have no idea how it figures out momentum for Popular Categories and Trending Stories though.
 
DarkSoulDrinker said:
I am starting to come around to the new layout. Comments are fine now that I've adjusted to it. And I do like knowing if a chapter has an image in it at a quick glance in the chapter breakout. I still have no idea how it figures out momentum for Popular Categories and Trending Stories though.
Click to expand...

Popular Categories and Trending Stories work a little differently.

Popular Categories is fairly simple. It totals the views received by visible stories in each category over the last 30 days, then puts the most-read categories first.

Trending Stories looks at the last seven days and combines recent views, likes, favorites, bookmarks, comments, and newly published chapters, with views carrying the most weight. A story’s established likes and saves also contribute a little.

The momentum number is a relative score compared with other active stories, not a raw total, percentage, or measure of growth from the previous week. Very large numbers are softened so one spike doesn’t dominate everything, and the rankings refresh periodically rather than after every click.
 
Giving views the most weight feels wrong. It means stories with lots of chapters that are incredibly short are going to have higher strength that stories that have longer, more detailed chapters but less. I'd think bookmarks and likes would be the most significant variable.
 
DarkSoulDrinker said:
Giving views the most weight feels wrong. It means stories with lots of chapters that are incredibly short are going to have higher strength that stories that have longer, more detailed chapters but less. I'd think bookmarks and likes would be the most significant variable.
Click to expand...

That's a good point!

Views are the largest single part of the score at 45%, but they’re capped rather than counted endlessly. Likes contribute 20%, while favorites and bookmarks contribute another 20% together. Because those signals reach their limits with far fewer actions, an individual like or save is worth considerably more than an individual view.

Since my previous reply, I’ve made Trending more responsive to recent activity, added a comparison with the previous week, capped each signal, and kept it separate from Story of the Week. I also fixed those repetitive explanations. They are spread across Recently read (48%), Getting new likes (24%), Readers are saving it (18%), Momentum is rising (8%), and Fresh chapters this week (2%), a much better mix than nearly everything saying fresh chapters.

I still think your underlying point is worth watching. Likes and saves are stronger signs that somebody genuinely connected with a story, and I’m open to giving them more influence if the real results show that chapter-heavy stories are benefiting too much from views.
 
I found that several different momentum scores were being capped and displayed as 100. I’ve now adjusted the scale so those differences remain visible. The current list ranges from about 79 to 97, with none at 100. I’m also collecting more data before deciding whether to rebalance views, likes, and bookmarks. Thanks again!
 
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