I'd like to be able to see the current status of a story from the browse/search pages as well as the cover page. I just found the site earlier today, and I'm already very excited about the possibilities this kind of system offers. One point I've found lacking though is the transparency of the state any given story is in. A few metrics give the reader a clue (created date, last updated date, thread count), but it is impossible to gauge without examining the story map for author names and reading a few threads. Is it a fully fleshed out, complete and contained story? Is it a single author's carefully constructed vision? Is it a collaborative free-for-all between several writers of various styles? Is it in the middle of being written, without any proper conclusion? Is it an experimental, D&D inspired RPG system requiring collaboration between players and editors? For some it can be obvious pretty quickly, but often you would have to spend an inordinate amount of time searching through several pages to learn a seemingly simple fact about the story, possibly spoiling certain plot details along the way. And even after all of that, there's a good chance it wasn't close to what you were looking for in the first place. In my mind, this could be resolved if a simple tag was added to a story's entry on the browse/search pages as well as its cover page indicating its status. The editor/creator of the story can select an option from a drop-down menu such as Complete, In Progress, or Abandoned to be visible to all readers. I'd also like it if you could see from the browse/search page whether it's public or private as well. That way, a reader could tell at a glance what type of project it is and what stage it's at. Private and In Progress must mean it's an unfinished story from a single author or that a small group of authors are currently working on it together. In Progress and Public means it's probably an ongoing collaborative process that will most likely never reach a point where it's considered complete. Abandoned and Private tells you that it's a story someone started but doesn't intend to ever finish. Right now, it's fairly easy to tell what a story's plot is going to be and what themes are included, but there are only hints as to the format, structure, and nature of a project. I am new to this site and its concept, so there's a good chance that I'm missing something here or that I just haven't learned what to look for. Also, I know very little about web design so my entire suggestion could be much more difficult to implement than I realize, but I feel like this will make it much easier to search for and find exactly the story you're looking for. Sorry that this became such a long post. I've just been thinking about this a lot and wanted to be thorough in explaining what it was that I wanted. Either way, this looks like a great site already and I imagine I'll be spending a lot of time here in the near future.
Welcome to chyoa agree with that Only a private story could have that status. A public story is always open for new branches. Maybe a couple of branches are a constructed vision. I think it doesn't matter. Some branches are really great, others are ok. Get flashed by the great ones. Every story is usually in the beginning or the middle. The deeper the story, the more possibilities. If a story is done like a real single player RPG it would be different from the above said. But there are plans for another storymode, which could cover complex systems. Why would anyone mark his own story as abandoned? To prevent the chance that another writer would contribute?
Thank you very much. Happy to be here. Glad you agree with me, but I'm confused as to which point you're referring to. Do you mean you'd like a list of all the story's contributors on the cover page, not just"created by" and "last updated by"? Because I would definitely like that also. Also, I'd like to be able to tell who wrote the thread to a follow-up question's answer without going into the story map or clicking through the link. Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear in what I was getting at in that section. You're absolutely right about everything above. Those examples weren't listed as asking "Are there stories like this on the site?" but more as a hypothetical "How do I know which of these categories this particular story fits under without actually reading it?" That's why an "In Progress," "Complete," or possibly "Abandoned" tag in addition to public or private would tell you a lot more about what you're getting into. Better yet, it would allow me to filter out the categories that I'm not looking for in an advanced search. You're right that "Complete" and "Public" seems incompatible and runs counter to the entire point of making it open for anyone to contribute. Maybe that shouldn't even be an option. Good point. I suppose if it's a private story that they've started but don't intend on finishing, it would warn readers that it's an incomplete project so don't get your hopes up that it'll update in the future. Though it might be better if they just handed the project off to a new editor. I don't fully understand it yet, but I believe there's a system set up already to deal with stories that are still getting new threads sent in but the original owner is nowhere to be found to approve them. Maybe it could factor into that somehow? You can easily tell if nobody's been adding to a story based on the last updated date, but it can be harder to see if the editor/owner hasn't been approving new threads. An "Abandoned" tag could be automatically attached if the editor is known to be inactive, even if there isn't an active search for a replacement. Or if pending threads have been left dangling with no response after a set amount of time, a warning could be sent to the editor saying "Hey, if you don't acknowledge these pending threads in some way within x amount of days, you're account will be flagged as inactive, all of your stories will be marked abandoned, and a new editor will be found for the stories that need them." That seems like a major feature overhaul, but it would give a practical use and meaning behind marking something as "Abandoned."
Both would be nice In Progress -> isn't complete, so a reader maybe wouldn't start reading Complete -> is complete, so a potential writer could stay away from reading Abandoned -> couldn't be a interesting story at all, so probably everyone would stay away On the other side there is the story owner/editor. He wants views, likes and contributions, so non of the classifications would be good for him. In general I would recommend reading the first post of a story and decide from that, if it is worth to go deeper. The other way would be the profile page of writers you like. There you can see, where they have contributed. I think its more likely that the editor get lost than a story gets abandoned. But if so, you could contact the editor, if you want to contribute (currently its not easy to contact other user). If you add to a story and it doesn't get approved, neither declined, you can ask a moderator to approve your thread or you can even adopt that story. Maybe it would be good, if the last visit of the editor could be seen on the profile page, but this could prevent contributing. (Like said above there is always a way to get (acceptable) contributions approved)
