In addition to "Chapter Depth" (or perhaps replacing it) should be "Word Count" when viewing the little story blurbs on the front page. I think both metrics are important to determine how much content there actually is in a story and some readers may prefer one or the other. I'll admit I have some bias since I focus on long chapters (800-1200 words) rather than short ones. The "Word Count" should also be displayed in the side tab in the introduction of the story, along with "Total Number of Chapters", number of favorites, etc.
I am a little for and a little against. I like shorter chapters since they allow more interactivity but only to a limit. I hate when I get a submission from another writer that is basically, They fuck. He came. The end. I think their should be an option for an author to set limits on other writers.
Just wanted to clarify with a picture of what I imagine. This way when a reader comes to the front page, they can take both the chapter depth and the actual amount of words in the story when deciding how interested they are in it. I agree with this as well, perhaps an option when creating the story and setting it to moderated. You could set a certain word minimum or limit (the default being none) and make it so that users that attempt to add a chapter that has no depth does not go through. The main problem I see with this is that occasionally there are short chapters that can't be avoided, such as introductions and stuff. Still, the basic system we have is still pretty good since story creators can set the "guidelines" the writers see when they attempt to submit a chapter, though not everyone reads it I'm sure.
More info when looking for a story is always good. I admit, when looking for new stories to read, I have to force myself to give stories with less thread depth a chance. There´s also the issue of "branchitude". Occasionally I run into stories that have a lot of depth, but branch maybe once or twice in the whole story, which can also be a pain. Word count together with chapter depth, would help get a getter angle on how a story might be structured, for those who care.
