Number of New Stories Displayed

[Anonymous]

First, after reading the latest comments on this subject, mostly by AB, I am done being gentle with my comments.

Second, I agree totally with AB and his frustrations with the system.

Third, Ginger has a great idea, if it is even possible. If a ‘writer’ posts two, or more, stories at the same time … linking them together would most definitely reduce the ‘flooding’ of the Latest Stories page. Thanks for the great idea Ginger!

Fourth, referring back to my earlier post on this subject … I would like to emphasize that there is a difference between inexperienced writers and not so literate writers who write one sentence at a time (with no spacing, quadruple spacing, ect.), often no use of paragraphs and offer submissions of just a paragraph or two that is submitted as a story! Whether any of the you have an objection to my comments on having some degree of quality control check before a story appears on the home page is really not the issue. The real issue, whether anyone cares to address it or not, is … an inexperienced writer is fine. Key word … INEXPERIENCED. Whereas, there are more than a few ‘writers’ on this site that one would be much too kind referring to them as simply inexperienced!

I realize that this site was started, and continues to be maintained, by one person – who probably has a full time time job and a life outside of HSN. That being said … insanely weak stories, or submissions of only a few poorly written sentences / paragraphs does not constitute a story. If this observation, and my concern for the integrity of the HSN site, upsets anyone … no apology from me. As I said in my first post on this matter … inexperience is one thing, but some of the people submitting a few poorly written sentences / paragraphs attempting to pass them off as stories is an entirely different matter.

Jenna

[Ginger Herten]

While I share Insatiable’s frustration about barely readable poorly written stories, it’s still nearly impossible to put a firm definition that everyone can agree on what exactly constitutes a poorly written story. Never mind avoiding personal taste bias from clouding one’s judgment on it.

Like, what is a good story length? For me, it will vary by my mood. Sometimes I want short and sweet, sometimes I want long and passionate. So putting parameters around that is hard.

Obviously the giant block of text stories that have no paragraph breaks are a problem. But sometimes if you struggle through, there is a good story in there, that just needs a good editing. I’ve occasionally also seen the other extreme where the author started a new paragraph after every single sentence and the story was insanely stilted as a result.

The ease and enjoyability of reading something is also very dependent on the readers’ literacy level. Reader A might really want what amounts to “Cat in The Hat” with a haircut and adult content. While Reader B wants “Canterbury Tales” with a haircut and adult content (yes, I am aware actual Chaucer isn’t G rated.) Which is better is very subjective. However, I think most of us fall somewhere in between, the spectrum of in between Seuss and Chaucer is huge. There is no way every single one of us could agree on where on the spectrum counts as good vs counts as bad.

Then you get into regional issues. English is written differently following different rules in different parts of the world, heck in the larger predominately english countries there are regional variations. (Saying “on accident” instead of “by accident” sounds very wrong to my ears, yet is considered correct in some regions of the US.) And that doesn’t even get into that not all the stories submitted here are written in english.

Then you get into the issue of personal preference. And lets face it, many of us have certain very specific likes an dislikes. Sometimes one of my favorite authors will throw in elements I hate, it doesn’t mean they are bad, just that I personally don’t like it. It can be hard to keep my feelings about an authors preferences separate from my assessment of their writing skills.

This whole subject has given me an idea though, that I will start a new thread about.

Basically long story short. I don’t think there is a simple rubric we could use to determine if a story is worthy.

[AB]

Now I just want Ginger to write a Caterbury Tales send-up in which the Wife of Bath gets a good haircut.

[totallyhairless]

I suspect that ‘clumping’ suggested by Ginger may not be workable because stories go online as soon as they are issued. It would involve a lot of work for admin. I would have thought that the ‘Latest story by…’ suggestion is possible with a bit of IT know how. I still think a delay mechanism to stop multiple stories within a set period might be the best way forward.

[Anonymous]

I would just like to add two final comments to this thread before I personally give it a rest, and leave it in the hands of the site administrator.

Two different subjects are being discussed here … quality (or lack thereof) of submitted stories, and helping less experienced writers who ASK for assistance improving their writing skills.

Ginger was kind enough to tackle the ‘if someone asks for assistance’ topic, and I would like to add my name to her list of volunteers to help if needed.

With regards to implementing some form of ‘quality control’ and Ginger’s comments about who sets the standards, and exactly what would the standards be … and how would it possible to enforce those standards, etc, etc. I would offer that it is not up to us to even discuss, let alone decide this matter. It is solely up to the site administrator to set standards for stories that are submitted to HSN. IF … all stories had to be read/screened before appearing on HSN, then HSN would have total control of what gets published, and what is rejected. It is his/her business. Every story that appears on this site ultimately reflects on the look and feel of the site. The owner of this site can choose to implement his/hers standards of overall quality before a story gets published, or not. HSN, like any business, has the right to choose who they do business with, or not. And, they certainly don’t have to explain their reasoning to us as to what stories meet their criteria for acceptance. It is the owner/creator’s site. It is simply all up to HSN what content is displayed on their site.

Jenna

[totallyhairless]

For what it is worth I agree with Insatiable/Jenna’s comments about quality control – it is a matter for HSN admin to determine. I offered to help months ago but said at the time that I needed his/her criteria to let me decide which stories should be permitted or declined.

The quality of writing is a separate matter – some of you are excellent writers and others are complete beginners (I would like to think I am between the two) and should be encouraged even if the stories are poor. I have to agree with Jenna that recently there has been a proliferation of stories submitted by the same authors (at the time I have written this message, one author has submitted four stories and two others have three entries each). I am not commenting on the quality of those stories just the sheer number of such stories. Many such stories are very average or poor. The site desperately needs a delay mechanism.

[Anonymous]

Totally Hairless,

If HSN ever decides to take you up on your kind offer, I would like to offer a few words of unsolicited advice. The first, and perhaps single most important, guideline for determining if a story should be published, or not, comes from you. As you review a story … you have to pretend that you are the creator/owner of HSN, and ask yourself one rather simple question. Does this story reflect the quality, the excellence, that I want to represent my website?

Jenna

[totallyhairless]

HSN admin haven’t followed up, so it may be hypothetical but I agree with Insatiable entirely. All I would need is basic ground rules (if any) i.e. any topics that HSN do NOT want to see in stories. Other than that I would like to think that my judgment is fair – even when I don’t like something. My offer to help is still there.

[AB]

To totallyhairless’s point, a lot of websites that involve voting or contest functionality only allow people to enter/submit/vote once per day and I feel like there’s got to be a WP plugin that would also do that.

[Ginger Herten]

AB, while I admit to being pretty nerdy, I’m not sure I’m quite that nerdy.

[HSN Admin]

I’m sorry for not contributing more to this, just super busy at the moment.

Generally all sounds very positive, I just need to get a spare few minutes to coordinate and update where appropriate.

I did originally want this site to be inclusive and understand the “quality over quantity” argument so maybe we can find some sort of compromise.

[klaatu48]

Thank you for everything you do, HSN, and for providing this site for us all.

[AB]

Seconding Klaatu48’s thanks!

[totallyhairless]

I would also like to add my thanks for all the hard work. I hope that any comments I have made have been taken in a positive light – like the others here I just want the site to be as welcoming as it can be. When faced with a large number of average stories by the same authors on the front page readers could easily miss (or worse still, be put off trying to find) some real gems.

[HSN Admin]

Absolutely taken as positive feedback, I want to make things better for visitors!

…and thank you for the kind comments!

[Author]

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