New Feature Testing Request - Category "Hub" Pages

[Manu]

Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to request feedback on a new Lit feature we are getting ready to roll out. It's in BETA testing mode right now and we could use some feedback from people - hopefully some people different browsers and operating systems.

The new feature is a category-specific "hub" page for each of the categories on Lit. Here is an example:
http://www.literotica.com/c/erotic-couplings

It will replace the old system where you were sent to a random category page from the Story Index and other parts of the site. It still contains a large block of random stories (so that every story on the site gets a chance to be featured), but it also has all kinds of other category-specific lists (Contest Winners, Popular Authors in this category, Recent Comments, common Tags in this category, etc.)

Also, this page introduces a few new design template changes we are working on - for example, you can see the number of comments on a story before clicking, etc.

Please have a look and let me know if you find any bugs or if you have any feedback on the page.

Thank you!

Here are a few more examples:
http://www.literotica.com/c/bdsm-stories
http://www.literotica.com/c/science-fiction-fantasy
http://www.literotica.com/c/interracial-erotic-stories
http://www.literotica.com/c/gay-sex-stories
http://www.literotica.com/c/loving-wives
http://www.literotica.com/c/fetish-stories
http://www.literotica.com/c/first-time-sex-stories

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Wicked cool

Wow! Wicked cool and way better than what there was in place before.

Thank you.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Definitely better, Manu! Quite inviting!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I like it. Eight different ways to choose!

 

[OzoneRed]

I really like this. A great way to browse the story archive and see what I've missed.

I don't know if this is a bug or not:

When I click on one of the category hub pages, then click on one of the popular tags, the results aren't filtered by category. Not a real big deal, since the "filter by category" box is right there.

 

[MarlowBunny]

Very nice. Positioning the "All time favorites" last is a great idea. Readers will see many options and not fall into the same rut over and over.

Good job.

 

[lovecraft68]

Excellent feature gives exposure to the lesser known authors and stories and should generate more fans for them. I really like the mention of the known authors of the categories.
Quick question Manu as I will assume you will be checking this for feedback
What is going on with the stories getting 50+ views before being posted. There have been two threads posted in the AH about this and people are concerned it's some type of "story Horking" system I'm thinking just glitch but was wondering if you were aware of it.

 

[HeyAll]

Manu,

Since you're reading this, can you do something about the letter clicking for when you want to search stories?

For instance, if I click the letter 'P', it gives me the page that starts in the middle of the 'S' stories, and then I would have to flip back a few pages to get the pages I'm looking for.


Thank you.

cheers

 

[Manu]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

The two issues that you reported (mis-linked letters of the alphabet and the tags not be category-filtered) are both things we missed. Both of them will be corrected now that you've pointed them out!

As far as the stories getting views before being published, we're looking into that one. We've been making a lot of changes to the templates and other backend stuff, so it's likely something we changed is causing that bug. Hope to have it fixed soon!

Thanks again for the help with this and please let me know if you have any other suggestions or if you find any other bugs!

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

The two issues that you reported (mis-linked letters of the alphabet and the tags not be category-filtered) are both things we missed. Both of them will be corrected now that you've pointed them out!

As far as the stories getting views before being published, we're looking into that one. We've been making a lot of changes to the templates and other backend stuff, so it's likely something we changed is causing that bug. Hope to have it fixed soon!

Thanks again for the help with this and please let me know if you have any other suggestions or if you find any other bugs!

Thank you for your prompt response manu! very relieved to hear that this is an in house issue.

 

[alwayswantedto]

<deleted>

 

[sr71plt]

How could I not like a new listing formula that suddenly identifies me as the most popular writer in a category?

On listing by date, I've done tracking by date off the normal author pages before and haven't found it particularly difficult to do with the list as it is.

 

[Manu]

Would it be possible, when viewing an author's list of stories, to have an option to sort them by date? Upon discovering a new author, I'd like to read them in the order they were written to get a sense of the writer's progression, but this can be hard if the author has lots of stories.

That's a great suggestion and one that I'm pretty sure we can work into the new author/member profiles that we've been working on. Not sure if it will be in the first version of the new profiles, but I certainly see the benefit to being able to sort the stories in various ways, so I'm sure it can be done eventually.

We are working on a lot of updates right now that should (we hope!) make it easier for readers to find stories that match their interests - and also easier for authors to know when readers are finding their stories. As Lit continues to grow, I think that's one of the big challenges, making it as easy as possible for readers to find the stories that they are interested in.

 

[Cleardiamond]

I like this alot. Makes targeting stories that will appeal to a specific reader soooo much easier!

thanks!

 

[sr71plt]

That's a great suggestion and one that I'm pretty sure we can work into the new author/member profiles that we've been working on. Not sure if it will be in the first version of the new profiles, but I certainly see the benefit to being able to sort the stories in various ways, so I'm sure it can be done eventually.

We are working on a lot of updates right now that should (we hope!) make it easier for readers to find stories that match their interests - and also easier for authors to know when readers are finding their stories. As Lit continues to grow, I think that's one of the big challenges, making it as easy as possible for readers to find the stories that they are interested in.

Is one of the changes the long-promised taking the favoritist lists off "sneak preview test" mode (as the home page lists them) and making them permanent? They've been "coming" for years and years now.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's a great suggestion and one that I'm pretty sure we can work into the new author/member profiles that we've been working on. Not sure if it will be in the first version of the new profiles, but I certainly see the benefit to being able to sort the stories in various ways, so I'm sure it can be done eventually.

We are working on a lot of updates right now that should (we hope!) make it easier for readers to find stories that match their interests - and also easier for authors to know when readers are finding their stories. As Lit continues to grow, I think that's one of the big challenges, making it as easy as possible for readers to find the stories that they are interested in.

One thing that I have been wondering is the possibility of an author being able to track how many favorites pages they are on. If you are not in the top 250 as obviously most of us are not we have no way of knowing. i noticed on the last wave of updates a feature was added at the bottom of each story how many favorites pages that individual story is on so I would imagine it wouldn't take much more to give us that feature even if it only updates every 30 days or so it would be great.

 

[HeyAll]

Manu,


Have you guys thought about updating the front page of Literotica.com?

It looks really outdated and bland.


My complaint about it is that it's slightly difficult to navigate at first glance. Coming in and reading the stories should be as easy as possible for people who are just discovering this website.

For instance, the top of the page does what it needs to do of making sure the viewer is 18 or older. But below that, there's news, contest updates, and a bunch of other stuff which I don't know what it is. And THEN below that is the Story Index.

In my humble opinion, the Story Index should be in big letters right below the legal disclaimer so people automatically know where to go. And below that should be all the other stuff.

Just my opinion on how this sight can possibly get more views. The Story Index itself is perfect, it's just that the main Literotica.com page needs to direct to it better.

Thank you.


.

 

[Bibliopolist]

Props!

Great upgrade that will make browsing way more fun. I'm amazed at how much information and how many tempting choices you've packed into a single page.

 

[scouries]

Manu, here are a few thoughts on your post:

Here’s the first story that popped up when I clicked your link:​

Training Ch 20

1 new * 3.60​

Dhea gets her wish as Paul fills her with cum and mates her

13/25/11​

by bonnie taylor

The first thing I noticed was that (in spite of the little empty caption box) I didn’t immediately realize that the “1” referred to comments the story had received. After that I realized you omitted the VIEW figures for the story (even though you now put it at the end of every story). I wondered why. Finally you show the rating without indicating how many votes it’s based upon. As we’ve discussed before we both know that any rating number that doesn’t include the sample size is pretty much worthless. You’ve also omitted the number of times the story has been “favorited” (again you show this info at the end of every story).

Something like the following would address these problems:

Training Ch 20

rated 3.60 on 21 votes​

Dhea gets her wish as Paul fills her with cum and mates her

1 comment 3,225 views​

by bonnie taylor

6 favorites 13/25/11​

As to the “Hall of Fame” list - Stories seemed to be listed based only on the rating of the story (not sure if a minimum number of votes is required – you could advise us on this point). If true this ignores the number of VIEWS, the number of VOTES, the number of COMMENTS, and the number of times a story has been FAVORITED.

It’s sorta like the Baseball Hall of Fame just using a player’s batting average when considering a player while ignoring his homers, RBIs, games played, fielding averages and stolen bases. It’s ludicrous.

The other problem with the “Hall of Fame” list is that (like the highest rated lists) it seems dominated by Chapters of longer stories. For example a story called Temptation Ch. 11 by Ada Stuart rated 4.83 is listed as a “hall of fame” story on the page you referred us to. I haven’t read this story but clicking Ada’s name brought me to her home page where I found that Chapter 1 was rated 4.31 and Chapter 2 4.54. Subsequent chapters of course received higher ratings for reasons we’ve discussed before. I’d suggest that before we give “hall of fame” status to this story (or any story) we might consider its overall rating.

If you’re going to go ahead with this box let me suggest that you call it what it is: “Highest Rated” (based on a minimum xxx votes)

The CONTEST WINNERS list also has the same Chaptered Story problems as does the “hall of fame” list.

I’m not sure how the POPULAR AUTHOR box will work and why there’s “today”, “7 days” and “30 days” buttons.
Are these popular authors only in the mentioned category?
What different is shown by the three different time periods?
What is their popularity rating based on?
Is there a master list of most popular authors? Could you share it with us?
Is it based on the MOST FAVORITE AUTHOR list?
Perhaps you could explain.

I’d also like to see a MOST VOTES by category list – you do seem to have room on the page for it.

And what about … okay I know this suggestion is a little self-serving… having a stories by james r scouries esq. box? Remember this whole redesign is to help our wonderful readers find the best stories on the site.

And look I’m not forgetting you! What about a box for authors who’ve won the prestigious MANU AWARD an award that honors our greatest authors and the #1 Prince of Erotic Fiction.

james r scouries esq.

p.s. I just went to post this and read the ace’s post. I’ve got to say that any redesign that elevates ace into the “popular author” category still has a few bugs in it. Mind you I couldn’t find him on the page you sent us to – perhaps its wishful thinking on his part?

One other question while we have you: Some time ago (a year ago?) you posted that you were working on splitting LITEROTICA into “gayerotica” and normal literotica. Apparently this was to answer both reader and gay authors concerns. At the time you posted that this change was imminent. I’m wondering if you could update us. thanks.

 

[sr71plt]

p.s. I just went to post this and read the ace’s post. I’ve got to say that any redesign that elevates ace into the “popular author” category still has a few bugs in it. Mind you I couldn’t find him on the page you sent us to – perhaps its wishful thinking on his part?

I was counting on that getting your goat. (Manu gave us more than one page to check. Typical that you are so self-centered you didn't realize that. It was rather amusing that he cut you out by not providing an incest page, though. More evidence of how well your royalties plan is going.)

 

[lovecraft68]

I was counting on that getting your goat. (Manu gave us more than one page to check. Typical that you are so self-centered you didn't realize that. It was rather amusing that he cut you out by not providing an incest page, though. More evidence of how well your royalties plan is going.)

Wow! Scouries vs Sr71plt. A true battle of Narcissists! Take heed mere mortals and grab your popcorn this should be fun.

 

[sr71plt]

Wow! Scouries vs Sr71plt. A true battle of Narcissists! Take heed mere mortals and grab your popcorn this should be fun.

Well we can't all post multiple long posts every day about the history of our single BDSM/incest million-chapter story.

 

[TxRad]

Wow! Scouries vs Sr71plt. A true battle of Narcissists! Take heed mere mortals and grab your popcorn this should be fun.

Nope, ain't no contest. Brains beats fantasy ego every time. I'll let you figure out which is which.

Manu, this looks like it's going to be a very good improvement. Now if we could just get rid of Scouries fake lists then all would be well.

 

[scouries]

Wow! Scouries vs Sr71plt. A true battle of Narcissists! Take heed mere mortals and grab your popcorn this should be fun.

QUOTE #1 Narcissist Well we can't all post multiple long posts every day about the history of our single BDSM/incest million-chapter story

So you noticed the same thing I did! This person threatens to be this years soular. I had never heard of her until the year end awards were announced and then all of a sudden she was everywhere.

Having never heard of her and curious I checked her story page. And found that this campaigner for immortality had written one story –with like a hundred chapters. Incest stories that were lucky if they accumulated 50 votes!

Only 50? In incest? And she wants to be crowned queen for a day? Give me a break … Anything under a 1000 in that category and you're a piker...

Shee-it, even ace can roll up 50 votes over in Gayland…
and that ain't easy...​

[size=+2]james r scouries esq.[/size]
Multiple A.I.R. AWARD winner, MILLION SELLER,
Author of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA

 

[lovecraft68]

Nope, ain't no contest. Brains beats fantasy ego every time. I'll let you figure out which is which.

Manu, this looks like it's going to be a very good improvement. Now if we could just get rid of Scouries fake lists then all would be well.

I have never read the work of one but one to many of the others I am pretty sure I know which is which but it doesn't mean it still won't be fun. How does the expression go? not just conceited but convinced. One has something to back it up one is somewhat delusional and does not realize it. Good times.