Editing a long title

[MrKittyLuver]

Story titles have a 35 character limit. Submitting an edit requires that you append "- EDITED" to the end of your title. Two questions about this:

1. How can I edit a story if the length of the title prevents me from adding "- EDITED" due to the character limit?

2. How do I indicate I wish to edit the title of a story when that title butts up against the character limit and I can't save a new draft with the same, old title.

 

[RejectReality]

Just use as much of the original title as will fit, plus some edited notation. To minimize the characters necessary, utilize EDIT in all caps, and butt it up against the previous word ( or partial word ) with no spaces. That way, you only have to remove 4 characters from the original title.

Then, in the NOTES section of the submission, list the full, original title. I personally also include the URL of page 1 of the story/chapter I'm editing, because that's unique to each submission, and helps eliminate the potential for human error.

As far as changing your title goes, you can utilize the NOTES field for that as well. That section of the submission form is where the bulk of your focus should be when editing a story. Detail everything there.

If you only want to edit peripheral data, and not the story text, then put all your changes in the NOTES section, then copy-paste it into the STORY TEXT section, because you have to have something there to submit, and a copy of the most important information is the best candidate.

 

[Wkd_Macey]

Just use as much of the original title as will fit, plus some edited notation. To minimize the characters necessary, utilize EDIT in all caps, and butt it up against the previous word ( or partial word ) with no spaces. That way, you only have to remove 4 characters from the original title.

Then, in the NOTES section of the submission, list the full, original title. I personally also include the URL of page 1 of the story/chapter I'm editing, because that's unique to each submission, and helps eliminate the potential for human error.

As far as changing your title goes, you can utilize the NOTES field for that as well. That section of the submission form is where the bulk of your focus should be when editing a story. Detail everything there.

If you only want to edit peripheral data, and not the story text, then put all your changes in the NOTES section, then copy-paste it into the STORY TEXT section, because you have to have something there to submit, and a copy of the most important information is the best candidate.

I have tried this on SIX different occasions - included with Text Edits (also asking to have an unwanted colon ( : ) removed from the title, because I think this is stopping my mini-series from listing as that), but each time my request has gone unanswered.

 

[RejectReality]

A bug seems to have cropped up in the series code that's causing a lot of oddities with newly created series. I don't think it's the colon, because I've seen some new series work fine with a colon in them.

That's the problem with this bug. There doesn't seem to be any consistent pattern with what's causing the code to fail to group stories into a series. It makes it extremely difficult to track down.

As to other edits, have you made sure to check it around 24 hours after the "edited" submission vanished from your private submission list? Edits take at least that long ( and perhaps as much as 48 hours ) to appear on the public side of the site. Not every change you've requested may be visible at the same time, either. Page 1 may change, while page 2 remains the old version for a short while longer.

I have tried this on SIX different occasions - included with Text Edits (also asking to have an unwanted colon ( : ) removed from the title, because I think this is stopping my mini-series from listing as that), but each time my request has gone unanswered.

 

[Wkd_Macey]

A bug seems to have cropped up in the series code that's causing a lot of oddities with newly created series. I don't think it's the colon, because I've seen some new series work fine with a colon in them.
I'll try again, because I want to remove the colon anyway
...
Edits take at least that long (24 hours) ( and perhaps as much as 48 hours ) to appear on the public side of the site...

I think there must be something else wrong too. I've seen a lot of posts from people who say their submissions are taking 'ages'/'forever' to get published. I have an EDIT in my 'Pending' queue now, that has been there since March 22nd (six days)... and No, I haven't opened it for edit since it was submitted, and Yes, I have sent a message to the Literotica Email Us link in FAQ, but still it sits there (sigh)

 

[RejectReality]

Check your junk mail folder for a confirmation email from Lit. If it's the first time you've emailed ( or have never previously completed a confirmation from that email address ) you have to do that before Lit will receive the email. Otherwise, it gets lost in limbo.

That's the reason so many people say emails don't go through. They do, when the process is completed.

If you don't find an email in your spam folder, you might consider going for a PM instead. You can find Laurel's PM link by locating her posts, which are most easily found in the Contests subforum, because many of the threads there are started by her, and locked so nobody else can post in them.

Edits do have secondary priority compared to new submissions, and the last time I looked, a surge in new submissions was coming in.

I do suspect 6 days is pushing that limit, however. I think some of the infrastructure changes may have goofed up Laurel's view of the queue, sometimes causing submissions to fall into the cracks. I would let it go at least the full week, but beyond that, I would assume it has found a home in a crack.

The solution that seems to be working is to do exactly what everyone says not to do — view the submission and save changes. When a submission gets reset in the queue, it doesn't seem to have the same bad luck the second time, because the problem ( while frustrating ) appears to be rather rare in relation to the number of submissions coming in. You don't want to open pending submissions normally, but once something has already gone far longer than it should, you don't have much to lose

It's growing pains of trying to replace infrastructure that's been expanded, modified, and duct-taped together since 1999, while keeping the primary part of the site ( the story file ) from suffering any more downtime than absolutely necessary.

I think there must be something else wrong too. I've seen a lot of posts from people who say their submissions are taking 'ages'/'forever' to get published. I have an EDIT in my 'Pending' queue now, that has been there since March 22nd (six days)... and No, I haven't opened it for edit since it was submitted, and Yes, I have sent a message to the Literotica Email Us link in FAQ, but still it sits there (sigh)

 

[Wkd_Macey]

Check your junk mail folder for a confirmation email from Lit. If it's the first time you've emailed ( or have never previously completed a confirmation from that email address ) you have to do that before Lit will receive the email. Otherwise, it gets lost in limbo.

Not quite sure what you mean by "completed a confirmation from that email address"

That's the reason so many people say emails don't go through. They do, when the process is completed.

Nothing in my Email/Junk, and I think the link/form works, because the last two times I had an EDIT stuck in Pending, I sent a message that way and the next day the EDITs were online (could be coincidence I suppose )

If you don't find an email in your spam folder, you might consider going for a PM instead. You can find Laurel's PM link by locating her posts, which are most easily found in the Contests subforum, because many of the threads there are started by her, and locked so nobody else can post in them.

I've tried sending Emails to Laurel, but I'm sure she must be too busy with important stuff (no - I'm not being sarcastic) to deal with them. I know Laurel does see the queue, because I sent a PM about the 'Story Home Page Hanging' problem a couple of weeks ago, and got a reply within minutes.

Edits do have secondary priority compared to new submissions, and the last time I looked, a surge in new submissions was coming in.

Could explain a lot

I do suspect 6 days is pushing that limit, however. I think some of the infrastructure changes may have goofed up Laurel's view of the queue, sometimes causing submissions to fall into the cracks. I would let it go at least the full week, but beyond that, I would assume it has found a home in a crack.

Aaaaaaagggghhhhh (fades)

The solution that seems to be working is to do exactly what everyone says not to do — view the submission and save changes. When a submission gets reset in the queue, it doesn't seem to have the same bad luck the second time, because the problem ( while frustrating ) appears to be rather rare in relation to the number of submissions coming in. You don't want to open pending submissions normally, but once something has already gone far longer than it should, you don't have much to lose

OK Thanks for the advice and help

It's growing pains of trying to replace infrastructure that's been expanded, modified, and duct-taped together since 1999, while keeping the primary part of the site ( the story file ) from suffering any more downtime than absolutely necessary.

As an aside...
I wonder how many Laurels there are on the team?
It's not conceivable that one person could maintain all of this

 

[RejectReality]

Laurel personally handles submissions, the reports coming from the story side, questions from users, etc. Manu deals with the technical side, and I don't envy the headache he's dealing with right now. LOL I'm putting off my own complete overhaul because the thought of starting it makes me want to cry, and it doesn't really make a difference if my site goes down for hours, or even days

The process ( at least the last time I used it, which was admittedly many years ago ) for sending an email is like this: You send the message through the form. It goes to a queue, which sends out a confirmation email. You follow the instructions in the confirmation email, and then your message is delivered to Laurel from the queue.

The second time you send an email from the same address, it is delivered without waiting for confirmation.

As an aside...
I wonder how many Laurels there are on the team?
It's not conceivable that one person could maintain all of this

 

[Wkd_Macey]

...
The process ( at least the last time I used it, which was admittedly many years ago ) for sending an email is like this: You send the message through the form. It goes to a queue, which sends out a confirmation email. You follow the instructions in the confirmation email, and then your message is delivered to Laurel from the queue.
...

That has to be the problem then...
I have used the form many times, but never (ever) had a confirmation email

From what you've already said... Should I report this to Manu?

 

[RejectReality]

From what I remember, the subject line wasn't Lit related, and it ended up in my spam/junk folder. It's been so long ago that I can't remember more than that. I know I almost didn't see it all, and then almost didn't open it when I did see it. Once I clicked it, it did mention Literotica and it was easy enough to determine that it was related to the email I'd sent.

It's entirely possible they've done away with the confirmation thing in the meantime. Can't be sure it's still a thing, but considering how many people seem to have trouble getting responses via email but then get action when they PM, I suspect it's still there.

That has to be the problem then...
I have used the form many times, but never (ever) had a confirmation email

From what you've already said... Should I report this to Manu?

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's entirely possible they've done away with the confirmation thing in the meantime. Can't be sure it's still a thing, but considering how many people seem to have trouble getting responses via email but then get action when they PM, I suspect it's still there.

I thought it was site gospel that the "contact us" email system is basically busted, and the only reliable contact is a PM to Laurel.