WAYS TO GET MORE FEEDBACK

[CRaZy]

Laurel has suggested that we concentrate on finding ways to gain more written feedback from our readers. Just to clarify - this will be a purely hypothetical discussion with no demands that Laurel or her programmer do anything. I do think it would be constructive if we could obtain more written feedback from our readers. I'm sure she could provide us with statistics which show that there are very few emails sent to writers or posts placed on the story feedback threads in proportion to the number of reads a story receives. I have noticed quite a few new writers literally BEGGING for someone to provide feedback on their stories. This shows that they weren't receiving emails.

A couple of POSSIBILITIES (and that's all they are):-

. a direct link from the bottom of each story to the story feedback bulletin board

. two options in the anonymous feedback section where the reader can either compose their own feedback or click on a standard set of comments which have boxes beside them that they could tick eg.
__I really enjoyed your story
__I didn't enjoy this story as much as your previous ones
__I feel there are too many stories like this
__I liked the plot
__I liked your characters
__I liked the setting
__I didn't like the characters
etc...etc...

OK - it would be limited, but it might be better than NO feedback.

Just thinking (very painful - be kind - I only have a little brain)

 

[Fred H.]

that's great idea!

 

[GuyJD]

HERE'S WHAT MAY BE A BETTER IDEA....

How about just having a voting survey posted at the end of the story, as it is now. And in addition, the link to the Literotica Story Feedback and/or the Author's e-mail, if the author prefers.

If it isn't now, the votes at the end of the stories can be used for the Annual Literotica Awards. Other than that, I ain't too proud to beg.

[Edited by GuyJD on 01-19-2001 at 03:59 PM]

 

[Whispersecret]

Great idea. Sometimes readers don't know how to articulate what they feel about a story. This makes it easy for them to communicate in terms the author would understand and appreciate.

Maybe we could brainstorm other items to include on the checklist.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I've noticed some authors solicit email at the ends of their stories, if you liked or didnt like it, please feel free to email me! Or something. I was wondering if that worked? Sort of like a personal note from author to reader, an invitation that says it's okay. I know lots of people are reluctant to email perfect strangers for any reason, even though the feedback links are available.

 

[Laurel]

Just to clarify - this will be a purely hypothetical discussion with no demands that Laurel or her programmer do anything.

Don't put any limits on it, kids...if you think of something cool, we'll be willing to try to get it programmed! The best improvements to the site have been your ideas...

 

[Todd]

Laurel

sort of on topic but yet different. speaking of scripting and stuff for the site. are there any plans to change the author index layout to a more streamline possibly alphabetical index?

 

[Laurel]

Yes.

 

[Fred H.]

here is a quick idea; Assuming no story that Laurel posts is terrible, assign a score of one hundred to each new story as a start. Then allow the regular voting as is on the site now. A story given a one will not plummet to the grave and one person will not be able to sway the out come so much by a one vote. Another other remedy that can be used; is to give a one, a reader must give a small written reason for doing so that is sent to the writer. It could be as simple as I did like the character development, but you would not be able to give a story a one because it was in a category you did not like. I’m betting this would drop the number of ‘one loading’ down. Maybe it is just to easy now to give a one.
Roger’s problem and CraZy’s post has contributed to this idea.

 

[WriterDom]

Fred, a one is still a one... sometimes I wish I had studied English and not Accounting. but you can start with 100, or paint it red, or stick it up your ass, but a one will always be a one.

 

[Madame Pandora]

I think the concept of a reader feedback survey is great. Not everyone wants to take the time to type a letter, but they will consider clicking on a few boxes here and there.

Also - it might be of help to have a question like:
I read this story because:
A. It was in the Top Lists
B. It was in the New Stories area
C. It listed in a Category I liked
D. I liked another story by the same author.
E. I saw it mentioned on the BB and looked it up.

I am always interested in finding out how the reader discovered my story.

Also...and this is just a thought...you know how there is a way to notify us when one of the threads we post on has a new post? Is there anyway to fix it so that we could subscribe to an author? Let's say I wanted to know everytime Killermuffin came out with a new story or poem...could an automated mail system do that just like with BB threads? Then, the reader would have the option to ask to subscribe.

MP

 

[Weird Harold]

I've already suggested this to Laurel but I'll float it here for some commentary as well.

Set up the script to start a thread in the story feedback forum with a link to the story in it, and place a link top and bottom in the story itself to the feedback thread labeled "read/enter feedback on this story."

This would do several things.

• It would provide a way for the author to get more feedback
  
• It would provide the readers with a source for others' opinions on the story
  
• It would sort the controversial stories to the top of the feedback forum so those stories that provoke a lot of commentary would attract more readers. (In effect, a 'top feedback' list.)

I'm not sure of all of the potential ramifications to this.

I can see where a story that engenders passionate hatred would stay on top for as long as a story that inspired just passion.

An author could shamelessly promote a story very easily by trolling it every day, or even every hour or two. I think that the time invloved in keeping a story no one wants to comment on on top would be prohibitive for most of us.

It would almost certainly require a moderator or three to police shameless promotions, personal attacks and flirting.

 

[CRaZy]

Just read through some of the ideas. The ideas from Madame Pandora are good. If we can identify patterns as to how people are finding the stories this would probably help with future decision-making. The idea about an automatic email going out when your favourite author posts a new story is a good one.

I didn't realise it at the time, but Panadolboy was reading through this thread and he said, "My God. It's just like a report card" in response to my idea of having people tick particular comments before sending. I think it would work though because I know I sometimes have the hardest time trying to think of what to say when emailing feedback. "I enjoyed your story" seems so lame. There would of course still be an option to compose own comments.

In order to encourage teachers at my school to do quality report cards, a bottle of wine is given to the teacher deemed best reporter by the Admin. Way down the track, if cash prizes are given for best stories, could there not be a monthly prize for best feedback from a non-author in the Story Feedback section? In the short term, perhaps just written recognition might be enough to encourage more people to post.

Some of the people in my chat room tell me their firewalls at work don't allow them to send emails from this site. Weird Harold's idea of having a link to story feedback would therefore work because they say the other problem is they don't want to be on the site TOO long. Making it quicker and easier to navigate to Story Feeback Forum would therefore help.

I don't have any solution to this one but I do know that the people who send emails for some reason do not vote a lot of the time. Similarly, people who vote often don't email. People seem to do one or the other. I know this because one of my stories received lots of emails but until a couple of days ago it had no votes. Any ideas to streamline the process?

 

[*Eve*]

It's a good idea, but since Laurel and Manu changed the scripts I have gotten more feedback then ever through email or are you looking for feedback on the BB?

 

[Weird Harold]

It's a good idea, but since Laurel and Manu changed the scripts I have gotten more feedback then ever through email or are you looking for feedback on the BB?

On the BB, E-mail, votes, postcards, or whatever. Just ideas for ways to increase feedback and or improve feedback quality.

 

[Whispersecret]

KM, I put a blurb at the end of Hostile Takeover asking for feedback, good or bad. To date, I've gotten over 100 letters. I have a theory that if people think you're story was mediocre, they probably won't write you, so Ihope most of those letters were because they liked my story. However, my invitation for them to write me may have helped. There's no way to know, but I'll just live in my self-made little ego bubble. <winks>