Forum / getting a kick out of fictionaut

  • Flawntnewsmall.thumb
    Finnegan Flawnt
    Oct 23, 03:38am

    I've been on fictionaut now, what, 5 days now?

    I just want to share how much I enjoy this site, its clean, functional design, allowing for uncluttered discourse and community building. It's a great find for me, and it feels like an honour, too, especially when you people leave your flower bouqets at my doorstep. Picking a story out of the web basket first thing in the morning has become part of my routine already.

    (I won't even mention the healing absence of quizzes, horoscopes and advertisements... Fictionaut is a temple, a passageway that feels secret though it is completely out in the open.)

    Today I realised another kick I get out of this, when "Tenderoni" by Kathy Fish reached the No. 1 position of the "Recommended" list: it feels really rewarding to have fav'd it and commented on it. Quite unlike buying a book on the NY Times bestseller list. More like seeing a friend do well in life. Less like following and being a fan, and more like being one of the boys at camp who are allowed to fan the fire and put their marshmallow on sticks into it first.

    So - well done start-up guys, and well done writing community. Keep it up and running.

    -ff

  • Author_wide.thumb
    Jürgen Fauth
    Oct 23, 02:08pm

    Hey, thanks for the kind words, Finnegan! Glad you enjoy the site.

  • Flawntnewsmall.thumb
    Finnegan Flawnt
    Oct 24, 04:50am

    I really do! Listen, since I got you here ;-) - is there something like a development corner or wiki where users like myself can leave their 0.02 regarding desirable functions? Thank you, sir.

  • Author_wide.thumb
    Jürgen Fauth
    Oct 24, 11:37am

    Right here would work! We used to have a "features request" discussion thread in the forum -- not sure what happened to it. You could start a new one or post right here. We're always grateful for the feedback.

  • Flawntnewsmall.thumb
    Finnegan Flawnt
    Oct 26, 10:11am

    Ok! I hope

    - I do like to comment on people's stories and I'd like to see their responses. I seem to only get comments on my own posts, though, not on my comments on other people's stories. I'd like that.

    - In the forum, I would like to see the number of views a forum entry has got. This will make me want to check it out.

  • Flawntnewsmall.thumb
    Finnegan Flawnt
    Oct 26, 10:13am

    And another one, prompted by the error in the previous post ("I hope") - I cannot edit or remove forum posts. While I agree it keeps people on their feet not to give them that power, it might also stifle discussions. Unless your goal is to move discussions to the (private/public) groups...but I don't think that the possibility of editing/deleting a post exists there either.

    Thanks!

  • Author_wide.thumb
    Jürgen Fauth
    Oct 30, 01:27pm

    Thanks for these, Finnegan. There's definitely a lot of room for improvements in the forums, and that's on the list.

    I'm not quite sure about the first suggestion -- you're asking for email notifications for comments on stories that you have also commented on? Seems like that might result in an awful lot of emails? Perhaps it might be better to offer a way to see all stories that you have commented on, so that you might check for additional comments?

  • Flawntnewsmall.thumb
    Finnegan Flawnt
    Oct 30, 05:00pm

    jürgen - thanky for your reply - you're right. forget email. an additional "comments" tab might do it which provides what you said. as i see it, and i think you might even have said it somewhere, recently, people need to participate (in the community) for the whole thing to be more than a story-yard. more commenting is needed by more people - including more than a pat on the back (which is nice, too).

  • 559791250128156.thumb
    Monogamie
    Nov 01, 10:04pm

    I agree with finnegan. I have been on for a few hours and this site already feels like the internet's apology for twitter.

    I am never logging off, ever.

  • Jnhalfcrop.thumb
    Jack Nelson
    Nov 03, 06:48pm

    a balm for the quiet desperation of everyday living. To my 'flatland' mind, the idea of discussion thread 'form' writing is a DF Wallace mainstay. Yes, we can do it here, but it reminds me of a question I asked the leader of a jazz group called Burnt Sugar when they were in town a couple years ago. I told him about seeing Paul Motian (jazz drummer) at the Vanguard -- he had 3 guitarists. I asked Mr. Burnt Sugar about that since he too had a rather eclectic big band . . . in crude music journalism speak it was a question re: "does the form make the music or is the music just 'made.'" He replied, "he used three guitar players because he couldn't get Bill Frisell." Ok then, I was ready to praise Motian to the roof tops for his new (then) record and the live arrangement of 3 guitarists, and this guy just claps a stopper on it with - "no frisell." He followed with another instance about some Miles recording w/3 sax players on it . . . because Coltraine was gone. Point being: is DFW the 'frisell' of the discussion thread 'form' of writing?

  • Download.thumb
    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
    Nov 03, 08:13pm

    Big fan of the site design as well, and the PDF function creates such a tasteful version for printouts.

    Hands down the best site I've joined in years.

  • Author_wide.thumb
    Jürgen Fauth
    Nov 05, 10:36am

    Thanks so much for the kind words, everybody. "The Internet's apology for Twitter" should be our new tagline.

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