Fan Fiction Section Features Wish List & Task List - Page 3

Originally posted by: -Sarcy-

Copy pasting my suggestion from the site updates page:

Regarding the new fanfiction section, it is cool but interaction via comments there feels clumsy and so sometimes readers either don't comment or writers prefer to stick to the forum for better interactions. And we even have cases where people post in the FF section but create a thread in the forum for updates and discussions. 

Can we have something where once an FF is posted in the FF section, a linked thread us automatically created in the associated forum for all discussions? The comments and reviews from readers can reflect in both places. This will be motivating for readers and writers both as writers get a sorted interface to manage their stories and index while readers get a clean and familiar interface for reviews. 

As a writer, I like the FF section features but I like the discussions aspect of the forum more and hence prefer to post my stories in the forum vs the FF section. 

Tagging fellow writers

FF section doesn't allow emoticons and gifs. Which makes forum threads preferable.

Also the activities in FF section foes not count in forum while the ffs posted in threads count for forum activity and helps forum ranking.

A lot members only use IF for fanfiction (i was one of them for last 8 years) but FF section isn't very encouraging. While i like some features like how sorted it is while chapters get lost in thread, I'd still chose threads at this point.

Copy-pasting my suggestions from the New Feature/Site Updates Thread and a couple more:

There should be more genres like: Contemporary, Tragedy, Tragicomedy, Horror, Psychological Drama, Paranormal, Supernatural, Mixed etc.

Writers and Readers both should be able to create separate libraries as per their convenience like we get to do in Wattpad.

Just like there's an option for following our favorite author, both open and closed forums should have a following option so that we get a notification each time an author publish a new story on characters from a particular show.

Currently an author can only change the status of his/her stories like: Pending, Ongoing, Abandoned, Completed, Deleted

It would be better if we had the option to permanently delete our stories. 

There should be a system of deleting the story forever. It creates a big issue for those who are migrating their stories. Say, If a member by mistake migrates thread one and thread two as two separate stories, it's not possible to merge them unless one of them is totally deleted. These mistakes are common so I feel there should be a system that can be revertable. Maybe the rights can remain with the FFEs so that at least they can fix this.

Originally posted by: BrhannadaArmour

"Mature content" (which means PG-13 according to one moderator) was always allowed. That's why there is a Mature check box. What you are getting now is official permission for the explicit content (R-rated) and obscene content (X-rated) that members were already openly sharing. Authors were telling you about their R-rated and X-rated stories through Book Cover requests, and they got their covers, no questions asked.

Regarding Swetha-Sai's concern that children (imagine an eleven-year-old wanting to know what friends are reading) could just lie about their age to read BDSM etc. on India Forums, and vijay's response that leaving age verification up to the discretion of children (as if they grasp the consequences) is a "reasonable barrier" ...

My suggestion is that X-rated content and sexual-violence-written-as-romance should be prohibited so that there would be no question of India Forums becoming known as the place where minors easily find filth. Of course, this is the current "family-friendly site" policy that wasn't enforced when moderators and their cronies ran afoul of it. Have you modelled how much traffic you would lose if you got rid of the filth that is currently readable on India Forums?

Not having a report button is a problem, but moderators making up reasons to ignore violations (e.g. Koeli saying to me in a PM dated 21 March 2022, "we are not going to take any action as of now because it is migrated for an award") is the real problem. Until you have one consistent policy, until your moderators are trained to follow that policy, and until your moderators are held accountable for enabling violations of your policy, common-sense buttons will not help you.

If you decide to have a ratings system, I hope you'll clearly define the type of content that requires each age-restriction, and these definitions will be visible to authors while they are selecting a rating for their story. You will also need to decide what moderators should do about incorrect ratings. Hide the story? Punish the author? Quietly fix the rating? Or shrug it off: "If someone wants to cheat the system it is on them and not on us."

Why don't you wait till the whole thing is implemented instead of questioning the same thing every time? You need to understand that the site is going through major changes and obviously a lot of things are taken into account before deciding many things. This is high time you know that you need to pm the GM or Admin if you have any issues regarding moderation instead of posting openly on the site. Regarding mature content, I am sure the admin and others have considered/considered all pros and cons. As Vijay said it is not on the site if someone forges their age to read or watch something. There are many other websites that allow mature content I personally don't think there is anything wrong in that. If someone doesn't want to read that it's up to them. And if someone is eligible and willing to read why will they be deprived of that? Fan Fiction is meant to entertain people and by restricting authors we will be losing out on many amazing creativity. Our work is to post warnings before they can enter to read any mature content stuff. Mature content stories are globally accepted and it is wrong to take away that leverage from the authors of India Forums. Regarding the restrictions and "family-friendly site" concern, you will get to know soon the dos and don'ts once the whole thing is processed but for that, I would suggest you please wait for some more time.

I would also request proper spacing to be allowed in the Summary, Author’s Note sections and content section of the fanfiction. Currently, the text looks too cluttered and unappealing.

As the above two things are hygiene factors, I hope they will be implemented soon 😊

I think it would help manage the general tags better if we could have drop-down options like we have for the other tags. These tag options could be created in the system memory once users have used the same tag a few times (number to be determined but I’m thinking 2 or 3 would be a good number). For example: If I create a new tag :’angst’, then once that tag has been used twice or thrice (by me or diff users) it is automatically memorized in the system so that the next time a user types ‘a’ or the first few letters the drop-down shows all tags that are already in use beginning with the letter and the user has to simply choose one. This will avoid users creating multiple tags and will help collate stories under one tag so they’re easier for readers to find. AO3 has this feature too and I think this will prevent authors creating too many unique tags and cluttering the section, keeping it more organized. . 

Originally posted by: vijay

Add more option to the Fanfiction homepage to highlight:

a) Recent Additions

b) Popular Fan fictions

Would be great if we can have an option or a tab that highlights and makes it easier to find original fiction. 

Originally posted by: vijay

Need to introduce Story Ratings System (similiar to how movies have General / PG / R etc) so that user have a clear idea on level of the story.

Current plan is: 

G (general audiences) 

M (mature audiences / 13+)

R (restricted, no children under 17 allowed)

X (no one under 21 admitted and would require to update their profile with Date of Birth).

We could have this in a dropdown sort of way where the 4 rating systems are options in the dropdown and make the dropdown a compulsory blank in add fiction page. 

Copy+pasting and dividing my post

1.  can the arrows on the button next to the status of the story be replaced with text like "update status" or something. It is small and hence people tend to miss it, so their stories remain in drafts and unless they contact the ffes, we can't do anything about it to help them. 

We should have a fixed place for rules and that should be visible on every page. Right now we are using a featured story slot. We would like to maximise that place. Can we also have a contest alert tab (blinky/animated) when we have content that tab blinks or something?