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Site Update: 23 November 2019
🕑 Added 2019-11-23 19:50:14 +0000 UTC
Two new stories from me this week. I had a surprise inspiration to continue “New Neighbors”, which I’d always meant to come back to, and I like the way it turned out as Jimmy deals with his connection with Connor and Kevin and how it isn’t all about his abilities. Plus there’s a new story, “Against Protocol”, that works nicely as a B-side. Plus there are a number of interesting stories this week, with a lot of variety in plot, character, and type of change or enhancement. I hope you like, and please make sure to comment on and upvote stories you enjoy so the authors how what works.
Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking about the star ratings lately. The original purpose was to help sort stories so that ones that are exceptional get marked that way by reader votes, and that’s pretty much how it works. But what’s giving me pause is the way the star voting allows for stories being dissed, rather than not being recommended, and I’m wondering if that’s the best way to treat stories and their writers while helping bring good stories to the attention of readers who are looking for them. A single one-star vote can undermine several four- and five-star votes.
One alternative is to institute a thumbs-up voting system instead, which is used on a number of sites (Not Always Right is one of the sites that got me thinking of it). If a reader wanted to recommend a story, they'd give it a thumbs up, and stories would be listed with their recommendation count as well as their page views. (If I did this, I’d convert the star ratings to thumbs up on a sliding scale by number of stars.)
I’m still of two minds about this—there are downsides both ways. If the star rating system is used as intended, it can be valuable in tiering the stories; is that what we want to do? What do you think? I’ve set up polls on Twitter and on Patreon for you guys to chime in, and please add a comment too about whether you think the voting system is worth changing and why.
Next update is 7 December. If you’re in the States or affiliated lands, have a great holiday, and in the meantime, thanks for visiting and enjoy the site.
