• Story Updates August 10, 2011

    The story update queue is getting a bit crazy lately.  I'm going to compile some of the ones that have been in queue for a while into this thread for the sake of not spamming the front page with them.  All of these will also be in the nightly roundup, as always.

    I've also included images since I know a lot of you remember stories based on imagery. 

    I'm not going to toss all of the update queue stories in here,  so if your story isn't included, it's probably further up in the line. I know some of you don't like this method, but even the fanfiction tab is being wiped lately with updates. 

    I think this should still give the same amount of heads up, especially now that I include updates in the nightly. 

    Everything can be found after the break!

    Please comment on the story threads themselves with feedback, not here!


    Story Updates


    New Image














     Karamel (Update Part 5+6!) 


    Equestria Hockey League (Update Part 3!)


    Story: Rainbow Colored Falling Stars (Update Part 3!)




    Escape from Castle Midnight (Update Chapter 3!)


    Seven Ponies (Update Part 2+3!)




    Catch Me If You Can (Update Part 4!)




    Natural Order (Update Part 3!)



    The Snowball Effect (Update Part 7!)

    36 comments:

    1. Completely off-topic but the AJ picture above is epic.

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    2. Why not increase the length requirement for updates to non-completed, non-oneshot works?

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    3. @Anonymous

      I was going to, until I realized the majority of these updates are already exceeding the 3000 word limit requirement in the first place hah .

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    4. @Sethisto
      It still could be increased to at least 5000 I think. While it may not be true in these cases here, other fanfics would profit if they would write a bit longer before sending new updates in.

      Also: I fully approve of this format for most normal story-updates. In my opinion, it was already spamming the front page unnecessarily and distracting from other news / actually finished stories / updates of 6-star stories.

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    5. A thought, Seth: if the backlog's getting bad, perhaps new chapters to existing stories could be compiled in this manner, while new stories could get separate posts?

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    6. Thanks a lot for doing this Seth. Personally I am not sure about increasing the amount of words needed per fic. That might just make the fics drawn out longer than they should be. Honestly you can COMPLETEY ignore what I just said if you want because I hardly ever read fics or any literature for that matter.

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    7. @Acriaos

      "...it was already spamming the front page unnecessarily and distracting from other news / actually finished stories / updates of 6-star stories."

      While I'd agree that the front page was getting a bit cluttered, this isn't the best solution. You are essentially saying that you want the already well-established stories to get far more attention than new works. I feel like this would be detrimental to the purpose of the front page, which is to make readers aware of the new works entering the MLP community.

      I'm not just saying this because that's one of my stores up there in that list. (Seven Ponies, in case you want to know.) Ask any of the authors that wrote these stories and I'm sure they wouldn't be happy that their work is being relegated to just a picture and a name. Hypothetically, the next 'Past Sins' could be buried in one of these list style posts and no one would read it simply because of how much other content they have to sift through.

      There is much more I could say on the subject, but for now all I have to say is: This better just be a temporary solution.

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    8. This is analogous to the drawfriend posts and is a good idea.

      If we're writing almost as much as we're drawing, and the drawfriend posts work so well, then why don't we already use this strategy for fanfics? My hypothesis is ppl get just as much recognition if all the stories/pics come in the same post.

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    9. This might work, just be sure to give new stories, finished stories, and star updated stories new tabs.
      The last two are simply based on my own experience in reading fan-fiction. Personally, I often won't start reading a story until it is finished or at least rated, so bundling them into this format, especially without listing their rating and completion statues, could cause some great fics to be overlooked.
      Furthermore, if a fan-fiction gets some of its old chapters edited, such as Past Sins recently did, I also think the Fan-fic should get its own tab.
      Well that my 2 cents on the issue.

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    10. Thank goodness geez I lucked out with this, never seen an image for Natural Order before and only read the first chapter ages ago but I knew I really enjoyed it and wanted more. (Yeah I had lost my history by accident so I had forgotten the title too! thankfully the description sounded very familiar! Thanks Seth!)

      /Cátsy

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    11. I like the existing method of each fanfic getting their own post, and I've adapted pretty well with the listing at the end of the nightly roundups. I find this post here to be a bit redundant in that sense - can't you just schedule the bumps to the hours when you guys are not in the site?

      The fics I really really care about I can track using watches in FimFiction/FanFiction.

      From my point of view the current system works pretty well.

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    12. I go for the tag-picture combo, so I'm gonna have to click on all these again anyways

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    13. I'd say give new fics their own post for the first few chapters, say three, then put them in with condensed fic updates. 6 star stories should get their own full updates though.

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    14. If they're 6 star they don't need the additional attention.

      I say new post for new stories, bundle all (ALL) updates together, and probably new posts for finished multi-chapter stories.

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    15. I honestly disagree with both this condensation idea (as others have stated, it basically means that the established fics stay established, while other fics would sort of start to get lost in the pack) as well as the idea of increasing the necessary word count. Extra length in a story does *not* mean quality, and, in fact, can turn a short-but-good fic into a drawn out tedium as the writer has to make up 1500+ words to clear 5000 words, or whatever it would be.

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    16. Wait, now I have to wait all friggin day to see which stories updated?
      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

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    17. Oh man, I think you can time posts fanfic updates to show on front page whenever no other news are going on. I think for the sake of the authors they really deserve some repeated exposure to attract new readers.

      Those who don't like fic there is already the no-fic mode. For the rest of us, it can not be enough pony per day. Post all updates on FP seth. ALL OF THEM.

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    18. I'm liking this idea.
      A few suggestions:
      1) put the tags of the stories (the ones in [square brackets]) under the links; I use those as well as the pictures and names to remember which stories I'm reading.
      2)If it's a new story, maybe for the first 3 chapters or so, or if it's an "Update: Complete!" put it in its own update (as you do now). Otherwise, I like this style. It's compact, smooth, and you don't have to update the blog every hour.

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    19. Applejack! HATS DON'T GO IN THE WASHER! ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

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    20. I think the real problem with this is that often people will be left unaware of when stories they are following are updated.

      I personally don't read most of the nightly updates, and the only reason I came here was to see if my own story was posted.

      Still, as a temporary solution to handle a flood of posts, it seems to be a good idea. I just hope it doesn't become the norm.

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    21. Sorry, by 'the real' I meant 'one'. My complaint is actually quite minor compared to many of the others posted here. I just type a bit too fast. :P

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    22. Ugh, I HATE this. Being able to see the summary for each fic in a row helps me (and I'm SURE many others) remember just what a fic is in the first place. Without it it's a waste of time opening each post. And as someone says, this kind of puts some fics 'in the background'.

      I would rather the update amount be raised (so long as the final update of fic isn't held to this!) if necessary. Yeah some fics would take longer between updates but it wouldn't take any extra time for the author, theoretically.

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    23. I'm conflicted about this. To start with, yes I want my exposure all the time, sure, and I love to see the fics lining up and being able to read the description there and everything... I have discovered so many amazing stories that way!

      On the other hoof, given the amount of fics in here I can understand how this would create problems for Seth and Co... especially since this is not an automated system. Aren't there alternatives? Maybe update fics on a side bar under the "Popular Posts"?

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    24. they need a description for people who have read them before

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    25. I thought the whole reason we had the No Fanfiction Mode button was so we wouldn't have to resort to doing stuff like this? If people don't like seeing a lot of fics on the front page, they're one click away from being rid of them.

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    26. Is it so hard to copypaste the description and tags from the main story post?

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    27. I'm likeing this, with all the updates in one post. But Seth, can I suggest something for your archives organization. Instead of the "ctrl + f" to help find a fix, why not try and organize it like how fimfiction.net is organized. I'm not trying to promote it because I'm loyal to both sites (both are saved in my favorites), but over there seams to be a better way to organize and easily show which fics has been updated. But still, I like this way too and not having to search back through older post so see what fics got updated.

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    28. Wait...Those were the upper limits and none the minium guidelines. Wow, um sorry.

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    29. This is just a temp thing to stave off the huge queue right now.

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    30. rainbow colored falling star 3???
      OGAWD

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    31. @MONSTERheart

      Not exactly what I meant, I never said new stories should be compiled in such posts. Just new chapters to existing stories (with a possible exception for 6-star stories) could be compiled like this. This would make sure, that every story gets to be on the front page at least (!) two times, namely when it starts and when it ends. Depending how big the update queue is, there could be more compilation posts or more normal updates though.

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