• Updates May 22nd

    With the post-season 1 influx, I'll be stopping the whole "bump on update" thing.  Every night (well technically 2 hours ago) I will be doing a "daily update" post.  This will hang at the top for the 6 hours that the blog is usually paused. All new fanfiction chapters/Updates will go here.

    Hopefully this cuts down the clutter a bit.

    I'm glad we aren't slowing down at least!

    P.S. I'll probably be asleep for this next milestone!  Grats on 7mil everyone!  I'll try to cook something up tomorrow, but between RL work/emails/tinkering with the chat room, I ran out of time.

    Fanfiction
    Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel Part 3
    Traveler: Unstoppable Force
    Creature that Came to Ponyville Part 3


    Brony Comms
    Ep. 11 Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2iZTAG5Apk
    Ep. 11 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq9tAVUVoR0
    Ep. 12 Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gopvnTvyMGs
    Ep. 12 Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-zapB91kjQ

    Otaku Ascended
    Ep 13 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2frdkh-cnvA
    Ep 14 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhg6H-_HOqk

    Other
    No More Heroes Revamped

    67 comments:

    1. >season 1
      >influx

      :D

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    2. Worked out better than expected.

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    3. i like this new plan

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    4. I'm intrigued. Definitely hyped that we've actually INCREASED activity after season one, though! Hopefully I'll be waking up to a shiny new 7,000,000 in the morning!

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    5. We tripled activity since season 1 ended.

      Just sayin.

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    6. Looks good. Since updates always come in the morning for me (ASIA REPRESENT), I've started checking this site instead of reading the newspaper like a normal adult.

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    7. I don't think sis banishing everypony to the moon yesterday was any sort of influence.

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    8. First - Good, like the idea of summary posts, so I can follow the flow of this crazyness that in Equestria Daily better. Also, It would be LOVELY to give the fanfics tags in here, so everypony would know on what kind of Fic he or she is clicking instantly.

      Secondly - WHERE IS THE CHAT?!

      Thirdly - And WHERE is the Promised Sidebar with Epic Lenght Stories to follow? ;)

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    9. Good, I dont have to deal with checking the page and seeing fanfics that i never read every hour.

      Honestly. I hate the fact that half or alittle more then half of the fanfics have to be grimdark and, or shipping. The fact that people can take such an innocent world and turn it upside down for the worse is wrong.

      Just sayin'

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    10. Well, I did live in the dark for just a few long years, so it's only natural for me to write something that's dark.

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    11. I don't like this idea. It gives a lot less attention to individual entries. The site is not cluttered.

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    12. @Musical Night

      Turning an innocent world upside down isn't wrong, it's entertaining... Well, unless that innocent world is real, but we're talking about MLP:FIM. all the shipping and grimdark is a form of self-expression for those who feel like a simple, perfect society is unrealistic... And then there are a few wierdos(cupcakes), but that's not my point.

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    13. @Anonymous,

      But this is My Little Pony. Not My Little Lesbians/Lovers or My Little Murderers.

      This is a kids show and i'd hate for a kid to find this site and start reading something like cupcakes

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    14. This has the possibility to be fantastic, it'll certainly be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few days.

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    15. Ehhh I don't really like this idea. It works for stuff like Drawfriends (compiling a whole bunch of art together), but for fanfics it not only doea a disservice to the authors, who won't have a central place to read comments, but also to the readers, since it means any new fics won't be getting their own (also-easily-bookmarked) entry.

      If you ARE going to use summary posts, I suggest using them in one of two ways: for "standalone" subjects, like one-off or completed comics, or for, ya know, the day's summary. But please keep fanfics in their own posts. Several authors have said that feedback from EqD is the "fuel" they need to write. And I agree.

      .. especially since, ya know, I submitted a fic of my own I'm starting a few days ago and it didn't get it's own post yet.. ahem.. prereaders and all I know, but still! Doesn't invalidate all the stuff I said above!

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    16. @aramaru

      By my understanding, this will only apply to updates on existing serial fics. New stories will get their own posts as usual.

      Speaking as a writer who is currently penning an update to an existing story, I'm very happy with this new policy. Constantly seeing the same few stories at the top every day was pretty much my only gripe with this blog.

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    17. I prefer separate posts simply because I check the site so much so I love to see updates constantly streaming in.

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    18. @Anonymous

      I agree with this gentlemen above me. Seeing that "Getting Lucky" fic get bumped 3 times over the span of 2 days was quite annoying.

      I'm fine with this.

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    19. At this rate, we will still need a new counter soon. 10mil is right around the corner!

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    20. @aramaru
      What, do the artists not put as much effort into their work as the fanfic authors? As for comments, they'll still be there, you just have to see them alongside comments for other stories. The horror!

      But the simple fact is, the fanbase is still accelerating. And keeping individual posts or each fic will only become more and more unworkable; especially as the actual news slows. Trying to use a blog as a central repository for fanworks is already straining the limits of the format.

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    21. @Sethisto

      Seriously?
      Man this fandom never fails to surprise me.

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    22. Yea I don't care for this, I like to know what the story is Im clicking on

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    23. @aramaru
      What, do the artists not put as much effort into their work as the fanfic authors? As for comments, they'd still be there, you'd just have to see them alongside comments for other stories. The horror!

      But the simple fact is, the fanbase is still accelerating. And keeping individual posts for each fic will only become more and more unworkable; especially as the actual news slows. The longer it gets put off, the more the blog will end up revolving solely around fanfiction (well, more so).

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    24. @Anonymous

      I certainly didn't mean as such, but, well, art is either on FA or DA 95% of the time, and those sites have comment systems. Google Docs and Fanfiction.net, the two most common sites people use for hosting stuff, don't have an open comment system like the above. That's all. If it was taken as demeaning, I apologize, that wasn't the intent.

      But hey, feedback! This is exactly what I'm talking about! I worry it might diminish under this new system. 'Tis all.

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    25. Seth you are doing an amazing job and I have no idea how you manage to keep up with all this. Maybe daily update will make your life a bit easier.

      On the other hand I really enjoy the lively atmosphere created by constant updates, and agree with aramaru on that fanfic authors would appreciate separate posts.

      But, uh... you know...
      um, whatever you want to do is fine.

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    26. @aramaru
      Don't both FA and DA support the submission of fiction too?

      And seriously, I have no idea why this community has become so obsessed with the usage of Google Docs. It's a collaboration tool, not one meant for distributing content. Most people will be viewing it in read-only mode, which defeats the purpose of the whole thing.

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    27. Hmm, the joy of looking at new things on EquDaily relegated to only a few times per day.... D:

      I feel like this method is pretty much guarantee that any and all even moderately good fanfics will be full (if on google docs) for a while :x

      Though, it is important that seth sleeps (though he should just slave away catering to the herd x3)

      and we need more Luna <3

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    28. People like Google Docs 'cause there's a real-time chat built in, which allows the author to converse with readers and spot corrections easily. It's hardly IRC, but I believe that's the main draw of it.

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    29. If people are worried that they won't get the latest updates as soon as they are available, perhaps the fanfic list on the sidebar could still bump fics as Seth updates the original posts with the new content (or have a new list for serial fics, as I think was proposed before). Then, the summary is posted at the end of the day for the casual viewers.

      Of course, if the intention of this policy was to give Seth a break and only update the original posts all in one go at the end of the day, this wouldn't be feasible.

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    30. The other solution would just be to drop the pretense that the blog isn't here mainly for fanfiction now.

      I can't remember the last time story posts didn't occupy at least 50% of the front page.

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    31. @people complaining about not getting specific comments on specific fanfics: This is the same thing that the people who make PMV's, and people that have their artwork featured in those drawfriend groupings have to 'deal with'. Yes, deviantArt and youtube has the ability for people to leave comments on the specific things themselves, but there are more places than just googledocs to submit fanfiction. You can also submit it on dA which has a place for comments as well, and if you submit it on dA it gives the option for readers to follow/watch/subscribe/w.e you, which is something google docs can't do either. The real-time chat is hardly worth mentioning unless you (as an author) plan to have that open in a tab 24/7 in case someone leaves a comment in there. on dA it stays there so you can come back whenever, and they'll still be there. As a side note, I don't work for dA, I don't even care for dA really, but it just seems silly to me for fanfic people to use such a gimped system like googledocs.

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    32. I think people are not quite understanding what Seth is doing. As far as I understand, what will happen is there is going to be a single post at the top of the page every day. As new fanfics get send to ED, they will be added to this post. If that is the case, we can still keep refreshing ED constantly to see if new fics have been added (as well as other content), there will just be a lot less posts on the blog since they will be added to the one post that gets added everyday. If that makes sense.

      Furthermore, the links lead to the individual fics on ED, so those who fear they have to share comments, this doesn't seem to be the case. The one drawback I see is that you do have to click on each fanfic link now to see what tags it has. However, if that is the only issue I think this is a great middle road to please both the bronies like myself who constantly refresh ED hoping for new content (fics included) and those bronies who are getting really tired of the constant flow of fics.

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    33. I like coming back to the site every hour or so and seeing something new. Not just the fics, but the youtube links and the drawfriend stuff, and everything really. The constant updates seems to project life onto the site, always in constant motion; and therefore this projects on a large part of the fandom.

      I understand the consolidation, but I am a mite concerned for the site, as well as my dose of pony >.<

      And if people don't like the fics "clogging up" the page that otherwise has supposedly 1/2 fanfiction content; consider how stale the front page will be with news and stuff from like more than 24 hours ago with all that fanfiction gone.

      I could get in a long discussion about fanfics here; but it comes down to the point that these fics are part of our fandom; a large part actually, and it would be a shame if they where "pushed aside", even a little bit.

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    34. I still dont get why fan fiction is a bad thing on the front page.

      1 There is a button on the bottom of the page that lets you scroll back to the second its not like if its not on the first page it falls into oblivion or something.

      2 I check the blog multiple times a day so I dont miss anything and the only way I can see others missing things is if they look once a day and dont check the second/third page and that's just lazy on there part.

      3 There is more to this site than the front page if your one of those guys that bitches about fan fiction (wtf are you still on this site for if you hate it so much) you can simply click the NEWS button on the top of the page and not have to read a single thing other than news!

      As far as I am concerned the only ones that have a problem with the fan fiction the way it was are just lazy to the point ware they cant be bothered to check beyond the first page and only check the first page every 2 days.


      That said I dont mind the idea of a list but I think it needs to be made differently than just the names of the fics because from this post I have no idea what the hell Heart of Gold Feathers of Steel is even about.

      I dont get why fan fiction and bronycomms updates are in the same post?
      I kinda get fanfiction because there is so much but videos dont even update that often...

      In the end of things im just afraid that this will lower the views certain fics get because a lesser known fic that updates every week wont get as much spot lite when its posted next to say fallout that gets featured in one of these posted like every other day. Also the commenting being scrambled together sounds like a disaster waiting to happen because if an artist wants to read feedback there going to have to read 300 comments not related to them and all that is going to do is isolate the authors from the fans. Isolation is the last thing this community needs during the season break.

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    35. @Zepwin

      Almost concur.
      I currently upload my story to DVA, but with all its glory, Googledocs still have much better formatting options than DVA. Call me crazy, but that is the main reason why I choose Googledocs as the first and foremost place for story uploading.

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    36. I'm honestly a little concerned with the idea.

      I don't mind checking this website multiple times a day and checking every little update on every little thing. I think that it really gives all the creators their own place at the spotlight and their own little comment section. Consolidating all the updates into massive ones might cause some really noteworthy, well written material to go under with little chance of getting exposure.

      In a website that seems so based on its community, I think it's important to develop that by giving members, old and new, an equal chance.

      I know that isn't the only place to submit your fanfics and that Google Docs may be a little gimped, but this a MLP;FiM based website and it seems to me like one of the best places to submit pony related material.

      I'd say that it's worth a shot just to try and keep the clutter down to a minimum, but there might be some negative implications to this.

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    37. There are three problems with using DA over googledocs for me as a reader.

      One is that long fanfics are split into multiple segments because of DA's character limit, which is a bit of an annoyance.

      Two is that googledocs allows for more flexibility in text formatting compared to the html used for DA, and specially formatted text can add to the experience of reading a story.

      Three is that googledocs allows me to directly save a fic as a pdf file, and pdfs are much easier to read than plain text because the reader allows me to bookmark my spot.

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    38. @Anonymous
      If you scroll back to the second and third pages, guess what? They're at least half fanfiction as well. It just leads to scrolling and scrolling through pages and pages and pages covered in the stuff just trying to pick out anything else.

      I don't see any artists in draw posts complaining about having to share a post with other people's work, so I really don't get why the authors feel they're so different.

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    39. Why do I feel like the last one to know we had a chat? Where is thisw chat?! Also sorry if there is a double post my phone trolls me from time to time.
      PS this place has become awesome. I remember not that long ago we were impresssed by 100k hits lol.

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    40. Some of this "but I'll lose out on comments" stuff sounds dangerously close to attention whoring.

      Try thinking about all the other content makers who have their stuff buried under a blanket of fanfiction.

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    41. Its all very nice, discussing about Fanfiction and comments and stuff.

      But there is something way more important.

      Like...
      WHERE IS MY CHAT!?

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    42. I was thinking maybe instead of having a post hog the top for 6 hours, maybe provide some sort of link to it and have it age normally. Like you usually do with events. or even better, make it a post type (like news, art, fics, etc) and make a button for it at the top of the page instead.

      that way it is easy to find but not too obtrusive,

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    43. @fireantGoogledocs is also cloud-based. The convenience of that is astounding: I started work on a fanfiction at my parent's home, saved it, then opened it back up when I got back to my apartment. I didn't have to mess with flash drives or Dropbox or anything; it was just there. It's also nice to have the ability to share the link to an unfinished product with someone who can then see your changes in real-time. It's helped me clear up murky language more times than I'd like to admit.

      Plus, it looks like a text document. DeviantArt, for all its benefits, posts the text on a puke green background. I know that there's probably some way to fix that for myself, but the average reader isn't going to want to go through the hassle of making a DeviantArt account or downloading custom .css stuff.

      As for this change, I'm quite neutral to it. As the author of one of the three fics (Heart & Feathers, to be precise), I can't deny that I was waiting to see my post come back up to the top of the site. The picture and the description do a much better job at setting up the story than the title does (which only really makes sense in the context of the story).

      However, I can also see what a hassle it would be to constantly update the website for new additions to fanfics. I'm not talking about clutter, or the seeming overpopulation of fanfics; I'm talking about the time needed to put every story into the queue. If it's easier for Sethisto to change the rules on how things get updated, then I'll abide by them.

      Also, the link to my fic is supposedly going to stay at the top of the page for 6 hours now, instead of for one hour or thirty minutes. If a bit more information about the fic gets added to this post, it would definitely mean a lot more exposure than the old way.

      I guess it goes back to the question raised in The Office: "Would you rather have a lot of pizza or only a little bit of good pizza?" Some people would prefer a little bit of quality over quantity, in terms of exposure time. Some people would like more exposure, period.

      The only thing I care about, at the end of the day, is whether or not someone is entertained by what I write. I don't know whether or not this change is going to be better for fanfiction readers, so I can't really side with or against it at this point.

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    44. @Adrian Brony I agree with this. Or perhaps something like the 'Drawfriend Stuff' for fanfic.

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    45. @Anonymous

      Well, I mean, new fics still should have their own post because it is easier to rate them and comment on them that way. just the multi-parters get this treatment here when they update.

      at least that was my understanding

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    46. I'm not fond of this new system. It's just going to lead to less readers for continuing fics, because unless you're here every day and catch the first chapter, your first impression of the fic is going to be as a context-free title on a list. It's not really the best pitch for new readers.

      What's going to end up happening is that far fewer bronies will begin reading these stories as they are ongoing; a story's popularity will become entirely dependent on how many people happen to be viewing the site during its first update.

      I think the old system was fine. Instead of bumping them as the chapters come in, though, perhaps it would be better to limit bumps on continuing fics to one story per day.

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    47. I don't see why people care so much about the ratings system. Blogger doesn't even IP check them, so you can end up voting multiple times.

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    48. @Anonymous
      "I don't see any artists in draw posts complaining about having to share a post with other people's work, so I really don't get why the authors feel they're so different."


      Art and stories are different animals, and trying to compare the two is counter-productive. It takes far longer to read a story than it does to look at a piece of artwork. Since the viewer is being asked for a larger time investment, fics get a stronger pitch from the site to compensate for this. It balances out, because people are far more inclined to look at art than they are to read stories, due to the aforementioned time commitment.

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    49. Best solution: Give viewers the option to filter out categories they don't like. Then bronies who don't want to see fanfiction can browse to their heart's content without reason to complain.

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    50. The summary works for ongoing podcasts, but I don't like the lack of description for the updated fanfiction. Some go for a week or more without an update and it'd be nice to have a reminder of what each was about since I never remember any of the titles.

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    51. @Adrian BronyThat's exactly what's going on. Instead of bumping existing posts when new content arrives, the fanfics will just get linked to when they get an update past the first part.

      I'm not sure how I feel about this update. On the one hand, it was nice to have the whole post up there, because the post was sort of the "casing" for the fic. It had a rating, summary, and a little picture. If people missed the first post, they'll have a bit less to go on, now, because there's just a title.

      On the other, I figure it can't be easy or anything less than time consuming to keep this blog up, running, and current. So if Sethisto wants to do it like this to make it easier, then by all means.

      @AnonymousThe difference is that you can usually see what's going on in a picture in ten seconds. Depending on the size of a fic, it can tell a less vague story (in that the interpretation of a given picture without context is much more open than the interpretation of a scene where everything is explained), but it requires more time for the audience to take in than a picture does.

      I think that people are either complaining because they think that all fanfictions are going to be handled this way, not just updates, or because there needs to be more information about each fanfic than just the title.

      Either way, there's no need to be hostile towards people reacting to a change.

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    52. @Anonymous

      This option would be totally awesome, if the site/blogger supported it. Of course in order to do this you'd have to get a bunch of stuff set up, and it's a lot of work for something that can be easily solved other ways.

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    53. Happy 7 million! And I think if things need to be consolidated, make it like drawfriend instead of just a list of links; it will allow at least a little bit "more" for the readers to identify the fics.

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    54. 7 Million!

      Yes I got to actually see the roll over this time! See you all next week at 8 Million. What happens to the counter at 10 million?

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    55. Woo 7M! Can't wait to see what will happen at 10M!

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    56. http://i.imgur.com/MQzSW.png

      (central time)

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    57. On my phone and counter is 1000 away*
      Refresh page in case of lag*
      Counter is at 7000100*
      FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

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    58. wow, i started couting to kill time before 7M and
      about 20 minutes the 7M the page had like 1000 views per minute
      it was very accurate, increased a little on the last minutes but if this continues:
      1 Minute =~1,000 views
      1 Hour =~60,000 views
      1 Day =~1,440,000 views OMG
      (yeah i know this is not the average speed all the time)

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    59. Personally, I think the solution everypony's looking for is to use those fancy buttons right below the logo that let you search by topic.

      If there was a way to keep the fics bumped on the Fanfic category but not on the front page, that would probably be the best solution for everypony.

      (hope this doesn't doublepost, I sent it once and it didn't seem to show up :S)

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    60. @aramaru

      By my understanding, these update block posts will post links to other posts on EqD about each story, not the fics themselves, so ppl can still comment here on EqD on each story. Plus, new stories will get new posts.

      Sethisto, am I understanding this correctly?

      If this is the case,then I think this update system will work fine. For people out there who don't have time to check back here very hour, this will let them see all the latest stuff without having to constantly come back.

      On the other hand, I think that hit counter might star moving a little slower....

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    61. please note I am not an author trying to attention whore. I am just concerned for the community built around this site and fanfics.

      I dont get why we need to stop bumping fanfics when others that "miss out because of them" can just hit the news button on the top!

      Its just lazyness if you refuse to look beyond page one!

      I say dont fix whats not broken and I would say this is broken if there werent tabs on the side and buttons on the top but you can simply press a fucking button and filter everything but news away so why the fuck should the fics be condensed to a list with no context!?

      The fanart do get posted together but they always have links to DA FA and the like and people can comment there.
      With nothing but Google docs theres no way to get comments like that because its not its own page.

      Also to the guys confused b why so many used Google docs I clearly remember this blog pushing the hell out of Google docs because it couldn't support all the huge images that were used back before it was made on /co/

      I really dont see how its fair to push something then have a community grow around that something and then sweep it away because others are to lazy to push a fucking button under the banner.

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    62. I actually like the bump to update, but that's just me.

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    63. Don't do this.

      for the people who are too damn lazy to simply click the "News" tab, suck it up cupcake.

      I like coming to EQD and seeing a good fic at the top, getting the attention it deserves.

      This will keep the steady influx of comments going, which us authors (at least me) love.

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    64. The reason this site gets so many hit is because of the constant updates, whether or not they are fics. People have a reason to check back multiple times a day. Stop catering to a whining minority.

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    65. I have to agree with this being a bad idea, but considering you've already made up your mind, I guess it's too late :P

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    66. omg...
      >refreshed page
      >counter goes up 400

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