Okay.
Edit: I've now moved over at least almost all the relevant reviews for the already format-modified stories (although I couldn't access the review section for "Ranma the Amorous Oversexed Nympho", as it was content blocked for obvious reasons). If someone else could handle moving those, and possibly skim if I missed any other comments, or accidentally deleted anything I shouldn't (the stories themselves) during the cleanup (it's easy to get dizzy during this type of boring routine).
edited 7th Nov '10 12:55:33 PM by antvasima
Question: Should Horrible.Fanfic get the treatment as well? It uses the same formatting, but it's also evil.
she her hers hOI!!! i'm tempeI say no; those are there specifically to scream at the reader just how bad they are (like the warning labels on a bottle of something poisonous), and using the new system will only blunt that effect.
While we're talking about this, can someone throw their two cents in on these
proposed
updates to the fic rec pages?
edited 15th Nov '10 11:01:57 AM by Willbyr
I think all the reviews have disappeared on The Legend Of Zelda fanfic page? I remember some of the entries that used to have comments but now everything is gone, every entry has "add review" instead of "X reviews". Where did they go?
P.S. If possible, it would be more convenient for the new system to either:
A. have the reviews unfold like a folder underneath a fanfic entry, so we don't have to go to a whole new page just to see what one person had to say about a fic, or
B. have the review page have a copy of the title, synopsis, status, etc that gets listed on the main fanfic rec page, so you don't have to go back and forth between two windows because what was the story about that the reviews were for again?
I don't know what it would take to do that, if it would be a lot of work to implement something like that then just ignore me. Just a suggestion.
edited 19th Nov '10 5:39:31 PM by GeneralGrant
the title of the fic is on the reviews page.
As to why the comments have been removed, well, it looks like most of them were just fluff. The ones that were basically saying "oooh cool" were supposed to be deleted and if signed the commenter's name moved to the recommender line. If unsigned should have been Zapped anyway for being unsigned. The substantive comments should have been moved to the reviews, but it looks like whoever converted the page either forgot or didn't know.
Is it too late to strenuously object to these changes and insist that they be completely reversed? At least leave the first comment on the main page, it's an unnecessary irritation to navigate to a separate page just to get the whole story on why someone thinks the story is worth reading.
well, i've finished creating YMMV tabs for my fandom list so i decided to move on to switching fanfic recs pages to the new format. Willbyr, may i just say that you're absolutely awesome? i have EVA on my list but i wouldn't have touch that one even with a 10-foot pole. it was a crazy page. LOL.
already did Artemis Fowl (only two recs, pretty easy), and i'm currently working on Avatar The Last Airbender. yes, apparently i have some kind of death wish. but anyway, i have a few questions regarding the new format:
- generally speaking, the format should be: title (+author), recommended by, status, pairings (if applicable), synopsis, and then the link to the reviews. correct? i'm thinking we could also add a little "notes"/"other important info" section that would detail information like "see this site if you want to participate" (some are round-robins and RP Gs) or detailing when the fic got a Fan Fic page of its own.
- if i don't know the status of the fic (i haven't read all of the fics), what do i do? leave it blank, i guess?
- are we only moving useful reviews? natter and comments that are just responding to someone else's comment get cut?
- unsigned comments: gone? usually one can tell the first comment is by the first recommender, the second one by the second recommender, etc, but in some cases there's two recommenders and more than two comments. so, unsigned stuff goes the way of natter?
any clarification is appreciated.
First comment will pretty much always be from first recommender. Even if you can't figure out any of the others, that one should be pretty straightforward.
Wilbyr came up with the idea of posting comments that are just responses to others' reviews as... comments to that review on the new page. Makes sense to me.
As for selling the story to new readers, the solution is generally to make the synopsis look as interesting as possible.
For instance, were my connection durable enough to allow me to edit the page, I would change Thousand Shinji's synopsis from the former to the latter:
- Synopsis: A crossover with Warhammer 40,000, different from Shinji And Warhammer 40 K because it's an actual universe crossover rather than the boardgame making an appearance.
- Synopsis: It's a common idea in NGE fanfiction for Shinji to be raised by someone different. It's rather less common for that parent-figure to be a time-displaced Sorcerer of the Thousand Sons Legion. A far more ruthless, calculating Ikari has come to Tokyo-3, and as the battle of wits between him and his father threatens to shake the city apart in the face of Armageddon, dark forces begin to manipulate events from behind the scenes. Can Shinji trust his new allies, or is he simply a pawn in a far larger game?
edited 26th Nov '10 7:26:20 AM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?that's a great idea. it's what i went with. some reviews i had to add as "unsigned review" because i didn't know who had added them and don't really have time to go through the history page (SRSLY PEOPLE, sign your stuff! wtf!), but i left a commented note on the page saying to PM me if the commenter wants me to add his/her handle to the review.
as far as the synopses go, i didn't alter the synopses at all. mostly because i haven't actually read most of the fics in question. but yeah, that could be an option as well.
status report: oh my GAWD i finally got it done! took me all day because jesus CHRIST that page is LONG! but at last, it's finished. and it seems like everything's in order, too. score!
if anyone wants to have at it: FanficRecs.AtLA
next up on the list... Bleach.
-groans-
next week. i'll work on that one next week.
edited 26th Nov '10 1:03:00 PM by carla
Heroic work there, carla. Wish I could help with the big ones. Speaking of helping, though, I should probably get back to working on the Torchwood page.
edited 26th Nov '10 1:06:02 PM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?carla, the status is generally a best guess; I'd say look at the date of the last chapter. I put some criteria for judging statuses on the Eva fic page, but they're not definitive.
Iaculus, that's a great synopsis for Thousand Shinji; I'm gonna swap it out right now.
Just had a thought while looking at the categories. Many popular works have multiple tiered continuities. You have 'verse changes within adaptations that may warrant mentioning for understanding (i.e. Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings, various Manga-Anime pairs), you have Expanded Universes (i.e. Star Trek The Animated Series, X Wing Series, etc.) and then you have train wrecks like Pokemon and Batman. Perhaps a "Continuity" bullet would be a good addition. Unless you think that should be covered in the "Tags" bullet, in which case a note should be placed on the FFR page of the likely offenders.
edited 30th Nov '10 6:02:04 AM by DonaldthePotholer
@Willbyr— i was going to do that, but my work LAN won't let me open ff.net or livejournal, which is where most of the fics are hosted. so i decided to just leave them blank for now. i'll re-check when i get the chance at home.
re: continuity— some pages already have some sort of continuity division. FanficRecs.AtLA, for example, has folders for AU and "elsewhere" fics (fics which still happen in the same continuity, but don't follow the characters from the show). maybe we could do something like that by default, soft-split between "bookverse" and "movieverse" or stuff like that.
edited 7th Dec '10 10:55:01 AM by carla
finally got around to fixing up FanficRecs.Bleach. up next on my list: Blood+.
Personally, I have to agree with Comartemis. These were recommendations, not reviews, or they were just idle natter. Recommendations are about less then a paragraph going 'sucks or good, and why' A review goes over those 'whys' and describes the 'good or bad' for at least five paragraphs. I can't actually recall any comments that hit five paragraphs, and I'm not sure why any of the natter was not moved to the talk page, I thought that was standard for this place. While I am sad that we will not retrieve any of the comments that have been deleted, I hope we can at least stop the changes.
personally, i've moved everything to the review pages, for the works i've done this for. either they end up as reviews, or they end up as comments on a review, but i haven't really deleted any natter.
(the only problem comes when the comments aren't signed, though... those are hard to place...)
EDIT: done with FanficRecs.Blood Plus. 'twas quicker than i expected. and WHAT is up with people adding recs without giving a synopsis for the fic? i don't get it. anyway, up next: Card Captor Sakura, which should also be short and sweet.
edited 10th Dec '10 2:38:26 PM by carla
thanks! -salutes-
done with FanficRecs.Card Captor Sakura. next up: uhhh, looks like Narnia.
random question: if i understand this correctly, from the way the review template is set up, we can't have two fanfics with the exact same name, can we? we'd have to add something to distinguish them on the template. correct?
edited 14th Dec '10 5:40:31 AM by carla
alright, i'll keep that in mind. i'm thinking i'm probably going to come across a few fics titled "home" out there.
meanwhile, the FanficRecs.The Chronicles Of Narnia page was already moved to the new system, so i just added status tags, which it didn't have. now working on FanficRecs.Cowboy Bebop.
EDIT: ...aaaaand that's done. will do FanficRecs.CSINY real quick, add status tags to FanficRecs.Death Note, then tackle FanficRecs.Final Fantasy VII.
edited 15th Dec '10 5:26:11 AM by carla
Thought you guys ought to know: either I've got display problems with the new review buttons or something, or someone SEVERELY fucked up on the Evangelion page. There are no reviews for any fic on the page. All the comments have been deleted as well.
Boy, these "improvements" sure are wonderful, aren't they? Whose bright idea was this again?

Yes, you are allowed to move the longer comments. That's sort of the point. They're too big on the main page, but just the right size for a fairly detailed review.
Likewise, reviews are allowed to be disapproving. Because they're reviews. Again, have a good look at the Neon Genesis Evangelion page, and try to emulate Wilbyr's work there.
edited 6th Nov '10 3:45:51 PM by Iaculus
What's precedent ever done for us?