Desiderius Price

[Tent] and [Xeno] could certainly add to the squeak factor.

The archive moderators might be trembling.

Can the code be tweaked to hide the ratings until it's altered/updated? (Figure the ignorance is bliss POV)

If it's about a story, you can probably leave a review. Otherwise, you can use the forum's private message system if both you and the author have profiles. So, I think you need to be logged in, first, with a forum account. Then, you find the author's forum profile, and click on the "Send me a message" button. (Pretty self-explanatory after that). - DP

I'm in original fiction... it could be a dislike for a tag, dislike for not going straight for the smut, but without a review/message, it's a wild guess. I was planning to wait for a chapter or two, see if it persists before raising it as an issue, because it's tough to tell if its a legitimate (non-malicious) downvote or not.

If I were to do a self-insertion, I'd rather be a villian, they have so much FUN, at least before the end.

on the tracking. Getting downvoted w/o explanation is both frustrating and discouraging (I've been on the receiving end of it before--and suspect they struck my current fic, but that's only got its first chapter so far.).

My pet idea for tags has been some level of intensity/rating per tag, like adult+ or adult++, it could be Xeno, Xeon+, Xeno++. This lets somebody tag [Xeno] because it might have a little bit, and [Xeno++] for it being a major theme to the story. I say this because I've very likely overtagged my stories just to be safe on the warnings, but, if somebody's deliberately looking for a specific tag, then the ++ would indicate its pretty much guaranteed. - DP

Thanks to KoKoa_B and BronxWench for the reviews so far. Yeah, I was having to write that as backstory for the current book/story I'm working on, so it wasn't much to polish it off and make it one of my holiday one-shots.

The Frost Effect Great! Nice and lighthearted. Yule's Gift Deep, rich. Good reading.

And I couldn't leave well enough alone, a second fic.... Title: The Phone, Part II Summary: Honeymoon is over, but Marcia keeps messaging during Thanksgiving and a holiday meet-greet for the families left behind on Earth. Tags/Warnings: Angst, Exhib, HJ, M/F, Minor2

Title: Mistletoe Hanging Summary: Long before Jaimie or Joe were born, a fourteen year old Ernest Campbell goes to the "Winter Solstice Festival" high school dance; it's a night he'll never forget. Anticipated Tags: Angst, Bigotry, MiCD, NoSex, Violence

Thanks to all who reviewed. (including CL, BW, JayDee, DA/Lizzie/Magus) - DP

And mine's up!

Desiderius Price Title: The Phone Summary/Synopsis: In a pinch, Marcia (from Star Rebels: Alaska Trekkers) starts using the phone of her dearly departed brother; she starts sending him messages, not expecting a reply.

If you have other relatives (ie parents, cousins, etc), you could have the "falling out" be rather public, so there's an implicit assumption that the man isn't interested in his niece, when the truth is discovered.

And I'm writing another story to show a bit of the s.o.b aspect of the society that my characters hate.

Be careful with showing, not telling, because even that can be taken to an extreme (and, it's also some fertile breeding ground for plot bunnies). I tend to prefer showing over telling, myself. And if it needs to be "told", it's generally better to have a couple of characters discussing it. - DP

Like most here, I'm writing because I enjoy it. But, there is a subtle difference between writing for just myself and writing to post; whether it's completing a story, or filling in missing gaps -- and as I'm unpaid in this, the hit counters/reviews do let me know that the extra effort is appreciated. That's my next $0.50 worth (doubling CL's bid - DP

From the author's perspective, we're putting in an enormous number of hours and effort to take an idea, to shape it into a story, complete, and polish it. The author is wondering "So, is this worth it?" "Are others reading and enjoying it?" As very few leave reviews; the ratings and hit counters are the main way to gauge the level of interest. In the corporate world, they use hit counters too (sales, number of viewers, etc). That's my $0.02 worth. - DP

For SR: Alaska Hey, Thanks for the review. I appreciate them. Grr... the forum swallowed my first reply. Yeah, it's going to be tied in. The story started off as a tiny bit of "backstory" to a spot in the mainline, then it grew! And, chapter 12 is written, not yet ready for posting, but written. (I wait a bit before posting -- I find I catch more on the proofreading by waiting.) - DP

Yes. AFAICT, the general advice is that if you're uncertain, it's better to simply add the code. - DP

Thank you for the review. Reviews do help when I need the encouragement while writing. BR/AR think BC/AD, because I don't want to pin down a specific year our current year, so it's BR for before republic, AR for after. (And I'm putting that in an authors note in the revision.) Because the chapters were out-of-chronological-order was one of the motivators for splitting the story up into separate installments. So, Fenton will be alive (generally) in the first installment, focusing on their younger years. The third installment should cover the rest of their time on Earth (unless it gets too unwieldy and warrants a fourth one). - DP

I appreciate every review, even drunkenly written. Yes for the nudity (that was one of the original motivations given the PWP that had triggered this entire story). Shelby likes to leave poop in offensive locations, but also I use it because it's generally considered offensive and disgusting by most people. I suppose it's good for character development, if they're being watched will pooping, what's going through their minds.

Unfortunately, a lot of sperm have been harmed in the production of this story. Most left out to dry. Thanks for the review! - DP