Review of AFF/suggestions

[Guest Gold Demon]

Before you read this, still know I love AFF, the staff, and everyone here. I'm not mad or hold any grudges at the site or anyone, so please take my review into consideration. I am merely using a situation that happened to me to be a real example as to why I think these few changes should be made:

I'd like to have maybe a private message system in main section of the site

I'd also like to suggest that a friendlier and more welcome air from the staff?

You're probably thinking: Why should I? What is the point? If you're not going to follow the rules you shouldn't be treated with respect.

Very true, and I agree whole-heartedly, except in minor cases where people do things by accident.

I'm going to suggest that when someone does leave a disclaimer, but perhaps accidentally says 'this is a work of fiction' instead of 'this is an original work of fiction', that you leave a much friendlier warning?

I got the warning, which is okay. The staff is just doing their job. I'm just critiquing it. =)

It was unnecessarily long, cold, unfriendly, and unwelcoming. It may have just been the copy/pasted warning you use on everyone who doesn't write their disclaimer properly, but why leave 5 large paragraphs when you could have simply given a few small sentences explaining what must be done?

I'm definitely not saying 'don't leave a warning' or 'let people write their disclaimers however they want', no that's not it. I think it is very important to make sure to stress that your original work is original by using the word 'original' in your disclaimer.

The thing is...

Your warning to me kind of translated to: OMG YOU LEFT OUT A WORD??!! PPL WILL THINK YOU STOLE IT!! AND IF YOU DON'T FIX IT WE'LL DELETE YOUR STORY CAUSE PEOPLE WILL THINK YOU STOLE SHIT OMG ALSO BE MY BITCH AND DELETE THIS WHEN YOUR DONE. KTHNX BAI.

Except it was pretty much 5 paragraphs long when it is easy to get the point after the first 2 sentences.

Not kidding.

It kind of makes people dislike this place on the spot if they make a mistake, purely by accident, if they get treated like a criminal. It's like a thief getting treated like a rapist or something.

Also, leaving a warning in the REVIEW page for a mistake, to me at the very least, seems quite unprofessional. It's where everyone else can see, and such matters should be dealt with more privately, especially if it was only a mistake. What if the writer just missed the word with the full intention of not breaking the rules?

Only children and immature adults try to embarrass people publicly.

Staff with a professional attitude would deal with the matter privately, as things would be settled more subtly and wouldn't make the author feel threatened so much. The staff has access to viewing everyone's email-address, so why not send them one instead?

OR, perhaps a private message system should be made for purposes of warnings? And warnings should be more friendly as long as the story hasn't been plagiarized, because stolen works should be dealt with more seriously. I still think having a hall of shame is a bit much, and immature in my opinion..., but I do think it does help scare people from thinking of trying it again.

BUT ANYWAY! I've gone off track...

So, back to having a private message system:

Example: (pretend this is a private message)

Hello and welcome to AFF. Regarding your story '___________', the following changes must be made on your disclaimer: please add that it is an 'original' work of fiction. If the changes have not been made during the following week (or however long you guys do it), then unfortunately, your story will have to become hidden from the public eye.

If you're unsure why or confused, please read the FAQ or the TOS (pretend FAQ and TOS are links to said pages)

thank you for taking the time to read this,

the aff staff (or what you usually use).

It's more friendly, warm, and doesn't scare the author when they read it, or embarrass them because it's private. Also you wouldn't have to ask them to delete the review you left them. At least to me, it's like saying "Here I just shat on your plate, now lick it off!" It's rude and unprofessional. I mean I know this is a site where people go to masturbate while they read, but you'd still like to have some integrity? XD

These are just my thoughts, and I certainly don't mean to offend or make anyone angry. I just felt this would be more organized, professional, and mature. Especially for a site that is meant for adults and adult literature.

[Guest Gold Demon]

Also I don't mean to say you HAVE to write the warning that way, word for word, it was just an example.

[DemonGoddess]

I'll tell you exactly why we don't email the disclaimer warnings. We used to. 75 to 80% of the users contacted claimed they never got the mail, and/or ignored what was sent. Now, since the mails didn't bounce (yes we do keep track of that), and we were told it was nowhere in inbox or spam/junk folders, the conclusion as to what the user was actually doing was fairly obvious. Then, they'd get testy when we followed through with the rest of it. So, because of that, we were forced in to a situation where we had to leave disclaimer warnings in the review board itself.

We do email many, many other kinds of warnings. The disclaimer issue is a quick fix. You do what's needed in the field, and it shows at the top of each chapter. It doesn't need to be done in each chapter, simply in the disclaimer field itself.

Following that, if the author chooses to ignore it, when a story is hidden, they get emailed that it was hidden and why.

Yes, it's a form message. What the message states is what the issue is, and the consequences if the issue is not corrected.

I'd like to remind you that in the past, when a warning was issued (this was pre this staff), that users were given 48 hours before the story was deleted outright. Not only that, those warnings were also given via the review board. We give users 7 days to fix before we hide the story from public view. It's still accessible in the user's control panel. If, after an additional 30 days, the issue is STILL not corrected, then yes, we delete.

[ApolloImperium]

To add on to what DG has already said, our staff (primarily consisting of 2 people, more when personal lives allow) review new additions to the entire archive on a weekly basis. Asking them to pause each time they encounter an error and explain what the error is would add on an excessive amount of work to their already overloaded plates.

However, I will take the time to review the current warning that we are using to see if there is a way we can make it friendlier to the users.

As you said though, reading would solve 99% of the issues that people have as we have outlined what needs to be in a disclaimer spelled out for people