How do you know if people like your story?

[JayDee]

1 hour ago, Sparrow said:

Guh, because of course you did. I must be the only person who played that game as someone who just hit things with a big hammer.

My first playthrough was the same big-axe good-guy Orc I try to create for all of them – responding to dark brotherhood recruitment attempt by twatting Astrid and so on – but i played the stealth archer build everyone was on about later for sure!

[Sparrow]

12 minutes ago, JayDee said:

My first playthrough was the same big-axe good-guy Orc I try to create for all of them – responding to dark brotherhood recruitment attempt by twatting Astrid and so on – but i played the stealth archer build everyone was on about later for sure!

Laaaame. I never had the patience for stealth-archery, either I played as a big guy Nord smashing everyone’s heads in, or an Altmer battle-mage, zap people with lightning and then stab them in the face.

Much more fun. 

[Desiderius Price]

 

8 minutes ago, Sparrow said:

Laaaame. I never had the patience for stealth-archery, either I played as a big guy Nord smashing everyone’s heads in, or an Altmer battle-mage, zap people with lightning and then stab them in the face.

Much more fun. 

If you’ve got the patience, the stealth armor is about the best, IMO, at least for me.  Snipe out a bandit, duck back somewhere to hide.  Of course the others might say “nothing to see here, must’ve been my imagination” next to their dead friend, guess loyalty doesn’t run very deep there.

[Sparrow]

1 minute ago, Desiderius Price said:

 

If you’ve got the patience, the stealth armor is about the best, IMO, at least for me.  Snipe out a bandit, duck back somewhere to hide.  Of course the others might say “nothing to see here, must’ve been my imagination” next to their dead friend, guess loyalty doesn’t run very deep there.

Beh, it’s still just more fun to go full Pelinal on them. Charge at them screaming and batter them all into a fine red paste while zapping them with your cybernetic arm cannon er, magic. Or Shout them into next week.

I was never one who played it on any of the actually difficult difficulties anyway, so there was never that much pressure to cheese things like you guys.

[Desiderius Price]

21 minutes ago, Sparrow said:

Beh, it’s still just more fun to go full Pelinal on them. Charge at them screaming and batter them all into a fine red paste while zapping them with your cybernetic arm cannon er, magic. Or Shout them into next week.

I was never one who played it on any of the actually difficult difficulties anyway, so there was never that much pressure to cheese things like you guys.

Favorite shout, from the “Sheogorath Shout – Call of Madness” mod, rains down hundreds/thousands of cheese wheels, and will tick off about everybody around you despite trying to cure hunger!  Of course, the merchants should be suspicious of the shady character pawning off a thousand cheese wheels, but they don’t seem to care.

[InvidiaRed]

7 hours ago, Sparrow said:

Guh, because of course you did. I must be the only person who played that game as someone who just hit things with a big hammer.

I mainly ado full mage build. I should probably do that whole OP sniper archer everyone seems to do. The spells can be a little lack luster buts its hilarious when you can heal yours companions faster than they can get hurt.

[Ditmag]

I got my first review! And it was good! Plus an email of appreciation from someone else a few days ago. I’m glad someone likes it. I’m both proud of it and cringing over it. Is that normal when you write for public consumption?

[Desiderius Price]

Knowing people are reading is great, but also knowing they’re reading your perversions (and enjoying them) is definitely cringe-worthy too. 

[InvidiaRed]

On 6/23/2021 at 1:28 AM, Desiderius Price said:

Knowing people are reading is great, but also knowing they’re reading your perversions (and enjoying them) is definitely cringe-worthy too. 

Its a badge of honor.

Oh you liked them doing carnal fornication?! well then that’s what they’ll do

[Desiderius Price]

32 minutes ago, InvidiaRed said:

Its a badge of honor.

Oh you liked them doing carnal fornication?! well then that’s what they’ll do

And your parents/family/friends who stumble across your story will also know that you liked them doing carnal fornication, with watersports and tentacles.

[JayDee]

On 6/23/2021 at 8:23 AM, Ditmag said:

I got my first review! And it was good! Plus an email of appreciation from someone else a few days ago. I’m glad someone likes it. I’m both proud of it and cringing over it. Is that normal when you write for public consumption?

It is!

Sometimes someone’s emailed saying how much a particular gutting or whatever got them off and I go “...ok then.”

Mostly I just get “I loved your story [no details]. Could you write [Random fetish I’ve never heard of involving illegal, illogical, and occasionally physically imposible acts] featuring [random fandom characters] and Hinata out of Naruto?”

[InvidiaRed]

12 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

And your parents/family/friends who stumble across your story will also know that you liked them doing carnal fornication, with watersports and tentacles.

Never have done water-sports and tentacles might be fun. As for family, that’s why you use your personal accounts and not your public one haha.

[Ditmag]

On 6/25/2021 at 2:17 PM, JayDee said:

It is!

Sometimes someone’s emailed saying how much a particular gutting or whatever got them off and I go “...ok then.”

Mostly I just get “I loved your story [no details]. Could you write [Random fetish I’ve never heard of involving illegal, illogical, and occasionally physically imposible acts] featuring [random fandom characters] and Hinata out of Naruto?”

Heh. None of that yet. More like, “Hey, could you write an alternative scenario wherethe hero ends up with X instead?” Of course, being new and desperate for readers, I’ll do whatever anyone wants. As soon as I’m done with the project I’m working on, that is. Looks like it’ll wrap up at about 50 chapters.

[Desiderius Price]

1 hour ago, Ditmag said:

Heh. None of that yet. More like, “Hey, could you write an alternative scenario wherethe hero ends up with X instead?” Of course, being new and desperate for readers, I’ll do whatever anyone wants. As soon as I’m done with the project I’m working on, that is. Looks like it’ll wrap up at about 50 chapters.

Could be worse.

Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?
Me: No.
Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?
Me: No
Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?

It’s like, can’t they read the first response?

[Ditmag]

Out of curiosity, does anyone know which story has the most dragon prints on this site? The most I’ve seen so far is over 100K. It would be cool if the devs would have charts. All time dragon prints, most dragon prints last week, last year, etc. Although I can see how that might just get ruined by manipulation.

[BronxWench]

We actually have never tracked hit count data on individual stories, but I think you are correct in thinking it would get ruined by manipulation if we did. 

[Desiderius Price]

1 hour ago, Ditmag said:

Out of curiosity, does anyone know which story has the most dragon prints on this site? The most I’ve seen so far is over 100K. It would be cool if the devs would have charts. All time dragon prints, most dragon prints last week, last year, etc. Although I can see how that might just get ruined by manipulation.

Have to admit having the statistics at the granular level of FF.net’s would be nice, or the ability to sort the search results on AO3 as such.  Don’t see what’d be gained by manipulation, but rationality has never stopped trolls. 

59 minutes ago, BronxWench said:

We actually have never tracked hit count data on individual stories, but I think you are correct in thinking it would get ruined by manipulation if we did. 

The database does have the data, it’d be a matter of adding the options for searching/viewing using that mythical developer’s time

 

[BronxWench]

Quote

The database does have the data, it’d be a matter of adding the options for searching/viewing using that mythical developer’s time

Our coder isn’t quite mythical, but like everyone else, she has a RL job that pays the bills. We can’t afford to pay the going rate for a coder, so she works for us for a pittance, but it means we can’t demand a lot of her time.

[Desiderius Price]

1 hour ago, BronxWench said:

Our coder isn’t quite mythical, but like everyone else, she has a RL job that pays the bills. We can’t afford to pay the going rate for a coder, so she works for us for a pittance, but it means we can’t demand a lot of her time.

More of the mythical fleet of coders everybody else seems to think we have…

[Ditmag]

Any idea what the most read story is here? Or at least the most dragon prints you’ve seen on one story?

[BronxWench]

3 hours ago, Desiderius Price said:

More of the mythical fleet of coders everybody else seems to think we have…

We just have the one, plus DG. Honestly, this site operates exceedingly well, considering the fact that we are a volunteer operation.

2 hours ago, Ditmag said:

Any idea what the most read story is here? Or at least the most dragon prints you’ve seen on one story?

Probably The Rise of the Drakens, (Dragon Prints : 752724) but honestly, there might be one or two with more hits.

[JayDee]

On 7/5/2021 at 7:03 AM, Desiderius Price said:

Could be worse.

Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?
Me: No.
Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?
Me: No
Them: Can you write a Harry Potter/Game of Thrones crossover?

It’s like, can’t they read the first response?

“Fuck you, you cunts!”

“Gosh Harry, you’re talking like a local already.”

“CUNTS!”

“Yes, you are too Luna.”

[Wilde_Guess]

On 6/12/2021 at 2:55 AM, Desiderius Price said:

I...[other stuff]...  Now back to this Hermione incest scene….

Did you write it?  Did it involve a time turner?  Hermione Granger is the only JKR Verse character who both could and would pull off an incest scene as an only child.

 

Cheers!

[Desiderius Price]

5 minutes ago, Wilde_Guess said:

Did you write it?  Did it involve a time turner?  Hermione Granger is the only JKR Verse character who both could and would pull off an incest scene as an only child.

Cheers!

I’m treating cousins as incest once removed by that statement.  Admit it’s been a few months so I don’t remember which scene I was referring to, as there were more than one.

Edited February 16, 2022 by Desiderius Price

[Wilde_Guess]

On 7/5/2021 at 9:10 AM, BronxWench said:

We actually have never tracked hit count data on individual stories, but I think you are correct in thinking it would get ruined by manipulation if we did. 

Hi, all.

The “dragon prints” are fine for public display.  Being able to track individual chapter hits, visible only to the author would be more helpful, since the “typical” reader doesn’t seem to leave a review.  So, your dragon prints are going up.  Are the readers actually trying to read the whole story, or are they just seeing “Chapter 1,” and running away in fright?  If you update frequently enough, your story will always be on the first page of your “fandom,” and will get hits for that alone.  But, absent reviews, you don’t know if the reader is making it beyond Chapter 1, especially if you only see the total hits for everything.  If I have 2900 dragon prints for a 32 chapter WIP, did I get 91 readers reading everything, or 2850 hits on Chapter 1, with only my proof-reading and editing even making it to Chapter 2?

 

Thanks in advance.