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Welcome => Rules and News => Topic started by: julilly on April 06, 2012, 04:16:24 PM

Title: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 06, 2012, 04:16:24 PM
(http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae175/julillyac/ACPublic/ACRules2.jpg)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 06, 2012, 04:21:53 PM
These rules supersede the rules posted on August 16, 2010. As of now this update is the most current.

#7 is the new rule! Please be sure to check your stories and pass word along to writers you know who might not follow us on Twitter or check the forum!

Enforcement of rule #7 will begin April 20, 2012.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 07, 2012, 09:59:08 PM
I just wanted to say that I think rules are helpful to make AC a productive site. Though I would like some clarifcation about a few of the rules. Thanks for your time.

Rule 5 -- I am fine with an author having more than 2 stories on the Most Recent page when the dates are clearly different days. I also agree that posting 2 stories a day is fair. My concern is those who update those two stories continously all day long. Meaning they post a chapter in the morning, a chapter in the afternoon, and a chapter in the evening. This keeps their story at the very top of the Most Recents page all day long. I do not see how that is being fair to the other writers of AC. It's frustrating when you post your story and not 30 minutes later another writer/writers who''ve already posted twice in the same day, posts another chapter. It has happened multiple times to me and many other writers. I just feel that they are trying to keep their story at the top with no regard to other authors. Just my thoughts and observations on the Most Recent page for the past few months.

Rule 7 -- This new rule just threw me for a loop. I haven't seen any summaries that have caused me concern with their length. I just find it interesting to be bound by a certain amount of sentences. Some stories may take more the 5 to 6 sentences to set up a summary. Look at most books. They have more than 5 to 6 sentences in their summaries, some even have more than one paragraph. I am just curious why this has beccome an issue and would like clarification about it.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 07, 2012, 10:28:07 PM
Hey Rachel,

Some of these stories use at least four paragraphs to describe what it's all about. I don't know how it shows up on your page but for me, some of these stories take up half a page all by themselves just with the descriptions and the banners. Both Julilly and I have noticed this and decided it was time to bring it to people's attention.

 If your story is well thought out enough, you should be able to describe it within 5 to 6 sentences (which is a lot actually) I mean that's an entire paragraph. That should be more than enough to let us know what a story is about.

So, that's where the rule came from. We were afriad if we didn't implement it soon, we'd be reading entire chapters within a summary.

I get what you are talking about for the constant updating, it is annoying to always see the same stories at the top of the page, but we figured out we can't please everybody. If we start saying no to that then ten other people will complain we're not being fair. Maybe as writers we just need to be more conscience of things like that and realize that everyone deserves a chance to have their stuff at the top of the list and maybe post a chapter, wait a few hours and then post another. Obviously if it gets to the point it's out of control and most people are abusing it, we'll have to really reconsider the rule and revise.

Hope that answered your questions. :)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 07, 2012, 10:42:13 PM
I just wanna point out that I saw SakaSteph tweet about people on fanfic.net posting BLANK CHAPTERS just to bump their stories to the top - apparently that is a common occurrence over there.  Hearing about that makes me glad we have rules to prevent such douchery here... and also that most people on AC (you forum peeps, anyway :)) aren't douches and would never do that in the first place.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 07, 2012, 10:42:40 PM
Hey Mare,

Thanks for clarifying for me. I have to say I'm lucky because no one's summaries have taken half a page for me. None of the current summaries have been bothersome to me, including those who have used more than one paragraph. I think some stories might lead to having more than one paragraph or the use of say 10 sentences and not take half a page. Just my thought on the subject. Even for myself I can't not say that all my stories (in the future) would be able to have summaries of 4 to 6 sentences. One might need say 10 sentences to make it coherent for a possible reader.

Really when you think of it 5 to 6 sentences with maybe 10 words in it is only 50 to 60 words, would it possible to have say 100 to 125 words for a summary instead. That way if you need more words to describe a story you would have them. Personally, I can see the run-on sentences forming in people summaries to fulfill that 5 to 6 sentences rule....lol. Just a suggestion.

The people who post at least three chapters of a story throughout the day in my opinion are still monoplozing the Most Recent page. Why can't you post all three chapters at one time. I'm not asking you to change the rules, I am just explaining my thoughts. There will always be those who follow the rules and those who will not and do it repeatedly. It's just the way life is.  I know it would annoy everyone If I posted the same story 5 times in one day.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 07, 2012, 10:46:01 PM
Julie,

Yeah that is totally wrong. Though I think posting chapters of your story multiple times a day so that it is always on top is rude and unfair to those who follow the rules. They get away with it because as long as they are only posting two stories a day, they can post chapters of those 2 stories until their heart is content and knock people further down on the page to remain on top.

Sorry it's a pet peeve of mine.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Sakabelle on April 07, 2012, 11:19:44 PM
I just wanna point out that I saw SakaSteph tweet about people on fanfic.net posting BLANK CHAPTERS just to bump their stories to the top - apparently that is a common occurrence over there.  Hearing about that makes me glad we have rules to prevent such douchery here... and also that most people on AC (you forum peeps, anyway :)) aren't douches and would never do that in the first place.

FanFiction.net makes me want to scream. I really hate that website. They have "rules" but no one ever enforces them. What's the point in bumping like that? They post notes at the end of their chapters too, saying "No new chapter until I get ten reviews!" It's almost like you won't get comments unless you do that. Not that I post a whole lot over there or anything, but still. What's the point in writing if you're just writing for reviews? What does a review mean if you aren't passionate about the material you wrote?

Many hugs for Mare and Julilly for being such awesome mods and making AC such a great community for writers.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 07, 2012, 11:25:23 PM
LOL I wish I was productive enough to be able to post multiple chapters a day!  The only way I could do that is if I hoarded them, but I usually don't have the willpower to hang on to chapters very long once I'm done editing them, at least of stories that are already online.

Personally, that doesn't bother me half as much as people spamming up the whole Most Recent page by posting their whole collection of stories at once.  At the end of the day, even if they've updated one story ten times, it's still just taking up one spot on the page.  Who cares if it's the top story?  I'm willing to bet anyone who clicks on the Most Recent to browse will at least scroll down the first page.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 07, 2012, 11:33:26 PM
How can they post their whole collection at once, lol. That's clearly breaking the rule of more than two stories.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 07, 2012, 11:41:33 PM
As far as the summary rule goes... I can see both sides of that.  I remember being annoyed at FictionPress for having such a strict word count limit for summaries.  I tried to post a story there with a summary that was only 3 sentences (48 words), and it was still too long!  So at least we're not being limited to that extent here.

Unfortunately, as with a lot of these rules, it's the people who have no common sense who have ruined it for the rest of us.  No one's summary should take up an entire page, but I've seen some - and recently - that do.  On the other hand, published novelists do have much longer summaries on their book covers - but in that case, they're not competing for space with other people's summaries.

I think that's what a lot of these rules boil down to - space.  Banner size, summary length, number of updates in a day...  It's all about making sure we have an equal share of the space on that damn Most Recent page, so that everyone's stories have a chance to be seen.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 07, 2012, 11:42:01 PM
How can they post their whole collection at once, lol. That's clearly breaking the rule of more than two stories.

I know; that's why that rule was created in the first place LOL, because that's what people were doing.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 02:20:46 AM
Hey Mare,

Thanks for clarifying for me. I have to say I'm lucky because no one's summaries have taken half a page for me. None of the current summaries have been bothersome to me, including those who have used more than one paragraph. I think some stories might lead to having more than one paragraph or the use of say 10 sentences and not take half a page. Just my thought on the subject. Even for myself I can't not say that all my stories (in the future) would be able to have summaries of 4 to 6 sentences. One might need say 10 sentences to make it coherent for a possible reader.

Really when you think of it 5 to 6 sentences with maybe 10 words in it is only 50 to 60 words, would it possible to have say 100 to 125 words for a summary instead. That way if you need more words to describe a story you would have them. Personally, I can see the run-on sentences forming in people summaries to fulfill that 5 to 6 sentences rule....lol. Just a suggestion.

The people who post at least three chapters of a story throughout the day in my opinion are still monoplozing the Most Recent page. Why can't you post all three chapters at one time. I'm not asking you to change the rules, I am just explaining my thoughts. There will always be those who follow the rules and those who will not and do it repeatedly. It's just the way life is.  I know it would annoy everyone If I posted the same story 5 times in one day.


The fact that you keep repeating "I haven't even noticed" just goes to show that very few stories on the site right now would actually break this rule. So most people have nothing to worry about.

The reason you haven't really noticed the ones that take up half a page is because every time they get posted I have to go in and edit the summaries to try and make them as small as possible. There have been summaries on stories added recently that not only are double spaced but are upwards of 500 words! That's not a summary, it's a synopsis. Not to mention, what qualifies as bothersome to you may not to someone else and vice versa (i.e. 500 words takes up a lot more space on someone's phone screen than it does on a computer screen.).

You can say a lot in 6 sentences and for those with banners maybe they need to start using their banners more creatively rather than just having a photo with a title written on it. There's a lot of space in a 600 pixel banner.

Though your suggestions are great in principle, in practice Mare and I would have to do a LOT of work. That's what it would take to give a summary word count because we would have to copy and paste every summary into Word to see if it met the guidelines. And in order for us to limit the number of chapters someone posts every day we would have to follow and get email notifications of every single author's updates on the site then count them up. Somehow, I can't see that being a very efficient or effective business model.

We can see sentences, we can see the day something has been updated which makes it easy and fast for us to follow up on.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 08, 2012, 04:19:42 AM
And while you may notice certain things, other notice other things. Really, if it were my story I would prefer you to ask me to edit my summary than editing yourself. Only for the simple reason that if you haven't read the story how would you know what information is pertinent to my story.

Like my original post I really just wanted clarfication because rule 7 came from out of the blue. The other rules we hear about all the time. Clearly, we don't want to add any work to anyone's  already busy life. Maybe letting the author edit their summary would save you time.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 08, 2012, 04:36:16 AM
Personally I think editing should be left up to the writers themselves.

Like for example someone breaks a rule, you give them 24 hours to fix it, or something like that. Kind of like how you handle banner size. Not telling you how to run the site, just a suggestion.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Sakabelle on April 08, 2012, 04:37:42 AM
I personally wouldn't say that the summary rule came out of the blue. It has been an issue for a long time around here, and I believe even a matter of debate in the past. I know that seeing a really long summary on the most recent page will actually deter me from clicking into a story, because if I don't have the patience to get through the summary, then I feel there is no way I'll have the patience to get through the story itself.

But I mean, a rule is a rule. It says right there how long the summary can be and that it'll be edited if the rule hasn't been followed. So, if someone reads the rules, and keeps their summaries an appropriate length, there shouldn't be an issue. Julilly also said here that they will be giving until April 20th for that rule to be enforced. That's a lot of time for people to go and edit the summaries themselves before it's done for them, so they are giving the authors the chance to edit their own summaries if they don't already fall within the guidelines.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 04:51:18 AM
Personally I think editing should be left up to the writers themselves.

Like for example someone breaks a rule, you give them 24 hours to fix it, or something like that. Kind of like how you handle banner size. Not telling you how to run the site, just a suggestion.

Except that's not how we handle banner size. Presently banners that are too large are removed, after which time the person can edit them as they choose. This is no different. The author is free to make their own edits after we make them aware of the issue. The problem with just sending someone a note is it would be no different than when we first started with the banners. We chased people for months to do something as simple as changing their banner size. Finally we started taking them down and people started paying attention.

What you do after the edit is up to you so long as its within the guideline. I don't see how that is oppressive.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 04:58:24 AM
And while you may notice certain things, other notice other things. Really, if it were my story I would prefer you to ask me to edit my summary than editing yourself. Only for the simple reason that if you haven't read the story how would you know what information is pertinent to my story.

Like my original post I really just wanted clarfication because rule 7 came from out of the blue. The other rules we hear about all the time. Clearly, we don't want to add any work to anyone's  already busy life. Maybe letting the author edit their summary would save you time.

We won't be editing it for clarity. We will be editing it to fit the guidelines. What the author does after that is up to them. They will have to edit it from there! Just like with banners.

No one heard about the other rules all the time prior to their existence. People said the same thing about the banner sizes but now it's just second nature to most. There's been plenty of discussion about summary length in the past and it has been something Mare and I have been thinking of/discussing for years. It's not really out of the blue except for the fact that it's new and no one has seen it formally until now.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 08, 2012, 05:02:30 AM
Sorry, I might have gotten that rule mixed up with another. I don't feel the rule is oppressive, I think the rules on the site have been pretty fair.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 08, 2012, 05:13:15 AM
I have no problem with the rules. I follow them. I also see nothing wrong with discussing them. Isn't that what a forum like this message board is for. Doesn't also help to keep communication open and make the rules and AC better. Sure we may all agree or disagee, but that is life.

We all have pet peeves that bother us about AC. Some will get changed and others won't. That's life. I think we're all adults who can see each other viewpoints, at least I hope we can.

I like that we all don't agree, even though I'm usually one that stands alone on my thought process at times. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences, so we think differently.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 05:13:41 AM
Sorry, I might have gotten that rule mixed up with another. I don't feel the rule is oppressive, I think the rules on the site have been pretty fair.

You're probably thinking of the grammar/spelling rule. You get time to edit before we do it. Mostly because it could be really bad and 3,000 words. It's a big task lol

Like I mentioned before, there are actually very few people who this will apply to. Likely those who it does apply to will be the ones who ignore it.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 05:15:59 AM
I have no problem with the rules. I follow them. I also see nothing wrong with discussing them. Isn't that what a forum like this message board is for. Doesn't also help to keep communication open and make the rules and AC better. Sure we may all agree or disagee, but that is life.

We all have pet peeves that bother us about AC. Some will get changed and others won't. That's life. I think we're all adults who can see each other viewpoints, at least I hope we can.

I like that we all don't agree, even though I'm usually one that stands alone on my thought process at times. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences, so we think differently.



98% of the rules were decided upon based on feedback from people using it. So yes, discussion is good!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 08, 2012, 05:16:30 AM
I don't know how you guys handle moderating the site because at some point I'd probably stab myself in the eye dealing with all the rule breakers.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 08, 2012, 05:50:59 AM
I love everyone's differing opinions as well. For instance I never once thought people would intentionally update a bunch of chapters in a row just to stay on top of the page. That thought never once occurred to me although I'm sure some might do that.

Banners annoy the crap out of me but I know I'm alone on that one. If it was up to me I'd have no banners and a summary type form to read and also have it just a bsb fanfic site. What can I say, I'm a purist lol but in the end we do the things that we know the majority of our readers/writers would like to see.

That's been the beauty of creating this forum for discussion.

Not like we'll be able to make everyone happy but maybe by even reading through the thread, some of the people doing the annoying things might stop? lol stranger things have happened.

I also think right now, the site has been really quiet. I know I always see the same stories always updating but that's only because no one else seems to be posting. People tend to update more in the summer it seems and that's also when you see differet authors up there and not always the same 5 or 6.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 08, 2012, 07:24:46 AM
Mare,
Just curious about two things.

1. Why don't you like banners?

2. Why would you only want Backstreet Boys fiction on the website?

Those two things about have always had me curious.  :)

Inquiring minds want to know.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 08, 2012, 07:33:27 AM
I think my hatred of banners came about because of my very old and very slow computer. It would take FOREVER to load AC because of all the banners. lol it's not so bad now that I use my iPod and Julilly being as awesome as she is, gave me her old laptop, but the hatred still lingers I suppose. I have never been a fan of the visual side of writing. I have always felt like your story should speak for itself. I like to have my own idea of what the characters look like and don't enjoy when its all spelled out for me. I also hate over the top book covers too. Come to think of it, I also hate posters and signs people hold up as well.

I don't know, maybe a poster killed my made up brother? Lmao

Hang on, must switch to computer chubby fingers are getting in the way lol

OKay much better...

As far as the second question, it's just a matter of preference. If I got to be totally selfish, I'd only make it BSB because that's all I like to read.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 08, 2012, 01:13:30 PM
I actually remember when this site first started we didn't even have a most recent page. Can you imagine? People would completely freak out. We also had that star system. Crazy times lmao
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 01:31:42 PM
The star system... *shudder*

Now THAT was a drama starter if there ever was one.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 08, 2012, 01:47:11 PM
Yes, lol I remember it well.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 08, 2012, 07:59:44 PM
Oh yes, the star system LOL.  Before there was a Most Recent page, couldn't you just decide whether to sort the stories by when they were last updated or by title?
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 08:03:38 PM
Yeah. You still can do that on that little bar at the top of the page. You can select it to be sorted as Most Recent, just Nick stories, just Romance, etc.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 08, 2012, 08:13:24 PM
That's what I thought.  I knew you could still sort that way, but I was just trying to remember if that was the only way stories were displayed in the beginning.  I don't do a lot of browsing for stories besides what's on Most Recent anymore, so I can see the importance of having your story displayed on that page.  That said, it's still up to the story itself to attract my attention, no matter if it's at the top of the first page or the bottom of the last page.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 08, 2012, 08:14:52 PM
Sometimes I'll use it if I'm just bored and cruising the site to see what's on there lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Purpura Lipstick on April 08, 2012, 10:24:12 PM
I'd like to thank you for the new rule personally! 
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 08, 2012, 11:53:59 PM
I haven't been on most recent lately, and you're right...if people have huge summaries and banners it takes my phone browser a long time to upload the page. So I'm glad we have these rules so people don't have this problem.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 09, 2012, 01:31:05 PM
I would never have thought people would do such a thing as update constantly to stay top of the most recent :(

Steph, I've been on a Twilight site in the past where writers would write crap like that about not posting more until they had a certain amount of reviews.  Made me not want to read!

I'm glad there are rules here and I like how they are enforced fairly.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 02:12:01 PM
I remember my early years of fanfic when people would always threaten the readers saying they wouldn't be updating unless they got reviews lol Talk about pet peeves, that one is a ginormous one for me!

Thankfully, I don't see that much if any these days.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 09, 2012, 02:43:51 PM
That's a pet peeve of mine too, makes me think they are only writing for reviews and not because it's something they care about.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 09, 2012, 02:48:51 PM
I don't like that either, I actually stopped reading a story once because the author kept saying she wouldn't update until people left feedback. This was a long time ago. I've asked for feedback in my chapter notes but nothing that extreme.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Tri on April 09, 2012, 04:40:24 PM
I haven't been on most recent lately, and you're right...if people have huge summaries and banners it takes my phone browser a long time to upload the page. So I'm glad we have these rules so people don't have this problem.
I agree!  I didn't notice how long summaries were until I started going on the site on my iPhone.  I was so happy to see the new rule.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 09, 2012, 05:20:33 PM
Well anything on a phone is going to be long, including summaries. I've read a short chapter of like 700 words and it seemed liked a never ending saga....lol.

I've seen a few that have had 16 sentences. It didn't bother me and it didn't give away the whole story either.

I really just think it's a matter of personal taste. We all have pet peeves when it comes to the site, fan fiction and life in general. I'm sure we could go on for hours talking about them....lol.

I don't think people should abuse the sumarry rule and post a whole chapter, but I'm okay with a longer summary if it doesn't go overboard in telling the whole story or repeat itself.

Sometimes I think people don't actually read the summaries anyway. I think they look for who the story is about and if it's about the guy they like they read it. I don't think I've ever gotten a review that said, well I really am not into Nick, but your sumarry was so captivating that I just had to read it.  Personally, I'd love that to happen, but maybe it's a wish  of mine. I think people are definitely more incline to read stories about the guy/guys they like more than anything.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 09, 2012, 05:36:32 PM
Before the rule was even in place there was already a couple of people we contacted and asked to trim it down because people started posting their prologues as summaries. 500-700 words.

Like I said before, this has been a topic of discussion for years. It's up to the discretion of myself and Mare to determine whether or not something is "too long".

It's not like if someone posts a summary of "I came. I saw. I conquered." we're going to say the sentences are too long. I think I speak for both of us when I say we have pretty good judgement and up until this point we have used that judgement to make executive decisions when it comes to enforcement of the existing rules.

It's not about the quality of the summary, or whether or not someone reveals their whole plot - I'm not reading them, nor do I likely want to. It's about allowing every single author the same amount of space to get the attention of readers in the interest of being fair.

Since you keep bringing up the fact that it's all about personal taste I would have to disagree that people will just read anything depending on who the main character is - summaries do matter. That's why stories with badly written summaries usually have a lower read count and less reviews than those that don't. Those are facts, not opinions.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: colorguard_diva on April 09, 2012, 05:51:47 PM
I don't think anyone is judging the choices you and mare make. Personally, I think you do a fine job. 

Personally, I think it all comes down to preference of each person on the site. I've read a lot of great stories that have great summaries that didn't get a ton of reads (looking at the read count) or reviews because they weren't about a certain Backstreet Boy or weren't about the Backstreet Boys. You can't tell me that it's not about what people like or don't like. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. People read what they want to read.

You go to the book store and you see the same exact thing. Certain books are read more than others for various reasons. Sometimes really great books go unnoticed.

I've also seen not so good stories on AC get tons of reviews. This are ones that have grammar mistakes,  no plot line, etc., but were about a popular Backstreet Boy. (But that would be my opinion of a story, other people might find it to be the best story out there.)

I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Just an observation. I'm usually not one who is of the common opinion about things. As you can see my opinion varies from most. We can openly discuss this topic of the rules and never come up with a perfect solution for everyone. I do like hearing everyone's thoughts even if we all don't agree. If we all agreed, I'd worry because then we'd be robots....lol.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Tri on April 09, 2012, 05:56:39 PM
Just throwing my two cents in from a reader's point of view.  The function of summaries is, in my opinion, to give a brief synopsis of the story.  If summaries are too long, I usually pass over them.  I almost always read the summaries before I even look at the genres, characters, or categories.  I know I don't speak for everyone, but it might be something for authors to keep in mind if they're trying to draw readers in.  I have gone outside of my genre/characters comfort zone because of really awesome summaries.  :)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 05:57:20 PM
If its true and summaries don't matter, it's all the more reason to cut them to short as possible.

Summary: eh, it's about Nick and he's hot, so please read it.

Perfect length! lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 05:59:17 PM
I always read the summary as well but I usually skip it if I see a banner with girls on it. A cleverly written summary might draw me in, particularly if there is no banner attached.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 09, 2012, 06:00:32 PM
I always read the summary as well but I usually skip it if I see a banner with girls on it. A cleverly written summary might draw me in, particularly if there is no banner attached.

You know, the last time something like this was prompted I started a social experiment by seeing how many reviews I could get writing a "stereotypicall y popular" story under an alias. Perhaps an experiment on summaries is in order! lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 06:05:52 PM
Perhaps lol maybe your alternate self needs to write another story?
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 09, 2012, 06:07:51 PM
I think she might! I can say no more lest I ruin the experiment lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 06:09:04 PM
I enjoy your little experiments and projects. The last time you did one I got a laptop in the mail lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 09, 2012, 06:17:45 PM
I definitely read summaries.  Banners may catch my eye, but it's the summary that either sells me, intrigues me enough to make me click on the story, or turns me off to it.  Overly long, rambling summaries are just as much of a turn-off as summaries with grammar errors.  I'm not say some stories don't warrant longer summaries than others, but I think the sentence limit Mare and Julilly decided on is appropriate.  I had a few rule-breakers myself that I had to go back and condense, but it wasn't that tough and only took me a few minutes.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: tiggerc128 on April 09, 2012, 07:34:40 PM
Hi Everyone!  I know I’m not a regular poster on the message board but the rule discussion is very interesting. I personally don’t mind the rules.  I mean, I’m SO appreciative to have a place to post my work, I don’t mind following the rules, just please be patient if I ask for clarification.   :) 

First, I know a couple of my summaries have been a bit long. For that, I apologize, but I don’t think they gave too much away.  Sometimes it takes more than 4 sentences, but I’ll do my best in the future.  I have one question:  Stories that are already up, do we need to edit the summaries or will those be allowed to stand when the new rules take effect on the 20th?

Second, updating…I appreciate the limit of stories we can update per day…but if a story is updated 4 or 5 times a day and it’s a story I’m into, I just can’t read all the updates. It actually kind of turns me off reading a story, but like everyone has said, it’s a personal preference and if I don’t get all the updates read, well I try.

I’d like to thank the moderators for taking the time to keep the site up and running and letting us all air out our opinions. In the end, isn’t it all about sharing our work so that others will hopefully enjoy it?  I have big dreams with my writing, which is why I’ve been stepping out into different characters and story lines. I want to push myself to see how I can grow. I appreciate the feedback I do get and those who take the time to read my stories, thank you. 



Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 09, 2012, 07:50:21 PM
Hello :)

Yes, even the ones on the site now are the ones that need to be shortened before the 20th. If you guys aren't sure if yours need to be, when it gets closer to time and we have noticed the ones we feel are too long haven't edited yet, we'll probably let you know via a review or email or something like that.

I would say if you think it's too long it probably is worth it to try to shorten them up a little.

Thanks guys! I know new rules are a pain at first but in the end, it all makes sense and works out for the best.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Purpura Lipstick on April 09, 2012, 09:15:47 PM
You know, the last time something like this was prompted I started a social experiment by seeing how many reviews I could get writing a "stereotypicall y popular" story under an alias. Perhaps an experiment on summaries is in order! lol

I did that too! 
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: alota_cookin on April 16, 2012, 09:04:04 PM
Boy am I glad I popped onto AC in time to go back and change the summaries of my stories!

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 16, 2012, 09:29:09 PM
Oh, i'm glad you posted in here. It's a nice reminder that the deadline is coming up.

:)

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Purpura Lipstick on April 16, 2012, 09:31:33 PM
do we need to fix old stories that are complete and not updated and therefore not on the most recent page anymore? 
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 16, 2012, 09:37:57 PM
Yes you really should but in all honestly we're probably going to hone in on the ones that we see on that most recent page. I know I won't be combing the site to check because honestly? lol but I will with rule breakers. For instance if you tend to break the rule and you're on the most recent page, i'm more likely to click on your main page and go down the list of your stuff.

Just like outrageously huge banners. I'm sure there are some I haven't found and never will because the stories are that old and no one is updating them. If I find them though I do delete the banners especially if you are a perpetual banner rule breaker. I click on your name etc.. lol



Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: alota_cookin on April 16, 2012, 09:49:53 PM
Wow...that was a lot harder than I thought. Trying to change summaries for stories like LATB and Protection proved to be very challenging... they've been up for years and anything I changed sounded funny...so I just did a bunch of deleting.

I got all my summaries down to 3 sentences or less...except one has 4, but it doesn't have a banner. Sorry.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 16, 2012, 09:58:23 PM
Never apologize for NOT having a banner. lol and thanks for taking the time to change your summaries.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Purpura Lipstick on April 16, 2012, 10:15:39 PM
okay, noted Mare... I just won't break the rules so you click on my profile... not that I think my summaries are too large.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 17, 2012, 06:53:00 AM
okay, noted Mare... I just won't break the rules so you click on my profile... not that I think my summaries are too large.

LOL I love this. Don't make Mare angry lest she scours your profile for possible broken rules! :P
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 17, 2012, 06:53:29 AM
Wow...that was a lot harder than I thought. Trying to change summaries for stories like LATB and Protection proved to be very challenging... they've been up for years and anything I changed sounded funny...so I just did a bunch of deleting.

I got all my summaries down to 3 sentences or less...except one has 4, but it doesn't have a banner. Sorry.

You get more typed space when you don't have a banner anyway :) You're actually under the requirement!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 17, 2012, 07:09:20 AM
LOL I love this. Don't make Mare angry lest she scours your profile for possible broken rules! :P

Yes, do not make Mare angry. You will not like Mare when she's angry! lol I say that to my students all the time, minus the Mare part.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 17, 2012, 01:05:59 PM
We will be leaving friendly reminders for some of you about the summary rule starting today on the form of a review, if we both read them and feel like they need to be shortened.

Again, thanks for following the rules :)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 17, 2012, 01:39:45 PM
I'd better check my old stories!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 17, 2012, 03:00:44 PM
For you, an example of what not to do for a summary/banner.

http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=8923&warning=4
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 17, 2012, 05:26:37 PM
LMAO The only thing more epic than that banner is the summary below it.  Never gets old!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Purpura Lipstick on April 17, 2012, 10:49:41 PM
Mare has a banner on a story!!???
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 18, 2012, 05:18:13 AM
I used to use banners on everything until I realized how long they took to load for myself and others on slower computers.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 18, 2012, 10:55:56 AM
Love it!!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 24, 2012, 07:35:12 PM
Since plaigerism has once again popped up, sadly, I wanted you to be aware it is also considered plaigerism if you steal from tv shows, movies or books word for word. The same rules apply but obviously it's harder to prove. If you do borrow a plot from a Grey's Anatomy or Titanic or whatever, you should give that show or movie credit. What you should NOT do is steal entire plots word for word. That is just as bad as what this AJ person did.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on April 24, 2012, 08:00:18 PM
I can't believe we're having this problem again.

This page does a good job summarizing what is considered plagiarism:

http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 24, 2012, 08:34:01 PM
Thanks for posting that, Julie.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Rose on April 24, 2012, 09:29:51 PM
Seriously, again?

I mean taking inspiration from something and putting a new spin is one thing... stealing dialogue word for word? Major fail.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 24, 2012, 09:34:28 PM
I just think people assume because it's just a show or movie or book etc... It doesn't count where in reality they are the people that will come after you and sue you more so then another fanfic writer lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 25, 2012, 12:26:56 AM
I've gone and added a note to two of my stories. Even though Jizzle Of Oz is clearly a parody of Wizard Of Oz is it necessary to put that in the story notes? Or should I still credit it?
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 25, 2012, 05:09:48 AM
You should still credit it but it's pretty well implied.

And all I'm saying to the accusations is, lots of dialogue taken word for word.  Sorry to disappoint, but it's the truth. Didn't take long to find the proof either.

Didn't call her out or delete her account and still have no plans to, because we weren't sure if she realized she even did it. Just left a review hoping she'd go back and just paraphrase or change things. She is the one who decided to take the story down. Just clearing that up.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 25, 2012, 12:03:55 PM
I only know from what she told me. If you know she did, I understand. I don't know the show she got inspiration or anything from so I guess I didn't catch it. I understand.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 25, 2012, 02:42:43 PM
I've got a story which is inspired by a couple of WWII films (as well as real life stories told by my Grandad and stuff I've researched online), so maybe I should mention that in my author notes?

I haven't copied anything word for word though, and wouldn't do that as I make it up as I go.  I just like to put my characters in similar situations.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 25, 2012, 03:06:53 PM
There's no need to get overly paranoid about things. I would say whenever you borrow from something you should give credit. The only time we will actually step in is if we have proof of you copying something from someone else. It's a heavy accusation and we take it seriously but we're not going to just delete anyone's account on hearsay. There has to be proof to back it up. Even though there was no question in our mind that backpack girl copied we still had to wait to hear back from the original authors just to make sure she wasn't writing under an alias.

I just didn't want you guys to think that we're just going to randomly start deleting people's accounts just because the storyline 'seems' already done or you forgot to give credit to something. We'll leave you a review as a reminder or in the more serious cases your account will be locked until we can investigate. Make sense?

Just keep doing what you all are doing. :)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Carter-Orange on April 25, 2012, 03:28:35 PM
Yeah, that makes sense.  I might just say in my story that I was inspired by a number of films, etc.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 25, 2012, 03:46:28 PM
My friend took her story down because she didn't want to go through a huge hassle. She was inspired by the show....we may disagree but I don't think it was plagiarism if it was just inspired by it. If you have proof she copied something from Greys Anatomy, that's another thing. 
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Rose on April 25, 2012, 04:08:28 PM
I don't think anything would've been said unless something was directly copied. Because it's such a big deal. You can take inspiration from TV shows and movies, etc., but when you start taking parts (even if it's not the whole) word for word, that's different.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 25, 2012, 04:11:56 PM
My friend took her story down because she didn't want to go through a huge hassle. She was inspired by the show....we may disagree but I don't think it was plagiarism if it was just inspired by it. If you have proof she copied something from Greys Anatomy, that's another thing. 

The script from the show and her story are word for word identical. All she did was take a television script and add descriptors in between the dialogue that she did not write. That is more than being inspired by something. Had she used the same plot but written original content with original dialogue that is different but the reason we  were even aware of this is because we put the script side-by-side with her fic and they were the same words.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: FrickingKaos on April 25, 2012, 06:47:41 PM
Sorry if it looked like I was trying to start trouble, I was just wondering what happened. All I knew was she took the story down because she was told she was plagiarizing.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 25, 2012, 06:51:58 PM
You're not! It's easier for us to explain the reasons why the issue was brought to her attention rather than let there be any kind of rumour or misinformation about it. Someone who is a fan of the show recognized the dialogue as being taken directly from the show so we looked into it. Had it only been inspired by the show we would have just left it alone.

When it comes down to it, we are responsible for everything that's on the site. If someone took a plagiarism issue higher than us (to say, the legal owner of the works) it would be us that would have to address it. We have to cover our own asses while at the same time covering all of yours because we wouldn't want anyone to get in shit.

(And before you say "Well what are the chances of that happening?" don't think for a moment that companies aren't scouring the internet for their intellectual property. MANY sites receive cease and desist letters for much less.)
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 25, 2012, 07:28:23 PM
Having just seen some of the things said on Twitter I feel compelled to reiterate this.

We address every single email that is sent to the mod address. Some things are eye roll worthy, some things are legitimate, but we still read and respond to everyone's concerns/questions/issues.

In this case someone presented us with legitimate cause to follow up on a concern and Mare did follow up on it. She first looked further into it, then consulted me, and we came to a joint conclusion. At no point do I believe she acted "immaturely" in that decision, nor do I believe that being open and honest with you guys when you ask us questions about why things happen is immature.

We've always stressed the fact that we are happy to explain to anyone the reasons why something was done because we have nothing to hide. But please, rather than taking your concerns to Twitter (where you may think no one can see it but everyone can) speak to us about it, engage us in discussion, and you may find it's not as serious as you might think.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on April 25, 2012, 07:58:48 PM
I wasn't rude at all. Not that I owe anyone an explanation about something that has nothing to do with anyone here but all I said was you should go check out the newest post in the news section. Hoping she'd read it and realize what she did without having to go about all the hubbub of accusing her of anything. If she had just taken the time to confront me about it via email or here instead of getting all riled up and taking down her story this would have been resolved and no one would even be talking about it. At no point have I even mentioned her name or anything. It only keeps being brought up because it's being complained about.

She's not even a forum member so I don't want to keep talking about it on here.

Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: julilly on April 25, 2012, 08:03:08 PM
I absolutely agree! It's not right to keep talking about someone who isn't here to defend themselves. She is, of course, welcome to join the discussion but for now the issue is closed.

Thanks to everyone for your questions/concerns/comments.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on July 29, 2017, 02:02:11 AM
Hey mods, just FYI - Photobucket must have changed something about linking images on external sites because all images hosted on Photobucket, including the rules graphic, are not showing up... see the first page of this thread or http://absolutechaos.net/stories.php?action=newstory for example.  KimtheKaotic tweeted about it, but I'm not sure how often anyone checks the @ACFicTalk Twitter account.


Edit: I went to http://photobucket.com/P500/ for more info...  They want you to freaking PAY to upgrade your account in order to embed images on a third-party site.  Bullshit!  Here's an article that lists some free alternatives: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/photobucket-alternative-free-image-hosting-sites  Buh-bye Photobucket!
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on July 29, 2017, 05:21:29 AM
Huh...well that sucks. There's not much we can do besides delete the image but hopefully people who use photobucket will come here to click on the link you posted to change their images. No banners is always the best option lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: Sakabelle on July 29, 2017, 08:43:50 AM
Yup this sucks. I hosted everything with photobucket but a couple weeks ago I changed anything current to use Imgur, which seems to work just fine. Eventually I'll go reupload everything that I had in photobucket to Imgur, but today is not that day lol
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on July 29, 2017, 12:10:24 PM
Yeah, hopefully you can just re-post the rules as text instead of an image; then it won't matter.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on July 29, 2017, 12:37:55 PM
Hopefully we have them somewhere besides photobucket lol

Until then just everyone be good. It's the same people who always post in here anyway.
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: RokofAges75 on July 29, 2017, 02:06:06 PM
Whoever owns the Photobucket account should still be able to access the image there, if only to re-save it and upload it somewhere else or transcribe it if need be.

Until then, I guess I can start spamming up the Most Recent page with all the stories I've been productively writing!  Oh, wait...
Title: Re: AC POSTING GUIDELINES (site not forum)
Post by: mare on July 29, 2017, 04:40:59 PM
Yup, Julilly has it. Now people are going to be putting up banners as big as my head. Of course they'll say that photobucket is no longer working lol