Getting feedback on stories - your thoughts please

[EllenShaw]

Admins, please don't take this the wrong way but I find it much harder to get a sense of how my stories are being received under the new platform and I'm interested to hear how other writers feel.

We all know that very few FCF members actively comment on stories but it used to be very easy to see how many people liked them. Unless I've missed something the only way to see the number of likes on the new platform is to scroll to the bottom of your story. The like button itself is also very small so I suspect a lot of readers don't even see it.

I can see that people are looking at my stories (whether they're actually reading them I can't say) but with only the odd comment from a regular reader or fan to go by I have no sense of how they're being received.

What do other writers think? Is there a way things could be improved to give writers more feedback?

[CuriousCombat]

Admins, please don't take this the wrong way but I find it much harder to get a sense of how my stories are being received under the new platform and I'm interested to hear how other writers feel.

We all know that very few FCF members actively comment on stories but it used to be very easy to see how many people liked them. Unless I've missed something the only way to see the number of likes on the new platform is to scroll to the bottom of your story. The like button itself is also very small so I suspect a lot of readers don't even see it.

I can see that people are looking at my stories (whether they're actually reading them I can't say) but with only the odd comment from a regular reader or fan to go by I have no sense of how they're being received.

What do other writers think? Is there a way things could be improved to give writers more feedback?

If I remember correctly, even in the previous UI, the like button was at the bottom of the post and of the same size. A thumbs up instead of a heart.

Like how I liked this post (for example). As for the stories getting less number of likes, perhaps it may be due to the plethora of new stories being posted in the last couple weeks making your story go down the front page. Personally, I don't think it has anything to do with the UI or any change in your writing style, tbh. It might be more of a visibility thing. Just my two cents.

[Kiva]

In the previous platform, there were two Like buttons. One appeared at the end of the post. The second appeared in the menu after the title of your story. It appears that second button is no longer present. Perhaps this loses likes from readers who moved on from the story and might have wanted to post from the menu of stories later. I know lack of feedback has discouraged writers and has been discussed in the past.

If this helps, I'd say if you have a regular following of readers, you can be sure there are many more you won't know about. Some readers won't comment but send me DMs, others in chat. The view count includes unregistered guests ("lurkers"). As I type this, FCF has 802 guests who cannot like or comment and 62 registered users online (a mere 7%). Undoubtedly, you have an invisible audience of indeterminate size. Unfortunately, we can only accept that knowledge as a consolation prize.

I am very grateful for every Like and comment. So I'd like to say to every reader of my stories: THANK YOU! 

[EllenShaw]

From memory the like count was also displayed at page level so you could see the number of likes a story had received without actually having to go into the story itself. That's the main part I'm missing.

Whether the like button is at both the top and bottom and whether it's a heart or a thumbs up are secondary points - although I do think the "thumbs up" icon is universally recognised as a like while the heart is less obvious and less well understood.

[MikeHales67]

Yes the like stuff is not as easy to look at, the old system was easier to take a quick look at. I had a play and it only counts as a view only if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of a post (so if you check how many likes you got...)

A better system would be a numerical grading system. So 0=Crap and 5=Outstanding,.leave a review.. Easy for me to say as I don't have to code it!

Unfortunately the 'like' system is 'rough' to put it mildly. However the main culprit is the fact that nobody gives any feed back! People are quite happy to read the story but when it comes to clicking a 'Like' button they can't be arsed.

I can say this as I'm part of the problem not the solution. Even though I know how wonderful it is to receive even a 'hey I read you're story and it didn't suck' message, how often do I
 leave feedback? In years gone I do remember quite happily visiting the fcf board, without signing in and quite happily reading the stories and not being concerned that I couldn't leave any feedback 'cos it didn't occur to me to do it.

It wasn't until I tried to have a go at writing myself that I finally realised how much effort goes into writing that a made a promise to myself to always leave positive feedback.
Nah.
I do try to use the 'like' button, and I do try to leave feedback and if it is any consolation I do feel guilty about it.

I totally agree with Kiva. There is a large audience of people who have read your stuff, never 'like' it, never commented, but who love your stuff.

Yes it is like dark matter.

[EllenShaw]

Thanks Mike and Kiva, I agree with both of you. Most people just don't make the effort to show their appreciation but it's still a shame that it's difficult to see the few who do. Something else I noticed (and I can't honestly say this wasn't the case on the old platform) is that like are not displayed when you search your posts through your profile. So the only way an author can see how many like a story has is to go to the story in the section it was posted and scroll to the bottom of it.

[suffolkwrestling]

Ellen, I think you are one of the best writers I have come across in this venue in almost 50 years.  You stories are well laid out, spot on realistic about what happens in real fights between two people. The way you have build out the world in which your characters grounded in the world we all live in. It is a group of women who enjoy testing themselves against each other, in a set up, a house, a backyard, a private ring  that could happen in any place we pass on a street.  The fights are realistic about the brutality in fights, but never with descriptions of violence and injuries that would have killed anyone at the first strike IRL.  Please continue to do what you do!
Regards,
B

[suffolkwrestling]