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 Announcements pertaining to Writing.Com! |
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| Greetings Members, Upon the recent review of the Stories.Com rating system, we found that the system was not accurately being representative of the ratings received in whole by items. The system was indiscriminantly rounding all ratings up. This means if 10 people gave an item a 3.5, and 1 person gave the item a 4.0, the rounding system would round the item up to a 4.0. This is because the 11 ratings would average to 3.54. The 3.54 would be automatically rounded up to the 4.0 rating. Going further, an item with 20 ratings of 3.5 and just 1 rating of 4.0 would lead to an average of 3.52, still rounding the rating up to a 4.0. To find the correct half star rating, the system now takes all ratings into account and rounds an item's rating average if it does not end in .0 (ie; 1.0, 3.0 or 5.0) or .5 (ie; 1.5, 2.5 or 4.5). To find the rounded average, Stories.Com uses the following system:     .75 and higher round up to the next full number,     .25 through .74 round to .5 and     .24 and lower round down to the full number. Some examples of the systm:     - An item with a 4.80 average rating rounds to 5.0.     - An item with a 4.75 average rating rounds to 5.0.     - An item with a 4.74 average rounds to a 4.5.     - An item with a 4.25 average rounds to a 4.5.     - An item with a 4.24 average rounds to 4.0.     - An item with 3.75 averages rounds to a 4.0.     - An item with 3.74 averages rounds to a 3.5. With this corrected system, in the initially discussed rating example where an item received 10 ratings of 3.5 and 1 rating of 4.0, averaging 3.54, the stars displayed would be 3.5. This much more accurately represents the opinion of all raters. If an item receives 5 ratings of 3.5 and 5 ratings of 4.0, the average is 3.75 and this will be rounded up to 4.0; there is a 50/50 split and in the case of this "tie", the rating leans to the higher side. In addition, this description of the working of the rating system has been corrected in our FAQ; http://www.stories.com/main/faq.php#star_rating Thanks for your time, ~~SM 
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| Greetings Members! Now you can track your submissions, page through items in a folder and limit your campfire additions! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Attention Writers! *~*~* http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn your rating stars into $$$ as a freelance writer!!! Follow your stars to the revolutionary website where writers register their types of writing skills and topics of expertise in a global directory of freelance writers available for hire. Take the next step as a rising star and register today at http://www.FreelanceWriters.com/writers_faqs.cfm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Submission Tracking :: It is extremely unlikely for an author to be found by "someone" just out looking for a new writing talent; that is a fact. Therefore, you need to be pro-active, constantly putting your work in front of the people who should be reading it. Stories.Com can't force you to get out and make submissions to magazines, ezines, your local paper or even on site contests. We can, however, encourage you to get into the game by providing a simple submission tracking tool. It has been specially designed to help our aspiring authors keep track of any and all submissions made. For complete details on the system, visit your "My Submissions" area which is linked from your "Member Tools" pull down (in the "Author Tools" section). The direct link is: http://www.stories.com/main/utilities.php?action=sub_list The submission tracking tool is available to Premium Members only. Find out more about Premium Membership ----> Invalid Item  :: Next & Previous :: Now you can page through items within a folder using the next and previous arrows available from the "In Folder" line of any item's header. This new feature increases the speed in which you can browse through a portfolio found on Stories.Com. :: Limit The Size Of Campfire Additions :: Looking to better control the flow of your Campfire? Now you're able to set the minimum and/or maximum requirement on the number of characters one may enter into his or her campfire addition. Utilize these new settings to add consistency to your campfire! These settings can be added to existing campfires by editing the item, though it will only affect future additions. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And don't forget to visit our sponsor: http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMaster  
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| Greetings Members! Interested in Short Stories? Make sure you're subscribed to the NEW Stories.Com Short Stories Newsletter! Interested in Contests? Make sure you're subscribed to the NEW Stories.Com Contests Newsletter! The first issues for each newsletters will be sent out Wednesday, November 6th, 2002. You can subscribe to these and any other Stories.Com Newsletter from within your "My Account" area or directly via: http://www.stories.com/main/my_account.php?action=ea_form&type=newsletters -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And don't forget to visit our sponsor: http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMaster |
| Greetings Members! Now you can open up private items to chosen individuals; we've also revamped the look and feel of our Item Form! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Attention Writers! *~*~* http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn your rating stars into $$$ as a freelance writer!!! Follow your stars to the revolutionary website where writers register their types of writing skills and topics of expertise in a global directory of freelance writers available for hire. Take the next step as a rising star and register today at http://www.FreelanceWriters.com/writers_faqs.cfm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introducing PassKeys... PassKeys provide members with a simple way to allow specific individuals access to their items while locking out all others. Once activated on an item, the PassKey will be required from anyone attempting to view the Item who does not meet the restriction level set by the "Access Restrictions" setting. Simply provide the "PassKey" to anyone outside the access range to give them access to the item. For example, if an item's Access Restriction is set to "Private" and the PassKey is activated, the item will be unaccessible to everyone who does not know the PassKey. For complete information on PassKeys, please see: "Passkeys" The ability to restrict items using the PassKey feature is available only to Upgraded and Premium Members. Find out more about Upgraded Membership ----> Invalid Item Find out more about Premium Membership ----> Invalid Item The Item Form MakeOver... We've cleaned up the Create and Edit page for all Item types. The new look is much more organized, breaking the form into its main components. See for yourself by creating a new item or editing any of your existing ones! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And don't forget to visit our sponsor: http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMaster |
| Greetings Members! There's a brand new costumicon subscription period, dozens of new costumicons and three new categories. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Attention Writers! *~*~* http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn your rating stars into $$$ as a freelance writer!!! Follow your stars to the revolutionary website where writers register their types of writing skills and topics of expertise in a global directory of freelance writers available for hire. Take the next step as a rising star and register today at http://www.FreelanceWriters.com/writers_faqs.cfm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- costumicons are once again available for purchase! This subscription will last through noon on November 2nd, 2002. Subscribe to or change your current costumicon from the "My Account" area or directly at: http://www.stories.com/main/my_account.php?action=ea_form&type=costumicon Over 60 new icons and 3 new categories have been added in the last week. The categories are: So New They Haven't Been Sorted Clothing : Accessories : Hats Horror / Scary There's also a section which picks the best costumes for Halloween. As usual, you can preview any of the larger portfolio images by clicking on the small image within the costumicons Store. Don't Forget: You can GIFT costumicons to others! A costumicons subscription makes a great gift! Send one to a friend from your "My Gifts" page TODAY! http://www.stories.com/main/my_gifts.php#spend -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And don't forget to visit our sponsor: http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMistress   |
| Greetings Members! It's mid-October and the holiday season is quickly approaching. We wanted to remind you of a few features on the site that are useful and suppportive during your holiday shopping. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Attention Writers! *~*~* http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn your rating stars into $$$ as a freelance writer!!! Follow your stars to the revolutionary website where writers register their types of writing skills and topics of expertise in a global directory of freelance writers available for hire. Take the next step as a rising star and register today at http://www.FreelanceWriters.com/writers_faqs.cfm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :: SHOPPING THIS SEASON THROUGH STORIES.COM :: AMAZON.COM Do you shop at Amazon.Com? Shop using our direct link and support Stories.Com at the same time! Use the #8. Shop At Amazon link provided in your Item Jumps pulldown menu; Stories.Com earns a commission on any of your purchases. This makes supporting your favorite online writing community simple and convenient! The direct link to shop @ Amazon.Com through Stories.Com is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home?tag=storiescom NEED GIFT IDEAS? Then be sure to look through the community's more than 1,250 Book Reviews! Find a book for a family member or friend and purchase it using the link provided in the book review. The link will take you directly to buy the book from Amazon.Com, where Stories.Com earns a small percentage of any sale. We sincerely appreciate all of your support this holiday season. The listing of Book Reviews can be accessed from its icon at the top of any page or via its "Item Jumps" link. The direct link to Book Reviews on Stories.Com is: http://www.stories.com/main/list_items.php?num_type=1500 WISH LISTS Want to send another member a gift this holiday season? Check his or her Stories.Com Wish List! Is there something you want? Add it to your Stories.Com Wish List and be sure tell your family and friends about your Wish List @ Stories.Com! Wish Lists provide a convenient, organized way for each member to keep track of products and services that he or she wants, such as mugs, t-shirts, Upgraded and Premium Memberships. The system is secure; it safely allows your on-line friends to send gifts to your off-line residence without ever sharing your personal information with them. You provide us with your confidential ship-to address and only Stories.Com staff will see it. Your address is only used so we can ship a product if a wish is filled. Any registered Stories.Com member can fill your wishes using Gift Points. Tell your friends and family to sign up for a free account, purchase Gift Points and then fill your wish! It's just that easy! Members can provide a direct link to their Wish List by adding /wish_list to their public portfolio URL. For example, The StoryMistress would give out the following URL: http://www.stories.com/authors/storymistress/wish_list Wish Lists are also linked from within Members' public portfolios. You can access your own Wish List to add, edit or delete wishes by selecting "My Wish List" from the "Member Tools" pull down menu. Please remember that the purchase of any Stories.Com product helps to support the site! Please don't be shy... fill out that Wish List and spread the word. GIFT POINTS Don't forget about giving good, old Gift Points to your online friends! Gift Points are like a gift certificate to Stories.Com. Send members a chunk of GPs and tell them to head to our store to purchase what they want. Or, if they're looking for exposure and a some extra feedback, they can sponsor their own items throughout Stories.Com. With Gift Points, the choice is theirs! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And don't forget to visit our sponsor: http://www.FreelanceWriters.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com; please remember to think of us when you do your holiday shopping this season!  ~~ The StoryMaster
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| Greetings Members! We've added updates to the IM console, journals and your favorites listing! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Support Our Sponsor :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Print Your Writing Affordably! *~*~* http://www.inkquik.com/ INCREDIBLE prices on high-quality INKJET and TONER cartridges. 30-day money-back guarantee for worry-free shopping and same-day shipping on orders placed by 1 PM Pacific time. Shipping only $3.95 whether you order 1 or 100 cartridges! Visit InkQuik today and start saving! http://www.inkquik.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: See What You Said With Sent IM's :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Find yourself in so many IM conversations that you sometimes forget what you just sent? Or how about those IM replies that come days after you initially sent them? The "Recent IMs" link within your IM console now includes both received and sent IMs! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Private Journal Entries :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You may now restrict access to any entry within your journal. Note that the journal item's overall access restriction will take precedence over individual entry access restrictions. Examples: If the journal item is set "private", making one entry "public" will not have any effect. If the journal item is set "public", making one entry "private" will block all readers from viewing the entry. The ability to restrict access to journal entries is available only to Upgraded and Premium Members. Find out more about Upgraded Membership ----> Invalid Item Find out more about Premium Membership ----> Invalid Item ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Quick Favorites :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Attention Premium Members! A new Double Column setting has been added. If you find your favorites moving too quickly for the 10 items, try the new 15 Quick/Short Favorites option. To set or change your preference, head to your change preferences page and look for the "My Stories.Com Columns" setting. Select the "Double Column (15 Quick/Short Favorites)" option. You can directly access your preferences form at: http://www.stories.com/main/my_account.php?action=ea_form&type=preferences In addition, mousing over any favorite link in your 2nd column will yield the item's full title even if it has been truncated in the listing for being too long. Find out more about Premium Membership ----> Invalid Item ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Please Remember :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Supporting Stories.Com by visiting our sponsors helps us continue to bring you more innovative, new features! InkQuik.Com @ http://www.InkQuik.Com/ Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMaster |
| Greetings Members! This notice is to announce that we have set "safety" limits on all Stories.Com Membership levels. Upgraded Members have an initial limitation of 1,000 items. Premium Members have an initial limitation of 1,600 items. These limits are initial and are extremely liberal. Please note that these limits are temporarily very high and will be decreasing in a few months; we will announce the future limit on or about November 1st, 2002 and expect that they will be put into place 1 to 2 months later; between December 1st and January 1st. While we have not decided the specifics of the limitations, we do know they will be generous and will affect only a small percentage of our Upgraded and Premium Membership. We will only be asking that members who are using the most of Stories.Com's resources help to cover the costs of their usage; otherwise, we would be forced to share the burden across our entire member base or shoulder it ourselves, both of which are not fair. These present limitations affect only a 1 or 2 Stories.Com members. We appologize for the inconvenience to them, but we have done this in the best interest of Stories.Com and its entire community. It has been done to insure that the community is kept up, alive, and running as fast as possible for all members. More information on Portfolio Limits for these membership levels will be provided on or about November 1st, 2002. Please hold any and all questions regarding them until this time as we will post more complete details and information then. This information will include more specifics on both the limits and the specific reasoning behind them. Thank you for your continued support, ~~SM
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| Greeting Members! Here comes one more server Upgrade for Stories.Com! Tonight, at 11pm EST we will bring online a new Stories.Com web server. During the "recent" time (1 minute to about 12 hours) after the new server is brought online, you will at some point switch from the old server to the new server. In theory this upgrade should be seemless for your computer if you have your browser setup to accept cookies (most are!). If you do not accept cookies, when you computer picks up the change in server you will simply be logged out and will have to log back in... Regardless of your computer setup, PLEASE BE CAREFUL when creating anything new during this time period! For the fun of it, I have added a small "new" to the bottom of all pages served from our NEW web server and a small "old" to the bottom all pages sent from the old server. Once your pages switch from "old" to "new", you know you should be done. More Information: Why this and so many hosting hardware upgrades recently? Simple; The growth of Stories.Com has been stupendous. I'm one who believes in staying a bit ahead of the growth curve; that might cost a little more, but in the long run it leads to a more stable atmosphere providing fast and reliable service to our members. And we've said, shown and proven many times already that Stories.Com is here for the LONG run. Yesterday (9/24) Stories.Com set a new record number of people logged in at one time: 381 This was quite the jump from the previous record of 369 set on 9/9/02 - but shows incredible growth from when we first hit 300 members at a time on 4/9/02. So, tonight we're bringing online a brand new web server, hot off the presses from Dell. It's a QUAD (4) Processor Intel 2.4 Ghz Xeon with 4 Gigabytes of RAM; it has hard drive space totaling more than 70 Gigabytes. (For anyone curious to see the $14,000+ price tag on this type of hardware, you can look on http://www.dell.com/ - but this machine is so "hauss", it was a special order. You can come close using their high end, business server custom system configuration tool.) Combined with Stories.Com's other two main servers, the three servers have a combined 10 Gigabytes of RAM and over 400 Gigabytes of hard drive storage. Each server has redundant hard drives; this means that if one fails, others within it have copies of the data. In addition each server collects backup data from each of the other servers - so if one machine failed completely, the two other machines would have copies of the data. This is all in addition to our nightly/weekly tape backups. (-- Please note that member email is *not* part of the multi-machine backup or tape backup system because of the huge amount of email that Stories.Com handles. All other data, such as items, posts, entries, ratings, reviews, etc, etc is on the multi-machine and tape backup systems.) An Extra Special THANKS to the incredible team of professionals at our web host, INetU Inc. (http://www.inetu.net/) for providing us amazing turn around time with this new machine and for all of their support in getting it up and running so quickly! We appreciate your patience and support as we work to improve and maintain the quality of your online communtiy. Thank you, ~~The StoryMaster
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| Greetings Members! Below, you'll find information about an email bug fix, more portfolio information and a new Image Item sub type! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Support Our Sponsor :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *~*~* Print Your Writing Affordably! *~*~* http://www.inkquik.com/ INCREDIBLE prices on high-quality INKJET and TONER cartridges. 30-day money-back guarantee for worry-free shopping and same-day shipping on orders placed by 1 PM Pacific time. Shipping only $3.95 whether you order 1 or 100 cartridges! Visit InkQuik today and start saving! http://www.inkquik.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: HTML Mail Works Again! :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- An obscure bug with our email system was preventing the proper viewing of HTML messages for members with Microsoft Internet Explorer v6 and later, as well as members with Netscape Communicator v6 and later. We have corrected the error and all iFrame capable browsers (which are most) should now correctly view HTML messages within their own iFrame. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Item Restrictions Appear! :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The level of the Access Restriction on any of your items is now conveniently displayed below it's "Tools" line in your private portfolio. This should increase your productivity and save time when working on larger projects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: New Image Sub Type! :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Since it was missing, Signature is now an Image Item sub type. If you have time, please edit and change the sub type on any applicable items within your portfolio. Remember, Image Items can only be created by Upgraded and Premium Members! Find out more about Upgraded Membership ----> Invalid Item Find out more about Premium Membership ----> Invalid Item ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Looking To Publish Your Writing? :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget about our Self Publishing & POD Showcase. We've assembled the top companies in one spot to save you time! Many members have experienced wonderful service from the listed companies. When it's time for you to take that step to printing on paper, please remember to visit: http://www.stories.com/main/showcase.php?t=pod ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Please Remember :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Supporting Stories.Com by visiting our sponsors helps us continue to bring you more innovative, new features! InkQuik.Com @ http://www.InkQuik.Com/ Thanks for your continued support of Stories.Com! ~~ The StoryMaster |
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