fiction files redux discussion

we are testing out the goodreads group functionality.

i just changed the group to "secret" in case our fellow ff'ers saw some evidence of it in my update feed and started freaking out. hopefully this will nip that possibility in the bud.

i also set up a poll. so far so good. :)

i thought i should test this some html is okay. sometimes we like to post pictures...



also i think it may make urls live automatically but not sure...

http://groups.myspace.com/thefictionf...

www.goodreads.com

why yes it does! look at that!

i also like that i can go in an edit a post after i have made it. sometimes i think faster than i type. :)

Maureen wrote: "i also set up a poll. so far so good. :)"

no need to reply to the poll just yet. i have it set to end in april. it's really so that i could test the polling utility. i like it that i can type stuff in the boxes, or pull books authors out of their database to poll on. ideal for selecting group reads because it's a democratic process that can be set to anonymous -- nobody will know how you voted. :)

hey! there is also a search function! i tried it and it seems to work! i used the word greek and it found the comment from dan and from me! whooot!

well, it IS a site designed for book discussion. not trying to be an ass, just saying. there are a lot of advantages.

it's not particularly beautiful, but...

also: how firmly grounded is goodreads? it's not about to disappear is, it?

Ben wrote: "well, it IS a site designed for book discussion. not trying to be an ass, just saying. there are a lot of advantages.

it's not particularly beautiful, but...

also: how firmly grounded is goodread..."

i take the first point, and to the second i say, we weren't really trying to improve on aesthetics -- and it's not like our current space is beautiful.
as for the third, i think that a great question. i did a quick check, and it's only been around since dec '06... the wiki notes are quite comforting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodreads

Maureen wrote: "Ben wrote: "well, it IS a site designed for book discussion. not trying to be an ass, just saying. there are a lot of advantages.

it's not particularly beautiful, but...

also: how firmly grounded..."

one thing i'm not liking is this truncation of quoted posts...

i guess, for me, i still want to talk about books, and if we do this from a book site and not myspace maybe we can find more people to talk about 'em. :)

Maureen wrote: "Maureen wrote: "Ben wrote: "well, it IS a site designed for book discussion. not trying to be an ass, just saying. there are a lot of advantages.

it's not particularly beautiful, but...

also: how..."

it also doesn't copy more than one previous post when you QUOTE. although:

"Maureen wrote: "Ben wrote: "well, it IS a site designed for book discussion. not trying to be an ass, just saying. there are a lot of advantages.

it's not particularly beautiful, but...

also: how firmly grounded..."

one thing i'm not liking is this truncation of quoted posts...

i guess, for me, i still want to talk about books, and if we do this from a book site and not myspace maybe we can find more people to talk about 'em. :)"

you CAN just copy and paste.

Ben wrote: you CAN just copy and paste.

somebody is hankering for a spankering. :P

This all seems pretty cool, functionality wise. I am digging so far.

and it works pretty damn good from my mobile phone which is usually my best link to the web given i hate staying in the office where my computer stays.

could somebody else start a thread? maybe ben or patty because they aren't moderators? so we can test that? :)

i'm not feeling well you guys. i will pick up on ubik commentary later if i can, if not tomorrow...

hey... hope you feel better.

Brian wrote: "hey... hope you feel better."

thanks sweet b. i hope so too. :)

okay, so i'm going to chance the status of this group to public right now in response to jonathan's post on the ff.

i'm here! do i get a prize? :)

Jennifer wrote: "i'm here! do i get a prize? :)"

Absolutely you do!

Dan wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "i'm here! do i get a prize? :)"

Absolutely you do!"

Dan is responsible for prizes. ;)

woo! what do i get, what do i get? a copy of PFL?

I am not sure yet. I mean it's not like you won the lottery (PFL). I will think of something!

how many of us are goodreads "librarians?" just curious. i am, and wonder if anyone else is. Also, what can moderators do that members can't? and is there any limit to the number of moderators?

Moderators can send one blast email a day to all members. They can also delete topics, posts, remove members, and depending on your group's status (restricted, invite only, etc.) they add members.

There does not appear to be a limit.

I posted something in another thread about how to potentially divvy up the responsibilities, such as we decide them to be. Right this minute I can't remember the thread but I think it was the "what do you think" one.

I even nominated you and Dan as resident taxonomists. :)

. . .mo, thanks for all you do! . . .

Maureen wrote:
...also i think it may make urls live automatically but not sure...


Definitely need a link to Dewey up top somewhere. Like the new commume Mo. Always like a place before the furniture settles in. Ben might need some support in his newfound position of leadership though. I would suggest a grapefruit theme.

Michael wrote:
Definitely need a link to Dewey up top somewhere. Like the new commune Mo. Always like a place before the..."

that's done and in the section that is called "About Us".

as far as i can tell, ben's done nothing with his power except change his title. he *is* a grapefruit. i'm glad you're settling in nicely michael. it's nice to feel engaged again. :)

what is there for me to do? i kinda want to rewrite our group credo, or whatever. am i allowed to do that? i find it messy.

Ben wrote: "what is there for me to do? i kinda want to rewrite our group credo, or whatever. am i allowed to do that? i find it messy.
"

i don't see why not. i'm sure jonathan won't mind since it's a new iteration of the group. also, it's just funny that you're uneasy with this position of power that requires you to do nothing. that's probably why michael thought you needed somebody to hold your hand. ;)

would also be nice if you'd write something in the introductions thread. :)

the event function

what do you guys think if we try to use it for group reads? i tested it out with shel's first short story date, and it shows up nicely. i'm really excited about us all being here but i'm worried we're bottle-necking all these group reads, and that will frustrate some of us. so maybe try to schedule the group reads? see what else is listed in our events, and plan accordingly? of course groups can overlap but maybe just now at the beginning not overlap too much?

of course, if we plugged in 12 events, it could get messy. maybe i will plunk in all of shel's confirmed date stories later, and see what happens. just now i have some reading of my own to do. :)

okay, so here's something interesting: i went to check out the page for people to find groups, and it turns out that we're on the first page for books and literature. why? because of frequency of posts -- doesn't hurt us that we're signing on from all different time zones. in this case, it helps because being on the first page means that people will find us, and our intro is by far the most intriguing on that first page, let me tell you. :)

I like the events tool because it's (oh god I can't believe I'm about to use this word) a tickler for people to remember what they wanted to participate in.

Like, "Oh yeah! That discussion on The Lady with the Little Dog starts Monday. No problem. I can totally do that."

I don't expect everyone to "respond" to event invitations, but I do think people will see them and participation will increase because it's not a buried thread somewhere, etc.

Maureen wrote: "okay, so here's something interesting: i went to check out the page for people to find groups, and it turns out that we're on the first page for books and literature. why? because of frequency of p..."

I just did a little experiment. Our group was half-way down the page of the broader "books" listing of groups, and 2nd on the narrower "literature" listing. By simply making a post I brought the group up to the top of both listing momentarily. So the frequency of post is a determining factor, basically to the extent that our group has the "last" post in the category.

The older Fiction File v1 was at one point in the top 5 on the MySpace literature group listing, but I think that was more a factor of # of members as we had 10,000 lurkers and 2000 active posters at one point.

mm

Michael wrote:
I just did a little experiment. Our group was half-way down the page of the broader "books" listing of groups, and 2nd on the narrower "literature" listing. By simply making a post I brought the group up to the top of both listing momentarily.

wonderful news michael. i believe if we all do as we have been doing and posting frequently soon we will see a nice influx of new members who are finding us solely because we are always talking to each other. :)

and i found the old fiction files because it was high on the list when i went looking for literature: when johnny had to start the group over again because of the BLACKOUT and we were reduced to 600 loyal ff'ers, i think that's when we started to suffer.

so keep up the great work and keep posting everybody! (though i'm guessing a few more book topics on this page wouldn't hurt. :)

Patty wrote: "how many of us are goodreads "librarians?" "

I am... had to, the system is a bit dumb to locate the versions of the books edited outside america, and I got a little bit annoyed for seeing the wrong cover, the wrong edition, etc. (And this considering the books that I keep with different editions just to compare both)... For example, I have no Divina Comedia that is only Inferno, but Goodreads insisted to say it was my edition... blargh...

check out the who wants to be a moderator thread. Anyone can make you one but beware they can also mess with your title.

. . . i'm still getting kinda' caught up on the environment . . . i've been around reading posts trying to catch up . . .

Patty wrote: "how many of us are goodreads "librarians?"

I became one today. I'll probably just correct spelling blunders and upload covers. I'd like to upload a few author photos, but I can't be bothered to clear the rights for them.

I wonder if this place is like Wikipedia, where people become territorial about certain topics.

. . . intersting patty, i've always wondered whether people on wiki got territorial, since anyone is allowed to edit entries . . .

meh, I am an Administrador in a huge Football forum and one of the heavy troubles we have are among Balkans (mostly Serbians and Croats). One day someone posted a Wiki entry that was saying that in Croatia a traditional form of greeting was sticking the finger in the other guy anus. His argument was of course, what Wiki Says, God creates.
Apparently Wiki closed the section about the balkan countries due the massive attack after that...

ahaha!

Jcamilo wrote: "One day someone posted a Wiki entry that was saying that in Croatia a traditional form of greeting was sticking the finger in the other guy anus."

I dunno what's so funny about this. This is the traditional greeting here in Phoenix and we all know how much I like tradition.

So at some time in my life I was supervising a lab with about 30 employees from 20 different countries and I was doing reviews and as I'm explaining a detail the woman is sitting there shaking her head side to side. So I tried several different ways of explaining and finnally I gave up and said You know I dont feel you are understanding me and she shakes her head side to dside and says yes margaret I understand and I sat for a minute or two and just loooked at her and finally I just came out with it and said you're saying yes but shaking your head no. and she looked at me for a minute and says thats what we do in croatia. True story.

fuckin' croatia, man... it's like a whole other country...

stupid americans with their always nodding their heads up and down like geese

I dunno what's so funny about this.This is the traditional greeting here in Phoenix and we all know how much I like tradition.
"

After while the only thing funny about the balkans is putting them together in a country named Yugoslavia. If that wasnt tryied before, we all should consider it at once.

Altough the moderm day Macedonia is very funny, because UN managed to give them the name of Former Yugoslavia Republica of Madeconiam (FYROM) which is one of the most twisted sense of humor I ever saw. They are a former country from which they fought a civil war to be apart...

hey speaking of crazy balkans, where is matja?

Patty wrote: "hey speaking of crazy balkans, where is matja?"

He's deleteing his myspace page this week. I've invited him a couple times. I think he"ll wander in eventually.