A Breath of Fresh Air · 4:23am Aug 31st, 2014
Seems like everyone and their brother is bitching about the feature box these days.
What with JohnPerry going about and "suffering" the box weekly...
Or PresentPerfect's normal reviews...
And now even RainbowBob getting in on the action and bitching about it now...
Just where does it end? Will we ever get a breath of fresh air?
Would someone just link a damn decent story for once?
My reply: Sure thing.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:
Rainbow Dash's courage and ego are put to the test when Spitfire challenges her to a race through obstacles only expert pegasi dare to face.
An incredibly well done fic involving a race between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire.
Yes, I know this one is very old, but it seems to have slipped by the radar with many people. And it's honestly a shame for it actually does it's job really, really well. What with spot on characters and some of the best on the move writing to be seen, it's probably one of the best fics I've come across in awhile.
And if you know me well, you'll know I don't say that lightly.
"Takes little to make me happy, but it takes a LOT to make me impressed."
I could say a lot about this, but I think I'll post what was said in a comment on the guys profile page:
From silvadel:
Agreed. I was talking with someone about Wonderbolt Academy and actually pointed them towards your fic as a better version of it written over a year before the episode aired. Came in to look again and see if anything new was written.
And you know what? After reading that fic, I went and rewatched that episode...
He's right. He's completely right. That fic does a damn better job than the actual episode.
A shame he's been AWOL for 80 weeks.
S'all I got. Hopefully this helps give you hope that some stories are still gold.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I'm nearly immune to the entire "Feature Box problem." I mostly use the mobile version of FiMfiction.
I looked at the feature box when I logged in and it seemed pretty legit. Fragments, Upheaval, and some other stuff that didn't look too bad.
2415601
Those were the updated stories.
~Skeeter The Lurker
One of us... One of us...
2415609
The old stuff is very good. VERY good indeeeeeed.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2415606 *shrugs* Well they're in the feature box. If people don't like what's being written of late, why don't they just write what they think should be?
I'm on the mobile site, with my mature filter on, so I don't really have those problems. But it's still nice to see a good story to read, despite having 806 stories on my read later list.
Thanks!!
I gave up on the featured box a long time ago. I may be wrong, but anyway... That's just my humble opinion.
2415598
BUT THE MOBILE SUCKS SO BAD!
2415618
2415626
Not if you use it just to read from your RL.
Then it's alright.
~Skeeter The Lurker
And it's been in Twilight's Library for 106 weeks, 1 day.
--arcum42
2415636
Well, I said most missed it... Not all.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2415626
Works well enough for me. Granted, it is annoying when I feel the need to type out some of these accursed emoticons with that unnecessary number 2 at the end of them... Aside from that, I really don't have much trouble with the mobile site.
What I really don't get is why the feature box is mostly clop. Now granted there are some good sex stories, and there are a few decent stories that earn the feature, but how do these other clop stories worm their way in here? Also, I would say I'm surprised that there is an incredible amount of people who bitch about this stuff, like it's an earth shattering discovery or some shit, but any amount of surprise has completely died within me, also while others bitch, I just don't really care anymore. The people who bitch and moan about this are just full of hot air.
2415642
True. That would have been back in the day when it was either just me, or me and my brother, too. I do remember that as a good story, though having read it that long ago, my memories of it have gotten rather vague.
--arcum42
2415647
Ooo, snap, son!
Anyway, I agree with you on most of that.
Mostly the fact that people seem to have low standards as of late.
~Skeeter The Lurker
It's weird. I can't remember who, but someone promoted this story within my sphere of awareness a few months ago.
Actually, it looks like I added it to Twilight's Library on the same day as The Magician and the Detective:
Now there's a good fanfic that's been around for a long time. I remember enjoying that one.
--arcum42
2415627 My RL? (Sorry, I don't get shortenings and initials and the like most of the time)
2415698
Read Later.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Thanks for this. If I'm looking for something to read (ie, if I'm awake), a positive recommendation or two gets my vote over pages of grisly tear-downs any day.
2415732 Ah, okay. And I know. I just never seem to get to it for some reason.
Funny how that story is the only one that guy wrote.
Well... uh... seeing how uh...
my new one?Um I rarely go to the feature box to find good stories. I find them myself.
2415626
It's better than nothing when you're at work and reading poni instead of working. Or when you're taking a poop break. Or lunch break. Or driving to and/or from work.
Yeah I'm basically paid full-time to read Fimfiction. It's a pretty good job. I'm supposed to be digging holes for houses and home owners, but eh.
Meh.
Feature box? Oh... that thing on that page I never got to... what is it, the front one?
Okay, hyperbole, but seriously, I think I only see the front page when I'm on some mobile device and too lazy to type a full URL, so I just go fimfiction.net and then click my way through to whatever user or story page I was looking for. Well, or when I'm in the feature box... then I confess, I'm basically refreshing that damn page like madman for the better part of a week.
All that aside... years ago, I started working on a system and algorithm for social networking (before it was even called that) that would both naturally build social networks in subgroupings of a site or community, and provide very accurate recommendations for works to be enjoyed in a creative (art, writing, etc) group. I REALLY would like to test it out (and enjoy its benefits) on a community like this, one that I care about.
For those curious about details: Well, if you've read "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom", it'd basically be a functional version of whuffie. For those that haven't read that book, then just know it's basically a hyperspatial neural network. That's a bunch of big words, but it really just comes down to the idea that any like (or dislike) you give echoes through the "network." Liking someone's story would strengthen your (positive) ties to that story, and to a lesser extant, to it's author. But it'd also echo to others... you'd build weaker ties with others that liked that story, and enough "weak" ties can become stronger ties, and eventually you'd be presented with "recommended" stories that were liked by a lot of people who liked the same things as you in the past. Dislikes would build negative ties, which are not the same as "no ties." So if you disliked a bunch of clop, it'd pretty quickly resolve to pushing you (neural network-wise) away from clop-focused authors and stories.
Netflix and Amazon already do some of this, of course (really should've pushed and patented this stuff back in 2000 when I was first dreaming it up) but I've yet to see it properly applied to community sites where no one's trying to sell you stuff. Someday, if I ever find the time to actually code this stuff (and afford the server hardware to run the algorithms) I'd be tempted to push/beg Knighty for some sort of API or something to try it out here. Sadly, I'm a lazy bastard, so that'll probably never happen.
Oh man, every day the feature box never fails to remind me what the masses like reading. If it's not porn, it's an HiE, if it's not an HiE, then it's a poorly written unfunny random fic with grammar errors so glaring that you have to read them with sunglases on. If is neither of those three things, THEN it's a decent story. Somedays I feel like the only way to get noticed on this site is to write a string of clopfics that cater to a few specific fetishes.
2416371
...Good lord why the hell would you stop with that?
~Skeeter The Lurker
Yeah these days I mainly trawl the groups to find good fics, worries me that I might miss good stories that are outside my current interests but that's where the recommendations from the more active site users help.
Not to mention Sorren (who seems to have left the site being he's basically driven himself off it (not bad news at all)) and various others.