My thoughts on... · 3:33am Dec 7th, 2014
...this whole hate on the "Related Stories" bar.
Since I don't want to antagonize anyone, I'll be using:
In lieu of mentioning any names of people I find particularly moronic or annoying (or both) since it is the perfect tool to remind us that there's a stain of some sort underneath.
So. The much maligned "Related Stories" bar.
I have talked to several individuals that dislike it, and even read more comments along the same lines. My favorite idiotic input on the subject was from someone I actually don't remember, but, the gist of it was that they didn't want to "promote less deserving stories". Seriously? "Less deserving"? As if you—random user whose name I forget so easily—are actually so superior that my initial reactions were to wonder first of all, who the heck you are because I've never even seen your name, much less read your work to justify that sense of entitlement and laugh, then wonder how in the name of Tirek you'd be "promoting" stories.
Seriously. If your stories are good, people will read them whether or not there's a list of other people on the side. IF your story intrigued them, and they read the whole thing and they want to read more of your stuff... readers will. Being an entitled little asshole about it and pretending that you are superior to anyone else here and that anyone is "stealing" your readers just puts you in my list of: "People to stay away from."
Neither you nor I can or should dictate what people here should read. It's their choice. And as an author, you'd better put in the effort in your writing if you want people to stick by you, or they will not, regardless of how much more "deserving" you fancy your story to be.
Thankfully, cases like the one above are not the majority of what I've heard, but most people seem to be confusing the "related by theme" objective of the bar, with "promoting someone else's work through my own" misunderstanding.
You are not promoting anyone's work. Your work just happens to share similarities or themes with other stories. Could be anything... a character tag, a genre, a title... it's random. You're not suggesting people go read the other stories. They're just there in case the readers are interested in those themes.
Now, I understand where some of you are coming from with certain... users. Me, for example: I honestly hate 
, I think their stories are boring, predictable, slightly condescending and entirely generic. But here's the thing: That's my opinion. It doesn't mean that it will be shared by others, and while I can't vouch for their taste, I can certainly NOT judge them for going to 
's page and reading or liking their stories.
Hell, I know some of you have moral and ethical issues with some authors and their stories. I get that too. Me, I have a lot of reasons to not like R
k's views and beliefs, but you know what? I don't think I have the right to tell others that they can't share his views. I mean, respect will reach -273.15 and shatter... but no, I won't tell them that they can't. That's their decision.
Would it annoy me to see stories by them in my "related stories" bar next to one of my precious writings? I think... maybe. To be honest, I've reached the point where I'd wonder where I went wrong if the engine did things other than very vague connections. If it was an in-depth analysis of the stories I wrote and in the related bar I saw these people, I wouldn't question why they are there, I'd be wondering what I did wrong.
In any case, chill, people. It's understood by just about anyone that what's there is not a recommendation. It's a random thing that came up. The readers can choose to ignore them, but we authors shouldn't deprive them of the chance of reading something they might love just because we don't like seeing, say, a badly drawn picture of Spike finding true love next to a story about Spike getting arrested for reasons no one here has ever read.
I just hate the placement of it, especially on the mobile version. It'd be nice if the 'Featured in' bar was moved above it, and maybe the blog posts bar, too, but I dunno about that one yet.
Subtlest thing I've ever seen. Really.
Who even uses
ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41EIZ%2BR56TL.jpg
anyway?
2637703
In my opinion? I think just a simple "Like this story? See more like this" link would do (which would take you to a page full of related stories). One right where the bar is now, but small so it wouldn't take up much space. Sadly, then it'd be less eye catchy.
2637708 What?
2637712 That was a joke.
>R[white out]k
Not a clue who you're talking about, D
Not a clue.
2637707 Have I ever told you I love the Maid Rarity?
2637714 Oh shit. I missed that.
I've actually gotten attention drawn to a particular story, Gilda's Greatest Mistake. It's top related to SS&E's story, .out.of.character..
cs409728.vk.me/v409728359/31b0/n3voWklFahE.jpg
2637717
Oh, you didn't do that on purpose for comedic effect?
I personally love it, I've found a couple stories that I've liked from it. Thank you, Based knighty.
What even is a "less deserving story," anyway? A story that's more popular than your own, and therefore doesn't need traffic? A story that's less popular than your own, and therefore obviously inferior? In my experience, if a story is on your list, there's a good chance you're on theirs, so it doesn't really matter what you think—the worse you think it is to have your story linking to someone, for whatever reason, the better it must be to have them linking to you, right?
...
Sorry, I think I strained something in my head performing that contortion of logic. The bottom line is, the whole thing is way more link-sharing goodness than any author could ever achieve just linking to their own stories from their own stories, and the fact that this is lost on people makes me sad for them.
I agree that Related Stories is a good thing overall. I just wish still that the page for your story did slightly more to advertise the fact that you've written other stories than this:
i.gyazo.com/f2df1376a18c25351e7bc533a019a30a.png
Given that it's more than happy to advertise the fact that other authors have written stories with this:
i.gyazo.com/89f536234bfc0681f2d53f4b07dae9bb.png
That seems a pretty reasonable desire to me, y'know?
2637715
No WD, I don't think you have.
2637734 Well, I do. Hm... Maid "Purity" with Chrysalis cracking up behind her....
D'aw, I (perhaps only) just realized how all the mods now have a teeny, tiny widdle gavel next to their names. That is entirely too darling for mean... for some reason.
Also, the miracles of self-doubt and algorithms I guess, but mostly the adorable courtroom paraphernalia.
2637732 Hm... "A Candle to the Sun" looks interesting.
...
I'm sorry, what were you saying? You've written more stories?
Related Stories?
Maaan... Those stories aren't family members!
Whose inheritance are you trying to steal?
Tell your stories to the GROUND!!!
I'M AN AH-DUUUUUUULT!!!
I kinda wish one of two things.
Either a) some way to get the related stories tab to go a little further in depth into the content of the stories. Like, on my Transformers crossover, have it specifically look for other stories in, say, the "Transformers" group, or stories with Transformers in the description, title, and comments, as opposed to just looking at the genre tags and grabbing things with similar tags and pretty much nothing else. I think that people reading transformers crossovers might be more interested in reading other transformers crossovers, as opposed to looking at the related stories and finding a fic where PewDiePie ends up in Equestria. Or a crossover with some obscure harem anime. Or a gory zombie movie crossover. You get the idea. As it is, with crossovers especially, at least, it just doesn't seem that useful.
or b) I wish there was a way for us to have some sort of "author recommends" section as opposed to something completely randomized, where Authors can choose stories they want to promote. Something you could add in at the end of the section where you go to submit a story and you can choose from anything in your favorites or other bookshelves, like the "favorite stories" module on the userpages. And you could maybe have the option to fill one of these sections out, or you could click the option to do a randomized section, with the knowledge it might promote completely unrelated material.
Also it takes up a lot of space. I think I'd prefer it if it were limited down to three or four stories and placed elsewhere as opposed to displacing the other author's stories, the groups, the blogs, etc and having a full ten stories
Long story short, the idea is good, but the execution is lacking.
2637768
I was going to finally start reading Sweetie Chronicles, but got distracted by Related Stories. >:(
2637781 The whole point of The Sweetie Chronicles IS related stories, though.
I think the "other stories by this author" bar should still be there. I sometimes am unsure if I've read the author's other works, and that's a good way to see some of their better known ones. Also, "other stories by this author" is definitely more important than "blog posts by this author", so if you were to get rid of one of them it should be the blogs.
Finally, it's a little annoying on mobile browsing. I wish it was collapsable.
Edit: It also just doesn't really give you very related stories. Perhaps if it took into account shared group membership?
2637785
I was going to start reading that reply, but got distracted by Related Stories. >:(
2637786 I was actually worried about what it looks like on mobile browsing. Is it that bad?
It's been a godsend to me for posting things on EqAD.
I love it, but would like to see one for searching just users.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2637732 THis. So INCREDIBLY MUCH this.
I've only seen one of my own stories pop up in "Related Stories" on my own stories once or twice. It's just...what.
2637714 kek, I think I just figured out who it was.
It's i.imgur.com/rVWfpIp.jpg
2637791 I finally left my Peach Bunker....Is it over?
(Pointing out the Twilight/Peaches thing and how that made me question the engine as well)
I kind of like it. It's interesting to see what the code thinks is a good match to my insanity. Who knew there were so many fics about Sonata and tacos?
fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/326/b/2/sonata_in_taco_paradise_by_namygaga-d878px0.jpg
2637811
Eh, not that bad, it's just an extra page or two to scroll past every time I want to look at the comments.
I've been saying this various places, but I literally couldn't be happier with the related stories bar. Yes, it may drop a bit of traffic for me overall, but oh well. My stuff tends to get attention on its own, and the stuff I'm interested in—high-quality stories—is the easiest thing to find, pretty much, because everyone who's everyone wants to try to promote high-quality stories. There is no shortage of ways to find hig-quality stories.
What we haven't had, is a way for stories that are more middle-level, or stories that just didn't get noticed as much, to get more play. And the related stories bar means that a lot of people are going to see story summaries for a lot more stories. That's awesome, because most stories need more love. And because really, we're all more likely to improve at writing if our stuff gets attention and feedback, and we get more motivation to write from that.
2637822 Are you sure? Clearly it's
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQXaKGz-Rb-VQYyjmms8Okd64e9r35ksT0eGQQ9hdyDyR957hiKpIZ3jw
I remember when we lost the related stories bar the first time. I'm glad it's back
What I want to know is why we can't have both. Also, when you click on the related stories section it takes you to the authors work, so that needs to be fixed.
2637777
I disagree on allowing author intervention, as most would simply set it once and forget it. You'd have thousands of stagnant stories that never link anything new.
2637786
Having stories from two sources in a side bar is just plain bad design. If a story catches someone's eye, they won't know if it's another of the author's stories or a related story without extra digging.
Just call me buzzkill
I like the related story box.
Yes there might be stories that I disagree with on the site, but so what?
From what I am seeing it is random, and shows stories that share a tag or a character.
Other than that, it is amazing to see this new item. I am sure things will start to get better, now I have seen this, I am sure things will only improve.
I also wish to say that I get giddy when I see the information that the site is under matience, because it means they are trying something new, they are risking something that frankly, may or may not work.
I love the stats now to be honest, I love the graph and while the thumbs up and down line graph is a little delayed. (Sometimes I have had to wait an entire month to get it fully updated)
So what? Why complain about that small thing when it works and shows that we can be creating great ways of maintaining knowledge of our stories.
Also, change means that Kinghty and his team of coders are not scared to try new things.
They want to improve the site. They want to keep improving.
Anyway, that is my thoughts on the subject, thank you for reading it.
In fact I am giddy that my post is going to be posted after another maintenance period.
image-cdn.gamnesia.com/12298/zeldacdi__medium.jpg
2637901
I dunno. If you were to force the author to choose the stories again every time they went to submit a story, there would likely be some variation. Especially if the author went looking for stories that he might feel are related to the story he/she is publishing. I dunno, maybe I just have more faith in my fellow authors.
An alternative, though, would be to randomly pick stories from the authors favorites and use those as the "recommended stories." It'd be similar to my proposed version but with less authorial input.
I know I'd rather have stories from my favorites being put on display on my stories' pages than some Fall of Equestria or Conversion Bureau story that just happened to get on there because it has a matching tag in the genre section.
2637785
I disliked it, but as time passed, I suddenly gotten used to it.
cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-01-2014/W3bmB4.gif
I actually like the addition of related stories, though I think the featured groups module should be moved above it. The placement just feels off to me, having to scroll all the way down to see the groups.
But yeah, people are getting way too bent out of shape over this, which is ironic because so many people had been asking for this feature before.
I just wish we could have both the old "Stories from the Author" & the new "Related Stories"
I loved being able to easily glance at a small handful of stories from the same person first to see if I want to check out more. The new system is cool but it's more of a crapshoot when what you really want is quality, not "the same type". Still an improvement to the site though, overall.
Gee I wonder who one may reference. So hard to figure out
I do think Obs has a good point with 2637732 though. Only thing I'd change is have a little more promotion of other stories by same author first
I've personally found it quite useful and have found several stories I likely wouldn't have read otherwise.
2637901
That's worked to my advantage, I'm sure. Some people have mistaken me for a competent author, and then favorited a story before they realized their mistake.
2637732 I can see why the Related Stories tab can be... infuriating. Specially if some people wrote something in the same genre/subcategory of fanfiction in order to overhaul it etc. At the same time, I find it hilarious that people are making a big fuss over this. After all, if you're good enough, the related stories page is promoting your story too on another page lol.
2637791 What actually annoys me about the Related Stories box... is that for one of my stories, there's literally NOTHING related to it in the box though it "says" it is. XD
People have so much problems with it? Like, seriously? I wouldn't even notice that bar if you hadn't mentioned it...
The only thing I really dislike about the new list-thing is the placement. I liked being able to see the other stories of the author in the sidebar (where the new "related stories" is now placed), as it also gave me an easy way of finding out which of my own stories were the highest rated, as they'd be listed from highest to lowest, narcissistic as that may be.
At any rate, I find the placement a bit annoying and would prefer if the "Other stories by this author" were in the sidebar beside it, much like it's done on DeviantArt where it's both similar pictures and more of the author. Aside from that, I think it's a nice feature which can lead you to other stories you might like without having to comb through the first twenty pages of the search function because you've already read all of that.
My only gripe with it is that the Groups widget, despite being tiny and collapsible, is under the Related widget for some reason. That's not efficient UI design, it should be above it.