Site Post » Featured Box Updates (April Fools' Joke) · 1:47am Apr 1st, 2015
Hi guys! In the wake of Xaquseg's recent fix to a critical bug with incomplete registrations, the staff has been working on various fixes and touch-ups around the site. You may notice that the site loads a bit faster and 502s less now than it used to. Thanks, knighty! In recognition of April Fools' Day being around the corner, there's even a special easter egg that'll happen if you put the Konami Code in on the front page. Limited-time only, so check it out while you can!
One of the major changes that we wanted to talk to you about, though, has been to the algorithm powering the Featured Box. What goes into whether a story is Featured or isn't Featured has been the subject of many heated debates in the staff chat recently. It is, after all, of great importance that the front page Featured Box continues to show readers high-quality stories. Recently dug-up statistics on our end of things have shown that stories written by users with higher follower counts tend to do vastly better in rating, viewcount, bookshelf count, and general subjective approval. This was honestly quite a shock to us, since beforehand it'd been assumed that follower count had no real bearing on the quality of Featured stories.
Thus, after a long talk and a very close staff vote, a change to the algorithm was implemented that provides authors with a higher follower count with a scaling heat multiplier. Authors with larger follower counts (up to a maximum at around two-thousand followers) will receive heat multipliers that make their stories a bit more likely to land in the Featured Box, which should hopefully improve the quality of stories in the box overall. Stronger authors like Regidar and Alexstrazsa, who aren't featured that often, should be the main beneficiaries of this change. Moreover, it'll be more likely now that featured stories by authors with lower follower counts will be real don't-miss gems. A big plus for readers.
The change in question has actually been in place for a little while now, and after some observation, the staff finds the results to be a marked improvement in the positive attention readers give to stories in the Featured Box. You should be able to notice how stories' heats adjust to the authors' follower counts in the next few days, as the site' rankings continue to adjust to the algorithm change.
If you guys have any questions about things, feel free to ask. As always, we are open to suggestions on how we can tune the site to be a better place for readers and authors alike.
Have a nice day!
The public wants what it wants. And I think we nailed it here. Maybe dial in the follower-count cap.
It's been really interesting to look at the numbers behind this! I'm sure everyone here will be pleased with the changes.
Even as a new addition to staff, I definitely thought that this was a fairly good idea.
Please tell me this isn't an early April Fool's joke.
Shocking, indeed. Such knowledge is beyond the ken of STEM, yet it was right in front of our faces the whole time. Might we have to turn to other ways of knowing, such as astrology, tarot, and actually reading things?
Haaahahaha.
interesting update.
I welcome our new feature box.
Thank you for your hard work!
Good, maybe I'll finally get into the feature box for once. Finally, my follower count will mean something!
>inb4 mass autism
Happy April Fools everybody.
i.imgur.com/5ymKo0r.gif
It's about time. Make people have to earn their way into the box.
media.pinkiedb.com/photos/GIF/applejack_shiftyeyes.gif
Jumping the gun, aren't you all?
~Skeeter The Lurker
I… am not sure that this isn't putting the cart before the horse a little, but with nearly a thousand followers myself, I suppose I'm probably not terribly effected, so… okay?
April Fool's Day doesn't start for another two hours
Greetings! While it is always nice to hear that more improvements are being made to the site, I have found I don't receive notices when someone replies to a comment I leave. Other authors have mentioned this to me as well in passing, in order to make sure I know that they did respond but I just don't get a notice for it. And I'm starting to be unsure if others are getting any notice when I respond to their comments on my stories as well.
I think there used to be, but was it lost with one of the updates?
Otherwise, thanks for the hard work!
So, if I understand this correctly you've made it so popular authors are more likely to end up in the feature box, while less know authors or authors with smaller follower count are penalized?
2929182
We actually wanted to make sure we got the post in today, since April Fools is tomorrow and announcing the change then would obviously be taken as a joke.
About this easter egg… would it be exclusive to PC only? I'm stuck on mobile, and don't want to miss it.
If you choose to answer, thank you.
2929189
Suspicious until further notice.
Way too close to April 1st.
~Skeeter The Lurker
2929188
We like to think of it less as a "penalty" for new authors and more as a "jump start" for those who are already established. We do want the most quality work on the front page, after all! Authors with low follower counts just need to keep at it.
It is April 1st over in England land.
HMMMM
2929187 That's an odd one. You're not getting notifications at all?
This entire situation needs more bears.
2929197 I kinda favor a "wait and see how it goes" approach to any update with anything.
However, I'll happily thank the staff for taking the time to consider a move to tweak the algorithm a little bit.
2929200 And everywhere east of England up to the International Date Line...
Ah yes, when you all sit around your conference table, wearing your crimson, face-obscuring cloaks while knighty's holographic projection stares down at you all from the center. You simply must get some video sometime.
2929200 2929197
Except that, with the exception of our newest folk Ches, the rest of us up/awake in the staff chat are still quite firmly on the 31st of March. We had meant to post this in the morning, but a conversation about a game came up and sidetracked all of us quite a bit.
Whats a Konami code?
2929215
Everyone knows that America is the only place that matters tho.
2929215
knighty is from England land, hence why mentioning the time in England land is relevant.
2929223 THE Code.
That must have been a difficult decsion.
Essentially, now we'll see the rich get richer, so to speak, but, then, they are rich in the first place for a reason, right? I'd argue, however, that not all popular users have high follower counts because their stories are good. Some users have no stories but high follower counts, like the guy who wrote that Spike story Beneath ... something-something until he recently published that first story.
Tough call.
2929216 kek!
Mmm...the smell of sarcasm in the late evening is glorious.
Ah, April fools, the time of year when no one takes you seriously
You were right though, to post it today, so thanks for letting us know 
2929227
Non-answer. Let me try again; WHAT is a Konami Code?
*grabs popcorn*
2929202 I get an email notification (half the time and then a few very delayed time, which I don't understand why that happens) but if I comment on someone's story and the author replies, I don't the get notice. Distaff Pope messaged me that he had responded to my comment on his story Foal Forever, which I had gotten no notification for, and that's when I started to question if there were other times the author responded and I didn't notice. Another time was for a different story (but I can't think of it's title right now) and the author replied but I hadn't gotten any notice of it until hours later when I finished all available chapters and saw the latest comment.
This close to April Fools...
badcontroller.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/joker_notsureifserious.jpg
2929198
Or do what us low level authors continue to do, rooting around the forgotten underground of the site almost praying for recognition i.e. what I've been doing since day one.
Hmph, at least you guys gave the little man a chance...
2929234 You have Google, why not use that.
2929234 Seriously? Google it. I've met people that don't even play video games that know it. It literally is known as "The Code".
I noticed that the code works in more places than just the front page. Sweet little easter egg, by the way!
Expect Rainbow Bob's excellent story about Trainbow Dash to be at the top of the box tommorrow.
Woah. I never knew that.
2929234 The Konami Code is arguably the most famous video game easter egg ever. Inputting the code in the Konami video game 'Contra' would give the player 30 starting lives. This was quite helpful, as Contra was notoriously difficult. Konami went on to include the code in their other games, where it would often either greatly help the player, or just unlock an interesting easter egg. Many other game developers include something in their games that happen when you input the code, as an homage.