• Member Since 1st Aug, 2014
  • offline last seen Tuesday

Kody Wiremane


Male, of age (technically); wire low power networks, read, sometimes write; born and reside in Russia, GMT+3 (PST+11). Your help in improving my English will be appreciated.)

More Blog Posts20

  • 62 weeks
    hold my marbles

    To help you get out of a stress loop from a freshly damaged relationship, ask yourself with 10 simple questions:

    1. What was my fault?

    Read More

    3 comments · 148 views
  • 108 weeks
    Geopolitics

    I assume everyone is aware of the situation in Eastern Europe.

    I regret to say that I live in the attacking country, and that I have practically zero influence on its actions. Those who appeal for peace, are opposed by the authoritarian government, enforcers, and brainwashed people.

    Read More

    0 comments · 138 views
  • 182 weeks
    Princess Clementia

    Since the very beginning the tragedy of the Two Sisters has had a special place in my thoughts. This etude is inspired by their story.


    A black alicorn slightly parted her eyelids to check for presence of light she seemingly detected.

    The moon surface was glowing dimly, as usual for that time of day. A bright spot was indeed on the horizon, so her eyes opened fully.

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    0 comments · 211 views
  • 187 weeks
    Twilight x Tempest etude

    Hmm, gotta break my slumber. I've got some ideas about circumstances Twi and Tempest could start growing closer, so consider this a draft. The setting: Twi has separated with her friends (reason unknown) and got captured by Commander Shadow, being kept in a cage at the latter's flagship, and summoned by her for an interrogation.


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    4 comments · 236 views
  • 207 weeks
    Ponies befriend everything

    Ponies befriend everything that moves, literally!
    And if it doesn't move, they make it move, and then befriend :trollestia:

    Judge for yourselves:

    Read More

    11 comments · 269 views
Jan
11th
2019

Author-proofreader matching web service: existing solutions? · 9:29pm Jan 11th, 2019

I am asking for advice in choosing a software system, if it exists, that performs the functions described below. I am to a certain degree suspicious about the software I use, ideally I can either understand what exactly it does, or rely on authorities such as open OS foundations that accept such software into their repositories. Anyways, some good advice never hurts.

There is a certain Proofreader Group on Fimfiction. I speak as one of the admins of this group. It helps authors on the site find proofreaders, for free: volunteers fill in a questionnaire, describing themselves as a proofreader, and that data accumulates in a document system based on Google Docs. The documents are maintained by the group admins. Authors are supposed to look through the documents in order to pick up a proofreader(s) who best matches their story type and their needs (pre-reading, editing, correcting grammar, etc.). Then they get into contact and, hopefully, productively collaborate to make the best fanfiction they can.

The document system traces its history from ancient times, and its principles are described in this document. Several years ago a web-service was developed by me to automate searching the docs in order to find a proofreader. The Proofreader Group Database scans the docs regularly into one place, and provides a search form to search the data for proofreaders best matching an author's story. Proofreaders can list stories they have proofread in their profile. Authors can provide a recommendation note that goes to their proofreader's profile.

I am considering expanding the scope of the system so it can not only seek proofreaders for stories, but stories for proofreaders as well. In my fantasies, it also evolves into an interactive system, where proofreaders and authors don't need an admin to update their own data, and the database (the future version) can still be exported back to Google Docs (or imported from those), in case something goes terribly wrong.

So, currently we have a set of Google Docs that should remain (it is desirable) as a failsafe. Its format will need to be updated for better machine readability.

The docs contain one data record per proofreader, with their name, contacts, preferences, notes, and so on. The search-related data includes sets of tags (genre or tools preferences), numbers (timezones, story length preferences), "yes/no" values (is a particular proofreader accepting request for proofreading or not, for example). The search algorithm estimates proofreader's suitability based on how many tags in their preferences match the tags of an author's story, the proofreader's timezone proximity to that of an author, and other criteria that an author may choose. The same principle may be applied, in the future, to matching stories by proofreader's choice.

Authenticating via a Fimfiction or Google account seems like a good idea to me.

I consider myself capable of developing a custom system, eventually, that does all these things. But if there is an already existing solution that meets the requirements, or can be easily adjusted to meet those, it would be reasonable to just use that instead.

So, what do we have here?
- a well-trusted software system;
- free (like, no paying money);
- with a web-interface;
- around a database of proofreaders, authors, and fanfics (the list may be extended), that contains measurable values along with descriptive information;
- a search engine that can select a best matching set based on how one values are close to the other;
- visibility/privacy settings, user roles (users, moderators, admins);
- Google Docs export/import;
- external authentication (Fimfiction API, Google API);
- low resource consumption (no gigabytes of RAM and dozens cores).

That's all I can think up so far. These aren't absolute requirements, but the more requirements are met, the better is considered a solution.

Thank you for reading. So, if you have heard of such a software, please share that knowledge with me. No guarantee it will do the job, but knowledge helps to make a better choice; it's an information-gathering stage. I could google it, but I don't know how they call such systems yet, to compose a search query.

P. S. Special thanks go to metallusionsismagic for editing the above text (except for a couple latest additions, including this post scriptum) to make it sound more English-like.

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