EricWojo's picture
EricWojo from Livonia, Michigan is reading The Brothers Karamazov November 15, 2011 - 7:08pm

Reviewing the forum, Battle For The Last Post! makes me think a real time chat would be a good feature for this website.  Anyone else have another suggestion for bettering LitReactor?

.'s picture
. November 15, 2011 - 8:10pm

I'd like a chatroom as well but I don't think it's going to happen.

Raelyn's picture
Raelyn from California is reading The Liars' Club November 15, 2011 - 8:24pm

The team seems to be very open to suggestions, so I wouldn't snub the idea of a chat room. I recently messaged Kirk about having different criteria in the workshop for non-fiction pieces since essays generally lack characters and dialogue. 

Steve's picture
Steve from Southwestern Chicagoland, IL November 15, 2011 - 8:29pm

Do you need it to be integrated into the website? If you're willing to download a client, it'd take maybe 45 seconds to create a #LitReactor IRC channel. 

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. November 15, 2011 - 8:54pm

I think we totally need a chatroom. 

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. November 15, 2011 - 8:54pm

I would download a client and go to an outside website. 

misskokamon's picture
misskokamon from San Francisco is reading The Moonlit Mind November 15, 2011 - 9:01pm

A chat room would kill my productivity at work. Right now it suffers because of Litreactor, but seriously... I won't be able to resist a chat room! You guys make my day brighter. Talking with ya'll in real time would be too awesome.

.'s picture
. November 15, 2011 - 9:03pm

I'm confused on the downloading part but until then we should all meet up in a chat-room somewhere, that would be cool. I hang out in the Cult chat sometimes but it's usually just me :/

Raelyn's picture
Raelyn from California is reading The Liars' Club November 15, 2011 - 11:57pm

Oh, just thought of something else that would be helpful -- for me at least, but I'm sure there are others. If there were an option to manually pay the $9.00 workshop fee rather than have it automatically charge your account. I'm a poor college student worried about overdraft fees, so the control would be nice.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest November 16, 2011 - 3:55am

More achievements... Maybe reward points for a few of the achievements. 

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest November 16, 2011 - 3:59am

A masterclass taught by Chuck. Just throwing it out there...

EricMBacon's picture
EricMBacon from Vermont is reading The Autobiography of a Corpse November 16, 2011 - 7:22am

Chuck will teach one eventually I'm sure.

Kirk's picture
Admin
Kirk from Pingree Grove, IL is reading The Book Of The New Sun November 16, 2011 - 8:29am

We discussed the inclusion of a chatroom, the truth is, they tend to not get used frequently enough to make it actually worthwhile. So it's not likely that we'll run our own. However, if it turns into the sort of thing a lot of people want, we might look into a 3rd party option first, to gage it's popularity. It takes a lot of resources to run a chat room so I really need to be convinced.

If you guys opt to use IRC for now, I will gladly promote that.

If there were an option to manually pay the $9.00 workshop fee rather than have it automatically charge your account.

Pro-tip: You can technically just sign up for a month, then cancel your membership immediately after if you so choose.

More achievements... Maybe reward points for a few of the achievements.

Working on more, but it is unlikely that we will award points for achievements. Doing so gives people a tanglible reason to try to exploit the system.

Steve's picture
Steve from Southwestern Chicagoland, IL November 16, 2011 - 8:51am

I set up a quick and dirty #LitReactor channel on irc.synirc.net.

Webchat link is here: http://cgiirc.synirc.net. Pick a name and put in #LitReactor as the channel name. Any desktop IRC application will work, too.

 

 

.'s picture
. November 16, 2011 - 9:42am

I have a weird love for achievements. Glad to hear that.

I'll hang out in Steve's Litreactor channel when I'm on here so we can all party there!

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. November 16, 2011 - 10:12am

Wait, Chat Roulette isn't the official Litreactor chat room?  Then what the hell was that dude talking about last night?  Wait?  Am I the little bitch?

.'s picture
. November 16, 2011 - 11:22am

Sorry that was me, you clicked out before I got naked though.

Laramore Black's picture
Laramore Black from Joplin, Missouri is reading Mario Kart 8 November 16, 2011 - 11:44am

@bryanhowie

I thought everybody just liked to read with their pants off.

Steve's picture
Steve from Southwestern Chicagoland, IL November 16, 2011 - 12:00pm

@jacks_username Rookie mistake. Gotta get everything out before you cam up, or you could lose the opportunity.

 

.'s picture
. November 16, 2011 - 12:05pm

Or I could wear a bra, build up the anticipation.

cowboywerewolf's picture
cowboywerewolf from DC is reading Homage to Catalonia November 16, 2011 - 1:00pm

I'd love to be able to sort through submissions by rating at well as by number of reviews. Sometimes you just want to read something really good, sometimes you want to help out someone whose piece may have been ignored or overlooked.

If possible, I'd also prefer it if, when you responded to comments on your own piece, it wouldn't get added into the number of total reviews. A back and forth conversation with one person can end up looking like everyone on the site has already given their two cents which might discourage someone from commenting.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest November 16, 2011 - 2:14pm

If possible, I'd also prefer it if, when you responded to comments on your own piece, it wouldn't get added into the number of total reviews. A back and forth conversation with one person can end up looking like everyone on the site has already given their two cents which might discourage someone from commenting.

- Totally agree. I just replied to the three people that reviewed my story, now it reads as if six people have reviewed it.

Kirk's picture
Admin
Kirk from Pingree Grove, IL is reading The Book Of The New Sun November 16, 2011 - 2:15pm

Working on that. It will be in the next update.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest November 16, 2011 - 2:20pm

@Kirk: Cool. Thanks.

jyh's picture
jyh from VA is reading whatever he feels like November 16, 2011 - 4:03pm

More ways to win free subscritptions.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. November 16, 2011 - 5:50pm

Free book giveaways and nude member photos!

EricWojo's picture
EricWojo from Livonia, Michigan is reading The Brothers Karamazov November 16, 2011 - 6:53pm

What I'd love to see is in October 2012, we have a weekend retreat at some sweet, all inclusive resort for the LitReactor one year anniversary.  @aliensoul77 can bring a leatherbound trapper keeper with all the pix aquired of nude members.  And we can host seminars about writing and shit.  Some place warm.  Yeah.  Save me a hammock.

.'s picture
. November 16, 2011 - 7:27pm

I wouldn't mind going to LA for a Litreactor meet-up. 

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. November 16, 2011 - 9:05pm

I'll go if Chuck Palahniuk and Craig Clevenger are there.

Dave Hanson's picture
Dave Hanson from Connecticut is reading Incredibly pulpy fantasy and sci-fi November 16, 2011 - 10:01pm

...maybe Vegas? 

I was originally going to say that as a joke, but flights are usually pretty cheap from anywhere to there I think.

R.Moon's picture
R.Moon from The City of Champions is reading The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion; Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynn Schimdt PH.D; Creating Characters by the editors of Writer's Digest November 19, 2011 - 12:21pm

An achievement for 5-star overall reviews. Maybe it has to stay consistent for a week or so.

EricWojo's picture
EricWojo from Livonia, Michigan is reading The Brothers Karamazov November 20, 2011 - 5:43pm

Might I add...

We know how many reviews our stories get.  But I'd like to see, even if only available to the author, how many times it was downloaded.  30 downloads but only one posted review might be very telling.

Dave Hanson's picture
Dave Hanson from Connecticut is reading Incredibly pulpy fantasy and sci-fi November 21, 2011 - 7:59am

I second @EricWojo on that one.

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin November 21, 2011 - 12:29pm

I think that a lot of them would end up with something like -nkwilczy got stoned and forgot he downloaded this story three times already, because when I go through my downloads folder to clean it out recently I usually have 3 or 4 copies of stories I read most of or read once before I got distracted and usually a couple more of stories I actually reviewed, it doesn't really mean that those stories weren't compelling or were less compelling than the stories I actually reviewed, I just didn't get around to breaking them down properly in a timely fashion and moved on. Because there are a lot of stories in there.

So I feel like that might cultivate unnecesarry tension in, what I assume would be, a group of people more than ready to freak out about whether their story "hits." I could totally see me beating myself up about a completely meaningless number like that, any meaningless number that pertains to my writing becomes this existential judgement, and that is not an emotion cycle that is productive, do you know what I mean? Obviously, I may well be a freak case here, so don't mind me if most people want to see download numbers, I just wanted to list the cons.

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. November 21, 2011 - 12:36pm

Have you guys seen Secretary?  I think we need something like that.  

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters November 21, 2011 - 3:16pm

You think we need a mentally unstable slutty secretary? 

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin November 21, 2011 - 6:02pm

I think we should evaluate the drawbacks too avery, I mean, sure she'll be crazy and slutty, but how good is her dictation? Will she lose paperwork?

Dave Hanson's picture
Dave Hanson from Connecticut is reading Incredibly pulpy fantasy and sci-fi November 21, 2011 - 6:13pm

Seriously, if she doesn't have at least 1-3 years of experience with Microsoft Outlook, I'm out.

aliensoul77's picture
aliensoul77 from a cold distant star is reading the writing on the wall. November 21, 2011 - 8:43pm

That movie is insane. 

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. November 22, 2011 - 12:09am

I was thinking of the taskmaster that will spank us when we misbehave.  But yeah.  We can go with the masochistic woman in the throws of sexual liberation and self-discovery.  Either works for me.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters November 22, 2011 - 10:31am

Okay - not sure why my brain went to slutty secretary first...

The taskmaster does make more sense.....

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. November 22, 2011 - 11:27am

Either one is pretty damn fine motivation.

Dave Hanson's picture
Dave Hanson from Connecticut is reading Incredibly pulpy fantasy and sci-fi November 22, 2011 - 9:36pm

Not to break the Secretary minithread we got going on here, but what if there was a way of showing people what we are still actively working/ still looking for reviews on? It seems like they kind of top out around 8... I know I generally pass over highly reviewed pieces just because I'm not all that sure that I've got THAT much different to say, but if there was some way of designating it as Active or something, I'd be more likely to hit it up.

I know this is probably a pain in the ass to code but I figured I'd throw it out there.

Ok, end of rant.

 

.'s picture
. November 22, 2011 - 9:39pm

What more is there to say about a story after 8 detailed reviews though? 

Dave Hanson's picture
Dave Hanson from Connecticut is reading Incredibly pulpy fantasy and sci-fi November 22, 2011 - 9:49pm

Well, touche Jacks_Username, great point.

I'm thinking more along the lines of suggestions to an issue. Bryanhowie came in big with my 'battle' story with a comment that really pulled the whole thing together. So I guess it wouldn't be so much for detailed reviews. 

And it wouldn't have to be anything huge--just an icon or something to put in the header, or a searchable category maybe?--again, not sure how much other users would find this useful and/or how hard it is to code, but figured I'd throw it out there. 

.'s picture
. November 22, 2011 - 9:58pm

I understand not coding signatures but a quote button would be very useful. I'm probably sounding like a broken record now.

Joshua Chaplinsky's picture
Joshua Chaplinsky from New York is reading Library Books November 23, 2011 - 9:16am

Free book giveaways and nude member photos!

 

I've been considering this (the giveaways, not the photos). I've gotten so many ARCs and even finished books that I'll never have time to read, so I'd like to find them a good home. But you guys would have to EARN them.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters November 23, 2011 - 9:34am

@David - I think that's a good idea.  I mean, if you, as a reviewer, don't feel you have anything more you can add, then by all means don't review it.  But I think everyone picks up on different things.

...thinking....I mean, would it be easier if we just deleted stories we were no longer looking for reviews on?  Can we do that?

bryanhowie's picture
bryanhowie from FW, ID is reading East of Eden. Steinbeck is FUCKING AMAZING. November 23, 2011 - 10:35am

You do the give aways, I'll handle the nude pictures!  

The problem right now is that 8 reviews sometimes are 3 reviews and then 3 comments and 2 followups.  As soon as the coding gets put in to show only reviews in the number of reviews, it'll really change the number of reviews a piece gets.

And I don't read other people's reviews before I post mine.  So there's always something to say, even if it's been said before.  If it's repeated, then it's a problem everyone sees, I figure.  

Nick Wilczynski's picture
Nick Wilczynski from Greensboro, NC is reading A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin November 23, 2011 - 11:14am

I always read the other reviews and try to craft my review in a different way (you have 7 LBL's and no real discussion of character/plot mechanics...)

But, yes, right now I am scared to reply and give proper thanks/seek clarification until I think that I've gotten all of the reviews I can get, just because I don't want my replies to inflate my review numbers.

Not a surefire scheme though, I still end up going early a lot of the time if I need some clarification.

avery of the dead's picture
avery of the dead from Kentucky is reading Cipher Sisters November 23, 2011 - 11:22am

I always do my questions and thank yous in a PM.  If you review me, I will likely have a question or want to run something by you.  So I do it in PM so I can feel free to have a conversation without looking like I've had a billion reviews.