What if we reduce the promo threads?

[candiedcotton]

That's what I'd do, yeah. And it'd be really easy to implement programmatically. A web dev could do it in an hour, easily.

[VibrantFox]

i can't speak on the coding but i think it'd depend on whats available to this forums base (which is Discourse iirc) and what options are available in this sites currently implemented version

coz it's definitely old enough that dark more isn't something that can be added in per a response i'd gotten a while back in a thread asking about it so anything beyond that is ???

[Katzalcoatl]

It depends on how complicated or simple they programmed their forums.
You know how it is, some people make a complex system making even the most simple modification take hours just because they didn't think ahead.

Assuming their forum system is simple, it will still take time for tapas to aprove the changes but we can propose it for now.

If they reject it, at least we tried.

[candiedcotton]

Ah for real? I figured they used some combo of sql and php. That's usually what I work with if I'm doing web stuff (and javascript of course). You could do a check during the php processing of data to see if a title exists in the db already and then return false to the poster (denied post) if it did.

[candiedcotton]

Those are the folks who don't understand OOP programming.

Drives me up the wall.

[bulgariansumo]

Instead, let them each have a thread dedicated to their work, and they can't post outside of that thread if to promote said work.

I've seen a few threads like this, and none of them have made me compelled to click unless I was already keeping up with their work. Considering the imbalance of writers vs. readers here, I feel like this would just clog up the promo thread in a new way. The current system has its fair share of problems, but at least it fosters a situation where creators might be see another work they're interested in (even if it's kind of rare in practice.)

I do like OP's idea, though I'd miss the more unique promotion threads. Maybe having the a few generic promo threads and limiting forum users to only creating more specific threads might work?

[VibrantFox]

i only ever found out about it after doing some digging and checking the automated responses (the close after 30 days thing) and managed to backtrack that to the site host but beyond that uh...no clue ^^;;

i'm definitely not a coding person (most i've got under my belt is basic html and dreamweaver) so i leave that talk to the tech heads

[cherrystark]

Sometimes I wish there was an independent marketplace for web fiction/comics. There are so many sites for web fiction these days that I think everyone has trouble with marketing. At least with an independent site, you could write the code to however you wanted

[Katzalcoatl]

Can't speak for tapas since I haven't investigated how they programmed forums. But I have seen it happen with many clients.
Some create a super fancy system that is so complex it is hard to modify in a short time while others prefer to save money creating a mess of the coding.

If they went traditional html5 coding (meaning php, java, sql, etc. Modifications are possible) then all it would take is for tapas directors to approve the suggestion.

[cherrystark]

I've seen a few threads like this, and none of them have made me compelled to click unless I was already keeping up with their work. Considering the imbalance of writers vs. readers here, I feel like this would just clog up the promo thread in a new way.

The promo threads only really work if you're popular. I got more reads on Tapas by simply existing and occasionally promoting than spamming people.

[Katzalcoatl]

You can create your own blog and advertise on facebook or pay for adds. There is no cheap way to promote yourself unless you have the patience.

[candiedcotton]

Pretty much, yeah. I'd HOPE they follow the basic guidelines anyone would with a bit of web dev education under their belt, but who knows.

If it was that bad though, I'd hope they'd have the code rewritten anyway, just to be up with the times and for the sake of any possible upgrades and changes in the future.

[Katzalcoatl]

That's true forums are mainly to get advice. Only a few authors truly promote their work successfully.
The rest just get sub 4 sub on the forums.

[candiedcotton]

Agreed.

The only difference we'd have is that there'd be less clusters of the exact same things being promoted on a multitude of threads. The average promo poster will come in, spam post on 4 or 5 different threads the exact same copy/paste, and then leave. All 5 of those threads are then sitting at the top of the forums. So you go in to see what's available and in every thread it's the same mess of the same posts. It's a headache and just totally redundant.

We'd still have a sea of threads of promotion, but if it's single-title based, we won't have the issue of duplicates, and instead of having to scour a post full of a billion promos for anything interesting, we can more easily scroll thread titles for interest.

[candiedcotton]

I don't know if anyone here is old enough to remember, but I used to work on the forum code for GaiaOnline.

That was a nightmare.

[Katzalcoatl]

Jokes on you! I am way older not even knowing what GaiaOnline is. In my days we used to go to libraries. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[candiedcotton]

I feel that in my soul.

I remember when the cool kids were the ones who went to the rollerskating rink on weekends.

[VibrantFox]

pretty sure i'm old enough to remember gaiaonline (i still remember dial up, AOL and AIM) but i can only imagine the legwork and brain work it took to maintain the forums there

[VibrantFox]

if feel like as close as it's come in recent years would be geocities spiritual successor neocities which has decent community from what i've seen and lots of niches so i don't doubt there's space for web fiction and comics

[cherrystark]

Oh yeah. I haven't tried the blog avenue since I honestly don't have the patience for a newsletter-type thing, but I do ads all the time. My thought was basically a promo forum for all web novel writers. It definitely gets tedious promoting only to writers but when it comes to traffic and revenue, their money is still good. haha.