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How to Get Reads: A Social Experiment

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Lulumacmac View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Lulumacmac Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 2:33pm
Originally posted by MariaPB MariaPB wrote:

Originally posted by Lulumacmac Lulumacmac wrote:

Originally posted by OnyxLily OnyxLily wrote:

Thanks nod - this is a fabulous insight!

One thing I try to do, once I’ve read my group and returned reads, is sort the forum by number of replies, and then read and respond to stories with one or no replies. 

This often results in them getting more replies because it bumps the story back onto the front page of the forum I guess, but I have noticed a lower return read rate from these stories, maybe because the person has posted but not actively engaged. 

I try and do the same as much as poss and notice low response but wondered if they’re not getting email notifications?

I also notice one or two with a high amount of views, like ridiculously high for the amount of active users and time post/story has been live on the forum and wonder if an auto-clicker or similar is being used to increase page views and get story noticed?! I don’t really have a problem (wouldn’t do myself I’ll just add!) with this as not impacting the competition in anyway, just interested if this is something being done.

I’ve actually had that happen to me before—not something I did intentionally, but my story got thousands and thousands of “views.” It was way too many for it to be that many people clicking on the story. I did have an issue with posting my link for that particular story and edited a couple times to fix it. Someone speculated that might be the reason for all of the views. I meant to reach out to NYCM to ask if anyone knew what was going on, but I never got around to it. I was a little worried I broke the forums lol. 

Ah, so maybe just gremlins in the system then! The forum is gloriously stuck in 2001 😂
I will return overdue reads (so sorry!) I promise but I just need to take a break from NYCM for a bit. I will be back! Big love.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote PickyNikki Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:12pm
Because I like to give specific feedback, do most of my forumming on my phone, and have shoddy detail recall at times, I find it more difficult to provide feedback on those who post a link vs their story. I love being able to view the story while writing my response, so I’m definitely drawn to stories that are visible and don’t require an extra click / toggle. Anyone else feel this way? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Silverlock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:27pm
Originally posted by nod1v1ng nod1v1ng wrote:

Anecdotally: Something I did notice, particularly of old schoolers, is that there's a general air that new forum users equate to new writers. My "newbie" forum handles were often treated as if they were novice writers, to the point where in a few instances it became a bit condescending.

This is a classic feature of the special social niche that is The Online Forum.  Twenty years ago, in the heyday of online forums (before those darn kids came long with their Facebooks and their Twitters) this was almost universal.  A typical online forum was an incredibly insular tribal community, with its own hierarchies, wise elders, taboos, sacred texts, etc.  Newbies were inevitably regarded as children and fools whose initiation into the group had to be gradual.  Obviously, it was entirely possible that the new person might actually know a lot about writing (or gardening, or Dungeons and Dragons, or WWII history, or what have you) but acknowledging such expertise in a newbie was rare.  This probably says something profound about the fundamental ways in which the ape species homo sapiens sapiens forms social organizations.


Edited by Silverlock - 30 Jan 2023 at 3:34pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Bridget Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:35pm
Super interesting post, thank you! 
I remember very well when I was brand new on the forum. Giving a read almost always resulted in getting a read, and some of the feedback was truly invaluable.
The reminder that forum 'points' have no correlation to how good a writer or story is is also important. When giving feedback, I try to have the same attitude toward someone who joined the forum yesterday and someone who's been there 10 years.
I also like when posters specify what kind of feedback they want (i.e, be gentle/be ruthless or somewhere in between). Regardless, I'll always put something positive in the feedback.
On a side note, there is an underlying feeling that some people act like they own the forum but what can you do...


Edited by Bridget - 30 Jan 2023 at 3:52pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote taaaylor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:44pm
Originally posted by Silverlock Silverlock wrote:

Originally posted by nod1v1ng nod1v1ng wrote:

Anecdotally: Something I did notice, particularly of old schoolers, is that there's a general air that new forum users equate to new writers. My "newbie" forum handles were often treated as if they were novice writers, to the point where in a few instances it became a bit condescending.

This is a classic feature of the special social niche that is The Online Forum.  Twenty years ago, in the heyday of online forums (before those darn kids came long with their Facebooks and their Twitters) this was almost universal.  A typical online forum was an incredibly insular tribal community, with its own hierarchies, wise elders, taboos, sacred texts, etc.  Newbies were inevitably regarded as children and fools whose initiation into the group had to be gradual.  Obviously, it was entirely possible that the new person might actually know a lot about writing (or gardening, or Dungeons and Dragons, or WWII history, or what have you) but acknowledging such expertise in a newbie was rare.  This probably says something profound about the fundamental ways in which the ape special homo sapiens sapiens forms social organizations.

I don't think this is a fair characterization of this forum. I grew up in the forum age. I cut my teeth on early writing forums and the brutality of mid-2000s "suck it up buttercup" mentality. This forum is absolutely nothing like that. It's actually been shocking to me how *different* it is compared to most of my writing forum experiences. If it was what you're describing, I wouldn't have continued engaging to get to this level of posting

I only have so many posts here because it's such an excellent community and I feel a strong call to contribute and keep helping writers here. Tbh, I find it pretty frustrating to see this characterization continue to be carried out without any evidence. Especially when there are critiquers here who spend SO much time helping out new members and going out of their way to make them feel welcome, like Lulumacmac, jhenn, timmytimtimothy, Camsyn Clair, WhistlerCrowe, manifestlynot, alelha, Barbara_FL, catnamedeaster, cford, Freefallr, Draiglas, Janetinputney, Sheri M, jimiflan2, NMiller, popsiclecrows, lisafox, pondsandfrogs... literally more than I can name.

Like, just look at this list. Six pages of people in the highest forum rank available: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/members.asp?SF=&GID=9&PN=1

It's SUPER uncool that this thread has invited random, unfounded criticism of vague unnamed people when there are so many excellent contributors here who don't deserve that at all. :/

ETA: Just for kicks, here's my first-ever NYCM story thread: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/ch1-gr-61-an-early-retirement-spy_topic18436_page1.html

Sure, this was 5 years ago. But the feedback was overwhelmingly kind and constructive. It has been the defining characteristic of my experience from the very start.


Edited by taaaylor - 30 Jan 2023 at 4:09pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (3) Thanks(3)   Quote CHartman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:45pm
Originally posted by nod1v1ng nod1v1ng wrote:

Originally posted by Ceeveegee Ceeveegee wrote:

What sort of things should one include in the feedback?

That's a whole other conversation, and a lengthy one at that! Feedback is a skill just as much as writing is. And there's a lot of different techniques. 

A few good pointers - try to offer up a couple things you liked and things that you think need improvement.

Be specific.

Bad: This story is confusing.
Good: I did not understand why Charles didn't tell his mother about the accident.

Bad: This is amazing.
Good: I loved the beautiful description of the waterfall. 

If you don't feel confident critiquing as a writer, critique as a reader. Tell the author how the story made you feel. Where you were confused. What parts you enjoyed the most.

When giving critique, don't tell the author how you would have written the story. It's their vision, not yours. Point out things that didn't work for you, and why, but don't tell them how it "should" be. 

Overall, be respectful and empathetic. Creating is a vulnerable thing, but we all need critique in order to improve. 

Gramarly have a nice blog about feedback here

Definitely this!!  I recently received a very detailed comment outlining exactly what they would have done with my prompts - creating a completely different story while at the same time not acknowledging any thing they liked about my actual submission only that they dislike EVERYTHING.  That type of critique is decidedly unhelpful and would have scared me away when I was new here.

I believe if you don't have anything nice to say... just move on to another story.


Edited by CHartman - 30 Jan 2023 at 3:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Deschain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 3:46pm
There's a trick I used last time that works pretty well. About 2-3 weeks after the round, when activity on here has died down, you'll start seeing the same person review 5 or 6 in a row (first 2-3 weeks there's too much activity to see a pattern). For instance if you go back a day you can see a block of 5 or 6 entries where MelaneeJ is the last commenter. If I saw someone like that I would read their story. Wasn't a guarantee that they'd comment back, but if someone sits down and does 5 in a row over the course of 40min (which you can also see), they'll likely review your story.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (3) Thanks(3)   Quote jennifer.quail Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 4:25pm
Originally posted by Lulumacmac Lulumacmac wrote:

Thank you Nod for this, really useful to get this sort of insight. Does this mean you wrote multiple stories for comps?! Amazing!

As not-a-new but not-an-old-schooler forum user, I would say, I found it was easier to get reads when the story lists were hosted on the forum instead of on an internal link - and there were  60-70 or so groups on one page, which were looked after by a superhuman forum user - realise this just wasn't feasible as the forum and the comps continued to grow and we definitely should not go back to this unless can be easily hosted!

Yeah, I've found with the new "master list" I don't review nearly as much---I'm more likely to check out ones from people who reviewed mine if they have it in their sig file, I will usually try to hunt down other people in my heat, but I'm much less likely to "browse" and review at random. 

I also tend, if I see a story very rapidly has four or five pages of reviews in the first few days it's up, to not bother with that one unless I'm returning a review. If that many people have already reviewed, I'm probably not going to come up with anything new to add at that point.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote nod1v1ng Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 4:40pm
Originally posted by jennifer.quail jennifer.quail wrote:

Originally posted by Lulumacmac Lulumacmac wrote:

As not-a-new but not-an-old-schooler forum user, I would say, I found it was easier to get reads when the story lists were hosted on the forum instead of on an internal link - and there were  60-70 or so groups on one page, which were looked after by a superhuman forum user - realise this just wasn't feasible as the forum and the comps continued to grow and we definitely should not go back to this unless can be easily hosted!

Yeah, I've found with the new "master list" I don't review nearly as much---I'm more likely to check out ones from people who reviewed mine if they have it in their sig file, I will usually try to hunt down other people in my heat, but I'm much less likely to "browse" and review at random. 


I 100% agree that the new ML is not as convenient and probably impacts how stories are read. 

Although, as someone who has spent literally hundreds of hours (wo)maning Master Lists (as a volunteer), I don't miss those days nor do I wish that work on anyone else... LOL


Edited by nod1v1ng - 30 Jan 2023 at 4:53pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (2) Thanks(2)   Quote Silverlock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jan 2023 at 4:51pm
Originally posted by taaaylor taaaylor wrote:

I don't think this is a fair characterization of this forum. I grew up in the forum age. I cut my teeth on early writing forums and the brutality of mid-2000s "suck it up buttercup" mentality. This forum is absolutely nothing like that. It's actually been shocking to me how *different* it is compared to most of my writing forum experiences. If it was what you're describing, I wouldn't have continued engaging to get to this level of posting

I only have so many posts here because it's such an excellent community and I feel a strong call to contribute and keep helping writers here. Tbh, I find it pretty frustrating to see this characterization continue to be carried out without any evidence. Especially when there are critiquers here who spend SO much time helping out new members and going out of their way to make them feel welcome, like Lulumacmac, jhenn, timmytimtimothy, Camsyn Clair, WhistlerCrowe, manifestlynot, alelha, Barbara_FL, catnamedeaster, cford, Freefallr, Draiglas, Janetinputney, Sheri M, jimiflan2, NMiller, popsiclecrows, lisafox, pondsandfrogs... literally more than I can name.

Like, just look at this list. Six pages of people in the highest forum rank available: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/members.asp?SF=&GID=9&PN=1

It's SUPER uncool that this thread has invited random, unfounded criticism of vague unnamed people when there are so many excellent contributors here who don't deserve that at all. :/

ETA: Just for kicks, here's my first-ever NYCM story thread: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/ch1-gr-61-an-early-retirement-spy_topic18436_page1.html

Sure, this was 5 years ago. But the feedback was overwhelmingly kind and constructive. It has been the defining characteristic of my experience from the very start.

Yes, we have evolved since the early days of the Web.  People on this site are friendly and welcoming, and I should have said so.  I am sorry if I caused any offense; the quality of discussion here is the reason why this is the only forum I am a member of.

The positive attitude here might possibly result from the bullying and nastiness having migrated to the big social media sites like Twitter.  A special interest forum like this one is now relatively rare compared to the old days.  Maybe people value it more because it feels more special?  Or maybe the forum setup naturally filters out people who only want to write 280-character hot takes, now that there are more convenient venues for that?
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