Talk:Interactive Story
Hummm.... if i edit my chapter here on the Wiki, will the changes show up on the Interactive story script? I doubt it. So why have them here- editable- when they are not editable over there? What happens if others start to edit our chapters? Wouldn't it be better just to have a link to the chapters and not the text of the chapters themselves here?
-Gabby --141.157.47.224 8 September 2005 18:01 (GMT)
reply to Gabby[edit]
(this is a copy, paste and edit from my reply over at the forum)
No, the changes will not show up on the Interactive Story script, but there is no point in that, because we're looking to replace that system. If we switch, there will no longer be an Interactive Story script.
The problems we had with the old system are these:
- the chapters and the means to comment on them are too far apart; most people don't bother to comment > we need visitors to be able to comment without any hassle
- there is no way to edit entries other than for admin to dig into the files, which costs admin a whole lot of time > we need a system which allows users to edit their own work
- we didn't really have the right to use the interactive script system (it's free to use as long as it's not for anything pornographic...) > we need something we can legally use
We think this system could do all of that.
Yes, other people will be able to edit all pages. However, we trust you are all decent people - like yourself - who don't go around destroying other people's work. I mean, you wouldn’t do that, right? And if we should once get in a loony who does, old versions are easy to restore (see the page on vandalism)
I understand you have reservations about other people being able to edit your chapters, it sounds strange at first, but there are enormous wikis out there - you probably know Wikipedia - where this system works wonderfully well. I don't have any reason to believe the Faramir fanfiction community is any more prone to vandalism than the general internet population. In fact, because we're all adults, I'd say rather the opposite is true.
It is possible to 'protect' pages - make it impossible for anyone but admin to edit them. But this takes away many of the advantages of the system. Although you rightfully do not want anyone tempering with the text of your chapter, would you also object to anyone adding links from characters in your chapter to their character pages? (see an example with Imrahil as link here). Or what if an artist, inspired by your chapter, wants to add an illustration? (unfortunately I can't link to any examples of that yet, but one can dream...)
--Admin 8 September 2005 18:41 (GMT)
Reply to Admin (Iris? Minx?)[edit]
I really do like the idea of a discusion page for each chapter. That way we can chew over possible ways for the chapter to go, give the author feedback, etc.. I also really like the idea of being able to edit ones own chapter. But isn't there the possibility authors will DELETE their chapters? How much leeway are you thinking of giving them insofar as editing? Will they be able to invalidate the actions in the chapters that come after theirs?
I suggest these rules regarding editing;
1- No major changes to the narrative that would invalidate the chapters following or chapters in the works.
2- No changing the branchpoints since, even if no chapters have been written, authors may be mulling over possible future chappies based on the branchpoints.
Absolutely agree with those rules. No messing with chapters.
Though I can think of situations in which some users might want to enter a blank option. Or when there's an option like Minx's recent "Gandalf lets Faramir meet Saruman - in Orthanc or Rivendell, you decide", I don't think anyone has a problem with it if whoever enters that chapter edits that into either "Gandalf lets Faramir meet Saruman in Orthanc" or "Gandalf lets Faramir meet Saruman in Rivendell".
What exactly do you mean by "the possibility authors will DELETE their chapters"? You mean authors deleting their own work because they don't want anything to do with it anymore, withdraw from the slash world, that sort of scenario? Or people deleting chapters as vandalism?
In case of the first, I would always respect that - also if we would stick with the old system and an author would email us and ask to please remove all her chapters. Can hardly refuse that, can you? Replace them with a synopsys for the time being, to be replaced by proper chapters as soon as someone wants to write them.
In case of the second, deleted chapters can always be restored, just like edited pages can always be restored to previous versions.
--Admin 8 September 2005 20:17 (GMT) (Iris this time)
Reply[edit]
Admin wrote:
In case of the first, I would always respect that - also if we would stick with the old system and an author would email us and ask to please remove all her chapters. Can hardly refuse that, can you?
I would. I would most certainly refuse that. I think there should be an understanding that once an author posts a chapter, they cannot, for any reason, delete it. Maybe there should be some type of warning about this. Writers can always change their nicks and move on to other parts of the cyber world and leave their slash personas behind, if they feel they must. But deleting chapters that other authors have based their own work on is asking too much in my opinion. I believe Esteliel, who runs the ILSS, has kept away from using and editable system specifically for that reason. She did mention to me one time she did have an author ask to have chapter(s) deleted, but she convinced her that it would be a bad idea.
OK, then we disagree here. I think we should always respect an author's wishes. I understand opinions vary on this -unfortunately one is too often confronted with the examples- but to me using someone's work without permission is very, very bad.
We run the archive for quite some time now, and in that time have had to say goodbye to some (luckily very few!) very talented authors. It's very sad, and of course they can change their name, and if someone would want to remove chapters here I’d always first ask if we could keep them up as written by an anonymous author, but in the end, if that’s what someone wants to do, then I think we should respect that. I don’t think anyone would come to a decision like that lightly.
Let's hope it never happens, but if a chapter should be removed, the can be restored / accessed by admin. I don't think it would be all that difficult to replace the chapter text by a summary. I understand it won't be pretty, but for me that's preferable to refusing to give them up when the author wants to have them removed.
--Admin 9 September 2005 07:04 (GMT)
I have to agree with Iris here. If an author can ask to delete her stories form a site, no reason he/she can't ask to delete chapters from the interactive.
It would be quite nasty of us not to do so if requested.
Minx