New site - your views!

i think that's true liana ... i used to feel it was reliably simple ... and if it hadnt been i would never have met bert would i? he has had a go and now when i mention using the site he gets that horse refusing a fence look on his face ... i have persevered a bit with it but i consider myself not completely useless when it comes to technological things ... i think it is complicated to the point where it will deter people ... tho unfortunately not others ...

well i have got stuff on there that is now unreadable because of all its boxes and what have you...and it appears to me that I cant alter it... I have tried and either get insufficient privs or masses of html everytime i start doing it. It is terribly annoying actually. I don't feel that I have the will to sit and go through thousands of words... and then half the time it times me out anyway. Agree about the miniscule author name too...

Edited stuff always used to go back into the top 100 - I think it is just more noticeable now, because people are editing their pieces to get them looking right rather than for content.

Good point! Seems a bit exclusive to me.

I managed, on broadband, to log in two nights ago and re-delete stuff I had deleted in the past. The members search does not work properly - I get results from some who have logged in but not others, including myself. On dial-up aol, I find the site impossibly slow and cannot access the last 100 or anything else, apart from the front page and the forums. George and others are right about the layout of work. The space allocated is still too narrow - I've complained about this in the past - and it creates line breaks where there should be none (poetry mainly). Apart from that, can we use html on the forums? Pretty please? Or will it clog the server? (I promise not to use Java routines again) (mwahahahahahah)

Not that anyone's interested, but I've been given a new password now, so cheers. The first thing I noticed was that all my failed attempts to post work had left a shadow trail of empty numerical titles and "unordered" sets online; I've cleaned all that up, but it's left me with little. Then I went to catch up with some of Drew's work. The same problem there with numerical titles and unordered sets - all empty. Plus some of his stories have squares in them where speech marks and apostrophes should be. And some stories appear in raw html. The man deserves better. Do other people have these problems?Are these problems common? Well, at least I'm able to read again, despite the feeling of having landed, post-nuclear, in gobbledygook city. d.beswetherick.

For God's sake Tony do the right thing and put this tired old animal out of its misery. The battle and war have been lost. Give in. call it a day and let someone else have a go. They might do a better job. Ya never know.

Tony, After not having been on the site a good while (my computer had a problem caching the pages - no matter), it's most non-heinous to see that the site is working much faster. Now if i can get my head around the in/visible stuff etc. I will begin sporadic expectoration immediately. abc's dead, long live abc. rick x

Yes, I agree about the author name. The lists are much more tedious to scroll down. We used to have the pink-white-pink-white highlight which made things easy on the eye too. Also think we MUST get back the photo gallery...adds so much to the feel of the place. It just doesn't feel like a home yet, does it. It's like a brand new building that has not been lived in - a bit clinical.

Just been able to get my main alias in use again and am starting sorting through. I haven't had any probs cutting and pasting from Word, at least not for short pieces. I've chosen 'pre-formatted' and that seems to do it.

HOW do you edit a published thing? I can't delete them either, just says insufficient privelages (arg, really should know how to spell that by now, have seen it so often lately...) BUT, THANKYOU for changing the font, is MUCH BETTER :0) Also if something is visible, does this mean no editor has read it?

To be fair, things are improving. With cut-and-paste submission, posting new work should be more straightforward. (I'm not risking it, for the time being, mind.) I think most of us, amateurs though we are, fear above all the messing up of our texts - which makes us not only unreadable but seem stupid. Elements like paragraphing, linespacing, speechmarks, etc. are first to suffer when glitches intervene; but they're crucial. d.beswetherick.

To try to answer your question, Fay: I think "editor" means published and cherried, and "visible" means published and uncherried.

My work seems to have three levels of status - "visible", "editor" and "published". Are the editors going to work through all this old work to make them published, should I make some cosmetic change and resave, though I don't want to stick a load of old work through the "last 100" just to make sure everyone can read them. Oh, and there's a whole load of spurious stories and sets with numbers and no content. Any advice?

Yeah Neil, stop asking questions.

Editor status is usually cherried work Neil.

rokki-cripe ya li'l crookiefry, whatcha gort up your duMMbarrse, a bugfry???

My comments are mainly to Liana as she was so right about me not understanding most thats going on now on the site, I did after quite sometime get used to the way it all was and did so! love! it! but have to admit age wise I do stand alone here and kind as Liana was to think of me progress will always go on and have to say if one can't keep up with that i.e. like me then sadly I have to bow out gracefully as it is a known fact you can never go back and the way will always be forward. Anyway all is not completely lost as via this discussion group I can still look in see how you are all fareing and read all your coments which always!! have kept me in touch with the world and over the years I must say I have been so greatful for that as it has taught me so much also for being able to join in at times with comments of my own and still can if I choose to so one more saying before I close "nothing is ever all good or all bad" I find the art is trying to make the best of it... Thanks again to LianaX.

Oh I get it, search-term highlighting defaults to 'None' on all the links, which then highlights the word 'None'. Suspect this is not quite what was intended.

Tony, it is ok ... but I loved the browse members list with all those beautiful pictures of the members. And it even showed you at least who all visited the site regularly..... couldn't we get that back pleaseeeee....... Everything else is brilliant after all the credit goes to Mr. Cook and his team. Thanks a lot for the contribution you and your team make to the literary field by running this site. Thanks once again Anshu

I can now copy and paste in word if I click on to Normal Text in the pull down menu. All the line breals are in the right places. I also have to keep on logging in.

Agree with Liana completely ! When ABC first started was friendly in every way : you got emails from editors if they specially liked your work (remember being so happy when MYB emailed me, actually being contacted, was like a message from some superior being from outer space:0)) There were the emails to let you know your work had been cherry picked that made you feel special after feeling ground down in real life Sets were easy to make, easy to add to, easy to edit, easy to delete from It was clear which letters in a set had been used Writing straight onto the sight was lovely, it had a wonderful font, and I find it really hard to write without it If you chose the poetry category your lines could be however long you wanted them In the last 100 it was easy to see your favourite writers' names, or, if someone new had been cherrypicked, to try them out, and, if you liked their work, easy to find more of it, easy to email them to say you'd liked it When you read work, it was well displayed and easy to read Poem and story of the day were brilliant ways of getting to know new writers, or giving you something good to read if you didn't have much time. It made you feel the site actually thought about peoples' work, valued it. And the same for writer of the week. Also it meant so much to the writer On the front page there would be a new picture, a new poem and story with a little bit about why the editor liked them. There was a little while when contributors to the site could do this too (I did, once, it was well stressful (probably more so for poor Andrew who was editor at the time!) but made me read loads of work I might not otherwise have done, and really THINK about it, which was great) It felt like ABC welcomed beginning people, nurtured them, gave them confidence to express themselves It brought me my man, too, and now a bump, for which I will always be grateful, even if I can't write anymore :0)

The ‘change state’ thing, at least for me, doesn’t allow much to happen! Before I could use the ‘retract’ option which would then let me get a piece back to edit, as it were, and then I could make the necessary changes. Then one day, that option disappeared, and hasn’t returned since! Things that are of the ‘published’ status I cannot edit, and there are a fair few of them! Am I using too many exclamation marks? ; )

I just logged in and took a quick peak at an old piece. No doubt this has been pounded to death already, but the system converts some quotation marks to boxes, for example. There is no indication how to fix that. For now, I'll just leave it alone, but I think we need a comprehensive FAQ and Training section about how to use the new features. What I liked about the old system was that it was so simple. Limited, yes; but simple. This has many more features and in many ways looks much better, but now I have to learn some more things. Fair enough, but one thing at a thyme, so to say. Anyhoo, as someone who has struggled in the past with web site design and execution problems, I am slow to get too upset when others experience what I experienced, and for the same reason: a former IT guy creating havoc. Onward and upward.

What an eloquent summary Fay... *applauds*

i joined several months ago and got a huge lift from the feedback I received for one of my pieces. Then my *real* life got very busy and I disappeared from the site for a while.. I returned a few weeks ago with the intention of reading some more and (hopefully, though I'm slack at this) getting down to some writing of my own. Superficially, the changes look great, but I can't comment on whether the site is user-friendly - because I can't log in! I've twice tried to "retrieve my password" but nothing ever came through. I haven't changed my email address, so it can't be sitting in another email account somewhere. I've tried emailing Mark but my message has just bounced back to me... I hate to add to the list of gripes, but if anyone has any idea of what I should do next, I'd be grateful! I don't really want to create a new login separate from my old work. [%sig%]

This is the bit that fails me time and time again. It stops me reading stories, posting works, deleting works. Several times it has promised to send me my password, which I thought I knew anyway (always used to be able to log in, no problem), and hasn't. I suppose I could invent a new name, but then I'd be estranged from my former self (if someone knows how to delete my sets for, then fine, I don't mind starting again). Please log into access this part of the site, you need to log in with your user name and password. If you do not have an account here, head over to the registration form to become a member. Account details User Name User names are case sensitive, make sure the caps lock key is not enabled. Password Case sensitive, make sure caps lock is not enabled. If you have forgotten your password, click here to retrieve it. Straightforward, one would think. d.beswetherick.

Posting it hear should get you a responces Kajm. If not, create a new thread with your inquiry, this one may not get read that often. I'm sure you will get a response soon.

Oh, and as far as the community thing is concerned, I don't know if others feel the same, but I don't have the same urge to join in the conversations while I can't post work or read work. My motivation was always to join in the community as a way of giving support and acknowledging the facilities offered me. d.beswetherick.

I really love the design -- no fuss, lots of style -- like I've told you. It's just that it gets effing slow when I post in stuff -- sometimes some pages simply don't work -- and I haven't got to grips with all those thingummies on my page -- but I guess it will be fine with more familiarity -- It could get more interactive though -- why can't we leave comments on people's works we like, or any thoughts thereof -- I'm not hot on critiquing, you know that -- I think most of us are grown up enough here not to need that -- and if anybody needs schooling a separate forum dedicated to that could be set up -- But comments and thoughts ought to feature, I feel. There are so many writes I want to immediately retort to -- and e-mailing the author is too tedious -- I never do it...

Puzzled by this one; while I can rate other people's work no one has rated any of mine and I discoverd why, I think: the box for rating isn't visible on my pieces. Tried to remedy this by way of preferences. Clicked on the box to activate/allow this option (as well as a couple of other things I wanted to make visible), hit save and got the requisite message in blue 'your changes have been saved.' But they hadn't! Not when I looked. All the little check marks I carefully added were gone. Tried several times. What am I doing wrongly?

sinc ei might be leaving tomorrow and my pathetic post commands just as many as your i though it would help ease the balance in the more productive post. Thanks for putting up with me. I think your site is a testimony to social justice and equality. It has helped me someone with numerous comnplex problems find a voice, even though it may be negative at the best of time recently, but still at least it can be recognised and compromise and understanding can be learned or worked on. I think it got to me when i realised one day the calliber of decent people who are involved in this and destroyed me as i thought of how my hurtful words may penetrate the core values of your site. Anyway another hijacked post with my emotional and weakly sentimental gist but none the less. I think you should be commended for giving that voice a chance and proves that your site truly works and is surely some sort of way forward for those who are socially excluded ;)

Whilst I've been reasonably successful at editing work, or, if it's long, deleting all the text and cutting and pasting from WORD documents, there's a substantial number of pieces which won't go into edit mode at all some of which are OK and some of which are unreadable.

I think that is some of the finest words i have read on this forum Stephen, i know in your heart you are sincere. I truly which you the very best of luck in the coming days and regardless of the outcome, look forward to your return to ABCTailes. Keep smiling Stephen.

Thank you Stephen, and good luck. It means a lot. Keep your chin up.

I bet you say that to all the boys, Marge.

I had exactly the same experience with the ratings box. Me no understand.

Ah. As you may have guessed that was me, Stephen. Hope everything goes the way you need it to.

That's very brave where to start... WHAT'S WITH THE NO PRIVILEGES??? and the not being able to delete things - the mechanism for this doesn't work and text being all funny and that weird stuff about published and visible and all those dates and things which don't work anyway and when you DO manage to write anything, the new letters are horrible and hard to read

... you cant copy and paste without boxes appearing.... and the text is all squashed into the centre of the page, with two thirds on either side wasted by a horrid huge red border thats almost painful on the eye... the box with details of the piece is obtrusive and the tale is squished in because of it - before the info was at the top, out of the way. Oh and the front page is dull as all hell in appearance, where are the graphics? Any? Even a wee one to break the monotony? you did ask... On the other hand, thank god its working again. Well done on getting it moving finally. x

Thanks for this - your comments are being watched and the fixes got under way. Keep trawling about - try and bust it - and tell us what is wrong!

On the other hand, I really like the new text... unlike fay, I find it much easier to read.

Do you write directly onto ABC ? It's that box I meant? I think, apart from the frustration of things not working, it's the COMPLICATEDNESS of them, even when they do It used to be so moron friendly sigh

oh... no, I dont. I tend to write in Word and then copy and paste, because it takes too long otherewise. I dont know... when I went into one poem to try and alter it (because it looked such a state, all the line breaks in the wrong place etc) all the html was in the text box... i was overfaced and just switched off in the end. I'm sure we'll get used to it, but yes, you're right, it was certainly easier before... mind you, we oldies dont like change and are prone to whingitis aren't we :o) We'll get used to it, and I'm sure (hope?) all the needlessly over complex stuff will be binned.

It will be! Fingers is with me now and and we are dealing with these matters!

I've been holding my piece for far too long.

In all honesty Tony...thumbs down. Not an impressive upgrade (all problems and efforts to resolve noted). Better user interface...not. Better design for reading and writing stories. No. Actually, the layout is less appealing than what you used to have. It feels like nothing more than a message board here now.

Don't worry steph, I'm sure you'll be dynamite on the day.

i'm finding it complicated and a bit confusing ... as fay says it did used to be moron friendly ... i darent even let bert LOOK at it ... he has a v. delicate constitution ... i have only typed straight into the box thus far - the tales do seem narrower and oddly shaped to accommodate that info box that hovers on the right hand side ... i think the old format was clearer really and tho i know i am resistant to change i also think it looked much more attractive ... but i am VERY pleased to see the old girl going again ... there is a lot of loyalty to this site i think and i love to see the faces (well some of them) who have been kicking around since my first day here ... i think that says something about this place and its community ... i am sure i will get to grips with how to work the technological bits and bobs ... the tabs at the top i just will ignore (share? ... hmmm) ...

I've just went to look at the last 100 and some of it is in another language! e.g. Du är inte inloggad. Quite right, I wasn't logged in. Wandelaar, the line break problem only occurs when you have a long line, well, it did when I was reading one of Hitch's poems yesterday.