Mobile Web

In my recent foray into mobile browsing, I became curious. How many people browse the Fire and Ice Archive using a mobile device? I've set up a poll (viewable on the Valentine, Lake and Photobooth3 skins), so please answer even if you don't. (There is a 'none' option.)



Additionally, I'm curious as to how the site looks on these devices. Is something really screwy? Love something? Wish something could be changed? Now's your chance to let me know!

Did you know?

Maybe not! (Because I keep forgetting to tell you!) As some of you know, because they've been in existence for ever and ever, FIA has both an RSS feed and an LJ Feed. You can add them to your feed aggregators or LJ friends page, and you'll get a report on the recently updated stories. Pretty cool, right?


Don't forget! Perfect Imagination needs you! If you want to beta or are looking for a beta, it's the place for you.


Also, don't forget to vote in my poll. You can see the news post below this for details. : )

Browser Usage Poll

In order to help in the development process, I'm trying to gauge the browser usage on the site, and the statistics will only tell me so much. (Basically I'm trying to see how many people are still using IE6! You can check your version in Help > About Internet Explorer.)



So, time for a poll! Unfortunately, I decided it's too much work to put it in every skin and then take it out again, so I only put it in the two most popular, Lake and Valentine, where it appears on the index page. You can see it here and here.

Fic Exchange!

The authors of the D/G Fic Exchange have been revealed! Go here to see the master list of participants and stories and award winners!


Don't forget to vote for the best fics in the D/G Fic Exchange - go here for the list of nominated fics and pick what you like, since I'm not allowed to tell you to vote just for me (or Lyndsie, who has a fic in the running). ;) You've got 24 hours or so - make the most of them!

And now a word from our affiliate

Perfect Imagination has been serving the Harry Potter fanfiction community since 2003, providing quality tested beta readers for Harry Potter fanfiction writers.



In early 2008, the site began an ongoing expansion project to include beta readers for more fandoms. At this time the site now offers beta reading services for over thirty categories.



At Perfect Imagination, beta readers are asked to take a short test to demonstrate their expertise. When a passing mark is achieved, a beta can choose their preferred fandoms and create an individual profile for each. Information such as the genre and length of fanfiction, as well as the preferred relationships and the beta reader’s strengths can be listed and are factored into the search process.



Writers can then approach a beta reader via the site with their story details, and beta readers can accept or decline projects at their own discretion, putting them in complete control of their workload.



As the site continues to grow, we hope to provide a valuable service to the fanfiction community as a whole, and bring writers and beta readers closer together.



www.perfectimagination.co.uk

Story Tracker Module

I've just installed a story tracker module, which allows you to track which stories you've read. You'll see links labeled "Track this Story", which add the story to your tracked stories. You'll then see text that tells you the last time you read the story. If you look in either Browse or Account Info, you'll see a "Your Tracked Stories" link, which gives you access to the list of stories you've tracked. If a story you're tracking has been updated since you last read it, "New" will be displayed.


As usual, please report any problems to me, and please be very specific about the skin you're using.

Welcome back!

If I did things right, we're now open for business again! Thank you for your patience, and I hope we can enjoy another great year together!

Addendum to Closure & Site Notes

All those who are normally validated to skip the queue (you know who you are) should now be able to post stories during submissions closures, as well as edit their own and such. If there is any trouble, please let me know.


Additionally, you'll notice the option to browse by author name is back.


As a further addition, the option to add a coauthor to your story now exists as well. It was always a function of the script, but it has been kept turned off for the last year or so because of the same reason you couldn't see a list of authors or members - there were so many members that it was beating up the server to try to list them all. Both functions have now been redesigned to work better with large numbers of members, so they have been reintroduced.


Assigning someone as a coauthor to a story means that it will appear in their profile as a story they've written and will up their story count. It also means that any designated coauthors will have editing capabilities on the story; however, the coauthor cannot remove the originating author as an author (but can remove other coauthors), and the originating author can remove any coauthors.

Closed for the holidays!

As of now, we're closed to submissions for two weeks, so the only people who can update stories are admins of the site - Cabal members, basically. Don't forget about us while we're gone! :)

Happy Christmas!

And Merry Valentines Day! The Valentine skin, redesigned by the lovely soundspretty, has just been replaced and updated. Enjoy!



As usual, please report any problems you may experience to me.

Closing for the Holidays

This is fair warning for everybody that the Cabal will get a holiday from December 22 to January 5, so submissions will be closed. I don't remember offhand if we can set it to allow validated members to continue posting - if we can, I'll do it that way. And if any of our stalwart Cabal members write any fic during their break, they can post anytime.

Thank you for understanding that all these ladies work hard during the other 50 weeks of the year, so giving them a little time off to be with their families is a small price to pay. :)

ETA: Submissions are now closed. (12/22 6pm)

Want to know what it's like on the inside?

This is a call for assistance. Did you miss out on donating to the site during the funding drive, or wonder if there was another way you could help out? There is!



I'm looking for anyone who can help me out with some of the technical aspects of the site. There are a couple of different categories, and some require no actual web design/web coding knowledge, while some do. These are volunteer positions that require only as much of a time commitment as you're willing to put in. : ) No one's making any money off the site so unfortunately we can't pay you in anything but street cred.



The list of open positions. Check it out to see where you might be able to lend a hand.

As always, much thanks to all those who already help me out. You guys are awesome!

Two more years!

Folks, we've already reached our fundraising goal for the next two years! I'm always amazed to know how much all y'all love the site, and grateful that so many of you want to contribute.

As of right now, as far as I'm concerned, we're done with fundraising until the end of 2010. If some of you are disappointed that you didn't get to contribute, feel free to band together - we're allowed to pay up to 10 years, and I'm willing to keep FIA going as long as y'all care to enjoy it. Otherwise, come back in 2010! :D

Hosting Fundraiser

Once again, it's that time of year when I ask y'all if you like FIA enough to contribute to its continued existence. This year, our goal is to get $120, which according to an email I got, would be enough for two years. If we don't get that, our goal is $100, which is what one year costs.

I'd had a special email address for donations, but it got overwhelmed by spam and viruses, and so it had to be nuked. The way to donate by paypal now is to just send it to my primary email address - mynuet, and then the at sign and gmail.com. I'd give you a nice clickable link, but I'd prefer if that wasn't spammed out of existence, too. Feel free to put "FIA Hosting Fund" or something similar on the subject line, although I'm going to assume any and all paypal transfers from now until the fundraiser closes are for the site rather than for me.

I like FIA, and I hope we can stick around. Hopefully, you like it, too. :)

IMPORTANT: notifications

We recently received word from our hosting company that one or more of the 725 members with AOL email addresses has been reporting notifications from the site as spam. This is a very serious problem for us, because it could lead to the server being blacklisted. That means that any mail sent from the server would be automatically counted as spam by AOL before it got to any inboxes. This is a problem for the hosting company because we are on a shared server - the other sites hosted on it would be affected as well.


Since I have no way of determining the parties responsible, and this could be a foreseeable problem with other mail clients as well, I have had to turn off notifications for every user on the site. As of this moment, no one is receiving any updates. However, you can turn them back on. Before doing so, please make sure to add the email address owl [at] dracoandginny.com (formatted like a proper email address) to your contacts or safe list. This will ensure that your email client doesn't accidentally mark the notifications as spam.


To begin receiving notifications again, you must first log in. From the "Account Info" page, then click "Edit Preferences." The three types of notifications correspond to the first three check boxes, so select which types you'd like to receive and then hit "submit." You will now be receiving notifications again.


We apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, this is the only way I could think of to deal with the problem that didn't mean turning off notifications permanently.

Server Migration

Hello all. Due to the migration of our servers, there could be short interruptions in service between this upcoming Sunday and the following Wednesday. Particularly, around noon EDT on Wednesday the 15th there could be a shutdown affecting all aspects of the site. Around this time there will be a short period in which any changes to the database will not be transferred to the new server.


What does this mean? During that window, any changes to the site will not be saved. This means any changes to profiles, story info, creating or responding to reviews, new signups--basically anything that requires an action on your part. It is suggested that you do not make any significant changes on the morning of Wednesday the 15th for this reason.


Additionally, as a precaution against loss of data, we'll be shutting down submissions on Tuesday evening. It is suggested that validated members do not post any new stories or chapters either.

Upgrade

The site upgrade is now complete. Any problems should be reported to me, or on the bug reports thread in the forums. If you've reported there in the past, could you please take a look and see if the issue still persists, and if so, let me know? Thanks muchly.



There were also a few changes with categories. There is no longer a post-DH category, since it's past the time when anyone should be worried about spoilers. All fics that were previously in that category have been moved to the appropriate ones.


Also, "Completed Short Stories" and "Long and Completed," which previously appeared under "Fiction," have been moved to the new "Completed Fiction" category. All completed fics should go in one of the two subcategories, based on length. "Completed Fiction" is locked, and no stories can be submitted to this category itself, only its subcategories. "Fiction" was renamed to "Works in Progress" and all incomplete fics should go in this category. All pre-existing fics should already be in the proper category, assuming their author had them categorized properly in the first place.

Are you FICL?

Hey all you that volunteered! Everyone who contacted me, please check your email and follow the instructions to sign up for our forums. I'd like to get everyone set up by the end of next week, if possible.


As always, thanks for the lovely response! I'm excited by all the new volunteers.

Podcast housekeeping

I did the chatty bits of this month's podcast, which can be found on the wireless page. Topics include the Mynuet Mystique and a slew of birthday wishes.

I also covered a couple of things which should be announced without subjecting y'all to my voice, to wit:

- Signups have begun for the D/G Fic Exchange! Go here to read the rules and sign up!

- I totally dropped the ball in terms of setting up the voting for the new classics, as you may have noticed. Slitherhither was completely awesome and compiled a list, so as soon as I go through and add in the nominations from email and LJ, I'll post the list and start a two week voting period. Watch this space for details, and use this time to read through the fics to inform your decision. :)


I didn't mention this in the podcast, but I think I'll do the chatty bits next month, too, and I thought maybe y'all might like to have some questions answered as part of the podcast. If you have anything you've ever wondered about me, fandom, the archive, why the sky is blue, whatever - send me your questions and I'll do my best to answer them all.

New D/G Classics From the People

In August of 2005, I posted the results of a wide nomination and voting process as the democratically chosen D/G Classics. It's probably about time to do it again.

The rules are simple.

1. Take the term "classic" seriously. This isn't just 'my friend wrote this awesome story' this is about stories you'd recommend to anyone entering the fandom, stories that you think every D/G fan should read. Not just what's popular or written by a Big Name Fan, but stories that are truly great.

2. The stories on the original list of classics are not eligible.

3. Due to the extensive and well-documented plagiarism of Cassandra Clare, fics by her are not eligible.

4. Make sure you pick the correct category. This time around, we'll have three: Best Long and Completed, Best Short Story, and Best Unfinished Story.

That's it for rules. The nomination period will last until August 18, with voting to run until August 26. Both will probably be handled primarily in the forums, although for those who don't want to join the forums, I'll also take nominations and votes by email, LJ comment, or any other recognizable form of communication.

Help a sister out.

A fanfic writer (from another fandom, but still a part of the few, the happy few) is doing a thesis paper on fanfic for communication sciences. If you have time to help out with her research, go here and answer some questions. The survey is totally anonymous, and completely painless except for the realization of how much time you actually spend on fanfic, which I admit made me wibble a little.



EDIT: The survey seems to be closed down now.

Affiliates

You'll notice that now all the skins have affiliates listed on the front page. I'm going to be looking for sites to affiliate with, and you can help! If you run or know of a site that you think might be open to it, then let me know in a comment or email me.



Thanks!

RP invitation

I'm playing in a new post-DH RP, and I wanted to invite all y'all to check it out. I'm playing Draco, and Persephone33 is playing Ginny, so you can be assured that the reason why you come to this site will be fulfilled - and we'll all have fun getting there.

So, please check out Si Muove's website, then come to the RP itself* and check out what's happened so far and see if you want to join! (We particularly need non-Slytherins, and there's one part I really want filled because I need to play against her, but you can apply for any role not currently filled.)

Drop a line to me or Seegrim if you have any questions, and ping me after you've joined so we can see about scening together. :)



*Just friend the community to watch; membership is only for administrators or player characters.

Done and done

The site upgrade is now complete and stories may now be submitted once again. As usual, please let me know of any problems.

Site Maintenance

The site will be closed for part of the day on Sunday the 25th Monday the 26th for some planned maintenance. At this time I'm unsure of how long it will last, but hopefully it will be short.

EDIT: Sorry for the change; had some trouble with backing up the site before upgrade.