surreal78
a 30-year-old gentleman from Canada
My name is Nick.
I'm a software developer living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I run a small consultancy called Taunt Media that oversees the development of a variety of social, collaborative web properties.
I also run this site, so feel free to contact me here, or comment on my profile with any comments you might have. You can also check out the Taunt Media blog at http://www.tauntmedia.com.
Suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome! :)
Quick list of my favourite authors from the last little while:
- George R. R. Martin
- Stephen Erikson
- R. Scott Bakker
- Neil Gaiman
- Alan Campbell
Read recently:
- The Elves of Cintra, by Terry Brooks
- Scar Night, by Alan Campbell
- JPod, by Douglas Coupland
- Lye Street, by Alan Campbell
- Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures, Vincent Lam
Currently reading:
- Wrath of a Mad God, Raymond E. Feist
...oh holy crap you're the creator of this site. whoooooa thanks man. Ummmm hi!"
Thanks."
BTW, noticed in one of your comments about "single author stories" being planned. What exactly does it mean - that only one author can continue to branch them? Sounds like an interesting addition nevertheless. (from starting out as an "Addventure" type site to including linear stories and now this!)"
Preesh."
Also, thank you for the "featured author" status. I was surprised, considering the short amount of time I've been on the site, but very gratified. It's nice to know that I can still write, and that people like to read what I write. Thanks so much!!"
Thanks a bunch. I know I'll use the jump-to feature a lot..."
On a glossary of forgotten species i was wondering is it possible to change the title of my chapter from Species 13 Himilayan Puffballs to Species 13 Ancient Himilayan Puffballs because then the alphabetical order isn't ruined. Thanks if you can, Oh well if you can't.
-Snowstormfir"
I'm really impressed with this site. It's functional, attractive, and fun to use. I've been having a great time, and I'm beginning to feel like I'm getting back to writing again. The feedback has been awesome. Quite a supportive community developing here.
I have a couple of site functionality suggestions for you (you thought perhaps I wouldn't?):
1) It would be nice to be able to read comments in "threads." In stories, for example, it would be nice to have a "reply to comment" button, and then be able to read a "conversation" in its entirety.
Likewise for comments on profiles, though it would have to be implemented differently, I suppose. Perhaps something akin to Facebook's "Wall to Wall." I'd like to be able to read a conversation without jumping back and forth from one profile to another.
Unlike on many message boards and newsgroups I've sampled in the past, people here have interesting and intelligent things to say, and I'd like to read the conversations as conversations.
2) Someone already mentioned this in an earlier comment, but I'd like to second it. It would be great to have list of all the chapters or branches in a story, so you could click to return to a specific place.
Thanks for all your hard work."
Have to say my first week on the site has flown by and been both very enjoyable and very helpful in many ways. Glad I stumbled across it. The standard is generally quite high, and any tool that can help improve technique is welcome.
I do have some reservations about how things work, some of which I've already expressed, but really they are minor niggles.
Thanks again. Enjoy the rest of your trip."
Vancouver was nice and warm yesterday, but it's back to cloudy and rainy today!"
... and yes, I know, posting on my own profile is lame... I'm not sure I really want to add a facebook-style status thingy, though, so many other sites already use that. Maybe just a Twitter hookup so your status can show on your profile. Who knows... just tossing ideas around."
next time ill be very rude and it'll hopefully balance out."
Like that you might change the rating system because I'm finding it a bit weird - as you know lol
oop Actually just rated a story I wrote myself. Gave it a 5. ;) and am waiting for people to come along and disagree.
Am having lots of fun tho here so thanks to all you guys who set this site up - it is great! All the stuff I said before are just niggles really.
Sometimes don't think people say thanks enough thats all"
Generally though, am loving the site - great idea! Very addictive.
Two things:
1. The ads are weird! I know you have to make a buck to keep it going but, seriously, money isn't everything and a lot of them cheapen the whole idea. Get some proper, relevant, advertisers interested at least...
2. Why do I get the feeling you are always watching me whenever I'm logged in? Is it because you are? Oooooooooo! Hehehehe.
Shantih Kx"
A reviewing page would also give the journalists of us a chance to get their hands dirty. I know I'd be up for it."
If there were a nice friendly looking discussion going on, people could just join and start talking, ask questions, and so on. We could welcome them :)"
How about adding a section which writers can review each others work? Not so much a separate blog but something more obvious. People might be more likely to read the lesser featured stuff if they read something like this first. A discussion board or something. I dunno but its an idea.
Oh and having a yearly awards with votes/nominees picked by the other writers might be fun too. Doesn't need to be a real prize just something on the site. A hall of fame or something.
Just something running through my mind. Not a lot runs through there so I'm quite pleased with myself."
I hope you read this before the message I sent you with the body of the post. I tried to post again and this time it took it. I forgot to tell you in the message like you asked, but I use Internet Explorer. Hope this helps for future problems on the site. Thanks again!!! :)"
Love Jim :)"
I'm not overly concerned with ratings, but I've been given thirteen "1" ratings in like the past 20 minutes. Seems kind of unusual. Can you tell who's doing this?"
It would save a ton of backtracking..."
The drummer from the Gay Horses, that's who..."
It was gritty stuff.
Are you planning to place a forum on here by any chance?"
Actually, the whole point of ratings here is to get an honest assessment from others on how our writing is. This is not the NYT bestsellers list after all! No offense, Nick! ;)
Also I see that there has been quite a bit of reshuffling in the rankings today! Gaelythe was reigning in the top spot all along, and now she has gone down in the rankings. So has Jait. Are good authors being handed 2's and 3's?! I have no qualms about the current top 5 list of authors though. All well-deserved!
Maybe we are giving too much importance to the ratings after all. Let's just read, write and have fun and encourage each other.
Also, while there are 1000 registered members, it looks like only 20-30 are really active, and probably about 10 who are super-active! Would like to see more writers coming out feeling encouraged."
I'm guilty of it, as I know a few other people are. But just in the interest of fair ratings and all....listen to me talk when I give everyone a five haha.
Btw Surreal...your weekly five rating kickback has been delivered."
I'd really like to see the last paragraph of content from a parent branch copied into the editor for the new branch/chapter. Obviously, the author would have the choice to include it or not...
I'd also like to see an option to retag or add tags to a story at the chapter/branch level."