We used to have a rep system based off site usage and account duration amongst other things. It was called the Karma score and we had little purple tear drops on the profiles indicating members use and interaction on the site which can give a good idea if someone is genuine or not.
At users request we removed this feature. But if there is enough demand, we can look at bringing this back.
Of course we do now have verification, this is a process where members submit a photo of themselves with a hand written sign to prove their identity. You can search for verified profiles, and you get a little blue badge / shield icon on your profile once completed.
A pinned post on how to spot scammers could be useful. I will look into this and see what we can come up with. Usually scammers are pretty obvious to spot but I don't want to give away too much info for scammers to change their behaviour which would then make it harder for us to locate them if they see the post.
Thank you for the suggestions.
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
Hi Ribbons,
I do understand the frustration with this. But it is a matter of being compliant with GDPR.
When a member deletes their account everything associated with the account has to be removed.
Due to the nature of the site, we do not need to keep data of users profiles once they remove the account of their own volition.
So unfortunately this may mean that you miss out on messages from users who have left the site.
Please note that this is also the case when we permanently ban an account.
Thanks,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
This is something that I put forward as a suggestion last week and is in our to do list for new features. So good to know others think this may be helpful!
As munchies says, it would be beneficial to have a moderator in chat 24/7. Unfortunately we don't have the resources for that. The moderators are volunteers, and spend a lot of there time also checking content sections, general site areas and forums along with dealing with and responding to abuse reports, as well as popping into chat and making sure everything is ok... Unfortunately, issues that arise in chat can happen at anytime so a moderator may not be present. Please note that while we may not be able to take action immediately, sending screenshots to us will mean situations are dealt with and warnings / bans applied as appropriate to anyone breaking rules.
Thanks,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
Hiccupx:
There is a weighting for premium stories also which should compensate for lack of likes.
We find that on this site, as with in the wider world, the authors that become the top sellers as those that build up a following. This can take time and effort, but the benefits are worth it, and we have authors that regularly earn several hundred dollars a month.
The key is for people to get to know your work, and the most effective way for this is to upload some short stories for free. If members enjoy your free stories, then it's much less of a risk for them to purchase a premium story, and in our experience once their hooked on an author's work, they'll look out for the notifications whenever you upload something new.
Of course we're always happy to discuss with authors about improvements to the website and how to better promote work. C00kie is currently collecting feedback and ideas on this for future developments.
Letters And Numbers:
Why not change it so non-premium members can like premium stories?
Or allow a writer start off a regular story and convert it to premium?
In the wider world, a book that can make a bookstore money isn’t hidden under a mountain of free pamphlets.
FF Team:
First chapters of premium stories are free to read for all members so readers can sample some of the story before purchasing.
What hiccupx is saying is that to promote premium stories they have a higher score so they appear in listing's even though they are new to the site and don't have many views or likes.
Once your story has been up for a bit, the views and likes will add to the score. But ultimately, when new stories are added... It is only fair to highlight these too.
Giving the options for readers to like a story that they haven't been able to read it in full doesn't seem fair.
We try to balance both free and premium stories on the site so it's fair to every author and reader.
We're not hiding premium stories to be purchased but you have to admit in the real world, authors don't start off being best selling authors... That's all hiccupx is saying is that to make the most of your audience and get a following on the site which will help selling premium content.
Letters And Numbers:
There are lots of things on this website that don’t work the way the staff wants them to work, from the kinda silly (you can’t capitalize words in the titles of stories) to things like chat which are majorly broken. I think the algorithm might not be working exactly the way it was designed. Do you think that’s a possibility?
The capital letters not being used on the site is a design choice. So that does work the way the site wants it too...
The chat does need things fixing, and we are aware of that.but that is separate from the story section.
The stories however have had a revamp this year and last year. We updated the story searches, and the story home page. Algorithms would be checked as part of this update as we have a test system when releases are made. So I don't believe this is the case.
1 year
Hiccupx:
There is a weighting for premium stories also which should compensate for lack of likes.
We find that on this site, as with in the wider world, the authors that become the top sellers as those that build up a following. This can take time and effort, but the benefits are worth it, and we have authors that regularly earn several hundred dollars a month.
The key is for people to get to know your work, and the most effective way for this is to upload some short stories for free. If members enjoy your free stories, then it's much less of a risk for them to purchase a premium story, and in our experience once their hooked on an author's work, they'll look out for the notifications whenever you upload something new.
Of course we're always happy to discuss with authors about improvements to the website and how to better promote work. C00kie is currently collecting feedback and ideas on this for future developments.
Letters And Numbers:
Why not change it so non-premium members can like premium stories?
Or allow a writer start off a regular story and convert it to premium?
In the wider world, a book that can make a bookstore money isn’t hidden under a mountain of free pamphlets.
First chapters of premium stories are free to read for all members so readers can sample some of the story before purchasing.
What hiccupx is saying is that to promote premium stories they have a higher score so they appear in listing's even though they are new to the site and don't have many views or likes.
Once your story has been up for a bit, the views and likes will add to the score. But ultimately, when new stories are added... It is only fair to highlight these too.
Giving the options for readers to like a story that they haven't been able to read in full doesn't really seem fair.
We try to balance both free and premium stories on the site so it's fair to every author and reader. Everyone wants exposure and people need to be able to find content that's suitable.
We're not hiding premium stories from being purchased but you have to admit in the real world, authors don't start off being best selling authors... That's all hiccupx is saying. Make the most of your audience as this is a niche site with members who are into fat fiction and your not competing against difference genres. If you get a following on the site this will help with your sales.
1 year
I just wanted to say that this is fab and we love members input on how the site can be improved.
Hiccupx and I have been speaking about how we can get more user feedback for features people want, improvements etc... so I will keep an eye on this and if anyone is interested we might start creating surveys we can send to members, or even user experience trials. If anyone is interested in taking part in this just reach out!
I will start to compile of list of folks that are happy to be involved, and we can go from there!
Thanks,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
FF Team:
Hi LydiaFatOtter,
Thank you for the suggestion I will pass this on to hiccupx and see what he thinks. Usually the forum headings are detailed and state if the person posting the ad is looking or a feeder or feedee. But I agree having a separate forum for both would make things easier.
Take care,
c00kie
FF Team
LydiaFatOttter:
Sadly many people do not know how to make it clear.
if anything I think their should be firms rules what you put on in the titles such as
"feeder looking for feedee in online one day leading IRL located in UK goal size 600 pounds"
So you must say your role the role you are looking for if you are waiting online or IRL and location by state/country you are located in as well as the size goal of feedee
failing to do so will get the post removed.
At the start I could see it take a while for people get the idea but some work by mod team I think it can be done.
also following a hard title standard would allow ads to lookup even if they are long buried in the post listings
I think this is a great idea. Maybe not as a hard rule, but to have as a sort of standard template. I will point hiccupx in this direction to see what we can do!
Thanks!
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
Hi thanks for getting in touch, I have checked profiles located in the areas with flags you have advised are displaying incorrectly, and have not found this to be the case.
This does seem odd, as we use a standard icon for country flags, so there should not be any difference between profiles based in the same location.
Can you please advise if this is still happening?
If so can you please provide the specific username that is showing the incorrect flag colours?
Thanks,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
2seatsalways:
For the time being this was resolved. If I have issues again I will reach out.
Great to hear you are no longer experiencing any issues, do let us know if this happens again.
Take care,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
Hi LydiaFatOtter,
Thank you for the suggestion I will pass this on to hiccupx and see what he thinks. Usually the forum headings are detailed and state if the person posting the ad is looking or a feeder or feedee. But I agree having a separate forum for both would make things easier.
Take care,
c00kie
FF Team
1 year
