Chapter Scheduling System

[Lacuna]

So, initially, the feature that allows scheduling chapters for publication at a later date really intrigued and excited me due to its usefulness; I could plan in advance and not have to be online when I wanted chapters released. However, my first scheduled chapter has just published... last Wednesday. It wasn't visible until this morning, but it appears at the time I scheduled it in the new stories list, on my profile, etc. This means that I will likely get no new views from it. This system is awful, and I have several more chapters stuck in it now. How do I remove them so I can just publish them properly when I want to? (Though I know they will still receive low viewership as they'll be buried by having to go through moderation, which does the same thing.)

 

I also received a message from someone following my story, who told me that they get notifications when I schedule a new chapter, not when it goes live.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Lacuna

[FormerMember4]

I think part of the problem is your rep count. Your chapters still have to be approved before posting. So if you post to go live on Wednesday at 8am. It still has to be approved by staff until I think your rep is 250. 

Edited November 7, 2017 by BlindAmbition

[Lacuna]

The chapter was submitted last Wednesday, with a schedule to post this morning. It was out of moderation at some point on Thursday, but when it posted this morning it actually showed with the chapters from last Wednesday in the new stories list. I suppose I was niave in thinking this would help me get notifications out and a place on the new stories list that matched the scheduled publication time of this morning. However, the system seems to hamstring non-moderated stories as well, as the publication schedule provides a notification at the time you create the scheduled chapter (which just confuses followers, as they cannot see it at that time), and no notification when it is actually viewable by other members. I question the purpose of the system as a result, and hope that a moderator or admin will be able to delete my two scheduled chapters so I can post them when I would like them to appear, and then they will only lag about 24 hours behind in the new stories list, rather than almost an entire week in this case, or more in the case of chapters I scheduled farther into the future.

Edited November 7, 2017 by Lacuna

[FormerMember4]

2 minutes ago, Lacuna said:

The post was submitted last Wednesday, with a schedule to post this morning. It was out of moderation at some point on Thursday, but when it posted this morning it actually showed with the posts from last Wednesday in the new stories list. I suppose I was niave in thinking this would help me get notifications out and a place on the new stories list that matched the scheduled publication time of this morning. However, the system seems to hamstring non-moderated stories as well, as the publication schedule provides a notification at the time you create the scheduled post (which just confuses followers, as they cannot see it at that time), and no notification when it is actually viewable by other members. I question the purpose of the system as a result, and hope that a moderator or admin will be able to delete my two scheduled chapters so I can post them when I would like them to appear, and then they will only lag about 24 hours behind in the new stories list, rather than almost an entire week in this case, or more in the case of chapters I scheduled farther into the future.

I suggest sending a PM to @Cia. She deals with most stories answers and questions. 

[lilansui]

Hi @Lacuna , 

@Cia Will help you out with the system.  So sorry for your experience with it.

 

 

[Carlos Hazday]

@Lacuna, @Cia, @lilansui

 

This may be part of a new bug. I experienced a somewhat similar issue last week with a chapter I uploaded two weeks ahead for later publishing. AJ had to go in and fix something manually. Y'all may want to check with him since our conversation took place in PMs.

[Timothy M.]

Did you remember to tick late publish for both the story and the chapter ? I think that may be necessary for the first chapter in a story.

 

Also, you can NEVER edit a chapter which is in the post-publish queue or you will f*ck everything up. Any mistakes you've found will have to wait until the chapter is live.

[Cia]

Being sick, and pretty sure it's part of the back end tech that I don't work with, I've asked AJ to take a look at this when he has some time. The system IS intended to let you post-date the content (at least 2 days ahead is best when you're in the queue to ensure that I've had time to approve it before it is scheduled to go live) and have it go live when you want it to go live. And, yes, the announcements in the recent story updates section as well as notifications should be for when it goes live, not when you post it. These are all things that are not happening as they should be. If, however, there are issues with a chapter or chapters, authors can send me a PM to ask for them to be deleted. Be aware, however, that means any likes or comments on the chapters are wiped away, and I can't delete a chapter in the middle of a story and just slot and rearrange chapters to put a new one in. If I delete chapter 4, the chapter listing will then just from 3 to 5. So, if a chapter is deleted and it leaves the chapters coming later out of sequence, they really all do have to be deleted as well. 

 

And Timothy's recommendation to never edit the chapter until it goes live is very good advice. It can cause a lot of havoc in your content and the timing. 

[A.J.]

@Lacuna I'd be glad to help you fix your story.  Please PM me about it.  I can even reset dates if necessary.

 

As for use of the post-dating system, I suggest people NOT use it until I can work with the programmer to get it fixed.