AbCarter

This thread was originally started by Sophophobic (and a big thank you for that) for asking all kinds of questions. Well, the thread proved to be successful: lots of questions were asked, and we (the collective of posters on this forum) managed to answer most of them.

Now, this thread needs some cleaning up. Not only were lots of questions asked, but a lot of them were also asked repeatedly. Also, since this thread was started and some of the answers given, the layout of the forums had received an overhaul. Some of the answers weren't correct anymore. There are so many Frequently Asked Questions that we decided to group these questions by theme and give each theme its own thread. If you have a specific question look in one of these threads for an answer.

The FAQ has the following headings:

1. Questions about stories e.g. questions on how to publish and update stories;

2. Questions about reviews;

3. Questions about ;

4. Questions about accounts;

If your question is not answered in the thread you thought it should be, then ask it. I'm sure the collective knowledge of this forum can come up with some kind of answer.

To reply to this topic, click 'Reply' to any post and your post will be appended to the end of the topic. Do NOT press 'New' - this creates a new topic, which you do not want to do.


*The rest of this post is being hijacked by CrystalRei*

Figured it would make sense to have an actual frequently-asked-questions section here.

How do I reply to someone in a forum?

You click the 'reply' link in any post in the thread. It doesn't matter which - forum replies do not nest and your post will go at the end of the thread regardless of which link you clicked. The only difference between links is which post shows up underneath the reply box as reference. If you wish to direct your reply to someone specific, it's good practice to quote the thing you're replying to, or at least mention specifically who you're replying to (especially if there's already a post after the post in question).

How do I post a story?

See here: Where and How to Create, Post, and Edit Stories. There's a step-by-step guide in the first post and it's the place dedicated to asking questions about it. :)

Why can't I find the story I just posted?

Site delay or glitch might be the issue, so it might be worth giving it an hour or two, but also check the filters. Is your story rated M? A common issue that many new posters are not aware of is that the default filters are set to only display stories rated K-T on the browse page. Adjusting those will probably reveal your story. :)

How do I edit my profile/see my stats/change my alert settings/upload a picture/etc?

Click on your username in the upper-right corner of the screen (on the blue bar next to the logout link). There's a menu on the left side that'll get you wherever you need to go as far as your account goes. The initial headings expand into sub-pages, so if you're not sure where to click, just start the the most relevant-looking one. I promise, you're not going to break anything just by doing some exploring.

Why isn't [X] working/showing up/etc?

Good chance it's a site glitch. Check the latest page of this thread, or the first page of the forum for topics with 'glitch' in the title. If you don't see anyone mentioning it, feel free to ask in this thread or one of the linked ones. Report it to the site and there's a good chance it'll resolve eventually. The threads here and here detail some previous and/or recurring glitches. There are some glitches specific to posting stories; check the How to Post thread for details and workarounds.

Can I write a story on this site?

Technically yes, but it's a really bad idea. The Document Manager will only hold files for 90 days. It's possible to reset this time, but it's also easy to forget or accidentally delete/overwrite the file (and afaik there's no way to recover it if that happens). Also, the site does occasionally spontaneously log people out, and if it does so while you try to save the document you will lose it instead. It's far better to use any word-processor where you can save it directly to your device and/or the cloud. LibreOffice and Google Docs are two recommended options (both are free, though the latter requires an [also free] Gmail account).

I want to post a story but the fandom doesn't have a section. How do I make one?

First, go through the motions of posting a story and check that the category actually isn't there. The reason for this is that fandoms may show up there but not show up in the browse section because there are no stories in it yet. If you don't see it, click the help link at the bottom of basically any page. That'll give you the e-mail address to request additions, as well as the format to use for the request. In the meantime, you can always post your story in the miscellaneous section of whatever medium your fandom is (e.g. misc books/games/etc.) and move it later.

How do I post a story involving more than two fandoms?

You cannot list three or more fandoms for a given story, but you have a few options beyond that:

You can list it simply in the X-overs section (there are also some medium-specific ones such as Game X-overs or Anime X-overs). Note: If you use a specific medium X-over category (e.g. anime, game, book, etc.), the character lists there are actually the various fandoms in that category, so you could list up to four as "character" tags.

You can list it as a crossover between the 'main' fandom and 'X-overs'.

Pick the two main fandoms and list it as a crossover of those two (possibly mentioning something to the effect of 'this is a multicross' in the summary).

Depending on the fandoms involved, they might have a relevant section (e.g. Marvel and DC both have their own sections, in addition to the works themselves e.g. the Avengers or Justice League; Final Fantasy has its own "Final Fantasy X-Overs" section; Disney has a section titled such under Cartoons).

I'm writing a story not based on any fandom; where do I put it?

If your story truly has no elements from an existing work (i.e. it's completely original), then it doesn't belong on this site. You want this site's sister site, FictionPress. Alternately, I believe AO3 also accepts original work (or at least, there appears to be a tag for it).

Why don't I get PMs from some people, or I send a PM to someone and they can't see it?

Most likely it's because one of you is using the app and the other the regular site. The two don't sync with regards to PMs, so a PM sent from the app will not register on the site, and vice-versa; both parties have to be using the same version.

What's the difference between visitors and views?

Views are simply the number of times the story/profile is clicked on. Visitors are the number of people who actually clicked (with some caveats: the count resets every day and it's based on IP addresses). For example, If you upload a story, and I'm the only person clicking on it, your stats would look like this:

If I read the story once, go do something else, and then come back and read the same chapter on the same day (i.e. open the page again), your stats would show 2 views and 1 visitor.

If I read your first chapter, and then click to the second one, your stats will show one view and one visitor for each chapter. (This translates to one visitor and two views on the overall story graph, rather than specifying a chapter.)

If I read your first and second chapter, then go back and re-read the first chapter, that's 1 visitor on each chapter, 1 view on chapter 2, and 2 views on chapter 1.

If I read one chapter, go do something else, and then come back and click on your story again the next day, that's one view and one visitor on the chapter on each day.

How do I post a link?

You cannot post a clickable link in a story, nor can you post a URL (non-clickable link) without masking it (e.g. .net; or www. fanfiction. net [note spaces around any punctuation]). This also applies to PMs.

In the forums, you may only post clickable links to the following sites: fanfiction, fictionpress, youtube, hulu, flickr and veoh. (Though to be honest I've only seen FFN and youtube work for sure so far.) To do this, copy the address of the page you want to link to, then, in the reply box, click the button that looks like a set of chain links (it's next to the Tx "clear formatting" button). Ignore the boxes that say 'Title' and 'Target'; you only need the first two. Paste the address into the box labeled 'URL'. This will automatically put the same URL into the box below, that says 'Text to Display'. You can leave that as-is, or change it to whatever text you'd like to be clickable (you can also type that first, highlight it, and then click the link button; that will auto-fill in the 'Text to Display' box). Then just click 'Ok'.

For links not to those sites, you may paste them here, but in order for them to be visible, you must remove the bit from the front of the URL. So .net instead of .net. No further masking is necessary.

How can I see who has followed/favorited me?

Go to your account page and click on the link at the bottom of the left-hand menu where it says 'traffic stats'. Then click on 'legacy user stats'. Likewise, 'legacy story stats' will allow you to see who has followed/faved each of your stories.

I copy-paste for review purposes and/or use a screen-reader but FFN has copy protection; what can I do?

This thread has solutions for various browsers.


If you know of a question you think should be added as "frequently asked", you can PM CrystalRei with the suggestion (links to the profiles of all mods can be found at the bottom of most pages of this forum, other than the reply-box page).

Reply Nov 9, 2009 . Edited by CrystalRei, Dec 28, 2018 #1