Story Updates

[Talo Segura]

I have been away two weeks without much chance of internet access. Before leaving I posted two chapters of my story Milo, chapters five and six, using the timer function. These chapters had to be checked by moderators, but then posted each Wednesday. I am pretty certain the chapters did not appear in Story Updates, I don't know if readers following got a notification. My question is: when you pre-programme publication do the new chapters usually appear in the Story Updates list? 

My reason for thinking the chapters did not appear in Story Updates is the big drop in readers. I know readers drop off for various reasons, but the change in numbers seem quite drastic. I can't really write to everyone and ask, they probably won't remember, so I'm wondering if you can check this somehow?

[Cia]

 I see that your last 2 chapters have low reads, but I also see they both show posting dates on Aug. 16th. I was on the road/driving then for a family trip when I did the queue, but I also know for sure I did the queue on that day for authors. I would not have approved 2 chapters that weren't post-dated, and I also know for sure I didn't do the queue twice that day. Post-dated chapters show up in the recent story updates list on the date/time they are set to go live, but it appears that your stories were not properly post-dated somehow since they both show being posted on the same day. No, there's no way to 'look back at that day' on the widget, however.

Looking at your story history, though, I see that you edited an older chapter today. The only other thing that we've previously had mess up a chapter posting date was editing a post-dated chapter. In the past doing that would either 1) change the post-date and create a super early 1950s date so the story appears like it posted well before the site existed so it appears as the first story ever on the site or 2) default the chapter/story posting date back to the day it was actually uploaded. That means, if you post-dated the chapters and I approved them, but then you went back in and did some editing, the chapters might have posted on the 23rd, 30th, but the date on the chapters would show up in the system as would be the 16th (when you posted them).

And instead of showing up on the 23rd/30th on the recent updates list on the sidebar, it would move your story in the listing to show it had been updated last on Aug. 16th (which you can see it shows as the last update date, actually). That is how the system works so that when readers wants to list stories by last update, a listing of all the stories shows up to browse through in order, and that update time/date is how the stories are filtered to show up in the recent updates widget in the right sidebar. 

So, my guess is that you are right that your story did not appear in the recent updates list on the days the chapter went live, @Talo Segura. Unfortunately, we can't go back in time and redo that. The question is, what days did they really go live and why did the system set them back to Aug. 16th? Such as, did they go live on the original post-dates but set back to original upload date for some reason other than an edit? Or did something else happen and they both actually posted on Aug. 16th, but we didn't notice with you being off GA and me being away that weekend? And is there a  bug that we can reproduce and get fixed or prevent others from triggering?

[Talo Segura]

Wow, I see what you mean about a lot of questions.

I don't think I can be of much help because I can't remember if I did any editing after posting. It is quite possible that I did, because I always read through yet still sometimes find a little error and correct it.

The only thing I can say for certain is that the two chapters five and six which were scheduled for each Wednesday at weekly intervals did not get posted together. I looked at GA once, but without logging on (on a public WiFi) whilst away and saw chapter five had been posted, but not chapter six. So I presume chapter six went out as scheduled.

I'm sorry, but other than noticing as you pointed out, all three chapters had the same publishing date and being certain they didn't all go out on the same day, but at more or less weekly intervals, I can't tell you any more.

For myself it's no problem. I'll add a note when I publish chapter seven for readers to be aware two chapters went out previously, in case they missed them. I'll watch for the editing, that is, not to do it, should this come up again in the future.

Thanks for your help.

[Marty]

On 9/1/2019 at 1:20 PM, Talo Segura said:

I am pretty certain the chapters did not appear in Story Updates, I don't know if readers following got a notification.

I have just checked through my notifications, and I did not receive any for the publication of either Chapter 5 or 6 of Milo. I notice that I only made comments on these two chapters last Sunday (1st September), which suggests that I didn't even spot that they were online until then.

The last three notifications I received about Milo were:

1. A notification of your status update from August 18th where you announced that you had the next two chapters scheduled for publication,
2. A notification sent at 1:06 pm last Sunday saying "Talo Segura updated chapter 4 in Milo"
   [I think this is what made me look at the story, and actually notice (and comment on) Chapters 5 and 6].
3. A notification sent about nine hours ago saying "Talo Segura posted chapter 7 to Milo".

I assume number 2 is what @Cia was referring to in the second paragraph of her reply above.

But you appear to be correct, @Talo Segura, to be wondering whether readers following the story got notifications regarding the two chapters being uploaded. It certainly appears that I didn't.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Marty

[Fae Briona]

I know this is an older thread but I frequently don't receive Notifications for stories or authors that I follow.

[Thorn Wilde]

Honestly, I've never really gotten this feature to work, so I never schedule updates like that anymore. Many other authors have also had problems with readers not being notified, etc. This has happened both when I've edited scheduled updates and when I haven't. As far as I'm concerned, that feature is broken.

[Graeme]

On 10/31/2019 at 9:43 AM, Fae Briona said:

I know this is an older thread but I frequently don't receive Notifications for stories or authors that I follow.

To analyse what has gone wrong, we need a lot more information than this. Can you please give us explicit details as to what you should've received a notification for, but didn't? A screen shot of your notification settings, the details of exactly what you're following, and then a comment as to which notification you didn't get is what we're looking. That should allow us to track down what is going on.

For the notification settings, go to your name in the top right hand corner and open up the drop down list. Select Notification Settings and review what is configured. If you can't post a screen shot, just let us know what you have set.

For example, I don't follow anything automatically, and I have my setting to send me a notification when new content is posted. Most of the options are set to send me a notification, though there are some that are set to send an email instead, and others have both notification and email switched off (such as the "Someone I'm following makes a post") and hence I don't receive a notification for that option.

I hope this helps, and if you can provide the relevant details, we can try to work out what happened in your situation.