Story Status - Author Deceased

[Mancunian]

This story status is something that has bugged me a few times, recent news of another great author passing has brought it to mind again. I understand why it exists, it is to keep readers informed so that are not disappointed when they do not receive a reply or reaction to any comment left. But I have noticed something that I believe is an unintended consequence and I feel should be addressed, it is with regard to story searches.

Author Deceased is not a story's status, it is the status of the author. This means that when you search for Complete Story any story marked Author Deceased is omitted from the results. This can be misleading and mean that a story with this status is, or can, be overlooked unless a further search is done for stories using the Author Deceased status. It feels as though these stories are being consigned to the depths of the archives never to be retrieved or read again, which I feel is a disservice to our friends and fellow authors who have passed away.

I will make this clear, I do not think that this is intentional, I believe it to be an unintended consequence of the search filter. 

Can these stories carry the story status of complete or unfinished, whichever would be appropriate, with an additional note/status stating that the author is deceased? I think this would be more appropriate as it would show the true status of the story and the status of the author, I also think that it shows respect for the author and their work which I believe is the original intention behind the story status Author Deceased.

If it can be done it would mean that storiers by Carlos Hazday, Mawgrim, Cognac69, Mogwhy, Don H and others will not become lost in the archives, and will ensure that newer members will get a better chance of being able to read the stories by these authors and more.

I'm sorry if this is long-winded, it is not a complaint although I realise that some see it as such. It is intended as a question and, hopefully, a useful suggestion.

[Myr]

Incorrect.  The Story's Status is "Author Deceased" when a Non-Complete Story is Not Completed because the Author is no longer with us.  The stories , if you read them, usually stop abruptly without an ending. 

You'll find that any stories the deceased author has completed are marked as complete.

I am NOT going to mark a story that is complete that isn't.  We then end up with uninformed readers writing nasty comments we have to clean up.  Point in fact, between Carlos's passing and announcing that he has passed, we had to clean up 3 different comments that were kind of obnoxious.

[Mancunian]

8 minutes ago, Myr said:

Incorrect.  The Story's Status is "Author Deceased" when a Non-Complete Story is Not Completed because the Author is no longer with us.  The stories , if you read them, usually stop abruptly without an ending. 

You'll find that any stories the deceased author has completed are marked as complete.

I am NOT going to mark a story that is complete that isn't.  We then end up with uninformed readers writing nasty comments we have to clean up.  Point in fact, between Carlos's passing and announcing that he has passed, we had to clean up 3 different comments that were kind of obnoxious.

I am sorry that you appear to be offended by this topic, as I stated it is not a complaint, and not intended to offend.

I am aware that there were some questionable comments which have been removed and I appreciate that it caused site admin inconvenience in dealing with those comments.

9 hours ago, Mancunian said:

I'm sorry if this is long-winded, it is not a complaint although I realise that some see it as such. It is intended as a question and, hopefully, a useful suggestion.

On checking I can see that Carlos and Mawgrim's stories are marked as you say. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all of the authors who have passed away. Again I will say that I do not believe that this is intentional, I believe it to be an unfortunate and unintended oversight. I can not speak for all of the deceased authors but I have noticed that all four stories posted by Cognac69 are marked Author Deceased, however, three of those stories are complete only one is incomplete. I am sure that this is unintentional, could you please look into this? If you need any further info to help you I am happy to help.

[Myr]

2 hours ago, Mancunian said:

I can not speak for all of the deceased authors but I have noticed that all four stories posted by Cognac69 are marked Author Deceased, however, three of those stories are complete only one is incomplete.

From what I can see from the more limited history tracking we had in 2018, none of the stories were marked as "Complete" at time of notification.  As I have not personally read the stories, I don't know if they are or are not.  If you know of stories that are complete and marked as "Author Deceased", add them here and I'll correct them to "Complete"

12 hours ago, Mancunian said:

Can these stories carry the story status of complete or unfinished

"Author Deceased" is a complete status in the system, allowing reviews.  "Unfinished" implies future finish.  "Abandoned" implies deliberately giving up.  "Author Deceased" was about all we could come up with to indicate something was unfinished and would never be finished, but wasn't deliberately left that way.  And we maxed out the text field size for that too.

Site metrics indicate that the vast majority of traffic doesn't use the filters and would see any story of any status listed.  Especially if they click on an authors name.  If you are filtering to "Complete" status in order to read, congrats, you are in the 1%.

2 hours ago, Mancunian said:

I am sorry that you appear to be offended by this topic, as I stated it is not a complaint, and not intended to offend.

Not offended... just REALLY long week at work and limited time to reply.  Sorry if it's sharper than intended.

[Mancunian]

Thank you @Myr for your help. I understand how being busy and getting stressed out at work can get to any of us. I'm in the fortunate position that I only work the hours that I want to work, but even I still get stressed at times.

The links to the stories mentioned are below

I have also listed @mogwhy's contribution's although they may have been marked as in process, I think they could be considered as complete. Both are collections of poems and were not continuing stories, as such I don't think they would cause any confusion for readers or cause any undue comments. When you have the opportunity to check them out I would appreciate your comments and any action that fell is appropriate.

If I come across any other entries that I think need looking at I will bring them to your attention at a later date. 

 

[Myr]

Statuses on the listed stories have been updated.

[Mancunian]

8 minutes ago, Myr said:

Statuses on the listed stories have been updated.

Thank you @Myr, your help is appreciated.