Geron Kees

Another Halloween is coming, and Charlie and friends are off on another adventure in space. This story is part of a series. You really should begin at the um...beginning.

I do understand all that. I am not a number follower as far as needing them to judge how popular a story may be. I get that from comments, likes, and reviews. The page hit figures are only of interest from a traffic perspective, which does interest me. I make use of this sort of data in the work I do, and I am used to having good figures I can rely upon. I think I was a little bit stunned to see the differences in the two data sets, which is extreme, at the least. But Myr has said that the data is still being tallied, and so that makes all the difference. This is still a work in progress. So I am going to go back over here, sit down, and stop worrying about these numbers completely. Thank you.

Oh. Okay. Never mind.

I am not particularly number conscious, but I am detail oriented, and the difference in the numbers I saw is what made me comment here in the first place.. For instance, Myr states that 'Story views and Story stats should be 'the same' roughly on stories posted after Jan 2018'. Okay. I have a story posted ALL after January 2018. On the story page it has 20,000 views. In the stats, it has 10,000 views. That is nowhere near 'roughly' the same, it's half as much. That is a large enough difference to leave me guessing, and make me wonder how the difference occurred. It's that simple.

I've found it rather consistent that a lot of adults simply do not remember what they were like at 13, or that they prefer not to acknowledge it. You would think that as we get older and more mature, our views on sex and relationships would become something we're more comfortable with, instead of less. But that seems not to be the case with many adults when it comes to young people. But the fact is that by a certain age, young people are sexual people just like any adult, and maybe even more so, as hormones kick in before judgment has had time to get 'wise', and therefore has little restraining affect on what these young people do. So a story like this one is really not so outlandish after all. I remember being 13 well, and, I remember it very fondly, too. I had my first real boyfriend at that age, and we really did have a wonderful time learning what it was like to share a life with someone special. Thanks for commenting.

I did note that the numbers posted by the stories are 'views', not reads at all. That can be taken as a page hit count, and no more. Someone can click on that story page, stay one second, and leave, and it gets counted. There should also be 'time on page' counts recorded by the back end of this site (or Google Analytics, whichever is used), a more revealing number for reads. If someone is there on a story page for a few seconds, it's very likely they could not have read the chapter. If they were there ten minutes, it's much more likely they did. But where should the cut off be? I know from talking to a few of my readers that they simply open a story or chapter, 'select all', copy, and take the chapter with them to read at their leisure. That's a definite read, but it might only take them twenty seconds on the page to do it, so it looks like a hit to the site, and that's all. And you're right, Tim, that chapter counts make all the difference. If you post one long story and it has 2000 views, it's a much more accurate account of what's going on than a story with many chapters. There are some stories on this site with whopping numbers of chapters and huge view counts, but if you go into the story and look at the chapter views, each may only have eight or nine hundred views. Fifty chapters times 800 views averaged for each chapter reads as 40,000 views. It looks impressive, but the truth is that the story had only 800 views, with 800 people each reading 50 chapters. It's deceptive in a way, as it is not an accurate accounting of what's happening. Certainly, a story's popularity cannot be ranked by views, as those stories with high numbers of chapters will always be ranked at that top of the list. It's a difficult process keeping records of online traffic, I already know. But I don't place much stock in page hit numbers, especially the way they are tallied.

The difference between the number of reads in the actual story listing for a story (on the story's page itself) and the number of reads in these stats is eye-opening. Why the considerable difference? If a story's listing says it has 20,000 reads, but the stats say the true reads are 10,000, why post the first numbers at all? Some of the stories I looked at in the stats have one quarter to one fifth the 'read' numbers presented on the page for the story itself. There is a difference between page hits and actual reads, but how do you determine the difference? And why post figures that do not accurately reflect reader response?

In the Fibonacci sequence, each new number is the sum of the two preceding it. Kind of like children are the sum of the two parents, or genius is the result of the collision of two ideas that seem to contradict, but actually compliment. Or, like saying that what we take in with our senses may not add up, but it sure is pretty to look at. As you have said so nicely here.

A very nice, very thoughtful comment. thank you!

Very interesting stuff. Lots of things going on inside those lines. But the end of each sounds positive. Good!

Well. A sigh of relief is in order. Just more proof that few things are ever as bad as we imagine they will be. Bravo!

Liked it. A brief look at something different, from the point of view of someone wondering. Sam is going to join in, huh? “They all say that, duckie," was my favorite line. They all DO. Thanks for another great read.

A tough little fantasy with brains, brawn, and a heart, and not a little bit of magic. Long enough to feel you've been there, but not so long you cannot read it all at once. And you'll want to do just that! If you don't fall in love with the characters and the tale, you've been hexed, and should seek out a competent witch to open your eyes and free up your soul.

Very satisfying tale. This one has a heart and soul, both of which are quite proudly on display. A tale to be proud of!

Um...7,000 words? Is that all?

What? What devilishness is this, stopping the story at this point?! Sir, you trifle with my emotions! <sniff, dab hanky, sniff> Some interesting twists here. Great chapter, very well done. I was definitely there, for the whole thing. I'll be there for the end, too!

Nice. Small, but packs a punch. Considered boxing?

Awesome. The war moves to another plane of existence. But it's what needs to happen for Stravor to rejoin Keter and win the day. Can't wait for the next chapter!

I liked all three of them. But you really should be patient with the guy in the mirror. What we see with our eyes is not always the truth, and reflections are a poor substitute for a second opinion.

Excellent. I think the target audience is quite clear. But will you reach them before they commit their acts? Doubtful. That crowd is too wrapped up in hate to be reading things on a site mostly motivated by love.

I suspect that was a hard chapter to write. It was a hard one to read. Yet...all is not as it seems here, definitely. I think Keter has only briefly stepped offstage. I say this, not because I know the story, but because I have gotten a feeling for the author. Great chapter.

Yep. Great resolution to this little dilemma. Mr. Bennet was a nice surprise. So were the guys. A proper job, Mr. Marty!

I always enjoy verse that generates pictures. Thanks for the nice artwork!

Great meal conversation. Liked meeting the family, and laughed at Johnny being questioned as to whether he was Sean's boyfriend. Very pleasing read. Comfortable! Now waiting to see what comes of it!

Actually, we say 'mijnheer' (pronounced mine-heer), which means 'sir'. That makes me feel old and cranky (not due for a few years yet), so we'll revert a little. okay? 'Makker' will do, which means 'buddy'. It's not my story to write, actually, so any bridging that needs to be done is your duty (although I do like cookies, Mr. Rickles). I understand your idea of 'fragments'; but even told in widely separated pieces, a story is linear, simply due to cause and effect. Until you introduce a plot involving time travel, everything that comes next must follow what you have written up to this point, and feed the reader the clues for what comes next, and the solves for what has come before. I know you understand this concept and are just yanking my chain a little, because this story has flowed very logically and seamlessly up to this point. It's wonderful to imagine all these other disjointed scenes; but really, only those scenes that fit into the current stream of the story and move it onward are usable at this point. You need a mental refrigerator or something to store the extra ideas in, so that they don't go bad on you. Maybe General Electric makes a good model? If you simply envision a scene out of the blue, and then feel you have to somehow adapt the story to suit the scene...um, you'll wind up counting snowflakes on your toes, mijnheer!