Well, the new reviewing system is mostly finished.
I revamped the review display page completely and made it accessible to everybody. The old reviewing system has been integrated with the site. No more need for a separate log in page and different ID. Reviewing is easier than ever for those with reviewer accounts.
A new reviewers section has been added to the site and it’s only
accessible for those with reviewer accounts.
The funny part about this change is that it came with no real planning. I know I had discussed a new reviewing system on this blog a long time ago, but it seemed that I could never really plan it and implement it properly within a reasonable amount of time. So I kept putting it off for later.
The way this started was with me thinking that the old reviews listing page is not particularly useful to either authors or reviewers if only premier members could access it. So I decided to give access to everybody and started by revamping the interface. Before this change, the reviews page was just a list by reviewer. It was static and listed all the reviews without any particular sorting, so new reviews could not be easily found by interested readers.
Bit by bit, the changes came and before I knew it, I had finished
reintegrating the old reviewing system, which had separate login and separate everything, into the site’s current structure.
The old plans for a review system accessible automatically by everybody have been changed into a review system with set number of slots for reviewers.
I’ll start with 10 new reviewers. If you’re interested in becoming one of the reviewers contact me and let me know.
All reviews for now will be moderated by me. There are few rules to stick to. Basically, reviews have to be positive. Not necessarily glowing with praise. They have to be at least positive in that they aim to either guide the other members of the site to good stories, or at least help the author with constructive criticism. So it must help. If it doesn’t help anybody, and is aimed to put down the author or drive them away from writing, then the review will be rejected. If it warns the reader to avoid the story without giving a valid reason why, then it will be rejected.
If I reject more than half of your reviews, your reviewer privileges will be revoked and the opening will be available for another that wants it and want to do good with it.
The system supports more than one review per story, so even if a story has already been reviewed and you have a differing opinion or more things that needs to be said about the story, you can still review it.
Be aware that a reviewer account needs a valid email address. And that email address will be visible to readers and authors. It could be different from your main email address for the site. Editors and authors will have the priority in becoming reviewers. And there is a limit to the time allowed without submitting a review. If you go 90 days without a single review, then your slot will be given to somebody else.
If the new system proves to be useful and helpful, I may expand it later and implement the missing part, which is review moderation by other users.
So if you’re interested in becoming a reviewer, use the site’s webmaster contact form to let me know.