who's online

Personally, I like it. Enzo.. www.thedevilbetweenus.com

who are the "guests"? it doesn't bother me if people know i'm on, but at the same time, i don't really have a need to know who else is. i suspect most jump on and off throughout the day... most are anonymous anyway.

I've turned it back on. My reasons are roughly as follows: ABCtales is a community of writers. As much as possible we wish to encourage people to contact, support and encourage each other. One of the fundamentals of community is that you 'see' people on a regular basis, get used to them being around and then find common interests with them. It's always been my worry that ABCtales can appear to be a bit 'flat', with many people only viewing it as a way of putting their writing online in hope that someone will see it and give them a really big publishing deal. One of the main things that ABCtales offers, in my mind, is the opportunity to meet with other writers in an informal and 'safe' way. Without 'who's online' it can be difficult to grasp that ABCtales is a big place that can have a number of people wandering about it at any one time. It's not an uncommon online feature: Check out, for example: http://forteantimes.com/forum/index.php (scroll to bottom) http://chilled.cream.org/forums/portal.php (Right Hand Side 'Whores Online' box (not whores really)) Think of 'who's online' as the equivilent of walking down your street. Sometimes, you might run into a neighbour you might like to stop and chat with. Other times you might not want to talk to anyone you see in your street, and that's fine too. Cheers, Mark Brown, Editor (on leave), www.ABCtales.com

I like the feature; I think the sidewalk/pavement analogy is a good one. I can only wish someone will see me and give me a big publishing deal!

I seem to be falling into the trap of 'crass expression' recently. It's difficult to be as straightforward as we are without falling into that trap. I do like to let things ride as far as possible without censorship, I do like to allow people the right to express themselves freely and I do like to try and act in a relatively democratic manner. That all leads to posts like Tim's - but I try to take them on board optimistically and carry on. ABC is whatever its members make it. It's been through many 'periods' already in its five years and will undoubtedly go through many more. Our traffic at the moment is higher than it's ever been - and it is that traffic that will eventually be its economic salvation. That may not be important to you but it is important to me! And if you want to see ABC survive another five years then it should be important to you. Donations are not high but I hope and trust that they will pick up again at some time in the future. I may be a little crazy in having supported this site over so many years but I love it very dearly and I love the people that use it - in all their many and varied varieties and guises.

Do you think there might be scope for ABC to do another fundraising night one of these days, Tonski? You know, putting on performers and flogging tickets?

I like this site, those who use it and what it stands for. I've not yet donated, but I will. I hope others do the same...but keep in mind my USD's don't go very far over there...

I promise to buy a cup very soon. I'm moving to a new post at the Council, so I'll need a personal cup to take with me..what better than an ABCTales cup? I still think you should do t-shirts, Tony. They'd fly off the shelves like hotcakes. I'd like a nice, fitted cap-sleeved one with ABCTales emblazoned across my breasts, so whilst men are staring at them helplessly as I pass, ABC gets some good advertising.

Oh, another barney coming up...

You bet; I'm partial to a good, heated debate, especially if the contestants are intelligent enough to avoid getting personal and nasty...bring it on! ;-)

I'd rather watch Archergirl's abctales tee shirt, frankly...

Stare helplessly, you mean.

No, I'd just kind of grin in an offhand way and say, 'Respect,'

I don't really understand what you are getting at. The point of ABC is the same as ever. We try to provide a supportive and excellent online community for readers and writers. We take that one stage further with our social enterprise aims - we branch out into Talecatching and all that involves. We listen very carefully to the views of our members and often act accordingly. I'm not sure how we have lost the plot - but I am keen to hear!

Do really people post stuff here in the hope of getting a huge publishing deal? Blimey and I thought I'd turn delusional daydream into a fulltime occupation. We haven't had a decent ruck for a while...hmm I still feel part of the community here. I love you guys *sniff*

And we love you all.... ...but you and Archergirl's T shirt in particular.

It's on its way, I hope. Fingers has spotted a solution - but just where he is with it, I'm not sure!

He is - and it isn't easy with this site as it's so enormous. We bust the first one by mistake and going back through every word on the site and re-categorising it is a major job. We think we may have found a way round it - or, rather Fingers has, - but it needs some code writing to integrate it into the site. He's now attempting to write that code. It's all cutting edge stuff you know!

Will Archergirl be wearing the T-Shirt at the next bash?

Never thought I'd be doing this, but I'm obliged to provide a couple of corrections, including one to Tony :) The original purpose of ABCtales wasn't to provide a community, it was to provide somewhere for people to post their stories and poems. The whole forum thing was bolted on by yours truly after the fact. To Tim, and others: The number of posts in *this* forum has dropped significantly since the new site opened. The number of posts in the other forums has remained basically the same. The number of new stories and poems has risen from basically zero up to craploads. Members who arrived during the Great Zope Famine joined a site which was all about the forums (since nothing else bloody worked). From their perspective, the forums, and this one in particular, are the core of the site and it's "going downhill". The older members are spending their time in the stories. When TC says that the traffic has leapt about 600% since the flip, he's getting that information from me, and that's where I think it's all going. ---- John H

Um....first, I love the who's online thing, mostly because I was on here at 1.45am this morning and without it wouldn't have known fish was here too...I suppose if someone was stalking me I wouldn't be so keen. As for the opinion that there is not such a community feel- I think that doesn't have much to do with the way the site's changed, but to do with the fact that a lot of people who used to read/post in the day, have gone into jobs where they have no internet access, or just don't post in the day anymore... This is true of me, someone who used to post thread after thread, and post after post, day after day....

I agree with fergal. I like it. I hope it stays. I'd rather that the log-in glitches be sorted out, instead.

i really like seeing who is online ... even when it's just joyce and me ...

I do too., though of course we only 'appear' when we log-in, either to post work, edit or comment.