Anyone played with the Series (BETA) yet?

[RejectReality]

Do you or anyone else happen to know what will happen in the case of series where the stories or chapters are part of different categories? If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly, if I had stories (or chapters) in multiple categories, the series itself would appear on the toplist rather than the story from that category... and it would be based off of the highest rated score in the entire series as well?

I believe Laurel said that multi-category stories would have the same chance to appear on each category's toplist, should the score qualify. The highest score in that category would determine where it ranked.

So a multi-category story might appear on multiple toplists, but will never have more than one listing per category.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Cover tutorial post completed!

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

If we put the series on manual does that mean we could upload parts out of order and arrange them correctly after the fact?

 

[Rustyoznail]

If we put the series on manual does that mean we could upload parts out of order and arrange them correctly after the fact?

Yes. I tried linking three stories that weren't chaptered in the title. Auto placed them 3, 1, 2. I set the sort to manual and rearranged them correctly.

BTW, thanks for the "How to..." You should also copy it across to the "How to..." forum.

Cheers

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

BTW, thanks for the "How to..." You should also copy it across to the "How to..." forum.

No problem! I just put a duplicate over in how to! Completely forgot that part of the forums existed.

 

[RejectReality]

I'll note again that it looks like existing series created under the old code are still being processed, and you might want to hold off on editing any of them for a while. I saw one of mine that was processed about 14 hours ago. That could be the reason for someone mentioning earlier that they now have a duplicate series. It was already in the queue for processing when they made the edit, and a duplicate popped up when the processing queue ran.

That may be why this wasn't formally announced in the News section of the forum yet.

 

[MsCherylTerra]

I believe Laurel said that multi-category stories would have the same chance to appear on each category's toplist, should the score qualify. The highest score in that category would determine where it ranked.

So a multi-category story might appear on multiple toplists, but will never have more than one listing per category.

That makes sense to me! Thank you

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'll note again that it looks like existing series created under the old code are still being processed, and you might want to hold off on editing any of them for a while. I saw one of mine that was processed about 14 hours ago. That could be the reason for someone mentioning earlier that they now have a duplicate series. It was already in the queue for processing when they made the edit, and a duplicate popped up when the processing queue ran.

That may be why this wasn't formally announced in the News section of the forum yet.

One of my series glitched (my fault), got fixed and settled after 24 hours. One little bug I need to check, and then I reckon I've got it figured out.

Don't know where the Series intro text goes, though, and where will covers appear, anyone know? Not that I've loaded any yet, but have a few ready to go.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Since I have both "series" as well as chapter stories, I like the potential control that this will allow me.
For example, I changed all of mine to "Manual" management rather than automatic. This allowed me to mark my chapter stories as completed yet leave my series uncompleted. I was also able to go in and reorder the series submissions so that they are in the correct order.

Now we'll wait and see how my changes get processed.

 

[RejectReality]

Seems as if the task that handles updating series is dealing with the edits on existing ones just fine.

The series page now displays the short description you provide in the new interface, and there's a "completed" marker when you've checked that option.

 

[NightPorter]

I played around with a few AI generated image sites today. Here's what I found out. Use stablediffusionweb because it has no content rules. A lot of AI sites have insane moderation on anything adult. While Series cover images have to be safe for work for literotica, not being able to type the word "sexy" into your AI prompt is annoying. When using their site, you want to go into their Prompt Database and use the search bar to type in key words for what you are looking for. Find an existing prompt that's stable and vaguely what you are looking for. You can then tweak the prompt to give you exactly what you are looking for. Here is the difference between just typing "Sexy blonde girl" and tweaking a stable prompt.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I played around with a few AI generated image sites today. Here's what I found out. Use stablediffusionweb because it has no content rules. A lot of AI sites have insane moderation on anything adult. While Series cover images have to be safe for work for literotica, not being able to type the word "sexy" into your AI prompt is annoying. When using their site, you want to go into their Prompt Database and use the search bar to type in key words for what you are looking for. Find an existing prompt that's stable and vaguely what you are looking for. You can then tweak the prompt to give you exactly what you are looking for. Here is the difference between just typing "Sexy blonde girl" and tweaking a stable prompt.

Again I highly discourage AI art generators as they scrape art off the internet to train the AI without ever asking or informing the artist they're stealing from

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

I played around with a few AI generated image sites today. Here's what I found out. Use stablediffusionweb because it has no content rules. A lot of AI sites have insane moderation on anything adult. While Series cover images have to be safe for work for literotica, not being able to type the word "sexy" into your AI prompt is annoying. When using their site, you want to go into their Prompt Database and use the search bar to type in key words for what you are looking for. Find an existing prompt that's stable and vaguely what you are looking for. You can then tweak the prompt to give you exactly what you are looking for. Here is the difference between just typing "Sexy blonde girl" and tweaking a stable prompt.

I've made a post detailing how to use a basic art software to edit public domain photos, there are better options than supporting the ethical shithole that is AI generated images

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Here is the tutorial

And here is a link to a website that holds nothing but royalty free public domain images https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

 

[NightPorter]

Again I highly discourage AI art generators as they scrape art off the internet to train the AI without ever asking or informing the artist they're stealing from

It's not identical or even remotely close to any one artist. I see no difference between AI art and real life artists taking inspiration from each other. While I would consider paying money for a commercial work to get exactly what I want, I'm certainly not going to spend money on an image for a free site like literotica. You've said your peace and chose to post 3 separate posts in a row instead of just editing your first one. I don't consider it an ethical problem at this point. It may get there in 10 years as the tech advances but for the moment it's still very basic. The information is there for those that want it.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

It's not identical or even remotely close to any one artist. I see no difference between AI art and real life artists taking inspiration from each other. While I would consider paying money for a commercial work to get exactly what I want, I'm certainly not going to spend money on an image for a free site like literotica. You've said your peace and chose to post 3 separate posts in a row instead of just editing your first one. I don't consider it an ethical problem at this point. It may get there in 10 years as the tech advances but for the moment it's still very basic. The information is there for those that want it.

The problem isn't that it looks like any particular artist, it's that the creators of the AI did not ask permission to use the source images to train the AI. They used my art without permission aswell as all of my friends and colleagues. AI is not a blameless faceless thing that cannot be held accountable, every AI has to be created by a human being. In the case of AI art the human beings behind it have made the conscious decision to ignore artist consent and intellectual property.

 

[NightPorter]

I'm not going to argue with you. This isn't a morality of AI art thread. It's a Series Beta thread. This isn't the time or the place nor do I care enough to argue this subject. The site recommended trying AI art for the beta... So I did and shared my experiences. The information is there for those that want it.

 

[NightPorter]

I also tried the free site "fotor" for throwing together a book cover. It requires an account but was very easy to use with minimal technical ability. Would recommend. I put together a basic book cover in about 10 minutes.

 

[RejectReality]

Finished with my Les Lumens stuff. The VRDQ series will finally be in reading order for the first time. Tickled to see that the new series and story orders are appearing even on the old bio's story listings. Magic of the Wood is grouped, and in the proper sequence.

The ability to add a story and shuffle the order is a much welcome addition. I write out of order constantly as Dark. Now I'll be able to plug in a new story to a series where it belongs, no matter when the urge to write it strikes me.

From the description in the FAQ, I'll also be able to create a list of all of my Danica's World stories in chronological order as well with the Lists feature. That will be sooooo frikkin' handy, especially if my website is still reduced to bare bones when it comes out. I used to just link to my chronology page, but that's not an option right now.

One of the standout features of the two other sites where I post has always been series management. Even in Beta, Lit is coming out clearly on top with the new tools.

 

[NightPorter]

Ok something new. Pictures on the site are live. Pull up your series page. On desktop at least, they show up on the right hand side, with the tags and other information.

 

[Voboy]

Ok something new. Pictures on the site are live. Pull up your series page. On desktop at least, they show up on the right hand side, with the tags and other information.

Where? I'm able to get to the series beta page from my own account page, but I have no idea where a reader would find the description I typed.

 

[NightPorter]

Where? I'm able to get to the series beta page from my own account page, but I have no idea where a reader would find the description I typed.

Under stories series on the main site. Narrow down by category and click the first letter of the title. I also like the fact that there's a completed icon now. I'm going to revise mine to give it some color. I threw it together in less then 10 minutes just to see what it will look like on the site.

https://www.literotica.com/series/se/341211095

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[jsmiam]

I can’t find the quote, but one of the computer industry pioneers, the one who added charting to lotus 123, which in turn made it become the standard for the 80s through mid nineties, reflected that the charting in its own way became a huge time sink.

People who previously worked on their spreadsheets (stories) suddenly started frittering away the hours on perfecting their charts color schemes (covers.)

Cover photos will be fun nonetheless. Just not productive. Remember to make those formulas (plots) compute!

 

[Voboy]

Under stories series on the main site. Narrow down by category and click the first letter of the title. I also like the fact that there's a completed icon now. I'm going to revise mine to give it some color. I threw it together in less then 10 minutes just to see what it will look like on the site.

https://www.literotica.com/series/se/341211095

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Thanks!

Holy shitballs, there are a lot of series here...

 

[ElectricBlue]

Under stories series on the main site. Narrow down by category and click the first letter of the title. I also like the fact that there's a completed icon now. I'm going to revise mine to give it some color. I threw it together in less then 10 minutes just to see what it will look like on the site.

Now there's just a ton of two chapter stories listed, which isn't helpful at all.

I reckon there needs to be some other criteria as to what defines "a long story" other than just a second chapter. Still, I guess you can see how many chapters there are, even if the lists are swamped by two or three chapter pieces.

Does anyone use that page to find stories?

I can see how the Series feature is useful to better manage story content on your own story page, to tell folk that something is complete, but this public listing (is it the only one there is?) isn't something I'd ever use.

Where else does the cover art go, does anyone know? Or is it only those "side of page" icons? I don't think I'd bother, if that's the only place cover art goes.

The list is misleading. If the Complete yes/no box isn't ticked, it looks like the text defaults to "the author is still actively writing this series" which probably isn't true in many many cases. Default text should only make a positive statement if the author has ticked "the story is Complete" box - otherwise, the site doesn't know.

I can't imagine the number of old story authors who do any housekeeping will be high. I've not looked at all of my Series listings, but I know for sure I'm not "still actively" writing any of them, and I do know which ones are definitely complete, but I've not ticked any of those boxes yet. I should get around it one day, but equally, I might never bother.