Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

The first MEFA reviews will be posted at our website in just a few days,
on September 1. (Yayz!) This is big news for authors but also impacts
the people writing reviews. After all, for every review seen by an
author, that's a review someone wrote that is now visible to other
people - and we want to make sure we only show the reviews you're ready
to share.

Reviewers control when their reviews are displayed using review
statuses. So that's what we're going to talk about today.

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WHAT ARE REVIEW STATUSES?

When you enter your reviews at the MEFA website you are allowed to
choose one of three statuses. These statuses control when your review
will be shown to other people; whether or not you can still edit it; and
whether or not it is counted (that is, whether it actually gives points
to the author). I'll explain exactly how the status effects these things
below.

The three statuses you can choose are: DRAFT, HIDDEN, and FINAL.

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WHEN WILL MY REVIEW BE SHOWN TO OTHER PEOPLE?

Final reviews are shown beginning September 1. That means, if you wrote
a final review already, it will be shown to anyone visiting the MEFA
site (including the author, hopefully) starting next week. If you write
a final review after September 1 it will show up right away.

Hidden reviews will be displayed after voting closes on December 31. If
you want your review to show up earlier you should change the review
status from hidden to final. Changing a status works just like entering
a new review. What I mean is, if you switch your status to final before
September 1, your review will show up with all the final reviews on
September 1. And if you make the switch *after* September 1, your review
will show up whenever you change the status.

Draft reviews are never shown to anyone else (except awards volunteers).

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CAN I STILL EDIT MY REVIEW?

The general rule of thumb is, you can only edit reviews that aren't
already visible to other site visitors. This means:

--- Final reviews can only be edited until August 31.
--- Hidden reviews can only be edited until December 31.
--- Draft reviews can only be edited until December 31. (They aren't
shown to other people at that time, but the awards are over.)

If you change a review's status, it takes on the rules of whatever it's
new status is. So, say it's September 15 and you have a hidden review
you're ready to show the world. You edit it and give it a new status of
final, which tells the website to display it. That also means you can't
edit it any more. Even though it was originally a hidden review (so you
could edit it until December 31), when you changed your status to final,
you accepted the earlier deadline for editing final reviews.

Sometimes final reviews are edited after August 31, but only I can do
this, and I generally only do it for clear-cut errors, like if you enter
a review for the wrong story or if you forget to block off quotes. I
don't let reviewers edit a final review if they just decide you want to
make it longer or shorter. If you think there's *any* chance you still
want to edit a review I really encourage you to use the hidden status.

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HOW DO I EDIT MY REVIEW?

If your review isn't shown to all site visitors yet, the process is very
similar to how you entered the review to begin with.

First, you need to find the story you reviewed.

1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009
2. Click on the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Do a search either for the story title or (if you remember it) the
story ID followed by a "#" mark.

Now, click the link to edit the review. It's over on the right side of
the screen, where there's a "Enter New Review" link for stories you
haven't reviewed yet. The link will read either "Edit Draft Review",
"Edit Hidden Review," or "Edit Final Review only before 2009-09-01."

If you only need to change your review's status:

4. Change the review status to what you like.
5. Click "Save Validated Review."

If you need to change what your review says:

4. Scroll down to the "Story Review" box and change the text of the review.
5. To add a spoiler warning: check the box just below the review. (You
can skip this step.)
5. Click "Preview This Review" and wait for the page to reload.
6. Read over the "Validated Review" to make sure it says what you want.
7. To change the status: select the new status in the Review Status box.
(You can skip this step.)
8. Click the "Save Validated Review" button.

You will then be redirected to the page you see on logging in, but with
a message at the top. The message should tell you that your review has
been changed.

Final reviews cannot in general be edited. If you believe you have a
compelling reason why yours should be edited, email me at
mefasupport-at-mefawards-dot-net with

--- your name at the MEFA website
--- the story ID # of the review you'd like changed
--- the complete text you'd like your review changed to (do not describe
the changes you need; tell me exactly what the review should say, and I
will delete the old and paste in the new)
--- a brief explanation of why you think the review needs to be changed

If I agree the review should be changed I will make the change for you.

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WILL MY REVIEW BE COUNTED?

"Counted" is MEFA jargon for when your review actually gives points to
the story it is a review of. Each review is worth a certain number of
points determined solely by the review's length, and the stories with
the most points in each subcategory win. (You see how many points your
review is worth when you are entering or editing it, after you click the
"Preview This Review" button.)

But not all reviews actually give their story points. Your review will
only give the story points if it's shown to all site visitors. This means:

--- HIDDEN and FINAL reviews are counted.
--- DRAFT reviews are not counted.

So if you write a draft review, make sure you switch it over to hidden
or final at some point, if you want the author to get points out of your
review.

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HOW DO I KNOW WHETHER I'VE WRITTEN DRAFT (or hidden, or final) REVIEWS?

You can use the same filters you use to find stories about a certain
character or in a certain subcategory, to pull up the stories
for which you've entered a certain type of review.

1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/
2. Click on the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Click the link to "Show Filter" if the filters aren't already displayed.
4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.

*** This step is important. If you were already using the filter and
don't clear it out, what follows will only pick up stories you've
reviewed that also match the other filters. So if (for example) you were
looking for stories about Frodo and forget to clear out the filter, what
follows will only show stories that *both* involve Frodo *and* that you
have reviewed. ***

5. From the "Review Status" pick the option that describes the kind of
stories you want to find.
6. Click the "Display Selected Nominations" button.

Choosing (for instance) Final in step 5 will show you the stories where
you have entered a review and given it the status "final." There are
also options to pull up reviews with either of two or more statuses, so
you can show all the stories you've entered a Hidden or Final review
for. You can edit any of those reviews just like was described above.
Clicking the link to edit that review will show you the review even if
you aren't still allowed to edit it.

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And that's it! Next week we'll talk about how to see the reviews and
nifty site features related to that, and also how authors can reply to
reviews they've received.

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For more information:

--- What status should I give my vote?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_3
--- How do I find a story to vote for?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_15
--- Can I edit a review after I write it?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_6
--- How are reviews scored?
http://www.mefawards.net/MEFA2009/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_11

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P.S. - Two quick, final reminders.

First: the MEFA day ends in GMT - not your local timezone. Our site's
very smart, but not quite *that* smart. To see the "official" MEFA time
look for the "Page Served At:" line (bottom of every page). This tells
you the official site time according to the MEFA website's clock, when
that page was loaded. You can only edit reviews until 11:59 PM on the
deadlines mentioned above.

Also: August 31 is also the deadline to set your reviewing goal, or edit
it. Don't forget to do that if you need to.

************************************

Marta
(MEFA Admin.)