Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

There's just over a month left in the 2010 MEFAs. Voting ends December
15. So it's not too late to get involved or to get back into the
groove of reviewing if you were already doing that but have gotten out
of practice.

To help with that, today I'd like to talk about two ways to find stories.

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

MAIN CATEGORIES AND SUBCATEGORIES - WHAT ARE THEY?

When a story is nominated the author selects three main category
groups. These are broad types of genre, race, or time period. For
instance, Romance or Hobbits. Volunteers then place it in one of the
three choices, and further split up the main category into
subcategories.

Subcategories make sure that only the same type of story compete with
each other (WIP with WIP, drabble with drabble, etc.). We then
separate those groups further, based on location, subgenre, characters
involved, and other similar elements. So for instance you might see a
subcategory like "Genres: Romance: With Faramir" or "Times: Mid-Third
Age: Shire Drabbles." If it doesn't contain the word "Incomplete,"
"Poetry," or "Drabble," then the pieces are all finished, full-length
stories.

It's the subcategory authors win. Subcategories are roughly the same
size, whereas main categories can vary wildly. Think about how many
stories you see at an archive about Dwarves, versus about Elves or
Hobbits. But main categories are important, too. They are important to
authors because they control what subcategory an author ends up in,
but also they matter to readers. Our website lets you pull up all the
stories that are actually competing in a main category, or where the
author selected that main category as one of his or her options. So do
you want to find all the stories set during the Ring War? Or all the
stories about Villains? The main category choices can help you do
that.

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

HOW TO FIND STORIES BY SUBCATEGORY OR MAIN CATEGORY

1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Click the "Show Filter" link if it isn't already displayed.
4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.

--- To find all the stories competing in a certain main category:
5. Select the main category you want from that menu.
6. Click "Display Selected Nominations."

--- To find all the stories competing in a certain sub-category:
5. Select the main category you want from that menu.
6. Click "Display Selected Nominations."
7. Select the subcategory you want from that menu.
8. Click "Display Selected Nominations" again.

--- To find all the stories that selected a main category, wherever
they ended up competing:
5. Select that choice from the "Genres, Races, Time Periods" menu.
6. Click "Display Selected Nominations."

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

WHAT ARE WISH AND SKIP LISTS

The wish lists let you keep track of stories you want to read later.
The skip list lets you tell the website not to display a certain story
to you again unless you specifically ask for it. This is helpful for
those reviewers who want to focus on stories they haven't considered
yet. (Sometimes you just aren't interested in a certain type of
story.)

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

HOW DO THE WISH AND SKIP LISTS AFFECT WHAT STORIES I SEE?
HOW CAN I VIEW MY WISH OR SKIP LIST?

Stories on your wish lists show up on the main story list as well. The
wish list simply lets you see *just* those stories if you choose to.
However, skipped stories aren't displayed on most pages unless you
specifically tell the website to show them.

To view your wish list:
1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Click the "Show Filter" link if it isn't already displayed.
4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.
5. Select "Wish" from the Review Status list.
6. Click "Display Selected Nominations."

To view skipped stories:

1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Click the "Show Filter" link if it isn't already displayed.
4. Click the "Clear All Filters" button.
5. Select "Wish" from the Review Status list.
6. Click "Display Selected Nominations."

("Ignore Review Status" will bring up all stories, including skipped
and non-skipped ones.)

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

HOW DO I ADD A STORY TO MY WISH OR SKIP LIST?

1. Log in to www.mefawards.net/MEFA2010/
2. Click the "Stories" link at the top of the page.
3. Find your way to the story you want to wish-list or skip.
4. Click the "Wish" or "Skip" link on the right side of the page.

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

P.S. - Annmarwalk is posting reviews to [mefas] LJ comm and
[mefa-reviews] Yahoo group. Join either place to receive the reviews
on your LJ friends list or in your email box.

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

Happy reviewing,

Marta (MEFA Admin.)