Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

We've just updated a couple pages in the My World section that I wanted to let you guys know about.  These are pages that have been sitting out there for awhile waiting for the code bits to make them function.  Whargoul has jumped in and done the coding now so check 'em out.

My Stats - Now you can see your reading stats for all the awards we cover in a single table.  Ever wonder how many Hugo winners you've read?  Or how many Nebula nominees? Wonder no more!

My Novel Ratings - This page shows you a bar chart of all your novel ratings.  You can see how many 10's you've given out and what percentage of your total ratings are 10's.  You can also see how you compate to WWEnd as a whole.

These reports are still in the works so more functionality will be added like:

• displaying the percentage completeion for the awards so you'll be able to see that you've read 41% of the Clarke winners etc.  EDIT:  This is done now.
  
• hotlinking the numbers in the stats and rating charts so you can get a list of all the Hugo winners you've read or all your 10 rated novels in a gallery display like the favorites lists
• you'll be able to compare your ratings with other WWEnd members to see how you match up etc.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

Hey ht,

Thanks for the words of encouragement.  You've hit on a few things that are currently in the works.

1. Can we have stats for book lists too?

This is already built but lacks coding.  It'll appear on the same page in a separate table.  Should be coming soon.

2. Graphs on the reading stats page.

I like this idea a lot and we've already given it some thought for a future upgrade.  The bars would be a nice addition but would make the page pretty long with all the awards and reading lists.  I really like the way they look on the Rating page so I'm keen on doing something to jazz up the stats page.  No promises, but stay tuned.

3. Comparing reading stats with other users...

We're working through how to go about doing this one.  Right now you can't see other Member's stats.  We'll likely open that up so you can at some point.  I've been thinking of making it so you can only see your Buddies stats as part of a Buddy List feature we've been noodling on.  So, if you go to a buddy's profile and click the stats you would see theirs and yours together for comparison.  That one will take some time I think.

4. Percentage comparisons.

This one sounds interesting but I'm not sure how that would affect the display and load time.  Too many stats on that page would clutter things up I think.  Maybe a separate page with the "Top 10 Readers" stats and your own for comparison...  Something to think about.

As always, you've got some great ideas.  Thanks for sharing them with us!

daelectric, can you tell me what the circumstances were when you got that message?  The only time I've ever gotten that is if I was not logged in.  It should break more gracefully in any case so I'll look into it.  Thanks.

I can see your point on that one.  I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from jumping in.

This is almost always a concern when I'm considering a new feature.  It's hard to determine what features will make the site more appealing to our visitors and indeed which will even get used enough to justify the work of building them.

I've been working on the assumption that folks want to have a buddy list option.  I see them everywhere and they seem pretty popular.  The main thing I was wanting, for use myself, was to see what activities my buddies were engaging in.  For instance, I think it would be cool to see if you posted something in the forum or if you posted a review or marked a book to read etc.

As far as timing, I don't think it's something that would be done anytime soon because we have some holes to fill that have to take priority anyway.  I'm certainly willing to table it for another day.  Perhaps like you say, when we have a couple thousand members.

Anybody else have any thoughts on the Buddy List?

The My Stats page is fixed now.  Sorry for the delay.  Check it out and let me know if you have any problems.

OK, we made a few more adjustments to the Stats and Ratings pages in My World.

Now you can see those pages for other members.  Click on a member's name or avatar throughout the site to go to that member's world and you'll see the links in the My World sub-menu change to their name.  At the bottom of the rating table you'll find a link so you can compare their ratings with your own.

Give it a try and let me know what you guys think.

Bah!  Rookie mistake. It's fixed now.  Glad you like the upgrades and thanks for pointing out the page title.  The Lists Stats should be coming soon.

Check out the latest update to the My Reading Stats page in My World.  The table of numbers was informative but not very visually pleasing.  We've re-arranged the content of the table and added status bars to show your reading history.  You can see how you fare at a glance now for each award for both winners and all nominees overall.  We made a few tweaks to the Ratings page as well.  Same data, new look.

Next up:

• compare your stats to other members side by side
• compare your novel ratings to other members
  
• reading list stats
  

Ya'll, Battlestar has been going to town on the stats page.

You can now view your reading stats for awards in comparison to other members.  Just click on a member's avatar or name to go to that member's My World page then click their Reading Stats link in the submenu.  You'll get their stats and your own in the same display.  Your stats are in blue and theirs show in green.  Schweet.

Book List stats in the works now.

62% completed!  Not bad.  Certainly better than my anemic 15%. 

So, do you guys think the stats bars will spur people to read more?  It's having that affect on me already.  I'm starting to reconsider my reading pile.  I guess I'll look for the books on my list that are Hugo winners AND SF Masterworks.  Two birds with one stone.

Was hoping to have gotten to the top readers feature by now but the site design changes and some other features are taking longer than planned.  Vacations have been slowing things up a bit too

One thing I've been wanting to get together is a list of SF and Fantasy series in our DB.  I've often found myself looking for a new series to read and that list would be really helpful.  I like having multiple ways to search for a new read.  I'd guess that better than 75% of the books in our DB are part of a series too.

I like your idea of giving members credit for completing an entire series so maybe we can show avatars for all the members who completed the series on the list.  We can add a "Series I've Completed" list in My World too.  Of course, when a new book comes out in a series you'll get dropped from the complete list.  More incentive to keep reading I guess.  I'll have to give that some thought and see what the coders say about it.  Thanks for the suggestions!