What's New? What's Different? A Tour of Our New Site

It was a year and a half ago, the first day back to school after summer break for me, when I came home to discover that our web host had upgraded CPanel, the interface we use to make updates to the site. I knew this update was coming and was looking forward to upgrading to the more modern system. What I didn't expect was that the eFiction software we'd relied on for so long--and which had stopped being developed in 2015--had reached the point where it was no longer compatible with the new system.

The problems we discovered on the archive that day were fixable, but it was also clear that we faced a choice: We could accept that the site had reached its end and let it slowly die as further updates broke more and more of our code, or we could rebuild the site using software that was keeping up with these changes.

The site you're on now is proof of our choice. We researched options and eventually chose Drupal as our new software. Not only was it highly customizable and very flexible in what it allowed us to build, it is being actively developed and supported by a large open-source community, so it should serve us for many years to come. In August 2020, Russandol and I began the process of rebuilding the site--and you're on it now!

Our objective was to bring over the features we've always enjoyed on the eFiction site while also structuring the site so that we could expand and add new features over time. We also addressed some of the inconsistencies and difficulties that came with running essentially two sites side by side: the eFiction archive for your fanworks and a hand-coded website for everything else. While our main goal was making sure that the functionality you had on your account with eFiction carried over onto the new site, there were times when adding something new did not take much extra effort, so we went for it. As a result, you'll find some new goodies to enjoy right now, as well as a few areas that, while they perform the same function as eFiction, look and act a little different than what you may be used to.

In the weeks to come, we'll be doing periodic "tours" of specific areas of the site with videos and more information on how to use the changed and new features.

What's New?

You can tag relationships in your fanworks and search for fanworks tagged with those relationships. Our former moderator Rhapsody, who was so instrumental in building the SWG, always wanted to customize eFiction to add a field where creators could list relationships that appear in their fanworks. For years, she worked on it and was very close to success. As we lost Rhapsody to cancer this past October, it seems fitting that we are finally able to offer this feature that she worked so hard to offer.

You can now add both the major relationships that form the crux of your fanwork and the minor relationships that occur in the background of the main plot. See the What's Changed? section below for more on major versus minor relationships and characters!

A tip: To make it easiest to find the relationship you want in the list, we've listed the canon characters in that relationship in alphabetical order.

You have many more options in your member profile! If you go to your profile page, you will see a row of tabs at the top with lots of new options that we didn't have on the old site. Do you prefer to be called by something other than your username? Have preferred pronouns? Tell us here! You can now upload a user picture as well, which will show alongside your comments and on your profile. Click the Member Profile tab to add these or to update your bio.

A tip: To change information that doesn't appear on your profile--your password, your comment notification preferences, your contact preferences, and your username--click Edit. Yes, you can change your own username now!

There is also a tab called Beta Profile. If you'd like to be added to the list of beta readers on our site, you can fill out this profile so that other SWG members can find you. Which brings me to ...

There is now a directory of beta readers. Looking for someone to help you perfect your fanwork? We now have a searchable beta directory of SWG members who have filled out a beta profile. Each profile lists the areas where the beta works best, as well as areas on which they prefer not to work. You can contact them right from the page to tell them more about your project.

There are threaded comments on fanworks! You're no longer stuck with just a comment and a reply. Want to reply to a reply? Or a reply to a reply of a reply? Or to someone's else's comment? Or even (wait for it) ... someone else's reply? You can do all of those things now.

You can receive email updates on fanworks, creators, and tags you want to follow. Use the Follow links you'll find on fanworks, user profiles, and tag pages to receive email notifications when a new work is added or updated.

Also, Bookmarks are now a thing. No more searching to find that fanwork you wanted to read but forgot the title of. Click the Bookmark link on any fanwork to add it to a private list of fanworks to check out later.

If you want constructive criticism on your fanwork, you can specify the areas where you want concrit on the fanwork. Probably our biggest policy change between the old site and the new is that our Site Etiquette now allows constructive criticism in comments only when the creator of the fanwork has requested it. To facilitate this change, you'll now see a checklist when you add a new fanwork called "Constructive Criticism Preferences." If you want to hear critiques from readers, simply check off the areas where you're interested in receiving feedback. You can go back and change or remove these requests at any time by editing the fanwork.

A tip: If you like your readers to point out typos and other small errors in your comments, make sure you select "Spelling, Grammar, and Mechanics" on the checklist. Remember that you can always use the fanwork notes as well to provide more information to your readers about concrit and other feedback.

You can save drafts of fanworks. Simply un-check the Publish box at the bottom of the Add New Fanwork form to remove the fanwork from the public archive. Want to release all the chapters of your choose-your-own-adventure novel at once? Want to post now but publish later in the week? Need to take a fanwork down to do some revisions? The ability to unpublish a fanwork serves well in a variety of scenarios.

What's Different?

Audio is way easier, and you can upload your own audio files. No more contacting the mods to upload an MP3 for you. Posting a podcast, music, podfic, or any other audio is now just as easy as posting a story.

Speaking of ... audio, references, and series are treated the same as written fanworks. All will show up in searches. All can be favorited, followed, and bookmarked. All live side-by-side on the site, not in separate sections, some of which are easier to access than others. This is the first step toward recognizing all fanworks as equally valid.

You can now add major and minor characters and relationships. If you have a character or relationship that does not form the focus or drive your fanwork forward, no more angsting over whether to include them as a character. There are now fields for major and minor characters and relationships. While these characters and relationships won't appear in the list of fanworks, they will show up in search results for that character and relationship.

Coauthors (now called co-creators) are no longer granted automatic edit access to fanworks. You will set this up separately ... and you can grant any SWG member--not just co-creators--edit access to your work, so if you want a friend to be able to post your next chapter while you're on vacation, you can now grant that privilege.

What to Do If You Have a Question or Find Something That Doesn't Work?

Our mods can be reached through our contact form or at our regular email address, moderator@silmarillionwritersguild.org. Please don't be shy! Transitioning to a new site will be bumpy at times, and we want to help you learn to love our new site as much as we've come to love it.

Posted on 3 April 2021 (updated 13 May 2021) by Dawn Felagund