'Featured/Recommended Story' section?

[ars]

This would probably be a bit of a pain to make, but...

Basically, I think it would be nice if users could recommend stories to each other in a page similar to the Lounge. You could select a story that you're reading and write a 'why I like this/why you should read it', and this recommendation would show up in the recommendation lounge.

It would be nice if these recommendations could be sorted by the main genre of the story. For example, if you only want to see fantasy stories, you could browse the fantasy recommendations.

This way, old or hidden gem stories could get some visibility, and readers will be able to find stories that suit their tastes by browsing the recommendations of people similar to them.

It would also be nice if these recommendations could be logged in the users' profiles so that readers can browse the stories that their favorite authors / friends recommend.

This also gives avid readers a platform on Scribblehub. Even if they don't write the stories, they can still engage and contribute meaningfully to the community by highlighting stories they believe deserve to be shared.

RRL has a slightly similar feature with their 'top reviews' section, which acts sort of like a critic's corner, but *cough* it's not so much about encouraging stories as it is fun to read for the drama and harsh critique...

The front page of WP also has sections where they recommend stories in the same genre that you read / stories that the people you follow are reading.

Since readers and writers are both important on SH, I think this form of recommendations could be nice to try out whenever there's free time. But I also think this is something that the community would need to weigh in on to decide if it's a good idea or not.

 

[Deleted member 5560]

I personally like this idea, especially the addition of readers being able to keep their recommended stories logged in their profiles. Possibly something like readers being able to select their "top five stories" from their reading list even.

Smackjeeves, the webcomic hosting site, has a feature similar to this that could be adapted called "spotlight". People nominate a comic they particularly like in the designated nomination subforum, with their post including a link to the comic and a clear reason as to why it deserves to be spotlighted, and if enough people post an agreement of support in the nominations thread, the mods will agree to add the story to their spotlight section. All the comics need is a minimum amount of pages (50 in their case) to be eligible for nomination.

The top stories ranking are kind of a good benchmark of what stories have long running popularity, but stories that have been on the site for longer and have more chapters are very naturally going to have an advantage since they will have a higher cumulative ratings count, and because of this it means there's also often very little variation as to what stories take the top rankings spot. Having a spotlight or recommendation section will, as ars said, give overlooked stories the chance to gain new readers, especially short stories and one shots that don't get the benefit of accruing new readers over time that ongoing fiction has.

I think having a minimum amount of chapters needed for recommendation (I'd say 10 chapters at least? Maybe? This seems like about the right amount of chapters where most stories have not only set up all the expositionary work for the story, but also begun to expand upon it and work into the story itself. And for short fictions that are under 10 chapters, perhaps only completed works that are no longer updating and thus can no longer be found as easily?) would be necessary, but otherwise, I think this is a great idea. ScribbleHub is growing more and more (which is great), and the amount of stories posted so far is starting to reach a point where it is becoming easier to overlook stuff.

I also like this suggestion because it is one that focuses on positivity and support. To quote Ratatouille: "We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read." Negative/scathing reviews are often funny and more fun to read than the original piece of fiction it's critiquing, but I also think it's easy to fall into the hole of focusing on the negatives and overlooking the positives that way. A feature like this, which focuses on lifting up stories and celebrating the creativity hosted on this site, is a nice addition.

 

[UnknownSaint171]

This would probably be a bit of a pain to make, but...

Basically, I think it would be nice if users could recommend stories to each other in a page similar to the Lounge. You could select a story that you're reading and write a 'why I like this/why you should read it', and this recommendation would show up in the recommendation lounge.

It would be nice if these recommendations could be sorted by the main genre of the story. For example, if you only want to see fantasy stories, you could browse the fantasy recommendations.

This way, old or hidden gem stories could get some visibility, and readers will be able to find stories that suit their tastes by browsing the recommendations of people similar to them.

It would also be nice if these recommendations could be logged in the users' profiles so that readers can browse the stories that their favorite authors / friends recommend.

This also gives avid readers a platform on Scribblehub. Even if they don't write the stories, they can still engage and contribute meaningfully to the community by highlighting stories they believe deserve to be shared.

RRL has a slightly similar feature with their 'top reviews' section, which acts sort of like a critic's corner, but *cough* it's not so much about encouraging stories as it is fun to read for the drama and harsh critique...

The front page of WP also has sections where they recommend stories in the same genre that you read / stories that the people you follow are reading.

Since readers and writers are both important on SH, I think this form of recommendations could be nice to try out whenever there's free time. But I also think this is something that the community would need to weigh in on to decide if it's a good idea or not.

Ah I also made a thread of something similar! I feel like an idiot now since you beat me to it lol. I know what you mean though, InkBlazers use to have the same thing(if you remember them) very similar to lounge but it notifies you about everything, even the following

 

[Steelz]

I would also like if there was such a feature.

 

[Variation]

Would the "Reviews" tab in profiles not cover for this? just see what your friends have spoken highly of.
Though I'll totally bump(necro) this for some sort of small "User Recommended" / "Community feature" bar on the home page, or another list under the "Read" tab.