If your story gets an average of 3 likes per chapter, congrats! You barely outperformed BL novels by a +1 like per chapter. But subjectively, BL novels are the most hated genre on the website.
I'm sorry, but... what does BL have to do with anything? The objective of the divider isn't specifically for BL or any other "hated" genre as you so like to call them or even outperforming them. They're lesser-known genres or don't generate as much interest - but that's fine.
The true objective of the feature is so that older, lesser-known works, whichever they are, or whatever they might be, whatever their statuses are, won't fade into obscurity, and to provide variety to the front page.
I believe that implementing a random divider is downright horrible for readers.
Even if the Random div doesn't get used as often as say, the Trending div, one can't be sure if it won't be used at all. I've come across really good titles using the random dividers of other sites, including video sites. Some of these films don't sort to the top because they're buried by other titles. Not every reader's looking for completed titles either. I'm one of those who don't mind reading abandoned work, and I've met others who don't - we're still able to enjoy the writing quality and style. Above all, some people just want to try new things.
Humans are complex. So are readers. I don't think you can speak for all readers, especially potential ones who have yet to join the site.
For example,
you brought up BL as the most hated genre on the site. But I'm looking at trends outside the site and saw that BL is actually a growing niche and versatile market. In fact, following the success of series like The Untamed, many more have popped up. WeTV and YOUKU, for example, have begun creating and airing more BL dramas, and there are more BL readers and novels getting translated on NovelUpdates.
These are all potential readers, users and potential ad revenue for the site.
Look, I get that you're trying to quote and link all those posts with numbers to.... um, look sharp and knowledgable (you are; not saying you're not!), but I wouldn't really quote those mostly blind onsite-only data pulls like they're the Bible or concrete evidence. These "graphs" and "charts" don't seem to be constructed or presented well enough to be truly used for analysis, and I say this with over a decade of corporate data analytics under my belt. They don't seem to have a lot of direction in terms of actual business use or readability, which is the basis of data analytics and decision-making systems. I'm not saying they're
bad, but they're also not something one should use blindly as "proof" or even market data - data about
potential or
targeted segments of readers, meaning, especially one for features.
While it's true that whenever we write algorithms for items in the market we do tend include what the consumer has already browsed through or purchased to recommend them subsequently, there's nothing to say that a random item placed on a separate area like Sitewide Hot Deals (which is quite often random) won't sometimes pique the interest of a potential purchaser. Suggesting toys randomly to an adult, for example, might get them interested to buy one for their child or friend's child. I can vouch for this since I had to write code for storefronts at one point, before I was moved backend to work with loading and processing raw data.... and then to the front again, and then to the back... and then to the front and then.... Yeah I got moved around a lot.
Likewise, works being accessed and read amount to more that just those figures you see pulled in those posts. Having a random div adds a different flow to the whole thing; variety, for example, which seems to be missing from the Trending and New divs.
I know how to market my work and I can definitely do well enough even without a random div, if I wanted to. That said, I didn't suggest the feature for myself or for other BL works -
I suggested this div for other authors here who are finding it difficult to get their works seen at all, even those writing for popular tropes and tags. If someone posts on a time or day where it isn't the best for them, even those tropes won't help them and they'll be buried under the volume of new works or updates.
Some works that aren't updated daily have very, very good quality and I'd say they deserve even a 1% chance of being potentially seen.
I also suggested the feature for the site itself, for its owner,
to make the site look more varied on the surface, and more like a site that's catered towards different groups of people who share a love for web novels.
It'll potentially attract more writers - a varied pool, for one, and some of these writers might pull different types of readers in. It'll make the site look more well-rounded, and it'll offer something other sites don't.
I'm suggesting
potential here as a marketeer
. Just like Tony, I want to see this site grow outside just its current small pool. I've grown to like the place, and
I want its authors and subsets of readers to be happy too and have something, a chance no matter how slim or tiny, for all of them, no matter how small or marginalized they currently are.
I know some of them would be happy with just one view. Or just one reader. Just that one thing to make their day. That's what I suggested it for.
That's about it. You can wax numbers all you want, but I'm more interested in
bringing numbers
in.
I've been poking around and I haven't seen it yet, but would it be possible to implement a "Random Series" div under the "Trending" and "Latest Series" div?
