Author Call Feature

[Norm]

Although forums can be useful at answering questions about books and other bodies of work, it has occurred to me that few authors participate in forums because they simply don’t have the time or patience to plow through thousands of posts to find something that particularly relates to them. So, I thought I’d try an experiment on our forum, as follows:

Authors and other recognized experts can sign up for a notification function. If someone has a question specific to an author, he can start a new thread with the author’s name in double square brackets at the start of the title. For example:

[[Revere]] Where can I get RAPC tables?

The software would look up the author’s e-mail and send him a notification including the title of the thread and a link to the thread. The poster would not see the e-mail address. The author can click to enter the site at that thread, and respond, or ignore it as he sees fit.

Some notes:

• Yes, I realize Revere is a poor example as he probably won't respond.
• Obviously there is some possibility of abuse. If authors are inundated with trivial e-mails, they will pull out. This function is for serious questions and to be used very sparingly. Not “are you still playing” or other chat type questions, nor nags about when the next release of something is coming.
• The author is under no obligation to respond and a lack of response should not be taken as a slight. This is just a convenient method of notifying authors that a post may be of interest. Keep in mind that many of these people travel heavily and have lives of their own.
• Abuse of this function will be taken seriously as the function directly contacts authors that may not be active members of the forum.
• To reduce SPAM, only members that have made ten posts can use this function.
• The fact that an author has been asked the question should not stop other members from answering.
• This function can ONLY be used when creating a new thread, not a post within a thread.
• It may take some time to get this feature running smoothly.

Following is a list of those that have signed up, along with the names that can be used. Use one of the names. Caps don’t matter and spaces and periods are ignored. But, the spelling must be exact.

Josh Axelrad	[[Axelrad]]
Kevin Blackwood	[[Kevin]] [[Blackwood]] [[Kevin Blackwood]]
Rick Blaine	[[Rick]] [[Blaine]] [[Rick Blaine]] [Night Train]]
George C	[[George]] [[George C]]
Bryce Carlson	[[Bryce]] [[Carlson]] [[Bryce Carlson]]
Colin	[[Colin]] [[Holy Rollers]]
T. Dane	[[Dane]] [[T Dane]]
Richard Munchkin	[[RWM]] [[Munchkin]]
Fred Renzey	[[Renzey]]
Don Schlesinger	[[Don Schlesinger]] [[Schlesinger]] [[DSchles]]
Ken Smith	[[Ken Smith]]
Nathaniel Tilton	[[NT21]] [[Nathaniel]] [[Tilton]] [[Nathaniel Tilton]]

[Mr2Project]

This is an awesome feature!

[Zach Black]

[[Norm]] a key authority on this site was left off the list for this function.

[njrich]

The books they have written may not be known to everyone.
A list might help and may avoid confusion. (??'s to the wrong author).

[Norm]

Thought about adding books to a third column. But, if someone isn't positive about what they have done, they really shouldn't be using the feature.

[njrich]

I'm thinking of all the newcomers and beginners that are joining.
Even at 10 posts if they start using the feature and make mistakes it might annoy them(the authors).
We lose if this occurs and they withdraw or just stop answering.

Just my thoughts and Thanks for responding to it.
I also agree with Zack Black.
Your Name is Missing.

[Three]

Norm is pretty quick with feedback to his readers and customers. I think he figures that is already covered with him.

[Norm]

A few things:

• People really shouldn’t use this feature unless they have read the works of the chosen experts. You can’t ask a question from an author without first reading his works. I tried to make that point. Any suggestions on making that more obvious are welcome.
• Actually, [[norm]] will work. I just didn’t add my name to the published author list. BUT, it must be a thread starting post and in the title.
• This is an experiment. I like experiments. Most fail. Ask Edison, who supposedly experienced 3,000 failures before getting a light bulb to work.

I’m not as patient as Edison. But, I do believe in taking precautions when attempting experiments. When someone uses this feature, a browser opens on my home machine displaying the post, and a box appears requesting approval. (Assuming my code works.) So, we will see how it goes.

As I said, I like experiments. The Blackjack Publick House was an experiment to guide frivolous posts to an area that does not show up in the forums and disappear after a while instead of lasting forever. Cuts the clutter while still allowing members to make silly posts with short shelf-life. It worked for a while, but now appears to be fading in use, and may be removed.

[ZenKinG]

promising feature norm, nice addition

[njrich]

Norm is pretty quick with feedback to his readers and customers. I think he figures that is already covered with him.

Yes Norm is quick with his response's even to p.m.'s.
His book is one of the best I have read and refer to it often.

It seems he(norm)has it covered.
I've heard of all the authors on the list and have some
of the books. Colin I know from the documentary but didn't know he wrote a book.

Great idea I hope this one works.

[RS]

When someone uses this feature, a browser opens on my home machine displaying the post, and a box appears requesting approval. (Assuming my code works.) So, we will see how it goes.

So you can manually accept/deny if an email is sent to the author? Also, assuming your code works properly, then it sounds great -- little room for authors to get annoyed by spam posts -- since you have to verify the post's validity.


Good work with getting these new fancy functions incorporated -- can't wait to see more cool stuff!

[Norm]

Josh Axelrad and Fred Renzey have been added to the Author Call feature.

[bebe]

Norm can you add Brett Harris