Things Episode need to fix/bring

Community Episode Fan Community
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Ok this is my first thread on this forum.
First of all Hi :wave:
I have been a reader on Episode app for along time like 4years. I know some of you have been reading n writing stories before that so I wholeheartedly appreciate that & would like to say Thank U :slight_smile:

But as I read stories here I have noticed certain stuffs which either Devs don’t wanna address or have turned a blind eye. Some of these are:

1)Unfinished Stories
-Some might not see it as a big issue but I will be seriously annoyed if I read 130some chapter n then see the story is unfinished. And by Unfinished I mean the author haven’t uploaded any new chapter in months now. So I think Devs should either make a tag saying these stories are discontinued or unfinished or simply should remove it.

2)No feedback or Rating System
-I have said this on multiple threads now n this is like a demand atleast from my side. I think there should be a rating system for the stories where readers should be asked to give a genuine feedback n how they gonna rate the said chapter. What it will do is -
a) it will help authors to find potential plothole if they forgot any
b) it will help readers select a story on the basis of that rating/feedback.
Think it like Amazon where most of the buyers first sees the review then specifications of a certain product.

3)Reader-Author Interaction Platform
-I think it’s a must. Say at the end of the story, if there’s a interaction with author n reader, I think it will help authors to grow. I mean authors can ask readers to submit there questions on the said platform and at the end of the story, he/she answers some of them if not all. It will help authors bond with there fans in my opinion. Especially since fanmail is now gone from Android.

4)Gems
-I think there has been lotsa threads made on this issue so I won’t go in deep but there should be an option for readers to earn gems by watching ads. I mean other apps have this feature so why not implemented in this one. If one can even earn 4gems watching ads daily I believe they will be happy to spend Gems on various stories.

5)Limelight
-Ok I know there are some very good stories in ink n classic format. And most of the readers now have been accustomed to Limelight format. So why not changing those stories into Limelight version :thinking:
I mean alot of readers including me when sees a story in ink or classic they immediately stop reading it even though it’s in recommendation. If it can’t be changed then how bout making a different sections for old classic n ink stories😳

I think these are some of my suggestion which Devs should think about. Its a great app n I think they can make it better if they can implement this on the app.

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My opinion about your 1st bullet point!

Firstly, I don’t agree with your number 1. Yes it’s annoying when that happens but if you’ve never written and coded a story yourself, u wouldn’t understand. Authors have there own personal lives that continue outside of Episode as well as the fact that coding can take anywhere from hours to days to months depending on how quick the author is at coding, how complex that coding is, how long that chapter is and how busy the author’s personal life is. Idk about any other author on here but I’d be fuming if Episode was allowed to remove one of my stories just because I haven’t updated a new chapter for a while. Stories take ages! They take a lot of time & hard work! Some authors are still in education whether it’s full time or part time whilst others have work & careers to do (Other than Episode). I’m a reader & author so as much as I share the thought of how boring it is to wait, I also know how hard it is to be an author. I think I can safely stand for all authors to say that Episode Guidelines are already strict/limiting enough without having to add the rule of ‘Publish often to avoid getting your story removed’. That rule would not only make a lot of authors leave the platform, but it would also p*ss people off if their extremely hard work was taken from them just like that. I’ve spent months coding stories and not actually published yet since it takes so long and the author has to go through a whole process before they can publish.

This is not to start an argument, but don’t talk for others because u never know what they do go through/are going through to do what they do!

This is u telling Episode that it should start removing author’s stories JUST because they are busy or aren’t active for a while. Some aren’t active due to cyber bullying from readers, some aren’t active due to personal incidents, some just don’t currently have the time to code and update! So, I’m sorry that u readers are getting bored with late updates
but u have to think about how much time and effort go into these stories.

To add to my above opinion, think of it this way
If u put hours/days of your free time into making something like a school project, & someone else came and took that school project like it was never there just because u took ages to finish it. How would u feel? U would have just lost ages of your free time all because u weren’t quick enough/u were busy with something else.

My opinion about your 3rd bullet point!

Doing this could be a good idea but u will find readers who WILL abuse/misuse it. What your suggesting can make it easier for readers to be rude/unkind to authors. There are already several ways authors can be contacted if they want readers to be able to contact them. There’s here, on the forums. There’s Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, FaceBook, Snapchat, FanMail (For Apple Users) & more (Not every author will have all of these methods though)

For the above opinion, I will not give an example since some readers don’t care how much they harm author’s mental health and are willing to throw insult after insult but all I will say is that it’s something I wouldn’t wish anyone to ever have to receive. Those insults and carelessness for others, hurts more than most will ever know. Unfortunately, I know of quite a few authors who have received hate mail/insults just because some reader didn’t think about their message’s consequences. Some readers are brutal. They don’t care about the consequences of their ignorant opinions.

I’m not going to give my opinion on these bullets above because I think I’ve said what I need to (:

Tags for other authors/coders who may want to share their opinions

@anon71033048 @juliewrites @scarlettm @anon6748744 @CassiCat @Jade135 @rogueangelwrites @bakedpotato @xgeorgia @Mi_writes @miramiraonthewall @talina.writes @episode.lillz

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Thanks for the tag!
I think what @Pepper99 means for #1 is the story status thingy. There are completed stories, incomplete stories, and stories with no status, so shouldn’t there be a “discontinued” one too? Correct me if I’m wrong- If Episode chooses to add #1 though, they absolutely should NOT remove the story like you mentioned. That’s just rude to the author. An “unfinished” tag is okay though.

As for #2
 I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel right to me. I’d be devastated if there’s an option to dislike a story. Likes are okay, but dislikes are a definite “no” for me
 or is the rating by stars? I just feel uncomfortable with this idea
 idk. :woman_shrugging:

#4 YES PLEASE! Even a gem per one ad seems reasonable to me.

Overall, I think your ideas are amazing but the whole “removing an unfinished story” idea needs a little work. Authors can already make it so that some of their stories aren’t visible. Why do you have to do that?! >:(

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  1. How would you feel if you spent 20+ hours coding a story and then poof it’s gone because you lacked motivation, were busy, or just weren’t very active. I’d be super mad and would probably never go on Episode again. If you don’t have personal experience, then you shouldn’t say anything about it. Since you only like to read completed stories/stories that will be completed, maybe you should go read a book or actually look to see if it says completed.
  2. Some people like to abuse flagging on here. What makes you think those same people will give an honest rating? Episode can’t really give power to us because lots of people abuse that power. If anything, they need to take away some of our power.
  3. Some authors have Q&A. This is what fanmail is for. I’m on an iPhone, so I still have fanmail, but you should be creating a thread to bring back fanmail instead of asking for a new one.
  4. You’re asking for a lot. This is something you can do by reading Episode’s stories. Episode has done a lot for us, so the least you can do is read their stories, even if 50% of them are terrible.
  5. Do you know how much you’re asking for? Because I seriously don’t think your thinking of this from an author’s standpoint. It is so hard to write a story in any style. Redoing the entire thing because a new style came out is dumb and if the story is really good, people will read it no matter what style it’s in.

You might want to rethink this thread. It’s offensive to some authors, asking for a lot, way too much stuff, and most of these aren’t even plausible.

Ignore the grammatical errors, I was typing this fast

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I’ve encountered this with stories and authors quite often, and it used to piss me off a few years ago before I looked into the episode community. You have to understand that the majority of the people in the Episode community write for a hobby. And as a new writer, I’ve easily spent around 20 hours (maybe even more) on each episode I’ve written so far, and along with that I have a job, school, and my day-to-day responsibilities. No writer is committed to writing for Episode (unless there’s a contract or something), and we are truly not obligated to drop everything going on in our lives to update a story if we don’t have the time.

While this sounds like a good idea, there are lots of readers and people who really have no boundaries, and it could end up really hurting an author.
As @M_H_C_Episode said, many readers abuse priveleges, like fanmail, insta Dms, and here on the forums.

Tbh they could just use forums if they care that much :sweat_smile:

They do this to refill passes, so I don’t think they’re going to add an option for gems anytime soon- that being said, you can still earn gems from Episode Originals.

This really depends
 are you talking about a regular authors’ stories, or Episode Originals? If it’s just an author’s story, then it’s up to them. If they already completed a story in INK, they probably wouldn’t want to rewrite it in another style. Then again, there are several authors who have rewritten INK stories in LL, popular stories include Adrenaline, Music From His Heart, Somewhere Along the Way, Rebounding with Storm
 etc. Those authors decided to rewrite in LL, but not all authors do that.
In the case of Episode Originals, I don’t see that happening, mainly because Episode buys community authors’ stories and makes them into Episode Official stories now, and they don’t do much with their old stories anymore.

Your ideas sound great! This is not meant to degrade what u said, but it’s just the reality of Episode and it’s community :sweat_smile:

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Check the status of the story to see if it’s incomplete or not before reading. Authors lose inspiration, unfortunately that’s just a part of reading, however, often I find it quite obvious when a story’s abt to end bc u can feel the author losing motivation. So, the story should still b readable on the app, ur work, even if incomplete should still b able to b enjoyed, also, I sometimes enjoy an incomplete story bc that way, I can guess the ending n the story can end how I as the reader imagined it to.

Fanmail? I mean, that’s where most readers share their thoughts, however, I think as soon as the author starts listening, they might start writing their story for their readers enjoyment n not their own. Personally, I think authors should write as they wish & the readers should just deal w it bc often authors have planned exactly how their stories gonna play out before writing it.

Instagram. The social feed was cool, but was abolished for some reason
 it wasn’t working out too well for episode, it seems. There r often lots of author/reader communications via insta, where authors promote their stories n the readers share their thoughts, also here on the forums is another place ppl love to communicate abt stories, it just doesn’t work so well on the actual app.

Agreed! Episode should defo make it a lil easier to earn gems, just like all the other interactive reading apps, gems don’t have to b bought, there r other ways to get them. In episode tho, it’s more difficult. However, we still get them from reading featured stories n by having a daily streak so tbh I don’t care sm. Also, u don’t need gems to enjoy episode, gem choices rarely change the story line so it doesn’t matter sm if we do/don’t have gems


Well, lots of authors don’t wanna write in this style. y should ink readers n writers b separated from the main genres just bc sum ppl don’t like the art style they wanna write in? Personally I think by vetoing anything but LL ur missing out on a lot of great reads. Lots of the authors have grown n left so can’t write their stories in LL, also, lots of ink + classic writers just don’t like to write in that style, what’s so wrong w that?

Thanks for tagging me, Meghan! :white_heart:

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Look. I get where you’re coming from. But no.

I am telling you from the standpoint of an author. points 1 and 5 undermine the hard work that an author puts into a story. It’s even a little offensive to even read, tbh


Points 2 and 3 are just problems waiting to happen. Especially in what I’ve noticed recently, some people just like to hate for absolutely no reason, and it hurts. Even if it’s in the smallest majority, to see those comments so publicly could be hard for many authors.

Point 4- Well
 you’re not wrong. I think there are other threads already promoting that idea, which might benefit more from your attention.

These are all things that I think you need to consider from the standpoint of an author, and not just as a reader. Many of us are students here for a hobby, and we aren’t really slaves to the readers. I know you didn’t mean it that way, but that’s what you’re implying, really.

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Okay, thank you @M_H_C_Episode for tagging!

  1. I understand what you mean. I have in shelf story that wasn’t upload new chapters sooo long. I don’t know what happened with author, but oh well. It’s frustrating, because you want to read and you love some stories but what can you do? Life happens.
    I don’t personally agree with removing stories, but when author isn’t active year or so maybe tagging this story as “discontinued” would be good. Like when we can add “tbc” or “fully completed”.

  2. I have large problem with ratings. I see that mostly on google or wherever. You see, people are mean and jealous. So, instead of constructive criticism, this ranking would probably include people giving one star out of five. Just because, just for fun or to harm someone. Yeah, it may be not that harsh, but it’s my opinion and observation.
    For this we have recommendations, profiles that help artists and constructively evaluate others works, to prevent more bullsh*t. If you want give authors feedback - you have fanmail, instagram or forums - you can write to authors and give them piece of your mind. But in respectful way!
    I’m new to this, so I’m very open for opinions and that matters to me, I think most of authors could tell the same.

  3. I don’t know but I saw on old videos from Joseph Evans that they had something in app, but I could be wrong, bc it was too years ago. It could be good solution, but also it could be very dangerous. People don’t think what they write to others.

  4. Oh my god, gems. Yeah. It could be very helpful, but I tell you what - if they add this ads for gems, they need to be prepare for that people wouldn’t read their official stories (when we can received some gems at the end of chapters). So you see


  5. If someone wants to write in ink, limelight or classic - why we need to force them to use only LL or change everything for LL? I read and write what I want, what is nice and good for me. I know that people don’t like LL, they prefer INK over it, so be it.

:black_heart:

edit. sorry for mistakes too, typing fast like @scarlettm :smiley:

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Me not reading the first part


Um
 they didn’t ignore anything. They have enough haters. They don’t need more by implementing unfair rules.

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  1. So some stories are actually discontinued and stated but one that hasn’t been updated in awhile is not fair. Because if you don’t like how fast they update then leave the story and find a new one. There is an author that hasn’t updated since may 2020 on her story because she is an amazing nurse for the NHS. She gets so much hate for not updating but she is helping fight off covid. These people don’t understand that. So if the author requests that then that is fine but not for ones who simply haven’t had the time.

  2. I mean that is what forums and Instagram is for. They do do this but it comes up not very often.

  3. Again forums


  4. I mean I don’t think they will ever do this. They care about making profit. If you buy gems or read their stories it will give them much more money. :woman_shrugging: Also I don’t get why people can’t just skip past gem choices unless they are episode featured type.

  5. Although I do like reading in LL and not the other styles. I think they probably want to move onto future projects. This is under the aussmption you are talking about episode featured because if not they don’t have to. I mean some authors like having a new fresh story to start with not something they wrote 3 years ago or more. Also not everyone likes LL. :woman_shrugging:

I wasn’t going to interact with this since I didn’t see the point but since I was tagged I will give some opinions based on what I think you mean. Maybe something they should think about but not need. They have many current problems with the stuff they already have so I don’t think these ideas will be a focus for the future. :woman_shrugging:

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Not to get over-emotional
 but that’s so touching :sneezing_face:

What’s her name and/or story name?

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Cleoepisode on ig and her story that she hasn’t finished because of her work is strictly business. If you look at her last post, you can see how many people telling her to delete her story if she isn’t going to update.

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I think I saw it too! But yeah, and people disrespected her wish, still sending stupid messages “when you’ll update” :roll_eyes:

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Thanks for the tag, @M_H_C_Episode!

I have to say, I disagree with most of this. You say you’ve been a reader for four years, but not a writer, and it is very clear these opinions are coming from the point of view of a reader. My thoughts below:

Summary
  1. Writing and coding is hard. Most writers on this app are doing it for free as payments are quite difficult to achieve (and are about to get even harder). I am currently writing a story with a friend of mine - we are three chapters in and have spent a cumulative 400+ hours on it. By the time we finish the story, we will have spent easily over 1,000 hours on it. If something happened and the story was never finished either because we lost interest, or something happened to one of us, or real life took over, what you are suggesting is deleting over 400 hours of passion and painstaking work, possibly more depending how far we got into it.

Yes, it’s annoying when you get invested in a story that’s no longer getting updates. But that doesn’t diminish the work the author did before they stopped updating. If anything, maybe Episode could introduce a feature that displays the last date the story was updated and you could go off that. Most completed stories on the app are also marked as completed, and you could just read those.

  1. No. Straight up, no. This will 100% be used to bully authors, especially those who are young and not as good at coding and/or writing. There is no reason readers need to be able to give a rating to a community story being written by someone for free. Maybe Episode could implement a thumbs up system or something so people could essentially upvote it if they enjoyed it, but as an author, I really don’t care what a reader thought of my story out of five stars. I love my readers, and I love the people who are enjoying my story. I basically squeal when I get fanmail. But the end of the day, I am writing for fun for myself, and unless I have specifically asked for constructive criticism, I don’t want it. If you want to boost a story so it can help readers select a story based on quality, spend your gems and help boost its rating with the support the author choices.

  2. They should absolutely bring fanmail back to Android. I think Instagram works well enough to interact with readers, but I wouldn’t mind something on app.

  3. I agree with this. I think readers should also earn gems reading community stories.

  4. I also don’t agree with this, and it would be a logistical nightmare. Many of the animations for Classic and Ink are not the same as Limelight, same with clothing. It would be a massively big project to transfer it over to Limelight. The other part of it is that if an author wants their story to be in Limelight - they are welcome to transfer it over themselves! If not, we have to assume that the author intended for it to be in a specific style. Many authors even today choose to write Ink stories because they prefer the style, and there is no reason for Episode to artistically limit the people who choose to use these older assets (and this is coming from an exclusively Limelight reader and writer!).

I’m sorry if any of this sounds harsh - that is not at all my intention. My only intention is to be firm in things that support the writer’s experience over the reader’s. Both are important. But remember for every 10 minutes you read on the app, the author has likely spent 10 hours creating what you just read. Spend your gems, support your favourite authors, and keep reading.

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Okay, I’ll check it out. Something tells me it’ll be a good story :thinking: and I’ve finished all the episodes of my favorite authors’ stories so it’ll be good to take a look

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That’s so rude! Shouldn’t they know that she’s not able to?

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Maybe they know, but they don’t care at all :woman_shrugging:

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She has a whole highlight but most of them don’t care. I see them complain about the wait. They say “oh it was my favourite story” but “we have had to wait for ages” and they demand she deletes it. I don’t know why unless they are paying her that they are entitled to her writing for free. This is why episode deleting them without authors consent is stupid. I agree with Rachel a mark should be on stories to say when they were updated.

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:roll_eyes: wow

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That’s why I think that every rankings, points, stars or “reviews” are stupid in this case. You can think about people who write awful things, disrespecting others, because “they don’t like LI”, “they don’t like how they look”, “you don’t write fast enough”, “your chapters are short” (i saw meme yesterday about that, funny but not funny at the same time, it’s because of this poor cat :c) - and many, many examples of messages. Rude enough? Well, people use many other words, but if I’ll add them here I’ll be ban, so nooo thank you. But you can imagine.

It doesn’t matter who is author, editor or artist, some readers are too much. And even they know, that we mostly write for fun and hobby, we don’t have money for that, they still don’t care.
Maybe in different reality open reviews will be good, but unfortunately not in this. For sake our mental health.

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