Stories and Legacies Index Gateway

Doing Amendments in the Stories and Legacies Index

Here is a tutorial on how to do Amendments (that means to submit a change to information for an entry already listed in the index).

There are no longer separate forms like there were on the forums. This a) breaks the coding on the site so the submission form can't work and therefore isn't possible to do anyway and b) in hindsite just seemed clunky to me when one form with an extra box for "new entry" or "amendment" makes for a much easier and cleaner presentation.

This information is right on the front page of the site, under the submission Guidelines. I have now put it in bold text, since it seems no one is able to find it.

http://bl.canadia.info/sims/banner/tut01.jpg

Here is an example of filling out a submission form when you want to amend (change) information.

http://bl.canadia.info/sims/banner/tut02.jpg

Note the area on the form where it says "Is this a new entry or are you amending a previous entry?" There is a drop-down box. You simply pick "Amendment" since that is what you are doing -- you are just making an amendment (changes) to an entry already in the index.

Fill out the form with the things that are staying the same the same, but with any changes made on the form. In my example, I changed the frequency field. My entry is "Weekly" but I've changed it to "Monthly" in this tutorial example.

Many people are super excited about the searchable subject tags that are now on stories! If you want to add them to your story, this is the field where you type those in. Check the Subject Search page to see the subject tags already available. It is always best to pick tags already in use before asking for several new tags to be made (I will make new tags depending on if I feel they have a broad use/appeal). Tags that WON'T be used are the name of your story (if someone knows the title of your story, they can type the title into the search box on the front page of the site), names of specific characters from your stories, and really specific subjects (going slightly broader on a subject topic so it can encompass a few more stories is a bit more helpful. For example, for my Cat Chronicles I am using a subject: animals tag, not subject: cats, which is far too narrow.) Good tags are any challenges that apply to your story, any genres, and specific subject topics that play heavily for your story (for example, don't pick the subject: aliens tag if an alien appears in a single chapter; if your main character is an alien, however, this is a perfect use of the subject: aliens tag!)

While subject tags aren't required for an entry, they are helpful for readers to filter content and search for stories based on genres, topics, and challenges that interest them, so adding them in a good idea!

Finally, you will find a generic "Additional Information" box. Here you can explain your changes if you need to (for example "I have moved my website to a new URL" or "I needed to change my update frequency" or "I would like to add some search tags". As you can see in my example, I've also added a short (think "Tweet-length") synopsis of my story to add to my entry. This was something not possible in the forums due to character limitations on posts, but now I can include them since the index is on Wordpress, so if you want to add one, just type one up there (again, Tweet-length, don't go out of hand!) and it will be added to your entry!

And that's it. Hit Submit, and I will get the form the same as I would any other entry. The fact it is marked as an "Amendment" tells me it is already in the index, and I need to make changes to the entry. It's that simple!