Some actual TFT updates

I have been a busy overlord and worked on improving the website and the functionality with some overdue features:

Content Filter and Improved Search
This feature has been overdue simply because there are always people screaming about needing to be protected from things they don’t like. On the other hand this also improves the search results at the same time by allowing the reader to cut down on stories they would never read anyway.

The way it works is pretty simple. Authors from now on will have to flag their content by clicking some checkboxes (you will find them below the Tags section in the editor) and everyone else can run that through the new Search Page (also accessible through the top menu now for easy navigation.

If you want to find all stories within a certain content type, simply click one of the filters and do an empty search. It will work. Multiple filters are additive. The only thing you should be aware of is that many older stories are not flagged yet and will only show through this system if you do not set any filters. I have enlisted help and we are manually digging through the heap and updating stuff when possible.

New Ratings System for Stories
We have ditched the old “Like” “Dislike” thumbs up and down and replaced it with a 5 star rating system. Readers will now be able to give a more accurate vote on whether they actually enjoy what they were reading. (It’s still at the bottom of the story like before)

More importantly, the ratings will now be visible in the header information of the Story Archives. Also we have added a link to the archives to the top nav menu because a lot of readers never figured out they would have to click on the main menu entry directly.

The only problem there was that we had to wipe the ratings database and start from scratch. If you want to do your favorite author a favor, go forth and rate!

Feedback and comments appreciated.

~SnowDrakE