Hmm....people shouldn't be doing that in the first place. If they read the rules, they should know to put it in one category only. *shakes head* Shame on those who are doing that, shame shame.
i dont understand why people aren't allowed to put their stories in multiple categories.
i havent. but im just wondering.
I think that fics should be allowed 2 categories because certain people that are focused on one category might never see a fic that they would've liked because it is in a category that they don't often read. Confusing? Well, just think about it. However, since they can't have multiple categories, then authors shouldn't put them in more then one category because loyal fans would die if a good fic got deleted!
DON'T DO IT PEOPLE! It only hurts the readers and yourselves...*sniff*
As authors, it is sometimes difficult to choose the most appropriate category for your stories. Especially if your story involves more than one relationship. In these cases, I would encourage authors to submit to the broadest category that applies to their story. As readers, if you are a fan of a particular author, add them to your Favorites list. You'll be automatically notified when that author submits a new story.
As moderators, we watch these type of things quite closely. The submission rules exist for a reason, and they are quite easy to follow. If you ever have a question about submission, you can contact a moderator through the staff page or the Beta Forums. It's always safer to ask for information than risk your story being deleted for not following the rules.
Thanks for enfocing this, mods. I have seen a lot of it and thought that they had permission or something. I am glad that we have such great people running this site. Thank you so much, again!
~Moony
I agree, it says on the page for adding a story "[Categories]- A fic may be submitted to ONLY one category. Most fics could fit into more than one category, but as the author, you have to choose the most appropriate primary category for your fic." but then later it says before selecting a category: "Note: You may select multiple categories. Please be aware that when you select a category in the drop-down menu below, the options in the list will change to display that category's sub-categories. Press the 'Select >' button to add it to your choices. You may clear your selections at any time using the 'Clear' button." people may get confused by the mixed messages
Thanks for enforcing this rule. I actually came across a story the other day that had multiple categories, and just assumed it had been exempt or something. It never occured to me that the author was going back and editing it after validation.
I was actually thinking along the same lines as harry_kissed_ginny. It says in most places that a fic may only be submitted to ONE category, but then on the submission page it says it can be submitted to more than one. It's very confusing. I would suggest changing the submission page so it's clearer. :)
It's kinda hard to pick just one catagory in some situations though. What if you're writing a fic that is about harry and Ginny's relationship, but its really really funny and you're not sure where to put it? Humor fans who don't often go to the romance page wouldn't find it and Harry/Ginny fans who don't visit the humor section wouldn't get it either. So what would the author do in that case?
Harry_kissed_ginny and MissSammiekins, thank you for alerting us to this message but I believe it is there to explain how to select a sub-category more than a category. It is stated in many different places that fictions should only be submitted to one category including in the submission rules so we hope this message is clearer. We will look in to changing that note to try and avoid sending mixed messages in the future.
AprilPotter, I know how hard it is to decide on a category for a fic. In the case of a humour and romance fiction, you have to decide whether you are writing a fiction that is funny and happens to be Harry/Ginny or you are writing a fiction that is romance but just happens to be funny. If the humour is more constant than the romance choose that category to submit to and vice versa.
If you really cant decide, try asking a beta reader where they think it would be most suited.
Okay, in most cases that's a good rule and I'm glad the mods are enforcing it. But what about poetry? Say you write a Draco/Ginny poem. Then you submit it to the poetry category, it's validated, and it gets about two reviews since few people read poetry. Couldn't you add Draco/Ginny romance to the categories, in order to get more reviews and because the fic belongs there too?
HPWizzzard - I think that in that case, like all the others above, you would really want to put it in poetry with a mention in the summary about how it is D/G. As a poetry writer myself, I find a problem too. I second what Roxy Black said about asking a beta reader, they are really helpful. I'd be happy to do it through PM if you'd like.
I think the rule is in place for the mods sake. A mod is usually only doing one category, and so if it is in two categories, how are they supposed to validate (or reject it if that is necessary)?
I understand the difficulty of choosing just one category, but agree with the mods that you really should read the rules before submitting a story. If you had, you would understand that only ONE category is allowed. Thanks for trying to clear this up for us and trying to keep MNFF clean and easy to use.
Crikey! I honestly thought it was submit the fic to one category, because it makes no sense for a mod working humor and a mod in a romance cat, for example, to be looking over the same story. It would clog the queue! However, when you edit a story, the Noteexplaining multiple cats makes a writer think after it's validated, a fic could be both humor/romance or another combination the way it is allowed on fanfiction.net or other sites.
It's very confusing, and I hope the powers that be will change the editing Note to add that only one cat is allowed during andafter submission! I've already gone through my stories and poems to ensure they're all one category and I'll be sure to pass the information along to anyone I know would be devestated to have their work deleted because of a misunderstanding!
Not that i've used more than 1 category or anything but when your story is up it has the heading, Categories:... It's in the plural it would add to the confusion for those who misunderstood.
HPwizzzard, poetry is to be submitted to that category only. In your summary, you can describe that it is Harry/Ginny-centric, but a poem submitted to any other category is an instant reject. Many of the mods (myself included) do not have poetry talent, and are not capable of modding it. Those that do need the poems in one place.
"Note: You may select multiple categories." - This is what it says halfway down the page when you are submitting a new story, right next to where you would pick a category. Granted, it says not to elsewhere, but if you want to be clear about this I would recommend changing the conflicting instructions.
GhostCoon, that has already been pointed out here, and it also received an answer already. Some things, though, cannot be changed because that's how the layout was designed and cannot be changed 'manually'. If it can be changed, then worry not: the mods will fix it. Other than that, simply accept what the mods are saying: no editing story into multiple categories. It's way easier like that :)
Feel free to ignore me, but the multiple category thing was a problem in the queue. After all, with mods assigned to different cats, who mods a fic that's in more than one cat? But once it's published, what's the problem? Might still be an issue, I suppose, with a chaptered fic, but once completed, it really shouldn't cause you any headache if an author wants to put their fic in all its relevant categories. Not that I suggest you go and change policy on that basis alone, but it bears thinking about, if that's what your authors want.
madjh: A fic does not physically appear in more than one category while in the queue. If an author has submitted it to more than one category, those are listed in the category column. As moderators, we have the ability to see the entire queue, not just the categories we are assigned to moderate. This allows us to cover for another moderator who is not available for whatever reason. As previously stated by Magical Maeve, once a chapter has been validated it is NOT permitted to edit your stories so that they appear in more than one category. Doing so may result in a moderator deleting the story from the archive.
I'm glad you guys are enforcing this rule! I see many authors try to get past this by editing their stories into multiple categories after validation, and it's about time they were stopped. Thanks mods!