I'm about to head out, which means I won't be online when Review Day ends. But just wanted to thank everyone who participated! We didn't quite reach the goal, but we did do at least 115 reviews, which is awesome. In addition, there's only 75 works in the Green Room, and only 3 works still left from 2022.
Great job!
Nate's Profile: Creator and Owner of a Paper Airplane
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100 reviews!
We're not going to hit 150 reviews, but it'd be cool if we end this Review Day in a good position to beat March 2022's total of 441 reviews. Right now, March 2023 has 353. Just another 15 reviews would be great.
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Nate One review down by me!
Mar 26, 2023
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So, the "And the top two reviewers will earn YWS Swag" in the header is actually a mistake, but I'm just going to roll with it.
So, the top two reviewers will earn YWS Swag!
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I feel very lucky to live where I do as my normal, routine 6-mile run means I get to run by the US Capitol Building, the Smithsonian, and around the Washington Monument. But on some days, I feel luckier than others.
Cherry blossoms on the Tidal Basin with the Washington Monument in the background
Gifted by Tokyo in 1912, the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC reach peak bloom around this time of year. Despite the throngs of people, I highly recommend going to see them if you ever get the chance. It's something else to be able to walk past all these incredible monuments under a canopy of cherry blossoms. This morning, actually drove to the Tidal Basin (the Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial, and MLK Jr. Memorial are all located along it) with a couple of friends to do a short run as it would've otherwise been an 8 mile run, which none of us felt much like doing. In between picture taking and navigating the surprisingly large crowd, we went slowly, but it was well worth it.
Nate One cool thing to note is that after World War II, the National Park Service actually regifted the cherry blossoms to Tokyo as the war had severely damaged their trees. So the cherry blossoms in DC are from Tokyo, and some of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo are from DC.
Mar 23, 2023
IcyFlame Ahh I stayed here in September and did what must have been a similar running route - I wonder if we passed each other!
Mar 23, 2023
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In terms of pageviews, March '23 has been YWS' most active month since March '22. If activity were to continue like it has over the past week, then March of this year will be more active than March of last year.
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I've made a few simple edits to hopefully improve the user experience when accessing YWS via a mobile device. Mainly, when clicking on a text area, the phone should zoom in just enough to match the width of the main content area.
I'm testing this out only on my iPhone, so please let me know how it works on other mobile devices.
Snoink I can't zoom in anymore... I'm on android on a Samsung device using Google Chrome.
Mar 14, 2023
Nate Might be better now.
Mar 14, 2023
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Spam
Every day, YWS blocks a minimum of 500 attempted registrations. Some days are worse than others though, and yesterday YWS blocked 1500+. This doesn't even count the spambots that are blocked by Cloudflare before they even get the site.
The primary way spambots are blocked is via Google reCaptcha. That gets about 75% of all attempts, but many still make their way past that. After reCaptcha, the second most effective is a hidden password confirm field in the registration form. When you register, you don't need to confirm your password. But, spambots don't realize that field is hidden and try it anyways. Anyone (anything) that does that is blocked. The third most effective is a hidden website field that does the same thing.
Beyond that, YWS also checks the validity of the email address. This method unfortunately does block a few legitimate registrations every week, but it's unlikely those people would've been able to activate their account anyways. Most of the false positives are school accounts, and nearly all school accounts heavily restrict sources of email.
Last but not least, if the IP address of the registration request has had recent spam activity as listed in stopforumspam.org, then that attempt is blocked.
Despite all this, some occasionally get through! I think these are mostly actual people though who are paid to post spam.
yosh wow i had no idea there was so much involved in anti-spam lol
Mar 10, 2023
Quillfeather I don't know if it's true statistically but today seemed to be a very active day? Could that draw bots? Like in 2020 i hear there was a great deal of bots and bot spam and things were more active back then? I dunno probably something you already know but I guess it means that YWS is being very active right now and that's always good
Mar 10, 2023
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WordArt
Blue WordArt
Green WordArt- Code: Select all
[wordart]WordArt[/wordart]
[wordart=blue]Blue WordArt[/wordart]
[wordart=green]Green WordArt[/wordart]
Nate Any CSS color name that also has a light version (blue and lightblue, pink and lightpink) will work.
Mar 9, 2023
DreamyAlice Those are so coool!!!
Mar 10, 2023
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Back when I was designing the current template of YWS way back in 2011, I was designing it around the idea that tablets would be the main way people would access the Internet. I thought tablets are much more portable than laptops, so people would naturally gravitate to them for any sort of casual activity. And I thought it'd be ridiculous for people to regularly access the Internet on a smartphone because the screen is so tiny. I mean, it's just so much easier to browse stuff on either a desktop or a tablet.
Well, out of 7,000 plus unique users in the past three weeks, just 121 people accessed YWS on a tablet. Honestly, I'm not sure why tablets never took off. I have one, and I like it, but I almost never use it. Instead I'm like the rest of y'all and use either a smartphone or my laptop for accessing YWS. I guess the problem with tablets is that they're portable, but also kind of heavy. Of course they're lighter than a laptop, but a laptop you can place in your lap. A tablet has to be held (mine is actually a Surface Go, so it comes with a kickstand, but that kickstand can hurt if placed on the lap for too long).
Eventually, I'll probably redesign YWS to be more mobile friendly, but that's dependent on a number of factors, and the thought of re-doing all the template files scares me.
Quillfeather I think the problem of tablet over phone is that you can't make calls, you can't use mobile data, it's not as portable (you can't put it in most purses or pockets) then it also doesn't have the processing of a computer, the typing capabilities, and ease of
Usage that computers have. Also I fell like with yws in particular most people are accessing from a school device, something parents might buy, or while they are at school. So those devices are most likely to be computers of phone (or even for older members they might have a work computer but use phone for YWS) I personally don't often consider tablets when considering buying a device.
Mar 7, 2023
Snoink How many people accessed YWS with a smartphone?
Mar 7, 2023
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YWS is currently running 25 reviews behind February. So, we need to catch up!
I haven't done any reviews yet this month, but I will do at least one today.
Nate Part of this might be driven by the fact that YWS is also running 15 works behind February. So if you have a poem or short story you've been thinking about posting, post it! But please, no more novels, lol
Mar 6, 2023
Snoink WAIT. DID YOU JUST ASK ME TO POST MY WHOLE NOVEL.
Mar 6, 2023
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16 hours ago
Really looking forward to a great April, and to checking out all the NaPo threads. If you haven't started yours yet, get on it!
2023 NaPo Information