Announcing YWS: Cassini

Nate · 2015-05-16T05:55:11Z

https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/Nate/cassini2.jpg The Day the Earth Smiled - Mosaic of images taken by Cassini on July 19, 2013 The Young Writers Society has gone through a lot of updates over the years. When I started this site in 2004, it was just a simple phpBB forum; something that took me a couple hours one afternoon to set up. Since then though, it has grown quite a bit. Today, YWS is a social network for young writers around the world to share their creative works online. It isn't even just YWS anymore either. There's also our blog, Writing Gooder, and WriterFeedPad, which is an online document editing platform. Undergirding all of this is a vibrant community and an exemplary volunteer force. To reach this point, there has been a number of changes to the site, and none more extensive than YWS: Apollo, the current version of the site, that launched in late 2011. The name Apollo was chosen in reflection of the major updates to YWS, including a total rewrite of a lot of legacy code that had been contributing to an unstable platform prone to crashing. Today, I am proud to announce that the Young Writers Society is now entering a new stage of development that will be spent refining upon YWS: Apollo. I am calling this new stage of development YWS: Cassini. The fourth unmanned spacecraft sent to Saturn, Cassini's mission was to improve upon our understanding of the planet. Though seemingly small in scope, the mission is one of NASA's most successful. Just to note a few accomplishments, it includes the first landing of a spacecraft in the outer Solar System (the Huygens lander on the moon Titan), the first discovery of lakes outside Earth (methane lakes on Titan), the discovery of possible oceans (Enceladus), and a greater understanding of Saturn's ring system. More than any other mission, Cassini has changed our understanding of humanity's place in the solar system. The image (called, "The Day the Earth Smiled") at the top of this thread was taken by Cassini and shows not only several of Saturn's moons in one picture but also shows Earth, Venus, and Mars. Continuing in that spirit, YWS: Cassini will not involve any dramatic changes to the site. Instead, it will be a series of updates meant to build upon YWS: Apollo. This is an update that is meant to emphasize the little things and improving upon your YWS experience. What can you expect as YWS: Cassini moves forward? Here's a few of the things to look forward to: - Improved clubs. Easier to add, edit, search, and discuss. - Better publishing center. Edit your portfolio in one place, simplified submission system, and streamlining. - Small additions. Staff picks on the front page, quotes across the bottom of the site. - Possibility of a better blogging system (may switch to Wordpress for blogs, but this depends on a few technical factors such as single-sign-on and effective moderating). - Better moderating tools. Easier to report spam, trolling, and works that require a higher rating. - Updates to literary works. Add cover art, easier to move between chapters, download as ebook (with author's consent). - Improved featured works. Email notification when your work is in the literary spotlight, and view previous featured works over any time period. See the most liked works of all time. - And more! From now until the end of May 2015, there will be some new update every day; usually quite minor, but sometimes a bit bigger. Implementing all the features listed above, though, will require at least a few months, and probably longer than that. As with the Cassini space mission, YWS: Cassini is a long-term update.

TheSparringPanther

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Sun May 17, 2015 6:28 pm

TheSparringPanther says... · Sun May 17, 2015 6:28 pm

> disregard this

Last edited by TheSparringPanther on Sun May 17, 2015 9:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"Glory... Lies beyond the horizon!"
— Rider, Fate/Zero

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Nate

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Sun May 17, 2015 6:37 pm

Nate says... · Sun May 17, 2015 6:37 pm

Verser wrote:its like announcing a patch in a videogame

@Verser ->> I like this comparison a lot, and I may have to steal it! Previous big upgrades to YWS were largely like new games, but Cassini is indeed a lot more like a patch.

Everyone ->> Thank you! Hopefully what's coming up will be deserving of your kind words

Founder

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Astronaut

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Sun May 17, 2015 8:43 pm

Astronaut says... · Sun May 17, 2015 8:43 pm

Oh, so THAT'S why the fake one was called Buran! Very clever, Nate. Very clever.

I don't have a signature.

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Bet you didn't see that coming...

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TheSparringPanther

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Sun May 17, 2015 8:48 pm

TheSparringPanther says... · Sun May 17, 2015 8:48 pm

To Saturn and beyond!

"Glory... Lies beyond the horizon!"
— Rider, Fate/Zero

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ladcat13

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Fri May 22, 2015 12:13 am

ladcat13 says... · Fri May 22, 2015 12:13 am

*Is so excited she goes 'squeeeeeeee!*

Millions of miles from home
In the darkness before the dawn
In the swirling of this storm
When I'm rolling with the thunder
But bleed from thorns
Leave a light, a light on.

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