To hopefully help others finding some good stories, here's a list of my favorites so far (ordered by discovery, descending).
| Title | Author | Size [kb] | Forum |
| Curious Neighbour (https://www.latexstories.net/storiesad/curious_neighbour.html) | Teann Daorsa | 131 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10411.0) |
| The Goth, the Sex Shop, and the Surprise (https://www.selfbound.net/storiesek/the_goth_sex_shop_and_surprise.html) | Zeedrot | 124 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10613.0) |
| Leatherbound Hearts (https://www.boundstories.net/storieslr/leatherbound_hearts.html) | Darkwolf | 458 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10538.0) |
| Pet Correction (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storieslr/pet_correction.html) | ForeverAltered | 723 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9812.0) |
| Part-Time Equine (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storieslr/part_time_equine.html) | ForeverAltered | 1117 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9310.0) |
| Questionable Room Service (https://www.selfbound.net/storieslr/questionable_room_service.html) | Zeedrot | 100 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10549.0) |
| Well, Shit (https://www.selfbound.net/storiessz/well_shit.html) | Zeedrot | 81 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10434.0) |
| Sam and Em (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiessz/sam_and_em1.html) | ForeverAltered | 1323 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9284.0) |
| Heather's Wild Vacation (https://www.latexstories.net/storiesek/heatherswildvacation.html) | Lastdirewolf | 63 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=192.0) |
| The Saga of Alys (https://www.boundstories.net/storiessz/saga_of_alys.html) | Darkwolf | 229 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10341.0) |
| A Conventional Affair (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/a_conventional_affair1.html) | Darkwolf | 1434 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9248.0) |
| Alice and Amanda (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/alice_amanda.html) | Alina Aamu | 198 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=3824.0) |
| Paradice Lost (https://www.boundstories.net/storieslr/paradicelost.html) | A Pensive Pen | 282 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=1270.0) |
| If Found (https://www.selfbound.net/storiesek/iffound.html) | A Pensive Pen | 57 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=1260.0) |
| Trouble in Fairyland (https://www.boundstories.net/storiessz/troubleinfairyland.html) | Cropsncuffs | 119 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=274.0) |
| Rubber Madame (https://www.latexstories.net/storieslr/rubbermadame.html) | Jane D'oh | 210 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=185.0) |
| The Sorcerer's Apprentice (https://www.boundstories.net/storiessz/the_sorcerers_apprentice1.html) | Darkwolf | 928 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9248.0) |
| The Gingerbread House (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesek/the_gingerbread_house01.html) | Darkwolf | 1641 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9248.0) |
| Gag Sentence (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesek/gagsentence.html) | Dan | 80 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=7971.0) |
| The Client (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/the_client.html) | Anne Woolsey | 89 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=4855.0) |
(@forum-admins: some cell padding for the tables would be nice, I had to trick the software to get a readable output)
Depending on the feedback, I am willing to update this list as is evolves.
Added 0.1em of padding to table cells, can up that to 0.2 if it's not enough. A few of my own favourites on there, for sure. I'd love to see more people sharing theirs, it's always good to see which are popular, and I'm sure the favoured authors appreciate the vote. :-)
What about a 'year-end-review' of top 10 voted favs, top read/downloaded, top commented on, top contributors, etc. I think that would spark more user engagement and maybe increase readership.
Qu'en pensez-vous?
Le Bouc
Thanks for adding some padding, @teanndaorsa, next time I'll try without "hard spaces" :-)
I would love to see your list, it's really hard to find the good ones and my "plan" for that is not that much better than "brute force"...
If there is a forum API that lets you query the replies for every "story-thread", would you say that a "top ten" list (or something similar) would lead the readers to the "most interesting" stories?
I also thought about a voting system, but
- as the forum software isn't custom made for the plaza (correct me if I am wrong), that might be difficult to add
- that might lead to fewer replies (as clicking a "thumbs up" icon is so much easier than typing a few words of appreciation)
A list of my favorite authors (alphabetical order)
| Author | Stories | Size | Min | Max | AVG |
| Darkwolf | 5 | 4692 | 229 | 1641 | 938 |
| ForeverAltered | 5 | 3321 | 67 | 1323 | 664 |
| Frosted Moonwright | 11 | 361 | 14 | 71 | 32 |
| LilCthulhu | 8 | 253 | 8 | 51 | 31 |
| Tankpoet | 4 | 90 | 7 | 46 | 22 |
| Teann Daorsa | 9 | 391 | 21 | 131 | 43 |
| thepinkbishop | 5 | 2487 | 30 | 1296 | 497 |
| Zeedrot | 15 | 715 | 15 | 124 | 47 |
(@teanndaorsa I didn't use hard spaces this time, so you have something to test the padding with; for my taste, the could be more "spacy" for improved readability - what do you think?)
Increased padding further, see what you think.
I don't think that the number of replies, or even the number of views on the feedback threads, is any real indication of which stories are the most interesting or even the most popular, just the ones which prompted the most discussion. As with any voting or scoring system, so much is lost in the aggregation. Everyone has such different tastes, and they vote not on any objective measure of quality but on "I liked this". If you share the same tastes as a really big group of people who are voting, that's great, high vote count tells you that people like you liked that story. If your tastes don't align with lots of other people, then vote counts just tell you "other people I don't usually agree with liked this story."
I like public favourites lists, because they let people seek out other people who share the same tastes, and leverage their knowledge, and then it doesn't really matter what's popular or what the big groups of people think.
Thanks for increasing the padding once more. For my taste its readable now, and I might have to investigate "BBCode & text-align" next ;)
...but I don't think the forum design is about me (if it where, we would have dark-mode and adjustable font-size :P )
So, what do you (and the other readers) think?
As for voting / scoring systems: of course you are right in those being highly subjective, but you will also agree that the "likeness" (is that even a word?) of stories can't be measured objectively at all.
You can measure things like number of typos, grammar, sentence-building, repetitiveness, vocabulary and such, but those are only "tools" (if important ones, at least for me - the inner monk is strong in this one).
But a good story is so much more, and that's where it gets highly personal/subjective...
See, there are nearly 8000 stories at the plaza (with: multi-parts count as 1, reposts/cross-posts count as 0), published under more than 2300 author-names, so the "how to select/sort" question naturally leads to all kinds of "measure" thoughts.
Here's the continuation of my favorites list; since I found some of them through recommendations from the forum, I wanted to contribute again myself.
The following list picks up where the list from the first post left off.
Have fun :)
| Title | Author | Size [kb] | Forum |
| Animal Cafe (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiesad/animal_cafe1.html) | Tigerstretch | 937 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=8903.0) |
| Rubbercat Tails (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storieslr/rubbercat_tails1.html) | Tigerstretch | 100 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=8767.0) |
| The Sun I Cant See (https://www.latexstories.net/storiessz/the_sun_i_cant_see1.html) | Tigerstretch | 240 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=8704.0) |
| Feliformia (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiesek/feliformia.html) | Tigerstretch | 906 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=8612.0) |
| The Good Neighbor (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesek/the_good_neighbor.html) | Findar | 417 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10262.0) |
| Izzys Ponygirl Journey (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiesek/izzys_ponygirl_journey.html) | BitOfFun | 978 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10365.0) |
| Angelique (https://www.deviantart.com/zoec98/art/A-Dinner-on-Ibiza-Angelique-1-1120148291) | Zoe Cordelier | 234 | -- |
| Amelie 1 - Bitche (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/bitche.html) | Zoe Cordelier | 72 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10847.0) |
| Claire 1 - How Ethan Met Claire (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesek/how_ethan_met_claire.html) | Zoe Cordelier | 131 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10785.0) |
| Relatively Restrained | Geetwo | 190 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10742.0) |
| Vanity Mare (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiessz/vanity_mare.html) | thepinkbishop | 241 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10316.0) |
| Rilliana and Trisha (https://www.boundstories.net/storieslr/rilliana_and_trisha.html) | TheLargeEmpty | 557 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10560.0) |
| Leatherbound Hearts (https://www.boundstories.net/storieslr/leatherbound_hearts.html) | Darkwolf | 662 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10538.0) |
| Double Jeopardy (https://www.selfbound.net/storiesad/double_jeopardy.html) | SelfBoundOR | 85 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=2170.msg4974) |
| In a Pinch (https://www.selfbound.net/storiesek/inapinch.html) | SelfBoundOR | 58 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=2281.msg5096) |
| Dungeon Museum (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/dungeonmuseum.html) | Milowe | 81 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=8193.0) |
| The Lapdog (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storieslr/the_lapdog1.html) | John Bannergram | 235 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9111.0) |
| Anne and Susan (https://www.boundstories.net/storiesad/anne_susan.html) | Anne Woolsey | 63 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/?topic=3794.0) |
| Sam and Em (https://www.grometsplaza.net/world/ponygirl/storiessz/sam_and_em1.html) | ForeverAltered | 1442 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=9284.0) |
| Medieval Enthusiast (https://www.boundstories.net/storieslr/medieval_enthusiast.html) | Zeedrot | 128 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10653.0) |
| Curious Neighbour (https://www.latexstories.net/storiesad/curious_neighbour.html) | Teann Daorsa | 131 | forum-thread (https://forum.grometsplaza.net/index.php?topic=10411.0) |
Quote from: le Bouc on April 08, 2026, 04:32:30 AMWhat about a 'year-end-review' of top 10 voted favs, top read/downloaded, top commented on, top contributors, etc. I think that would spark more user engagement and maybe increase readership.
Qu'en pensez-vous?
Le Bouc
This is an intriguing idea, but I'm feeling very... divided about it.
On one hand, there are so many stories just on this site, and some kind of mechanism to see which one are well rated would be nice.
On the other hand, as soon as you create a metric, people start chasing the metric instead of what the metric is supposed to measure. It is very, very human as a writer to want affirmation, praise, validation. It can be a lot of work to write a story, and it can be quite challenging to evaluate your own work, so it's easy to have doubts about your art - is this good or drivel? But this can lead to clout/fame chasing (vs writing good stories) - chasing the views, the likes, vs trying to be a good author.
The only thing I look for is if readers enjoy the stories. So, I would prefer feedback than being rated, since everybody has their own personal tastes in subject matter, length etc.
Quoteas soon as you create a metric, people start chasing the metric instead of what the metric is supposed to measure
QuoteSo, I would prefer feedback than being rated
Good points (really), but to get feedback, and those readers have to find your stories to be able to read them among the more than 8.000 stories (even more if you count/list every published part, as in the plaza index page), written by more than 2.300 authors.
So the question remains: how are we (readers) supposed to find the "good" ones in that mass?
Filter by storycodes has proven to be a hit or miss (at least in my experience), and a "brute force" (= simply read
all stories to find the good ones) approach seems unrealistic for most readers.