Announcement: site freeze date set!

The agreement with Open Doors has been finalised. This means that we are entering the final countdown to the freeze at HASA. In preparation for exporting the archive to Open Doors the story part of HASA will have to be frozen: this means that no new stories can be posted and no changes to existing stories can be made.

The site freeze will take place on Saturday February 14

This means that after that date, no changes can be made to stories.

You will still be able to post to forums after the freeze. They aren't being exported, so there's no need to freeze them, plus we'll need a way to communicate during the site wind down. Please note also that it is uncertain how long the site will remain accessible to read after February 14, so as a reader, if there are stories you want to print to read, try to do so before then.

Authors: what to do before the freeze? Please double check that your stories have a 'General' or 'Reviewed' status if you want them moved. We'll do the rest, but stories need to be publicly available to be transferred. Please keep in mind not everything will be transferred. Things that will NOT be moved to Open Doors:

• Stories with a 'Beta' status
• Comments
• Reviews
• Discussions
• Chapter view click counts

You have to save these yourself if you want to keep them!

Please note: if you do not want your stories moved to AO3/Open Doors, or if they are already there, you can switch your stories' status to something other than 'General' or 'Reviewed', since those are the ones that will be exported. Stories with Beta status will not be exported, so if you set your stories to 'Beta' they will not be included in the move. You must do this BEFORE the site freeze!

Also, if you're already at AO3 as an author, let us know your name there if you haven't already done so: http://henneth-annun.net/forums/messages.cfm?confId=0&forumId=915&messageId=55550

Do also read the announcement at Open Doors for more details of what to do to prepare for the story export/import: http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/2303

Volunteering

You can still volunteer for helping to prepare stories for posting at AO3 after the export! Post your name under this announcement at the HASA LJ and the Transition Team will get in touch with you once they're ready to start work. Remember: the more people work on this, the sooner all stories will be transferred!

Finally...

Authors: thank you all for your support over the years and the reading pleasure you provided to so many with the stories you posted and see you at AO3!

HASA closure and migration news

At the beginning of 2015, this is where we are in the closure and migration process:

• The MOU with Open Doors has been submitted


• Once Open Doors has signed, there will be a two week period for doing any last edits or updates to stories. This puts the freeze date in mid to late January. After that, the site will be read-only for what is left of its existence.


• After the freeze, stories will be exported to an interim site to prepare them for being imported at AO3 - the import process will take some time, given the number of stories. If you want to help with this, let us know; the more people who help with the transfer, the sooner the collection will be available at AO3.


• Also: if you are already at AO3, let us know! This too will help immensely with the transfer of stories.


• Julie has volunteered to maintain the HASA collection on AO3!

HASA News November 2014

Site freeze
In preparation for exporting the archive to Open Doors (see below) the story part of HASA will have to be frozen: this means that no new stories can be posted and no changes to existing stories can be made. The last date to make changes to your stories is DECEMBER 7. After that you can still read, print, get HTML code, etc., but no changes to the story can be made. Forums are unaffected by this, as we need to communicate with each other.
Please note: if you do not want your stories moved to AO3/Open Doors, or if they are already there, you must switch your stories' status to something other than 'General' or 'Reviewed', since those are the ones that will be exported. Stories with Beta status will not be exported, so if you set your stories to 'Beta' they will not be included in the move. You must do this BEFORE the Site freeze!
Open Doors
As you may have read already, Anglachel is working with the Open Doors project to save the stories on the site. Please keep in mind not everything will be transferred. Things that will NOT be moved to Open Doors:

• Stories with a 'Beta' status
• Comments
• Reviews
• Discussions
• Chapter view click counts

You have to save these yourself if you want to keep them!
Some people have already volunteered to help with the work that will still need to be done to transfer the stories to AO3. Check it out here, along with the rest of the discussion about the shut down.
Sites and help wanted list
MEFA links – For anyone who's had a story nominated for the MEFAs, there's an archive kept at Mefawards.org with information about the stories, including the link the author provided at the time. If you'd like that link changed (because it's at HASA or otherwise outdated), go to the MEFA Livejournal for the details. And thank you, Aranel, for taking on this task!
Archives – There are many archives, and this list is in no way exhaustive, or meant to be so – please tell us about sites we overlooked in the discussion thread.
Many Paths to Tread, Silmarillion Writers Guild, Naice a Nilme and Faerie have offered to help authors who want to transfer their stories, for which we can only say a heartfelt Thank you! Please contact their admins for details.

• Many Paths to Tread
• Silmarillion Writers Guild , including the Library of Tirion project
• Faerie - also allows authors to upload reviews
• Archive of our own
• Fanfiction.net
• Tolkienfanfiction
• Lord of the Rings Fanfiction
• Stories of Arda
• Naice a Nilme gen stories about Aragorn and/or Legolas

Do check out the content and rating policies of the site(s) you want to post on before deciding on where to migrate to. Also, so that we can attempt to build a directory of authors, tell us where you will go, or any other site(s) you already post on. Please use this post on the HASA LJ or the discussion thread at HASA itself for that!
Help wanted – If you have time between now and the end of the year and you want to do something to help, why not help the Many Paths to Tread and Silmarillion Writers Guild admins in transferring stories? Contact them through the sites to see if there's something you can do!

(Edited to add Naice a Nilme to the list of sites helping with transferring stories)

HASA News - October 20

Open Doors

As you may have read already, Anglachel is working with the Open Doors project to see what they can do to save the stories on the site. Please keep in mind that if this works, not everything will be transferred. Things that will NOT be moved to Open Doors:

• Stories with a 'Beta' status
• Comments
• Reviews
• Discussions
• Chapter view click counts

You have to save these yourself if you want to keep them!

Other news

MEFA links – For anyone who's had a story nominated for the MEFAs, there's an archive kept at Mefawards.org with information about the stories, including the link the author provided at the time. If you'd like that link changed (because it's at HASA or otherwise outdated), go to the MEFA Livejournal for the details. And thank you, Aranel, for taking on this task!

Archives – There are many archives, and this list is in no way exhaustive, or meant to be so – please tell us about sites we overlooked in the discussion thread.

Many Paths to Tread, Silmarillion Writers Guild and Faerie have offered to help authors who want to transfer their stories, for which we can only say a heartfelt Thank you! Please contact their admins for details.

• Many Paths to Tread
• Silmarillion Writers Guild , including the Library of Tirion project
• Faerie - also allows authors to upload reviews
• Archive of our own
• Fanfiction.net
• Tolkienfanfiction
• Lord of the Rings Fanfiction
• Stories of Arda
• Naice a Nilme gen stories about Aragorn and/or Legolas

Do check out the content and rating policies of the site(s) you want to post on before deciding on where to migrate to. Also, so that we can attempt to build a directory of authors, tell us where you will go, or any other site(s) you already post on. Please use this post on the HASA LJ or the discussion thread at HASA itself for that!

Help wanted – If you have time between now and the end of the year and you want to do something to help, why not help the Many Paths to Tread and Silmarillion Writers Guild admins in transferring stories? Contact them through the sites to see if there's something you can do!

HASA News - Birthdays, stories, closing news

October Birthdays
Is your birthday in October, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

September Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In September:

---13 General Stories were published or updated.
---no Beta Story were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Closing news
MEFA links
For anyone who's had a story nominated for the MEFAs, there's an archive kept at Mefawards.org with information about the stories, including the link the author provided at the time. If you'd like that link changed (because it's at HASA or otherwise outdated), go to the MEFA Livejournal for the details. And thank you, Aranel, for taking on this task!

Archives

There are many archives, and this list is in no way exhaustive, or meant to be so – please tell us about sites we overlooked in the discussion thread.

Many Paths to Tread, Silmarillion Writers Guild and Faerie have offered to help authors who want to transfer their stories, for which we can only say a heartfelt Thank you! Please contact their admins for details.

• Many Paths to Tread
• Silmarillion Writers Guild , including the Library of Tirion project
• Faerie - also allows authors to upload reviews
• Archive of our own (AO3 has an importing function, but I have not tried it myself, so cannot say how well it works for HASA; anyone who has used it, please let us know.)
• Fanfiction.net
• Tolkienfanfiction
• Lord of the Rings Fanfiction
• Stories of Arda
• Naice a Nilme gen stories about Aragorn and/or Legolas

Do check out the content and rating policies of the site(s) you want to post on before deciding on where to migrate to. Also, so that we can attempt to build a directory of authors, tell us where you will go, or any other site(s) you already post on. Please use this post on the HASA LJ for that!

Help wanted
If you have time between now and the end of the year and you want to do something to help, why not help the Many Paths to Tread and Silmarillion Writers Guild admins in transferring stories? Contact them through the sites to see if there's something you can do!

HASA News - migrating your stories

With the announcement of HASA's closing at the end of the year, it's time to think about where to move your stories. This is especially relevant for authors who post all or some of their work exclusively at HASA, but everybody may want to have another archive as backup for their work.

There are many archives, and this list is in no way exhaustive, or meant to be so – please tell us about what we overlooked here or in the discussion thread at HASA.

These two archives have offered to help authors who want to transfer their stories, for which we can only say a heartfelt Thank you! Please contact their admins for details.

• Many Paths to Tread
• Silmarillion Writers Guild , including the Library of Tirion project

---

• Faerie - also allows authors to upload reviews!
• Archive of our own (AO3 has an importing function, but I have not tried it myself, so cannot say how well it works for HASA; anyone who has used it, please let us know.)
• Fanfiction.net
• Tolkienfanfiction
• Lord of the Rings Fanfiction
• Stories of Arda

Do check out the content and rating policies of the site(s) you want to post on before deciding on where to migrate to. Also, so that we can attempt to build a directory of authors, tell us where you will go, or any other site(s) you already post on. Please use this post on the HASA LJ for that!

All good things come to an end

HASA will be retired and taken offline at the end of the year. This is not being done lightly, and there is a lot of sorrow surrounding the decision.

If you've been watching the news, you know how cybercrime has increased. Just this week, another major security breach was announced, this one affecting US-based Home Depot. Old servers running old software with old generation programming can't keep up with the increasingly sophisticated attacks. Unfortunately, HASA is on that list. Over the last two years, HASA has been attacked several times in various ways. So far, with support from the ISP and a good deal of luck, we've been able to fend off most of this. HASA doesn't store personal or financial data, so our own information isn't worth much to criminals. What hackers want from HASA is to hijack the system, make a zombie of the server, and use to power their attacks on more lucrative targets. At some point the server will get compromised, and then we'll lose the site without warning. Hackers could seize it, or law enforcement if they trace criminal activity to the machine.

Moving the site to new hardware, rewriting the site code and completely securing the application takes time and resources that are not available. Money can be raised, but programming and server security expertise require time and dedication that is beyond current resources. So, this is the end for HASA as a general purpose story archive. Nothing from the site will be sold or distributed to third parties. Stories belong to their authors and member contact information is not for sale.

Programming and site administration effort is now focused on salvaging the Research Library to keep it going in another form. A small group of volunteers is working with an open source content management system (CMS) to see if it will support basic operations. It won't have all of the features we've grown accustomed to with HASA, but the base entries will be saved.

What does this mean for you as a reader or an author?

• HASA will be available through December 31, and will be decommissioned over January.
• You need to start saving what you have here in another format. There will be posts through the rest of the year with advice on how to do this.
• We're sorry, but we cannot take requests to save material for you.
• If you are an author, you need to transfer your stories to alternative archives and platforms.
• Please do not post any new stories unless you already have them posted in another location.

EDIT: please go here for further details and discussion: HASA Shutdown discussion.

Nath

HASA How-to August 2014

Keeping track of stories you read and really like is easy. Find out how to save them to your favorites and update the bookmark after you've read another chapter.

How do I...

...save a story to my favorites and update the bookmark?

Of course you can just bookmark a story in your browser, but there are also two ways to bookmark a story on HASA itself: Save to Favorites and AddThis.

AddThis is available to all readers, and lets you print a story, bookmark the page, email the URL, or link it to a service such as Facebook, Twitter etc.

On every story list and every Reader Toolbox, you will see a bright orange button with a plus sign on it. This is the AddThis button. How it works:

1. Hover your mouse over the button.
2. A pop-up window appears with various options (print, bookmark, send to..., etc.).
3. Click on the option you want.

Save to Favorites is available when you are logged in, and saves the story to your Library on HASA. This means you can get your story list no matter what computer you are on because it is part of the site, not bookmarked on a particular computer. Your Favorites list is available on every page of the site in a drop-down list at the right hand end of the site header.

To save to favorites:

1. Go to the Stories section of HASA.
2. Click on either the overview or any chapter of the story you want to add.
3. In the Reader Toolbox that appears at the top and the foot of these pages, click the button that says "Add Story".
4. The page refreshes and the story is added to your list.
5. If you are on the Overview, the first chapter is bookmarked. If you are on a specific chapter, that chapter is bookmarked.

For multi-chapter stories that you have already Saved to Favorites, you can update your bookmark to set it to a new chapter by using the Set Bookmark button in the Toolbox in the chapter you are reading.

And that's all there is to it!

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

August Birthdays
Is your birthday in August, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

July Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In July:

---41 General Stories were published or updated.
---1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-to - July 2014

How do I...

...save a story to my favorites and update the bookmark?

Of course you can just bookmark a story in your browser, but there are also two ways to bookmark a story on HASA itself: Save to Favorites and AddThis.

AddThis is available to all readers, and lets you print a story, bookmark the page, email the URL, or link it to a service such as Facebook, Twitter etc.

On every story list and every Reader Toolbox, you will see a bright orange button with a plus sign on it. This is the AddThis button. How it works:

1. Hover your mouse over the button.
2. A pop-up window appears with various options (print, bookmark, send to..., etc.).
3. Click on the option you want.

Save to Favorites is available when you are logged in, and saves the story to your Library on HASA. This means you can get your story list no matter what computer you are on because it is part of the site, not bookmarked on a particular computer. Your Favorites list is available on every page of the site in a drop-down list at the right hand end of the site header.

To save to favorites:

1. Go to the Stories section of HASA.
2. Click on either the overview or any chapter of the story you want to add.
3. In the Reader Toolbox that appears at the top and the foot of these pages, click the button that says "Add Story".
4. The page refreshes and the story is added to your list.
5. If you are on the Overview, the first chapter is bookmarked. If you are on a specific chapter, that chapter is bookmarked.

For multi-chapter stories that you have already Saved to Favorites, you can update your bookmark to set it to a new chapter by using the Set Bookmark button in the Toolbox in the chapter you are reading.

And that's all there is to it!

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

July birthdays, Challenges, and links to stories written or updated in June

July Birthdays
Is your birthday in July, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

June Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In June:

---29 General Stories were published or updated.
---no Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-tos: June 2014

How do I...

... use the Forums?

In this How-to you will learn how to join a forum, how post to one and how to create one.

What are the Forums?

A forum is a group of discussion threads. The threads in a forum are organized around something - an author, a story, a topic, an event, etc. Here HASA members can discuss, debate, critique, or just hang out. Some forums are also available to the general public for reading.

There are seven forums at HASA:

• Challenges
• Members
• Resources
• Reviews
• Stories
• Workshop
• General

Some forums are started by admins, but many more belong to individual members, for example authors who want to have a place to discuss their stories.

Closed Forums

Closed forums are only accessible to people who have been authorized by the creator of the forum. A forum may be closed for several reasons: for instance, an author may use a closed forum to discuss a story she's writing with her beta(s), or it could be about an adult story or discuss mature themes.

Read-only Forums

Read-only forums allow anyone to read a topic without being able to post. For instance, most of the site announcements are posted in read-only forums; only site admins can post to these.

How to join a Forum

1. Click on the forum you would like to participate in. If it is an open discussion, you will see 'You are not a participant in this discussion,' followed by a 'Sign Me Up!' link in the "Participation" box in the navigation column.

1. If you click on a forum that is closed, you will see the message 'We're sorry, this is a closed discussion'. If you want to take part in the discussion, click the 'Request Forum entry' button. An email will be sent to the discussion owner who may give or deny access, and you will receive confirmation of the result by email. Be patient; it may take a while for the forum owner to get the email and respond.

3. For an open forum, simply click on 'Sign Me Up.'
4. You will now see 'You are a full participant in this discussion.' You can now read or post at any time.

How to post in a Forum

1. For any forum you wish to participate in, either by reading or posting, you must first join the forum as described above.
2. Click on the forum you want to post in. If you are not already a participant, click on 'Sign me up!'
3. Find the thread that you would like to post to and click on it.
4. If you find a post you would like to reply to, click the 'Reply to Post' button in the message information box.
5. Type your response into the message form. Don't forget to spell check!
6. Click 'Post Reply.'
7. Now, look over your post. If you want to change anything, click on the 'Edit Message' button in the message information box, and edit the post as you like.

How to start a new topic in a Forum

1. Go to the forum you are interested in. If you have already joined the discussion, you will see a button 'Add a New Topic Thread' in the Participation box in the navigation column.
2. Click the button.
3. Type in the subject for the topic. This is what will appear in the topic list when that forum is opened.

Make it clear what the topic is about. Starting a topic in Jane Doe's forum called 'About your story' might be fine now when Jane only has one story; when she has eight it will be confusing.

How to create a Forum

Anyone, whether you are a writer or a reader, can create one or more forums. Obviously, you can start a forum to discuss your stories, but there are many interesting forums here on a wide range of topics related to writing. The busiest forums tend to be in the Resources Forums because that's where people go to look for help with research and to picking each others' brains on obscure Tolkien facts.

The key to getting a forum going is post a lot in that discussion yourself. Forums that look active attract more activity. If no one posts a reply to you right away, post something new - a new chapter, a new idea, a note about something you saw and thought was interesting, etc.

Also, post in other forums - that's how other members get to know you. If you like someone's stories, that person may have similar interests and may like yours, and the conversation may interest them in your forum or your stories. If it is a general interest forum, just be sure you are posting something pertinent to the topic. If you are posting in someone's story forum, you should be there to talk about her stories, not advertise your own. It is considered poor manners to "hijack" threads to try to draw people to your own forum.

If you want feedback on a story, make it easy for those who might want to comment. You can do this by:

• Linking your story to your forum
• Asking specific questions in your forum introduction, the first message of your topic thread, or at the beginning or end of your story.

It is always easier to give a specific rather than general comment. Answering 'What did you think of it?' is much harder than 'Did Gandalf's motivations make sense?' or 'Is the Rohan scene too choppy?'

Now, how to create your forum:

1. Locate an "Add Forum" link or button. These are located:
• In the main Forums navigation drop down menu
• In the top title bar on a Conference list of forums (See example in the Stories Forums . Please note, you have to be logged in.)
• On the main "My Forums" page.
2. Click the link or button.
3. You will see the Add a Forum form.
4. Type in the forum name; short names are preferred and display better. There is a 50 character maximum for titles.
5. If this forum is in the Stories Forums, you might choose to title it by your name: 'Name - Stories,' by the name of the story itself or whatever descriptive name you want to use. If it is in Members, you can also use your name 'Name's Discussion,' or choose another title that you like.
   
   Keep in mind that if you title a story discussion by the name of one story, you may need to add another discussion or change the name of the existing one when you post other stories. It's easiest to use a general name for your discussion, and post a list of stories in the introduction (and edit that when you add a story).
6. Choose which conferences you want the forum to appear in. Available conferences are:
• Members
• Stories
• Challenges
• Resources
• Workshop (Note: you can only add to this conference when you are a member of a workshop)
7. Write your introduction. This serves the same function that a summary does for a story; it is a way to tell members what's inside, and interest them in entering. It can be as simple as 'This is a place to discuss my stories,' or as long and detailed as you like. If it is very long, it will mean that readers have to scroll repeatedly to get to the threads, which some may find annoying.
8. Choose whether you want other members to be able to link their stories to your forum, or whether only you may link to the forum.
9. Decide whether you want to receive emails when there is a new post in your forum. You can always change your mind later. We recommend saying "Yes".
10. Select whether your forum is for general or adult audiences. Please clearly mark forums or posts that contain mature content.
11. Select who may participate in your forum. Unless you have a reason (such as discussing a story in beta, or a discussion on adult topics) to keep people out, you should choose "Open to all HASA Members, General Public may read." You can always change it later.
12. Click "Add Forum".

If there is more you want to learn more about how the forums work, you can find the answer in the Forums FAQ

Have fun!

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

June birthdays, Challenges, and links to stories written or updated in May

June Birthdays
Is your birthday in June, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

May Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In May:

---13 General Stories were published or updated.
---no Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-to May 2014

How do I...

... add a link to the URL Library?

What is the URL Library?

The URL Library is a collection of web page links, organized by general categories, covering both Tolkien's works and other topics of general interest to HASA members. All members are invited to share interesting links.

These may include Tolkien-related sites, but also sites that you have found useful in researching a topic for a story; for instance, sites on pre-modern weaponry, architecture, navigation, astronomy, farming, ...

How do I add a link to the URL Library?

1. Be sure you are logged in - only members can contribute links.
2. Go to the URL Library in Resources.
3. Find the "URL Categories" box in the navigation column.
4. In the box below the form will be a link to add a URL.
5. In the URL form, fill in:
   * the URL address (be sure to add the http:// part!)
   * the web page name
   * the URL category for the site
   * a brief summary of under 250 characters, including spaces (please include warnings for any Adult content).
6. Click on the "Add URL" button.

Your URL will be added in draft status and the Resource Manager will be notified there is a URL waiting for review.

Have fun!

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

May Birthdays
Is your birthday in May, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

April Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In April:

---16 General Stories were published or updated.
---1 Beta Story was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-to April 2014: password security

As you no doubt have read, a major vulnerability in SSL (the secure channel used for HTTPS) has been detected recently, affecting many web sites.
We are pleased to confirm that HASA was NOT affected by this vulnerability.

However, this is a good time to review your password security. Good password security practices include:

• Using a password manager, such as for instance LastPass
• Change passwords every six months to a year
• Never reuse passwords
• Make sure passwords are at least 10 characters in length, include upper and lower case letters, have numbers and (if the site allows it) use non-alphanumeric characters.

At the very least:

• Do NOT use your Facebook password on other sites. You can use an integrated login (if you are told "Log in with your Facebook account") because the other site is handing the information back to Facebook, no storing it locally, but don't reuse that password anywhere. Change it at least very six months - set a reminder on your calendar.
• Use different passwords for each financial site you use (your bank, PayPal, credit card site, etc.)
• Password protect your phone!
• Let XKCD show you how to construct a super-secure password that is easy to remember

Safe browsing!

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

April Birthdays
Is your birthday in April, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges
The Listicle Challenge, which started on March 25 to celebrate VmE Sauron Day, will run until the end of the month. Find all the details here.

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

March Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In March:

---25 General Stories were published or updated.
---no Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-tos - March 2014

How do I...

...add an item to the Research Cabinet?

The quickest way to get started with the Research Cabinet is to add a few items to it. It's as easy as finding an item to add and clicking a button!

1. Log in to HASA.
2. Go to the Resources section of the site.
3. Browse for a Research Library item you would like to add to your cabinet. The items you can add are:
   a. Timeline Events
   b. Character Bios
   c. Places
   d. Things
   e. Full Text Searches (Note - you have to save a search before you can add it to your Cabinet)
4. Once you have found the Library item you want to add to you Research Cabinet, look for the right-hand menu box labeled "Research Cabinet".
5. In the Research Cabinet box, click the "Add this [item] to research cabinet".
6. The page refreshes and the item is added to your cabinet.

At this point, you can leave the item loose in the Cabinet, add it to a Notebook, and/or create a Research Note to go with it; and we will look at how to do that in the next few months. The great thing about the research cabinet is that you can organise your information so that it makes sense to you.

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

March Birthdays
Is your birthday in March, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

Challenges

Just as Challenges come from Prospective Challenges, Prospective Challenges come from Nuzgûl, and Nuzgûl need attention to grow from tiny ideas into big stories. Step into the Nuzgûl hutch. The bunnies don't bite (much). And who knows what ideas you may come out with?

February Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In February:

---28 General Stories were published or updated.
---1 Beta Stories was updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA news - Donations, Birthdays, Stories

Story Pledge Challenge and donations

There have been 9 entries in the Sun, Shadow and Smaug challenge. We have two pledges for $5 per story, with a maximum of $70 for one pledge and $75 for the other. With 9 entries, this gives us a pledge total of $90 for the challenge.

Challenge entries will appear on the HASA home page for the next two weeks and pledges will continue to be accepted through that time. List your pledge in the pledges thread.

As of yesterday, Sunday, February 2, HASA has received $55 in regular donations for January, and has an outstanding hosting balance of $775. This includes the cost for January 2014.

As you know, HASA depends on donations from members and readers, both one-time gifts and subscriptions. Our PayPal account has three ways to donate:

• Monthly subscriptions - set up a monthly recurring donation in amounts from $5 to $25 dollars.
• Yearly subscriptions - set up a recurring annual donation in amounts from $15 to $50 dollars.
• One-off donations of any amount.

If you're a little short on spare change at the moment, donations of time are always appreciated. There's an archive full of stories just waiting for comments, authors who would love an email complimenting them on their work, challenges that need entries, playlists that need to be created, research that needs doing and forums begging for discussions.

February Birthdays
Is your birthday in February, and would you like a drabble about your favourite character or topic? You can request it here.

Not sure what the birthday cards are about? Have a look at some stories written for previous requests.

January Stories
All writers love feedback. It is the lembas and miruvor that sustains us as we write our story, and leaving a few words about a story you read is always a nice thing to do, whether the story is new or old.

Every fifteen minutes HASA highlights a story chosen at random from the Reviewed and General stories in the archive. Read the currently featured story on our front page.

Many talented writers are publishing every day. In January:

---34 General Stories were published or updated.
---no Beta Stories were updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)

Thank you for reading and writing at HASA. Enjoy!