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!

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 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 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 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 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!

2014 Pledge Challenge

The 2014 Pledge Challenge will run until the end of January. Join in the fun!

Readers, pledges and authors are all welcome! Write a story (or two), comment, or perhaps you've some spare change and are willing to pledge a small amount per story.

Read about the Challenge in more detail here.

HASA news - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

Story Pledge Challenge
Why not take part in the January 2014 Story Pledge Challenge? Join in the fun: write a story or put up a pledge, or perhaps even both.

Following the course of the second Hobbit movie, the theme for this year is Sun, Shadow and Smaug. Bilbo journeys from the sunny slopes of the Misty Mountains into the deep shadows of Mirkwood, emerging from them to continue to the desolation of the Dragon. Gone are the certainties of the civilized Shire, evil lurks beneath the branches of the trees, and every step brings him closer to Smaug...
The Challenge: Write a story that is connected in some way with The Hobbit - the book or the movies - and that uses one or more of the three themes of the challenge - sun, shadow, Smaug - and post it on HASA. It can be anything you like as long as it ties in to something that happens or is mentioned or must have occurred given the events of the book or the movie. Of course there are some rules to the Challenge.

For authors:

• Your story must be a new story, never having appeared for the general public on any other web site
• Your story must be 500 words or more in length (combining drabbles is fine, length allowances made for poetry)
• Your story is posted exclusively to HASA in January while the Challenge runs

For those readers who want to pledge a donation:

• The pledge is per completed story posted to the Challenge - you can't specify that you'll only donate for an Elf story or one with Gollum in it, for example.
• A minimum of $1.00 per story
• No minimum on the total amount you're willing to pledge

Enter a story in the Challenge here.

The Story Pledge Challenge in the Forums: General discussion

Keep an eye out for the Entries and Pledges forums!

January Birthdays
Is your birthday in January, 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.

December 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 December:

---15 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 at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA News - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

December Birthdays

Is your birthday in December, 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 previous ones.

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?

November 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 November:

--- 26 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 at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA news - birthdays, challenges, stories

November Birthdays

Is your birthday in November, 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 previous ones.

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?

The Nuzgûl of the Month!

The all-new November Nuzgûl, from Aruthir, celebrating life – October was the month one commemorated the dead, so let November be a month that celebrates life. Mothers, wives, sisters, sons, husbands, brothers... is it not written that a single spark brings an end to a millennium of darkness, after all?

If you have ideas for later Nuzgûlim of the Month, please post to the discussion thread as well. Ideas are always welcome!

October 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 October:

--- 10 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 at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA News - Birthdays, Challenges, Stories

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 previous ones.

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?

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:

--- 32 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 at HASA. Enjoy!

HASA How-to August 2013

How do I...

... use favorites, recommendations and comments?

In last month's How-to we looked at the various kinds of stories and how to find a specific story. This month looks at how to work with favorites, how to recommend a story and how to comment.

Favorites and bookmarks

Once you have found a story (see last month's How-to), there are several ways to bookmark it. As a HASA member you can save a story to Favorites. If you do this, you can always find it again when you're logged in.

Members - Save to Favorites

This stores the story in your own Library on HASA. The story is then always available anywhere in the site from the story favorites drop-down menu 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.
6. When reading a long story, you can update your bookmark and set it to a new chapter by clicking on the "Set Bookmark" button in the Toolbox.

Members and Public - AddThis Button

On every story list and in every Reader Toolbox, there is a bright orange button with a plus sign on it. This is the AddThis service's button. To use the button:

1. Hover your mouse over the button
2. A pop-up window appears, with different commands and social networking sites
3. You can send the page to the printer, bookmark the page, send the URL to an email address or link it to one of the services, such as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc.
4. Click on the desired button
5. If you use IE or Firefox, there are browser plug-ins that work directly with the AddThis button.

You can also just bookmark a story in your regular browser Favorites list.

If you have a lot of favorites, they display in the reverse order of when you added them. If you have a lot of stories, you may want to set them in a specific order to help keep track which one you are currently reading.

1. Mouse over the "Stories" button in the top navigation bar.
2. In the drop-down menu, select "My Library". (Note, if the menu does not drop down for you, click on the main Stories button. On the Stories home page, click on "Manage My Library" from the My Library menu.)
3. On the home page of My Library, you will see the list of all your bookmarked favorites.
4. Use the ordinal number form in the left hand column of the stories table to set a new order.
5. Click "Reorder List" to update.

How to recommend a story

If you enjoyed a story, you can let others know why you liked it.

1. Go to the story overview page or a chapter page and click on "Recommend" in the Reader Toolbox.
2. When you see the recommendation form, choose one or more reasons from the list in the box (hold down the CTRL key to select more than one), then click "Add" below the box.
3. The reasons you chose will be displayed below the story summary. You name as a recommender will appear and people can click your name to see what other stories you have recommended.

Other ways to recommend a story are:

• Write a comment. Authors love comments!
• Create a playlist and explain in detailed introduction just what is so awesome about this story.
• Post in the author's forum. If the author has a forum, sign up and add a new thread to say what you like about the story. Get a discussion going!

How to post a comment

Authors love comments and they are so easy to do! You must be logged in to post comments. HASA does not permit anonymous commenting.

• From the story overview page, look in the sidebar navigation for a box that says "Talk to [author's name]". You'll see the comment form in that box. Comments made from the over view page are always tagged as "General Overview" comments.
• From each story chapter, look in the sidebar navigation for a box that says "Talk to [author's name]". You'll see the comment form in that box. Comments made from a chapter page are always tagged as belonging to that chapter.
• From the Comments page, the comments box appears at the top of the comments for that story. On the comments page, the comment will be tagged with whatever chapter's comments you are viewing.
• If a story does not yet have comments, the first comment must be made from the story, not the Comments page.
• If a chapter does not yet have comments, the first comment must be made from the chapter, not the Comments page.

Have fun reading and exploring!

If there is any topic you'd like to see in the how-to, please let us know!