HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Thank you to generous site users who donated last month, and in previous months. Currently our balance is at $12.05, which means we will need donations to pay the July hosting bill. The due date is July 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 121 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
HASA news - June 2009
The general news bulletin for June 2009, focusing on reviews, birthdays, challenges, and stories.
Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first). If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up.
Reviews
Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you're not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... why not sign up? You're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Challenges and Nuzgul
We have two prospective Challenges waiting for authors to join in: the Midsummer Challenge, and the HASA Birthday Challenge. You can find the Prospective Challenges forum here
Forums and Workshops
Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.
A quick overview of forum links:
On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.
If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.
Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).
Playlists
Playlists are lists of HASA stories put together by authors and readers, just as music lovers put together lists of their favorite songs.
For example:
- An author uses playlists to put the stories in a series in reading order.
- A reader puts her ‘favourites’ in a playlist and explains why they are listed
- A reader makes a list of similarly themed stories, for instance Hobbit romance or critical essays on Men.
- ...
Anyone can create a playlist!
If you are a reader, you can collect your favorite stories by different authors together in one place. If you are an author, you can put one together of your own stories. Using the Workshop, a group of authors can put together joint playlists of their work.
If you are logged in, go to My Playlists for more information on creating your own lists.
Playlists are meant to be shared!
Once you publish your playlist, other HASA members can add your list to a playlist favorites collection. You can collect playlists by authors and other readers even if you don't have any of your own. On every playlist overview page is an "Add to My Collection" button. Click, and that list is added to your collection. If you don't see the button, check to see if you are logged in.
May Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In May:
--- 16 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 42 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 6 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
- Nath -
Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first). If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up.
Reviews
Right now, there are 11 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you're not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... why not sign up? You're eligible if you've been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Just as importantly, having more people involved means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do unto other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Challenges and Nuzgul
We have two prospective Challenges waiting for authors to join in: the Midsummer Challenge, and the HASA Birthday Challenge. You can find the Prospective Challenges forum here
Forums and Workshops
Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.
A quick overview of forum links:
On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.
If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.
Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).
Playlists
Playlists are lists of HASA stories put together by authors and readers, just as music lovers put together lists of their favorite songs.
For example:
- An author uses playlists to put the stories in a series in reading order.
- A reader puts her ‘favourites’ in a playlist and explains why they are listed
- A reader makes a list of similarly themed stories, for instance Hobbit romance or critical essays on Men.
- ...
Anyone can create a playlist!
If you are a reader, you can collect your favorite stories by different authors together in one place. If you are an author, you can put one together of your own stories. Using the Workshop, a group of authors can put together joint playlists of their work.
If you are logged in, go to My Playlists for more information on creating your own lists.
Playlists are meant to be shared!
Once you publish your playlist, other HASA members can add your list to a playlist favorites collection. You can collect playlists by authors and other readers even if you don't have any of your own. On every playlist overview page is an "Add to My Collection" button. Click, and that list is added to your collection. If you don't see the button, check to see if you are logged in.
May Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In May:
--- 16 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 42 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 6 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
- Nath -
Friday, June 5, 2009
HASA is looking for reviewers
I made an announcement Wednesday on the website that HASA needed reviewers.
Thank you to reviewers that answered the request -- enough that there are now 17
stories waiting, down from 19.
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? Remember to log in
first.
If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up. You're eligible if you've
been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more
people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be
represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through
review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Thanks for helping,
Julie
Thank you to reviewers that answered the request -- enough that there are now 17
stories waiting, down from 19.
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out? Remember to log in
first.
If you are not a reviewer, please consider signing up. You're eligible if you've
been a member of HASA for thirty days or more.
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more
people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be
represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through
review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Thanks for helping,
Julie
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Donations for June site hosting needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $42.05, which means we will need donations to pay the June hosting bill.
This pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. We need about eleven $5 donations, because HASA's generous secret admirer is continuing to match donations; every dollar you donate will be matched.
HASA has many visitors every day. If only a fraction of that number can donate $5 each, we will be funded for next month. You can also show your support for HASA in other ways: why not write a comment or review a story, even if you cannot donate. But above all, enjoy the site!
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
This pays for the dedicated server HASA needs to provide the features and fun visitors love - stories, comments, forums, alerts, challenges and more. We need about eleven $5 donations, because HASA's generous secret admirer is continuing to match donations; every dollar you donate will be matched.
HASA has many visitors every day. If only a fraction of that number can donate $5 each, we will be funded for next month. You can also show your support for HASA in other ways: why not write a comment or review a story, even if you cannot donate. But above all, enjoy the site!
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Sunday, May 3, 2009
HASA news - May 2009
The general news bulletin for May 2009, focusing on birthdays, challenges, reviews and stories.
To start with, some very good news: thanks to the generosity of our donors, costs for May are covered! Thank you all!
Of course, money (though welcome) isn’t the only way you can "donate" to HASA. Just as much as money to keep going, HASA needs you to write stories, make comments, perform reviews, post to forums etc. If you would like to donate, but your budget won't allow it, pick out a favourite story and post a comment. It just takes a minute and it will make that author's day!
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in May and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.
Reviews
Right now, there are 19 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Resources
The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.
Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.
Some recent articles in Resources:
Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn
Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II
Places
Argonath
Caragdûr
Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform
Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).
April Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In April:
--- 6 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 37 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 6 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
To start with, some very good news: thanks to the generosity of our donors, costs for May are covered! Thank you all!
Of course, money (though welcome) isn’t the only way you can "donate" to HASA. Just as much as money to keep going, HASA needs you to write stories, make comments, perform reviews, post to forums etc. If you would like to donate, but your budget won't allow it, pick out a favourite story and post a comment. It just takes a minute and it will make that author's day!
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in May and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.
Reviews
Right now, there are 19 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Resources
The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.
Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.
Some recent articles in Resources:
Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn
Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II
Places
Argonath
Caragdûr
Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform
Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).
April Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In April:
--- 6 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 37 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 6 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Site no longer down
Edit: HASA is back up.
As you may have noticed already, the site is currently down. This will be resolved as soon as possible. Please check back here for news or check the main site (it may be back before I can update here).
--
Nath
As you may have noticed already, the site is currently down. This will be resolved as soon as possible. Please check back here for news or check the main site (it may be back before I can update here).
--
Nath
Saturday, April 4, 2009
HASA news - April 2009
HASA news - April 2009
With March, Back to Middle-earth Month, now behind us, it’s time to erm... stay in Middle-earth a bit longer? A round of applause for everyone who took part, whether you wrote just one or two prompts or managed to do them all, and thanks to the organisers over at SWG for their hard work in thinking up all these prompts!
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in April and would 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 the stories written for the March requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but the prospective April Poetry Month Challenge needs just two more people joining in to become a Challenge.
And perhaps you also have an idea you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Reviews
Right now, there are 15 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Forums
Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.
A quick overview of forum links:
On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.
If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.
Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).
March Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In March:
--- 10 Reviewed Stories
--- 35 General Stories
--- 7 Beta Stories (Remember, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
-Nath-
With March, Back to Middle-earth Month, now behind us, it’s time to erm... stay in Middle-earth a bit longer? A round of applause for everyone who took part, whether you wrote just one or two prompts or managed to do them all, and thanks to the organisers over at SWG for their hard work in thinking up all these prompts!
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in April and would 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 the stories written for the March requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but the prospective April Poetry Month Challenge needs just two more people joining in to become a Challenge.
And perhaps you also have an idea you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Reviews
Right now, there are 15 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
Forums
Forums are where you will find people discussing research questions and stories.
A quick overview of forum links:
On Our Minds displays the ten most recent posts in forums open to all HASA members. It’s a good way to catch up on what you’ve missed, though the page can move quickly when lots of forums are active at once.
If you've been out of touch for longer than a few days you might want to use the One Month of Posts page. This page is just what it sounds like: a list of forums that have been posted to in the last month, beginning with the most recently updated.
Workshops are specialized writing communities. They allow you to share stories you aren’t ready to post to the whole site, and many have interesting forums attached to them. Explore workshops to find a group of members interested in similar topics. (You must be logged in to see this link).
March Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In March:
--- 10 Reviewed Stories
--- 35 General Stories
--- 7 Beta Stories (Remember, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
-Nath-
Monday, March 9, 2009
Donations for April site hosting needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Thank you to generous site users who donated last month, and in previous months. Currently our balance is at $73.35, which means we will need donations to pay the April hosting bill. The due date is April 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 125 visitors, which is a nice number. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
HASA news - March 2009
March is Back to Middle-earth Month. The Silmarillion Writers Guild is posting daily prompts at their site. Why not go over and participate? (and of course post the results at HASA *g*)
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in March and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Resources
The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.
Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.
Some recent articles in Resources:
Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn
Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II
Places
Argonath
Caragdûr
Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform
Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).
February Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In February:
--- 26 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 54 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 4 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
March is Back to Middle-earth Month. The Silmarillion Writers Guild is posting daily prompts at their site. Why not go over and participate? (and of course post the results at HASA *g*)
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in March and would 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 the stories written for previous requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
Alas, there are no current open Challenges, but perhaps you have ideas you’d like to see written? Grab that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Resources
The HASA Research Library is a very useful resource for writers as well as for online discussions on book canon. You can find entries on characters, settings, events, and items, containing cited quotes about the item you are trying to find more information on. This portion of the site is available here.
Would you like to get involved with Resources? If you like researching and want to help develop this section of HASA you can contact the Resources & Research Library through the contact form at http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/contact.cfm.
Some recent articles in Resources:
Timeline Events:
Frodo and Sam set off for Mordor
Éomer pursues the Orc-raiders towards Fangorn
Character Biographies
Nerdanel
Isengrim Took II
Places
Argonath
Caragdûr
Things
Shire-reckoning
Shire-reform
Good luck researching your story! If you enjoy this section of the site, why not tell the researchers (they’re listed at the bottom of every entry).
February Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In February:
--- 26 Reviewed Stories were published or updated.
--- 54 General Stories were published or updated.
--- 4 Beta Stories were published or updated.
(Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Donations March site hosting needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $67.67, which means we will need donations to pay the March hosting bill. The due date is March 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 144 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Sunday, February 1, 2009
HASA news - February 2009
Birthday Cards
If you have a birthday in February and would 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 the stories written for the January requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
There are no current open Challenges, but the Unbelievable AU idea only needs 3 more people to make it into one. Take a look and wait for that nibble on the ankle...
Challenges need nuzgul. Have ideas you’d like to see written? Why not take that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Reviews
Right now, there are 14 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
January Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In January:
--- 17 Reviewed Stories
--- 54 General Stories
--- 4 Beta Stories (Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
-Nath-
If you have a birthday in February and would 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 the stories written for the January requests.
Challenges and Nuzgul
There are no current open Challenges, but the Unbelievable AU idea only needs 3 more people to make it into one. Take a look and wait for that nibble on the ankle...
Challenges need nuzgul. Have ideas you’d like to see written? Why not take that nuzgul by the scruff of the neck (mind the teeth!) and see if you can get four others to make it a Challenge?
Prospective Challenges can be found here
Reviews
Right now, there are 14 stories waiting for reviewers (remember to log in first).
If you are an active reviewer, why not go and check one out?
If you’re not an active reviewer, but would like to be one... If you've been a member of HASA for thirty days and think this might be an area you'd like to get involved, it's easy to get started. Read the links below, and then click "Reviews Home" and click on the link to "Activate my status now." You'll be taken to a list of stories awaiting reviewers. Click on the title, read it, and enter your review.
(please note: you need to be logged in for these links to work):
--- Reviews Overview
--- Review Policies
--- Review Criteria
As you can perhaps guess, member participation is crucial for reviews. The more people that are involved in the review process, the more opinions will be represented. Having more people involved also means that stories pass through review more quickly - which is good for everyone.
Here's a simple thing to try. You're all familiar with the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." By submitting a story for review, you are asking nine other members to read and evaluate it. So why not do until other authors in reviews as you'd like other reviewers to do unto you: check out one of the stories already in review and give it a read. Put more simply: put one in, take one out.
January Stories
All of us 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. Why not go to http://www.henneth-annun.net/ and read the currently featured story?
Many talented writers are publishing every day. In January:
--- 17 Reviewed Stories
--- 54 General Stories
--- 4 Beta Stories (Please note, you need to be logged in to view beta stories.)
Thank you for reading at HASA. Enjoy!
-Nath-
Friday, January 9, 2009
Donations February site hosting needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US. Currently our balance is at $62.05, which means we will need donations to pay the January hosting bill. The due date is February 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this, late Friday afternoon, it's at 93 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Happy Holidays
We hope everyone is having a safe & happy season.
Thanks to generous donations January site funding is covered and we have a good start on February! Thanks to everyone who made a donation and thanks to everyone for reading and writing and enjoying HASA.
Julie
Thanks to generous donations January site funding is covered and we have a good start on February! Thanks to everyone who made a donation and thanks to everyone for reading and writing and enjoying HASA.
Julie
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Donations for January site hosting needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
Currently our balance is at $48.99, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due January 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 161 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Currently our balance is at $48.99, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due January 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 161 visitors. If a fraction of that number who have not donated yet can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
We're OK for December!
17 Nov Update: Thanks everyone! With donations from readers & members, we now are covered for December. Thanks very much for reading, enjoying & supporting HASA
Julie
=========
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
Currently our balance is at $42.83, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due December 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 117 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Julie
=========
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
Currently our balance is at $42.83, which means we will need donations to pay the December hosting bill, which is due December 8th. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 117 visitors. If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be funded for next month. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Site hosting update: OK for November, Donations for December needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
Currently our balance is at $154.21, which means we have November covered, but will need donations for December. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 118 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanks for visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and posting your stories! If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be set for December. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Currently our balance is at $154.21, which means we have November covered, but will need donations for December. If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see a message, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 118 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanks for visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and posting your stories! If a fraction of that number can donate $5 each we will be set for December. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Friday, September 26, 2008
Site Hosting update
Thanks to recent donations, HASA is funded through November.
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
I am very happy that readers and writers continue to support this site. (As I write this message, “Visitors currently online” is at 123 – a fun number that makes me smile.) If you haven’t yet made a donation, please consider doing so sometime soon. Since November and December are busy months for me, I am hoping that December will be fully funded by the end of October. I will keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment of quality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are $150 US.
I am very happy that readers and writers continue to support this site. (As I write this message, “Visitors currently online” is at 123 – a fun number that makes me smile.) If you haven’t yet made a donation, please consider doing so sometime soon. Since November and December are busy months for me, I am hoping that December will be fully funded by the end of October. I will keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Thanks for enjoying HASA,
Julie
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Funding update: OK for October, Donations for November needed
HASA is an ad-free, fee-free Web site, run for the enjoyment ofquality JRRT fanfiction. Currently, our monthly hosting costs are$150 US.We have been getting a series of $5 and $10 and $25 donations so thathosting fees for next month are covered. There are stillmatching funds left over for the 3rd quarter challenge that areavailable through September 30th. We still need about $35 forNovember.
If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see amessage, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 153 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanksfor visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and postingyour stories! If just 7 of you can donate $5 each, HASA will be setfor October. If you donate before the end of this month, we may get ahead start on December. I'll keep you informed.
Julie
If you look down at the bottom of any HASA page you will see amessage, "Visitors Currently Online". As I write this it's at 153 visitors. I've seen it over 200 and never under 50. Readers, thanksfor visiting and enjoying! Writers, thanks for writing and postingyour stories! If just 7 of you can donate $5 each, HASA will be setfor October. If you donate before the end of this month, we may get ahead start on December. I'll keep you informed.
To see the HASA donation page, click here: http://www.henneth-annun.net/about/donate.cfm
Julie
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Qtr. 3 Funding Challenge
When checking over the site for problems after the recent attack, I noticed that site hosting donations are a little over $50 short for the August hosting bill due week after next.
I spoke with HASA's Secret Admirer, who generously agreed to do another matching funds challenge!
Our funding goal is $200, which will pay for August and September. Our Secret Admirer will match dollar for dollar up to $200 from now through September 31. This way, every dollar you give is worth $2.
Thank you for your support!
Anglachel
I spoke with HASA's Secret Admirer, who generously agreed to do another matching funds challenge!
Our funding goal is $200, which will pay for August and September. Our Secret Admirer will match dollar for dollar up to $200 from now through September 31. This way, every dollar you give is worth $2.
Thank you for your support!
Anglachel
Friday, July 25, 2008
Site Restored
Beginning in the late afternoon of Monday, July 21, I received emails from a number of HASA site visitors that something was terribly wrong with the site. Because of regulations at my workplace, I had to wait until I got home to view the site. My heart sank when I saw the errors affecting almost every page of the site. It was obviously malicious work, so I shut off the site to prevent further access.
Looking at source code, I saw information that should not have been there - JavaScript snippets, strange URLs, and other text garbage. A quick Google search revealed the problem. There had been a worldwide SQL injection attack on ColdFusion sites that ran on IIS web servers. Many sites had been brought down and a lot of data had been corrupted. Luckily, the attacker had only tried to insert code to convert site links to go to his own web site, and had not tried to delete data or erase databases. The ColdFusion community had responded quickly. By the time I was looking for information, the exact attack had been identified, various clean up scripts had been posted, and I had the tools necessary to fix the database.
What is a SQL injection attack? It is the nastiest, most destructive web site attack out there. In general terms, a coder takes a site form or URL, looks for a variable that appears to be an ID used by a database to locate a record, such as a story. Most database driven web sites work like this. The coder then resends the URL or form with a string of database commands (Structured Query Language statements) and tries to take over your database. If their SQL string is written well enough and if the database under attack is not protected, these commands can do anything from insert text to delete the entire database to (under very rare conditions) take over the server itself.
ColdFusion has a number of features to foil SQL injections right on the server and there are coding practices to help prevent the attacks. Just over a year ago, I had spent a month retrofitting much of the site to protect the main data tables and search functions from attacks. However, real life demanded my attention, and I did not get all the tables protected. Some of the lookup tables, like Story Era, were still vulnerable, and that's where HASA was attacked. In addition, the SQL statement used for the attacks was very sophisticated and bypassed most of the server-level protections.
The first thing to do was assess the damage. I ran some scripts and discovered there were 29 fields in 11 tables where trash data had been inserted. None of them affected the main story, forum, comment or review tables, which was a great relief. Also, non-HASA databases had not been affected, which meant damage was contained. Next, I ran a scrubber on those tables which located the bogus text and stripped it out. The biggest advantage here was that I did not have to run a restore from a backup, which would have lost content added to the site since the time the backup was run.
Data restored, I now had to track down those vulnerability points in the site. That is what has taken so long as every individual page in the site that an external (not logged in) user can reach had to be examined for all database connections and then those connections had to be evaluated for whether they were injection points. After the pages were reviewed, corrections made, and new code posted to a hidden site for the testers to check for bugs, all the forms had to be gone over. Forms are more dangerous than URLs, though more difficult to compromise, because they are the most common way to insert data into a database. The forms were completed yesterday. After that, the revised code was merged with the production code, uploaded again to another protected test area and put through its paces. That went on until pretty late last night.
There are a few glitches left. One form, the Knowledge Base search in the Research Library, could not be fixed and has been taken offline. The index search and all of the individual section lookups the Research Library are working. Also, the pop-up forum window attached to story pages will throw an error message if you try to use it. The Who's Online feature for logged in members does not appear to be working in production. There are a few conditions on a few forms we were not able to reproduce, so it's not 100% certain that they are working.
More testing will continue over the next month to be certain all access points were caught and to fix any bug accidentally introduced during the fixes. If you encounter an error message or you see something that just seems wrong on the site, please use the Contact form and send me an email at Tech Support.
This was the worst technical problem the site has experienced in its seven year history because of the data corruption. We got away with correctable damage, but it could have been much worse had the attacker been trying to destroy data. My deep thanks and appreciation for the site members who alerted me to the attack and provided their assistance to get the site fixed.
Anglachel
Looking at source code, I saw information that should not have been there - JavaScript snippets, strange URLs, and other text garbage. A quick Google search revealed the problem. There had been a worldwide SQL injection attack on ColdFusion sites that ran on IIS web servers. Many sites had been brought down and a lot of data had been corrupted. Luckily, the attacker had only tried to insert code to convert site links to go to his own web site, and had not tried to delete data or erase databases. The ColdFusion community had responded quickly. By the time I was looking for information, the exact attack had been identified, various clean up scripts had been posted, and I had the tools necessary to fix the database.
What is a SQL injection attack? It is the nastiest, most destructive web site attack out there. In general terms, a coder takes a site form or URL, looks for a variable that appears to be an ID used by a database to locate a record, such as a story. Most database driven web sites work like this. The coder then resends the URL or form with a string of database commands (Structured Query Language statements) and tries to take over your database. If their SQL string is written well enough and if the database under attack is not protected, these commands can do anything from insert text to delete the entire database to (under very rare conditions) take over the server itself.
ColdFusion has a number of features to foil SQL injections right on the server and there are coding practices to help prevent the attacks. Just over a year ago, I had spent a month retrofitting much of the site to protect the main data tables and search functions from attacks. However, real life demanded my attention, and I did not get all the tables protected. Some of the lookup tables, like Story Era, were still vulnerable, and that's where HASA was attacked. In addition, the SQL statement used for the attacks was very sophisticated and bypassed most of the server-level protections.
The first thing to do was assess the damage. I ran some scripts and discovered there were 29 fields in 11 tables where trash data had been inserted. None of them affected the main story, forum, comment or review tables, which was a great relief. Also, non-HASA databases had not been affected, which meant damage was contained. Next, I ran a scrubber on those tables which located the bogus text and stripped it out. The biggest advantage here was that I did not have to run a restore from a backup, which would have lost content added to the site since the time the backup was run.
Data restored, I now had to track down those vulnerability points in the site. That is what has taken so long as every individual page in the site that an external (not logged in) user can reach had to be examined for all database connections and then those connections had to be evaluated for whether they were injection points. After the pages were reviewed, corrections made, and new code posted to a hidden site for the testers to check for bugs, all the forms had to be gone over. Forms are more dangerous than URLs, though more difficult to compromise, because they are the most common way to insert data into a database. The forms were completed yesterday. After that, the revised code was merged with the production code, uploaded again to another protected test area and put through its paces. That went on until pretty late last night.
There are a few glitches left. One form, the Knowledge Base search in the Research Library, could not be fixed and has been taken offline. The index search and all of the individual section lookups the Research Library are working. Also, the pop-up forum window attached to story pages will throw an error message if you try to use it. The Who's Online feature for logged in members does not appear to be working in production. There are a few conditions on a few forms we were not able to reproduce, so it's not 100% certain that they are working.
More testing will continue over the next month to be certain all access points were caught and to fix any bug accidentally introduced during the fixes. If you encounter an error message or you see something that just seems wrong on the site, please use the Contact form and send me an email at Tech Support.
This was the worst technical problem the site has experienced in its seven year history because of the data corruption. We got away with correctable damage, but it could have been much worse had the attacker been trying to destroy data. My deep thanks and appreciation for the site members who alerted me to the attack and provided their assistance to get the site fixed.
Anglachel
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