Site News & Announcements (Book) http://www.Writing.Com/main/books.php/item_id/206127/action/archive The following winners for the February 2010 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 15 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1648174] Second: [Link To Item #1649237] Third: [Link To Item #1646847] ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:17:23 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/690342 Greetings Members, In [Link to Book Entry #662962], we introduced the ability to embed YouTube videos into the entries of book items. We're now moving that out of beta-testing and calling it "official" functionality. At the same time, we're also opening up the feature for use by Upgrade Members and above! Here's a copy and paste of some info from the orig...[Read Full Post] Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:10:14 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689631 Greetings Members, Back on 12/12, I posted [Link to Book Entry #679705] about an update to our portfolio mouse over. While improving the way pages loaded and how copy and pasted text work, it was a bit slow and laggy, checking with the server for each mouseover. When I put it in place, I knew it was better than what we had, but not yet the best it could be... And now it is! ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:56:39 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/689069 Greetings, Five new emoticons! { } = { } = { } = { } = { } = The rainbow icons work great individually... But you can also put them together to create a full These new icons are all in the <a href="javascript:LaunchPopPlus('http://www.Writing.Com/main/tools/action/emoticons', 'emoticon_list', &#3...[Read Full Post] Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:26:20 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688756 Greetings Members! The Edit Preferences area has been revamped and cleaned up. If you find any problems, please leave a comment on this post and let us know. [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/main/my_account/action/edit_prefs'] We'll be making more changes and enhancements to that area in the future. If you have any suggestions for...[Read Full Post] Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:28:39 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688641 Greetings! You can now set the default setting for the "Make this Review Public" checkbox. If most of your reviews are public, you'll want to set your default to have this box checked! There's a "Set Default" link next to the checkbox, but you can jump to the setting here: [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/m...[Read Full Post] Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:27:40 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688484 Hello, Just a quick bit of house keeping... the Public Rating and Review Counts preference has moved to the "Edit Preferences" area. With that move, Edit Text and Special Settings no longer has any "settings" and becomes Edit Text and Special Items . ~~SM Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:12:51 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/688264 The following winners for the January 2010 running of [Link To Item #597313] were chosen from the 104 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #597313] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1635998] Second: [Link To Item #1639062] Third: [Link To I...[Read Full Post] Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:20:23 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687678 Hello! We're now supporting the 13 Digit ISBN format in all of our "Amazon.Com" tools. This includes, but might not be limited to the "Authors In Print" area, Amazon WritingML tags and product reviews. (Yes, you can still use both Amazon ASIN's and 10 digit ISBNs.) Better late than never! Enjoy, ~~SM ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:33:41 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/687652 Hello Members! We're ready to open testing for our initial Facebook tabs: Blog and Journal . These are two different tabs, they perform exactly the same; it's just a matter of whether you prefer to have a tab titled "Blog" or "Journal"... or both blog AND journal tabs. For an example of the Blog tab in action, you can check out WdC's facebook fan page: [Link: 'http://www.f...[Read Full Post] Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:52:37 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685709 Happy Weekend Everyone! I've added a new little " emoticon tagging thingy " (sure, that's ETT for short ) that allows you to "tag" an email with an emoticon. Just use an emoticon at the very beginning of your subject line and that email will be "tagged" with that emoticon, showing it on the subject line of the email. That's probably not the best explanation, so here's an example: If ...[Read Full Post] Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:49:49 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/685055 Greetings! We've updated the way the system notifies you about Gift Points in email. When an email is sent with Gift Points, that email will now include the Gift Point notification directly within it.... rather than sending two separate emails. (That's one of those things that's been driving me nuts. ) Now emails with GPs included will be ...[Read Full Post] Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:20:30 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/684651 The following winners for the December 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 38 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link To Item #1631352] Second Place - [Link To Item #1631294] *^*Bullet*...[Read Full Post] Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:59:15 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/683958 Greetings Members! Madlibs: We've updated our Madlib Items to be easier to use. Here's part of the text I added to the madlib form -- (for the complete details, just check out the Madlib item creation/edit page). Whereever you'd like someone to insert their own word, Type { }, where XXXX is is something like Noun, Verb, Past Tense Verb, etc. When a vis...[Read Full Post] Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:06:48 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/682767 Happy New Year Everyone! We've activated a new feature for message forums that allows you to send gift points with new posts and replies . By default, when making a new post to a forum, including Gift Points with the post will send them to the forum's owner, sending gift points with replies send them to whomever you're replying to. Forum owners,...[Read Full Post] Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:53:31 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/682306 Wishing everyone a very happy, successful and inspiration filled 2010 ! Best wishes, ~~SM & SMs Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:21:05 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/681822 Happy Holidays Everyone! The "Gifted Membership Fundraiser" for [Link To Item #raok] is now over and the results are in: Gift points raised through our December 2009 "Gifted Membership" matching fundraiser... 4,240,000 GPs raised from 394 gifted months of Upgraded Membership and 10 gifted months of Premium Membership. *^*Smile*...[Read Full Post] Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:26:33 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/681523 Just a quick note to apologize for the approximately 1 hour 30 minutes of outage for the whole site. To resolve the initial email issue, our host rebooted the email server (which didn't need to be done), which resulted in a long system check on reboot. The reboot process is complete and the email server is recovering from the outage and deliverin...[Read Full Post] Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:26:37 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/680624 Please note we are currently experiencing a problem with our email server; we are working to fix the problem and will have email available again as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience and happy holidays! ~~SM Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:09:50 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/680612 The following winners for the November 2009 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 35 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1616299] Second: [Link To Item #1618872] Third: [Link ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:45:02 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/679965 Happy Holidays Everyone! I want to note the new and improved portfolio "mouseover" (that's the little box that comes up when you put your mouse pointer over a member's little portfolio icon: [Link To User storymaster] The new system is more efficient and (so far as I can tell) works much better. It also cleans up the long time...[Read Full Post] Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:09:20 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/679705 Hello! SMs and I are pleased to announce the birth of our daught, Phoebe Sophia. Born yesterday (12/8), a little after 3pm .... 10lbs, 1oz... 22 inches long. Here's a couple quick iPhone pics. Mom and baby are doing great... and Jack is excited to have his new sister here. (Well, not really just y...[Read Full Post] Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:09:48 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/679322 [UPDATE] This situation has been resolved as we received the following update just now: Date: Fri, 4 Dec 2009 16:38:41 -0500 (EST) Subject: Follow Up On Today's General Internet Connectivity Issue Advisory Dear Valued Clients, We wanted to provide an update on the General Internet Connectivity Advisory we sent out earlier today. As prev...[Read Full Post] Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:47:08 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/678720 The emoticons area of the WritingML help has been updated. It includes this new doo-hickey: <a href="javascript:LaunchPopPlus('http://www.Writing.Com/main/tools/action/emoticons', 'emoticon_list', '400', '500', 'yes', 'yes');">List of WDC Emoticons</a> Which reminds me... I&...[Read Full Post] Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:41:30 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/678489 Happy Holidays, Members! We're proud to release the following 37 new holiday emoticons! Thanks for all of your requests and suggestions! dreidel = gingerbread = menorah = santahat = snowman = stardavid = xmastree = candycaneR = candycaneG = stockingB = stockingG = stockingR = stockingV = ornament1B = ornament1G = ornament1R = ornament1S = ornament1V = ornament1Y = ornament2B = ornament2G = ornament2R = ornament2S = ornament2V = ornament2Y = ornament3B = ornament3G = orna...[Read Full Post] Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:05:24 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/678350 The following winners for the October 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 28 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link To Item #1609671] Second Place - [Link To Item #1609148] *^*Bullet*^...[Read Full Post] Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:10:21 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/676318 Hello Members, Back in August, I had posted [Link to Book Entry #663253] where I introduced that we'd be updating the review system to allow members to review individual entries/chapters within Book Items. I'm pleased to say that this update is now in place for official testing by the membership! Members can now review the book item as...[Read Full Post] Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:44:55 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/675393 Greetings, It was noted recently that there used to be a means for an author to delete a review of their work, but in our recent update to include the { } ML, the delete review link got lost. Given this, it seems the appropriate time to re-name and re-introduce that links as Hide Review . Acknowledging that reviews are the writing of one autho...[Read Full Post] Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:54:54 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/675135 Thanks for your patience today throughout our many, many changes to the Writing.Com header. We hope that the current layout that we now have will help our newer members find their way around a little easier. This might even make some new areas pop out to our elder members who never knew they were there! If you find something missing from t...[Read Full Post] Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:54:45 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/675035 Greets, You'll note we've made some changes to the header layout. They include: - Moving the search (with a bigger text box) to the top right - The sponsored item to the top left - Moving the 4 top button down and rewording them Please feel free to provide feedback by commenting on this post. Best wishes, ~~SM ...[Read Full Post] Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:33:14 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/674981 Greetings Members, I'm interested in getting together some people who would be both interested in and capable of creating video tutorials on how to use Writing.Com. I'm hoping we have some people who have some experience in using those screen-video-capture software packages that record your screen and your mouse movements, allowing one to cre...[Read Full Post] Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:27:20 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/674864 Hello Everyone, Good luck to everyone participating in this year's NanoWrimo. This post is just a reminder of the activities and tools available to you here on Writing.Com. NanoGroups "National Novel Writing Month (NanoWrimo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30." ~~ NanoWrimo.Org For those participating in th...[Read Full Post] Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:21:38 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/674097 Hello Members, Introducing the newest WritingML tag: {{review:#####}} In this tag, the #'s are replaced by a review's ID number. The "Review ID #" can be now found on all of the review listing areas, including the public reviews and a member's own sent and received reviews list. It is also now included in your review no...[Read Full Post] Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:39:09 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/673586 Greetings Members! For a long time, people have asked for a way to make their URLs into nicer links. We've been against that primarily because we felt offsite links should clearly present themselves as URLs, making members However, it is now becoming more known that single underlined links stay within a site, while double underlined links send the visito...[Read Full Post] Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:56:41 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/673290 Hello! This entry is to introduce our new Authorized Accounts system -- however it's overshadowed by the Twitter features supported by the system. Though it opens now only with Twitter features, the Authorized Accounts area will be our central "hub" as we expand to more support more sites. In time, we'll provide the means for you...[Read Full Post] Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:19:52 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/672655 The following chat sessions have been scheduled for the week of October 19th for NaNoWriMo participants. The goal of these sessions is to encourage members in their preparation for NaNoWriMo. Character Development - Wednesday, October 21st 12:30 pm EST. The goal of this chat is to encourage discussion about the process of character development....[Read Full Post] Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:18:05 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/672403 The following winners for the September 2009 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 18 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1599200] Second: [Link To Item #1597513] Third: [Link...[Read Full Post] Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:20:57 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/671844 Hello Members! First, Writing.Com has setup its own Twitter channel. We're going to make reasonable attempts to tweet some updates, perhaps to feature some members here and there, contests, etc. So, if you're on Twitter, consider following Writing.Com! [Link: 'http://twitter.com/WritingCom'] Second, if you're a Twitte...[Read Full Post] Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:04:31 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/670638 This note was emailed out around 9/16, but is just now making its way into the news Blog. Writing.Com featured in Writer's Digest! Writing.Com is proud to be one of the four writing communities featured in the October 2009 issue of Writer's Digest . We are thrilled to have been chosen and hope to see many new writers joi...[Read Full Post] Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:53:49 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/670491 All eight of these new Merit Badges can be found in the General section: Courage Dialogue Published Work In Progress The Four Seasons Autumn Spring Summer Winter Thanks again to [Link To User storymistress] ! Also, don't miss the two...[Read Full Post] Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:14:20 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/670375 [Link To User storymistress] cooked up six new Emoticons! { } = { } = { } = { } = { } = {{e:witch-hat}} = Also, don't miss the entry below regarding the new side icons and our Random Read! feature. Enjoy! ~~SM ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:21:11 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/670370 Greetings Members, Just a quick announcement of the new icons, which include our new Random Read feature. First, you'll note the new icon row in the left hand column under our "Site Navigation" menus. From left to right, the icons are for: - Instant Messenger - My Favorites - Site News - My NotePad - Random Read! * P...[Read Full Post] Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:57:23 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/670367 Greetings Members! We've created a system to beta test the conversion of Rich Text Format (.RTF) files to WritingML formatted text. About RTF from Wikipedia: "The Rich Text Format (often abbreviated RTF) is a document file format developed by Microsoft in 1987 for cross-platform document interchange. Most word processors are able to r...[Read Full Post] Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:56:00 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/669736 Greetings Members, This is just a note that the "Chat" and "IM" links have been moved into the Site Tools navigation menu. Best wishes, ~~SM Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:11:48 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/669699 From the 26 members that submitted entries, the following are the winners of this year's run of [Link To Item #507049] ... 1st: [Link To User ruthking] (See: [Link To Item #1596917] ) There once was a site on the net Its purpose, the best of them yet: With writing and games No insults, no flames And prizes to win and to get. T...[Read Full Post] Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:20:33 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/668964 The following winners for the August 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 23 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link To Item #1593011] Second Place - [Link To Item #1593084] ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:12:33 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/667966 With 124 entries, this past run of [Link To Item #451035] was a great success, having it's tag carried in over 600 reviews! The winners are as follows: [Link To User 4provinces] gets 1,000,000 GPs (1st) [Link To User omniblueeyes] gets 500,000 GPs (2nd) [Link To User huntersmoon] gets 250,000 GPs (3rd - Also, Tied Most Entries!)...[Read Full Post] Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:27:39 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/667141 It's time to celebrate another huge milestone for our community, Writing.Com is now Nine Years Old! So, break out the cake and ice cream and put your party hats on! We've decorated the site and there's millions of Gift Points up for grabs in the many contests run by Writing.Com, our Moderators and other members! [Image #1595992] It's a Great Reason To Party! We've hit another great milestone; Writing.Com is nine years old ! Our community, its features and members have come a long way and we're proud to say we're still going strong! Help us celebrate this wonderful event all week long by writing, reviewing and meeting other members. There's a massive amount of things going on this week! All of the official ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:41:25 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/665969 Greets, We've added a new tool to the Product Reviews area that lists the top 100 most active product reviewers. The new listing is linked from the Product Reviews listings or can be accessed directly at: [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/main/product_reviews/action/top_reviewers'] Remember: Product Reviews can be added by mem...[Read Full Post] Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:32:01 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/665058 Greetings Members, Message Forums are a very flexible item type. Since their initial addition to the site as a tool for members to communicate, they've evolved into have a number of very different and specific uses. The 10 new forum sub-types will help members to more easily find the forum they're looking to find. The following 10 sub-types have been added: Activity Contest Debate Disc...[Read Full Post] Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:32:40 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/664912 Greetings Members, Book items have been limited to a standard 2 Megabytes per book across all membership levels. We're changing that to add increased capacity for higher membership levels... Upgraded Member books are still limited to 2 megabytes per book. Premium Member books are now limited to 4 megabytes per book. Professional+ Member books are now limited to 8 megabyt...[Read Full Post] Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:58:10 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/664522 Greetings Members, I'm pleased to introduce a brand new service from Writing.Com, Offsite Mail Service . Offsite Mail Service is the ability to both send and receive your Writing.Com email through another service... such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo!, iPhones or Blackberries. The technical terms for what we're adding are IMAP and POP3 . Please note, this fe...[Read Full Post] Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:50:27 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/664380 The following winners for the July 2009 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 47 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1583786] Second: [Link To Item #1583921] Third: [Link To I...[Read Full Post] Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:47:19 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/664005 Greets, We'll soon be completing a long (very long) awaited update to the rating/reviewing system to allow for the individual rating/reviewing of Book Item chapters/entries. When we make that change, however, we have to deal with the major way that this change affects Gift Point auto-rewards on existing book items. Books with chapters (non-b...[Read Full Post] Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:01:35 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/663253 ** Beta testing and use of video embedding is available to Premium+ Members . ** Greets, The new WritingML embed tag can be used within Book Items (blogs, etc) to directly embed YouTube videos into blog entries and book chapters. Videos make for great commentary and, along with photos, make great multimedia aids and provide wonderful fodder for bloggers. Some Notes and Instructions: ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:09:48 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662962 Following the release of "Photos for Blogs", it's clear more is needed to complete the photo blogging picture . As a step in that direction, we've added a new writingML extension for the photo tag: { } This tag includes the photo in it's f ull s ize. Please note this tag is only available for use within Book Items (bl...[Read Full Post] Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:13:19 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662827 Based on further member "feedback" on blogging and commenting, we've added a new " Email Private Comment " option to the blog comment area. This allows you to send a quick note back to the blogger without having it posted publicly and without having anyone notified that the comment was sent... except, of course, for the blogger. *^*W...[Read Full Post] Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:21:12 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662759 We've added a new selector to the Mail Group tool that allows the member sending the email to the group to select a "minimum group level" in order to determine which members will receive the email ... In other words, one select from options of "All members", "Level 2+", "Level 3+", etc. up to "Level 14+". ...[Read Full Post] Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:24:05 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662743 Greetings Members, Now available for Premium Members+ : Photos for Book Entries ! After adding an entry or chapter to a book, you can click the Add Photos link to quickly and easily add photos directly to that entry/chapter. While this can be used for any type of Book Item, it is particularly handy for "Photo Blogging"; the act of blogging t...[Read Full Post] Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:49:50 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662679 Greets, We've added an Account Preference for the new comment notifications... To set the preference, visit your " My Account " -> " Edit Preferences " area... Or follow this link: [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/main/my_account.php'] On that page, look for Blog Comment Notifications ... For those who want no "also commented" no...[Read Full Post] Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:12:38 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662674 New for blogs and book commenting: Notify Me When Someone Else Comments Now when you're submitting a comment to a blog, a pre-checked box sets you up to receive an on-site email notifier with new comments to that same blog entry. If you don't want to be notified, just uncheck the box. The box is checked by default because it wil...[Read Full Post] Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:34:55 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/662568 We had a wide variety of entries this month. Thanks to everyone who entered and to the judges for the time they spent reading and selecting the winners! The following winners for the June 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 49 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations t...[Read Full Post] Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:40:41 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/659385 As an add-on to the Group Review Affiliation system, we've added a link to the most actively reviewing groups on the "Reviewing" pages... Or you can visit it directly at: [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/main/my_feedback/action/top_actively_reviewing_groups'] Review On, ~~SM ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:45:20 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/654921 The following winners for the May 2009 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 34 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1565468] Second: [Link To Item #1555617] Third: [Link To It...[Read Full Post] Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:00:30 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/654642 Greetings Members, We've added a new feature called Group Review Affiliations . Group leaders can edit their group item and activate the Group Review Affiliation setting. Once activated, when members of the group give a review, they will find a new selection menu where they can select a group to affiliate their review with. Groups that activate ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:45:30 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/654630 The following winners for the April 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 24 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link To Item #1555207] Second Place - [Link To Item #1553765] ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 26 May 2009 15:40:34 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/651712 The following winners for the March 2009 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 73 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1542720] Second: [Link To Item #1534314] Third: [Link To ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:20:30 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/646434 Greetings, Newly linked from the "Manage Auto-Rewards" page, you'll find Auto-Reward Logs . This page provides a concise summary of the auto-rewards you've paid out, on what items and to whom. You can click on the count for either an item or a reviewer and see only information on whichever you clicked. We'll update this tool ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:58:57 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/645305 In honor of tax day , I decided to open an impromptu running of the Good Deeds contest. Hopefully, this will help us all keep our minds off taxes. Probably not, but worth a shot. [Link To Item #451035] 850,000 GPs in prizes... Good luck and thanks for Reviewing! ~~SM Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:45:42 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/645301 Greetings Members, About 2 days we made a change to Gift Point logging that will enable us to better provide and more indepth information from Gift Point logs in the future. Upon making that change, we missed a couple places where the log system needed to be update and as such, some of the attempts by the system to log Gift Point transactions failed....[Read Full Post] Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:18:32 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/643268 The winners were announced on the contest page a while back, but I apparently forgot to add a mention in the News! The following winners for the February 2009 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 18 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:57:03 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/642015 Greetings! Imagine that you could use the power of Writing.Com's own online shop to easily create your own shop to sell your own services, images, writing and more... I'm pleased to introduce a brand new item type that we're opening to the community for beta testing: Introducing Writing.Com Shop Items! Writing.Com Shops are virtual storefronts that may be created in y...[Read Full Post] Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:35:16 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/641989 The following winners for the January 2009 running of [Link To Item #597313] were chosen from the 116 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #597313] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1514975] Second: [Link To Item #1514599] Third: [Link To...[Read Full Post] Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:46:52 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/636505 There's just 11 days left in this short month to get your entry into [Link To Item #quotation] ! Remember, 1st place gets $100 in WDC Gift Points ... $50 in GPs for 2nd and $25 in GPs or 3rd. Write On, ~~SM Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:48:31 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/636307 Greetings, As previously announced via sitewide email, the site has changed it's background color to white. For those making images, the hex code is FFFFFF.) The biggest concern from our members was from those with visual impairments. We spent some time and developed an option to help these members better to enjoy Writing.Com without strainin...[Read Full Post] Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:23:19 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/633391 If you're on Facebook and want to show your love of Writing.Com, become a fan ! [Link: 'http://www.facebook.com/pages/WritingCom/132194570432'] (If this link doesn't work, just search Facebook pages for "Writing.Com"!) Write On, ~~SM Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:32:34 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/632484 The following winners for the December 2008 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 33 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1510592] Second: [Link To Item #1505455] Third: [Link ...[Read Full Post] Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:01:52 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/629834 The winners of [Link To Item #783934] have been posted, along with a few thanks and other important information. For more, check out: [Link To Item #783934] Thanks so much to everyone who participated! ~~SM & SMs Sun, 11 Jan 2009 23:54:55 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/629161 Note: Sorry for the delay in posting these results! My bad. ~~SM The following winners for the November 2008 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 38 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link T...[Read Full Post] Sun, 28 Dec 2008 22:53:43 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/626515 The following winners for the October 2008 running of [Link To Item #1221635] were chosen from the 62 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1221635] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1486936] by [Link To User acme] Second: [Link To Item #1481186] by [...[Read Full Post] Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:01:21 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/619692 We've released a new setting for items called " Membership Restrictions ". This setting allows you to restrict access to a portfolio item based on the viewing member's paid membership. The Membership Restriction of an item can be only as high as the item owner's paid membership level. For example, Basic Members can only restr...[Read Full Post] Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:48:03 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/618141 Greets, We've updated the item listing pages with 3 new formats. The Square format lists 3 items on a row, with basic information about each item. Mousing over the item opens more details. On the "Images" item listing, this format shows a thumbnail of the image... and on the "Photo Albums" item listing, the square format s...[Read Full Post] Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:53:55 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/617732 If you're keeping your Nano work on Writing.Com, you can now add it to your NanoCounter. A link to your NanoItem will show up right beneath your word count. In addition, your NanoItem will be linked with your spot on the Nano'er List! (And fear not... If your Nano Item is private, no one will be able to access it -- the link on the list ...[Read Full Post] Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:51:29 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/616286 We've added two new Merit Badges to the Merit Badge Shop! Nano Participant and Nano Winner The Merit Badge shop can be found in the Gift Point Tools Site Navigation menu... Enjoy! ~~SM Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:59:19 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/616282 As an add on to [Link to Book Entry #616124] (just below), those who've got their NanoCounter turned on will have a link to View Nano'er List . This will bring up a list of other Writing.Com members tracking their Nano word count. Those without their NanoCounter activated can view the nano'er listing here: [Link: 'http://www.writ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:32:42 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/616177 Keep track of your Nano word count right where you can see it... in the left hand column of your WDC pages. You can only activate your NanoCounter using this link here to set the word count to 1 word. [Link: 'http://www.writing.com/main/my_account/action/update_nano/nanocnt/1'] Once activated, you can click the count to update it at an...[Read Full Post] Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:32:21 EST http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/616124 Wish Lists Return to WDC! Our Wish List system is finally back! Since opening our new Shop last year, our wish list system has been unavailable. It is now back and ready for your wishes! To add items from the shop to your wish list, head to Our Shop from the top of any page and start browsing the products. When you find something you'd like, click the Add ...[Read Full Post] Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:15:23 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/614098 The following winners for the September 2008 running of [Link To Item #1468426] were chosen from the 36 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #1468426] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First: [Link To Item #1474172] by [Link To User spidergirl] Second: [Link To Item #1470422...[Read Full Post] Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:53:18 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/613858 We're please to announce the winning entries to [Link To Item #507049] , part of our 8th Birthday Celebration. Thanks to everyone that entered and congratulations to the following winning entries: 1st Place (250,000 GPs) By: [Link To User kimchi] In the vast swirling sea of the net rose a site, quite as deep as youll get: a free port ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:39:33 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/611482 Item headers now have a more clean and condensed display. The "Show Details" link expands the header to include more information about the item. The "Always Show Details" link in any header's details area will set your account to default to have the details expansion open on all items you view. Once activated, clicking the &#34...[Read Full Post] Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:50:00 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/610902 [Link To User storymistress] has added 35 new awardicons to the awardicon shop! You'll find 8 new colors for each ribbon: Black, Brown, Dark Teal, Dark Violet, Grey, Olive, Rust and White In addition a new level of trophies has been created: Gold 1st Place, Silver 2nd Place and Bronze 3rd Place. Remember, awardicons are the pe...[Read Full Post] Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:44:54 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/608402 The following winners for the August 2008 running of [Link To Item #quotation] were chosen from the 22 entries submitted. Each entry was judged based on the criteria provided in [Link To Item #quotation] . Congratulations to the following three winners: First Place - [Link To Item #1463063] Second Place - [Link To Item #1463506] ...[Read Full Post] Sat, 20 Sep 2008 02:54:50 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/608291 We've set the screen width on Writing.Com to be "fluid". Rather than be confined to a rather small width, Writing.Com's content area will now expand to use the full width of your web browser. The size we had originally picked in 2000 was based on the average monitor size. I've been viewing the site with this new change for about 6 ...[Read Full Post] Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:04:11 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/608283 For many, many (many) moons, members have request a "Review Only" option, without ratings. It has arrived. The Reviews Only; No Ratings option is now available. Within the item create/edit area members will find there are now 4 different rating/review options to serve the various wants of the community. Items set to the new Reviews O...[Read Full Post] Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:58:56 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/607844 Keeping up with comments posted to blog entries just got easier with the new Show most recent blog comments link that we've placed in blog just below the "paging" area. Clicking the link will reveal the 10 most recent comments within the blog. Want to check out the latest buzz and blog comments? Click the new most recent comments sho...[Read Full Post] Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:29:43 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/607361 Greetings! We've activated the "comments" section for all book items setup as a "Journal/Blog". (Previously the comments system was only activated on book set to be a member's "My Blog". [Edit: This feature can be Disabled using the "Blog Commenting" setting within a Book Item's create/edit screen.] ...[Read Full Post] Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:17:15 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/607194 With over 100 entries, [Link To Item #451035] generated 500+ reviews in 7 days! Thank you to everyone that participated and .... congratulations to the following winners: [Link To User olivia44] - 1,000,000 GP Winner [Link To User uberlurker] - 500,000 GP Winner [Link To User jjlee] - 250,000 GP Winner [Link To User jayep...[Read Full Post] Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:28:39 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/606342 Greets, In April, a member emailed us noting that our "Most Viewed" sorting was not actually sorting results correctly. Indeed, when we looked into this, we found it was the result of changes we made to increase the site's speed and performance a few months earlier. Unable to find a viable solution at that time, we removed the sorting op...[Read Full Post] Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:28:54 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/606171 Recycling Bin Moves To Upgraded Membership We're pleased to announce that use of the Recycling Bin is now a standard part of Writing.Com's Upgraded Membership . This feature, which was previously available only to Premium Membership+, catches all items deleted from one's portfolio and hangs onto them. Items can be restored from the Recycling Bin simply by moving them out and back into yo...[Read Full Post] Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:16:23 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/604160 We missed sending out the reminder email at the beginning of the month, so [Link To Item #1207944] currently has only 11 entries. There's still about a week left to get your entry in! ~~SM Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:26:49 EDT http://www.Writing.Com/main/books/entry_id/603469