How I spent my Internet-less day.
On Thursday, I thought to myself that it'd been a while since I'd had any problems with my wireless connection. Last night, it disappeared. Argh! Guess I didn't knock on enough wood. Anyway, I don't know what was going on. It wasn't that "martins" (the wireless connection I piggyback off of) wasn't around. In fact, I was connected to him almost the entire time. Still, for whatever reason, the Internet wasn't working until just now. This time, I'm keeping my mouth shut and hoping it lasts for a good long while.
The plan for today was to stay inside while I checked out the St. Patrick's Day parade tomorrow, so imagine my surprise when I was flipping channels this morning and saw the parade on TV. Oops! Guess I got my dates mixed up. :P Fortunately, from what I saw on TV, I didn't miss much. And I got to see all the drunken revelers as I walked past several bars/pubs to pick up my dinner tonight.
So, what did I do inside without Internet all day? I went a little stir crazy, that's for sure, but I was productive too! I cleaned my shower, swept the floor (and wished for the 5 millionth time that they'd given me a vacuum instead), had a mini-JAG marathon with the Season 2 DVDs that jennlynnfs gave me for Christmas, and finished writing a story.
I don't know if I should post it. I started it a couple of weeks ago when it seemed like a bajillion people were trying to figure out how to search the archives and the board and couldn't understand why they couldn't ever find anything. It was driving me bonkers! I mean, really, how hard is it? Since DWG doesn't have a FAQ to deal with searching for stories, I decided to write a How-To story instead. :P What do you think?
Searching for a Story
Elizabeth trudged tiredly up the stairs, shedding her jacket and backpack as she climbed. She had just come from her after school job at the local library. It wasn’t always the most scintillating work, and it certainly did not throw her in the path of cute boys like her younger sister Kitty’s job at the hamburger shack did, but it was work that interested her. And it was often quiet enough that she could study while she worked.
As she followed the hallway to the bedroom she shared with her fraternal twin, Jane, Elizabeth heard a voice emanating from her left.
“Darn it! Where is it? Why can’t I find it? Grrr.”
Elizabeth recognized the voice. It was her youngest sister, Lydia. Backtracking with curiosity, she poked her head through the doorway. “Hey!”
“Oh my goodness!” Lydia jumped out of her chair, swirled around, and tried to block the computer with her tiny body. A body she worked tirelessly to keep that way. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing!” The denial came out a little strong.
“You sound like you need help with something. Anything I can help you with?”
“No!” Lydia quickly fended off her sister before Elizabeth could even think of stepping closer to the computer. Then, realizing that she was perhaps overdoing it, quickly altered her tone. “I mean, thanks, but no.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you sure?”
“It’s nothing. I was . . . I was talking to myself. Yes. Um . . . I’m working on a paper for my Western Civilization class.”
“Hm,” was all Elizabeth intoned before exiting. She didn’t believe her sister for a second. Lydia had never voluntarily worked on her homework before. She was more concerned with studying fashion magazines and articles on how to keep her figure trim than schoolwork.
No, Lydia was definitely up to no good, Elizabeth decided. She just hoped Lydia wasn’t using her computer to look up porn. Though she wouldn’t have put it past her younger sister if she were. After all, this was the same girl who, at the age of thirteen, already had a “Men in Red” calendar hanging over her bed. Elizabeth didn’t buy the excuse that it had been bought solely in a display of support for their local fire station.
Elizabeth entered her bedroom and rolled her eyes, feeling grateful that she had Jane and the small haven of their bedroom for retreat in their crazy household. She blamed the disparate personalities of her parents for the disparate personalities between herself and her two younger siblings.
Casting aside all thoughts of Lydia’s peculiar behavior, Elizabeth booted up her own computer and started visiting all those sites she visited on a daily basis: Email, her personal blog, and Derbyshire Writers’ Guild. Jane found her still hunkered over her keyboard when she came home several hours later from her Candy Striping volunteer job at the hospital.
“Reading fanfiction again?”
“Working on my next chapter.”
Jane nodded. She didn’t pretend to understand her sister’s fascination with Jane Austen, but she accepted it. “Can I check my Email?”
“Oh. But,” Elizabeth smiled weakly at her sister. “I’m on a roll.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake.” Though Jane rolled her eyes, she knew better than to mess with Elizabeth and her ‘muse.’ “Fine, I’ll go and use Kitty and Lydia’s computer.”
“Good-luck with that. Lydia’s working on some paper for her Western Civ class.”
“Really? She was headed out to the hamburger shack when I was walking in. Said something about Kitty having called to alert her to the mess of cute guys hanging around there.”
Elizabeth snorted. That too was very typical of her youngest sisters.
While Jane went to check her Email in the other room, Elizabeth turned back to her story. She was determined to hammer out another chapter before dinner, even if it killed her. It’d been almost two weeks since her last post and some of her dedicated followers had posted in the Tea Room asking for more of her story. She wanted to post another update for them and for herself.
Elizabeth had just reached the final paragraph of her newest chapter when Jane swung back around. “I need help.”
“With what?”
“I think I kicked a cord by accident or something. I lost the Internet connection on their computer.”
“Well find the loose cord and plug it back in.”
“I tried, but I couldn’t find anything. Please, Lizzy? You’re better at these sorts of things.”
Elizabeth sighed, resigned to having to finish her chapter after dinner now, and made sure she saved her work before following Jane back into their sisters’ bedroom. “Alright. I’ll take a look.”
“Thanks. I think they’d kill me if they came home to an Internet-less bedroom.”
“Oh my gosh, can you imagine the horror? They wouldn’t be able to chat online with their silly friends.” Still chuckling, Elizabeth dropped to her knees and rooted around the pile of cords crossed every which way on the floor.
“See anything?”
“Give me a minute. Aha! Found it!” Elizabeth triumphantly held up a cord without a port.
“Really?”
“Now I just have to figure out where it goes.” She turned the tower around so that she could see the back and bit her bottom lip as she tried to find the empty port. “Ah, there we go.” She stuck the cord back into its place and said, “Now try it. Is the page loading?”
Jane clicked the Internet Explorer icon and after Elizabeth crawled out from under the desk, they both waited for the web browser to load. “There it is!” Jane cried excitedly as she saw the homepage begin to load. “Yes! Thanks a million, Lizzy. You’re the best.”
She pulled down the address list and started to scroll for her Email provider’s web address when Elizabeth stopped her. “Wait! What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“That!” In shock and excitement, Elizabeth pointed to an Austen.com address.
“That’s the web address for that Jane Austen fanfiction site you’re always visiting,” Jane answered, recognizing it from the address list on her own computer. She briefly wondered if her sister had accidentally bumped her head while underneath the desk and was now suffering from temporary amnesia.
“No, I know that. What I mean is, what’s it doing on Kitty and Lydia’s computer?”
“Wait, you didn’t leave that there?”
“I haven’t used their computer in weeks, and I never use it to check DWG!”
Jane stared at her sister. “Do you mean to tell me that one or both of our little sisters is also an Austen fan?”
“Hey! What do you think you guys are doing in here?” Lydia stood angrily in the middle of the doorway, her hands fisted against her hips.
“Um.” Jane cast a look between one sister and then the other. “I think I’ll let you guys work things out. See ya.”
While Jane quickly retreated, Lydia advanced. “Snooping around in my business again, Lizzy?”
“Unintentionally, I assure you, although I’m curious to know about this one website - Derbyshire Writers’ Guild - and not for the reasons you’re probably thinking. Is it you who visits or Kitty?”
“Me, and what of it?” Lydia jutted out her chin in defiance.
“Really?”
“Well you needn’t sound so shocked.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just . . . well, do you know why Jane left us alone right now?”
“No.”
“Because I visit DWG too!”
Lydia’s jaw dropped. “Really? You’re a Dwiggie?”
“Going on five year now.”
“Wow. Wait, what name do you go by? I’m Lydia B. There was already another Lydia on the board so I had to add an initial after my name.”
“I’m Lizzy.”
“Wait, you’re Lizzy? The author of Pride Be Not Prejudice? I love that story! In fact, I love all your stories, but especially that one. I’m one of your biggest fans!”
Elizabeth was floored. Such revelations! “I didn’t know! But Lydia, I’m confused. When did you fall so head over heels in love with Jane Austen? You refused to watch Pride and Prejudice with Jane and me when we tried to force you.”
“Well, that was because it was six hours long! I didn’t want my butt to go numb. But then Georgiana dragged me to see the shorter version when it came out in the movie theater, and I really liked it.”
“You mean P&P3?”
“Yes! He-llooooooo Mr. Darcy!” Lydia growled. “Matthew Macfayden? YUM! He is one hottie.”
Personally, Colin Firth would always going to be Elizabeth’s ideal Darcy but she could understand the appeal of Matthew Macfayden as well. Mostly, she was just glad to see that finally a bridge with her youngest sister had been forged. Trust Jane Austen to bring families together.
When Jane poked her head in half an hour later, she smiled to see two red heads huddled over the computer screen, pointing wildly as recommendations and suggestions were shared.
“Wait, so I’m confused about something,” Lydia said after a while. “Maybe you can help me out.”
“Was this what you were exclaiming about earlier this afternoon?”
Lydia nodded and Elizabeth was relieved to know her sister wasn’t surfing for porn after all. “What’s your problem?”
“Well, I’m having trouble finding parts to certain stories. Sometimes they’re in the archives, sometimes they’re on some board called the Previously on the Guild board, and sometimes I can’t find chapters even on that board. It makes me feel stupid, like I’ve done something wrong!”
Elizabeth smiled. How nice it was to be able to help her little sister navigate her way around her favorite website.
“You’ve already named the three places readers can find stories, so let’s visit them one by one, starting with the archives.”
The Epilogue Abbey and Fantasia Gallery
“If you can find a story already archived, or at least with parts of it archived if it’s a work in progress, then you are golden. Because it makes reading a story so much easier than having to track each chapter down, one by one, on the boards.”
“Why is it?” Lydia wondered, “That sometimes I can’t find a story in the archives.”
“Well, it may be that it hasn’t yet been archived. Or maybe you’re not searching for it correctly.”
“I just open the archive and scroll down, hoping to catch the story I’m looking for as I scroll past.”
Elizabeth smiled indulgently. “There are easier ways than that. For one thing, you can use the Search Engine. If you know either a part of the story’s title or the author’s name, I recommend this function. I also recommend making your search as broad as you can. For example, set it to search in both galleries: Epilogue and Fantasia. And make sure you set it so that it searches All Dates, Any Novel, and Any Story (incomplete and complete). I guarantee you whatever you’re looking for will pop up then.
“But if you don’t want to use the Search Engine, you can also search the archives with the web browser’s search function.”
“How do you do that?”
“Simple. Just open up either one of the archives and then use your web browser to search. With Internet Explorer, that’s going to be Ctrl+F, and then you search using whatever term you do know, whether it is part of the author’s name or the title’s. Of course, with this method, you’ll have to know whether the story is archived in the Epilogue Abbey or Fantasia Gallery.”
“That is simple!” Lydia marveled, finally understanding how to use the archives. “But what if it’s not yet archived?”
“Then you look for it on the boards.”
The DWG Board & Previously on the Guild Board
“Both the main message board and the Previously on the Guild board are set up similarly. The only difference,” Elizabeth explained, “is that one can actively post on the main board while the Previously board is solely for browsing and reading. But it’s a place where stories can linger for people to read while they are in the process of being added to the archives.”
“How do I find what I’m looking for?” Lydia wanted to know. “Is my only option to scroll down the page?”
“Goodness no! You can search the boards in a similar manner to the way we just searched the archives. Here, like this.”
As she had with the archives, Elizabeth showed her sister how to search the board with the Search Engine for each page. “Make sure you use this one for the main board and this one for the Previously board though,” Elizabeth instructed, “Because they won’t cross boards.”
“And if I don’t want to use the Search Engine I can just use the web browser’s search function, right?”
Elizabeth nodded. Her sister was catching on. “That’s right, just hit Ctrl+F.”
Lydia tried it out, searching for a story she knew to be on the main board, but she couldn’t find it. “I don’t understand,” she said with dismay. “I know it was there a couple of weeks ago.”
“Try the Previously board,” Elizabeth suggested.
Lydia did that, using the skills she’d just learned with Elizabeth looking on to make sure they were properly executed, but still she could not find it. “Hm,” Elizabeth said. “Let me see if I can find it.”
They switched places and Elizabeth studied the board. “Oh! I see it now.”
“What?”
“Here’s your problem. You need to reset your preferences.”
“My preferences?”
“See this part of the board where it tells you how many messages are on the board?” Elizabeth pointed to the center of the computer screen, to the area just at the bottom of the board heading and the top of the messages. “It tells you that the board holds up to 3846 messages and it also tells you that your preferences are currently showing you only 581 of those messages. If you adjust your preferences, you can set it so that the board displays all 3846 messages.”
“How do I do that?”
“Click on the Set Preferences link.” Once they were on the new pages, Elizabeth suggested that Lydia reset it to an arbitrary, but larger number. “I usually set it to twenty-four months. Even though the board won’t hold messages from two years ago, it’ll at least ensure that all possible messages are displayed.”
Lydia did as her sister suggested and when they returned to the main board, sure enough all 3846 messages were displayed and Lydia was able to, this time, successfully find the post she’d been looking for. “This is so cool!” she said.
“And don’t forget, the resetting of your preferences thing works for the Previously board too. You just click on the Set Preferences link on that page.”
“I won’t. Gosh, thanks, Lizzy! I wish I’d known to ask you how to search for a story earlier. You would’ve saved me from a lot of headache!”
“Well, if I’m not around you can always seek assistance in the Tea Room. Someone will be more than happy to help you locate a story, but just remember to do it in the Tea Room. That’s where all posts that aren’t stories or comments are posted.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I learned all about that my first time visiting the site.”
“Good girl,” Elizabeth smiled.
“So, do you have any suggestions for what stories I should read?”
Elizabeth’s eyes lighted. “Boy, do I!” Excited to finally be able to share her love of favorite fan fiction stories, she immediately launched into a laundry list of stories her sister ought to read. She was even more excited to discover that Lydia had read some of them. “This is so cool!” she said, before they compared and contrasted their favorite Darcy’s.
They spent the rest of their weekend holed up in their bedroom reading fan fiction. Elizabeth even stole her father’s laptop so that they could be in the same room to read. When Elizabeth’s boyfriend showed up alongside his best friend who was conveniently Jane’s boyfriend as well, she sadly informed him, “I’m sorry, Will. I don’t think Lizzy can go to the movies with us this afternoon.”
“Why not?”
“She’s um, too busy reading Jane Austen fan fiction with Lydia.”
“Does that mean Lydia can’t go the mall with me?”
Jane looked past Will and Charlie to their neighbor, George, who’d all of the sudden appeared on their doorstep. “I’m afraid so.”
“Drats,” the young boy whispered. “I was going to ask her to go out with me.”
Will took pity on the boy. “Hey, you want to come with us to the movies?”
Jane and Charlie looked at him as if he’d grown horns on his head. To be seen at the movie theater with someone three years younger than them? That was so uncool!
Will shrugged. He had an extra ticket now that Elizabeth wouldn’t be joining them.
So that’s how it came to be, that Jane went off to the movies with three men in tow while Elizabeth and Lydia fantasized about fictional ones as they reveled in the world of Jane Austen fan fiction. As for Kitty? She was too busy flipping burgers at the hamburger shack to do either.
EDITED: Bolstered by your comments, I went ahead and did it.
With, of course, a caveat per julielu's suggestion. :)
The plan for today was to stay inside while I checked out the St. Patrick's Day parade tomorrow, so imagine my surprise when I was flipping channels this morning and saw the parade on TV. Oops! Guess I got my dates mixed up. :P Fortunately, from what I saw on TV, I didn't miss much. And I got to see all the drunken revelers as I walked past several bars/pubs to pick up my dinner tonight.
So, what did I do inside without Internet all day? I went a little stir crazy, that's for sure, but I was productive too! I cleaned my shower, swept the floor (and wished for the 5 millionth time that they'd given me a vacuum instead), had a mini-JAG marathon with the Season 2 DVDs that jennlynnfs gave me for Christmas, and finished writing a story.
I don't know if I should post it. I started it a couple of weeks ago when it seemed like a bajillion people were trying to figure out how to search the archives and the board and couldn't understand why they couldn't ever find anything. It was driving me bonkers! I mean, really, how hard is it? Since DWG doesn't have a FAQ to deal with searching for stories, I decided to write a How-To story instead. :P What do you think?
Searching for a Story
Elizabeth trudged tiredly up the stairs, shedding her jacket and backpack as she climbed. She had just come from her after school job at the local library. It wasn’t always the most scintillating work, and it certainly did not throw her in the path of cute boys like her younger sister Kitty’s job at the hamburger shack did, but it was work that interested her. And it was often quiet enough that she could study while she worked.
As she followed the hallway to the bedroom she shared with her fraternal twin, Jane, Elizabeth heard a voice emanating from her left.
“Darn it! Where is it? Why can’t I find it? Grrr.”
Elizabeth recognized the voice. It was her youngest sister, Lydia. Backtracking with curiosity, she poked her head through the doorway. “Hey!”
“Oh my goodness!” Lydia jumped out of her chair, swirled around, and tried to block the computer with her tiny body. A body she worked tirelessly to keep that way. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing!” The denial came out a little strong.
“You sound like you need help with something. Anything I can help you with?”
“No!” Lydia quickly fended off her sister before Elizabeth could even think of stepping closer to the computer. Then, realizing that she was perhaps overdoing it, quickly altered her tone. “I mean, thanks, but no.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you sure?”
“It’s nothing. I was . . . I was talking to myself. Yes. Um . . . I’m working on a paper for my Western Civilization class.”
“Hm,” was all Elizabeth intoned before exiting. She didn’t believe her sister for a second. Lydia had never voluntarily worked on her homework before. She was more concerned with studying fashion magazines and articles on how to keep her figure trim than schoolwork.
No, Lydia was definitely up to no good, Elizabeth decided. She just hoped Lydia wasn’t using her computer to look up porn. Though she wouldn’t have put it past her younger sister if she were. After all, this was the same girl who, at the age of thirteen, already had a “Men in Red” calendar hanging over her bed. Elizabeth didn’t buy the excuse that it had been bought solely in a display of support for their local fire station.
Elizabeth entered her bedroom and rolled her eyes, feeling grateful that she had Jane and the small haven of their bedroom for retreat in their crazy household. She blamed the disparate personalities of her parents for the disparate personalities between herself and her two younger siblings.
Casting aside all thoughts of Lydia’s peculiar behavior, Elizabeth booted up her own computer and started visiting all those sites she visited on a daily basis: Email, her personal blog, and Derbyshire Writers’ Guild. Jane found her still hunkered over her keyboard when she came home several hours later from her Candy Striping volunteer job at the hospital.
“Reading fanfiction again?”
“Working on my next chapter.”
Jane nodded. She didn’t pretend to understand her sister’s fascination with Jane Austen, but she accepted it. “Can I check my Email?”
“Oh. But,” Elizabeth smiled weakly at her sister. “I’m on a roll.”
“Oh for heaven’s sake.” Though Jane rolled her eyes, she knew better than to mess with Elizabeth and her ‘muse.’ “Fine, I’ll go and use Kitty and Lydia’s computer.”
“Good-luck with that. Lydia’s working on some paper for her Western Civ class.”
“Really? She was headed out to the hamburger shack when I was walking in. Said something about Kitty having called to alert her to the mess of cute guys hanging around there.”
Elizabeth snorted. That too was very typical of her youngest sisters.
While Jane went to check her Email in the other room, Elizabeth turned back to her story. She was determined to hammer out another chapter before dinner, even if it killed her. It’d been almost two weeks since her last post and some of her dedicated followers had posted in the Tea Room asking for more of her story. She wanted to post another update for them and for herself.
Elizabeth had just reached the final paragraph of her newest chapter when Jane swung back around. “I need help.”
“With what?”
“I think I kicked a cord by accident or something. I lost the Internet connection on their computer.”
“Well find the loose cord and plug it back in.”
“I tried, but I couldn’t find anything. Please, Lizzy? You’re better at these sorts of things.”
Elizabeth sighed, resigned to having to finish her chapter after dinner now, and made sure she saved her work before following Jane back into their sisters’ bedroom. “Alright. I’ll take a look.”
“Thanks. I think they’d kill me if they came home to an Internet-less bedroom.”
“Oh my gosh, can you imagine the horror? They wouldn’t be able to chat online with their silly friends.” Still chuckling, Elizabeth dropped to her knees and rooted around the pile of cords crossed every which way on the floor.
“See anything?”
“Give me a minute. Aha! Found it!” Elizabeth triumphantly held up a cord without a port.
“Really?”
“Now I just have to figure out where it goes.” She turned the tower around so that she could see the back and bit her bottom lip as she tried to find the empty port. “Ah, there we go.” She stuck the cord back into its place and said, “Now try it. Is the page loading?”
Jane clicked the Internet Explorer icon and after Elizabeth crawled out from under the desk, they both waited for the web browser to load. “There it is!” Jane cried excitedly as she saw the homepage begin to load. “Yes! Thanks a million, Lizzy. You’re the best.”
She pulled down the address list and started to scroll for her Email provider’s web address when Elizabeth stopped her. “Wait! What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“That!” In shock and excitement, Elizabeth pointed to an Austen.com address.
“That’s the web address for that Jane Austen fanfiction site you’re always visiting,” Jane answered, recognizing it from the address list on her own computer. She briefly wondered if her sister had accidentally bumped her head while underneath the desk and was now suffering from temporary amnesia.
“No, I know that. What I mean is, what’s it doing on Kitty and Lydia’s computer?”
“Wait, you didn’t leave that there?”
“I haven’t used their computer in weeks, and I never use it to check DWG!”
Jane stared at her sister. “Do you mean to tell me that one or both of our little sisters is also an Austen fan?”
“Hey! What do you think you guys are doing in here?” Lydia stood angrily in the middle of the doorway, her hands fisted against her hips.
“Um.” Jane cast a look between one sister and then the other. “I think I’ll let you guys work things out. See ya.”
While Jane quickly retreated, Lydia advanced. “Snooping around in my business again, Lizzy?”
“Unintentionally, I assure you, although I’m curious to know about this one website - Derbyshire Writers’ Guild - and not for the reasons you’re probably thinking. Is it you who visits or Kitty?”
“Me, and what of it?” Lydia jutted out her chin in defiance.
“Really?”
“Well you needn’t sound so shocked.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just . . . well, do you know why Jane left us alone right now?”
“No.”
“Because I visit DWG too!”
Lydia’s jaw dropped. “Really? You’re a Dwiggie?”
“Going on five year now.”
“Wow. Wait, what name do you go by? I’m Lydia B. There was already another Lydia on the board so I had to add an initial after my name.”
“I’m Lizzy.”
“Wait, you’re Lizzy? The author of Pride Be Not Prejudice? I love that story! In fact, I love all your stories, but especially that one. I’m one of your biggest fans!”
Elizabeth was floored. Such revelations! “I didn’t know! But Lydia, I’m confused. When did you fall so head over heels in love with Jane Austen? You refused to watch Pride and Prejudice with Jane and me when we tried to force you.”
“Well, that was because it was six hours long! I didn’t want my butt to go numb. But then Georgiana dragged me to see the shorter version when it came out in the movie theater, and I really liked it.”
“You mean P&P3?”
“Yes! He-llooooooo Mr. Darcy!” Lydia growled. “Matthew Macfayden? YUM! He is one hottie.”
Personally, Colin Firth would always going to be Elizabeth’s ideal Darcy but she could understand the appeal of Matthew Macfayden as well. Mostly, she was just glad to see that finally a bridge with her youngest sister had been forged. Trust Jane Austen to bring families together.
When Jane poked her head in half an hour later, she smiled to see two red heads huddled over the computer screen, pointing wildly as recommendations and suggestions were shared.
“Wait, so I’m confused about something,” Lydia said after a while. “Maybe you can help me out.”
“Was this what you were exclaiming about earlier this afternoon?”
Lydia nodded and Elizabeth was relieved to know her sister wasn’t surfing for porn after all. “What’s your problem?”
“Well, I’m having trouble finding parts to certain stories. Sometimes they’re in the archives, sometimes they’re on some board called the Previously on the Guild board, and sometimes I can’t find chapters even on that board. It makes me feel stupid, like I’ve done something wrong!”
Elizabeth smiled. How nice it was to be able to help her little sister navigate her way around her favorite website.
“You’ve already named the three places readers can find stories, so let’s visit them one by one, starting with the archives.”
The Epilogue Abbey and Fantasia Gallery
“If you can find a story already archived, or at least with parts of it archived if it’s a work in progress, then you are golden. Because it makes reading a story so much easier than having to track each chapter down, one by one, on the boards.”
“Why is it?” Lydia wondered, “That sometimes I can’t find a story in the archives.”
“Well, it may be that it hasn’t yet been archived. Or maybe you’re not searching for it correctly.”
“I just open the archive and scroll down, hoping to catch the story I’m looking for as I scroll past.”
Elizabeth smiled indulgently. “There are easier ways than that. For one thing, you can use the Search Engine. If you know either a part of the story’s title or the author’s name, I recommend this function. I also recommend making your search as broad as you can. For example, set it to search in both galleries: Epilogue and Fantasia. And make sure you set it so that it searches All Dates, Any Novel, and Any Story (incomplete and complete). I guarantee you whatever you’re looking for will pop up then.
“But if you don’t want to use the Search Engine, you can also search the archives with the web browser’s search function.”
“How do you do that?”
“Simple. Just open up either one of the archives and then use your web browser to search. With Internet Explorer, that’s going to be Ctrl+F, and then you search using whatever term you do know, whether it is part of the author’s name or the title’s. Of course, with this method, you’ll have to know whether the story is archived in the Epilogue Abbey or Fantasia Gallery.”
“That is simple!” Lydia marveled, finally understanding how to use the archives. “But what if it’s not yet archived?”
“Then you look for it on the boards.”
The DWG Board & Previously on the Guild Board
“Both the main message board and the Previously on the Guild board are set up similarly. The only difference,” Elizabeth explained, “is that one can actively post on the main board while the Previously board is solely for browsing and reading. But it’s a place where stories can linger for people to read while they are in the process of being added to the archives.”
“How do I find what I’m looking for?” Lydia wanted to know. “Is my only option to scroll down the page?”
“Goodness no! You can search the boards in a similar manner to the way we just searched the archives. Here, like this.”
As she had with the archives, Elizabeth showed her sister how to search the board with the Search Engine for each page. “Make sure you use this one for the main board and this one for the Previously board though,” Elizabeth instructed, “Because they won’t cross boards.”
“And if I don’t want to use the Search Engine I can just use the web browser’s search function, right?”
Elizabeth nodded. Her sister was catching on. “That’s right, just hit Ctrl+F.”
Lydia tried it out, searching for a story she knew to be on the main board, but she couldn’t find it. “I don’t understand,” she said with dismay. “I know it was there a couple of weeks ago.”
“Try the Previously board,” Elizabeth suggested.
Lydia did that, using the skills she’d just learned with Elizabeth looking on to make sure they were properly executed, but still she could not find it. “Hm,” Elizabeth said. “Let me see if I can find it.”
They switched places and Elizabeth studied the board. “Oh! I see it now.”
“What?”
“Here’s your problem. You need to reset your preferences.”
“My preferences?”
“See this part of the board where it tells you how many messages are on the board?” Elizabeth pointed to the center of the computer screen, to the area just at the bottom of the board heading and the top of the messages. “It tells you that the board holds up to 3846 messages and it also tells you that your preferences are currently showing you only 581 of those messages. If you adjust your preferences, you can set it so that the board displays all 3846 messages.”
“How do I do that?”
“Click on the Set Preferences link.” Once they were on the new pages, Elizabeth suggested that Lydia reset it to an arbitrary, but larger number. “I usually set it to twenty-four months. Even though the board won’t hold messages from two years ago, it’ll at least ensure that all possible messages are displayed.”
Lydia did as her sister suggested and when they returned to the main board, sure enough all 3846 messages were displayed and Lydia was able to, this time, successfully find the post she’d been looking for. “This is so cool!” she said.
“And don’t forget, the resetting of your preferences thing works for the Previously board too. You just click on the Set Preferences link on that page.”
“I won’t. Gosh, thanks, Lizzy! I wish I’d known to ask you how to search for a story earlier. You would’ve saved me from a lot of headache!”
“Well, if I’m not around you can always seek assistance in the Tea Room. Someone will be more than happy to help you locate a story, but just remember to do it in the Tea Room. That’s where all posts that aren’t stories or comments are posted.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I learned all about that my first time visiting the site.”
“Good girl,” Elizabeth smiled.
“So, do you have any suggestions for what stories I should read?”
Elizabeth’s eyes lighted. “Boy, do I!” Excited to finally be able to share her love of favorite fan fiction stories, she immediately launched into a laundry list of stories her sister ought to read. She was even more excited to discover that Lydia had read some of them. “This is so cool!” she said, before they compared and contrasted their favorite Darcy’s.
They spent the rest of their weekend holed up in their bedroom reading fan fiction. Elizabeth even stole her father’s laptop so that they could be in the same room to read. When Elizabeth’s boyfriend showed up alongside his best friend who was conveniently Jane’s boyfriend as well, she sadly informed him, “I’m sorry, Will. I don’t think Lizzy can go to the movies with us this afternoon.”
“Why not?”
“She’s um, too busy reading Jane Austen fan fiction with Lydia.”
“Does that mean Lydia can’t go the mall with me?”
Jane looked past Will and Charlie to their neighbor, George, who’d all of the sudden appeared on their doorstep. “I’m afraid so.”
“Drats,” the young boy whispered. “I was going to ask her to go out with me.”
Will took pity on the boy. “Hey, you want to come with us to the movies?”
Jane and Charlie looked at him as if he’d grown horns on his head. To be seen at the movie theater with someone three years younger than them? That was so uncool!
Will shrugged. He had an extra ticket now that Elizabeth wouldn’t be joining them.
So that’s how it came to be, that Jane went off to the movies with three men in tow while Elizabeth and Lydia fantasized about fictional ones as they reveled in the world of Jane Austen fan fiction. As for Kitty? She was too busy flipping burgers at the hamburger shack to do either.
EDITED: Bolstered by your comments, I went ahead and did it.
With, of course, a caveat per julielu's suggestion. :)