Of Elves and Men Archive Notes

JUNE 25, 2008

Following is a link to a list of questions that I've received over the last few years, a few more than once. Therefore, I thought I would share them with you. I'm sure that there are questions you have that may not be on this list so please feel free to ask away. If you are uncomfortable asking your question on list, you can email your question directly to the archive.

Frequently Asked Questions

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NOVEMBER 16, 2007

The archive now has an RSS feed to supplement the weekly updates! The feed will reflect real-time updates to the archive. Please contact the archivist if you have any problems accessing this feed.

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AUGUST 2, 2007

A reminder to authors and website administrators to let us know if your web address has changed or no longer in use.

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FEBRUARY 17, 2007

Starting with this week's update, readers and authors will be able to view the list of most recently added stories as they are published to the archive. You can view the Recently Added and Updated Stories page from the Stories by Title page and the Works in Progress page.

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JANUARY 19, 2007

In an effort to curtail hotlinking, hotlinking controls have been added to the OEAM archive server. This may affect links from your personal sites to the OEAM archive. Please don't hesitate to contact the archivist if you experience any problems linking to your stories on the archive.

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OCTOBER 17, 2006

Based on recent feedback and requests from authors and users of the archive, the header information for Works In Progress will again be listed in all sections of the archive.

All WIPs are subject to removal from the online archive after one year of inactivity. The best way to see which stories are close to being removed is the Works In Progress pages. Stories are listed by date, most recently updated to older WIPs that haven't been updated in a while. I kind of have an unofficial policy that I'll let them sit in the red for about three months before they are pulled, but stories may be pulled at any time once they've slid to the bottom of the list.

And, please keep in mind to submit your updates/stories as a file attachment to your email. Updates and stories sent within the body of your message will generally not come through with the proper formatting, especially italics, and are more difficult to format as you would like to see them for the archive.

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SEPTEMBER 19, 2006

Authors, if you have a website and/or LiveJournal that you would like to link from your Author Page on OEAM, drop me a note with your links. If you have provided your links for the Links page, I have already updated your webpage.

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SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

There has been a change to the submission guidelines for the OEAM archive. Submissions for new 'Works In Progress' from authors with three or more already archived WIPs will be returned until one or more older, unfinished works by the author have been completed. Any exceptions must be approved by the list administrator before submitting to the archive. This will not affect currently archived stories. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the archivist.

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AUGUST 26, 2006

Within the next week or so, all WIPs dated 2004-early 2005 and older will be moved to a dormant directory on the archive.

These stories will not be deleted but will no longer be available for online viewing.

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JUNE 13, 2006

The OEAM archive is for authors who are currently subscribed to one of the OEAM Yahoo groups. If you are an archived author and are unsubscribing for any reason other than to leave OEAM (e.g., changing your Yahoo ID or email), please notify the archivist as-soon-as possible, preferably before you leave the groups. This will prevent your stories from being pulled.

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MARCH 4, 2006

Just a few notes and reminders for posting authors. 

It's a spam-eat-spam world out there, so please be sure that when you are sending stories and chapter updates for archiving that you list your story title in the subject line. I don't want anyone to get lost in the many offerings of instant wealth, better living through generic herbals, 'Hey! check this out' spam or sniffer and long-lost friend lures. 

If you sent something to the archive and it doesn't show up in the weekly update and you haven't heard from us, please don't hesitate to send an email. We will always let you know if there is a problem with your story. It is possible that it somehow didn't make it through the labyrinth of world-wide mail servers and was sucked into the bowels of Angband or was flushed with the spam (by accident, I swear!). 

And it is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the OEAM submission guidelines from time-to-time, especially if you don't post that frequently. They don't change often but it doesn't hurt to check. 

I know quite a few authors post to Live Journal as well as the OEAM groups, so please remember that all stories posted to the OEAM archive should include at the very least a title, author name and email, type of story (FCS, RPGen, etc.), character or pairing, rating, summary, and above all, a disclaimer. Warnings are your call, but subjects such as non-con, character death, and extreme violence can make a reader a little peevish if they haven't been warned beforehand. 

If you change your email address or the header information for your story has changed in the process of posting, please note it in your email to the archive. If, as a reader, you see an archiving error in someone's story, please let me know. Sometimes I don't catch the changes and need a good hard thwack with a dwarven hammer. 

We respond to all questions and requests for changes. If you don't hear from us, please don't assume that you've been blown off. And if there is a problem with your story after it's been posted, let us know. Mistakes happen from time-to-time, especially when the archivist is slightly distracted by sparkly, shiny things such as the occasional glowing elf, hunky human, pretty air force colonel, or snarky scientist (see above referenced dwarven hammer).

And finally, if you have a 'Work In Progress' posted to the archive that you just aren't going to be able to finish, let us know so that we can pull it. It is frustrating for readers to continually check for updates to a story that is, for the most part, in limbo. These stories are moved into a dormant directory and can be re-archived if you change your mind. 

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