More Observations On Issues With Vocal Stats Etc

Introduction

My relationship with Vocal has been fractious at times but I think a lot of that is due to my background in IT, spotting and highlighting issues, and in my work actually fixing them.

Two years ago I published this piece after getting nowhere with Vocal. They keep telling us that these things are "On The Roadmap" but I have yet to see any result of anything that has been that has been so designated. Please correct me if I am wrong on this.

here are a few observations of numbers and communities last year.

So What's My Problem?

Before I start pointing out the issues, this is not an attack on Vocal, it is my preferred writing platform, and it has given me so much and probably, with the help of the friends I have made through Vocal, and the Facebook groups, has turned me into a real writer (though some may dispute that 🌝)

One of my main issues is that because of the number of stories that I write, unless the story has a lot of reads or very few reads I cannot find how many reads a story has. If it is in the middle of the list the chances are its entry will have been overwritten by the fault in the list reporting (see first shared article). This was put "on the roadmap" to fix but after two years nothing has been done.

A simple solution would be to include the reads with the story, it wouldn't even have to be live like the hearts are, but it would be that you could easily see how the story is performing without trying to find it in that list.

The problem is that the stats list is based on the number of reads with no option to filter or sort. People have asked for date filters and sorting options but they are "on the roadmap"

The profile is a different kettle of fish, it is time-based, with filters and sorting options so it is really helpful when you are looking for something, but there is no information on the number of reads.

As I say including the read count with the story would be a really useful and informative addition.

Conclusion

Vocal is an excellent but flawed platform (how many times must I have said that?), and I believe that we need to badger them to fix and improve it so that we all have a far better experience, creators, and Vocal.

If issues are dealt with then Vocal doesn't have to take time to deal with ticket problems, and creators don't have to waste time raising tickets and waiting for issues to be fixed.

I have seen requests for the ability to block rogue members, and my particular bugbear, publications in notifications, put "on the roadmap" and then that seems to be the end of it.

I really do want Vocal to prove me wrong and suddenly give us these improvements, if they do a lot of creators will be very happy.

The only thing we can do, is become Oliver Twist and keep asking for more and hope the Vocal Beadle eventually gives in and applies these improvements.

For me, Vocal has been the most lucrative writing environment I have been a member of in my life. It has given me some incredibly close friends, and a lot of coffee money, and has kicked me to self-publish several books, and I am always trying to bring in new members.

So please Vocal, actually show us that the roadmap is going somewhere and we can all move forward together.

Thank you for all the good you do Vocal, and a telling off for the times you seem to ignore things, but keep doing the good stuff and improving the platform.

The music is "The Numberer" by Roxy Music, because a lot of this refers to numbers.