Vocal “Bumps”

We all know that Vocal has had some issues since the latest “update.” Most people missed a day or two of reads and submissions. But it's much more than that.

During that time, we were unable to use the links from notifications to access our friends’ works. That has been partially resolved, but even now, the notifications do not list the titles of our pieces. I personally like seeing the names of the stories and poems. It makes choosing what to read more informative and fun. Edit: It looks like this issue may have been resolved. Progress!

Everything is still running at a sloth’s pace. Loading, submitting, even trying to tap on a heart takes more time. Arg!

However, the most frustrating to me is the new format for publishing. It is NO LONGER DEFAULT to accept comments on your pieces!! You have to manually choose that EVERY TIME! It took me a hot minute to figure that out, so I hope this helps people realize why no one is saying anything. It’s not because we don’t want to, it’s because your piece proclaims, “_______ is not accepting comments at the moment.” You will find the option to add comments in the settings (the cog in the upper right.) Toggle that and you’ll be able to see what people think of your story, poem, or article.

Related to this issue, it used to be easier to edit. It’s not too bad once you figure out the new system, but it’s not as user friendly, in my opinion. There’s no “Edit” in the upper right anymore. You have to click or tap on the three dots to see the editing option. I found this out after monkeying around with it, but it says “Saving” or “Saved” in the upper left. Again, it may be slow, so patience is required. I do like that automatic saving though. It's more difficult to accidently lose your work. If you click on “Manage Publish,” you will need to choose the community, tags, and content warnings, etc. all over again.

Another unfortunate change is that after editing, there’s no option to go back to your profile. If you tap or click the left arrow in the upper left, it will take you to your stories but not your profile.

I have another complaint to add. I wrote this on my iPad while walking around my living room and kitchen island so that I'm not just sitting for hours. When I tried to publish this piece just now, the system wouldn't let me scroll down enough to get to the Writers community because the keyboard is in the way. The farthest down I could get was to the Wheel community. When I collapsed the keyboard, the communities went away. I tried half a dozen times unsuccessfully. My only option is to publish with my desktop or laptop. I don't know how many people write with an iPad, but that was frustrating.

So, now I'm on my desktop. No problem choosing Writers. Then, I got the message, "No tags available" and it wouldn't let me publish without choosing at least one. I think I went too fast. Again, this system needs patience. Crossing my fingers this time!

I assume people have reached out to complain about some of these changes. No one knows if there will be yet more coming along.

We can only hope that the next update will actually result in more improvements rather than crashes and glitches.

I'm probably not the only writer who will publish a piece about grievances. After all, a writer writes. If we don't express our concerns, they will not be addressed.

I know some writers who have already opted out because Stripe is not available to them, and they can’t earn anything with Vocal anymore. Please, Vocal, listen to your writers, or you may continue to lose more valuable people. One of Vocal’s strengths has been the community of supportive, creative, like-minded individuals. Let’s not lose that.