Looking for Editors + Laptop Dying
14 years ago
General
Okies, I figure I should probably start doing this. It's quite obvious that the prostitution scenes in Nimin lack a bit of finesse, judging by the amount of typos and grammar issues people have reported. However, it's too much work for myself (I have difficulty reading other people's works when I'm trying to get into the creative mood), so I'm looking for some help.
Basically, I need 1-2 editors to proofread and edit the prostitution scenes people submit to me. I'll still read through the scenes to see which ones I'd be putting in, and then I'll send them over to the editors to fix up before I put it in the code (I've still got a couple scenes in my inbox I've hardly looked at, since I've been meaning to get editors first). I'd also like to have the editors go through the scenes that are already in the game and spruce them up a bit, although they're all coded and you'll have to look "past the code".
A few people have offered up their services, so to be fair I'll give as many people a chance as I can. Though I don't wanna sift through hundreds of people either XD Post here and give me a sample of something you've written/edited via a link. I'll check it over real quick and if it looks good I'll put you into consideration. If there's still a lot of worthwhile editors, then I'll send out scenes that have already been inputted into the game to see how you'll fix them up. Hopefully after all that I'll have about 2 editors that I'd like to keep around.
Don't take offense if you're not chosen. In some cases I might choose somebody because I know them better and thus feel more apt to rely on them more. I don't know, it depends on how this turns out. For those that do become editors, you won't really get anything except for credit on the opening screen and maybe a special journal, similar to what the people who originally wrote the scenes get. If you want more, I possibly can, within reason, though don't expect much, considering I don't get much myself XD
In other news, when I woke up today, it took forever for my laptop to load up, as well as every subsequent restart thereafter. A few days ago I had a problem where one of the startup files got borked because the sector on the hard-drive went bad. I spent most of the day fixing it just to get it to start up again and scanning it thoroughly. I also seemed to have obtained a Firefox search hijacking thing, though after 3 different malware scanners and configuration file adjusting, nothing has come up as the culprit, and I don't go anywhere to obtain such a thing with my laptop. Upon trying to do another full system scan today, the hard-drive went kaput and the computer froze. The hard-drive also makes horrible sounds as it takes forever to find something, and really scared me when it made the same sound as well as a horrible error beep as I was running a checkdisk.
To put it short - after 7 years of having this laptop, it seems the hard-drive is failing. I can't seem to find any other reason for it's recent decent into death.
This... is really disheartening. I've been a bit prepared for this, as I've only been using my laptop for light web-browsing, a messenger program, and dvds (since the dvd rom is fine). However, I also do most of my writing on my laptop. I can be far more productive when I'm comfortably sitting on my bed typing away than sitting at my desktop doing it. It's how I coded more than 4/5 of Nimin. With it dying, I don't think I can code with it anymore (I'm not sure if it'll even survive another week...), which will put a huge dampener on any progress. I also cannot afford a new laptop, even something small just to perform the same capabilities, since I have pretty much no income still.
So... expect a slowdown on Nimin (even slower than usual XD), unless something finally goes right, which I doubt will happen.
Basically, I need 1-2 editors to proofread and edit the prostitution scenes people submit to me. I'll still read through the scenes to see which ones I'd be putting in, and then I'll send them over to the editors to fix up before I put it in the code (I've still got a couple scenes in my inbox I've hardly looked at, since I've been meaning to get editors first). I'd also like to have the editors go through the scenes that are already in the game and spruce them up a bit, although they're all coded and you'll have to look "past the code".
A few people have offered up their services, so to be fair I'll give as many people a chance as I can. Though I don't wanna sift through hundreds of people either XD Post here and give me a sample of something you've written/edited via a link. I'll check it over real quick and if it looks good I'll put you into consideration. If there's still a lot of worthwhile editors, then I'll send out scenes that have already been inputted into the game to see how you'll fix them up. Hopefully after all that I'll have about 2 editors that I'd like to keep around.
Don't take offense if you're not chosen. In some cases I might choose somebody because I know them better and thus feel more apt to rely on them more. I don't know, it depends on how this turns out. For those that do become editors, you won't really get anything except for credit on the opening screen and maybe a special journal, similar to what the people who originally wrote the scenes get. If you want more, I possibly can, within reason, though don't expect much, considering I don't get much myself XD
In other news, when I woke up today, it took forever for my laptop to load up, as well as every subsequent restart thereafter. A few days ago I had a problem where one of the startup files got borked because the sector on the hard-drive went bad. I spent most of the day fixing it just to get it to start up again and scanning it thoroughly. I also seemed to have obtained a Firefox search hijacking thing, though after 3 different malware scanners and configuration file adjusting, nothing has come up as the culprit, and I don't go anywhere to obtain such a thing with my laptop. Upon trying to do another full system scan today, the hard-drive went kaput and the computer froze. The hard-drive also makes horrible sounds as it takes forever to find something, and really scared me when it made the same sound as well as a horrible error beep as I was running a checkdisk.
To put it short - after 7 years of having this laptop, it seems the hard-drive is failing. I can't seem to find any other reason for it's recent decent into death.
This... is really disheartening. I've been a bit prepared for this, as I've only been using my laptop for light web-browsing, a messenger program, and dvds (since the dvd rom is fine). However, I also do most of my writing on my laptop. I can be far more productive when I'm comfortably sitting on my bed typing away than sitting at my desktop doing it. It's how I coded more than 4/5 of Nimin. With it dying, I don't think I can code with it anymore (I'm not sure if it'll even survive another week...), which will put a huge dampener on any progress. I also cannot afford a new laptop, even something small just to perform the same capabilities, since I have pretty much no income still.
So... expect a slowdown on Nimin (even slower than usual XD), unless something finally goes right, which I doubt will happen.
FA+

Take paypal donations, I'm sure you'll have a new lappy in no time!
I've had donations open for a long while now and I wouldn't say no time :P I appreciate the generosity I've been given, but it's nowhere near enough for a new laptop XD
It has gotten better with Win7 and the new controllers but i'D still handle them with care, they are a wee bit expensive to just slap them in and hope for the best.
I never knew SSDs required so much care XD I only know the physics behind them, so I understand that they'd be super-reliable and potentially last decades, if they didn't have all the dependencies that you mentioned.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3889632/ -Breast Expansion
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5870799 -Hypnosis
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5781314/ -General Yiff
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5839230
I'm probably not the best candidate for the summer though - I'm unavailable from mid-june to mid-august.
But...I've got two weeks! I can edit like mad =3
http://www.f-list.net/c/Lenae%20Oyen/
If you want something else, say, a boring report or something whipped up on the spot, let me know, I'd be HAPPY to do whatever I can to help out!
there ya go.
Though I have written a few monsters for Nuku_v's Flexible Survival MUD.
I suppose I could copy and paste the victory message from one of them to you in a note if you like.
As with the hard drive; BACK UP YOU VALUABLE DATA NOW! All of the problems that you have stated are signs that your hard drive is near death. Once it dies, your data is pretty much gone. If I were you, I would stop what you are doing and back up now! The longer you wait, the high the chance of losing your data.
And I have pretty much all I need backed up already. It's just the lack of comfort that's the biggest deal.
I'm not sure as to how much I might be able to help with your laptop, but if it's as old as you say it is I might just be able to help out a little.
From what you described it sounds like your HD is about to be a hockey puck. Over many years I've had a lot of different drives byte (pun intended) the big one and head off to the scrap heap into the sky. By describing a nasty noise, it sounds like your drive's head is crashing, either into the platter or more likely the stepper motor that moves the read/write heads is slamming into the ends of the run. (A little historical info.. that sound is why we say hard drives / computers "crash" to this day.)
Can the drive be fixed? Not on a budget that any normal person could afford, same with data recovery. (I used to do this for clients back when I had access to clean rooms and a lot of equipment.) But all is not lost for your laptop.
I still have access to and have a few friends who 'collect' older equipment. (Read we don't toss anything out .. =p ) So I might be able to get you a used HD for your laptop at a good price.. say oh, free (provided you live here in the united states) You (or some one you know) will have to take the old HD out and replace it, then you'll have to format, install your operating system and all your software.
I'm not sure if you want to go through all that work for an old laptop, but that's what it'll take. The good news is however, if you have your install CD's, mickysoft license, some time or a good friend along with a couple of small Phillips screwdrivers you could be back in business. (Heck I can probably even do it for you if need be.)
If your interested in trying to resurrect your current lappy, their are a few starter things I'll need to know. The make and model of your laptop and the size of the drive that's dieing. (MB not physical) and what OS your running. Windows XP, etc. (Either note me, reply to this post or make a new journal with the specs.)
On this end I'll see what my friends and I got in our various junk boxes and if theirs one that'll match I'll hook it up to one of my old Linux boxes and give the replacement drive a good old 24 hour burn test. Provided everything checks out, I'll send off the drive to you.
If you want me to replace it for you, I'll need to have the laptop sent to me with all the above mentioned but I'd wait until I find a replacement drive.
All that said, anyone can find a drive for you and put it in. If possible, (or your buying a new drive) try to get a Fujitsu. From many years of experience, drives made by Fujitsu around that time / design tend to be the better ones. (They shipped with three year warranties.) Avoid Maxtor or Western Digital. (Junk) Seagate's at about that era can also be questionable.
If you have to buy a drive, remember netbooks with winblow 7 starter run about $229.00 US out of the box. (I know I'm typing on one currently.) In fact Radio Shaft has one on sale this week for $199 .00
Hope this all helps, and let me know if their are any other questions I can answer for ya!
PG };8>
On the other hand, there's a lot of other things failing on the laptop that would make getting a new HD potentially pointless as well. The fan originally failed after 2 years and had to be replaced, so I'm always afraid it'll again. One of the joints that holds the screen on also broke, exposing some wires and making shutting the laptop potentially hazardous if not cared for. The screen fell backwards once due to this and now there's a line of red pixels down the right side of the screen. The battery hardly holds a charge anymore, I can manage moving the thing in under 5 minutes and it would drop down to 70% battery life in that time. For $300-$500, I could just replace the whole thing rather than buying just a drive like that.
But, if after all that you still think it's worth using an old extra HD from another laptop, then it might be worth trying? Idk. All I need on it is Windows XP (Windows 7 is probably way too resource intensive to use on this thing), the software that handles the hardware (which I may be able to find online, idk), Firefox, Trillian, and EditPlus 2 (which I use for the coding XD). I'm not sure.
With all that wrong with your laptop it might be time for a new (or newer) one. The biggest trouble I see is that you don't have the OS disk and the busted hinge.. I have a copy of XP from my Dell Desktop you can have (It's run Linux since the day it was out of the box) but it's a Dell disk.. (Read.. lots of crap it wants to install to make your Dell experience a Hell experience.)
I tossed my junk boxes but the only drive I still have that might work is labeled PNWS (probably not worth a s*it), so that one is out. One of my friends has a drive that should fit, but he's a little reluctant to give it up.. mostly because he's using it as a plug in diagnostic drive for laptops he works on. One of my other friends has a full laptop that works, except the power charger is shot. I'm waiting for him to get back from his fishing trip so he can let me know what it is, and what's on it. He might want to trade it for some junk I have down in my workshop that's just gathering dust. (We do that kind of thing all the time.)
Anyway, hang in there, I'm still looking around... and I'll ask some folks in my algebra class on Tuesday and check over in IT and see what they have.
PG };8>
Thanks for going out of your way so much to help me though, I do appreciate it. Yet I hope you don't go into too much trouble to do something XD I mean, I don't really know you, so it's kinda odd, but it's good to know there's some kind generous people out there ^^
Their are a few good folks around, but Shush... if it get's out I'll ruin my evil reputation.. =p
PG };8>
I don't write myself, I'm not that creative, but I do read stuff for my friends.
If you want some proof of my acuity in the field of literature, I will throw some numbers at you.
Are you familiar with the SAT? I received a 2100 combined, 740 reading, 680 writing and 680 math.
I'm an almost perfect analyst of sections handed to me, according to that score at least. I don't think I' that awesome, though.
But if you have some examples of your work, toss it onto the pile so I have something to compare ^^
If you buy something though, may I suggest getting a netbook? They're cheaper, and you can write fairly well on them.
PG };8>
Just post a sample of your work so I can compare :P
Here are some of my really short stories. I'm also formally educated in writing, if that matters. :V
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1556627/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1565710/
Tentacles: Betty's Shortcut
Vanilla erotic: Lost and Found
Transgender, trickery, and exploitation: Tricked and Treated
For samples, here's a few of my recently completed works.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5836305/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5345655/
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/4900616/
I've got lots more, but these are the one's I'm most proud of for now.
My desktop runs Linux exclusively... always has except Dell decided to start putting windows on it when I ordered it.
Anyway, good to see some Linux users round here from time to time.
PG };8>