Help with chapter character assignment

How does this work?

Registered users can help me out by assigning characters to the chapters in which they appear. When this work is complete, I will be able to implement the following useful features:

• links to characters' bio pages at the end of each chapter
• links to all of a character's chapters on his bio page
• filter searches for people based on who has (or hasn't) appeared in at least one chapter
• search for chapters based on the characters that appear in them
• fun facts like which characters have appeared in the most chapters

To the left is a list of the status of all chapters.

• Open - characters have not yet been assigned to these chapters, or no one has flagged them as ready for approval
• Completed - characters have been added and the chapter is "closed" by the administrator.
• Awaiting approval - someone has assigned all the characters to the chapter, and it needs to be closed by the administrator
• Problems - someone tried adding characters to this chapter, but there was a problem such as characters not yet being in the database, or perhaps they simply didn't know who was who, and they flagged it as needing attention from the administrator

Step One: Find a chapter that needs characters added

Click the "View random" link next to an open chapter to get started. Alternatively, if you're reading a chapter and notice that there are no characters assigned yet, you can click the link at the end of the chapter to go directly to its character page.

Click the "Read chapter..." link below the chapter preview to reread the chapter and refresh your memory, if necessary. You can return to the character list page by clicking the "You can help!" or the "Is this incorrect?" link at the end of the chapter, just above the comment section.

Remember, you must be logged in to add characters or to leave comments in this section of the site.

Step Two: Add characters

If no characters have been added yet, scroll down to the search form beneath the chapter preview.

1. • Enter search criteria. Oftentimes the name will suffice.
   • If not many chapters have been completed yet, the "Appeared in a chapter?" option may not work as you expect -- it's a chicken-and-egg problem.
   • Note that the "alive on" field is pre-populated to the date of the chapter. If you're trying to add a dead character, such as Druze, you will have to clear the date fields when you search.
2. • When you click search, a search results list that will appear in the middle of the page. The names and ages on the date of the chapter will appear.
   • Find the character in the list and click his name.
3. • A small preview of the person will appear in the right-hand section of the page -- name, birthdate, titles, and a picture if he has one.
   • If this the correct person, click the green "Add" button below the preview. He will then be added to the list of characters in the upper-right corner of the page.
   • If this is not the correct person, click another name in the list or change your search criteria and search again.
   • If you still cannot find the character, click the "Can't complete without help" button below the character list, and add a comment in the comment form below to note which character you couldn't find.

Step Three: Flag the POV character(s) and fix any mistakes

1. When you have added all the characters, scroll back up to the character list at the top left of the page.
2. If you have made any mistakes, you can remove the character by clicking on the X button next to the character name.
3. If the chapter is told from the point-of-view of one or more characters, click the "eye" icon next to the characters' names. If you click the wrong button, you can un-select it by clicking the eye again. Yes, it is possible (though quite rare, except in the early chapters) for a chapter to be told from the point of view of several or even of no characters.

Step Four: Mark the chapter as awaiting approval

Once you are sure you have added all the characters that appear in the chapter, click the "Ready to be closed" link below the list, and I will check your entries and close the chapter. You don't get points until the chapter is closed.

What if someone already added characters?

If you go to an "open" chapter and see characters already added by another user, you can "vote up" their choices by clicking the checkmark or the POV-eye, or "vote down" by clicking the X if you see they made a mistake. You get karma for this too.

What's with the karma?

Just for fun! I wanted to know who did all the dirty work for me. You will be imbued in a vague aura of my gratitude, which may pay off for your favorite characters at a a later date.

You get one point for each correct "vote" you made, and several points of karma for every character that you added using the search form, since that's a lot more work.

Guidelines

• Yes, animals like Sweetdew are characters too. I think I would draw the line at miscellaneous horses and cats who don't have a "speaking role", but since we had a chapter told partly from the point-of-view of a horse once, I may add a few animal celebrities such as Darius, Jupiter, Druid, Hundr, and Kottr. If I don't have a particular character-worthy animal in the database yet, leave a comment.
• I think Dantalion, Cian, Dre, Araphel, Fergus, etc., and all their forms should count as separate "characters". In the story it is not immediately obvious who is who, and I don't want to spoil anything for new readers by listing "Araphel" as one of the characters in the first chapters in which we see Brude.
• If you see a random, unnamed maid or peasant character in the background of a picture, that's probably not worth a character entry. (Especially since my early maids and peasants were never named even in my own mind.) However, if there are known characters in the background, like guests at a dinner scene without a speaking role, you can add those. (And see if you can find the earliest appearance of Ethelwyn in the background, before we even knew who he was!)