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DargonZine Reader Questionnaire Responses

The purpose of the reader questionnaire is to get input from the readers about what they like and what they don't like about DargonZine. Here's what you've told us so far, plus some editorial commentary. At least on most of our questions, you've given us a pretty clear consensus!

What percentage of DargonZine stories do you usually read? 67responses Ed: I suppose it's a tautism that most of our readers actually read the magazine, but it's still nice to hear!	All: 55% Most: 25% Some: 12% Half: 6% Few: 2%
Do you read DargonZine online or print it out? 69 responses Ed: Despite our expectation that few people would sit down and read a lot of text online, a strong majority of our readers do just that!	Online: 65% Print: 35%
How big do you think the ideal issue is? 70 responses Ed: As more novices use the Internet, a growing number of our readers don't appear to understand why issue size is a potential problem for us.	Don't care: 31% Don't know: 27% 2000 lines/120K: 23% 1500 lines/90K: 13% 1000 lines/60K: 6%
When we publish a large story, we can either print the entire thing at once (in which case it may take up an entire issue), or serialize it by printing it in multiple issues (which could also contain other stories, as well). Which would you prefer? 70 responses Ed: Although the majority favor serialization, that number is slowly decreasing, and a higher number of people think we shouldn't break stories into multiple parts.	Do serialize: 57% Don't serialize: 32% Don't care: 11%
We argue a lot about whether we should print depressing stories. Do you think DargonZine should print stories with unhappy endings? 70 responses Ed: An overwhelming number of people favor a balance of happy and unhappy stories.	Balance: 67% Mostly happy: 20% Don't care: 10% Mostly unhappy: 3%
Do you prefer action/adventure stories or stories that explore human drama and emotion? 71 responses Ed: This is the most clear-cut response in our questionnaire: our readers want both action and adventure as well as human emotion and drama.	Both: 77% Action: 16% Drama: 6% Don't care: 1%
Do you prefer stories that have a theme/message, or stories written purely for entertainment value? 71 responses Ed: Again, you want it both ways!	Both: 68% Entertainment: 18% Theme: 8% Don't care: 6%
Do you think DargonZine should accept stories with erotic content? 70 responses Ed: The message here is that erotic content is okay, so long as it serves a purpose and isn't a focal point of the magazine.	Occasionally: 63% Don't care: 14% Never: 14% Often: 9%
Tell us your overall impression of DargonZine: It's the greatest e-mag there ever was. Probably the greatest e-mag there ever will be! Good quality writing. I have really enjoyed reading the issues. I even went back and found older issues to get full story lines. I think this is a great e-magazine. I think the editor, Mr. Liscomb, is incredible!!! I think each story per issue should have a conclusion within itself. I'm impressed with the web site! You guys are GREAT! You don't have the longest running e-zine on The Net for nothing. What I'm saying. You already know that. :) Its good!!! Just discovered your work on the web and I am very appreciative of it. Simply, Love it. :) Wouldn't mind finding out what happened to Je'lanthra'en.. DargonZine's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness -- it's a shared universe. It can take a VERY long time for a reader to figure out who's who, what motivates long-standing characters, what events led to a situation, etc. Making extensive background material and outlines available (with links to appropriate stories in the issues) would help make the project more accesible I happened to find you publication by chance, and it was a lucky one at that. I don't have time to sit and read large novels the way I used to and the short stories are entertaining to read. I prefer that you keep the large stories serialized as it will continue to me coming back. A veritable plethora of impressive stories! I am a committed hard core sci-fi reader and I reallllly like you zine. Its All right.... But could use some more pic It's fun. Some stories seem a tad amateurish, others are quite good. On the content questions, while I answered action/adventure, and hayppy endings, my main criteria is good stories. Erotic or not, action/adventure or drama/emotion, happy or unhappy, themed or entertaining isn't as important as a good story. I like it! I went and fetched all the old issues of FSNET then DargonZine... Concerning your questions: what's important for me is that the stories are well written, and consistent with the previous ones in term of character development. I have a very good impression of DargonZine. The fact that most of the stories are serialized doesn't bother me, but it seems like many times the segment ends just as you are really "getting into" the story. I think it is an interesting way to create a world and to give new writers a chance for exposure. If I ever start writing I would like to know there ios a magazine like this to get my feet wet in. It is a good presentation. A little hard to get into if you did not start at the beginning but fairly easy to catch on if you want to. I am new, but already a fan. I am happy to see that you at DragonZine have included stories with females in lead roles. Let me tell you it gets really tiring after a while argueing with other male gamers that "yes, really, a girl could do that!" I like the fact that the stories come in sections to. Although short full stories are fun also. more DargonZine is honestly the best entertainment I have found yet on the internet. I have been getting it over email for some months now, and the content of each issue has been of a fantastic standard. Keep up the good work. You seem to need some editing help. I found a number of structural no-nos in the editorial alone. Primarily a lack of punctuation, improper punctuation, and run-on sentences. Get help -- advice from a professional journalist/editor of all the zines I have seen DargonZine has it's own place. Since Dargon does not do showbiz, but is what's inside I like it best of all. And secondly the project itself is it's only kind, so far about the things I have seen. Very good! Keep up the good work! It's a well written and cohessive magazine. I like that all the stories are of one world, and that the charactors are shared between the stories. It is beyond a hack and slash, superman style of old fantasy works (which I still enjoy occasionally). Overall grade A So far so good.. It is a well thought out publication in which I enjoy reading in my spare time. I have enjoyed it since the first time I read it. Well chosen stories, generally well written. The shared world is slowly becoming clearer, even after so long... This issues (9-7) is the first I've seen (heard about it while luring in rec.arts.sf.composition.) As others have remarked, it will probably take me a while to get familiar with characters, story lines, etc., but I like what I've read so far. I've loved it since FSFNET. Haven't seen the magazine yet. I just found this site. I think it's really cool, but then again I only found this site a week ago, so I don't know how much my opinion counts for. Since, this is my first time i will tell u my overall impression later on. It's ok and helps me cut down on my paperback consumption. very good It's put together very well. There's a nice mix of authors and stories which makes for an interseting read. I had read many of the stories a few years ago, and now that I have recently found the 'Zine again, I would like catch up on the stories that I have missed. This is a great magazine, and although many people can't find time to do anything, I'm always willing to spend time reading new author's works. Excellent, creative and different from other Web Mags. Impressive. There were some standard and fabulous work here. So far, I have enjoyed all of the stories I have read in back issues, and the layout of the web page is superb. I look forward to the arrival of my first real issue! Overall I've been very impressed. I learned of DargonZine from a Netscape "Internet Research" book that had some sci-fi e-zines listed. DargonZine looked and sounded interesting. I'm very happy that I recieve it. very well writen. I like the stories, topics and characters. The setting is original and new, something to enjoy. Well, I'm still trudging my way through issue 3 (you guys have really been around for a while), and the quality of the writing in the earlier issues (especially FSFNet) varied widely, but I'm finding that as I progress (slowly, but surely) the quality of the writing has become higher and more consistent (as one would probably expect). Great Great publication. Excellent venue for young writers to express themselves, and recieve constructive comments. very nice, some stories are really good, others aren't. i'd appreciate more than 3 stories per issue. I think DargonZine is a very good Ezine. It is well set up with great stories and is easily accesible to new readers. (I am a new reader myself) I really enjoy reading the stories. I like the way this mag. is set up. I just discovered this publication and I am impressed! I have a feeling I'll be back often to see what develops here. I'm interested. I'd like to try and get involved, if at all possible. I found Dargonzine in the PDA area of AOL. I liked the stories that I read and began downloading every backissue I could get my hands on. When I found out that FSFNet was the precursor to Dargonzine I downloaded it as well. I have been very pleased and entertained by the magazine. The truth is I haven't read any of the more current issues because I am still reading through the backissues toward the current ones. As I write this I am going through volumne nine. I am happy to note that my goal of getting caught up gets further away as you publish new issues. I've read every issue since FSFnet 0...I'm hooked. There are soooo many characters I hope will return (Rien, and... what's his name...the fool who became an Elder after having given everything up to save his beloved (kinda shallow plot development doncha think)...I'd also like to see more of that female (boat) captain...and what's gonna happen to Sothos and his aide...any heat in that fire? And the tiger... surely two guys can't own a tiger and live happy normal lives? (Sorry, I'm not great with the character names...I work mostly by their development). Ah...but I'm rambling. Great entertainment...I'd pay for it! I have read this mag off and on for the past 8 years and I wouldn't be comming back if there wasn't something I really liked about it. I am just happy that there are people willing to write and publish in this forum. Very good! I was very happy to find that you guys exist on the web. Good adress for the fan of fantasy related stories. I love to read it as a way making small breaks during work (okay, sometimes it is not so small breaks :-) ) Great idea and well presented The overall setting of the stories is very interesting. I feel as if I am almost there with the characters in each story. I like the suspense of the ones I've read, and I can't wait to read the sequels. Very well-maintained and organized. Great! Keep up the Good Work!. Ed: Several things here. First, we've been putting maps together as quickly as we can come to consensus on the details. See the About Dargon page. We're also putting pointers to both previous and subsequent stories in a storyline in both the ASCII- and HTML-formatted issues. We've also redesigned the Glossary page, and hope that is an improvement. As far as putting out more issues on a more regular schedule, we made a lot of progress there in 1997, averaging about six weeks between issues. We've got more writers than ever, and they're cranking stories out just as fast as they can! And our heartfelt thanks for all the positive feedback you've given. It's truly appreciated!
Tell us any specific things that you like or dislike or would change about the magazine: I should have more time to write for it. I like the fact that it reads like good fiction (if not literature!), rather than "pulp" fiction. I enjoy the serail type stories and would like to see more of them. A map would be helpful (if possible). Suggest that you provide indicators to which previous issues have the rest of the storylines. Don't put all first parts of stories or last parts of stories, etc.. in any ONE issue. In my humble opinion, I would like to see this zine pu- blished more often. But I tink that all of us poor readers want. Not enough volumes to read:) I really like fantacy stuff, outer space, alien worlds, mystical beings etc.... Hey, I'd like to see it more often, but my attempts at writing let me know how hard it is. I liked the stories about the dwarf kid. If the stable of writers grew sufficiently that you could do so, a regular publishing schedule would be nice. I would not recommend sacrificing quality for a deadline, though. Mostly that it is a ballance of both male/female and human/other races in the stories. more. I'd like to see more material, but I guess that's the price you pay for getting only the best stuff. More, more, more, more!! I like how the charactors are more human and less supermen. Tha they have many faults and that they aren't invulnerable. I would prefer that issues came out more often, but I realize that that isn't always possible. The graphics are sometimes too large. For instance the glossery graphics makes you scroll down to see the info when all you want to do is get a little quick info on a character. Only one change I would _strongly_ recommend: turn off the formatting for your lookup links. Please, turn off the underscore and alternate color; let the link text look like regular text. People who read online stuff are used to waving the cursor at various words to see what happens--readers would figure out pretty fast that clicking on a name links to the description. As it stands now, I was unwilling to continue reading the stories because all the underlined names were incredibly distracting--really took me out of the story-world by sending me the not-so-subtle message, "You're on a computer; you're reading a story" over and over and over... I'm a long-time computer geek, I know what hyperlinks are, and I'm used to ignoring them as I read technical info; I was actually quite surprised to see just how awful (sorry, but it's the truth, for me) they are in online fiction. Other than that, I have no complaints; it's a beautiful zine. I like almost all of the stories and read them greedily. I wouldn't change a thing (unless to make them come out more often. haha!) Editorials are a bit windy :-).. I think that there is always room for improvement, but I'll leave that up to the editorial staff. Need to catch up with the storyline. Very satisfied with the layout of the pages. Hope the DargonZine would come out more often, on regular base. A more complete and comprehensive 'beginner's guide' might be useful, as well as a 'suggested reading list' to get new acquisitions up to speed. A more detailed index of the stories: How many chapters? Does the story has an end? If not, is the writer still interested in achieving it? I personally like magic in sci-fi or fantasy storied, but dont' really find them necessary. nothing to dislike so far, and everything to like. As I said, I'm a long way from the current issues (I started from the very beginning and am slowly making progress), but I like the fact that the earlier D&D influence has diminished, and the overload of references to obscure names of people, places, religions, etc. has slowed to a trickle. I'm starting to get the impression of a much more cohesive milieu. On the other hand, I'm finding the high concentration of "noble" stories a bit disappointing. So far I'm not getting and impression of the common man, or the denizens of the Fifth Quarter. Hopefully that will change as I progress. The story about the war. Perhaps make it longer. Many people don't mind it being a lot longer than it is now. i'd allow one non-dargon (but fantasy - let's stick to the roots) story per issue if it isn't too long. I like how all the stories share the sam mileu. It lets you get more into the stories I think having them occur in places and with people you already know. There is nothing really that I would change about this magazine I think it is great as it is! I would like to see an index in which related stories are listed so that I don't have to search through all stories to find the first one You are absolutely right about people's attention span. It is difficult to concentrate on a computer screen, just reading, for more than about five minutes. Always serialize. Besides, doesn't that keep the readers coming back for more? I do not feel comfortable with idea of erotic content in Dargonzine. Its not what attracted me to the magazine, not what I read it for, and not what will make me want to read future issues. There may be a magazine for such stories but I hope its not Dargonzine. Some may think this a prudish attitude but its presence does not increase my enjoyment of the stories and is more of a distraction than an enhancement. Still not to pleased with the war's end...I don't really see a resolution (other than a winner which is not always a winner). I'm likely in the minority but I coulda used more battle details (like the pirate ship that decides to sink Beinosians (BTW...next time you pick an enemy, don't begin their names with the same letter of the alphabet as the good guys...I get easily confused and had to constantly remind myself that Beinosians (sp?)=BAD and Baranurians = GOOD!... sounds silly but hey, you outta hear my real voice). I like the political intrigue as well as some of the moral dilema themes. I would be careful about stories with erotic content as it may marginalize the rest of the issues. There have been some really talented writers working on stories and it show's. You need to have a section detailing how one may submit to the "zine." - Of course I don't like unfinished stories! ;-)) (Hmmph, waiting for one of the next issues again!) - Very good work in the HTML issues with the informational links! - Some kind of periodical table of contents of the published stories would be good! Not much to change... maybe large issues, but I'm greedy :) Is there any way to read stories by any one author? Also, are there photos of the authors to go with their profiles? I'd like to see who writes which stories, and read maybe a short bio of how they created their chcaracters/story lines. I like all of it. Keep up the good work I don't like when writers leave and there Characters are fogotten about. Ed: Well, we're a little surprised by the preponderance of positive feedback! We definitely acknowledge and are trying to work on the availability of background material and the best way to get new readers up to speed quickly. These are major concerns, and if you have any ideas, please share them, and we'll see if they'll do the trick!
Tell us what you think about this Web site: It looks fantastic. The Webmasters have done a great job. Good, fast access (glad to see you don't overuse images, which can be a pain for overseas readers), and quite readable (text/background). Thank you very much for installing this web site. It makes things a lot easier to find. Otherwise you would have to ftp or get information from someone else. I recommend you have access to past issues on the web site. Put pictures/illustrations on the web site to accompany stories if possible. Pretty good. It's a lot more interactive thath waiting to be downloaded to an anonymous.ftp site or gopher and then clogging the mail server with comments. Also, you don't get 3 or 4 150Kb textfiles dumped into your work directory when you need the disk space. Exceptional layout. The glossary is helpful for new readers like myself. So far, so good. :) Could be tweaked some, but all-in-all it's pretty well done. This questionaire and the survey are good ideas... past that, it seems like a good start! It looks good. Can't wait until more back issues are browsable. Seems well laid out. An awesome web site that keeps getting better! I like your site, it is original. Pretty cool, really. Looks good I think this is a good way for you to get more exposure and more readers. I got this address off of the newsgroup, but I am wondering if someone could find this site through a web search engine, like Web-Crawler. Just logged in, to new to tell It's nice, except that MOSAIC does not fully support your Questionnaire page -- I can answer the questions in the boxes but I can't submit my completed responses. I'd like to be able to download the complete glossary of characters and places in one file so I can search it off-line; I'd probably refresh my copy as often every issue. Well done Compared to some it's well contructed! inadequate Haven't really looked around it much so far (reader profile & questionnaire), so I can't really comment properly. Well done!! Good web site, well organized, lots of material It is great Well done, easy to navigate and pleasing to the eye. It is beautiful. Beautiful layout, beautiful (and not too many) graphics. I love it, especially the archives. I'd love to see more of the older stories in the new format... but for now FTP is okay. :) Haven't seen the magazine yet. I just found this site. Very nicely done. Easy to read, and doesn't take overly long for pages to load. User friendly. Totally cool. I sent the address to all my friends. I like it a lot. It was about time that I found something like this site. Keep up the good work :) Above you asked how big the issue should be. Ya didn't have selection for small enough for a staple to fit thru when printed very nicely done Very easy to use. good organization. easy to navigate. Straight forward and easy to use Fantastic!! Keep it up! I love the layout. It is a pleasant and refreshing change from the flashy and contrast-heavy pages that are so in vogue these days. Content is what makes a page, not presentation, and you seem to understand that. Very interesting for new writers looking for tools. Very well done! I only wish all pages looked this good!! okay Well organized, with a surprising amount of useful information about the minutia of Dargon. Very well done! Like it Excellent web site... always up to date and filled with new information... you should offer the ascii-version of the zine (what you send per email) for download, prefarrybly zipped. not everybody likes to stay online for hours. I think this Web site is very good. It is definitely user friendly! And the graphics really add a flare to it. I give this web sit an A! I like the way it is set up and the combination of color and pictures allows for easy reading A wonderful site. Easy to get around in and view. I love the background, and it is easy to get around. It is also nice that you have the HTML versions and the ASCII versions of the story. I like the site. Its "lightness" of graphic content makes for a quick download and appeals to me. Visual information appears apropriatly decorative and further visual information is available but does not slow navigation of the site if your there for another reason. Web Site = GOOD. Clean and too the point. Just the way I like it. The magazine could probably use a little promotion, but maybe keeping it small benefits it more. Average, you have what is needed, but not much more. Good! not bad :) needs to be a little more organized though Great web site! Artwork and explanations of Dargon/ DargonZine are well written (appealing graphics and easy to read/understand). This site will definitely stay on my "Must See" list of web sites! I think I would change the website. It's a little too drab. Make it more "modern". Great! Ed: Thanks for the input here! As far as more illustrations, we're doing what we can. None of us are artists, but we've now got four or five people contributing artwork for stories, which should help! As far as making the back issues more accessible, that's an arduous job, but we're doing our best to convert ALL the back issues to HTML in 1998. While people have praised the site's layout, we've got a lot of cleanup and several great enhancements that need to be put into place during 1998. Again, if you have any ideas, let us know!