The Watch Links Thread

Post by **ussusimiel** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:46 am

Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American novelist, most famous for the fantasy series, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the science fiction books, The Gap Series, and the four detective novels in The Man Who series, which he originally published under the pseudonym, Reed Stephens. His best known character, Thomas Covenant is partly based on his experiences of being brought up in India by his missionary parents. He is a resident of New Mexico.

He is published as Stephen R. Donaldson in the U.S.A. and as Stephen Donaldson in the UK.

The First Chronicles

Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
The Illearth War (1978)
The Power That Preserves (1979)

The Second Chronicles

The Wounded Land (1980)
The One Tree (1982)
White Gold Wielder (1983)

The Last Chronicles

The Runes of the Earth (2004)
Fatal Revenant (2007)
Against All Things Ending (2010)
The Last Dark (2013)

The Gap series

The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1991)
The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991)
The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1993)
The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994)
The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996)

Mordant's Need
Main article: Mordant's Need

The Mirror of Her Dreams (1986)
A Man Rides Through (1987)

The Man Who

The Man Who is a series of mystery novels written by Donaldson and published under the pseudonym Reed Stephens, derived from his full name, "Stephen Reeder Donaldson".

The Man Who Killed His Brother (1980)
The Man Who Risked His Partner (1984)
The Man Who Tried to Get Away (1990)
The Man Who Fought Alone (2001)

Short stories and collections

Gilden-Fire (1981). The story of Lords Shetra and Hyrim and the Bloodguard on their mission to Seareach. The events described took place during the Illearth War of Chronicle One.
Daughter of Regals and Other Tales (1984)
Daughter of Regals (1984)
"What Makes Us Human"; appeared in The 1985 Annual World's Best SF (1985). Also published in Berserker Base, edited by Fred Saberhagen, and as one of the short stories in Reave the Just and Other Tales.
Epic Fantasy in the Modern World: A Few Observations (1986)
Strange Dreams (editor, 1993)
Reave the Just and Other Tales (1999)

Stephen R. Donaldson ... the official web site

Post by **ussusimiel** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:54 am

I am starting this thread at Avatar's suggestion:

Avatar wrote:If you want to rank for SRD, go write a couple posts about him, using all his names and mentioning his works, then link to that from literary-type places using his name as the link.

The idea is that we use the tread in two ways:

- first do as Av suggests and, using ' Stephen R Donaldson' as the anchor, link the above post from as many other places as possible, especially places related to literature, fantasy and books

- second, post links here that are relevant to Stephen R. Donaldson and his work e.g. Welcome to the Land

According to Av this is one of the best ways to improve our Google search ranking.

u.

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 11:47 am

U, how do I link your post to something? If I click on the address at the top it gets longer with two numbers. Is this what I need to copy and paste?

Post by **Orlion** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 12:01 pm

Iolanthe wrote:U, how do I link your post to something? If I click on the address at the top it gets longer with two numbers. Is this what I need to copy and paste?

This is the url you would want: kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=970678#970678

That would take you directly to the first post in this thread now and forever (the last string of numbers identifies the post)

The other question is: would this be better in another forum? Say, the Summonsing. Would it make for a better experience for the person clicking on the link?

Post by **ussusimiel** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 12:43 pm

That's a good idea, Orlion. I wasn't actually thinking of practical use of the links, I was only focusing on the SEO benefits.It doesn't matter where the thread is. I did think of putting it in the SRD Discussion forum, but Summonsing might be a better option.

Iolanthe wrote:U, how do I link your post to something? If I click on the address at the top it gets longer with two numbers. Is this what I need to copy and paste?

Whenever you want to link a specific post, Io, you can right click on the small icon

' Posted'

at the top left of the post header and copy the link address. This gives you the address of that post and when someone clicks on it they are brought directly to that post rather than just the page or the thread. You'll totally 'Net savvy yet!

u.

Post by **I'm Murrin** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:00 pm

I don't think copy-pasting Wikipedia is a good way to do this (not that I think we should be actively, cynically attempting to do this). I'm pretty sure Google algorithms look for that kind of copy-pasted content and it counts against things.

In any case, Wikipedia licences its content for copying only with attribution.

Website · Post by **Iolanthe** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:12 pm

ussusimiel wrote:That's a good idea, Orlion. I wasn't actually thinking of practical use of the links, I was only focusing on the SEO benefits.It doesn't matter where the thread is. I did think of putting it in the SRD Discussion forum, but Summonsing might be a better option.

Iolanthe wrote:U, how do I link your post to something? If I click on the address at the top it gets longer with two numbers. Is this what I need to copy and paste?
Whenever you want to link a specific post, Io, you can right click on the small icon
' Posted'
at the top left of the post header and copy the link address. This gives you the address of that post and when someone clicks on it they are brought directly to that post rather than just the page or the thread. You'll totally 'Net savvy yet!

u.

Well, you learn something new every day! I didn't know you could do that.

Post by **ussusimiel** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:14 pm

It was more to get it started than anything else that I copied and pasted from Wiki, Murrin. I intended to go back and tailor it later on.

It isn't my intention to be underhand about this. Like you, I was shocked to find that we came so low on the search engines rankings. I see this as an attempt to improve our ranking so that it reflects the level of activity and volume and quality of material here related to SRD. If it's not a good way to go about it then I am happy to try other ways.

u.

Post by **aliantha** » Tue Sep 23, 2014 4:45 pm

Av's an expert on this stuff.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:35 am

Murrin is sadly right I'm afraid.

Now Google thinks you're trying to manipulate it into ranking us better.

(It's not quite as simple as that, but it is a factor.)

Apart from anything else, one of the larger factors is uniqueness. You want to be saying stuff about SRD that doesn't appear anywhere else.

Also, the title of the thread (which is the page title) should be relevant.

My suggestion would be to edit the original post, reword the content (keep the listing of books), (maybe write an intro to each series before it is listed in the post) and then post it as a new announcement in The Summonsing titled oh, "Who Is Stephen R Donaldson?" Replies in that post should be about that post, maybe along the lines of what his books meant to you, stuff like that, mentioning his name of course.

Edit the first post in this thread to remove the content from it (maybe just link to the new thread in the Summonsing from it) and then link to that new post from your external links.

If you wanna edit the OP and post the new one U...or gimme a shout and I'll try it. Got a little free time at the moment.

--A

Post by **ussusimiel** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:59 am

Just did a search and we're on the 1st page of a Google search, 4th from the top! This is where I'd expect us to have been so whatever people have done, it's worked. Thanks, Murrin, for pointing it out in the first place and thanks, Av, for the specialist info.!

I'm sure Jay will come along shortly to take all the credit and act real smug about it, into the bargain

As regards this thread, Av, I didn't ever really think that copying and pasting from Wiki would do (I hate it when people do that!

). I'll edit the post here for the moment and then we can start the new thread in Summonsing.

What about the links to external sites with relevant content? Can they still go here, or would they be better in the new thread?

u.

Post by **Avatar** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:03 am

Probably best in the new thread.

And as I mentioned elsewhere, just keep in mind that 1st page for you doesn't mean first page for me. So much other stuff is taken into account...your location, your search and browsing history (if you permit it to be known), whether you're logged in or not, many many factors.

For me, the .com is showing on page 3 right now.

But these suggestions will all increase the likelihood of us ranking higher.

--A

Post by **ussusimiel** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:26 am

Ah well, hope springs eternal!

I'm getting a completely different result for a search for 'Stephen Donaldson' so I'll bow to your superior experience!

I had a go at editing the OP here and quickly realised that a joint effort could actually produce something really new and cool, so if you want to have a shot at it, work away. If it starts to become too much of a big job we can start a different thread and draw on the immeasurable amount of Stephen R. Donaldson expertise here to do a proper job on it

u.

Post by **kevinswatch** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:00 pm

ussusimiel wrote:I'm sure Jay will come along shortly to take all the credit and act real smug about it, into the bargain

-jay

Post by **MsMary** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 5:22 pm

Post by **ussusimiel** » Sun Sep 28, 2014 8:26 pm

Unbeliever Wiki

u.

Post by **ussusimiel** » Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:51 pm

Review of The Best of Stephen R. Donaldson

Post by **Avatar** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 4:29 am

Yes, links from those would be very good. Something like:

Code: Select all

<a href="http://www.kevinswatch.com">Kevin's Watch: Official Stephen R. Donaldson Forum</a>

--A

Post by **ussusimiel** » Mon Oct 06, 2014 12:11 pm

I emailed the SF Site and asked them if they'd post a link to us using your info above, Av. I'll have a look at the Unbeliever Wiki later on. It's very quiet, but I'd like to contact the Admin there before posting a link.

u.

Post by **Avatar** » Tue Oct 07, 2014 4:09 am

Isn't the admin one of us? Do a site search...I wanna say Effy for some reason...

--A