The Writer’s DB Blog

Been working on the one-time upgrade script that will convert all the existing database content from version 1.0 of the site to work with version 2.0. It would have worked with no problems . . . except for one, er, problem.

There was a flaw in version 1.0, related to handling of quotation marks in the names of manuscripts and markets. You could put quotes into the names of either, but when you submitted one of those manuscripts, or submitted to one of those markets, the record of the submission would fail to record the full name of that submission or market. It would only record up to the quotation mark.

This is an easy thing to fix, but I only became aware of it just now. None of my own stories or markets have quote marks in their names, and none of the site’s other users ever complained about it.

So, there are a whole bunch of records where the submission data doesn’t quite match up to the market and manuscript data. I think the best-if-not-only solution may be to correct each of these records manually.

The lesson: always code things correctly from the beginning. Cleaning up after yourself later takes longer.

I knew that already. But knowing it and always managing to write 100% bug-free code are two different things.

So, the new version 2.0 of the site, with all the new community features, isn’t even live yet as I write this. It’s still in testing and late-stage development on my PowerBook. And yet, the “social” aspect of having a writer’s database on the web has paid off again.

Within the last couple of days, a new user (whose name I won’t reveal in the interest of privacy, though he’s welcome to comment this post if he wishes) signed up for the currently live version of the site, and e-mailed me to introduce himself and to ask a couple of questions about the feature set. It turns out he’s a graduate of one of the Clarion (science fiction and fantasy writing) workshops this year, 2006. I’m a Clarion 2004 graduate myself, so I’m pleased at the new acquaintance.

Maybe this sort of thing will happen more, and not just for me or even just for SF writers, once the new version launches. That would be pretty cool, I think.

Any other Clarionites out there, using the site?