350 x 100 is plenty of space, actually, and I'm speaking as someone who has experience making banners that size. 

Oh yeah...and glad you're back!!! :)

Stop beating yourself up...I mix things around everyday!  They call me "Ghostwriter The Confused"!  Don't feel bad.  And thanks for the clarification!

Your banner doesn't need to tell the story for you; essentially, it's an advertisement to draw people in before they even read your story.  Big banners are an unnecessary slowdown on the site, and, personally, I find smaller banners more, well, banner-like, attractive, and effective.

I right there with you. On my third chapter, I just wrote in my summary what it was supposed to say because you couldn't read it at all.... Also the banner for His Little Sister was taken off and I loved the banner. I can't find a site where it adjusts it so it will be smaller... Oh well. I'm just ranting don't listen to me...

i hsve no stuff on my computer to tell me the size! i got really upset last night when i saw a review and then found out what had happened! Also, why do you  tell us in a review from a chapter halfway through the story? if you're reading the stories then i don't mind so much.

I know the banner size seems too small (it does look quite tiny on my screen...) but I'd like to remind everyone that big banners take long to load. My computer isn't too slow but it's also not the fastest kind, and it can be quite irritating to wait for some huge banner to finally appear. I can only imagine what it's like for people with older computers. Also, they use up a lot of space and that way a lot of good stories are hidden between them and go unnoticed, which is a shame.

Just a reminder of why the rules are the way they are :) It's not without reason.

1.  You shouldn't hide under your banner to make up for what you feel is not quality writing (though I do not think it is.)

2.  Anyone who is more likely to review a story because of a banner mystifies me. Then again, maybe I just have short term memory loss and completely forget about the summary by the time I read the actually story.

3.  The rules have been here and recorded this entire time.  It's not a new rule that you dislike; it's not something the mods made up to ruin your fanfiction career (and I use that term loosely).  It is here, and has been here, to make reading on the site more enjoyable for everyone. 

 

 

If you have a logical reason (not just people won't read my stories anymore) for why you dislike a rule, or a reasonable alternative, feel free to complain.  But, in my opinion, whining about something without support or other options is utterly and completely useless 

WHOA! Calm down please ... nobody hates anyone here ... 

lol im not going to lie, i look at the banner before i read the summery-just as i look at the cover of a book before reading the back or inside flap. that or i'll choose something random but still. i do it. and yes-dun dun dunnn i do judge a book by its cover (I know i know crazy right? i can't help it). if the banner is really bad, i tend not to click on it. but the big banners are really annoying and just = bad story. i don't know-sometimes its better not to have one on a story at all.

Wow... I didn't mean to start a battle here o_O

GW: Don't worry about the banner! People will read your story anyway. Stop putting yourself down -- you're a great writer, and you know it!

To me, banners are just an addition to the summary. They don't influence my decision to read the story in any way. No actually, that's slightly wrong: ugly and too big banners make me skip right over the story. Consequently, banners can be more of a disadvantage than an asset.

So if anyone's worried about not getting readers because you don't have a banner, don't be. When nobody has a big banner, nobody will be discriminated :)

Let me make one last comment on this, and then I am done.  I was not insulting anyone or their writing, though I now see I was really unclear in my last post where I meant to say that I do believe it is quality writing.  I also wasn't saying that read counts aren't higher because of banners, just that review counts won't necessarily be higher.  As has been pointed out, a big, slow to load banner is a turn-off--you may have more success with drawing in readers with no banner at all.  And, finally, I agree with Jacquelyn that the page looks much cleaner.

 

Ok, I am officially going to shut my mouth (or fingers, I suppose, but how does one shut her fingers?) and leave it be, no matter how strong the urge to have the last word.  Maybe I can channel that into writing, since I haven't posted anything in a ridiculously long time.

Peace out:)