Updates

What has changed on Writer's Grove, newest first.

Fan fiction, genres from the admin area, and backups in the policies

Version 1.34.2 · October 15, 2026

Releases 1.34.0 to 1.34.2.

  • A series can be marked as fan fiction. Tick Fan fiction on the New Series or Edit Series form and say what it is based on; the series page shows a Fan fiction badge and a "Based on" line, and searching for the source work finds the series. A fan work keeps its real genre.
  • Readers choose whether they see fan works. The search and browse pages have a Fan fiction choice (show all, hide, only fan fiction) for that search, and Hide fan fiction under Content Preferences on the Reading settings page makes hiding the default.
  • Admins add and rename genres from a Genres tab in the admin area. A genre's address is set from its name when it is added and does not change on a rename, so links keep working.
  • The Terms of Service (1.5.0) and the Privacy Policy (1.4.0) now say that copies of deleted data remain in our database backups for up to 30 days after the 30-day grace period and are used only to recover the service. Every account is asked to agree to the new versions once at its next sign-in.

Reports, messages and the System admin area

Version 1.33.0 · October 14, 2026

Releases 1.24.0 to 1.33.0.

  • Every series, book and chapter page has a Report link for signed-in readers, and a comment's Report button now asks for a reason from a short list instead of free text. A person reads every report, and an author hears from the site when something on their work changes because of one.
  • The Support page is now the Contact page: how to reach the people who run the site by phone, email, post or Discord, and a form to send us a message from your account. Replies arrive on the site and by email; your name at the top of the page shows how many are unread, and Messages under it lists your conversations.
  • The admin area has a System tab: how the servers and the database are doing, what each account stores, the reports from readers with the actions on them, and the messages from users. An admin can also view the site as a user, read-only, for up to an hour, with a banner showing whose account it is.
  • A Back to top button on long pages, a Return home link on the information pages, and shelf rows that scroll both ways on a phone (1.30.0). The footer links to the Discord server (1.31.0).
  • The lore bible's Find and replace moved into the entry editor's Tools menu (1.29.0).
  • Every text field has a size limit the database itself enforces, and every formatted field uses the site's own editor (1.27.0). A long word in a comment no longer widens the page on a phone.
  • The classics importer recognises italic numbered chapter headings, and a finished import can be parsed again (1.28.0).
  • Accessibility fixes from the full pass: a field's refusal is shown under the field, the editor's placeholder and toolbar icons are out of the screen reader's way, long contest, plan and tier names wrap, the search lists are out of the Tab order, and refusals are worded in the site's own words (1.28.3 to 1.28.9).
  • The reader calendar shows notices, and the author calendar shows the title and the tier only (1.25.0). Quoted lines that follow one another join into one block (1.25.1).
  • The classics pages are kept out of search engines, and a free author's chapter page carries the site's ad slot (1.24.0). The profile edit form sets itself up once and returns to the Profile tab (1.24.1, 1.24.3).

Security headers and a content security policy

Version 1.23.1 · October 7, 2026

Releases 1.23.0 and 1.23.1.

  • Every page now tells the browser which scripts it may run, where it may load images, fonts, frames and data from, and that no other site may show a Writer's Grove page inside its own. Nothing changes on the page itself; the browser refuses anything that is not ours. At 1.23.0 the browser only reported what it would have refused; at 1.23.1, after a clean run, it refuses it.
  • Links out of the site now send only the site's address as the referrer, never the full page you came from.
  • The server refuses to start without its two signing secrets, rather than starting and signing with nothing.

The Mission page

Version 1.22.1 · October 7, 2026

Releases 1.21.3 to 1.22.1.

  • A new Mission page, linked from the footer: what Writer's Grove is for, the code of ethics the site runs by, and a personal note on AI from the founder. The two links in the note open in a new tab (1.22.1).
  • The footer is reordered. The first row is Pricing, Help, Newsletter, Updates and Support; the second is Mission, Accessibility, Privacy and Terms.
  • The site title in the header no longer shows an outline under the pointer, only on keyboard focus, and in a wide window its focus ring fits the words (1.21.3).

A Report mode and the first writing tool in the editor

Version 1.21.2 · October 7, 2026

Releases 1.21.0 to 1.21.2.

  • The chapter editor has a fourth mode, Report, beside Writing, Revising and Preview. It lists everything the editor found in the chapter in one place: possible misspellings first, then each writing tool you have switched on, with its numbers and the passages it marked. The number on the Report choice is how many items there are.
  • Choose any item in Report to go to Revising mode with that word or sentence selected; choose Report again to come back to where you were.
  • Sentence Length is the first writing tool. It marks each sentence over 30 words with a dashed underline in Revising mode, and shows how many sentences the chapter has, their average length, the longest one, and how much the lengths vary. It works on a series in English, in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
  • The Settings tab of your author pages has a Writing Tools section where each tool is switched on or off. Spelling is always on. More tools will be added here.
  • On a phone the four modes sit two by two above the editor, so each one is easy to press (1.21.1).
  • Going from Preview straight to Report now puts the preview away (1.21.2).

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