What is the reference to "One Million Monkeys Typing"?

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type or create a particular chosen text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare.

How close is 'One Million Monkeys Typing' to its goal?

With a total of 2214 registered monkeys, we are 0.2214% complete to our goal.

Why do you need my email address in order for me to sign up?

Spam bots. As you most-likely have experienced, there are bits of code that roam the internet looking for unguarded forums; once they acquire a target they upload as much information as possible directing the forum-users to discounted Viagra and debt consolidation services. We thought it best to keep the site free from such ads.

Where do I find the stories to read and add to?

They are on the home page. If you are anywhere but the home page, click on the One Million Monkeys Typing name to be taken there. Currently on the home page you will find buttons for both the "Public" (default) and "Private" groves. Click on a story title to read the first snippet in that story.

What is a "snippet"?

A snippet is a segment of story text. Snippets can have 3 off-shoot snippets each. In this way the story may grow like a tree with many branches.

Why is the title categorized as a seedling (sapling, pole tree, sawtimber) story?

Due to the way the stories grow and expand off of each other, we thought the analogy of trees was appropriate. Seedlings are stories with 0-10 snippet entries; Saplings are stories with 11-100 snippet entries; Pole Trees are stories with 101-1000 snippets; and Sawtimbers (categorization from a forestry service, don't get mad at us) are stories with 1001+ snippets. (These categorizations may get altered as the site evolves.)

Why are there different "word counts" for each story?

We wanted to give users the opportunity for various amounts of commitment to a story. Thus we allowed stories to be started (i.e. trees to be planted) with varying word counts. Those of you who want to dip your feet can write on a tree with snippets that have word counts as low as 50, those who are ready to dive in can write on a tree with snippet word counts as high as 300.

How does the ranking of snippets work?

You can rank each snippet of text by giving it between 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) bananas. In order to rank snippets you need to register with One Million Monkeys and then click on the bananas. You are allowed to rank each snippets once, however you may adjust your rank at anytime.

I'm done reading a snippet, how do I read more of the story?

At the end of each snippet of text you will find a button that says "read next" (you may have to scroll down in the snippet if you are viewing a tree with a word count greater than 200). Click that button and you will see options for "climbing up the tree" that will appear above the snippet you just finished reading. Where there is another segment in the story its synopsis will appear, where no one has written a follow-up segment there will be a button allowing you (and others) to "graft" a new story snippet.

How do I graft a new snippet onto a story?

Once you've signed up and logged in you can add your own snippet to the end of any other snippet that has less than three current offshoots. After reading the snippet you want to add to click the "read next" button and then click one of the "graft story" buttons that appears above. The graft story page appears.


On this page you will be presented with a box that shows all of the snippets of the story that exist prior to where you are about to post. You will be given the option of making a new chapter by giving your snippet a chapter title. Now start typing in the snippet text box. You will see the word count change as you type at the left. Before you graft your new snippet be sure to give it a snippet summary so that others may decide whether they want to read the complete text or not.

How many snippets can I write in a row?

There is no limit to the number of sequential snippet you can add.

Can I start my own story?

You can only plant your own story once you have earned a "seed". In order to do earn a seed, you will need add snippets to other stories to help them grow and thrive. You can check to see how close you are to obtaining a seed on your monkey author page.

What is the difference between the Public Grove and the Private Grove?

If you have 100% of a seed you can plant a tree in either grove, and anyone can add snippets. In the Private Grove however, the monkey author that plants the tree has the opportunity to PRUNE OFF any snippets that he/she doesn't like.

Why has my snippet disappeared?

Snippets in the public grove will start to wither if they are not added to and/or ranked well.

Do you have any plans for new features for the site?

Yes. Of course. Besides fixing the site up in general you will see a list of just a few features below we've been discussing-we aim on getting to as many of them as our day jobs allow. Feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions: monkeys@seedypumpkins.com


- Authors earn money with their snippets
Currently Google has a product in beta that we are trying to adapt to use on the site so that any Google ads we place on your snippet pages we can give you a percentage of the earnings. This is in place. Put your Google Adsense number in your account page and you will the revenue generated by the banner ad on the pages you write snippets.


- Email/Instant Message with another Monkey Author
We'd like to install a way for Monkey authors to correspond with each other through the site; either via email or instant messageThis is in place. We have installed both "Monkey Mail" (which can be found on each Monkey's individual profile page) and "Live Chat" so that monkeys can chat with each other in real time while snippeting.


- Monkey Castes
We intend on assigning each Monkey Author a "caste" based on activity on the site, and ranking of their snippets. (The current castes are placeholders, and meaningless unfortunately.)


- Bookmarks
We would like to give people the ability to "bookmark" where they are in a story. This would make it easy to return to a certain snippet without having to search through the story to locate where you left off reading. Ideally this will also include the ability to make personal notes associated with the bookmark. You might jot down an idea for a future plot line etc. This is currently being coded. The design is done, we just have to get Monkey #1 enough time to finish coding it.


- Donating Seeds
This is an idea our top monkey (as of 03.09.08) Chris Sadler gave us. Another monkey presented him a good idea for starting a tree during a Live Chat conversation and he wanted to know if he could donate some of his points to that monkey so he might start the tree himself. We love this idea and it is in the queue to be worked on.


- Human Author Pages
It would be really wonderful to include real author pages. That way when you encounter a name under "my human influences" you will be able to get a little information about that author, see how many other Monkeys have that author as a favorite, etc.

Do you have an easy way that I can tell people about this site?

Of course we do! We made some banners that you can put on your blog you will find in our promote page (currently only available to members).