I just got my first story posted!

corvair64 said:

I got my first "angry" comment. So far, that's the only bad feedback I have gotten. I deleted it, but then I thought "Is that bad form?"

Can anyone over advice on comments / deleting them?

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So far your stories have decent scores for LW. There are a ton of threads here about LW and comments there. You might want to read them.

I don't delete (except 1) I let the readers have their say, even the mentally deficient ones that inhabit the place. I've gotten some awesome feedback from readers and some awesome insults. Some of them are really creative.

BUT...I have a reaction. When I see an author who has obviously been deleting comments, you can tell because everything left is glowing praise, I drop the score down. Or I'll go with no vote, no comment.

Why? Because I have no idea what they're deleting and what it said. And that smacks of censorship to me.

gordo12 said:

BUT...I have a reaction. When I see an author who has obviously been deleting comments, you can tell because everything left is glowing praise, I drop the score down. Or I'll go with no vote, no comment.

Why? Because I have no idea what they're deleting and what it said. And that smacks of censorship to me.

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Just curious - how can you tell if an author's been deleting comments, unless from the context of other comments?

It is possible that writers only rarely get junk comments (I've deleted maybe half a dozen across nearly eighty stories, over four years) and their story commentary is in fact mostly positive. Mind you, I don't write in LW and get nothing like that volume of commentary, so perhaps you have a different frame of reference.

It's only censorship, by the way, if a third party deletes comments. If an author does it, that's not censorship, that's them saying what is acceptable to them. Governments and organisations censor, individuals maintain their own standards (however they define them). It's a subtle difference.

electricblue66 said:

Just curious - how can you tell if an author's been deleting comments, unless from the context of other comments?

It is possible that writers only rarely get junk comments (I've deleted maybe half a dozen across nearly eighty stories, over four years) and their story commentary is in fact mostly positive. Mind you, I don't write in LW and get nothing like that volume of commentary, so perhaps you have a different frame of reference.

It's only censorship, by the way, if a third party deletes comments. If an author does it, that's not censorship, that's them saying what is acceptable to them. Governments and organisations censor, individuals maintain their own standards (however they define them). It's a subtle difference.

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There is context from other comments but most telling of all is a stream of glowing comments praising the story. No story survives LW without some vitriol so when it's lacking... It's the absence, a black hole if you like, that gives it away.

There may be a subtle diff in the censorship and yes writers have that right. Should they use it? That's an individual choice too. I don't. I often write back and comment on comments. Even email the commenter (if possible) telling them I responded. I have no idea where this writing thing is going to take me. But if a fan responds, even someone that hates you, I intend to honour that choice.

Marketing 101 as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes your best customers are the ones that hated you the most to start.

gordo12 said:

There is context from other comments but most telling of all is a stream of glowing comments praising the story. No story survives LW without some vitriol so when it's lacking... It's the absence, a black hole if you like, that gives it away.

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Yes, I agree with you there - the context is the give away. The LW commentariat isn't how the other categories work, though - there's definitely a unique category dynamic, not only readers but writers too. Other categories seem to be, what's the word, less "volatile" .

electricblue66 said:

Other categories seem to be, what's the word, less "volatile" .

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Some might say Namby-Pamby Just Kidding!

electricblue66 said:

Just curious - how can you tell if an author's been deleting comments, unless from the context of other comments?

It is possible that writers only rarely get junk comments (I've deleted maybe half a dozen across nearly eighty stories, over four years) and their story commentary is in fact mostly positive. Mind you, I don't write in LW and get nothing like that volume of commentary, so perhaps you have a different frame of reference.

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My experience is pretty similar.

I got a couple of negative comments earlier this year, but that was somebody from the Story Feedback Forums targeting several of the SF regulars for harassment because he didn't like the feedback we were giving. I think Laurel deleted all those in the end.

Other than that, I've had one, maybe two negative comments in all the time I've been here, and it probably does have a lot to do with categories. Even in one story which I thought was likely to tread on somebody's toes, the readers were all nice.

I deleted this one because it used the phrasing "white whore" and "sad cuckold" and decided to test it I could remove it in the system. But once I did it, I was like "oops! I probably should have asked about that.."

If someone posted a comment explaining that they found my storytelling to be substandard and poorly constructed, that I would leave. I welcome to opportunity to grow. This is my first attempt at writing erotica. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not a writer.

Of course, I picked the most caustic category. Because, why do things the way way?

You are all wonderful. I thank you for your time and posts.

corvair64 said:

I deleted this one because it used the phrasing "white whore" and "sad cuckold" and decided to test it I could remove it in the system. But once I did it, I was like "oops! I probably should have asked about that.."

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That's a turd on the lawn, serving no meaningful purpose. That would be a delete with no second thoughts if it popped up in my world. But I don't get junk like that.

Welcome!

Congrats on your first story, and welcome! If you publish stories, you'll have lovers and probably haters. Put on a flak jacket and enjoy the ride.

Check your insecurities at the door in every way that you can manage. Ex: I am a newbie to Lit as well. I was nervous as hell to post my first work this year (I dared myself to publish my ideas in a low-risk way- new years resolution) thinking no one is going to understand it and I am going to get a 2.5 rating. I ended up with a 4 There is an audience for your work and you are likely to find one here.

.

*waves hello*

New-ish author here too; congrats on your first posts!! Geek out and enjoy; the authors on the forum are really helpful, experienced and friendly.

Best advice I got was to post in the new story advertisements sticky; it’s a quick, small and useful self-promo.

gordo12 said:

When I see an author who has obviously been deleting comments, you can tell because everything left is glowing praise, I drop the score down. Or I'll go with no vote, no comment. Why? Because I have no idea what they're deleting and what it said.

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You can’t really mean that, surely? Dropping the score down because of comments that have or may have been posted? I don’t get that impression of you from reading the many other comments you’ve made on umpteen topics.

I have on occasion, quite a few occasions actually, not voted and on at least one occasion left a comment for the writer saying why. I don’t do less than a three and they are rare. Whoever the writer is they’ve done their best and no one deserves to be given a one or two when that’s the case.

I’ve had two comments that stand out. One earlier this month which was deliberately malicious. A second a few months ago on my highest rated (until it got bombed more than once recently) and most commented on which was so stupid it was funny. I wouldn’t delete either.

Hi, Corvair, and welcome to Literotica and AH. As others have said, LW gets the nastiest comments, as well as some of the best. I will also give you some personal advice: Never trust a fart to be only air.

corvair64 said:

I got my first "angry" comment. So far, that's the only bad feedback I have gotten. I deleted it, but then I thought "Is that bad form?"

Can anyone over advice on comments / deleting them?

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Ey oop. And welcome.

I leave mine in. One or two are there 'cos the critic didn't like my style and/or content - consumer feedback, you might say. Most are just knobheads with a frighteningly disturbed view of women and relationships - reminds me there's always someone worse off than myself.

gordo12 said:

BUT...I have a reaction. When I see an author who has obviously been deleting comments, you can tell because everything left is glowing praise, I drop the score down. .

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This strikes me as a terrible thing to do! The score should be based on the quality of the story, period, and not on the author's policy about comments. I don't understand taking that role on for yourself. I don't delete comments, but some do, and it's understandable because many comments have no value whatsoever and can be offensive.

It's not fair to authors to give scores based on anything other than one's genuine appraisal of the quality of the story. You don't really know what else is going on, and it has nothing to do with whether the story is good or not. I don't get that.

Also, the author may not have been the one to delete all of the negative comments. If they cross the line in Laurel's eyes, she'll clear those suckers out whether you want them there or not.

LexxRuthless said:

Also, the author may not have been the one to delete all of the negative comments. If they cross the line in Laurel's eyes, she'll clear those suckers out whether you want them there or not.

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Exactly right. I have never, ever deleted a comment to one of my stories, no matter how bad -- and there have been some obscene ones (e.g., "Here, eat my condom"), but over time Laurel has deleted almost all of them herself. In fact, she's deleted comments that were negative but that I thought were somewhat reasonable, the deletion of which puzzled me. Anyone monitoring the comments to the story might have assumed, wrongly, that I was deleting them, when in fact I never did.

I have thick skin, and it takes a lot to bother me. But some people are sensitive, and nasty comments bother them. It seems wrong to me to punish authors just because they don't want to have to put up with the shit that gets flung at their stories and stinks up the place.

Emirus said:

I don’t get that impression of you from reading the many other comments you’ve made on umpteen topics.
.

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Well thank you for that.

SimonDoom said:

This strikes me as a terrible thing to do! The score should be based on the quality of the story, period, and not on the author's policy about comments. I don't understand taking that role on for yourself. I don't delete comments, but some do, and it's understandable because many comments have no value whatsoever and can be offensive.

It's not fair to authors to give scores based on anything other than one's genuine appraisal of the quality of the story. You don't really know what else is going on, and it has nothing to do with whether the story is good or not. I don't get that.

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Simon, I don't know if you read the LW stories. There is a clique of "authors," and I use the word loosely, that consider it fun to post the most offensive shit they can.

There was one last summer in AH that was boasting about going in a writing stories deliberately designed to rile the natives. And just like anyone who catches someone spraying graffiti on your car or house, we tend to react.

Those type of stories show up with all negative comments deleted and only glowing comments showing. Or they'll shut voting off and only have glowing comments. Probably made by themselves.

Or it's puffery. The desire to look good, no matter what the reality is.

Go read my stories. I write from the heart. I want to write good, no great stories. I want to learn!

My greatest compliment is when someone comments that the story was unique and well done. The word unique is the greatest compliment I can shoot for. I don't write the usual LW shit.

I resent it when someone comes in to my creative place and throws garbage around.

And in all honestly, I'll send them a comment telling them I'm giving them a one but I know it'll be eliminated so I don't bother. The message is clear enough.

********

ANDDDD on another note it appears this thread has woken up one of our resident basement dwellers:

"This message contains feedback for: gordo12
This feedback was sent by: Anonymous

Comments:

You're a piece of shit for dropping scores down for what you THINK are deleted comments. What gives you that right? How have you decided that you deserve that kind of power? How are you the arbitrator of ASSHOLE JUSTICE? You're on my list: The FUCK WITH LIST. You & everyone on your favorites list. Form now on, daily 1 Star votes until you become a better person.

You're trash."

LOL another anon fan

Dear Basement Dweller:

A small lesson on mathematics. A typical LW story of mine has between 1600 - 2500 votes. If you went gulp, that's a lot, you're right.

So your vote of 1 drops it down 3-31/2 points. Let's take an average of 2000 votes. You can divide that 3 by 2000 and surprise, it's a teensy, miniscule amount. About the equivalent of your pinky if you counted all your fingers and toes 2000 times. You could vote for the next two months and barely affect the score. In the meantime nice people are voting 4's and 5's that offset you. Then the site comes along and sweeps your vote away. Bye, Bye!

So much work, so little return. And my fav authors are all in the same class vote wise. So wail...er whale away.

PS the nice thing about this is you're outed publicly. Everybody can see what a coward you are. Hundreds of people and maybe thousands will see this.

*****

Sorry Simon & Emirus, I guess I do have a dark side

To the OP of the thread, sorry it got hijacked for this. But it tends to happen in the forums. Congrats on your first story if I haven't offered that yet.

LW does tend to attract the worst comments, but IR can be pretty bad too. This is especially so if the man is black and the married woman is blonde. This makes it IR and LW. I have written a few stories about this combination just to rile people up. If the adulterous relationship is an abusive one, that makes it even better - or worse, depending on your mindset.

My troll is now threatening to go 1 bomb Chloe.

Who threatens women online like that? What a coward.

I'd reproduce his email but it's clearly apparent he has serious mental issues.

gordo12 said:

Simon, I don't know if you read the LW stories. There is a clique of "authors," and I use the word loosely, that consider it fun to post the most offensive shit they can.

There was one last summer in AH that was boasting about going in a writing stories deliberately designed to rile the natives. And just like anyone who catches someone spraying graffiti on your car or house, we tend to react.

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I do read LW stories. I like them.

I don't understand this point at all. Not remotely. First, I don't know what you mean by "offensive shit." In erotica, one's person's shit is another's rose. There may be people who write stories just to rile others up, but it's far more true to say that in the LW category there are authors who like stories of very different kinds.

There's an obviously correct response to stories that strike themes you don't like: don't read them. Let those who like them read them and enjoy them. Don't read them, don't vote on them, don't comment on them. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like LW stories in which cheating wives get punished, don't read them. If you're the kind of person who doesn't like LW stories where wives have sex outside marriage and live happily ever after, don't read them. Let others enjoy their own fantasies.

The graffiti analogy doesn't work. You are completely free to ignore stories you don't like. They are not at all like graffiti, and in any event no one here can claim the moral authority to decide what's graffiti and what's not.

When you vote for any reason other than the quality of the story, you're just messing with people. That's not nice.

gordo12 said:

There was one last summer in AH that was boasting about going in a writing stories deliberately designed to rile the natives.

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That was me. The story is called "Vicious". It was meant to offend as many people as possible, and hopefully earn a one star rating. It failed.
It's been viewed over 50,000 times in the few months it's been up and carries a solid 3.43 rating.
Sadly, 21 seriously disturbed people have added it to their favorite list.
All four pages of vile comments sit undisturbed right where they are.

I wrote it to make a point, but looking back on it, all I did was comprimise my principles.

That being said, I read the OP's stories. He's going to be just fine.

blozo said:

That was me. The story is called "Vicious". It was meant to offend as many people as possible, and hopefully earn a one star rating. It failed.
It's been viewed over 50,000 times in the few months it's been up and carries a solid 3.43 rating.
Sadly, 21 seriously disturbed people have added it to their favorite list.
All four pages of vile comments sit undisturbed right where they are.

I wrote it to make a point, but looking back on it, all I did was comprimise my principles.

That being said, I read the OP's stories. He's going to be just fine.

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I had to read your story. It was too tempting not to. I read the comments, too. The one that made me laugh loudest was the guy who complained about your one-sentence paragraphs. To think that amid all the perversity and nastiness in your story, and all the anger and bile it provoked, that's what made this particular reader mad.

It takes all kinds on this site. That's part of its twisted beauty.

I believe this might be the dirtiest story on the site:
https://www.literotica.com/s/little-mandy-and-her-daddys-ass

It's not LW and it's not even IR, but it is a special kind of incest.

blozo said:

That was me. The story is called "Vicious". It was meant to offend as many people as possible, and hopefully earn a one star rating. It failed.

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My posted comment: "I missed the part that was supposed to be offensive. This is fairly vanilla for 2019. Maybe I've read too many presidential tweets." Tentacle monsters might have helped.