Is the VE program still working?

I have submitted several requests, but never get a response. Also, checking the box for a copy of the request email doesn't work.

Anybody know what's going on?

Not really. Many profiles are old and the current program doesn't filter them out when individuals aren't active. If you need help with a story, post a new thread giving details such as category, word count, and any other information editors should know. You can also check the "Available to edit" thread.

Good luck.

Can you verify that emails are even getting sent. I get a confirmation page that they were, but I never get a copy sent to my email when I check the box for a copy. I do get the occasional email from Literotica when somebody comments on one of my stories, so I am pretty sure my email is working.

Thanks,

TV

My experience after almost five years using the Volunteer Editor program is as follows:

1. The VE program does work, but I never use the contact link on the VE’s profile page (does this even work?)

2. Instead go to their main Lit profile and use the anonymized email function in the Lit system as if you were contacting them as an author, even though they may not have any stories submitted. This is your best bet (unless their email address isn’t current)

3. If they are active on the forums and have PMs turned on, also send the same request via PM

4. Give them the basic info re story length, genre, title, description, a very brief synopsis, level of editing you expect (light, medium, or heavy), and if you have a deadline (for a Lit contest)

5. About 80-90% never responded, but I write novella length stories so that may be off-putting to most VEs

6. I’ve never posted a request for a VE in the Editors Forum, so I have no info on how fruitful that method is.

Yes, the system has no protocol to purge inactive VEs from the list, but I think this is a secondary problem. Each week this ‘dead wood’ is pushed further back in the chronological list. This acts as a kind of de facto cleansing of the list since many authors won’t bother trying to contact someone who posted years ago (January 2016 starts around page 100).

What I think the related structural flaw in the program is that most VEs don’t know to periodically update their VE profile (even if there’s no change) so that they will stay ‘active’ up near the front of the chronological listing. These VEs may be asking themselves why no one’s contacting them. Sometimes I can find a VE (at least one who’ll respond) by going back dozens of pages to profiles from a year or so ago.

tv46 said:

Can you verify that emails are even getting sent. I get a confirmation page that they were, but I never get a copy sent to my email when I check the box for a copy. I do get the occasional email from Literotica when somebody comments on one of my stories, so I am pretty sure my email is working.

Click to expand...

Always use PM or Feedback to contact folk on Lit. The other systems (email especially) don't seem to work - except notifications for comments and PMs received, if you have it turned on.

For a while when I was on the editors' list Google was blocking emails from Lit, deciding that anything that came from Lit was spam, but that problem seems to have been resolved. I deactivated my profile so I don't know what's happening at present, but vast deserts of non-response seems fairly standard. I wonder if there's a way to purge the list.

tv46 said:

Can you verify that emails are even getting sent. I get a confirmation page that they were, but I never get a copy sent to my email when I check the box for a copy. I do get the occasional email from Literotica when somebody comments on one of my stories, so I am pretty sure my email is working.

Thanks,

TV

Click to expand...

from my work, no they are not being sent. To use the VE listings as shown on the front Literotica page, click on the first 7-8 volunteers' user name to go to there member page (NOT volunteer editor page) and then use the CONTACT tab to contact them. Send out 7-8, get 1 or 2 replies.

NOTE: first in this case means the newest

GrandTeton said:

... I wonder if there's a way to purge the list.

Click to expand...

In a perfect world the Lit VE software would send emails to VEs whose profiles are older than (x months, whatever) to see if they are still active & remind them to update their profile to ensure it gets bumped up to the front of the chronological listing, otherwise their names will be scrubbed from the list. Based on other authors’ cynicism about system upgrade priorities, this will likely never happen.

I have no idea how many stories on Lit have been edited, either by a VE or some other person (spouse, parent, child, neighbor, boss, et al.); but I won’t submit until I have obtained at least a light edit for obvious typos. The VE program, to me, is an important resource that elevates the quality of stories on Lit, so I wish that it was more user friendly by ensuring the list has a higher percentage of active VEs than it does now.

As a Volunteer Editor (VE), myself, all of the 90 authors who contacted me have used the VE Program. I was busy with stories for a couple of months so my profile didn't get updated until I was caught up. Within 24 hours after updating, I have received two requests so the program does work. Maybe some VEs don't reply, for whatever reason, but I always do.

The first page of VEs lists the most recently updated editors.