Advice appreciated on how to deal with editor's allegation of AI use

[STrent]

Just as a side note - I was getting tons of rejections as @Portly_Penguin is aware. I have had a total of 31 AI rejections over February and start of March.

Here’s what I have done for myself to get through:

• No stories over 4000 words
• Check of dialogue to forum approved standard
• No use of grammarly, which has been my go to for some time
• All stories now written in apple notes and copy/pasted into the forum box
• All non essential descriptive sentences removed, these came up as AI derived most often
• Making sure I say he/his/she/her plus names as a deliberate mixture in paragraphs
• No excessive dialogue - over long sentences

It’s been a lot of changes and work to make sure the writing is good enough to get through.

I have physically rewritten chapters for Lit specifically to get through and whilst the story is the same, the actual form and wording isn’t what I originally wrote by some way.

Yes, you can make it work. Is it a bridge too far? For me, I want to see how the story is received and the writing is secondary to that, but others will differ.

I am gutted for @Portly_Penguin and I hope this gets sorted for him soon.

 

[NuclearGorilla]

The tone and vibe is exactly why your writing was so good ...don't change anything for the AI Witch Hunt Lynch mob ...PM Laural or whoever it is and complain ...then go where I told you via email.

Alright, after two sets of rejections, a couple of my pending stories finally have the little “pending/NEW” label, so I might be moving out of purgatory! These had some minor revisions from their original versions.

I messaged Laurel per @EmilyMiller and while I didn’t receive a response, I got a more detailed message in my next rejection, so I believe she saw it.

 

[NuclearGorilla]

yes it's in the direction of DBBQ but it's very different in other ways of actual writing style and excellent at that.

I don’t deserve that much credit, but thank you. I may not be AI, but I am certainly not original either. I started writing because @DonnerBBQ was on hiatus, so many of my scenes are inspired by his work.

 

[NuclearGorilla]

I'm glad that things are starting to move through for you

Time to leave the forums Good luck, sucker! </joke>

 

[trevrepa]

Holy shit! I woke up this morning and checked and it now shows "New" with tomorrow's date. I think it might have finally passed!

 

[STrent]

Portly, you deserve so much better than this though. You’ve rallied people, got them sharing their stories, helped them work through it, and your own work hasn’t got through. It’s not fair, IMO.

 

[STrent]

You’re a good man!

 

[EmilyMiller]

At this point, I'm just glad to see other people making it through the system and not having to face what I have. What happened to me, happened, can't undo it now, but seeing people get through makes me happy

I don’t know if I made it better or worse, but I guess I tried.

Emily

 

[STrent]

I don’t know if I made it better or worse, but I guess I tried.

Emily

Trying undoubtedly makes it better.

 

[DrPope]

You want to change your voice to appease some shitty software that fails so spectacularly? What do you do when said shitty software gets an update and it starts flagging something else?

One rejection, one resubmission with no changes, and then take it somewhere else if it's rejected again. Tilting at windmills is stifling you. Every moment you spend fighting a brainless AI monster is a moment you could be working on your next story.

This is EXACTLY the right response ...no author should change a single word to appease the witch hunter ....just go elsewhere

 

[StillStunned]

This is EXACTLY the right response ...no author should change a single word to appease the witch hunter ....just go elsewhere

"Witch hunter" is harsh. As far as we can tell, Laurel is doing the best she can with a thankless job.

 

[ElectricBlue]

and while I didn’t receive a response, I got a more detailed message in my next rejection, so I believe she saw it.

What did the more detailed message say? It might help other people.

 

[EmilysRopes]

I've just come to this thread and have read several but not all pages so this may have been raised already or may be considered off topic.

Do AI generators consistently use either English or American spelling or do they sometimes fall into the trap of switching between the two?

Arising from that, I wonder if anyone has checked whether the minority (I assume) of stories with English spelling get the same rate of rejection for AI as American spelling.

 

[StillStunned]

I've just come to this thread and have read several but not all pages so this may have been raised already or may be considered off topic.

Do AI generators consistently use either English or American spelling or do they sometimes fall into the trap of switching between the two?

Arising from that, I wonder if anyone has checked whether the minority (I assume) of stories with English spelling get the same rate of rejection for AI as American spelling.

I recall someone saying that UK spelling is more likely to get through. Then again, just the other day someone here ran the opening paragraphs of the first Harry Potter through an AI detector and it came back as 100% AI. I don't remember whether it was the UK or the US printing, though.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This is EXACTLY the right response ...no author should change a single word to appease the witch hunter ....just go elsewhere

It’s kinda easy to throw stones when you don’t know what is really happening. I get the frustration, but I don’t think the angst is helpful.

Emily

 

[EmilyMiller]

I recall someone saying that UK spelling is more likely to get through. Then again, just the other day someone here ran the opening paragraphs of the first Harry Potter through an AI detector and it came back as 100% AI. I don't remember whether it was the UK or the US printing, though.

What’s guaranteed to get you through is writing like me. Then many have tried and many are now on medication.

Emily (who has been on medication, so is allowed to make fun of it)

 

[EmilysRopes]

I recall someone saying that UK spelling is more likely to get through. Then again, just the other day someone here ran the opening paragraphs of the first Harry Potter through an AI detector and it came back as 100% AI. I don't remember whether it was the UK or the US printing, though.

This may also address Emily's thread about generational differences but I always felt like the Harry Potter stories read as if they had been written by an automaton. Waits for the howls of dissent.

 

[StillStunned]

This may also address Emily's thread about generational differences but I always felt like the Harry Potter stories read as if they had been written by an automaton. Waits for the howls of dissent.

Oh, definitely! Ms Rowling's success has little to do with her ability as a writer, I think, and everything with some imaginative worldbuilding. I reread the paragraphs that had been run through the AI, and my finger was itching to click Track Changes and let rip.

That said, the world owes her a huge debt for encouraging a couple of generations of children to read.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This may also address Emily's thread about generational differences but I always felt like the Harry Potter stories read as if they had been written by an automaton. Waits for the howls of dissent.

I never got on with Potter. It was around when I was growing up, but I read The Hobbit and Alice In Wonderland first (maybe when I was seven or eight). Not much competition there. Tried some of the movies, but kinda meh as well. Never quite understood what the fuss was about. Some people my age adore them.

Emily

 

[NuclearGorilla]

Alrighty, so it's now been a lovely 24 hours since I received that 6th AI Rejection note for Part 5 and I guess I'm in a position where I don't quite know what to do next.

On the one hand, I don't want to give up this fight after trying so hard for the past two months, but this is such an exhausting fight and battle to have time and time again.

It sucks to be in this position where you have started this story, where you have the plans for future parts and even spin-offs, but you don't know if you'll be hit with the same blow every time you try to publish. I know I probably sound like a stuck record at this point, and if I do then I'm sorry, but being in this boat is just the worst.

Today, I think the worst part of it has been seeing people get their stories through the red tape and succeed in getting them published whilst I'm still stuck here. It does hurt and I'm not going to pretend anything to contrary. It creates a lot of self-doubt in my ability as a writer and in whether these rejections are more targeted than perhaps I first intended although I know that probably isn't the case.

I'm so happy to see people getting through, and I genuinely mean that. It's awesome to see you're stories push past the red tape and break through a system that we have little to no knowledge of.

I suppose I'm just a little conflicted as to what my next steps are going to be regarding the issue and just what I should do beyond this point. It's been a long fight already and I don't know if I have the strength to keep fighting it.

Sorry for the long-ish, slightly depressing post You lot have already put up with so much of me already I'm surprised you're still listening to my bullshit.

You have earned the right to be upset, but the roster of skilled writers in these rejection threads should help confirm that it has nothing to do with your ability. @loerics has a million stories, many dating back a decade, with hundreds of thousands of readers, a wall of “HOT” icons, and still gets dinged for AI. I think @DrPope is going to single handedly write a hundred stories for other sites as revenge.

Your stuff is extremely popular and you have a red H on everything, the only thing you can’t blame in this situation is yourself.

It seems like a wave of flagged stories started getting through after your last rejection, please try one more time. Something might have changed in the past day or two.

 

[DrPope]

It’s kinda easy to throw stones when you don’t know what is really happening. I get the frustration, but I don’t think the angst is helpful.

Emily

And WHY don't we know what's really happening?

The lack of any communication is what isn't helpful

I think I know what's happening ....Lit just like SOL is getting lots of genuinely written AI submissions per day from Indian bot farms.... and to deal with it your buddy has enlisted the absolute worst (Sapling) AI detection tool on the planet for erotica and is following it like a puppy with no disclosure and most importantly NO WHITE LIST for existing authors ...lets face facts 12 even 8 months ago these bots didn't exist like they do now so it's safe to say that only new and not established authors need to be checked closely ...but nope lets burn the whole place down in a witch hunt.

Honestly the sheer idiocy is absolutely mind boggling ....

 

[NuclearGorilla]

What did the more detailed message say? It might help other people.

They said that they checked several times and many paragraphs were still coming back as “largely AI generated,” and that the most common offender was Grammarly, but anything with click-to-replace grammar tools will trigger the detection software. They asked what programs I was using, and I said something like:

“Thank you for the extra attention in reviewing my submissions. Per our previous discussion, no AI was used in the creation of this story. I did use MS Word and Google Docs to check for typos and misplaced commas, but no other software was used.

I apologize for any abrasive communication, I know that we will get this sorted out and I appreciate your continued guidance.”

I think I was frustrated in earlier messages, but I didn’t realize that one person was reviewing 100-150 stories each day, 365 days per year. I assumed it was a team and didn’t realize that the site owner was so overwhelmed.

 

[DrPope]

@DrPope is going to single handedly write a hundred stories for other sites as revenge.

100 ? .... I think even going on the old ASSM shw stories and RustysBBS even before that I've written less then 100 in my life ....

 

[DrPope]

but I didn’t realize that one person was reviewing 100-150 stories each day, 365 days per year. I assumed it was a team and didn’t realize that the site owner was so overwhelmed.

The problem is the review process is being so mismanaged .... with a white list real reviews might be below 50 a day .... it's the lack of a white list and the reliance on Sapling that is causing the really serious issues

When something is obviously not working you make adjustments .... unless you don't listen in which case you eventually reap what you sow

 

[EmilyMiller]

And WHY don't we know what's really happening?

The lack of any communication is what isn't helpful

I think I know what's happening ....Lit just like SOL is getting lots of genuinely written AI submissions per day from Indian bot farms.... and to deal with it your buddy has enlisted the absolute worst (Sapling) AI detection tool on the planet for erotica and is following it like a puppy with no disclosure and most importantly NO WHITE LIST for existing authors ...lets face facts 12 even 8 months ago these bots didn't exist like they do now so it's safe to say that only new and not established authors need to be checked closely ...but nope lets burn the whole place down in a witch hunt.

Honestly the sheer idiocy is absolutely mind boggling ....

I really can’t see how venting is helping the community.

Emily