Far be it for me to complain, but are "pending" times increasing for anybody else?

[Duleigh]

It's correct everywhere else, on my works page, in the series it is associated with, but here in the CSV they have it wrong, is it evidence that something is amiss somewhere?

 

[dasgoodshit]

Here you go, column A number 10, I sort column A and A Krissmas Karole slides up to number 8 where it belongs

View attachment 2263230

This is a "space-stripping" issue. If you remove all of the spaces from the titles, then these are in alphabetical order. I don't know why she would have spaces trimmed from the file names before sorting them in csv format, but then again much of what goes on behind the scenes remains a mystery.

 

[Duleigh]

I have never heard of "Space Stripping" I've been playing with columns of data for decades and never ran into anything like that

 

[dasgoodshit]

I have never heard of "Space Stripping" I've been playing with columns of data for decades and never ran into anything like that

I don't know that I've ever heard of it either. Maybe, but I'm not sure. It's just what they are doing behind the scenes. If you haven't noticed, a period is added to every description as long as the description does not end in a special character. I'm a professional data wizard myself, and while I don't pretend to know the reason *why* a choice was made to do something to data, I do know *how* the data came to look like that.

 

[MrPixel]

...sigh...

One of my specialties many moons ago was data conversion to and from disparate databases, especially for source verification. I must have had a half-dozen space stripping subroutines floating around in one language or another. Also, punctuation stripping.

For example, if I had a new client come in with a mailing list he wanted to verify against the telephone book, and we had the phonebook data, it was my job to make sure that John MacKenzie, 1234 Main Street, Palos Verdes Peninsula somehow matched J Mac Kenzie 1234 Main PV Pen from last year year's book. Strip the spaces and punctuation, check against the abbreviation table (PV Pen), and the match percentage goes from barely to the 90+% range. Depending on the desired output, the "better" source was chosen, which most of the time was another phonebook, so the highly abbreviated version ruled.

Now space stripping in the sort context (oh, gawd - phonebook sorting is an art in and of itself) you guys are talking about makes no sense. Spaces are just as significant in the sort as A-Z, a-z and 0-9. So for the puzzle you're trying to solve, I have no answer.

 

[dasgoodshit]

I don't know that I've ever heard of it either. Maybe, but I'm not sure. It's just what they are doing behind the scenes. If you haven't noticed, a period is added to every description as long as the description does not end in a special character. I'm a professional data wizard myself, and while I don't pretend to know the reason *why* a choice was made to do something to data, I do know *how* the data came to look like that.

I did think of a reason for it. First, what have we observed?

1. Edited stories are sent to the end of the queue
2. Story stats are downloadable with the order of the stories as if the spaces were removed

Consider that these two oddities are related. God doesn't play dice, after all. What could cause both of these two things to be true? My first thought is that an author, knowing observation #1, would, upon realizing that they made a terrible error after submitting, might re-submit a story with a space at the end to make the system accept it as a new story, but with the same name, and in reality it basically is the same name due to the fact that spaces are invisible to humans. However, allowing spaces at the end seems to make it difficult for Laurel to know which is the most recent version of the story, for some reason.* (If I made an error in anything I've posted here, please let me know. Thanks.)

*"Some reason" = obsolete software that may or may not include a query that isn't able to be edited, and it also doesn't include timestamps with the files that are submitted, for another completely random reason.**

**"Completely random reason" = the programmers are sadistic and/or they wanted a contract to fix the problems they left behind on purpose.***

***Of course, it is possible that everything was coded in-house from the beginning, and they're just winging it and trying to put out 100 fires every day because things just keep happening!

And then there's the possibility that they are in desperate need of help and that they'd welcome it, but maybe they can't afford it, but they don't know how to advertise to a professional that could and would help them for free, and extremely quickly, or that this person could even be trusted even if he sent them his personal information with proof of experience.

Or maybe they just don't even bother because the risk outweighs the reward.

 

[Duleigh]

God doesn't play dice, after all.

God doesn't play dice, he plays chess... and he's got two queens.

 

[dasgoodshit]

...sigh...

One of my specialties many moons ago was data conversion to and from disparate databases, especially for source verification. I must have had a half-dozen space stripping subroutines floating around in one language or another. Also, punctuation stripping.

For example, if I had a new client come in with a mailing list he wanted to verify against the telephone book, and we had the phonebook data, it was my job to make sure that John MacKenzie, 1234 Main Street, Palos Verdes Peninsula somehow matched J Mac Kenzie 1234 Main PV Pen from last year year's book. Strip the spaces and punctuation, check against the abbreviation table (PV Pen), and the match percentage goes from barely to the 90+% range. Depending on the desired output, the "better" source was chosen, which most of the time was another phonebook, so the highly abbreviated version ruled.

Now space stripping in the sort context (oh, gawd - phonebook sorting is an art in and of itself) you guys are talking about makes no sense. Spaces are just as significant in the sort as A-Z, a-z and 0-9. So for the puzzle you're trying to solve, I have no answer.

Yes, I'm aware that space stripping happens for a reason, because some idiot(s) out there decided that they would allow for the padding of spaces on character variables. The trim() function would be sleeping on a park bench every night if it weren't for the buffoon that made that decision.

I guess what I meant to say was that I wasn't aware of space stripping happening for no reason. It's just crazy to me that spaces are even allowed at the beginning or end of a text string to begin with.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

The Lit introduction/welcome page is rather impersonal. There is nothing about how they operate behind the scenes. How many people regularly contribute stories to Lit? I suspect that the site is deliberately "dark" (unknowable) to keep those masses at arms length. A lot of writers would want to have too much hand-holding or they would complain too much, and it's probably not feasible for the site to deal with much of of that on an individual basis.

Of course, much of that is just speculation on my part.

It's actually blatantly obvious that things are kept in the dark. Anyone who's been on the boards over a year can tell the constant threads on the same few things, that pop up every other day, weekly or monthly are a dead give away. Those who's been here long enough have seen her engage in some discussions- usually to refute the militant users(you know who you are). Laurel ain't very active and Manu even less, but she doesn't have a 20k post count for nothing. Some of the topics of late, I half near expected her to show up. I can imagine these things being left a quandary keeps the possible chaos at bay, possible trade secrets, secrets, keeps the site somewhat protected, since some of it is still original. Not many of the golden era programmed sites are still about. Given what happened to Adult-FanFiction, I can see why.

Plus when it's all said and done, we don't know what she really knows and does beyond dealing with submissions, to my knowledge, since many of it could lie in Manu's hands, being the site tech.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

There was a thread about where Lit may be operating from - geographically, I mean. A few people claimed to know that Laurel is from England, and that Manu is also from there. It's on the General Board with the title being, "What city is Literotica based in?"

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/what-city-is-literotica-based-in.1593210/

There's one here, too, from a few years ago. There was a theory that she, he, the servers are in different locations.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Yes, I'm aware that space stripping happens for a reason, because some idiot(s) out there decided that they would allow for the padding of spaces on character variables. The trim() function would be sleeping on a park bench every night if it weren't for the buffoon that made that decision.

I guess what I meant to say was that I wasn't aware of space stripping happening for no reason. It's just crazy to me that spaces are even allowed at the beginning or end of a text string to begin with.

Especially when other programs eliminate those spaces. There's not even a reason for them.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Oh and I generally don't pay attention to how long it takes a story to go public- it gets there when it gets there. Don't worry about it, until it's about a week of pending. There's contest and other factors and we're all subject to it at some point. Contest gets priority, edits are low priority, writers with the least "fix-its" and/or submit often generally have shorter times.

 

[VilHaMer]

I don't post too often (I have a full time job, so I don't have too much time to write), but it seems to be slower. Normally, it takes 4-5 days, maybe a week, but I posted my latest story on August 14th and it's still pending.

 

[Vintage_DM]

My last story was up in a day. I have had stories take upwards of two weeks.

 

[KachinaDoll]

Seven days so far for my story.

 

[AchtungNight]

God doesn't play dice, he plays chess... and he's got two queens.

Actually God is a Pathfinder slash D&D Game Master with an Al computer of epic proportions enhancing his Games Without Frontiers. And for some reason he’s smiling all the time and never tells anyone his entire plan. But he can still carry it out regardless of constant improvised redefinition. At least that’s how it is in my fic-verse.

 

[oneagainst]

Getting concerned. My queue is now backed up 4 stories. Normally I'd chill and let it go but I'm now rolling out a chapter sequence to hit the Lost and Found story event, so ch 17 has to go live on a specific date.

Has something happened I don't know about?

 

[AchtungNight]

There are release dates on the pending subscription areas if you know where to look for them. I have a new release scheduled for tomorrow if I’m reading right the area in my account.

 

[gunhilltrain]

There are release dates on the pending subscription areas if you know where to look for them. I have a new release scheduled for tomorrow if I’m reading right the area in my account.

I don't suppose that includes edited stories. Perhaps I shouldn't have done this, but I have two of those that are pending. Usually I avoid making edits for trivial reasons (like a couple of typos). Perhaps contests are slowing down the moderators?

For new stories, I have seen the release date appear a day or two before it actually happens.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Actually God is a Pathfinder slash D&D Game Master with an Al computer of epic proportions enhancing his Games Without Frontiers. And for some reason he’s smiling all the time and never tells anyone his entire plan. But he can still carry it out regardless of constant improvised redefinition. At least that’s how it is in my fic-verse.

I see you're more modern with video games for the Creator rather than chess.

 

[gunhilltrain]

God doesn't play dice, he plays chess... and he's got two queens.

He doesn't have any pawns either. All the other pieces are rooks, knights, and bishops. Perhaps we are the pawns.

 

[AchtungNight]

I don't suppose that includes edited stories. Perhaps I shouldn't have done this, but I have two of those that are pending. Usually I avoid making edits for trivial reasons (like a couple of typos). Perhaps contests are slowing down the moderators?

For new stories, I have seen the release date appear a day or two before it actually happens.

Not sure about EDITED stories. This is the first time I’ve noticed a release date. Hope my story is released as scheduled.

Hopeful Teaser- tune in tomorrow to Lit’s Celebrities section for a Paladin and Redeemed Succubus femslash hookup called “Pathfinder- Union of the Righteous”. Hope readers enjoy.

 

[testudo]

I submitted a story on august 26th and it’s still pending. I dmed the literotica account and I haven’t heard back. Does anyone have any advice?

 

[LoneMilf]

At the risk of being slightly off-topic.. is there an entirely different process for getting profile pictures approved? I uploaded one when I first signed up, and I'm still stuck with the large L..

 

[ElectricBlue]

At the risk of being slightly off-topic.. is there an entirely different process for getting profile pictures approved? I uploaded one when I first signed up, and I'm still stuck with the large L..

As I understand it, Laurel does profile pics, too.