Things to make Lit a better site

[SimonDoom]

The context seems to be Penny complaining that the entire category systems isn't being overhauled every few years to chase the current cultural fads. I don't see that as in any way resonable.

I'm agnostic on the specific category issue in question, but it's worth noting that there's no particular reason for categories to match cultural trends OR reality. What matters is what readers want, and whether categories help actual readers get what they actually want. If it turns out that the majority of readers in this category find the category useful as it is, then it doesn't really matter whether it matches up with changing cultural expectations "out there" in the real world.

I don't read stories in this category enough to have an opinion one way or another about whether, as constituted, it serves its readers, but I imagine Laurel and Manu have a decent idea.

I could be wrong about this, but I suspect that many, and perhaps most, readers are perfectly hunky dory with having broad categories that contain a mish mash of kinks. Our perspective in this forum is skewed, I suspect, by the outspoken minority, who are more particular in their tastes. To multiply the number of categories would, I suspect, be to reward the squeaky wheel with grease.

But I'm guessing, I admit.

 

[iwatchus]

I agree with both the specific sub category suggestion and the broader idea of having them. Could this help with the LW problem. It seems like two groups are there expecting very different stories.

As far as as Laurel and Manu having a good handle on this, I doubt they have enough time to take a step out of the trees to consider the forest. I cannot imagine trying to review all the submissions here. Of course, someone in another thread suggested earlier that maybe she is a bot now. Literotica AUtomated Reader, Expert Level I think.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree with both the specific sub category suggestion and the broader idea of having them. Could this help with the LW problem. It seems like two groups are there expecting very different stories.

As far as as Laurel and Manu having a good handle on this, I doubt they have enough time to take a step out of the trees to consider the forest. I cannot imagine trying to review all the submissions here. Of course, someone in another thread suggested earlier that maybe she is a bot now. Literotica AUtomated Reader, Expert Level I think.

I have no idea how they run this site. From everything I've heard, it's just the two of them. If that's really true, then it explains a lot. They must be stretched very thin already and have little time to make big changes.

 

[iwatchus]

I cannot imagine enduring what they have to be going through for a quarter century. I was so crisped after the last company where I was CTO and spent the better part of a decade at 100+ hours a week.

I have a very scary thought. Do they have any form of a succession plan? Long term survivability is probably more important than any change we could suggest.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have a very scary thought. Do they have any form of a succession plan? Long term survivability is probably more important than any change we could suggest.

I have wondered the same thing. I hope they have a plan.

 

[Bamagan]

I cannot imagine enduring what they have to be going through for a quarter century. I was so crisped after the last company where I was CTO and spent the better part of a decade at 100+ hours a week.

I have a very scary thought. Do they have any form of a succession plan? Long term survivability is probably more important than any change we could suggest.

If they do, I don't believe they've shared the details publicly. Not sure why they would, really.
One of three things seems likely.
1) The site goes dark, and only those pages trapped in the internet archives like a fly in amber will survive.
2) The site is frozen, at least on the story side, until it goes dark, whether from the servers being unpaid or lack of maintenance.
3) The site is sold, and probably changes beyond all recognition as it transitions into some kind of pay service.

 

[StillStunned]

I prefer to think that they're constantly searching parallel universes for different versions to take over from them, like Ace Rimmer.

 

[crookedletter]

I like to imagine that some estranged niece or something will be bequeathed a thriving erotica community they didn't know about.

 

[crookedletter]

I prefer to think that they're constantly searching parallel universes for different versions to take over from them, like Ace Rimmer.

Yours was more creative. You win.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Yes yes, I already know you don't believe that trans people exist

You know, I once saw the following definition: Ass: (noun) - An aggressively ignorant person."
Aggressively ignorant is such a powerful descriptive, and so apropos of some people, don't you think?

I just thought you might find that amusing about now.

 

[StillStunned]

I like to imagine that some estranged niece or something will be bequeathed a thriving erotica community they didn't know about.

"You've inherited one of the world's foremost online platforms."
"Wow! How much is it worth?"
"Well, in terms of unlimited smut, you're the richest person in the world."

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

"You've inherited one of the world's foremost online platforms."
"Wow! How much is it worth?"
"Well, in terms of unlimited smut, you're the richest person in the world."

Did a very quick(too quick) search and saw valuations at 1.4 million and 94 million. Pick a number, win a prize...

 

[StillStunned]

Did a very quick(too quick) search and saw valuations at 1.4 million and 94 million. Pick a number, win a prize...

I imagine it as a modern-day version of one of those movies where someone inherits a ruin of a mansion, complete with ghosts.

ETA: The BBC version of "Ghosts" is so much better than the American version.

 

[TheLobster]

Yes yes, I already know you don't believe that trans people exist

Don't give me those trite slogans, please. I know you're better than this.

I don't read stories in this category enough to have an opinion one way or another about whether, as constituted, it serves its readers, but I imagine Laurel and Manu have a decent idea.

I'd like to believe that to be true, but there's quite a bit of evidence to the contrary.

For example, there's always been a ton of complaints and requests about finally adding the Bisexual category, since stories on that theme have no obvious home. If Laurel and Manu really have a good idea about the efficacy of the category system, then they should know this, too.
And yet nothing has changed, so unless everyone is somehow completely misguided about this issue (seems unlikely) it would seem likely that the category system is simply an artifact of happenstance, and the admins choose to simply not mess with it at all.

(Another piece of evidence is the continued existence of Non-English category which has been straight up superseded by the "Language" field that you now have to choose instead).

 

[PennyThompson]

Willy Wonka and the Smut Factory! Give some lucky writers a tour of the inner workings, and the purest and horniest of heart will be offered the keys to the kingdom

 

[StillStunned]

Willy Wonka and the Smut Factory! Give some lucky writers a tour of the inner workings, and the purest and horniest of heart will be offered the keys to the kingdom

But you have to be accompanied by a parent or grandparent.

 

[PennyThompson]

Don't give me those trite slogans, please. I know you're better than this.

I like you Lobby, but you've repeatedly hinted to me that you think any form of non-cis gender expression is a social fad at best and a mental illness at worst, and that sucks

 

[PennyThompson]

But you have to be accompanied by a parent or grandparent.

Curses, the incest writers win again

 

[MelissaBaby]

I find the opinions of those who participate in the category worthwhile, and of those who do not irrelevant.

Meanwhile, I have been, for some time, lobbying for Historical Fiction and Period Pieces as a category.

 

[NuclearFairy]

But you have to be accompanied by a parent or grandparent.

We could change that to needing to be accompanied by your dom.

 

[SimonDoom]

Willy Wonka and the Smut Factory! Give some lucky writers a tour of the inner workings, and the purest and horniest of heart will be offered the keys to the kingdom

Come with me, and you'll be
In a world of impure imagination . . .

 

[MelissaBaby]

If I am not mistaken, the reason given in the past for not creating new categories is that it would create a chaotic system where older Bisexual stories, for example, would still be in Gay or Lesbian, while newer ones would be in Bisexual, creating confusion for readers.

 

[PennyThompson]

If I am not mistaken, the reason given in the past for not creating new categories is that it would create a chaotic system where older Bisexual stories, for example, would still be in Gay or Lesbian, while newer ones would be in Bisexual, creating confusion for readers.

As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now

 

[SimonDoom]

As they say, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is now

As an avid gardener, and as someone who's not QUITE there but getting uncomfortably closer, there comes the day when with regard to tree-planting one asks, "What's the point?"

 

[PennyThompson]

As an avid gardener, and as someone who's not QUITE there but getting uncomfortably closer, there comes the day when with regard to tree-planting one asks, "What's the point?"

The Tragedy of the Commons