Complaints about stories being pending for ages

[SamanthaBehgs]

I too noticed some pages refusing to populate, late last night, but was done and just went to bed.

Likewise. It just makes me wonder if similar hiccups could happen elsewhere and explain the observation that after 33 days in queue someone was able to resubmit and be approved relatively quickly. Sometimes these things happen and unless we want to start ending up behind a paywall or on a subscription service, I think understanding could be the order of the day.

 

[SkyBubble]

I don't know. I submitted a story Wednesday and it posted this morning, which in my experience is a little faster than normal.

I've had stories posted in a matter of hours, including my latest one. However, I also have a story that I submitted that sat in pending for seven weeks. I was told there was a glitch in the system and that you should remove it and immediately resubmit, so I did that. That resubmission has now been sitting for over two weeks. I'm thinking of just pulling it. It's a good story; I don't want to do that. But if no action is going to be taken, I see no point in just letting it sit in permapending.

So yes, some kind of notice would be nice. Even some kind of autoresponse. How long would it take to set that up? A few minutes?

 

[SkyBubble]

Is there such a thing as creating a new, duplicate submission, to test the waters sort of like SugarStorm? I sort of feel that an attempt at a workaround like that might piss off the admins, and then I would find myself on the 'naughty' list for real.

People do it; you're not really supposed to. If the original story hasn't been published, however, I suppose it might be effective. If you do it and the duplicate goes through, withdraw the original immediately

 

[feel_the_beast]

People do it; you're not really supposed to. If the original story hasn't been published, however, I suppose it might be effective. If you do it and the duplicate goes through, withdraw the original immediately

Of course.
But I went ahead and withdrew the original, resubmitted unchanged, and added a note about it sitting in 'Pending' for 5 weeks.\

Update: 9:30 PM, 9/25/25. I resubmitted about 8 hours ago. My resubmitted story in the 'Pending' category, on my screen NOW...RIGHT NOW...lists a submission date 9/27/25, which is....drum roll, please...TWO FUCKING DAYS FROM NOW!!! AS...IN THE FUTURE!!! Nowhere on the planet is it the 27th yet, at this moment.
What the fucking hell is going on????

Update 2: This was because it's been approved and scheduled to publish, which happened 9-27-25, about 36 hours after resubmission.

 

[StillStunned]

Update: 9:30 PM, 9/25/25. I resubmitted about 8 hours ago. My resubmitted story in the 'Pending' category, on my screen NOW...RIGHT NOW...lists a submission date 9/27/25, which is....drum roll, please...TWO FUCKING DAYS FROM NOW!!! AS...IN THE FUTURE!!! Nowhere on the planet is it the 27th yet, at this moment.
What the fucking hell is going on????

Check whether the grey "pending" label has been replaced by an orange "new" label. If so, that means your story has been approved and will be published on the 27th (at about 8am CET, don't know what time zone you're in).

 

[onehitwanda]

Think of your stories as future dated checques.

 

[FrancesScott]

If I can add my own experience. I had a story languishing for thirteen days. I tried contacting Laurel. I ended up getting annoyed and pulling it.

But another author suggested that I delete the existing story totally, and submit a clean new entry. That worked, with approval in under a day and publishing within two days.

It could have been a total coincidence. Then maybe stories are also getting lost in the queue sometimes.

I know everyone says to just wait, but there are other approaches that can work. It does feel like a point and click game at times.

If you have been waiting for two weeks, I don’t see that you have a lot to lose by trying what worked for me.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Check whether the grey "pending" label has been replaced by an orange "new" label. If so, that means your story has been approved and will be published on the 27th (at about 8am CET, don't know what time zone you're in).

On the money, SS. In the Pending folder, but tags now say 'Published' and 'New', dated 9/27/25.
So pulling the story, adding a note to admins, and resubmitting unedited seems to have solved the 'lost in limbo' issue for me.
Lucky me.
I guess I can recommend this to those of you in the same boat, but...no promises....your results may vary.
Good luck.

Update: Story published 9-27-25.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, I submitted my Crime and Punishment story on Sunday 21st - still in pending and hasn't been looked at. Messaged Laurel but no response so what the heck, I'm not going to bug her. She has enough on her plate.

Not worrying about it because I've been editing away on it and its a lot better for it. As soon as my edits are done, I'm going to delete and resubmit.

 

[SkyBubble]

Do HTML tags delay the publication of a story? Do certain categories get published faster than others?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Do HTML tags delay the publication of a story?

No

Do certain categories get published faster than others?

No, with some slight caveats.

1. Illustrated - now dead as a category - took much longer
2. R/NC seems to sometimes get some additional scrutiny to ensure the “she enjoyed it eventually” fig leaf is firmly secured to the statue

 

[Actingup]

No

No, with some slight caveats.

1. Illustrated - now dead as a category - took much longer
2. R/NC seems to sometimes get some additional scrutiny to ensure the “she enjoyed it eventually” fig leaf is firmly secured to the statue

I'm not even sure what glue you could use for that fig leaf....

In a fit of pique last night, I pulled and resubmitted my second Crime and Punishment story. I suspect that it will just make it way too late for the event instead of late for the event. I guess there's always next year...

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm not even sure what glue you could use for that fig leaf....

Nails

 

[Actingup]

Nails

I was going to go there, but didn't...

It does remind me of a line in a favourite song of mine, though, about choosing to be natural down below.... Velco is a kinder option...

We'll watch each other grow and grow
I'll stick to you, I'll stick to you
Like velcro

 

[Britva415]

What I am talking about is the disconnect between the Rules and Guidelines for story submission and what I see published

There certainly are Rules, and there are also Guidelines. One set will block noncompliant stories from being published, the other might not and there isn't a promise or real expectation that it will.

I'm glad you took the trouble to quote the particular guidelines where you perceive a disconnect with what you see published, because both of the guidelines you quoted make clear that even if your submissions don't adhere to these guidelines, Lit will publish them anyway, with your mistakes.

So, there is no disconnect. The guidelines are there to help you, not to block you from getting published. And that's exactly what they say. Here, check:

I am talking about the following:

1. Spelling & Grammar
   Spell check your manuscript and then read it again to find words the spell checker missed. Literotica does not spell check or edit submissions before publishing. Works with excessive spelling and/or grammar errors may be sent back for further editing. Obvious spelling and grammatical errors are poorly received by Lit readers so spell checking can make a big difference in how reader respond to your work.
   
   We encourage both seasoned and first-time writers to submit their work to Literotica. We do not expect grammatical and structural perfection in every story. We understand that as you publish more stories - applying suggestions from readers, other authors, and Volunteer Editors - your abilities as a writer will grow.
2. Paragraphs
   Please break your story up into reasonably sized paragraphs. Literotica stories are often read on small screen devices where excessively long paragraphs fatigue some readers. Stories with few/no paragraph breaks may be sent back for further editing.

These are the guidelines given by the powers that be. This all I am talking about.

 

[Britva415]

it's beyond bizarre that they seem to be ignoring the discussion here

Well, they aren't, though.

Granted, they aren't stepping in to any of the hundreds of different threads where it's being discussed. Instead, they have (recently) made a stand-alone statement which is their response to all of them, past present and future.

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/story-pending-for-more-than-72-hours-please-read.1638228/

 

[feel_the_beast]

Well, they aren't, though.

Granted, they aren't stepping in to any of the hundreds of different threads where it's being discussed. Instead, they have (recently) made a stand-alone statement which is their response to all of them, past present and future.

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/story-pending-for-more-than-72-hours-please-read.1638228/

Right, but that thread is mainly encouraging people to be sure they haven't carelessly failed to dot the i's and cross the t's. It doesn't offer much of anything to those waiting weeks, and in my case over a month, for properly submitted stories to be published, stories just sitting in limbo.
I resubmitted, and the resubmitted story was approved pronto, should be out tomorrow. Clearly my story got lost in the shuffle somehow, and I seriously doubt another month of doing nothing would have helped. And I am far from alone.
Update: Story published 9-27-25.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Well, they aren't, though.

Granted, they aren't stepping in to any of the hundreds of different threads where it's being discussed. Instead, they have (recently) made a stand-alone statement which is their response to all of them, past present and future.

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/story-pending-for-more-than-72-hours-please-read.1638228

No, they didn't. They basically said, "If your story hasn't been published in a timely manner, it's probably your own fault."

They get an enormous amount of new stories, and it's amazing they do as well as they do. Delays are to be expected, but if they are getting longer, and more common, that's an issue that should be specifically addressed. My current submission has been pending longer than any I can remember.

For me, the real issue of concern is that stories submitted for the Crime and punishment Challenge, even some by well established authors like me and Chloe Tzang have not been published, days after the challenge date has passed and the story list posted. People specifically wrote for the challenge, and have been excluded from it. By the time our stories do reach the readers, interest in the challenge will largely have passed, and the main impetus for joining challenges, to attract new readers, will have been nullified.

More importantly, this could be a harbinger of a much more serious problem. We are approaching two of the biggest contests of the year, Halloween and Winter Holidays. Not challenges, but actual prize-awarding, prestige boosting contests.

Imagine a scenario in which some entries are delayed for weeks, through no fault of the author, and then achieve potential winning scores, but fall short of the required number of votes. That's a real crisis. That would call the basic integrity of the site into question. It would be debated endlessly here, and erode confidence in future contests.

I would strongly advise anyone who plans to enter the contests to get their stories submitted as early as possible.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I would strongly advise anyone who plans to enter the contests to get their stories submitted as early as possible.

That didn’t help me whatsoever. It seems very much that they are ‘losing’ stories, that their - probably antiquated - queuing system is breaking.

Submit early and wait seems to be a losing strategy, if you are one of the unlucky ones.

Delete your submission, resubmit and hope for better luck seems to be working for some people.

And yes there should be some sort of announcement. There are too many people experiencing atypical delays. And people who know the rules here about content, and know how to write.

Stories are still being published, but a significant minority aren’t and the answer does not appear to lie with the stories or authors themselves.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Submit early and wait seems to be a losing strategy, if you are one of the unlucky ones.

Delete your submission, resubmit and hope for better luck seems to be working for some people.

I advise submitting early so that you have time to resubmit, if you wait until close to the deadline, you’ve lost that option.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I advise submitting early so that you have time to resubmit, if you wait until close to the deadline, you’ve lost that option.

Makes sense. I waited 12 days. Then I resubmitted. Now on day 3. If I get to day 4, I’ll delete the whole thing and resubmit, maybe with a tweak to the title, so it doesn’t get associated with the ‘bad’ records.

It’s kinda stressful.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Can I just say that it appears that the majority of stories are going through OK. But it does seem that a significant minority are getting stuck. And that those getting stuck includes established authors (like me in my own small way).

The point in stressing that the delays include established authors is not that our privilege is being infringed, or that we are special in some way. It’s that we know how to write stories that don’t get sent back as AI, badly spelled, dialog issues, content breaches, etc.

From what I have seen in three years here, previous long waits have often been something to do with the story itself (as the site says in its sticky post). What we are seeing here is long waits for stories that meet all the rules and from authors who have successfully published many times.

That’s a qualitatively different issue to normal and indicates a wider problem.

 

[Jorunn]

For me, the real issue of concern is that stories submitted for the Crime and punishment Challenge, even some by well established authors like me and Chloe Tzang have not been published, days after the challenge date has passed and the story list posted.

I looked at the author’s challenge thread, listing the various challenges. The ones earlier in the year include a link to the story list. That stopped (broke?) even before Crime and Punishment.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Can I just say that it appears that the majority of stories are going through OK. But it does seem that a significant minority are getting stuck. And that those getting stuck includes established authors (like me in my own small way).

The point in stressing that the delays include established authors is not that our privilege is being infringed, or that we are special in some way. It’s that we know how to write stories that don’t get sent back as AI, badly spelled, dialog issues, content breaches, etc.

From what I have seen in three years here, previous long waits have often been something to do with the story itself (as the site says in its sticky post). What we are seeing here is long waits for stories that meet all the rules and from authors who have successfully published many times.

That’s a qualitatively different issue to normal and indicates a wider problem.

@Laurel and @Manu it would calm everyone down if there could be some brief announcement explaining what is going on and providing guidance as to what to do. The existing guidance on ‘stuck stories’ does not seem pertinent to the current situation.

 

[EmilyMiller]

@Laurel and @Manu it would calm everyone down if there could be some brief announcement explain what is going on and providing guidance as to what to do. The existing guidance on ‘stuck stories’ does not seem pertinent to the current situation.

@Laurel and @Manu authors experiencing problems include: @silkstockingslover @ChloeTzang and @MelissaBaby - these are NOT problems with the stories, the site has an issue and some communication about it would be very much appreciated.