Unpublishing existing stories

[jake_lazarus]

First off, forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere. I poked around, but didn't find anything helpful.
I need to unpublish some of my stories (so that I can publish them on another site which requires exclusivity). I intend to re-publish them here once the other site's exclusivity window closes in 90-days. So, ideally, they would just be unpublished and I could resurrect them in 3 months with the ratings/comments/etc. intact. But, if that isn't possible, then I could just publish them here again at a later date.
So, is there a way to unpublish here? Or do I have to just request that they be removed altogether?
Thanks in advance.

 

[EmilyMiller]

You have to just request deletion and then republish later. You will lose all your comments and ratings.

Or you could PM @Laurel and ask if she could send your stories back to draft. I have no idea if that’s even technically possible, and the site hasn’t been responding to PMs (as far as we know) since late August.

I think when stories get pulled when reported, there is no lost of comments / ratings when restored. So perhaps something is possible. But it’s not a user-accessible feature.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

I've done this a few times. Deleting stories when a series becomes an ebook. What's always worked for me is to submit a New Story request, using the same title as the one you want gone, with the word DELETE at the end.

For example: Beyond The Palace Ch. 01 -- DELETE

The delete request needs manual intervention, so it takes some time to get approved. But after that, @EmilyMiller is correct. You will lose the ratings, comments, and favorites.

 

[TheLobster]

Create a few accounts and have them all report the story for content violation. If you’re lucky, it will stick, and the story will be taken down without touching the votes and comments!

(Don’t actually do this).

 

[EmilyMiller]

What's always worked for me is to submit a New Story request, using the same title as the one you want gone, with the word DELETE at the end.

Yeah - might have helped if I had added that

 

[Feathered2Orgasm]

It seems like publishing a series is taking longer.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

It seems like publishing a series is taking longer.

Everything tends to be slower than new story publishing. Edits, Series approval--if it isn't a new story, it's low priority. Or so it seems to me.

--Annie

 

[ElectricBlue]

First off, forgive me if this has been answered elsewhere. I poked around, but didn't find anything helpful.
I need to unpublish some of my stories (so that I can publish them on another site which requires exclusivity). I intend to re-publish them here once the other site's exclusivity window closes in 90-days. So, ideally, they would just be unpublished and I could resurrect them in 3 months with the ratings/comments/etc. intact. But, if that isn't possible, then I could just publish them here again at a later date.
So, is there a way to unpublish here? Or do I have to just request that they be removed altogether?
Thanks in advance.

You could report each story, identify yourself as the author, and repeat what you have said here. Laurel can take the stories down, but they will remain in the database, and could be switched back on, later on.

 

[Britva415]

Just for reference, the documentation of this process is here:

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/remove-published-work

 

[MrPixel]

Not helping with any usable advice... but... deleting a story shouldn't be the difficult process it is here. Delete the database entries and their dependencies: done. I know from my own time as a DBA this isn't as hard as it is made to be. User side should be a one-click with confirmation popup, maybe a confirmation via the e-mail connected to the account. If the "owner" - the LitE account holder - wants it gone, it's not Laurel's or Manu's responsibility to second guess. No reason to hang on to the story, if the author goofed in the removal, then resubmit as a new story. If they lost it on their own system, tough noogies, frankly.

Editing, however, is a whole nuther thing. I've written editors in a number of languages, and they were enormous undertakings. Don't wish 'em on anybody. Process here, in the end, is a manual delete and reload, and hope the header links (scores, etc.) remain intact. [...shudder...]

 

[TheLobster]

Delete the database entries and their dependencies: done. I know from my own time as a DBA this isn't as hard as it is made to be.

On any modern database engine, absolutely. But there is a distinct possibility that this site still runs on some unspeakably ancient, fossilized version of MySQL that hasn’t even heard of foreign keys, let alone cascading deletes.

 

[Statius]

I do believe in the help section or common questions? There is a way to pull a story for edit. You won't lose votes or views. I've done it but don't remember how

 

[SkyBubble]

Interestingly, if you click the little Settings gear on a story in your drafts box or in pending, there's a delete button on the lower left of the box, but if it's already published, that doesn't appear.

 

[alohadave]

I do believe in the help section or common questions? There is a way to pull a story for edit. You won't lose votes or views. I've done it but don't remember how

You resubmit with the same title and EDIT appended. If there isn't enough space in the title field, note it in the Admin Note field.