Just venting at how fucked up Literotica is

[BONNIEBREA]

Sorry, but my frustration level with how badly Literotica is run (at least from the perspective of an author) is just through the roof.

I submitted re-writes of some stories two and a half weeks ago and my submissions absolutely went to shit. Re-written chapters weren't replaced, or they replaced chapters in the wrong stories, or only a few paragraphs posted. It couldn't have been more badly done if a person went out of their way to fuck it up.

Since then I've been involved in a two-week long nightmare of trying to get this incredible mess straightened out, and it is still fucked up. Mostly I write requests that just get ignored.

No, PMing Laurel doesn't help. No, PMing Laurel and patiently and politely outlining the problem and using lots of pleases and thank yous doesn't help. Using all caps seems to briefly help on occasion.

I literally cannot imagine how my stories will ever get straightened out. It's just completely fucked.

I'm not entirely sure just what's going on. I've come to think that perhaps Laurel and the rest of Literotica just realize they are one of a very limited number of options for authors who want to put their work in front of readers, and so Laurel and the others there just know they can get away with treating authors like shit.

Very depressing. It's been a very, very long two weeks plus. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.

BB

 

[jomar]

Sorry to hear that. Are you sure you were submitting edits properly by putting "EDIT" after the title?

 

[sr71plt]

As a practical next step, I suggest you delete all of the affected parts of this and start from the beginning, submitting them in order as you intend them to be--and then wait until the previous part posts before submitting the next part. Try going back to letting the natural process work from the beginning.

 

[BONNIEBREA]

jomar - thank you for the concern, response, and suggestion, but all the material was submitted as EDITs to the letter of the guidelines.

sr71 - Appreciate the suggestion, and thank you for the response. I'm beginning to think that may be the only way to do it. The thing is there's no guarantee that even that would be successful in getting stories posted correctly (I understand there are no guarantees in life, but one hopes at least for a small bit of fundamental competance and effort from the people one has to deal with).

I suppose the most frustrating part of this is the utter lack of effort or response on the part of Laurel and the Lit people.

Thanks again.

BB

 

[HeyAll]

I've always founds Laurel to be very nice and helpful regarding pm's. Especially considering how busy she must be.


The only thing that drives me nuts is that I've had two stories rejected in the past for minor issues (like not using a comma before ending a quotation- turned out to be very helpful though since it made me a better writer)....but at the same time, there are tons of stories which get posted which are loaded with errors in grammar and what not.

 

[Experiencedguy]

Well, the problem is that you are on a 'free' site. What do you expect for free? If you want it done your way, you can always pay on another site. Or, make one of your own. Also, most of the staff here does not get a pay check (maybe all of them). I am not opposing you or your frustration (which, I am sure is very real to you), just explaining that when you go to a free site, you cannot expect things to always be correct and to your liking.

 

[BONNIEBREA]

Hi heyall -

Thank you for the response. I've also found rejections to be a problem from time to time. The problem is that all my submission are within the submission guidelines.

One (actually, another) failing is that the submission guidelines are not very well thought out (or perhaps another way to put is that submissions get rejected for reasons not related to the guidelines (which inconveniences that author in having to go through the submission process again.)

For example, the guidelines specifically prohibit web and email addresses in stories, which is fine. But they don't address html formatting tags at all. For stories that are going to be posted on an internet site formatting tags are very routinely used. So, if Literotica doesn't want formatting tags, or only certain ones, they need to address very specifically in the guidelines either that no formatting tags are allowed, or that certain specific ones are permitted (and list them) and that all other are prohibited.

A simple fix to make life easier for both the site and the authors.

BB

 

[BONNIEBREA]

Hi experienced -

Thank you for the response. I appreciate your message.

The site has a tremendous amount of traffic, sponsored links, and advertising. While readers don't buy stories here, those millions of daily clicks translate into significant revenue for the site. Which is entirely fine, but those clicks only happen because authors provide the site with free content. Providing free content is fine with me, too - it seems a win-win.

I just want them to make some effort to not make things too terrible for those free content providers. I don't know if you're aware, but this situation has been going on and on for over two weeks now (actually getting on three weeks).

I really don't want things my way, and I don't expect medals for providing content. I just want the site people to do what they say they'll do, and not create absolute nightmares like this (or if they inadvertently do, at least make an effort to correct them).

Thanks again.

BB

 

[michchick98]

Hi heyall -

Thank you for the response. I've also found rejections to be a problem from time to time. The problem is that all my submission are within the submission guidelines.

One (actually, another) failing is that the submission guidelines are not very well thought out (or perhaps another way to put is that submissions get rejected for reasons not related to the guidelines (which inconveniences that author in having to go through the submission process again.)

For example, the guidelines specifically prohibit web and email addresses in stories, which is fine. But they don't address html formatting tags at all. For stories that are going to be posted on an internet site formatting tags are very routinely used. So, if Literotica doesn't want formatting tags, or only certain ones, they need to address very specifically in the guidelines either that no formatting tags are allowed, or that certain specific ones are permitted (and list them) and that all other are prohibited.

A simple fix to make life easier for both the site and the authors.

BB

Actually, there are several articles in the Writer's Resources pages that include how to submit your story to Literotica with HTML tags. The basics apply, of course <b></b>,><i></i>, and <u></u>. Really, what else do you need?

Here's the link to the Writer's Resources page:

http://www.literotica.com/storyxs/writ_stor.shtml

This has been discussed quite extensively over the years here and most people will tell you the best way to add the HTML tags is to add them to your story as you write, then copy and paste the text into the Story Text field as opposed to using HTML coding in MS Word (or whatever you might use) and uploading the .rtf file that way.

I've had more success using the copy and paste method myself. I used to upload, but after a few disastrous postings, I went to the c & p method. Much more reliable and you can preview before you submit, where you can't when uploading.

I do agree, however, that there should be a link on the submissions page so that new authors submitting work for the first time would take the time to read through some of the articles before submitting, but even then, how many really would click the link if it was provided?

Good luck.

 

[Ellafun]

Just curious...why did you find it necessary to do re-writes after your stories were submitted? Was it because of technical errors, or simply re-editing the story? Do have an editor here at Lit? I only ask because it sounds like you were doing a number of edits at once, and perhaps, because it was during a contest submission period, it simply got overlooked or misunderstood?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hi heyall -

Thank you for the response. I've also found rejections to be a problem from time to time. The problem is that all my submission are within the submission guidelines.

One (actually, another) failing is that the submission guidelines are not very well thought out (or perhaps another way to put is that submissions get rejected for reasons not related to the guidelines (which inconveniences that author in having to go through the submission process again.)

For example, the guidelines specifically prohibit web and email addresses in stories, which is fine. But they don't address html formatting tags at all. For stories that are going to be posted on an internet site formatting tags are very routinely used. So, if Literotica doesn't want formatting tags, or only certain ones, they need to address very specifically in the guidelines either that no formatting tags are allowed, or that certain specific ones are permitted (and list them) and that all other are prohibited.

A simple fix to make life easier for both the site and the authors.

BB

Hi experienced -

Thank you for the response. I appreciate your message.

The site has a tremendous amount of traffic, sponsored links, and advertising. While readers don't buy stories here, those millions of daily clicks translate into significant revenue for the site. Which is entirely fine, but those clicks only happen because authors provide the site with free content. Providing free content is fine with me, too - it seems a win-win.

I just want them to make some effort to not make things too terrible for those free content providers. I don't know if you're aware, but this situation has been going on and on for over two weeks now (actually getting on three weeks).

I really don't want things my way, and I don't expect medals for providing content. I just want the site people to do what they say they'll do, and not create absolute nightmares like this (or if they inadvertently do, at least make an effort to correct them).

Thanks again.

BB

Oh boo hoo!

This site publishes thousands of stories each month with out a problem. There are bots which scan each story not only violations of the rules, but spelling and other inconsistencies in the submission.

If you don't like the way it's run, then do as Experienced suggested and start your own site...good luck with that by the way...or go somewhere that you pay to have your stuff published, but don't get on here and carp about the the perceived faults.

I'll bet donuts to dollars that you fucked up and not Lit. and if I was Manu or Laurel and stumbled upon this thread, well let's just say I'm not as kind and helpful as they are.

 

[BONNIEBREA]

Hi Ella -

I had published the stories over a period of about eight or nine months. When I'd written the first story I didn't really have plans to write any more stories, but ideas kept suggesting themselves to move the story forward. So the stories ended up being written in a quite piecemeal fashion.

I ended up with a progression of six stories that ended up being a continuing story arc involving continuing characters, references to previous characters, and inter-related plots. After finishing the sixth story I realized how related the stories were and how they, taken together, essentially comprised a six-part novel. So I decided to go back and re-write all the stories so as to draw the stories together better, to create a tighter and more cohesive whole, and address to a far greater degree the internal consistencies between plots and characters.

Thanks for asking.

BB

 

[jomar]

Dang Zeb...cranky today?

 

[BONNIEBREA]

Hi Zeb -

Thank you for your intelligent and insightful observations. They sure are intelligent and insightful.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Dang Zeb...cranky today?

No just tired of everyone complaining about their fuck ups is all. If I fuck up posting a story, I don't come here a bitch. I politely PM Laurel and explain the problem tell her what a dumbass I am.

Hi Zeb -

Thank you for your intelligent and insightful observations. They sure are intelligent and insightful.

Your welcome...and you can bet your ass they are.

 

[michchick98]

Hi Ella -

I had published the stories over a period of about eight or nine months. When I'd written the first story I didn't really have plans to write any more stories, but ideas kept suggesting themselves to move the story forward. So the stories ended up being written in a quite piecemeal fashion.

I ended up with a progression of six stories that ended up being a continuing story arc involving continuing characters, references to previous characters, and inter-related plots. After finishing the sixth story I realized how related the stories were and how they, taken together, essentially comprised a six-part novel. So I decided to go back and re-write all the stories so as to draw the stories together better, to create a tighter and more cohesive whole, and address to a far greater degree the internal consistencies between plots and characters.

Thanks for asking.

BB

With all that, I have to wonder if it would've just been easier to pull the stories, do what you needed to do to them, then resubmit them with a note at the beginning stating that they're re-writes of a previously posted story.

Seems it would've saved some grief.

 

[BONNIEBREA]

Hi MC98 -

Thank you for the suggestion. It has a lot of merit and I'm sure that's what I would do in a similar situatuion in the future.

I've submitted editted stories before and had them posted with no problem, so I just used the method outlined and recommended by the site for editted submissions.

I'd had no idea something so simple could be screwed up so bad, and that it would go uncorrected for weeks.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

BB