Why doesn't Literotica protect its authors?

[Mister_Chris]

One of the recurring frustrations that authors on Lit experience is strongly negative comments. I'm not talking about the 'negative but constructive' kind; I'm talking about the "eat shit you fuck your such a moron go jump off a building you stupid lump of shit don't write again EVER!!!!!"...kind.

We know that Literotica can very effectively identify computers using digital fingerprints; this is the technology they use to do periodic sweeps to remove multiple votes from the same computer. For those who need more information on digital fingerprints, check here...

http://akademie.dw.de/digitalsafety/your-browsers-fingerprints-and-how-to-reduce-them/

and here.

https://panopticlick.eff.org/index.php?action=log&js=yes

Literotica allows readers to report stories that do not meet the submission guidelines, yet have managed to achieve publication.

Why can't authors report strongly negative comments to Literotica? It should be a simple matter for Literotica to identify the senders computer, and check other comments made by the sender to determine if the comment was a one time hit, or the efforts of a systematic troll. If the latter, I would suggest that they should be banned from leaving comments.

And yes, you can call me a pussy. And yes, you can tell me to man up.

But dammit, why should I? Why should I just be expected to tolerate this verbal abuse, to 'take it like a man', to 'suck it up'? Why should I have to pretend that a kick to the cerebral crotch doesn't hurt?

Literotica scans for duplicate votes in order to protect the voting system. They do this for the benefit of the site, not the benefit of the authors.

But don't authors deserve the same protection?

Literotica earns money. None of that money goes to authors; authors work for free.

Shouldn't Literotica make some effort to remove trolls from the site, and ensure that the verbal bullshit comment artists get tossed?

Thoughts, people?

>MC

 

[slyc_willie]

*sigh*

Short answer: if you write and post stories here, grow a thick skin.

Long answer: why the hell should Lit police the comments in the first place? The beauty of this site is that it is open to anyone and everyone, just like the real world of publishing. Do you want Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Hastings, and every other online bookseller to police the reviews of the books they offer? Is censorship (which is what you propose) a better alternative to the free-for-all of fans, critics, and the occasional troll?

Seriously, I wouldn't want Literotica to impose any regulations on the comments to stories. This is a proving ground. If you have the balls to post a story, you better have the balls to accept what anyone thinks of it. That means understanding that witless trolls will blast you for whatever reason, and you had best be prepared to accept that.

Look at it this way: say you go to an open mike night at a local bookstore and read some of your work. There will be those in the audience who will listen avidly and praise you for it, and others who will listen closely and offer suggestions at the end on how to improve it. And then, of course, there is the lout or two that stands up and shouts, "this fucking bullshit sucks! Learn how to write you dum motherfucker!" before storming out.

Really; we've gone over this many times in the last week or so. Post here and accept the consequences, or don't post here and go away. It really is as simple as that.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I think Literotica assumes authors would like to manage our comments ourselves. We have the facility to delete comments we don't like.

Sorry to those who have heard this story many times! I do have a one star review of one of my stories on Amazon calling it 'depraved filth' . When I first saw it, I was a little hurt by the evident rage of the reader. But the downloads have never stopped pouring off Amazon since that comment! Also, I figured if I touched a nerve then maybe I was actually writing well.

I also had a strongly negative and untrue accusation about one of my stories a little while back, saying it was a noncom. I did feel quite startled, as there is no way I would write noncom. I thought seriously about deleting it, I thought about making an elegant riposte in the comments. Instead I left things for a few days. Fans who normally are not very vocal about my stories, cuz they are shy little things <snerk>, stepped up and commented in my defence and said how much they like the story and the commentator clearly didn't have a sense of humour etc etc. That was so nice to see!

I learned that negative comments are a kind of compliment. Someone cared enough to say something. There is no such thing as bad publicity. I never delete comments these days, when I get something negative, I try to look behind it and understand what might have prompted that impulse, to view it as a compliment in the sense that someone engaged with the story - perhaps at a more primal level than they wanted to reach.

The ones I feel a bit sad about are the stories with no comments at all. Those are the ones I really wonder if they have been successful.

 

[TamLin01]

Why? On what grounds? "Strongly negative" is relative, and even in the cases where it's obvious, why should there be a rule against that? I guess it would be nice if everyone were polite, but I would also think it was nice if from now on I was allowed to cut to the front of every line I'm ever waiting in. Doesn't mean it should happen.

 

[Darkniciad]

Vote sweeping was implemented at the request of authors in the far-flung misty past of Lit, not as some benefit to the site. Request isn't really the word for it. Desperate screams of the damned is closer to what actually happened.

You can report comments to Literotica. If read from most locations, there is a "report" button attached to each comment. If read from the end of the story, you can utilize the report story button and explain that a comment is the issue. This is most likely an oversight during the upgrade of the comment section of the story page, as the old comment display did contain a report button on each comment as well.

There are serial commenters of exactly the type you're talking about being dealt with in exactly the manner you suggest. Laurel has mentioned them in posts fairly recently. People abusing the comment/favorite system have also been banned for such behavior.

This is in addition to having multiple options to deal with comments in advance, and complete control over what stays on your page once a comment has been posted.

 

[Hypoxia]

Skin. Thicken. Now. You're welcome.

 

[Handley_Page]

One of the recurring frustrations that authors on Lit experience is strongly negative comments.
And yes, you can call me a pussy. And yes, you can tell me to man up.

But dammit, why should I? Why should I just be expected to tolerate this verbal abuse, to 'take it like a man', to 'suck it up'? Why should I have to pretend that a kick to the cerebral crotch doesn't hurt?

Thoughts, people?
MC

As you have undoubtedly see so far, your provocation has not won you many allies.

And you should, I think.
The boxer in the ring does not complain that his opponent is causing him pain, does he?
The fact is that there are some genuine lack-wits (ignorant to a reader) who find it amusing to be rude and abusive.
It's a pool full of sharks, MC.
But it's the best pool of them all.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

As HP said, there is little sympathy for your views amongst the writers here. Dark, slyc and naoko, taken together (what a thought!) have rubbished your post and I agree with them.

Sweeps and an upgrade in software were needed to limit the malicious activities of a rogue member.

Comments are for the writer to manage, ignore, reply, ignore or delete.

There is some phrase about stepping out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat.

 

[lovecraft68]

First off lit does give you 'protection' in the form of being able to disable anonymous feedback and let's face it, the majority of abusive "cyber kicks to the crotch' are from anymouse.

Of course the issue there is you lose out on all the positive anonymous feedback and there is a lot more of that than there is negative.

Lit is never going to come up with a "please allow constructive feedback or glowingly positive feedback only" feature.

Like Slyc said if you are going to post on a free site like this then grow a thick skin because free and freedom of speech unfortunately invite bottom feeding malicious trolls.

And the thing is...who the hell cares what some schmuck says about your story? Especially is its an over the top "You're the worst writer ever, just stop writing, fuck off and die!"

Do you really take that seriously?

To quote one of my favorite exchanges ever from a movie (Roadhouse)

'So what if someone calls my mama a whore?"

"Well, is she?"

In another words only you control what these comments mean to you. YOu really get butt hurt when some asshat from shitsville says "You suck!" Come on....

Lit gives you the ability to post your stories here for people to enjoy and for you to enjoy the good feedback and votes and comments so if you have to take some crap from a few dickheads, who cares? You can't have everything.

And fact is unless you are writing in LW the good anonymous comments far outweigh the bad.

You have three choices.

1-deal with it and just roll your eyes like the rest of us-or laugh at it like myself and many others do

2-disable anonymous comments or comments altogether and lose out on all the good for a few stinkers

3-stop writing here.

 

[jomar]

Yeah, I'm with the "you're taking this way to seriously" crowd. Relax and enjoy the ride.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Question:

Why do you let the words of morons bother you?


Read them, have a good laugh and move on. Delete them if you wish.

 

[sr71plt]

I've seen comments wiped out in recent months not by the author but it would have to have been by the administration, which is more than was being done before that.

Beyond that, this is an adult site not a babysitting service. Literotica gives the author the power to turn off both anonymous and all comment and gives the author the power to erase comments for any reason the author chooses. I don't use any other Web site that gives this much support to the author or puts this much control in the hands of the author.

To do more, I think, would require a significant step up in complexity of program design and people effort, which pretty much makes it a nonstarter.

 

[PennLady]

Why can't authors report strongly negative comments to Literotica? It should be a simple matter for Literotica to identify the senders computer, and check other comments made by the sender to determine if the comment was a one time hit, or the efforts of a systematic troll. If the latter, I would suggest that they should be banned from leaving comments.

You can report comments to Literotica. You can send a PM to Laurel, with a link to the story or quote the comment. I was just looking and did not see a "report" link for comments; if I'm wrong, someone will know. However, you also have the power to delete the comment from your author page. So you can handle it yourself.

But dammit, why should I? Why should I just be expected to tolerate this verbal abuse, to 'take it like a man', to 'suck it up'? Why should I have to pretend that a kick to the cerebral crotch doesn't hurt?

I always wonder myself why negative comments from people I don't know bother me, and I guess it's because we all want our stories to be liked. OTOH -- why are you letting stupid comments from people you don't even know bother you? Why do you care so much what someone with a username and a computer thinks? Some people won't like your stories; it'd be nice if they'd be constructive but a lot of people take advantage of internet anonymity to act like assholes.

I don't mean to pile on with the "grow a thick skin," but on the internet, you have to.

But don't authors deserve the same protection?

Literotica earns money. None of that money goes to authors; authors work for free.

On the flip side, you don't "work" here. Lit didn't hire you, you volunteered. If you don't like it, you can leave. Most of us choose to stay because the benefits outweigh the annoyances. If you want to earn money, you can give it a shot elsewhere.

Also, why do you need to be "protected" from negative comments? If you published on amazon, let's say, and people posted negative reviews (not attacks, reviews; personal attacks are different), would you complain about that? It's really not much different -- you roll the dice and take your chances.

Shouldn't Literotica make some effort to remove trolls from the site, and ensure that the verbal bullshit comment artists get tossed?

Ideally, probably yes, but nothing is ideal on the internet. I do think that it'd be nice if Lit designated a line and if people crossed it, they were banned from the site. However, I understand that's happened and they haven't been banned, so if they haven't done it before I doubt they'll start now. It's up to all of us to deal with it ourselves in whatever way we choose.

You can prevent anonymous feedback, you can delete comments you don't like, and there are other options. You just have to decide what you want to deal with.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You can report comments to Literotica. You can send a PM to Laurel, with a link to the story or quote the comment. I was just looking and did not see a "report" link for comments; if I'm wrong, someone will know.

Bottom right-hand corner of the box for each individual comment, there's a tiny gray "report" icon (exclamation mark inside a triangle). Very easy to miss.

 

[Darkniciad]

I stand corrected, there is indeed a "report" button on the comments on the story page. That icon is so damn tiny and background-blending that I didn't see it even when specifically looking for it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I stand corrected, there is indeed a "report" button on the comments on the story page. That icon is so damn tiny and background-blending that I didn't see it even when specifically looking for it.

In order to see it you have to hover over it like you are copying and pasting, that's the only way I can see the totals at the bottom of my stories

 

[lowphat]

In order to see it you have to hover over it like you are copying and pasting, that's the only way I can see the totals at the bottom of my stories

Just wait, when your eyes get bad, it's even worse I'm squinting and leaning forward, it's a real bitch.

 

[lovecraft68]

Just wait, when your eyes get bad, it's even worse I'm squinting and leaning forward, it's a real bitch.

I'm legally blind in one eye so I'm half there.

 

[Darkniciad]

In order to see it you have to hover over it like you are copying and pasting, that's the only way I can see the totals at the bottom of my stories

I never noticed that was in the same, nearly invisible color.

 

[lovecraft68]

I never noticed that was in the same, nearly invisible color.

I just said to my wife, "You know you can report comments?"


"Of course, its right there in the corner.

Flaunting her goddamn 20/10 vision

 

[Everyday_Man]

*sigh*

Short answer: if you write and post stories here, grow a thick skin.

God yes ... I was told by someone .... 'It's like watching paint dry' .... It's an open forum. Argue when you're right or have a point, concede when it's a push.

 

[AZMotherLover]

OP, you must be a millennial because only someone raised in the last decade would want some authority, whether it be Literotica, the government, or your mommy, to protect you from being upset by comments from somebody who doesn't like you.

Grow up, FFS. Your attitude is everything that's wrong with this country today.

Protect you? Delete your stories and go away pusscake.