Anon is at it again.

[NotWise]

I just got yet another pleasant, well-written, complimentary comment from Anon.

When will this ever stop? What can the site do about it? There has to be something!

Author's experiences with anonymous comments seem to be enormously variable. I don't understand why our experiences are so vastly different -- except, of course, that I don't post to LW.

Any clues?

 

[loquere]

I just got yet another pleasant, well-written, complimentary comment from Anon.

When will this ever stop? What can the site do about it? There has to be something!

Author's experiences with anonymous comments seem to be enormously variable. I don't understand why our experiences are so vastly different -- except, of course, that I don't post to LW.

Any clues?

What was the comment?

 

[NotWise]

What was the comment?

On Pixie in the Rain, the last of four (so far) cougar/cub stories:

"Pixie is hot as hell, and totally fun for all her young guys. Five stars for her. But I'm thinking Pixie needs to find true love, and happiness. We wish her well."

 

[ElectricBlue]

Author's experiences with anonymous comments seem to be enormously variable. I don't understand why our experiences are so vastly different -- except, of course, that I don't post to LW.

Any clues?

I suspect a fundamental ability to write, helps. Interesting content, well written - why wouldn't anon comments be positive?

 

[NotWise]

I suspect a fundamental ability to write, helps. Interesting content, well written - why wouldn't anon comments be positive?

Aside from the LW thing, I can't think of any reason. On the other hand, perceived insults from Anonymous commentators is a repeated topic on this forum. It seems like hardly a week goes by without someone asking what to do about them.

 

[Kantarii]

Some of my best comments come from other authors that post under anonymous.
Kant

 

[ChloeTzang]

I get great anonymous comments as well but nobody ever gets worked up enough to open a thread to ask what to do about great comments. Until now.

 

[ThatsTheGuy]

I get great anonymous comments as well but nobody ever gets worked up enough to open a thread to ask what to do about great comments. Until now.

I would have, but the username known as anonymous was taken.

 

[Voboy]

I get great anonymous comments as well but nobody ever gets worked up enough to open a thread to ask what to do about great comments. Until now.

99% of my comments are pleasant and anonymous. I’ve had vile ones here and there, but I’ve deleted them. Problem solved.

 

[lovecraft68]

The answer is that no one ever comes here to compliment anon which is what you're doing.

I get decent anon comments every day and I imagine most do, but what's the fun of saying that?

Whenever this is discussed at some point I usually say-especially to people who want to disable anon voting/comments-that the majority of anonymous is decent.

I also add that the anon that post those good comments would be willing to create a handle of the site ever ditched anon in an attept to clean up the nastiness and trolling and bombing.

But be careful about complaining about a nice comment and asking when the site will put a stop to it. For that, they might decide to take action

 

[TxRad]

For every negative there has to be a positive or the car won't start.

 

[oggbashan]

Here's my favourite comment from anon, dated 2004:

I'm a married female in her 30's, currently on anti-depressants that made my sex drive go fron 55mph to maybe 5 at best. (With my husband using every trick in the book--so to speak--at once).
That was well written, imaginative, and sexy. Plus, I think someone just FLOORED the gas pedal to the metal. Thanks. I needed that. Writer? Try to publish! You can do it.

The story is currently rated 3.87

Others didn't agree with her.

 

[Emirus]

Here's my favourite comment from anon, dated 2004:

I'm a married female in her 30's, currently on anti-depressants that made my sex drive go fron 55mph to maybe 5 at best. (With my husband using every trick in the book--so to speak--at once).
That was well written, imaginative, and sexy. Plus, I think someone just FLOORED the gas pedal to the metal. Thanks. I needed that. Writer? Try to publish! You can do it.

The story is currently rated 3.87

Others didn't agree with her.

That’s really sad. The ambition of every writer on Lit should be a perfect 5 even though they know that in reality it will never be achieved. It’s like in an exam when 80% is the pass mark. You don’t aim for 80. You aim for 100 even though you know the likelihood of achieving it is unlikely. If you only aim for 80 the likelihood is that you won’t achieve even that. So 80% to 90% is perfectly acceptable.

On here less than 4 should either be because it’s a terrible story (like one of mine) for some reason or the score being artificially low because of trolls.

https://www.literotica.com/s/sandstone-cottage

 

[oggbashan]

That’s really sad. ...

It's not. As it says in my signature I don't write for popularity. Many of my stories have very limited appeal. A few might like them, many don't and vote them down.

Femdom - and that particular story is Femdom - infuriates some men who describe themselves as 'real men' and are frightened of strong or controlling women.

However some of my stories deserve their low ratings because they aren't as good as some of my others. My ratio of Red Hs as a proportion of my long list is much lower than many authors.

I have left ALL my posted stories, even the flawed ones, to remind me that I can write crap as well as some good ones.

Edited to add: My current lowest rating is 3.09. I have about 10 stories below 3.50. That's an improvement. Some of those stories were rated 2.xx

 

[loquere]

I turn off all my comments. I don't wanna here positive or negative shit.

 

[blackrandl1958]

I have the same experience, Notwise.

I would estimate that more than 90 percent of my anonymous feedback is positive. I get the odd "die, n****r bitch," but that is easily remedied. I seem to be averaging 81 comments per story, between me and my alt, about equally divided between named and anonymous, so that is a very great number of positive anonymi, out there. I do post, occasionally, in LW, and find about the same ratio of positive to negative there, as anywhere else.

Most of the negativity, it seems to me, comes from posting types of stories readers hate in categories where they are known to hate them. That seems as if it should be expected, to me.

I, and several other authors, am running a chain story, just now, and we have about 30 comments per chapter, mostly from the authors who participated, admittedly, but most that are not from us seem positive. There are a great many kind and gentle readers out there, both named and anonymous. A tip of the hat to them, and thank you, NotWise, for bringing them to attention.

 

[Oblimo]

This made me so proud when I first received it, I hung it up on the refrigerator:

I know the line between genius and insanity is supposedly razor-thin, but usually that means it's also razor-sharp. In this story that line is somehow blurred into an optical illusion; it's still there in my peripheral vision, but when I try to look straight at it to determine which side I'm standing on, it vanishes!

 

[ElectricBlue]

This made me so proud when I first received it, I hung it up on the refrigerator:

And that comment is why I don't turn anons off.

It's not often anon is a genius, but that's pretty damn close.

 

[JasonClearwater]

And that comment is why I don't turn anons off.

It's not often anon is a genius, but that's pretty damn close.

I'd agree, I like my anon comments. Every now and then, especially when I was new to it all, I took things to heart, and then I realised... who gives a fuck. And since then, I've been largely fine with just deleting the obvious trash trolling, and been glad to receive the rest of the anon feedback. Even if it is just another author saying, 'keep it up, son!'.

Occasionally they're a mixed bag of 'Love your stuff, but you SUCK!' and those ones, you just have to take what's useful to you. At least they're paying attention. What more can you ask, really?

 

[xelliebabex]

Ditto

I'll ditto what everyone else has said. Honestly, I think I have some of the nicest Anon commenters around. Sure there is the occasion negative one but I sort of think that if they read 30 chapters of a series before deciding it sucks, there is something wrong with that picture

 

[RejectReality]

Unless someone regularly posts in LW or some other "threatening" genre, positive anons are always going to vastly outweigh the negative. As soon as someone shows up lamenting negative commentary, you inevitably find out most of the time that the story in question and a large part of the catalog is LW.

LW is just a nasty place not fit for anyone who can't shrug off scumbaggery like Luke Skywalker brushing off his shoulder in Last Jedi.

Here's my fridge-worthy positive anon.

The story, Nude-Holly-Day, by Reject Reality was one of the most enjoyable, intense, well crafted, and even instructive stories I've ever encountered. While the biology-based eroticism is excellent in most of your stories, this one (Holly) was far beyon that. The Holly story was to regular good stories as color is to black-and-white because of the added layers in the story.
a. Honor and decency. The protagonist portrayed the best characteristics of respect and appreciation for the Holly character.
b. The caring he showed Holly added depth to the story far beyond the delightful eroticism.
c. The honor and care showed for the Holly character by the protagonist put this story into the top level of literature.
d. The details of the physical love-making functioned almost as a lesson for top-level love-making. Society would profit from this sort of story being made to be required reading for all high-schoolers.

I would give the Holly story a 10 if that were possible.

That stunned me when I got it. To me, that story is exactly one rung above my average story in this name, which is exactly one rung above "is there another way I can pay for this pizza?"

Obviously, this anon got more out of it than I thought I'd written into it.

 

[ChloeTzang]

This is more how my comments tend to trend. Readers asking for the next installment and Chloe apologizing coz I wrote something else instead..... eeeeek

by ChloeTzang
.....I swear on my ancestors ashes that another chapter of Chinese Takeout will be next and served up before the end of February.

by Anonymous
02/01/18
Good stuff. I’ve really enjoyed your story to date. Anxious to read the next chapter. Keep the good work

by RedDot
02/28/18
Ancestors waiting for Ch 06
Hi Chloe

Well another Chinese new year also gone by... and it is already end of Feb.
We are still eagerly waiting for you for the next Chapter on Chinese Takeout.

Well reading Sammy Woo's adventures did give us the idea what did happen eventually and where the plot was going. But it would be nice to read about the Journey there.

You had sworn on your Ancestor's ashes to give us Ch 06 end of Feb 2018....just saying

But absolutely love all your stories. keep up the good work.

- RedDot

by ChloeTzang
03/01/18
Ancestors looking sternly down on Chloe...... and telling her to get that next chapter moving... I'm working on this, the next chapter of Happy Birthday and a story for the April Fools Day competition. OMG and I promised this for the end of Feb and that's today. I'm hanging my head in shame. Soon, really really soon.... gulp.

03/05/18
The Ashes called
And boy are they pissed

by Anonymous
05/03/18
About the Ashes
Actually you promised "on the ashes of your ancestors" to get chapter six in by the first of the year I believe. Those were the ashes that called and are pissed.

by ChloeTzang
05/04/18
The ashes of her fathers.....

And how can Chloe write better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of her fathers
And the temples of her gods
Then spake out brave Chloe
The writer of this ode
9k words are done now
But my brain is overload
Soon you will be happy
A readers demand met
Another chapter written
And yet you'll say, and yet
More Chinese Takeout needed
Please write anothe screed
One chapter then another
To satisfy that need

Okay okay that was awful and Macaulay is turning in his grave but it's coming....

by ender2k2k
05/04/18
You are such a good writer that..
I wish I could give 5 stars for your comment. Thanks

And Handley-Page, that was your fault!!!! You got me started on the Aneid and then I picked up Macaulay and "Lays of Ancient Rome" and I was reading "Horatius" and one thing led to another.....

 

[loquere]

I turn off all my comments. I don't wanna here positive or negative shit.

I just turned on all my comments after a few years, so I'll see how that turns out.

 

[NotWise]

Obviously, this anon got more out of it than I thought I'd written into it.

Once you've published a story you no longer control how it might be perceived. It's value and meaning belong to the reader.

I haven't checked comments in LW -- I figure if you post there then you'd better be ready -- but I have checked Anon comments in other categories after people came complaining to AH. The last two I checked both turned out to be cases where the Anon commentator made a valid point (though maybe rudely stated), and the author seemed to be too thin-skinned to realize it.

I might just check any time someone complains about Anon. It's a service to thin-skinned authors.

 

[oggbashan]

...

And Handley-Page, that was your fault!!!! You got me started on the Aneid and then I picked up Macaulay and "Lays of Ancient Rome" and I was reading "Horatius" and one thing led to another.....

Just don't start on Graves' Greek Myths or Bullfinch's Mythology and certainly not the complete unexpurgated 1001 Arabian Nights.

Those books have started many authors on a lifetime of writing.