Stories that fit into more than one category

[lovethosepanties]

Does anyone believe that it would be a good idea to be able to label your story with more than one category? For example:-
two older women getting it on would be categorised under "Mature" & "lesbian.

A Pyjama Party of college girls "Group & "Lesbian" the list is endless if you think about it?

I have a couple of chapters that would easily fall under "BDSM" and "Group"

I'm not the most prolific of authors at a mere 18 submissions I wonder sometimes if I have missed out on some readers due to not being able to have some of the stories published under more than one category?

Interested in your thoughts.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yup. My entry for the Sunburned Country could’ve fit in BDSM, Fetish, Exhibitionism, First Time, etc. I switched back and forth quite a few times.

 

[NotWise]

Does anyone believe that it would be a good idea to be able to label your story with more than one category?

You can tag the story any way you want.

If the story really crosses category boundaries in potentially incompatible ways, then consider posting it to Novels and Novellas.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm not the most prolific of authors at a mere 18 submissions I wonder sometimes if I have missed out on some readers due to not being able to have some of the stories published under more than one category?

Probably, but until such time as the site builds a tag system that is shown at the top of the story rather than the end, you just have to take your best chance with one category. It's all we've got at the moment - every writer wants a better way of flagging their content, every reader probably wants one too, but we just have to work within the limitations. Improvements have been promised, but keep breathing normally .

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You should know that some categories trump others. Gay Male trumps everything. Incest trumps everything but Gay male. Etc.

Also the publisher, there is only one, can and will change the category to the one she thinks best fits.

You can break it up into chapters and post each chapter in a different category if theme of that category is predominate.

Or as NotWise says, put it in Novels and Novellas. Or if it has a Sci-Fi/Fantasy theme woven throughout, put it there.

 

[SimonDoom]

No, I don't. The right way to handle this is through tags, although this would be more helpful with more robust features for tag use and searching by this site, such as being able to put tags at the top of the story, if the author wishes.

Categories give readers an easy way to log on, visit the hub page for the category, and see the latest stories in the category. Depending on the number of stories published in that category, those stories may cycle off the page very quickly. In incest/taboo, they may cycle off in one day, reducing the number of new stories on view to readers.

Allowing multiple categorization would greatly magnify this problem. There simply would be too much information flooding the hub pages, and the stories would fall off much faster. Readers would not be served well.

The better solution is better functionality for tags.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Does anyone believe that it would be a good idea to be able to label your story with more than one category? For example:-
two older women getting it on would be categorised under "Mature" & "lesbian.

A Pyjama Party of college girls "Group & "Lesbian" the list is endless if you think about it?

I have a couple of chapters that would easily fall under "BDSM" and "Group"

I'm not the most prolific of authors at a mere 18 submissions I wonder sometimes if I have missed out on some readers due to not being able to have some of the stories published under more than one category?

Interested in your thoughts.

Yeah, we've discussed this a few times. I don't think I've ever written a story that fit in just one of the Literotica categories, and it's definitely annoying when I know readers who enjoy my lesbian stories are missing out on the lesbian fantasy story that I put in Fantasy (for example).

Allowing multiple categorization would greatly magnify this problem. There simply would be too much information flooding the hub pages, and the stories would fall off much faster.

That would still be an improvement on the current system, where some stories never make it onto relevant hubs at all. I've posted a couple of lesbian romance stories which would have been completely invisible to readers browsing Lesbian and Romance hubs, because other categories took precedence.

That said, a better way to introduce multiple categorisation would involve updating navigation options to support it. Let readers generate toplists by their own criteria: e.g. if I want to read lesbian romance, let me generate a toplist of "stories categorised as Lesbian and Bondage" list - and now the flooding issue is reduced, not increased.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, we've discussed this a few times. I don't think I've ever written a story that fit in just one of the Literotica categories, and it's definitely annoying when I know readers who enjoy my lesbian stories are missing out on the lesbian fantasy story that I put in Fantasy (for example).



That would still be an improvement on the current system, where some stories never make it onto relevant hubs at all. I've posted a couple of lesbian romance stories which would have been completely invisible to readers browsing Lesbian and Romance hubs, because other categories took precedence.

That said, a better way to introduce multiple categorisation would involve updating navigation options to support it. Let readers generate toplists by their own criteria: e.g. if I want to read lesbian romance, let me generate a toplist of "stories categorised as Lesbian and Bondage" list - and now the flooding issue is reduced, not increased.

That makes sense. The thing that's hard to gauge is how and whether the multiplication of toplists might just make things harder for readers by giving them too many different toplists to choose from. Should there be a separate category and toplist for "Lesbian Group Sex" or "Lesbian interracial"? I have no idea. I don't know how that would work, practically speaking. I don't know whether doing that would increase reader views or reduce them.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

It is probably not the best solution but I have picked a category and publish to that one category. If nothing else, it makes it easier to find the other stories.

It would be nice to be able to list the types of sex in the titles, something like the old Usenet groups used to. It made it easier to avoid things I don't care about and focus on things that I do.

James

 

[Bramblethorn]

That makes sense. The thing that's hard to gauge is how and whether the multiplication of toplists might just make things harder for readers by giving them too many different toplists to choose from. Should there be a separate category and toplist for "Lesbian Group Sex" or "Lesbian interracial"? I have no idea. I don't know how that would work, practically speaking. I don't know whether doing that would increase reader views or reduce them.

You wouldn't maintain separate category or toplist pages for every possible combination of categories - you'd generate them on demand, according to whatever criteria the reader requests.

So if I want to read lesbian BDSM romance stories, I'd tick the boxes for "Lesbian", "Romance", and "BDSM", and the server would automatically generate a toplist (...New Stories view, random stories page, etc. etc.) from stories that are flagged in all three of those categories.

I don't know whether it would increase or reduce views, but it'd make those views much more efficient if readers can find what they're after in one place, instead of having to try every category that might have that kind of story and then dig through all the chaff.

 

[LupusDei]

It is probably not the best solution but I have picked a category and publish to that one category. If nothing else, it makes it easier to find the other stories.

It would be nice to be able to list the types of sex in the titles, something like the old Usenet groups used to. It made it easier to avoid things I don't care about and focus on things that I do.

James

I think it is exactly what people talk about when mention tags on top that are then used to enable user set filtering resulting in highly individualised new and top lists that run across or in cross section to existing categories.

Now just for fun (and sorry for self quote):

"On board alien spaceship he was wearing wife's evening gown while watching how she was hypnotised into submission, tied up on stage and taken in the ass by her two werewolf brothers."

(And yes, I just couldn't quickly figure neat way to include even more categories without wasting two or more words on each.)

Now, where one's supposed to put that? I would probably stick with E&V just because there I reside as reader and it is kinda all-inclusive from my observations. Well, except non-con elements become prominent enough to play trump card, and that I could accept easily. But just a passing mention to gay male sex within all that shouldn't segregate it, that's just wrong.

But then, allow multiple categorisation, and you're virtually guaranteed to be flooded with crap like that, unless you can filter against tags.

 

[SimonDoom]

You wouldn't maintain separate category or toplist pages for every possible combination of categories - you'd generate them on demand, according to whatever criteria the reader requests.

So if I want to read lesbian BDSM romance stories, I'd tick the boxes for "Lesbian", "Romance", and "BDSM", and the server would automatically generate a toplist (...New Stories view, random stories page, etc. etc.) from stories that are flagged in all three of those categories.

I don't know whether it would increase or reduce views, but it'd make those views much more efficient if readers can find what they're after in one place, instead of having to try every category that might have that kind of story and then dig through all the chaff.

I like this idea. The site could offer the standard categories, but also offer the option of reader-generated categories, with all the toplists and new story lists that go with them. Every time the reader logged on, his or her special category lists would pop up. It would make it easier for readers to find exactly what they want.

 

[tomlitilia]

You wouldn't maintain separate category or toplist pages for every possible combination of categories - you'd generate them on demand, according to whatever criteria the reader requests.

So if I want to read lesbian BDSM romance stories, I'd tick the boxes for "Lesbian", "Romance", and "BDSM", and the server would automatically generate a toplist (...New Stories view, random stories page, etc. etc.) from stories that are flagged in all three of those categories.

I don't know whether it would increase or reduce views, but it'd make those views much more efficient if readers can find what they're after in one place, instead of having to try every category that might have that kind of story and then dig through all the chaff.

Yeah, something like that would be very useful. All my stories could be placed in at least two categories (out of Anal, BDSM, Exhibitionist & Voyeur, Group Sex, Lesbian Sex and Loving Wives). IMO, the best stories are those that lies in the combination of multiple themes, and it would be great to have a filter to specify the interfaces you're writing at.

The current tag system is pretty useless, in part because the tags only show up at the end. The lack of standard is also making the system hard to sieve out stories with. For instance, filtering by the generic tag "lesbian" excludes more specific tags, such as:
lesbian 18-year-old lesbian affair lesbian age difference lesbian anal lesbian asian lesbian bondage lesbian boss lesbian co-worker lesbian coed lesbian college lesbian crush lesbian cunnilingus lesbian dildo lesbian dominance lesbian dominant lesbian domination lesbian erotica lesbian exhibitionism lesbian exhibitionist lesbian fantasy lesbian femdom lesbian fetish lesbian fingering lesbian fisting lesbian friend lesbian friends lesbian fucking lesbian group lesbian group sex lesbian historical lesbian incest lesbian interracial lesbian kiss lesbian kissing lesbian love lesbian love story lesbian massage lesbian masturbation lesbian mature lesbian milf lesbian neighbor lesbian nonconsent lesbian office lesbian older woman lesbian oral sex lesbian orgy lesbian porn lesbian public lesbian ravishment lesbian reluctance lesbian rimming lesbian roommate lesbian seduction lesbian shower lesbian slave lesbian spanking lesbian stranger lesbian strap-on lesbian strapon lesbian stripper lesbian student lesbian submission lesbian submissive lesbian teacher lesbian threesome lesbian toys lesbian vampire lesbian virgin lesbian voyeur lesbian wife lesbianism lesbians

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yeah, something like that would be very useful. All my stories could be placed in at least two categories (out of Anal, BDSM, Exhibitionist & Voyeur, Group Sex, Lesbian Sex and Loving Wives). IMO, the best stories are those that lies in the combination of multiple themes, and it would be great to have a filter to specify the interfaces you're writing at.

The current tag system is pretty useless, in part because the tags only show up at the end. The lack of standard is also making the system hard to sieve out stories with. For instance, filtering by the generic tag "lesbian" excludes more specific tags, such as:
lesbian 18-year-old lesbian affair lesbian age difference lesbian anal lesbian asian lesbian bondage lesbian boss lesbian co-worker lesbian coed lesbian college lesbian crush lesbian cunnilingus lesbian dildo lesbian dominance lesbian dominant lesbian domination lesbian erotica lesbian exhibitionism lesbian exhibitionist lesbian fantasy lesbian femdom lesbian fetish lesbian fingering lesbian fisting lesbian friend lesbian friends lesbian fucking lesbian group lesbian group sex lesbian historical lesbian incest lesbian interracial lesbian kiss lesbian kissing lesbian love lesbian love story lesbian massage lesbian masturbation lesbian mature lesbian milf lesbian neighbor lesbian nonconsent lesbian office lesbian older woman lesbian oral sex lesbian orgy lesbian porn lesbian public lesbian ravishment lesbian reluctance lesbian rimming lesbian roommate lesbian seduction lesbian shower lesbian slave lesbian spanking lesbian stranger lesbian strap-on lesbian strapon lesbian stripper lesbian student lesbian submission lesbian submissive lesbian teacher lesbian threesome lesbian toys lesbian vampire lesbian virgin lesbian voyeur lesbian wife lesbianism lesbians

You a have a twisted, perverted mind - I wish I could properly express my jealousy!

 

[Valint]

For instance, filtering by the generic tag "lesbian" excludes more specific tags

The worst part, to me, is that the official advice to authors is to use specific tags like "short blonde lesbian" (as opposed to tags someone might actually search for, like "blonde" or "lesbian").

I honestly wonder if whoever wrote that was just joking or something, because that's the kind of advice I would only give to someone I hated.

 

[O2]

Multiple Categories

Most of my stories could fit multiple categories also. One of the current ones has readers commenting that the category Romance is correct and others Lesbian would have been a better match.

I tried to explain my reasoning to no avail in the comments.

A better tag system would be nice among other things.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Most of my stories could fit multiple categories also. One of the current ones has readers commenting that the category Romance is correct and others Lesbian would have been a better match.

Yep, and if you put it in the other category, you'd still get the same comments, just pointing in the opposite direction.