20th Litversary -- how long have you been here?

[SimonDoom]

I just noticed the "20th Litversary" title on the Literotica home page. Did it start in November 1998? I hadn't noticed it before.

So, how long have you been here? As a reader? As a writer?

How has it changed?

I can't remember when I started reading stories. I can guess, a little, by looking at the dates of story series that I can recall were ongoing when I first read them, so I know it was before 2006.

I published my first story Dec. 6, 2016, so it took me over 10 years to get around to writing something.

I didn't participate in any boards until I started writing, so I have no idea what went on in these boards back then, but from a reader's point of view I think this site has changed relatively little since I started reading stories. Still the same look, same basic organization. Some changed features, but they didn't affect me much as a reader.

Happy Litversary!

 

[TxRad]

My join date shows as 2005 so I've been here a while. It may have been longer than that because I think 2005 is when they brought on this version of the forum and we all had to re-register.

Changes? Way too many to count. There was a very intelligent and happy group here when i showed up. Most all of them were excellent writers and we enjoyed each others company. Then around 08 we had a bunch of trolls show up. Starting trouble, running off newbies, and trying to out people among other things. A lot of the good people said "fuck it" and left. A few died along the way.

We even had a welcome newbie thread that was full of good information. There was a Bohemian bar and the idea for the isolated Blurt thread was stolen from the GB. Politics during a Presidential election was another thing that ran people off. It was all ranting that should have been on the GB but wasn't.

The political board and the AH Mod brought things back to somewhere near the old days but a lot of good people are still gone.

Until Google set a rule about a site being phone friendly or their rating would be lowered, there were no changes in Lit. It started as a site for Laurel to read porn and that is what it stayed.

New people have showed up. Some have stayed and some have moved on. Some were good and some were not.

I went and checked the publish date on my first story. It was Jan of 2005 so I guess that is how long I've been here.

 

[Handley_Page]

Apparently, my Join date was August 2007.
I had kept quiet for a good while before that, as I recall.

 

[KeithD]

Since July 2006.

 

[SamScribble]

October 2009. Just over nine years ago. And no, Tex, I wasn't one of the trolls. Honest.

 

[ElectricBlue]

May 2014, and my first story submitted the same day, so I guess I joined to do that.

I think I discovered Lit a couple of months before, read some content and thought, I can have a go at this. I started posting on AH not long after (just before the appointment of the AH Mod), when it was still toxic and new opinions didn't seem to be allowed. It's far better now, but occasionally still has its morning lols - that might be the coffee being too hot, I'm not sure .

 

[oggbashan]

I lurked for a couple of months before joining in July 2002 and posting several stories that month.

 

[YDB95]

Late 2011, but I remember my now-wife (we were engaged at the time) telling me about it a year or so before. She'd already been a fan for a while, and I had a half-finished story already in the works. When I finished it, I joined Lit in order to publish it (the first chapter of the Elizabeth series).

I remember the very first vote I got was a one-bomb, but that story now has a 4.46 or so. I'd say I bounced back pretty well.

 

[Hypoxia]

I joined and posted my first story in Sep 2013, just over 5 years. I started viewing maybe 2-3 months before -- I joined because I thought I could write better than what I was reading here -- I kept wanting to correct all the typos and misinfo. Hah.

I posted 117 stories in about 23 months of active writing (with some long breaks). I also posted a few dozen poems-songs somewhere back then but took those down for other uses. But that comes to over one story a week -- when I bother writing.

Any community changes I see are of my own making, depending on which forums and threads I partake. I was on GB and Politics when what passes for my brain was under-supplied with O2 -- political discussion don't require much brainpower. Avoid those, and the forum community is fine.

LIT is like pasta. It all depends on how it's cooked.

 

[NotWise]

I came across Lit when it was still a toddler -- around 2000. I read, but I never set up an account. I didn't read for more than a few months before social demands diverted my time.

I remembered Lit because the site actually had content standards and the average writing quality was higher than on any similar site. I set up an account in 2015 because, and only because, I wanted someone to read the stuff that I'd been writing for six years.

 

[yukonnights]

I found, and started reading stories in 2005-2006. For me, the forums were a wealth of new information and I learned many new things about human sexuality...and about my own. I had written a few short erotic "scenes" before Lit, but through reading here I picked up a lot more formal understanding. I Joined in 2007, made new friends in the LGBT forums and so on. As some may know already, I come and go from here. It's just that I tend to spend the months of nice weather out in nature and traveling about...then lurk back into our little cave here for the winter. The stories are born at odd times of "inspiration" but tend to be crafted in the winter.

Changes? For me it's mostly just a reflection of society in general. Less thoughtful conversation and more flash-bang...but, I have "met" a lot of really nice folks here over the years...some are still here and others have moved on. Of course, the overall tension in the country is reflected more now...and we now have online preachers here to save us from ourselves...and Russian trolls to gas-light us and try to cause havoc. But I really do like to write my stories, somehow they allow me to pour out feelings, beliefs, etc in such an intimate and pure way...that's why I'll stick around (from time to time )

PS: I hope the owners don't muck around too much...I kinda like it the way it is...clunky and old, but reliable and simple ~

 

[Voboy]

I joined when I started posting stories; prior to that, I had no idea there was any benefit to joining.

I remember reading stories here when I was still in the army, and I got out in 2001. So, there’s that.

 

[rjordan]

I started reading here in 2000 on a daily basis. I joined in 2002 and submitted my first stories that year. I've continued to be a frequent reader and consider that my primary activity here. I post occasional stories every few years or so. I made my living writing about cars and motorcycles for more than 3 decades, but have no burning interest or need for the colossal time commitment required to write fiction, particularly for free. I truly admire those writers who take on the challenge, but I have no illusions of being one.

rj

 

[RejectReality]

Signed up as Darkniciad in June of 2005, because my wife was insisting that I should be sharing the stories I was writing for her with other people.

I'd been here prior to that reading the likes of Mack the Knife, Evil Alpaca, etc. in the Sci-Fi & Fantasy section. Mainly as a learning tool for what I was writing for my wife. They were good, and that's the level of quality I wanted to put into her story. So, a couple of years before I signed up, maybe.

It took her until February of 2006 to finally convince me to hit the submit button on the first chapter of "Danica".

The tight-knit sense of community that used to be here when I started is gone. Trolls, politics, life changes, ( and death, unfortunately ) cost us a lot of good people, and many of them were the anchors that not only helped hold the community together, but also welcomed others. Red, Danielle, Selena, Slick...

Granted, there were cliques. You had people crossing the lines and blurring them, though. They were the inroads that meant you didn't have to be on the outside for too long.

The toxicity is mostly gone with the abolishment of politics and the worst trolls getting reined in, but we're nowhere near the level of support and community we were when I first started.

 

[Kantarii]

I started out reading stories on this site around the time of the Columbine school shooting. It roller coastered for awhile. Sometimes I read more, sometimes less.

I reached a point where I was literally upset coming here looking for stories of interest to me and considered never coming back. About 3 years ago, friend of mine suggested that I should write and submit the stories I wanted to read.

Once I started submitting my own stories, my appreciation for the site and other authors improved, although my reading time suffered. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Kant

 

[ChloeTzang]

I joined in April 2015 and omg, it’s been three and a half years and a huge part of my life writing here since then. In that three and a half years I’ve gone from never having written a complete story to having my first novel published as an e-book with more on the way and Literotica has been the primary factor and influenced in getting me so far so fast.

I never discovered Literotica. Never been a big online person, my partner convinced me the little stories I made up were worth writing down and sharing and he introduced me to Literotica as a great place to try it. So I did and here I am, three and a half years later and having fun.

A really big motivator and support for me has been the Authors Hangout and many of the people here who’ve helped me and given me pointers and support along the way. It’s been wonderful and also interesting reading your comments about the early days with Selena and some of the others. I have to say reading Selena Kitt’s novels and learning she started out here was also influential in getting me started on Literotica because what she did in moving into being published has been an ongoing motivator for me.

Anyhow, it’s been a great three and a half years for me and I look forward to many more.....

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hmmm....

The first time I joined as zeb1094 on December 24, 2003, guess I had nothing better to do that day.

Then I somehow trashed that user and rejoined on June 15, 2006 as zeb_carter.

Prior to my joining, I was lurking and reading. Don't remember the date I found Lit. but I would guess a year or so prior to creating an ID that first time.

Most of the people I knew way back when have left...I do however have conversations with them on other social media sites.

Yikes... 15 year! as a submitting author.

 

[oggbashan]

I lurked for a couple of months before joining in July 2002 and posting several stories that month.

Eek! I've just checked. I posted 8 stories and 4 'poems' in the first month of Lit membership.

 

[jomar]

I joined during the golden age...late 2006...when the winds were fair, the clouds were white and fluffy and the backbiting was thesaurus worthy.

Eh, the golden age is whenever you join and actively participate. But the AH did seem to be a bit more of a cohesive community back then. Fun author challenges and games that, in an unfortunate experiment got moved to a sticky, play with me avatar games, proms, Litogethers and other fun stuff that ran its course.

I suppose could be some similar AH goings on now and then, but I mostly check in and scan but don’t pay as much attention or engage as I once did. Lit is still a daily thing though the GB alts get tiresome.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I'm still just a newbie, I joined in June, 2017.

I had just started seriously writing and somehow I stumbled on Lit. I signed up, read a few stories and went off to cruise some other sites that I thought might be a better place to put my writing. But somehow, Lit seemed like the right place. I wasn't worried about exposure, just acceptance. I started posting on the boards, just to get some info at first, but almost immediately, as a means of socializing. By which, of course, I mean procrastinating.

 

[MaxSebastian]

Happy Anniversary

I remember reading back at university, which I graduated in 2000, but my first story came in February 2001.

I stopped writing for a while for grief purposes, and it took me a while to come back, and then there were trolls, which was a great shame. Still some wonderful stories here to read, though.

 

[HBergeron]

I think I started reading the stories pretty early - maybe 2000 or 2001. It took over a decade before I noticed the forums or felt like trying my hand at posting.

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

I cane August 2007 as JAMESBJOHNSON then changed to NOIRTRASH wheb I posted stories. I use an alt for my best wares.

I'm no LIT reUUUUUCCCCKKKKKader as most LIT stories suck. My offer of a full set of HRC autobiographies for any LIT story missing FFFFFUUUCCCKKK ME!!!!!! in it remains unclaimed.

 

[secretsxywriter]

I joined July 2008 and had written several stories, but I didn’t get the nerve to actually post anything until 2012. Glad I did.

 

[ttvttp]

It says I joined in 2006 but I had been reading stories before that. I remember reading the first chapter of An Opportunity Not To Be Missed when it first came out and that was 2006 and I was on here years before that.