My Issue With Literotica

[Bodington]

Let me say at the outset that I enjoy writing erotica and having it published on this website. So I truly value the presence of Literotica. However, an issue has arisen that has left me flummoxed. Starting in Aug/11 and finishing in Feb/13, I had submitted 33 chapters in the Novels and Novellas category a novel titled “Mothers and Daughters”. Starting in Oct of last year and apparently concluding as of yesterday, another author has submitted a novel with 15 chapters with the exact same title.

If you go to page 48 of the Novels and Novellas section you will see the listing of the duplication of titles as follows: first my novel Mothers and Daughters Ch. 01 appears; then followed immediately by his Mothers and Daughters Ch. 01; then followed immediately by my Mothers and Daughters Ch.02; to be immediately by his Mothers and Daughters CH. 02; and so on until the end of the 15th chapter where thereafter my subsequent chapters appear logically uninterrupted.

I find this interchangeable listing unacceptable as his novel and my novel only share the title and nothing else in common. They are separate novels and should be listed separately in my view. Despite my multiple efforts in voicing my concerns to Literotica, I have not received any response. I’ve even suggested that the issue could be resolved by including a suffix to each chapter title such as (01) to mine and (02) to his or even (x) or . Still no response and I suspect that my emails are now blocked as a nuisance.

In responding, perhaps you find this matter picayune. Fair enough but if it happened to you how would you feel? And please don’t bother to respond by stating the obvious that Literotica is a private business that can do whatever it wishes. Besides even that reality should not preclude resolving issues that arise between me as a contributing author and the management of Literotica. I submit issues can be resolved if there is dialogue.

So this thread is my last ditch effort to get a definitive response, as I understand this forum is monitored by the powers to be. Any helpful suggestions you might be able to offer would be welcome. Now if this thread is closed within a couple of days or so, then I can perceive that Literotica’s policy on this matter is truly: “Drop Dead. Don’t bother us. We are not going to be doing anything about it.” And in that case I shall quit whining.

 

[jaF0]

I find this interchangeable listing unacceptable as his novel and my novel only share the title and nothing else in common.

Try to be more creative with your titles.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The system clearly sorts story titles in alpha-numerical order. Your issue is with the alphabet and the decimal numbering system, and unless you change something in your title to separate your sequence from the other person's, I can't see any way to change the sort sequence.

Why don't you resubmit your story and use Pt.01, Pt.02 instead of Ch.?

Or change your title completely? Who submitted the first chapter first? You or the other writer? One of you duplicated the title.

I think it's your problem to fix, not the site's.

 

[RejectReality]

You duplicated a title someone else used a decade ago. They were there first, so if anyone has a right to complain, it's them.

Frankly, the number of reads you're ever going to get from the raw category listing in Novels and Novellas is so miniscule that it's basically irrelevant. Very few people read the category, and few of those will ever use the raw category listing to select a story.

 

[jaF0]

You duplicated a title someone else used a decade ago. They were there first, so if anyone has a right to complain, it's them.

I think it's the other way around

.

Starting in Aug/11 and finishing in Feb/13, I had submitted 33 chapters in the Novels and Novellas category a novel titled “Mothers and Daughters”. Starting in Oct of last year and apparently concluding as of yesterday, another author has submitted a novel with 15 chapters with the exact same title.

 

[RejectReality]

I think it's the other way around

.

May be. It's early, and I'm not clicking my way back to that page again to check through half-lidded eyes.

My second point stands, though. Nobody's reading from that list. It's not hurting or helping anyone, regardless of how it's listed.

 

[SimonDoom]

I sympathize with the annoyance of the problem, but I agree with others that it's your problem to fix, not the Site's. The rules were clear when you submitted your story. The two answers are 1) you should have given the story a more original title to begin with, and/or 2) now, you should resubmit the story with a new title or with new chapter designations to distinguish them from the other story.

I don't think you have to worry about being blocked. Just express yourself politely and you may get a useful response. But you cannot expect the Site to completely change how it does things because of your request.

 

[TxRad]

OP, if you sent an e-mail to Laurel or the website, it got lost in the thirty tons of spam they get every hour.

The only way to get anything done is to use the forum PM system to contact Laurel but since you are years behind on the title I don't think there is much that will get done.

If you pull up chapter one of the other story, you will probably find the link is listed with that story title. Yours will have a number after it. Repeat titles are numbered as they come through.

 

[lovecraft68]

I would think the only issue would be if a fan of one series saw the same title and jumped the gun without reading any of it and reported it as stolen.

Mothers and Daughter is also a porn video series.

 

[jaF0]

OP, if you sent an e-mail to Laurel or the website, it got lost in the thirty tons of spam they get every hour.

The only way to get anything done is to use the forum PM system to contact Laurel but since you are years behind on the title I don't think there is much that will get done.

If you pull up chapter one of the other story, you will probably find the link is listed with that story title. Yours will have a number after it. Repeat titles are numbered as they come through.

Ahead. But yes, there are probably more. My group 'Mother Knows Best' wasn't the first either. The URL notes that as you indicated.

Mothers and Daughter is also a porn video series.

It's also a thread (or three) on the forums here. It's just not original at all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think it's the other way around

.

Bodington's story was published in 2011, the latest story this year, so yes, you're right.

I sort of see the OP's point, but fretting about something published ten years ago? I don't think you can claim much ownership on a fairly generic kind of title.

I can't see the site doing much about it - they'd surely say the separation by author is enough.

 

[NotWise]

I sympathize with the annoyance of the problem, but I agree with others that it's your problem to fix, not the Site's. The rules were clear when you submitted your story. The two answers are 1) you should have given the story a more original title to begin with, and/or 2) now, you should resubmit the story with a new title or with new chapter designations to distinguish them from the other story.

I don't think you have to worry about being blocked. Just express yourself politely and you may get a useful response. But you cannot expect the Site to completely change how it does things because of your request.

Bodington's story went up in 2011-2013. BluePen451's story went up in 2020. Bodington did not cause the problem.

I agree with RR, though. I don't think anyone reads from that list, so it doesn't make a difference. Also, I used the beta version, and the stories appear on page 86 rather than 48.

 

[jaF0]

Bod's stories use:

Mothers and Daughters, Ch #.

Another uses:

Mothers and Daughters, Ch. # and theirs are appended with a 1 in the UL

A third uses:

Mothers and Daughters, Pt. # and theirs do not have the 1 in the URL.

 

[SimonDoom]

Bodington's story went up in 2011-2013. Bodington did not cause the problem.

.

The problem wasn't in being first or second, but in choosing a generic title. There are other examples of multiple stories having the same name at this site. It's up to the author to choose a title that is not likely to be duplicated, or run the risk of something like this happening.

 

[holliday1960]

May be. It's early, and I'm not clicking my way back to that page again to check through half-lidded eyes.

My second point stands, though. Nobody's reading from that list. It's not hurting or helping anyone, regardless of how it's listed.

This. RR is right. Unless you search the alphabetized list for a specific title, which would most likely be a story you've read in the past, remembered, and wish to read again. (Isn't that what the bookmark feature is for?) The site won't automatically tell you that there's already a story from 1966 that carries your desired title. So, even if the other author is the copy-cat, it most like wasn't malicious intent.

And I would think that if the site tried to dictate a 'one time only' copyright use of titles, there'd be a flood of protests for that platform too. Apparently, I'm the only person I know who is so neurotic that I DID search the alphabetical lists before I chose a title for my stories. I recall one that I never actually published, and the reason was because when I searched the title name, I discovered that LoveCraft had used the title years before I'd thought of it. Rather than post it under a same-name title and face this sort of blow-back, I dropped the story. But I would point out something that has been said over and over about writing, sex, and life... 'There's nothing new under the sun'. Some day, someone will use the same words, or same concept one way or another. If you enjoy writing, relax and continue. Don't sweat the small stuff.

BTW isn't the concept of 'challenge stories' based (simplified) on the notion that a dozen writers can share a same-name title or theme, and write a dozen (or more) completely different stories??? I would think a shared title would provoke readers to read BOTH and compare. It could be an advantage rather than a detriment. Just sayin'.

 

[lovecraft68]

OP, if you sent an e-mail to Laurel or the website, it got lost in the thirty tons of spam they get every hour.

The only way to get anything done is to use the forum PM system to contact Laurel but since you are years behind on the title I don't think there is much that will get done.

If you pull up chapter one of the other story, you will probably find the link is listed with that story title. Yours will have a number after it. Repeat titles are numbered as they come through.

I think the issue is you can't e-mail Laurel, the contact feature has been broken for years, so that is the problem, but not due to spam.

At this point I wouldn't even bother...lot of rework to edit each chapter and re-submit it. Like RR said, I don't see much harm or conflict here, maybe just "bragging rights"

 

[NotWise]

The problem wasn't in being first or second, but in choosing a generic title. There are other examples of multiple stories having the same name at this site. It's up to the author to choose a title that is not likely to be duplicated, or run the risk of something like this happening.

There are are a lot of duplicate names, so the problem Bodington has is far from unique. I searched Lit for "My Sister's Wedding" before I posted a story by that name. I found nothing, but when the story came up, it was the seventh story by the same title, and they're probably all or mostly in I/T.

The apostrophe seemed to mess up Lit's title search. I search on Google and found all seven.

 

[lovecraft68]

The first story I posted here I would later discover two more with the title.

We talk a lot about how not much is original anymore, its all been done before...stands to reason its the same with titles. There can't be millions of unique titles out there.

There are books with identical titles on amazon and everywhere else, its unavoidable.

 

[jaF0]

There are are a lot of duplicate names, so the problem Bodington has is far from unique.

To be fair, the fact that I only found two other series and only one other in the same category says it's more unique than I first thought.

 

[SimonDoom]

RejectReality's point above is the most important one. It doesn't matter. Almost nobody is going to locate a Literotica story by going to the comprehensive Novels and Novellas list, scrolling to page 48, and saying "Hey, I want to read that story." And if they DO get to that point, they can check out the tagline and other information for these two identically named stories to see which one they want to read. So, given the way this Site actually works, it's a non-problem. The author suffers no practical disadvantage.

 

[KeithD]

Titles can't be copyrighted and duplications like this happen in the mainstream and have to be faced by authors there too. So, "pick your titles well" might be the closest to a solution here.

 

[Bodington]

I think the issue is you can't e-mail Laurel, the contact feature has been broken for years, so that is the problem, but not due to spam.

At this point I wouldn't even bother...lot of rework to edit each chapter and re-submit it. Like RR said, I don't see much harm or conflict here, maybe just "bragging rights"

Reading the responses to this thread, especially the one quoted above, I guess I was naïve to think there was an easy fix to the problem. I could not understand why Literotica could not manually fix the problem by simply separating the stories. But apparently one is unable to actually contact Laurel to address such issues and that is sad.

 

[jaF0]

But apparently one is unable to actually contact Laurel to address such issues and that is sad.

False. I've traded several PMs with her here on the forum as have many others.

 

[KeithD]

But apparently one is unable to actually contact Laurel to address such issues and that is sad.

You can PM her (the private message system, upper right on this page if you have PMs turned on. If you don't, you can turn those on through the "User CP" button, upper left of this page).

 

[lovecraft68]

False. I've traded several PMs with her here on the forum as have many others.

Through PM's yes, we know that as forum regulars. People who are so silly as to think the contact us button actually works(come on, why would that work?) think they're just being ignored.

Maybe they could fix that instead of dicking around with the comments and feedback.