Does one person really proof read all the stories?

[Astrotrain]

I keep hearing that Laurel is the only person checking, accepting or rejecting every story submitted. How is that even possible? How many stories are submitted every day?

 

[Rustyoznail]

As far as we know, yes, Laurel is the sole gatekeeper. How she manages it is a complete mystery, but there are many theories as to what machine help is used.

 

[mildlyaroused]

I don't know about the first half of that question either, but I can help with the second.

If you search " " (just a single space), you get 639,298 story results. Since every story must have spaces to reach 750 words, we can take that as a total for the story count on this site.

The first non-admin story was published on 12/09/1999. That was 8,973 days ago. 639,298 / 8,973 = 71.23.

Since the beginning, there have been ~71.23 stories per day.

Obviously this doesn't count for deleted stories, and it doesn't account for the fact that the number will not be consistent. It will fluctuate, and it may have trended upwards in recent years - I don't know.

 

[NotWise]

I don't know about the first half of that question either, but I can help with the second.

If you search " " (just a single space), you get 639,298 story results. Since every story must have spaces to reach 750 words, we can take that as a total for the story count on this site.

The first non-admin story was published on 12/09/1999. That was 8,973 days ago. 639,298 / 8,973 = 71.23.

Since the beginning, there have been ~71.23 stories per day.

Obviously this doesn't count for deleted stories, and it doesn't account for the fact that the number will not be consistent. It will fluctuate, and it may have trended upwards in recent years - I don't know.

The site has seen a lot of growth. When I first started paying attention, that 71 stories-a-day average would have been a light day, but now it isn't odd for Laurel to publish three times that in a day. Today, for instance, the New list contains 238 stories.

On the main categories page, the links to each category shows the number of stories in the category. So, another way to get the number of stories on the site is to add up the number of stories in each category.

 

[mildlyaroused]

The site has seen a lot of growth. When I first started paying attention, that 71 stories-a-day average would have been a light day, but now it isn't odd for Laurel to publish three times that in a day. Today, for instance, the New list contains 238 stories.

On the main categories page, the links to each category shows the number of stories in the category. So, another way to get the number of stories on the site is to add up the number of stories in each category.

Yes, I imagine it's steadily rising. Laurel mentioned somewhere once that it's usually over 200 per day. A more recent data set would be useful.

Quite incredible to think they call get published!

 

[KeithD]

No, no one is proofreading the stories or fully reading them before deciding whether to publish them to the file or not. The best the sole admissions editor can do is scan them. She may read a couple for her own enjoyment, but that's not to decide whether to publish or not.

Incidentally, "proofreading" is just comparing a "live" (new) version with a "dead" (old) version and noting any differences. Nobody's doing real proofreading of anything here. What most are doing is reviewing and revising versions.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Isn’t it likely that she has some help? Trusted, but silent, helpers?

No one here knows exactly how they make the literary sausage. "Nobody has ever see the Wizard. Even I haven't."

 

[EmilyMiller]

Does one person really proof read all the stories?​

Of course not. Laurel has a team of trained Oompa-Loompas who do most of the reviews.

Emily

 

[Bamagan]

I keep hearing that Laurel is the only person checking, accepting or rejecting every story submitted. How is that even possible? How many stories are submitted every day?

Not sure how many are submitted, but the "New" Category typically has between 1,000 and 1,500 stories which have been posted in the last week, so somewhere around 200 per day on average is likely, depending on what percentage get rejected. If she has other human eyes reviewing them, they're a secretive lot. Presumably she uses some automated tools to assist, aside from the AI detector(s) everyone likes ruminating about.

 

[Bamagan]

Of course not. Laurel has a team of trained Oompa-Loompas who do most of the reviews.

Emily

Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-do
I've got a perfect puzzle for you
Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-dee
If you are wise, you'll listen to me
What do you get when you write about tits?
Making them bulge until nothing quite fits?
What are you at writing horny slut brats?
Who do you think will cum in their twats?
Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-da
If you're not grammarly, you will go far
Your story will post, even if it's subpar
Like the Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-do
Doompa-dee-do

 

[TheLobster]

Yeah, just seems like an Occam’s razor sort of thing. Helpers.

Nah, I like the idea of just one lady actually going through all the filth we are submitting, while she sits in a flowery garden and sips her afternoon tea as she samples the works like a fine wine.

"Oh dear, ButtSexxLover69 has really done a splendid job this time!" she said with a gleeful chuckle. "This new ten-man gangbang of his is quite a delightful read, especially in the way he segues from spit-roasting to the typical double penetration. Oh, and that bukkake finisher! Truly exquisite."

 

[KachinaDoll]

On the 5th, 241 new stories appeared. Let's say an average of 5,000 words. That's 1,205,000 words... in one day. Of course, there are also the rejected stories. No-one can read that much day in, day out. So either there is a secret team or Laurel (if she actually exists) is using software to scan for key words, phrases and AI usage. I imagine it's the latter, but as the owner/s of this site have a pathological hatred of engaging with authors and readers, I guess we'll never know.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I heard many years ago that hiring companies often have a program that they run resumes through that look for keywords. So your resume would have to have, say three of the keywords they are looking for before the resume ever gets seen by human eyes.

It seems reasonable that Laurel would have something similar that looks for keywords. Things like sixteen years old or dog or rape or held her down. I would also not be surprised if regular posters, who have never given her any grief and have always played by the rules, get an auto pass. Knowing also that the writer probably has a following and any issues will be caught by readers and reported. Same thing for anything submitted in non-erotic. My non-erotic 750-word story was submitted and posted the next day.

We know she kicks things back for grammar, so she likely has some sort of checker for that. We know new writers get a more thorough inspection.

 

[StillStunned]

I heard many years ago that hiring companies often have a program that they run resumes through that look for keywords. So your resume would have to have, say three of the keywords they are looking for before the resume ever gets seen by human eyes.

It seems reasonable that Laurel would have something similar that looks for keywords. Things like sixteen years old or dog or rape or held her down. I would also not be surprised if regular posters, who have never given her any grief and have always played by the rules, get an auto pass. Knowing also that the writer probably has a following and any issues will be caught by readers and reported. Same thing for anything submitted in non-erotic. My non-erotic 750-word story was submitted and posted the next day.

We know she kicks things back for grammar, so she likely has some sort of checker for that. We know new writers get a more thorough inspection.

Also, does NC/R get checked more rigorously than other categories? My one story in that category took a week to approve, as opposed to the usual 1-2 days.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Also, does NC/R get checked more rigorously than other categories? My one story in that category took a week to approve, as opposed to the usual 1-2 days.

It makes sense to me that NC/R, I/T, and EH would be scrutinized a little more closely, yes.

 

[StillStunned]

It makes sense to me that NC/R, I/T, and EH would be scrutinized a little more closely, yes.

That would make sense, but my one EH story and my six I/T stories all went through without any delay.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah, just seems like an Occam’s razor sort of thing. Helpers.

I doubt its people, it's a program that's set up to kick certain things out that flag the rules.
Why I believe this is the amount of stories removed for 'under age' over the years because of lines like "His fifteen year old car" and similar circumstances where the script saw a number and tossed it.

People might disagree, so I put it this way. When you see how many blatantly rule breaking stories are out there, and some of the content, you really want it to be an unreliable system. because if anyone is reading this and letting them through. Well, it doesn't say much about hos seriously they take their rules.

 

[lovecraft68]

Also, does NC/R get checked more rigorously than other categories? My one story in that category took a week to approve, as opposed to the usual 1-2 days.

You don't read there much, do you?

Also, BDSM over the years has become the place to stick NC/R stories to avoid the stigma of being in NC/R and maybe slip the rumored (and that is the correct word) scrutiny in NC. Its why I stopped writing and reading in that category. I refuse to be associated with "Literotica BDSM." I.E. Abuse central.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

One thing commonly noted is that works submitted by new writers spend more time in Pending. That unknown writers receive more thorough inspection makes sense, of course. It follows that that almost certainly involves human eyes. What happens in other cases? Well, consider that I’ve had stories rejected, supposedly for violating one of the site rules. On my checking my draft, it was clear that the rule had not been broken. (I can’t think of a specific example, but it was something along the lines of mentioning 15-year-old whiskey.) I resubmitted unchanged but with a note in the Admin box pointing out that everything was indeed kosher and they went up shortly thereafter. To me, that all suggests my submissions hit an automatic rejection first time round, with a. human rereading it the second.

Initial automated screening is my guess, allowing Laurel to devote her individual attention to new writers and such. The results are acceptably good for most of us, albeit frustrating for some. In return, we scribblers get a free and popular place to show our works.

A question in return however. What difference would it make to anybody if ‘Laurel’ is just a term for a staff of a dozen people working under an NDA? I personally doubt it, but would it make anything different?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've never had a story rejected, not taken more than two days to post, but I have frequently used the Notes field when submitting.

Partly because I assume Laurel must get pretty bored processing 200 submissions most days, but also better to be proactive about anything that may be an issue. So I warned her that in the Smoking Hot series there are many references to a "gorgeous fifteen-year-old" and ten and twelve year olds, but they are all bottles of whiskey.

In my one I/T story there's a reference to older brother (now about 30) sleeping naked and who sleeps in pyjamas after the age of 12? I put the para in the Notes field and offered an alternative wording if she thought that talking about teens sleeping naked was too sexualised. It got posted without change.

A fair few of my stories refer to children existing, so I note that they are all out of earshot before any sex happens. Some people say you should have 500 words between kids and sex, but as long as you're not trying to sneak in a vibe of 'can they hear/see us', an explanation of where the kids vs adults are and a new paragraph works just fine.

 

[Bramblethorn]

On the 5th, 241 new stories appeared. Let's say an average of 5,000 words. That's 1,205,000 words... in one day. Of course, there are also the rejected stories. No-one can read that much day in, day out. So either there is a secret team or Laurel (if she actually exists) is using software to scan for key words, phrases and AI usage. I imagine it's the latter, but as the owner/s of this site have a pathological hatred of engaging with authors and readers, I guess we'll never know.

There's reading and then there's skimming. 1.2 million words is about twelve novels' worth. Not impossible to skim that much in a day and have some time left over for other things, if the object is to catch major violations rather than to absorb every word.

 

[RejectReality]

An automated rejection system would be way more problematic and obvious if it was in place — especially at the moment of implementation. Whatever software is being used to determine if a story is AI is a good example of what I expect would happen if Laurel tried to let some algorithm take over vetting stories.

What's likely is something that highlights strings like "teen" for quick scanning while scrolling through the text, in conjunction with standard red squigglys for spelling and grammar.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Well, it is certain that there’s some sort of a list, RR. As an example, I did a successful series on a sugar-baby/sugar-daddy relationship. I found that the word ‘baby’ could not be entered in the Short Description. Now, there’s a reason tiny humans probably aren’t a good thing to invoke here, but that’s hardly the same thing. It was an automatic refusal on the part of the site to accept b-a-b-y (although, curiously, that term could be used in the text with no problem). It’s hard to escape the conclusion that some level of electronic screening is being used.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Well, it is certain that there’s some sort of a list, RR. As an example, I did a successful series on a sugar-baby/sugar-daddy relationship. I found that the word ‘baby’ could not be entered in the Short Description. Now, there’s a reason tiny humans probably aren’t a good thing to invoke here, but that’s hardly the same thing. It was an automatic refusal on the part of the site to accept b-a-b-y (although, curiously, that term could be used in the text with no problem). It’s hard to escape the conclusion that some level of electronic screening is not being used.

It won't accept 'age play' or 'little girl' either, as tags, though I think 'adult baby' or 'lg' pass.

'Death' is another tag that isn't allowed, which I would have thought would be helpful for people not wanting to read stories with a death in, but 'funeral' and 'grief' were allowed (used for my story After the Funeral.)

 

[TarnishedPenny]

It won't accept 'age play' or 'little girl' either, as tags, though I think 'adult baby' or 'lg' pass.

'Death' is another tag that isn't allowed, which I would have thought would be helpful for people not wanting to read stories with a death in, but 'funeral' and 'grief' were allowed (used for my story After the Funeral.)

Right - I forgot it wouldn’t accept anything with ‘baby’ as a tag, either. Thanks for pointing that out.