Missing Volunteer Editors

As a VE who always answers in the required 72 hours and who can usually turn round a story in a further 72, I do wonder why there are so many authors who complain on here that they have written to a number of VEs with no response.

Further to that, how can we (the conscientious editors) help to weed out the ones who volunteered and have now departed? Would it be too much to ask "Laurel" to email them regularly (say every 6 mo) asking if they want to stay on the list?

Not if they just stop answering their email address.

Classical_Wizard said:

Not if they just stop answering their email address.

Click to expand...

Oh, that's easy. "Laurel" asks "Do you want to continue to edit?" and no reply is the same as no.

Yes, but

That's a lot of work on the part of the site ownerrs (although, I suppose it could be computer automated). But if the complaining authors cannot be bothered to report delinquent editors, why should anyone else bother?

How about a "time out" on the profile. If an editor doesn't log into his/her editor's profile every 90 days, it automatically turns off. It's not that difficult to pop in every 3 months and a simple script does the work.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but in my entire tenure at Literotica the VE program has never worked properly, and I'd always assumed that the software is just royally screwed up and doesn't work at all. I've been signed up as an editor for over a year and have never once received a request. I finally decided not to volunteer, but I left my name in the list because it didn't seem to matter anyhow.

Whenever anyone asks me how to find an editor, I just tell them to post a request to this board.

---dr.M.

The listing gets you a cheery reply very shortly, I find. Maybe I got lucky. But three out of five times, when I got to the part where they had the work and I was waiting, there has been no further trace.

I was imagining there was something really repellent about the writing. Once they saw it they freaked and crossed themselves and vowed never to speak to me again.

This isn't the software, whatever else it is. It's the editors themselves. But the ones I got were profs, teachers, busy people whom it amazed me would be doing this for nothing. I don't have any lasting resentment. ElizabethT was one, too, she got back to me right away. She's British, though, which I didn't think of as such an issue until it got in the way.

I offered to edit in response to a request for editors, and the site never responded. This was some months ago. Since then I've posted here, and I know a little better what's involved.

I suppose the ad hoc thing on the boards here is the best we can do, but the main listing seems to have functioned, if not actually succeeded.

cantdog

Just a thought.

With so many stories being submitted for posting on here - and apparently, so few to read them to vet them - maybe two good purposes could be served by some of the seemingly hundreds of learned volunteer editors, if some were recruited to help out!

1/ It would greatly reduce the burden on the existing ones.

2/ Authors would not necessarily be left to the inevitable subjective view of the existing ones.

Obvious rule-breaking in postings could be picked up by all. Where there was doubt about the suitability of a poem/story. this could be passed to the bosses for final judgement.

It would also help those who get no work offers to keep their hand in.

Just the thoughts of a newbie - and not intending to ruffle any feathers.

Yeah, the idea has been mooted before. I don't know about the rest of them, but no one has said, how'd you like to take in new submissions and decide on their acceptance.

But there you are. You can't avoid subjective reactions on the part of the market. People are people, all writing is subjective to start with. No matter where you go in the wide world, whoever you submit your subjective work to will be subjective in their reception of it.

That's why you ought to get someone else to look it over before you submit it.

It is the functioning of that system, the volunteer editing system, that we are talking about, albeit in a very desultory way, on this thread. And we need more good editors even more than Laurel seems to need more help in submissions. I know this because she isn't asking for help.

cantdog

cantdog:

It was just a thought.

As for voluntary helpers:

All too often the hand that feeds you gets bitten. In the case of voluntary editors: if the editor don't agree with the submitters idea of his/her 'masterpiece', they mostly sulk and move on. If they do that, usually everyone gains

Lost authors... double entendre' intended.

HI,
I've been listed for several years as a volunteer editor. Lady Cibelle and I used to brainstorm some ideas, she even asked for my assistance to edit some stories when she was overwhelmed with requests. Although I have been absent from logging in, Literotica is always a favorite site.
I have not been asked to edit a story in a couple of years, and have no reason I can find to explain why.
The odd thing, when I read a story and find massive grammar and construction errors, I wonder what the authors think.
Do you suppose that in the rush to be 'published', even cyber-published, that no one cares anymore about their presentation? Honestly, there have been times I have stopped reading in disgust as the blatant spelling and grammar are too much to bear.
Ok, stepping off my soap box... Pleasant day to all.
DCA

many people today have been "educated" to think that spelling and grammar are optional.
Sentences do not actually have to make sense at all. it is up to the reader to figure it out read between the lines and basically write the story for themselves with a few clues buried in the blunders.
I find that even mainstream fiction that has made it as far as paper back often contains simple proof reading errors that would have been a total surprise to find even ten years ago.
Apparently even editors have been hypnotised by spell check into thinking that they no longer have to work.

I'm one of the delinquent authors. Though I have yet to post any stories I have found one good editor out of the, by now double figures, I have contacted. some have just gone silent, some have cried off with one plausible excuse or other, two are still current with one replying with a report of equipment failure as an excuse.
I sample the stream of updates, bookmarking likely ones while waiting on the latest 'editor' to ruminatate on my work, those that reply to my first 'reminder' say my work is good, though unusual, they are all based around romance in a loose way and are diverse in nature.

I too would like someone unbiased to criticly appraise my work, see the faults I'm to close to to find myself. who ever eventually takes me on will find a big backlog as i continue to churn out pages of words.

I'm reasonably content to trundle along till I strike gold again and can start contemplating publishing once more.

snooper said:

As a VE who always answers in the required 72 hours and who can usually turn round a story in a further 72, I do wonder why there are so many authors who complain on here that they have written to a number of VEs with no response.

Further to that, how can we (the conscientious editors) help to weed out the ones who volunteered and have now departed? Would it be too much to ask "Laurel" to email them regularly (say every 6 mo) asking if they want to stay on the list?

Click to expand...

Hi snooper, just popping in for a moment. Why not just disband the whole VE thing and just "strongly suggest" writers to visit the Editor forum and ask for a VE? This is how it's happening anyway. Just my $0.02 anyway.

It's frustrating. Those of us who "want" to do the right thing are so often incapable of implementing what seems so obvious to be an easy fix. The best we can do is make what exists work for us.