”Influencer” commenters giving other commenters ideas

[jsmiam]

My latest story was more carefully proofed than my normal amount, plus I had some much appreciated volunteer beta reader help. Meaning it only has “too many” mistakes rather than my more common “way too many.” ;-)

But I noticed something that I haven’t seen talked about much; when one commenter (on the story side, not this forum) puts a thought out there that gives other commenters ideas.

An earlyish comment said “too long and repetitive.” At only three pages, I know it’s not too long, but knowing my tendency to drift to wordiness (and that I got tired of editing), there probably IS some repetitiveness somewhere. Not THAT much though, which leads into my observation. That for one reason or another, some comments influence other commenters more than others.

In this case, I wasn’t offended (much), and I didn’t delete the comment (I thought about it though.) Then, a couple subsequent commenters mentioned repetitiveness too, which led me to thinking more about why I should have deleted that comment in the first place (Kidding)

Anyway, this is more a ramble than a question. I’m just making the rather obvious observation that some comments are more influential than others.

Plus of course, the obvious “Hey, maybe you ARE repetitive, butt-head!” (With Biff from ‘Back to the Future’ knocking on my head also saying, “Anyone ho-ome?” Now, excuse me while I go delete some comments… ;-)

Story link, btw: https://www.literotica.com/s/ole-betsy-the-wingman

 

[lovecraft68]

If the comments were anon they could be the same person...if the original comment had an ID, but the parrot comments were anon it could be the same person.

Trolls like to agree with themselves and further troll in the process. I know it seems strange someone would do that, but there has been instances of authors here leaving anon comments on their own stories....people are strange and a little pathetic sometimes.

Or it could be as you said "influenced" as in someone reading the comments sees that one and thinks, "Huh, they're right it was....fill in the blank" so it is possible the parrots are legit.

Most likely, its like everything else here and a little of both. I wouldn't let it bother me, and there's comments in the positive vein that are similar in giving the same praise, so there's a balance in that behavior.

 

[NotWise]

I think I saw that with "Watch Me!" It's a longish sibcest story in which there's no sibling sex until about half way through the story. Before that there's sex with sister's best friend.

One of the early comments was that it was too long and wandered too much. That comment was repeated by other readers, but the other two thirds of the comments disagreed, and some of them replied directly to the "too long" commenters.

There was some substance to the "too long" comments, but I got the feeling that they were saying "me too" rather than expressing an original idea.

 

[lovecraft68]

I got the feeling that they were saying "me too" rather than expressing an original idea.

You just described 95% of social media.

 

[jsmiam]

@love and @not, good points! I didn’t quite feel trolled in this case, the critical comment wasn’t mean enough . And I suppose there may have been at least a little validity to the criticism. Plus i so shamelessly begged for comments, I couldn’t very well complain.

I don’t get that many comments in general, specially compared to the elite authors here, so my sample size is small, but I’ve felt the same feeling a couple times before, where it did seem like people got comment ideas from earlier ones.

 

[lovecraft68]

@love and @not, good points! I didn’t quite feel trolled in this case, the critical comment wasn’t mean enough . And I suppose there may have been at least a little validity to the criticism. Plus i so shamelessly begged for comments, I couldn’t very well complain.

I don’t get that many comments in general, specially compared to the elite authors here, so my sample size is small, but I’ve felt the same feeling a couple times before, where it did seem like people got comment ideas from earlier ones.

I do believe they feed off each other in the good and bad.

I am wordier than you (I have 4 incest stories for sale over 70k...those are novels) and do get a bunch of "could have been much shorter" remarks or too long to get to the action, but I also get a lot of positives that they love the slow burn.

Whatever your style is, if you stay true to it, you build the fan base that enjoys it.

 

[WhoNeedsAUsername]

Whatever your style is, if you stay true to it, you build the fan base that enjoys it.

This. Write the COMPLETE story no more, no less. If you start trying to fit your stories into whatever box the commenters try to push you into, your writing will start getting inauthentic. If someone wants a story like yours but shorter, they can write it.

Regarding the phenomenon of one comment influencing others, I don't really know what to think of it. Do readers often read the comments before reading the story or before posting their own comment? I almost NEVER read the comments on a story but I might be the weird exception (it wouldn't be the first time that was the case).

 

[KeithD]

If a story is noticeably repetitive, it, indeed, is too long. Being "only" three Literotica pages isn't a factor in that. A good story can be written in one Literotica page. Just focusing in on that one point. I haven't checked to see if I think it's either too repetitive or too long.

 

[jsmiam]

To clarify myself, I meant to say (in a Clint Eastwood voice), “ a mans got to know his limitations.” So I know the story isn’t too long, for other reasons, even if I did muddy my meaning by mentioning page count. But, I also know without a doubt there are probably sentences that could be tightened too.

It’s also a possibility that the repetitive complaint was that the protagonist did the same thing to all three girls. (But that doesn’t change my knowing that I have a wordiness tendency.). Thanks for the thoughts all.

 

[Djmac1031]

I suppose it's like anything else you'll find online. Everyone's a critic lol. Take what you can from some comments, leave the rest.

 

[dmallord]

Commenters seem to be so sparse! I am glad to get just one even when I'm down on bended knee pleading! It doesn't take but thirty seconds to say, "I read your story, keep going!" or "I wasn't really in tune with your story, but I can tell that you put a lot of effort into it. Keep going!" Some of my stories have thousands of views and raters - wish a few more would put a tiny effort to feed a starving writer a few crumbs of praise once in awhile.

One anon critic commented about my first submission - that heart and soul agonizing and novel born out of love and care "Wicked's Metamorphosis".

S/he commented, "Long but meaningless
Long and...stupid! Quantity and skill with putting words together do not justify reading a 21 page story about dribble"

I thought about that one for some time. Long? It was in Novel. So, yeah long, meaningless and stupid both - well okay; having to read something that showed skill with putting words together - well that was a positive note it seems; justifying reading 21 pages of dribble - well, it wasn't like I twisted someone's arm to stick through 21 pages if you didn't like it.

Was that one a backhanded slap of approval?

The only other comment, besides my thank you response back to the first writer, said that it was a good story and wouldn't change a thing in it. The comment also mentioned that some might not get the story but others would.

So that one was a warm fuzzy - The months that it took to write that first novel was justified for me in the last comment. I wish I had logged how long it took to write the first tear jerking story!

Regarding coffee - I drink breakfast blend instant - no cream, no sugar, - I used to love standing in the coffee aisle and deeply inhale the aroma of all those wonderful dark roast beans - before the virus stuff of course ;-)

 

[desecration]

My advice: write, then read, then edit.

The more you read your own writing, the more you become the one to see what is repetitive and find more efficient ways of expressing it.

 

[Djmac1031]

My advice: write, then read, then edit.

The more you read your own writing, the more you become the one to see what is repetitive and find more efficient ways of expressing it.

I've learned to do this as well. It really helps spot repetitive words or phrases.

 

[KeithD]

My advice: write, then read, then edit.

The more you read your own writing, the more you become the one to see what is repetitive and find more efficient ways of expressing it.

The more times you read it, though, the more likely you'll be building in repetition--sliding into a channel you frequently use. It's freshest in voice and content the first time you wrote it. Self-review, yes, but not so often that it loses its freshness and spontaneity.

I suggest letting it rest for a day or more before going back and reviewing it with fresh eyes--just once or twice.

 

[CZOFTW]

The story didn't seem repetitive at all to me but I left my own comment.

 

[yukonnights]

jsmiam, I read your story and IMO it isn't so much repetitive as it is a bit overdone. The set-up and idea are good, but for me; having three women to one man with so many orgasms became unbelievable. I suspect that may be what the one comment on repetition was shooting at.

That said, the current rating supports the story as is. So, obviously you connected with plenty of readers and I wouldn't be too concerned with the one negative comment if it was my story. You have the skills to create good stories — but ain't that editing a sneaky bitch

 

[desecration]

An earlyish comment said “too long and repetitive.”

Set it aside and read it without a red pen in your hand. Anything jump out as extraneous and annoying? There's a lot of criticism here for anything but sex and dialogue, but there's a lot of good thematic stuff in many of these stories that I feel adds a great deal.

 

[jsmiam]

@ everyone with replies, I appreciate it. And @cz and Yukon, thanks for reading. Maybe apologies if I missed anyone else.

My last two stories had more editing than all my past ones combined, probably (just 12 here, 20 or so including some no longer on lit. To the point that the time spent was so much I’m out of steam for the winter event. Plus I hadn’t invested in grammarly before thew last two, and I had a very helpful beta editor too. But the time spent, rewarding as it was, interfered with real life too much. But at least I didn’t cut the story short when I got tired of writing!

Like most male writers I hope for a female somewhere praising the story as capturing the essence of what a woman might like, but in reality, almost all my stories fulfill every boy’s “threesome with two pretty girls” daydream, and capture the essence of what a boy definitely would like.

I wasn’t offended by the original commenter though. With a few grains of truth to it, I had to take it as art least partly valid feedback.

In fact history repeated itself with my next story too. One comment was a precursor to another in the same vein. But with a point (points) I can also take as valid. (To the point where they might not have been feeding off of each other at all)

 

[SimonDoom]

The problem with taking comments like these to heart is that there's a whole other group of readers with divergent tastes -- they prefer the slow buildup. You can't please them both, and it's fruitless to try.

I haven't read the story yet but I tend to prefer stories of about this length -- 3 to 5 Lit pages. I like a well-handled buildup, followed by a satisfying and non-rushed sex scene.

 

[windar]

My Thoughts on Comments in General

1. Who the commenter is matters. If it's someone whom I've read and think is good, that gets more weight than some anonymous character.

2. I'm not sure why this site even allows anonymous comments. We are all here under screen names, so why must one hide?

3. The comment system here is quite clunky. I put one on a story of mine responding to a reader comment (a favorable one) and it took almost 24 hours to appear. I've been told comments are screened for spam not content. If that is so, that should be virtually instantaneous. The delay certainly doesn't foster a back and forth.

4. It's erotica, so a primary goal is to turn someone on. There are stories that could be written at the highest quality, yet the subject is not to my taste, so I won't like them. That is no reflection on the writer or on me. Personally, I wouldn't comment in that case, but some folks might.

5. I've heard that Loving Wives is a cesspool of comments. Just on a lark, I wrote a quick story today and submitted it there. I've been writing this stuff for quite a while on various sites and am not here to compete for ratings, so if it gets a bunch of 1's, it won't matter to me.