Can anyone figure out the "rhyme and reason" to "E" stories

[sack]

Over the last few months, I've consistenly shook my head at the stories that have gotten "E"s. There seems to be a trend toward the weird, the "shocker" type story, and more alarmingly, the poorly written. One story featured the following:

26 incomplete sentences/sentence fragments (I'm not exaggerating)
4 incorrect tenses
2 misspelled words
1 stray quotation mark
2 words with letters missing
2 cases where the wrong word was chosen, giving a completely different spin on the story
awkward paragraphs


And the storyline was just OK, not earth shattering in any way. Compare this with an impeccably edited story such as J.T. Malone's latest one or Penny's winning Halloween contest Magician entry which did not get "E"s. Only a complete ignoramus could not see the obvious difference in quality. I don't understand what message Laurel and Manu is giving out here...that a poorly edited story doesn't really matter and that overall presentation means nothing? Yes, some of these "E" stories were quite original...but originality alone does not a great story make. Perhaps Laurel and Manu are tired of reading about sex, as I noticed in many of the recent "E" stories sex is downplayed, if not completely absent. Anyone have other ideas about this? Oddly enough the "E" poems are mostly of higher quality, makes you wonder if Manu picks the poems and Laurel
picks the stories.

Hmmmm......

 

[Liar]

....or Penny's winning Halloween contest Magician entry which did not get "E"s.

Do they really tag contest entries with E's? I thought they didn't so they didn't affect the resuts. But then again, I'm not paying attention. I only read very randomly.

That being said... the E is the opinion of one reader. Whatever that particular reader's reason are for liking it. Why make a big deal out of it?

 

[Colleen Thomas]

E's are just stories the editor who read them likes.

Shang and Doc M collect E's like candy, but you can easily see why. their works are well above the norm.

One of my favorite stories on here is badly written, but the idea just "does" if tor me

I assuem the editors are the same way. One just does it for them

 

[kendo1]

assuem?

 

[Stella_Omega]

IF you're noticing a trend toward the weird "shocker" story, then- that's the trend the editors are going towards.
Hell, it's their website, they are entitled to their opinions!
It's funny to me. Recidiva has an "E" story, and half the feedback is people complaining about the "E".

ABout the story you're talking about- and leaving aside the typos- as many as 26 sentence fragments might mean intent; are you sure you're not confused by a literary style?
I've had several feedbacks carefully explaining to me that an editor would help me with my grammar errors. The fact that these errors were part of a character's speech pattern didn't seem to register with this oh-so-meticulous reader...

But, I suppose, that's a slightly different topic.

 

[sack]

Thanks Stella

for your interesting viewpoints. Unfortunately, these sentence fragments were not part of someone's speech patterns, just simply poor writing. Of course, the website owners can assign "E"s to whatever story they want...it's a free country. But, you will find the "E" stories to be consistently rated down and only very rarely in the "Top Lists". In other words, the literotica masses disagree with the editors. Yet, the masses are usually right!! If you take the top ten stories in any category and read them, you will have covered most of the best stories on literotica. The editors are the "lone wolves" here, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Ah well....

Sack

 

[Stella_Omega]

for your interesting viewpoints. Unfortunately, these sentence fragments were not part of someone's speech patterns, just simply poor writing. Of course, the website owners can assign "E"s to whatever story they want...it's a free country. But, you will find the "E" stories to be consistently rated down and only very rarely in the "Top Lists". In other words, the literotica masses disagree with the editors. Yet, the masses are usually right!! If you take the top ten stories in any category and read them, you will have covered most of the best stories on literotica. The editors are the "lone wolves" here, and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Ah well....

Sack

Well, the masses almost always disagree with the elite
I would imagine that's why the editors added the "E" rating. So that their own personal preferences could have a little kudo.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

But, you will find the "E" stories to be consistently rated down and only very rarely in the "Top Lists". In other words, the literotica masses disagree with the editors.

THe "E"s also tend to attract trolls like a magnet so they're rating undoubtably suffer accordingly.

 

[sincerely_helene]

Wait, I'm confused... I thought it was the volunteer editors that assigned "E's." Is it really Laurel and Manu? Geeze, how do these people find the time?

 

[sack]

I had never heard the info. about .....

the volunteer editors. Care to reveal your source, Helene?


Sack

 

[BlackShanglan]

IF you're noticing a trend toward the weird "shocker" story, then- that's the trend the editors are going towards.

I'll add that when I was helping with compiling the list of "E" stories, "Nonhuman" seemed unusually well represented to me. *shrug* I think that there is a trend toward stories attempting less of a sex scene and more of a full story in which sex is one part and not necessarily the focus, so possibly that's part of it; nonhuman seems to draw more of those stories than some of the fetish-specific or sex-act-specific categories.

ABout the story you're talking about- and leaving aside the typos- as many as 26 sentence fragments might mean intent; are you sure you're not confused by a literary style?
I've had several feedbacks carefully explaining to me that an editor would help me with my grammar errors. The fact that these errors were part of a character's speech pattern didn't seem to register with this oh-so-meticulous reader...

I got one like that as well. It didn't identify a story - just said that it looked like it could really use some help and the PM'er was willing to assist. I was a bit baffled because I do try to be as careful as possible and I don't think myself entirely ignorant. I was wracking my brain trying to think of what could have gone wrong when I remembered that I'd just posted "The Private Diary of Alexander Pope." Ah yes. I took it as a compliment that my grammar looked roughly two hundred and fifty years out of date.

But, I suppose, that's a slightly different topic.

Like the fact that I simply love your title?

Shanglan

 

[sincerely_helene]

the volunteer editors. Care to reveal your source, Helene?


Sack

There is no source, sack. It has always been a guess on my part based on the fact that "E" stands for Editor's pick. I don't think that Laurel and Manu have anything to do with actual offical edits, beyond screening for content that may not fit under the lit guidelines. Even then, they usually just reject the story rather than change it.

Being as I don't use editors, I'm unfamiliar with the system. Could very well be that I have been wrong this entire time. I honestly have never done much reading up on it, because I've never really cared all that much about it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Being as I don't use editors, I'm unfamiliar with the system. Could very well be that I have been wrong this entire time. I honestly have never done much reading up on it, because I've never really cared all that much about it.

I don't think that 'E's' are given by the volunteer editors that one chooses oneself or works with prior to posting the story. At least, I've never used one, and I have had the good fortune to have received an 'E.' It's never been clear to me how many different people are involved in the process of screening stories, or which of them might be able to flag a story for an 'E.'

The only pattern I've noticed is that the 'E's' seem to get a fair few views before posting; sometimes it feels like more views or a longer pause after the first batch of five or six views, and at times I've wondered if there is some consultation going on. That could, however, simply be my imagination. The other recurring theme, at least for me, is that whoever deals with the stories seems to try to put them in the best presentation possible. Each 'E' I've had has been altered in some way, either moved to a different (more popular) category or kicked back for specific editing issues before the final posting. I'm grateful for it, of course; they're very kind about trying to help one put one's best hoof forward. But it does baffle me a bit with Sack's reference. If the story had that many grammatical errors, I'm surprised that they didn't kick it back in order to help the author present it more effectively. Don't suppose Sack's willing to post or PM the work's title? His comments have me quite curious.

Shanglan

 

[sincerely_helene]

I don't think that 'E's' are given by the volunteer editors that one chooses oneself or works with prior to posting the story.
Shanglan

Yes, I just went to peek at the FAQ to see if I was talking out of my ass. I was.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Yes, I just went to peek at the FAQ to see if I was talking out of my ass. I was.

That's quite a talent for ventriloquism you have there. Have you considered taking it on the stage?

Shanglan

 

[elsol]

*burp*

There's no accounting for taste.

Maybe you missed something that saved the story and earned it the big, green E.


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[sincerely_helene]

That's quite a talent for ventriloquism you have there. Have you considered taking it on the stage?

Shanglan

There is a really tempting tampon joke in there somewhere, but I will spare you.

 

[BlackShanglan]

There is a really tempting tampon joke in there somewhere, but I will spare you.

Now if only you might give lessons to the Prince of Wales.

 

[Penelope Street]

Opening a story with an E and anticipating a literary treat is perhaps a recipe for disappointment. My understanding is the E's are bestowed by the same persons who approve a story for posting. Naturally, they'll have their favorite authors too; they're only human. Seeing the same type stories day in and day out, I'd expect unusual stories to catch their eye more than others. It's no surprise to me that stories with common themes like Losing my anal cherry or Gee Whiz, I married my dad, wanna hear about it? rarely garner an E no matter how well-written. Under no circumstances should any contest entry ever receive such an endorsement.

 

[rgraham666]

It's simply a matter of taste.

I don't believe Laurel and Manu actually read all that many of the stories here. I mean 50+ stories are posted every day and who knows how many get rejected?

So I'm pretty sure they have a team of people who do the reading and send recommendations to the site owners. This team is the people who assign the E's.

And one of them liked the story sack cited, which I didn't think much of either.

But obviously the person who OK'd the story did. Shrugs.

At any rate, even the H is a matter of taste, an aggregate taste but still taste.

We're in an artistic business, taste rules and there's no accounting for it.

 

[Alex De Kok]

The only 'E' I ever got was for a chain story, 'Lucy McFey', part of the 'Talisman' chain. Every other story in that chain also got an 'E'. If you look at Chain Stories, you'll find that quite a lot of the earlier chains got 'E's. As did quite a few of the 'Snippettsville' collections. I think Laurel likes to see the writers working together.

And now back to NaNo . . .

Alex

 

[BlackShanglan]

Alex!

It's damned good to see you on the boards. One assumes you've been buried under heaps of work. Best luck with Nano.

If the story Sack's talking about is the one I think it is, I rather liked it. I'm not sure I would have 'E'd' it, but I think it has its points in its own way. I agree about the verb tense shifts, by the way, but wholly disagree on the fragments. They had purpose and did not trouble me in the least.

Shanglan

 

[LadyCibelle]

I don't think that 'E's' are given by the volunteer editors that one chooses oneself or works with prior to posting the story. At least, I've never used one, and I have had the good fortune to have received an 'E.' It's never been clear to me how many different people are involved in the process of screening stories, or which of them might be able to flag a story for an 'E.'

Shanglan

I CAN assure you that the "E"s are not given by the Volunteer Editors. There are too many of us and it's too subjective I think. I don't know how Laurel and Manu manage but my hat's to them for doing all that work day in and day out.