Draft2Digital's acquiring Smashwords...

[LongDraw]

I wasn't necessarily thinking legal trouble. If some group decides that Literotica is a haven for pedos, that can lead to a lot of unwelcome attention - people trying to identify and expose authors and/or site owners, campaigns to get payment providers to stop supporting the site, etc. etc. Worst case, some QAnon whackjob shows up with a gun at whatever address they think is Literotica's HQ, like happened to that pizza place a while back.

While one couldn't rule out QAnon wackos, the real driver is credit card processors. Without them pay sites shut down because people can't pay online with cash. And Lit is effectively a pay site because the revenue that pays the bills comes from the cam girls at the top of the page. Do I think it's right that Banksters tell people how they can spend their money? I don't, but they can and do. Even truly free sites follow along because there really is no inducement to buck the trend.

Sadly you are both right. And I completely in agreement with Lovecraft68, it IS a slippery slope. We as a people who care for the welfare of our children need to find a better way one day. In the meantime, we need to fight the urge to join in the cancel culture. It may seem convenient today, but believe me, anyone can become a victim through no fault of their own. I've seen it happen to others and it has happened to me about 4 years ago when a racist and sexist coworker got pissed when she overstepped her role at the company and decided to manufacture evidence to legitimize a complaint for the purpose of getting me fired. It worked, but I have faith karma will come back around to bite back twice as hard. Who knows, with that person being in their late 60's, maybe karma came via a messenger called Corona. Would be fitting seeing as how the evidence was her photocopying and distributing my VY story without my approval.

 

[lovecraft68]

A rare instance of where I agree with keith, this has been beaten well past a dead horse, and the answer is the same, and whether the rule is real or CYA wink wink, I don't understand the need to push the bar on it.

In some scenarios, the 18 rule makes a story a little harder to swallow than erotica already is, but if its universal, like it is on pay sites, then we're all doing the same thing and its a level field so to speak.

If you want to write underage just write a mainstream story and put some under age sex in it. People love it when King and Martin do it, and it would be a cold day in hell before either of those creeps ever went near my grand kids, I'll tell you that.

 

[LongDraw]

Also in the news,

Spotify Announces Acquisition of Findaway

Together, Spotify and Findaway will accelerate Spotify's entry into the audiobook space and continue to innovate the industry, working to remove current limitations and unlock better economic tools for creators. Learn more.

Findaway is the audiobook company that Draft2Digital partnered with to support all audiobook services.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Oh, the cancel culture thing, got it. I can see it now on twitter "#boycottpedolit
And a bunch of people who have never been on the site will squeal "yeah, boycott them reeeee!"

But those same people were just fine with the movie cuties, now weren't they?

Gotta love people who have to check with everyone else to decide what they're supposed to be against.

Yep, it's all to real. It happenedto Baen Books a while ago, and they're small, but very mainstream. No sex please, or not much anyhow. Which just goes to show, you have to be careful. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.... anyhow, read and weep. This is the insanity small publishers and websites like Literotica have to deal with.

https://ericflint.net/information/controversy-about-baens-bar/

https://monsterhunternation.com/2021/02/16/publishing-house-baen-books-attacked-by-cancel-culture/

The risk for Literotica of course, is finding themselves facing a situation where any complaint against them will lead to them being shut down and flushed down the toilet, simply because someone doesn’t like them. So yes, can't be too careful.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yep, it's all to real. It happenedto Baen Books a while ago, and they're small, but very mainstream. No sex please, or not much anyhow. Which just goes to show, you have to be careful. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.... anyhow, read and weep. This is the insanity small publishers and websites like Literotica have to deal with.

https://ericflint.net/information/controversy-about-baens-bar/

https://monsterhunternation.com/2021/02/16/publishing-house-baen-books-attacked-by-cancel-culture/

The risk for Literotica of course, is finding themselves facing a situation where any complaint against them will lead to them being shut down and flushed down the toilet, simply because someone doesn’t like them. So yes, can't be too careful.

These days with not only evolving revenge porn laws, but also sites like Pornhub and others having to make the people submitting content verify themselves and their right to post material that's theirs(or claim it is, all the sites need is someone telling them it is and they're off the hook.) Lit's downfall is going to be the porn pic threads.

Not the ones that are links to legit porn, but a lot of the ones in the fetish forum that you can tell are pics guys took of their wives/GF's and are posting them without their knowledge.

Lit is never going to bother trying to get anyone to verify anything, and leaves a wide open door for what you're talking about, except there will be actual law involved, not just over someone whining.

 

[windar]

These days with not only evolving revenge porn laws, but also sites like Pornhub and others having to make the people submitting content verify themselves and their right to post material that's theirs(or claim it is, all the sites need is someone telling them it is and they're off the hook.) Lit's downfall is going to be the porn pic threads.

Not the ones that are links to legit porn, but a lot of the ones in the fetish forum that you can tell are pics guys took of their wives/GF's and are posting them without their knowledge.

Lit is never going to bother trying to get anyone to verify anything, and leaves a wide open door for what you're talking about, except there will be actual law involved, not just over someone whining.

I'm totally against censorship when it comes to fictional stories and art, but when it come to posting pics of real people without their consent, that is absolutely where the line should be drawn. That is simply wrong, whatever the motivation for doing it. Cancel the people who do that isn't cancel culture, it's culture...

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm totally against censorship when it comes to fictional stories and art, but when it come to posting pics of real people without their consent, that is absolutely where the line should be drawn. That is simply wrong, whatever the motivation for doing it. Cancel the people who do that isn't cancel culture, it's culture...

The excuse is the people who find the pics and post them here will say they got it from another site so they're already being spread around.

Even if a woman-or man-posts a nude on their own site or platform, you don't have the right to take it, and it doesn't matter if you're the first thief or the 10th person stealing it, you don't have the right to post it

Pretty certain many of the 'women' posting pics in the am pic thread are either men pretending to be husbands of the women in the pictures, or ex BF's posting pics to be assholes...or husband's posting pics without the wife's permission because they get a thrill out of guys getting off on their wives...little pictorial cuck action I guess.

There is nothing here asking to prove you have permission to post. Look at the "on off" picture thread in the fetish forum, its obvious these are taken from "GF" sites or creeper accounts like the ones on twitter.

They think its some kind of victimless crime and they're assholes for thinking it.

 

[windar]

The excuse is the people who find the pics and post them here will say they got it from another site so they're already being spread around.

Even if a woman-or man-posts a nude on their own site or platform, you don't have the right to take it, and it doesn't matter if you're the first thief or the 10th person stealing it, you don't have the right to post it

Pretty certain many of the 'women' posting pics in the am pic thread are either men pretending to be husbands of the women in the pictures, or ex BF's posting pics to be assholes...or husband's posting pics without the wife's permission because they get a thrill out of guys getting off on their wives...little pictorial cuck action I guess.

There is nothing here asking to prove you have permission to post. Look at the "on off" picture thread in the fetish forum, its obvious these are taken from "GF" sites or creeper accounts like the ones on twitter.

They think its some kind of victimless crime and they're assholes for thinking it.

I agree. Any site that allows that is taking a risk. There's 90 million porn stars out there of every size, shape and color with verified bona fides of age and consent. If that isn't enough for you, that's just too damn bad...

 

[lovecraft68]

This is today's SW update and I think in a nutshell it tells how this merge will work.
https://www.smashwords.com/about/updates

If you're a D2D author you now have a new, and very large very successful platform to sell on and you will see increased sales.
If you're a SW author you will see.....thousands of new books flooding the site and dwindling sales due to more competition.
Platforms get money from a sale no matter who the author is, they don't care who's book it is, they get a percentage. SW side will see increased sales and traffic but their original authors will see their numbers go down. Meanwhile on the other side you're still selling through D2D affiliates you already had and now get the extra sales from SW
In other words Mark fucked the people who built his site, but its all good because he'll be making more.
I feel bad for anyone that either makes a living, or really needs the money from the sales they made their because they'll be seeing a lot less soon.