Favorites

[gunhilltrain]

If I get a favorite, I look at the profile of the person who added it. Invariably, it will be somebody with dozens or hundreds of favorite stories, although they rarely submit anything themselves. Some of them have dozens of favorite authors too. I guess Lit is so good that people make a hobby out of reading it?

I know that many favorites are merely to bookmark a story for future reading, but it would be nice if some if them voted too. I haven't kept track of all of them, but quite often they don't vote. If they like a story, it would be worth throwing another crumb to the writer.

 

[lovecraft68]

Silkstockingslover is followed/favorited by over 50k people, if she posts an incest story, she can easily get a couple thousand votes in its first few days.

Not only is that a low number compared to the 50k people following, but when you consider a fair portion of those votes are from anon voters, its a sad low percentage of people who vote.

 

[samhasstories]

Yeah, I was touched the first couple times someone 'favorited' one of my stories, thinking that actually meant it was one of their favorite stories. Then I did what you describe, and looked at a couple people's lists, and suddenly I don't feel so special.

Many of them seem a bit like my own books-to-read list. So exhaustive as to be basically useless, and always growing faster than I can check them off.

It's still nice to see, any kind of interaction with my work is a good thing. But it feels a bit more like a view+ than some kind of actual feedback.

 

[Rob_Royale]

What makes my day is when someone favorites several of my stories at once. That means to me, that they read one and liked it enough to go and bookmark others for their future reading pleasure.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Many of them seem a bit like my own books-to-read list. So exhaustive as to be basically useless, and always growing faster than I can check them off.

That's exactly what it is. It's meaningless. I said in another thread the other day, I have a total of 30-something faves and I don't think six are legit.

I know that many favorites are merely to bookmark a story for future reading, but it would be nice if some if them voted too. I haven't kept track of all of them, but quite often they don't vote. If they like a story, it would be worth throwing another crumb to the writer.

Certainly. We all write and want to be read and we want some feedback on how we were read. Rarely do we get it. Disappointing sure, but there's nothing wrong happening. We post for free. We get feedback for free. I always remind myself that there are people out there who get paid to critique stuff. Our readers and our critics here aren't getting paid, so we get what we pay for. It's all good.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yeah, I was touched the first couple times someone 'favorited' one of my stories, thinking that actually meant it was one of their favorite stories. Then I did what you describe, and looked at a couple people's lists, and suddenly I don't feel so special.

Many of them seem a bit like my own books-to-read list. So exhaustive as to be basically useless, and always growing faster than I can check them off.

It's still nice to see, any kind of interaction with my work is a good thing. But it feels a bit more like a view+ than some kind of actual feedback.

I don't pay any attention to those stupid long lists, but most of the stuff that I do read here on Lit (which isn't much) is from a new Follower who has a short list of authors (maybe thirty or so), and short list of Faved stories. I figure that I'm in select company - and the stories they like will match my taste, which they usually do.

 

[intim8]

A favorite doesn't mean what we all probably thought it meant going in, but I take it as a kind of back door upvote.

 

[NotWise]

It's also possible that the people who compile those long lists of stories and authors--especially authors--don't use their control panel. Some of them may not even know it's there. They're clicking to "follow" or "favorite" as a compliment to the story and/or author more than anything else.

I don't know if there's much impact to them from having a long list of favorites, but if they're following a lot of authors, then their control panel would be constantly announcing new stories.

 

[toughfire]

I imagine a portion of readers knows the difference between favorite and bookmark for later. If they only have a few favorites, you should feel special; if they have too many, they are collecting OR they read very fast. I also suspect some readers only read the sex scenes, which would allow them to favorite a larger number of stories.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Silkstockingslover is followed/favorited by over 50k people, if she posts an incest story, she can easily get a couple thousand votes in its first few days.

Not only is that a low number compared to the 50k people following, but when you consider a fair portion of those votes are from anon voters, its a sad low percentage of people who vote.

It took her fourteen years to get there, but the number is like the population of a good-sized town.

I'm not sure I'd call lingerie and nylon stockings a fetish or kink. I'd guess the large majority of people in the West like looking at them or wearing them or both. Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm not sure I'd call lingerie and nylon stockings a fetish or kink. I'd guess the large majority of people in the West like looking at them or wearing them or both. Maybe I'm wrong?

It is definitely a fetish. Do a username search containing 'nylon'. You'll find quite a few. I wouldn't call it a super popular kink, but it is definitely a kink and not uncommon. I have a good female friend that never goes anywhere without nylons of some sort and readily admits that it's her fetish. Also with my name containing 'silk' I once in a while get guys message me asking for silk glove handjobs and such or ask if my panties match the gloves. Sometimes their usernames are 'nylonslaveboy69' or something, so there's a whole crowd for it. Anything touch sensory like nylon silk or velvet - latex is a big one too - they're either interchangeable or at least close enough to turn them on, so yea, it's definitely a kink. Leather and fur are also kinks but not necessarily the same crowd.

And if you're curious, no I don't share this kink. My username was just something clever and feminine, but I soon found out that there is a kink for it out there. Trust me on that. : P

 

[gunhilltrain]

It is definitely a fetish. Do a username search containing 'nylon'. You'll find quite a few. I wouldn't call it a super popular kink, but it is definitely a kink and not uncommon. I have a good female friend that never goes anywhere without nylons of some sort and readily admits that it's her fetish. Also with my name containing 'silk' I once in a while get guys message me asking for silk glove handjobs and such or ask if my panties match the gloves. Sometimes their usernames are 'nylonslaveboy69' or something, so there's a whole crowd for it. Anything touch sensory like nylon silk or velvet - latex is a big one too - they're either interchangeable or at least close enough to turn them on, so yea, it's definitely a kink. Leather and fur are also kinks but not necessarily the same crowd.

And if you're curious, no I don't share this kink. My username was just something clever and feminine, but I soon found out that there is a kink for it out there. Trust me on that. : P

We've had this discussion on another thread. I called them "interests," which is a more neutral term than kink or fetish. Otherwise, everything beyond the bare human body and a few basic sexual activities becomes a fetish. Some people would say that an item or activity becomes a fetish when it's virtually impossible to be sexually aroused without whatever it is. (White high-heeled shoes?)

I know, that's a bit vague. And some things seem so far into squick (scat play?) that - maybe as long as it's consensual, but it sure seems unhygienic. And since the introduction of the Internet, people are finding out that what seemed like a tiny minority that only they were in are more common than they realized. That happened to me; you could figure it out from many of my stories.

I was going to mention the roles of time periods and cultures, but this is enough for the moment.

 

[THBGato]

Yeah, I was touched the first couple times someone 'favorited' one of my stories, thinking that actually meant it was one of their favorite stories. Then I did what you describe, and looked at a couple people's lists, and suddenly I don't feel so special.

Many of them seem a bit like my own books-to-read list. So exhaustive as to be basically useless, and always growing faster than I can check them off.

It's still nice to see, any kind of interaction with my work is a good thing. But it feels a bit more like a view+ than some kind of actual feedback.

Yeah, but look at how long some people have been members for. If they've been on Lit for 15 years, then they probably have read thousands of stories and may well have read everything on their favourites list.

I know that anecdotes aren't hard evidence for anything, but I only discovered Lit in December. I've read every Lesbian Sex story by every author in my 50 odd favourites list, plus many more besides. I can easily read 50k words a day, so that could be as many as ten stories. I read on my phone, where I'm not logged in, so many of the comments I leave are thus anonymous. I bet I'm not the only borderline addicted reader out there. (If I really, really love a story I'll also comment/vote again later when I'm on my PC.)

So, just like my reading/favourite habits aren't evidence of anything, don't assume that all Lit users use favourites lists in the same way that you do.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

We've had this discussion on another thread. I called them "interests," which is a more neutral term than kink or fetish.

Oh trust me on this one. The way that my friend talks about it when she tells me how she's so turned on by rubbing her nylon legs against someone else's nylon legs. The smooth feel of the texture is literally her number one turn on. Then the number of people who have messaged me fully assuming that I share their silk kink and tell me just how horny my name gets them. It is much more than an interest. It is a full-on fetish.

 

[lovecraft68]

It took her fourteen years to get there, but the number is like the population of a good-sized town.

I'm not sure I'd call lingerie and nylon stockings a fetish or kink. I'd guess the large majority of people in the West like looking at them or wearing them or both. Maybe I'm wrong?

The fact she's a woman who writes mom/son stories is a massive draw. She also uses the insane porno titles that make me roll my eyes "what mom knows fucks her in the ass"...wow. Thing is she is a far better writer than those titles indicate, but they draw the stroke crowd in. She's done well in Lesbian as well. I suppose at 50K what isn't she doing well?

Her and I both posted our first stories in 2010 and she's 2.5 times my favorites. I scaled way back starting around 2016 from that year until now I've only posted a couple of dozen stories as opposed to over 100 in my first few years here. Had I kept up that pace, I'm sure I could be several thousand followers more than I have now, but still nowhere near her.

She's a damn phenom, a perfect storm of every thing that works here as far as big numbers go. Also, from my limited deals with her, very nice.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh trust me on this one. The way that my friend talks about it when she tells me how she's so turned on by rubbing her nylon legs against someone else's nylon legs. The smooth feel of the texture is literally her number one turn on. Then the number of people who have messaged me fully assuming that I share their silk kink and tell me just how horny my name gets them. It is much more than an interest. It is a full-on fetish.

Okay, the opinion of AH writers is to let everybody submit with their own style and topics (as long as they aren't illegal or violate Lit's rules). I could say that about Lit itself, although they've been somewhat wobbly recently in how they reject things (like the recent AI complaints that are expressed on this board).