For armature and professional editors

[Fantasies_only]

Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure errors are very common on the Web.
It's either from poor education, being lazy and taking Internet shortcuts, or just from not knowing English that well.
These errors definitely might be mistakes on the author's end, but I expect you people to catch them.

I'm sure you have translation dictionaries and spell checkers handy, so why not use them?
Of course people know what the author meant to say or just skip a part the reader doesn't understand, but as editors who have the last say before story approval by the site owner, you shouldn't just let it go, for one has to wonder how good at editing you really are.

The people who have volunteered their services here are not exempt from this.
If you think starting out on a site like this was the correct move, you are dead wrong.

At this time you are asking for examples.
All I can really say is I have encountered them in the past, and have stopped reading because of the annoying notion that maybe you don't know what the hell you're doing!

I have a handy little tool (free version) called Jarte which has a number of dictionaries, thesaurus, and translators built in (from subscription site).
It also has a function that acts as a spell checker (prompts you to change or ignore) and can add new words to it's list.

I find that I am constantly using it (alongside your preview function) for my own mistakes.
I urge you all to download this or a similar item and use it on a regular basis.

Note: The translatores are for the pay version only.

PS: After spell checking, double check and triple check before publicly viewed.

 

[sr71plt]

I trust you didn't run "armature" through your nifty spell checkers.

Seriously, though, I'm not sure who you think you are slamming here. I'm pretty sure that most of the stories on Lit. are posted without ever having been seen by an editor of any skill level.

(Conversely, I do think there are a lot of folks here offering "editing" services who have no training or experience or talent/ability--or business--whatsoever to be doing so--so where there's smoke, there likely is some fire.)

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I See The Point, But You're Part Of The Problem!

Get off your high horse!

Did you use all of your "tools" to check the content of your post??

As an editor I try my very best to remove errors in the works of the writers I edit for. Am I PERFECT? Of course not.

And, by the way, neither are you. I edit stories 15,000+ words in length. You write a post using a few words and all of your "tools" at work and make mistakes.

Lick my spell-checker!

Guess I'm back.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

High-five, SR. Nice to see you.

 

[Fantasies_only]

I trust you didn't run "armature" through your nifty spell checkers.

I saw that at the last minute and left it hoping you would think I'm being ironic.
Yes I did use it, and it counted it as an actual word, which is why my post states you should double check your work.

Get off your high horse!

Did you use all of your "tools" to check the content of your post??

As an editor I try my very best to remove errors in the works of the writers I edit for. Am I PERFECT? Of course not.

And, by the way, neither are you. I edit stories 15,000+ words in length. You write a post using a few words and all of your "tools" at work and make mistakes.

Lick my spell-checker!

Guess I'm back.

Have you ever heard of something called constructive criticism?
I didn't "slam" anybody, nor would I want to without provocation.

Get off your high horse!

Did you use all of your "tools" to check the content of your post??

As an editor I try my very best to remove errors in the works of the writers I edit for. Am I PERFECT? Of course not.

And, by the way, neither are you. I edit stories 15,000+ words in length. You write a post using a few words and all of your "tools" at work and make mistakes.

Lick my spell-checker!

Guess I'm back.

Hold it just a minute there!
I do make alot of mistakes (dropped out of College Freshman year), but I at least try to correct them, even if they don't come out just right.
I know you and most people here try to correct their's, but there is a difference between writing on a forum and publishing a story online.

By the way, in most cases I just write the way I talk, such as wanna and gonna for want to and going to.

 

[sr71plt]

I think the point you are missing, Fantasies, is that you are fingering "editors" for the condition of the stories posted to Literotica. I repeat that an overwhelming majority of the stories posted to Literotica are posted without ever being reviewed for style/grammar/spelling by anyone but the author of the story. (Surely you don't think the Web site "editors" are editing them--because they most certainly aren't.) There's no requirement to have your stories edited, and few bother. So, you are just, for the large part, criticizing the wrong set of folks.

 

[Fantasies_only]

I think the point you are missing, Fantasies, is that you are fingering "editors" for the condition of the stories posted to Literotica. I repeat that an overwhelming majority of the stories posted to Literotica are posted without ever being reviewed for style/grammar/spelling by anyone but the author of the story. (Surely you don't think the Web site "editors" are editing them--because they most certainly aren't.) There's no requirement to have your stories edited, and few bother. So, you are just, for the large part, criticizing the wrong set of folks.

Ok, so I didn't know that these stories are not being edited.
So what's the point of editors if they don't or won't do their job?

 

[sr71plt]

Ok, so I didn't know that these stories are not being edited.
So what's the point of editors if they don't or won't do their job?

Job? JOB???

There are no editors here who have "jobs" to edit the stories posted here. The site editors are acquisitions editors. Their "job" is to post the stories that are submitted. They have criteria on which they look (ever so briefly--and sometimes it's just a computer program doing the looking, I'm told) at the stories and reject those that don't meet minimal requirements--but they aren't editing the stories.

Beyond that, any "editing" of stories happens solely when an author cajoles someone else to look at her/his story. It isn't a job. And it doesn't have to happen--and it rarely does happen. Most stories here are going straight from the author to the submissions queue.

If you want, instead, to suggest that writers here attain some minimal form of literacy and ability to review their material before they write and post stories, I'm with you. But even that is completely voluntary here.

(And, by the way, running a story through spell check isn't anywhere close to editing.)

 

[The_Fractal_King]

I saw that at the last minute and left it hoping you would think I'm being ironic.
Yes I did use it, and it counted it as an actual word, which is why my post states you should double check your work.

Armature is a real word (the coil of wire in a generator). Computers still suck a correcting grammar. Spelling tends to annoy people less than poor grammar and that can be caught with a good once over and a high-school education.

 

[Fantasies_only]

Job? JOB???

There are no editors here who have "jobs" to edit the stories posted here. The site editors are acquisitions editors. Their "job" is to post the stories that are submitted. They have criteria on which they look (ever so briefly--and sometimes it's just a computer program doing the looking, I'm told) at the stories and reject those that don't meet minimal requirements--but they aren't editing the stories.

Beyond that, any "editing" of stories happens solely when an author cajoles someone else to look at her/his story. It isn't a job. And it doesn't have to happen--and it rarely does happen. Most stories here are going straight from the author to the submissions queue.

If you want, instead, to suggest that writers here attain some minimal form of literacy and ability to review their material before they write and post stories, I'm with you. But even that is completely voluntary here.

(And, by the way, running a story through spell check isn't anywhere close to editing.)

If you've ever been in the general forum and now the story ideas forum, you'd know what they'd say to that:
"Fuck off retard!"
That's putting it mildly.
The members hate my guts and don't give a damn about people's feelings.
They don't even care about any consequence that may come about from their postings.
I've asked Manu to do something about this, and he wasn't very helpful.
Last month I asked Laurel to add some new forum rules to prevent this in the future.
So far I've gotten no answer and I don't expect I ever will.

New Forum Rules:

No objectionable remarks of friends, family, or upbringing (ban without warning).
No threatening statements (ban without warning).
No hurtful comments of color, education, religion, or lifestyle (warning twice and suspend for 7 days).
No reputation ruining slanderous statements or derogatory comments within discussion (suspend for 14 days and ban if repeated).
No name calling, flaming, or trolling (warn 5 times and suspend for 1 year, ban if repeated).
No spamming in any form (warn once and suspend for 2 days).
No disregarding original post (same as spam).
Combination of any 3 violations will result in a permanent ban with your ISP informed.

 

[sr71plt]

If you've ever been in the general forum and now the story ideas forum, you'd know what they'd say to that:
"Fuck off retard!"
That's putting it mildly.
The members hate my guts and don't give a damn about people's feelings.
They don't even care about any consequence that may come about from their postings.
I've asked Manu to do something about this, and he wasn't very helpful.
Last month I asked Laurel to add some new forum rules to prevent this in the future.
So far I've gotten no answer and I don't expect I ever will.

Perhaps it's the attitude, Love. Or maybe it's the "just not getting it" part.

 

[Fantasies_only]

Perhaps it's the attitude, Love. Or maybe it's the "just not getting it" part.

Huh?
What are you talking about?

 

[LadyCibelle]

Ms FO,

Allow me to point you to This Thread where it's clearly explained the difference between Lit's editors and the group of VEs. It seems to me as if you have a bone to pick with Lit's editors and some VEs who aren't doing what they should.....BUT....both sets have nothing in common whatsoever.

As for your "rules" hmmmm, let me see...hmmm nope, makes no sense at all. There's always gonna be assholes who are gonna piss and shit on you, if they were all banned or put on notice for every person who's had his/her feathers ruffled, well lets just say there wouldn't be that many people left on site.

Keep in mind that what is an insult, flame or whatever for you could be plain joke for someone else. How do you categorize what X is going to see as a joke and what is seen as an insult?

It's a website you have here, not a preschool. Last time I checked we were all adults and if something doesn't suit someone the iggy function is perfect for that case. "Ignore" is your friend, use it whenever you see someone saying or doing something you don't like and your life will be embellished exponentially.

 

[meg1]

Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure errors are very common on the Web.
It's either from poor education, being lazy and taking Internet shortcuts, or just from not knowing English that well.
These errors definitely might be mistakes on the author's end, but I expect you people to catch them.

Feel free, sign up and take a shot at it. Once you've edited a couple of 50,000-75,000+ word stories, you can come back and tell us how lazy we are. For your information, most of the editors here expect the author to run the story through a spell checker. That's not what we are here for.

I'm sure you have translation dictionaries and spell checkers handy, so why not use them?
Of course people know what the author meant to say or just skip a part the reader doesn't understand, but as editors who have the last say before story approval by the site owner, you shouldn't just let it go, for one has to wonder how good at editing you really are.

The people who have volunteered their services here are not exempt from this.
If you think starting out on a site like this was the correct move, you are dead wrong.

At this time you are asking for examples.
All I can really say is I have encountered them in the past, and have stopped reading because of the annoying notion that maybe you don't know what the hell you're doing!

I have no idea what the first paragraph means, so I can not respond to it. I don't edit foreign language submission; I do not need a translator. I already commented on spell checker.

Are you suggesting that someone here has decided to "wet their feet" in editing by coming to Literotica before attempting to obtain a real job in editing? Excuse me, but it doesn't work like that. You think anyone here keeps a portfolio of their work to take to interviews? This is a site most people came to because they were interested in porn. Our interest in good grammar and coherent writing is separate from their interest in porn, we've just managed to combine the two.

So, basically what you are saying is that you have no specifc examples, you just want us to take your word for it that you are unhappy with many of the submissions here? Congratulations, I'm unhappy with your post. Luckily, I recognize that I'm living in America and you have the right to post whatever you want. The writers have a right to submit whatever they want. As long as it doesn't break the two black and white rules or go over the limit on the several grey areas Lit has, then there s nothing anyone can do.

If you are unhappy with specific submissions here, I recommend that you contact those writers specifcally, rather than come here and blindly yell at people that you do not know. In all likelihood not a single editor saw any of the submissions you are referring to.

Oh, and for your information, there are several people that say that if they do not see the absolute final copy before submission and approve it, they don't want their name on it. I'm not one of them. I often do not see the final copy. There are people I edit for that I do see the final copy and when I return it to the writer all he has to do is submit my copy and it's ready to go. But, I don't do that with everyone.

I also don't care if my name is on the submission or not. I've never asked an author to include my name, I've never asked an author to not include my name.

Have I returned submissions that I shouldn't have? Yes, definately, several just recently. I'm also takiing six hours in a short summer session Master's course. Therefore, anyone that absolutely could not wait for the session to end had to be satisfied with the best I could do at the time, rather than just my best.

Does that mean I think it's ok to return unsatisfactory work? Absolutely not. I take my editing here very seriously and always try my best. I'm not perfect, I'm with AS up there, I spend hours and hours on my editing jobs trying to make them as perfect as I can. That doesn't mean I catch everything.

I have a handy little tool (free version) called Jarte which has a number of dictionaries, thesaurus, and translators built in (from subscription site).
It also has a function that acts as a spell checker (prompts you to change or ignore) and can add new words to it's list.

I find that I am constantly using it (alongside your preview function) for my own mistakes.
I urge you all to download this or a similar item and use it on a regular basis.

Note: The translatores are for the pay version only.

PS: After spell checking, double check and triple check before publicly viewed.

If you want to discuss different free/pay tools for editing, there are several threads here in the editing forum, the how-to forum and the general board offering different tools people can use.

If you ever develop an interest in picture editing programs, you can go to the amature pic forum and they have tools there you can choose from.

Now you just sound like an advertisment. Were you paid to post this thread?

 

[meg1]

If you've ever been in the general forum and now the story ideas forum, you'd know what they'd say to that:
"Fuck off retard!"
That's putting it mildly.
The members hate my guts and don't give a damn about people's feelings.
They don't even care about any consequence that may come about from their postings.
I've asked Manu to do something about this, and he wasn't very helpful.
Last month I asked Laurel to add some new forum rules to prevent this in the future.
So far I've gotten no answer and I don't expect I ever will.

New Forum Rules:

First of all, how in the world is that in any way a response to SR's response to you? You make no sense.

I can see why the general board "hates your guts", anyone that posts what they think without ever considering the consequences of what they are saying are likely to say immature and offensive things. I recommend you apologize to those that you've offended.

Laurel and Manu will never respond to you. You think you are the first person who was upset by something someone said to them? Please (I'm actually rolling my eyes here). Laurel and Manu have the very fewest rules they can manage and still follow international laws.

They believe in free speech, and that means if you want to post this thread here, you have to also accept that others have the right to post whatever they want. Being insulting is not against the law, and I would assume that you've been just as insulting (I don't have to assume, I'm already insulted), and no one is asking for you to be banned.

If you are not happy with the way Literotica is being run, you can follow Laurel and Manu's advice and find one of the many other porn sites out there.

 

[sethp]

Slamming Editors....never!

I understand the thread and it's intent, so I may be going off in the wrong direction here but...

If you slam the editors like this, then fewer editors will want to volunteer their time to help us poor grammatically challenged fools. I never met a gerund I didn't want to run away from screaming. um...

What I'm trying to say is;

When you create a thread like this, instead of helping to raise the standards of lit and the editors here, you stop people from becoming editors and proofreaders and force freaks like the mighty sethp to edit our own works or worse, give up writing completely because nobody want's to edit for us.

negativity always spawns negativity.

Blah!

 

[sr71plt]

I never met a gerund I didn't want to run away from screaming. um...

If you feed a comma to a gerund, they usually are quite content.

 

[freshface]

I never met a gerund I didn't want to run away from screaming. um...

How did a gerund manage to traumatize you badly? They're such charming little words.

 

[meg1]

I never met a gerund I didn't want to run away from screaming. um...

If you feed a comma to a gerund, they usually are quite content.

How did a gerund manage to traumatize you badly? They're such charming little words.

participles are much more exciting

and

infinitives are friendlier

 

[cloudy]

If you've ever been in the general forum and now the story ideas forum, you'd know what they'd say to that:
"Fuck off retard!"
That's putting it mildly.
The members hate my guts and don't give a damn about people's feelings.

People generally don't like pedophiles. Deal with it.

I've asked Manu to do something about this, and he wasn't very helpful.
Last month I asked Laurel to add some new forum rules to prevent this in the future.
So far I've gotten no answer and I don't expect I ever will.

Nothing's making you stay and participate in the forums. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

 

[Fantasies_only]

Ms FO,

Allow me to point you to This Thread where it's clearly explained the difference between Lit's editors and the group of VEs. It seems to me as if you have a bone to pick with Lit's editors and some VEs who aren't doing what they should.....BUT....both sets have nothing in common whatsoever.

As for your "rules" hmmmm, let me see...hmmm nope, makes no sense at all. There's always gonna be assholes who are gonna piss and shit on you, if they were all banned or put on notice for every person who's had his/her feathers ruffled, well lets just say there wouldn't be that many people left on site.

Keep in mind that what is an insult, flame or whatever for you could be plain joke for someone else. How do you categorize what X is going to see as a joke and what is seen as an insult?

It's a website you have here, not a preschool. Last time I checked we were all adults and if something doesn't suit someone the iggy function is perfect for that case. "Ignore" is your friend, use it whenever you see someone saying or doing something you don't like and your life will be embellished exponentially.

I consider the matter of my intent in this thread VS the existence of editors (which I fully don't understand, but will drop) closed.
It has been explained to me that there is nothing that says you have to do what you do, and it is the author's decision to post it that way.
I also understood editors don't approve stories before I posted, and now I know editors don't have to even look at it.
This was all explained much nicer than responses I got in the rest of the thread, which was not only unwanted, but unnecessary.
As to my response to him:
The sentence in quotes is what the other people would say to me, including untrue accusations that I am a pedophile.
I would never say this to anyone being nice to me, and even if the person wasn't nice to me I wouldn't say that.

The ignore function was mentioned.
Although this is used on me, I feel it is very close to censorship which I am against, but hurtful cyber bullying is not the same thing as free speech.
If you were going to school where you routinely got kicked in the balls for no good reason, would you call this free speech?

One of my threads was about Firefox 3.0 being out, and the first response was:
"Aren't you that guy who tried to justify fucking children?"
That's a horrific, unnecessary, and off topic remark that nobody in life would put up with (meaning the person who said it would be kicked out until next day), so why should I have to?

The consequences of my rules were optional suggestions.

PS: It's Mr.
PPS: I started this thread and now asking for it to be locked.
I don't see any point going on with this.

 

[cloudy]

One of my threads was about Firefox 3.0 being out, and the first response was:
"Aren't you that guy who tried to justify fucking children?"
That's a horrific, unnecessary, and off topic remark that nobody in life would put up with (meaning the person who said it would be kicked out until next day), so why should I have to?

Because that's exactly what you did. People remember posts like that.

I also remember you mentioning several times your plans to sue Laurel and Manu for not allowing you to post stories about having sex with children.

See? People don't like pedophiles, dumbass.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Mission Summary

Being a military man, I am accustomed to a Mission Summary, or wrap-up following a misison. Prior to the mission, the objectives of the mission were planned and stated until understood by all. After the mission a wrap-up is/was performed to evaluate the success of that mission.

And no, I'm not running this through a spell-check. It may contain errors.

So people, what have we learned here? In my humble estimation we have learned that FO is frustrated by his observations of stories being posted containing errors that, from his perspective, should have been corrected by VEs or Editors.

I for one didn't realize that there was a difference between VEs and Editors, something that I may seek further clarification of.

I'm thinking this all boils down to pride. There are those who take a sense of pride in what they write and want to be sure to put their best foot forward by seeking out someone they trust to check their work. And there are those who, for reasons of their own, don't seek help yet keep submitting until their "works" (note the quotation marks) are accepted and they can "see" their stories being published.

So does a voice get silenced because of a spelling error? Or is it allowed to be heard? I think the whole comment/rating system is in place to allow readers to praise/punish writers who publish messy stories or elect to provide nicely manicured works. Of course it also provides a venue for people to trash stories for no particular reason as well, but I won't go there right now.

Does Literotica contain a library (or database, you pick the label) of perfect stories? Of course not. Dies Literotica provide a place where all people, regardless of skill, can freely express their thoughts, opinions, fantasies, and desires? Of course, some more gracefully than others.

So, in summary...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!

 

[Fantasies_only]

Being a military man, I am accustomed to a Mission Summary, or wrap-up following a misison. Prior to the mission, the objectives of the mission were planned and stated until understood by all. After the mission a wrap-up is/was performed to evaluate the success of that mission.

And no, I'm not running this through a spell-check. It may contain errors.

So people, what have we learned here? In my humble estimation we have learned that FO is frustrated by his observations of stories being posted containing errors that, from his perspective, should have been corrected by VEs or Editors.

I for one didn't realize that there was a difference between VEs and Editors, something that I may seek further clarification of.

I'm thinking this all boils down to pride. There are those who take a sense of pride in what they write and want to be sure to put their best foot forward by seeking out someone they trust to check their work. And there are those who, for reasons of their own, don't seek help yet keep submitting until their "works" (note the quotation marks) are accepted and they can "see" their stories being published.

So does a voice get silenced because of a spelling error? Or is it allowed to be heard? I think the whole comment/rating system is in place to allow readers to praise/punish writers who publish messy stories or elect to provide nicely manicured works. Of course it also provides a venue for people to trash stories for no particular reason as well, but I won't go there right now.

Does Literotica contain a library (or database, you pick the label) of perfect stories? Of course not. Dies Literotica provide a place where all people, regardless of skill, can freely express their thoughts, opinions, fantasies, and desires? Of course, some more gracefully than others.

So, in summary...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!

Well said.
I don't get the military reference though.

Because that's exactly what you did. People remember posts like that.

I also remember you mentioning several times your plans to sue Laurel and Manu for not allowing you to post stories about having sex with children.

See? People don't like pedophiles, dumbass.

I did not on both counts.
I said that fictional, text based stories containg children in what the Lit owners perceive as sexual situations (non physicle sensuality) should be included, for they have no offending images that go with them, and I call that censorship of one's freedom of expresion and artistic vision.
In the lawsuit case (which has been settled Via PMs), I did not say I would sue Literotica.
I said their name would come up in a another lawsuit if one should arise.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Being Agreeable

The military thing is just where I'm coming from.

You had suggested that the thread be closed. Seeing that it wasn't, I thought perhaps that I would post a thread with more finality to it, as in a mission summary of the type I am accustomed to.

I agree with your complaint. I don't read much but have seen some atrociously bad stories, and being who I am the errors are like flashing beacons distracting me from the web being spun. My complaint, and those of others, was the comment that editors aren't doing enough, that we are not fulfilling our JOBS by policing the submissions, was inappropriate.

That's the only point of contention there is. Had you instead complained that there are stories out there that are poorly written, you would have been enjoined by a choir. I have even in the past made such suggestions <LadyC, cover your ears please> as suggesting having a certification process whereby VE's had to prove their salt.

We've traveled the same road, just not at the same time, and have reached the same destination. And now I see the wisdom of the rating system. Let everyone have a voice, and let each voice be held accountable. The readers have the power.

Is that profound or have I just been drinking too much? Oops, need another!