Frustrated...How can I appeal?

[DimensionOfDesire]

I wrote a story in First Time category titled 'Be Prepared'. Part of the story was actually grounded in actual events and fact, while much of the sexual part was fiction. It was about an 18 year old boy scout that met an 18 year old girl scout at Summer camp. My final year at Summer camp I was in HS and just turned 18. That Fall afterwards I went into senior scouting called Explorers. This was back in circa 1970. The girl scout in question was an 18 years old too. When I originally wrote the story I used the term 'Cadet' Girl scout when I should have used 'Senior' girl scout. Back in the 70's (verified by Wikipedia), the Cadet and Senior girl scout uniforms were very similar, and Senior Girl scouting, back then, went to age 18. Decades hence, they added additional levels in Girl Scouts and lowered the age range in each category a bit, but my story clearly spells out the time frame - early 70's, when Senior Girl Scouts went to senior in HS and age 18, which is what we factually were at the time.

My story was approved, posted, and viewed nearly 35,000 times. Then, I submitted a copy with some minor editorial corrections and the story got rejected and the posted copy pulled. After editing my story to reflect only 'Senior' girl scout and eliminated all mention of 'Cadet' and, attached the web link to the Wikipedia entry ( Age levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA )that clearly spelled out the history of age ranges, my edited copy got rejected, again, for the SAME reason as before (use of the term 'Cadet', which is nowhere in the edited/resubmitted copy. It is as if the person who reviewed the edited re-submission didn't even read it! How can one appeal such a situation that feels so unfair?

Regards,
DD

 

[_Lynn_]

You can submit the story again and explain the wording/ages in the notes box on the submission form. Laurel, the site owner, is the only person who reads/approves/rejects stories.

 

[sr71plt]

Lynn's right. There's only one person to appeal to--Laurel--the same one who rejected it. If the only problem, though, is the word "Cadet," you can easily write around that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I wrote a story in First Time category titled 'Be Prepared'. Part of the story was actually grounded in actual events and fact, while much of the sexual part was fiction. It was about an 18 year old boy scout that met an 18 year old girl scout at Summer camp. My final year at Summer camp I was in HS and just turned 18. That Fall afterwards I went into senior scouting called Explorers. This was back in circa 1970. The girl scout in question was an 18 years old too. When I originally wrote the story I used the term 'Cadet' Girl scout when I should have used 'Senior' girl scout. Back in the 70's (verified by Wikipedia), the Cadet and Senior girl scout uniforms were very similar, and Senior Girl scouting, back then, went to age 18. Decades hence, they added additional levels in Girl Scouts and lowered the age range in each category a bit, but my story clearly spells out the time frame - early 70's, when Senior Girl Scouts went to senior in HS and age 18, which is what we factually were at the time.

My story was approved, posted, and viewed nearly 35,000 times. Then, I submitted a copy with some minor editorial corrections and the story got rejected and the posted copy pulled. After editing my story to reflect only 'Senior' girl scout and eliminated all mention of 'Cadet' and, attached the web link to the Wikipedia entry ( Age levels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scouts_of_the_USA )that clearly spelled out the history of age ranges, my edited copy got rejected, again, for the SAME reason as before (use of the term 'Cadet', which is nowhere in the edited/resubmitted copy. It is as if the person who reviewed the edited re-submission didn't even read it! How can one appeal such a situation that feels so unfair?

Regards,
DD

Resubmit with a note saying that "Cadet" isn't in the story. Laurel reads quickly and sometimes misses stuff, but if you flag it in a note she'll pay attention. (Before doing that, run a quick search just to be sure you removed ALL the "cadet"s from the story!)

Bear in mind that authors have been known to submit "under-age by stealth", where a character is described as 18 years old but everything else in the story suggests that they're younger. If I was checking a story about two scouts I'd be concerned about that possibility. You might consider going through the story and checking whether it could be taken that way.

 

[DimensionOfDesire]

Thanks

I put a statement at the very top of the story that all of the characters were at least 18 years of age. I had scrubbed the entire story of the term 'Cadet', replaced it with 'Senior', and noted it in the comments on my re-submission, so I was really surprised when the last rejected AGAIN cited the word Caret that had been both scrubbed and noted.

I've resubmitted it yet again.

DD

 

[NotWise]

I put a statement at the very top of the story that all of the characters were at least 18 years of age. I had scrubbed the entire story of the term 'Cadet', replaced it with 'Senior', and noted it in the comments on my re-submission, so I was really surprised when the last rejected AGAIN cited the word Caret that had been both scrubbed and noted.

I've resubmitted it yet again.

DD

I've seen those disclaimers at the top of stories before. It's a little like "Honestly officer, I didn't do it." The 'officer' isn't going to believe you and it's an invitation to look more carefully.

I don't think anyone has suggested yet that you might PM Laurel. Is there some reason why that's a bad idea?

I have some problem with the age of your Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I'm not saying that the ages are impossible, only that the VAST majority of girls or boys who were ever involved in scouting got out of it a long time before they turned 18. Characterizing someone as a Girl Scout or Boy Scout brings up images of kids who are probably under fourteen. If you are going to characterize them as Scouts of either gender then there probably should be other elements of their character (driving, college plans, high school graduation, jobs and so on) that place them over 18.

It makes no difference at all whether it's based entirely or partly on actual events. About half of us had our first experience before we were 18, but those stories are only allowed through fairly vague reference.

 

[sr71plt]

My son, the Eagle Scout, went beyond 18, as did my sister the senior Girl Scout. But, yes, there has to be a explanation involved. I thought I would have trouble with a recent story, "The Oldest Ball 'Kid'," but a short discussion in the comments box took care of it, and it went through the first time. The point of the story was that you don't think of a tennis ball boy (now "kid," because females are also doing it now) as being of age, but they're allowing adults to do it now, and, indeed, the inspiration for the the story was a 55-year-old woman doing it at the Washington, D.C., Citi Bank tournament. So, it was the hook of the story. But I didn't put a disclaimer at the top of it. Those are meaningless and defensive, I think. It doesn't prove a thing about what's in the actual story.

 

[_Lynn_]

I've seen those disclaimers at the top of stories before. It's a little like "Honestly officer, I didn't do it." The 'officer' isn't going to believe you and it's an invitation to look more carefully.

I don't think anyone has suggested yet that you might PM Laurel. Is there some reason why that's a bad idea?

I have some problem with the age of your Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I'm not saying that the ages are impossible, only that the VAST majority of girls or boys who were ever involved in scouting got out of it a long time before they turned 18. Characterizing someone as a Girl Scout or Boy Scout brings up images of kids who are probably under fourteen. If you are going to characterize them as Scouts of either gender then there probably should be other elements of their character (driving, college plans, high school graduation, jobs and so on) that place them over 18.

It makes no difference at all whether it's based entirely or partly on actual events. About half of us had our first experience before we were 18, but those stories are only allowed through fairly vague reference.

Sending her a PM would most likely get the OP directions for resubmitting the story with their explanation added to the notes field.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

LAUREL and I collide over SNUFF.

I know what it is and never use it but LAUREL sees it and kills my submission. She confessed to me she gets tired at times. I suspect her definition of SNUFF includes graphic physical violence. So I tone it down, to spare both of us the inconvenience.

Likewise I avoid kids from 9 to 90. In real life kids are precocious lil buggers but not welcome at LIT. Recall the 12 year old actress in GODFATHER? They really exist. I had a 12 year old patient in grad school who made a baby with a local teevee VIP. And he wasn't her first or only collision with the casting couch. But you wont read about it at LIT.

 

[DimensionOfDesire]

I've seen those disclaimers at the top of stories before. It's a little like "Honestly officer, I didn't do it." The 'officer' isn't going to believe you and it's an invitation to look more carefully.

I don't think anyone has suggested yet that you might PM Laurel. Is there some reason why that's a bad idea?

I have some problem with the age of your Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I'm not saying that the ages are impossible, only that the VAST majority of girls or boys who were ever involved in scouting got out of it a long time before they turned 18. Characterizing someone as a Girl Scout or Boy Scout brings up images of kids who are probably under fourteen. If you are going to characterize them as Scouts of either gender then there probably should be other elements of their character (driving, college plans, high school graduation, jobs and so on) that place them over 18.

It makes no difference at all whether it's based entirely or partly on actual events. About half of us had our first experience before we were 18, but those stories are only allowed through fairly vague reference.

Well, as a matter of fact, I did include elements - explicitly, indicating age, very early on in the story (3rd paragraph):

"We were among the more senior scouts. It was the summer between high school and my first year of college. I had just turned eighteen and was looking forward to autumn when I could enter the next phase of scouting, which was called Explorers. I loved scouting, but the thought of becoming an Explorer was intriguing, more so because Explorers were co-ed. "

and, at the end of the story:

"As fate would have it, we ended up attending the same college that September. The look on Becky’s face when our eyes met at registration was priceless. There we stood, motionless, and in utter disbelief. Once again, time stood still."

Now, I mean, how much more explicit could I get indicating age 18 of both characters?

DD

 

[NotWise]

Well, as a matter of fact, I did include elements - explicitly, indicating age, very early on in the story (3rd paragraph):

"We were among the more senior scouts. It was the summer between high school and my first year of college. I had just turned eighteen and was looking forward to autumn when I could enter the next phase of scouting, which was called Explorers. I loved scouting, but the thought of becoming an Explorer was intriguing, more so because Explorers were co-ed. "

and, at the end of the story:

"As fate would have it, we ended up attending the same college that September. The look on Becky’s face when our eyes met at registration was priceless. There we stood, motionless, and in utter disbelief. Once again, time stood still."

Now, I mean, how much more explicit could I get indicating age 18 of both characters?

DD

Those two instances seem pretty clear to me.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've seen those disclaimers at the top of stories before. It's a little like "Honestly officer, I didn't do it." The 'officer' isn't going to believe you and it's an invitation to look more carefully.

I don't think anyone has suggested yet that you might PM Laurel. Is there some reason why that's a bad idea?

I have some problem with the age of your Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I'm not saying that the ages are impossible, only that the VAST majority of girls or boys who were ever involved in scouting got out of it a long time before they turned 18. Characterizing someone as a Girl Scout or Boy Scout brings up images of kids who are probably under fourteen. If you are going to characterize them as Scouts of either gender then there probably should be other elements of their character (driving, college plans, high school graduation, jobs and so on) that place them over 18.

It makes no difference at all whether it's based entirely or partly on actual events. About half of us had our first experience before we were 18, but those stories are only allowed through fairly vague reference.

Let's face it, it depends who you are. This person has no stories so this will be the one time he's looked at closely and scout may have been the reason because one automatically thinks of them as kids.

Yet a very popular author here has a series with boy scout right in the title and no worries whatsoever. Same author has written some pretty dubious "18" year old girls into many of their stories as well.

Its who you are here which dictates if you're even looked at or not.

 

[sr71plt]

You would think so, but I've had a couple of stories challenged even after ten years of posting and with over 850 stories--and they were stories that were challenged (rejected, really, it would have been better if they were challenged instead) on the basis of an inadequate scan or a false presumption. I've never had to rewrite one to get it through ultimately.

That's pretty much what I don't like about the current system--rejection on the basis of an inadequate read. It would be a lot less insulting just to query the story and give the author a chance to point out that they didn't violate any rule.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Let's face it, it depends who you are. This person has no stories so this will be the one time he's looked at closely and scout may have been the reason because one automatically thinks of them as kids.

Yet a very popular author here has a series with boy scout right in the title and no worries whatsoever. Same author has written some pretty dubious "18" year old girls into many of their stories as well.

Its who you are here which dictates if you're even looked at or not.

The secret to life is pick a persona and stick to it.

 

[DimensionOfDesire]

The story is back up

It is understandable that someone like me with no prior posted stories would get scrutinized more closely. Lauren reviewed the story and said that the story had been rejected in error after the appropriate edits had been made - understandable. Yes, there are stories that border on the edge, and this was probably one of them, but I made a quite deliberate effort to comply with the terms of the site. My next stories won't be anywhere near the edge like that - this one just happened to be partially grounded in actual personal experience and events (about half of it at least).

Sadly, because the story was rejected after it had been posted and had nearly 36,000 views, many likes and a hot bullet, now it doesn't even appear in stories submitted in the last 30 days, but at least its back.

https://www.literotica.com/s/be-prepared

Thank you all for your advice and guidance. I'd have not know what to do to resolve the situation without you.

Regards,
DD

 

[sr71plt]

Good news. It's Laurel, though, not Lauren.

 

[DimensionOfDesire]

Thank you

Good news. It's Laurel, though, not Lauren.

Yes, I stand corrected

DD

 

[Bramblethorn]

https://www.literotica.com/s/be-prepared

+1 for the Tom Lehrer reference: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+lehrer/be+prepared_20138405.html