I would like to know why ...

[cuninglinguist61]

Parts of TWO of my submissions were changed. One of the first stories that I submitted had the sub-title, or description changed. One of my most recent submissions had the CATAGORY changed. WHY ???
What gives someone else the right to change parts of another author's submissions, without their approval ? The most annoying was having my catagory changed on me. If I wanted a story submitted to the exhibition & voyeur catagory, don't you yhink that I would have put it there ? Only PART of the story had ANYTHING to do with that subject !
As far as the first time, my original description was MUCH better than the final one.
Why are these things being changed ?

 

[cloudy]

Parts of TWO of my submissions were changed. One of the first stories that I submitted had the sub-title, or description changed. One of my most recent submissions had the CATAGORY changed. WHY ???
What gives someone else the right to change parts of another author's submissions, without their approval ? The most annoying was having my catagory changed on me. If I wanted a story submitted to the exhibition & voyeur catagory, don't you yhink that I would have put it there ? Only PART of the story had ANYTHING to do with that subject !
As far as the first time, my original description was MUCH better than the final one.
Why are these things being changed ?

Because the site administrators thought it was better suited in the category they put it in.

What gives them the right? They own this site, and you post your stories here if/when they let you, that's what gives them the right.

If you don't like the decision they've made, you can PM Laurel (not email) and ask her to change it back, but the final decision is hers.

Oh, and I'd suggest you be a bit more polite about it than you are here.

 

[cuninglinguist61]

Oh, and I'd suggest you be a bit more polite about it than you are here.

I wasn't being impolite. I was being angry, and rightfully so. Someone else comes in and changes things that I have thought out, about a story that I wrote, I believe that I have every right to be angry.

 

[BlackShanglan]

What was your choice of category for the story? Ex/voy seems fairly tame to me, but they do sometimes use a "most likely portion of the story to offend" guideline on categories - placing the story in the category appropriate to the portion of the story that seems most likely to upset readers who weren't expecting it. If I wrote a story that was science fiction but also had strong non-consensual themes, for instance, and indicated that I wanted to put it in science fiction, they might move it to non-con on the grounds that unexpectedly finding that a story contains science fiction is less likely to upset readers than unexpectedly finding that it contains nonconsensual sex. Ex/voy wouldn't offend me, but I suppose if you'd put it in romance they might be concerned. I have no idea if that's really your problem, but it's one reason I know of for a story having its category changed.

That can be a reason to change a description as well, although I haven't heard of as many cases of that happening. I'm sympathetic; I have enough trouble coming up with a one-line description that I'd probably be annoyed if it was changed, too. But if they felt that there was something about your story that readers needed to know going in, they might have changed it for that reason. Not having seen the original or the changed version, that's just my best stab in the dark.

PM'ing Laurel is the best way to find out for certain. Just try to consider that descriptions and categories do operate a little differently to the rest of your story. They're not just there for you and the reader, but also for the site to work with. They're something of a middle ground between the parts you completely control (the story) and the elements that the administration completely controls (the website). They're an area where more than one set of interests need to be considered, so try not to take changes too personally.

 

[cloudy]

I wasn't being impolite. I was being angry, and rightfully so. Someone else comes in and changes things that I have thought out, about a story that I wrote, I believe that I have every right to be angry.

No one changed your story, just the category. Like I said, PM Laurel and ask, but an "angry" PM probably won't receive any help whatsoever.

Like Shang said above - chill.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Laurel means well

I have recently adopted a policy of "post the entire series at a time" since I'm bad at starting a series and losing interest.

Anyway... I submitted a three-chapter series (Seeking Affection) and somehow neglected to put anything in the decription line for the 2nd and 3rd stories. Rightfully, they should have been rejected. But realizing my intent, Laurel kindly filled in that line as best she could and all three were accepted.

So please think of it from her perspective. She's trying to be helpful. Anything she does for a writer, in my experience, is to assist, not undo. When I sent her a PM of thanks, she instructed me to email her if anything she did was something I didn't want done, so she means well but can't read our minds.

Thanks, Laurel

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Because the site administrators thought it was better suited in the category they put it in.

What gives them the right? They own this site, and you post your stories here if/when they let you, that's what gives them the right.

If you don't like the decision they've made, you can PM Laurel (not email) and ask her to change it back, but the final decision is hers.

Oh, and I'd suggest you be a bit more polite about it than you are here.

LOL. Give'em both barrels.

Huggss! Sorry the thread I started got so ugly.

 

[Elenia26]

What the hell...? They're running a free site, and they are trying to help us out, and you are bitching about it? Go start your own site and post your stories there.

Ugh. I cleaned up this post before submitting it but I am still really annoyed. They are doing their best to be helpful, and your story wasn't changed so stop all the melodramatic arm-waving.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Parts of TWO of my submissions were changed. One of the first stories that I submitted had the sub-title, or description changed. One of my most recent submissions had the CATAGORY changed. WHY ???
What gives someone else the right to change parts of another author's submissions, without their approval ? The most annoying was having my catagory changed on me. If I wanted a story submitted to the exhibition & voyeur catagory, don't you yhink that I would have put it there ? Only PART of the story had ANYTHING to do with that subject !
As far as the first time, my original description was MUCH better than the final one.
Why are these things being changed ?

Yeah, your anus has been reattached to your mouth... All your post has succeeded in doing is detaching yourself from valuable editors that may have otherwise taken time out of their busy lives to help and assist you.

No more.

So now you can keep bitching about how life has wronged you. We're all happy!

 

[starrkers]

I wasn't being impolite. I was being angry, and rightfully so. Someone else comes in and changes things that I have thought out, about a story that I wrote, I believe that I have every right to be angry.

No you don't.
I know before I submitted anything to this site I read through all the info I could and it said somewhere (and I don't remember exactly where, but the FAQ springs to mind) that descriptions and even titles may be altered, and that the editors might move stories to a different category than the author suggested if the editors felt it was better suited elsewhere.
The titles and descriptions are expected to sit on one line on the Lit index page.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

No you don't.
I know before I submitted anything to this site I read through all the info I could and it said somewhere (and I don't remember exactly where, but the FAQ springs to mind) that descriptions and even titles may be altered, and that the editors might move stories to a different category than the author suggested if the editors felt it was better suited elsewhere.
The titles and descriptions are expected to sit on one line on the Lit index page.

Starting over... As an editor I "recommend" fixing misspellings, word uage, etc., all of which a writer may or may not accept. I don't move or shift anything. I'm opposed to that practice.

But I must go...

 

[starrkers]

Starting over... As an editor I "recommend" fixing misspellings, word uage, etc., all of which a writer may or may not accept. I don't move or shift anything. I'm opposed to that practice.

But I must go...

Ah, but we're not talking copy editor here, we're talking "editor" as in person who approves the stories to be posted on this site.

 

[cuninglinguist61]

First, I want to apologize to any editors who were offended by my original post. Obviously, that was NOT my intent. My intent was to find out why things were changed concerning a story that I worked hard on, and were (for the most part) well thought out.

Asylum and Starkers, you made the comment that the editors (who I now have to assume are likely the ones that have made the changes) have "helped" me. How exactly was I helped ? In the story where my description was changed, MY description was much more to the point, where the one that was pointed was very misleading. As far as my most recent, if I wanted it put in the exhib/voy catagory, I would have put it there. The majority of the story had little, if anything to do with that subject.

I have had stories kicked back at me for simple things like having punctuation out of place, but I've read stories posted that little, if any, punctuation. I have seen massive grammatical errors and mis-spellings, and have said nothing about it.

Put yourselves in my place. I seriously doubt that ANY of you would just shrug it off if this happened to one or more of your stories.

Again, I apologize to anyone who was offended. I just wanted an explanation.

 

[cloudy]

Put yourselves in my place. I seriously doubt that ANY of you would just shrug it off if this happened to one or more of your stories.

How do you know it hasn't? They've changed the description lines on mine. No big deal. In fact, many times I leave it blank when I submit it simply because I can't come up with anything I like, and they usually do a great job with it.

I know you think that what you had there was best, but you have to remember, they've done this for years, over and over again, and they usually know what's best for the site and for the authors.

Like I said, if you really have that much of a problem with it, PM Laurel. Griping here does no good. This forum is for the volunteer editors, not the editors that vet a story.

 

[cuninglinguist61]

Like I said, if you really have that much of a problem with it, PM Laurel. Griping here does no good. This forum is for the volunteer editors, not the editors that vet a story.

I didn't know what the procedure was to find out the info that I wanted. There is nothing, that I could find, that tells an author what to do, or where to go, to find out.

Now I know. Thank you.

 

[sr71plt]

Asylum and Starkers, you made the comment that the editors (who I now have to assume are likely the ones that have made the changes) have "helped" me. How exactly was I helped ? In the story where my description was changed, MY description was much more to the point, where the one that was pointed was very misleading. As far as my most recent, if I wanted it put in the exhib/voy catagory, I would have put it there. The majority of the story had little, if anything to do with that subject.

Unfortunately, an author isn't always the best one to "know" what they've done or that their description of what was written is better than that of someone who has just read it blind. An author frequently is too close to what they think they've written to understand that they didn't clearly write what they intended.

The constant advice you'd been given here has been to directly PM Laurel--or if that doesn't work, refile the story as you want it, with your questions on what was done to the original version clearly (and politely) stated in the "comments" section.

It is possible, yes, that you have good reasons to question what was done--the nationality of my protagonist was changed by the editor in the blurb to one of my stories, which made the story politically incorrect in ways never originally written--so I do know that mistakes can be made down the line. But until/unless you communicate with the site's acquistions/posting editor, you really aren't in a position to be as positive as you are on this thread of the "rightness" of what you say. And as cloudy points, out, no one reading here can do a thing for you--if you really do want your story presented in the best way possible, you really do need to discuss that with the editor who made the changes.

 

[cloudy]

I didn't know what the procedure was to find out the info that I wanted. There is nothing, that I could find, that tells an author what to do, or where to go, to find out.

Now I know. Thank you.

You're welcome.

 

[starrkers]

Asylum and Starkers, you made the comment that the editors (who I now have to assume are likely the ones that have made the changes) have "helped" me. How exactly was I helped ? In the story where my description was changed, MY description was much more to the point, where the one that was pointed was very misleading. As far as my most recent, if I wanted it put in the exhib/voy catagory, I would have put it there. The majority of the story had little, if anything to do with that subject.

I didn't say they helped, just that they can do it and have that stated somewhere.

And I found where. Submission Guidelines. Under the heading "Steps to becoming a Literotica Author" Point 2 states:

2. Be sure your story has a sexual theme, unless you are submitting to the Non-Erotic category. Chose a title and a category. Note: We reserve the right to edit the title and description.(my bold)

and in the FAQ sub head "stories" we find this as the first point

We group the stories into categories to make it easier for readers to find work and authors that interest them. Often, a story will contain elements from many categories. In that case, we'll place it where we feel it's the best fit. If you ever read a story that you feel has been miscategorized, Use the Report This Story feature to let us know, and we'll review it. We add a new category whenever we have enough stories that fit into it. If you have an idea for a new Literotica category, feel free to let us know!

And the last FAQ under "Legal and Other" states

My question hasn't been answered in this FAQ. What should I do?

If you have a question that hasn't been answered here, don't hesitate to drop us an email via our easy-to-use online contact form.

If enough people ask a question, we will add it to our FAQ. If there's anything in this FAQ that is unclear, please let us know. It's a work in progress (like the rest of the site!), so your input is greatly appreciated!

and the words "online contact form" were the link to it.

I guess what I'm longwindedly saying is: all the information you needed was at your disposal, if you bothered to look for it.
And you have absolutely no right to be pissed off at these alterations to your descriptions as you should already have been aware of their possibility, having read the submission guidelines before agreeing to submit your copy here.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Unfortunately, an author isn't always the best one to "know" what they've done or that their description of what was written is better than that of someone who has just read it blind. An author frequently is too close to what they think they've written to understand that they didn't clearly write what they intended.

Good point. If you've written the story, you may feel that a particular scene is just a tangential side bit because you've focused on the story's main theme, whereas to another reader that part stands out strongly.

Put yourselves in my place. I seriously doubt that ANY of you would just shrug it off if this happened to one or more of your stories.

It has. More than once. And ultimately, it was for the best in every case. In fact, I've come to look at editorial interventions as an auspicious omen. Two of the stories for which I received E's were kicked back for reformatting, and others had tweaks to description, category, or key words. They liked the stories; they just wanted them to reach the public in the most appealing form possible.

They're on your side. Really they are.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

First, I want to apologize to any editors who were offended by my original post. Obviously, that was NOT my intent. My intent was to find out why things were changed concerning a story that I worked hard on, and were (for the most part) well thought out.

Asylum and Starkers, you made the comment that the editors (who I now have to assume are likely the ones that have made the changes) have "helped" me. How exactly was I helped ? In the story where my description was changed, MY description was much more to the point, where the one that was pointed was very misleading. As far as my most recent, if I wanted it put in the exhib/voy catagory, I would have put it there. The majority of the story had little, if anything to do with that subject.

I have had stories kicked back at me for simple things like having punctuation out of place, but I've read stories posted that little, if any, punctuation. I have seen massive grammatical errors and mis-spellings, and have said nothing about it.

Put yourselves in my place. I seriously doubt that ANY of you would just shrug it off if this happened to one or more of your stories.

Again, I apologize to anyone who was offended. I just wanted an explanation.

You have been kind and respectful while voicing your "problem", and I would like to express my respect and appreciation for your position. I will lend you equal respect.

I offer you this: I will take time from my life to assist you in your pursuit to achieve success. That's the bottom line. We have only so many hours here. I'll invest a few of mine to help you.