Just before I go

[Mordikai]

Closed due to Trolls

Move along

There is nothing to see✌

 

[sr71plt]

Your choice. But none of the issues you cite really involve improving your writing, do they?

If you truly want to delete your submissions, you either have to do so individually by story (the FACs explain how to delete) or via a blanket request message to Laurel in the Private Messages (PM) system.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm not sure I understand the last one...stars submissions disappear? Does that mean when voting is screwed up and you can't click the stars?

I have to say I agree with all of the OP's reasons they are all very real.

Especially the cliques voting stories up. The last contest winner? They are part of a group of about 18 lit authors who formed their own private chat room and part of what they do is go and vote 5's on all each others stories.

Now on an everyday story I still think that's a bit cheap, but what's the big deal?

But in a contest with a cash prize? Its pretty much cheating. Considering the winning story won with maybe 75 votes at the time, getting 18 free 5's makes a huge difference.

In fact since that group was formed three of its members have placed in the last four contests.

But aside from that....all of the reasons are sources of frustration we all deal with. If I had to pick one I think the "stories that shouldn't be posted here, but are would be my biggest peeve.

The rules are jokes here and they tie into "not the same applies for everyone" because some get through some don't, but I don't think that is personal favortism as much as a half ass screening process.

But its a free site and we get to post our work here and there's a lot of good to go with the bad so I play ignorance is bliss and take the good.

I used to get pissed about some of it, but it is what it is, but its why I will never put what I feel is a "very good" story into a contest anymore. I'd rather see it get treated fairly as a regular story than have the trolls and the "super secret sweep" play hell with it.

And the little club I mentioned earlier is the other reason.

As for deleting your stories, as Pilot says you either have to do each manually or send a request to laurel through PM

Good luck to you.

 

[Mordikai]

Perhaps I should have just deleted the forums.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes some of them do. If I can't trust that stories have equal opportunity then how do I know which really are the best. I felt I could improve by learning from others, but because so much published here is poor and some of the "high scorers" have been hyped I can't easily find good examples. How do I know whose opinion to trust?

Sorry, but I don't see what equal opportunity has to do with your individual honing of skills. Improving your own writing isn't dependent on competition with other stories no matter how it's indexed. I can see your reasons for not posting here, but they don't really attach to the main reason you gave for leaving--improving your writing skills. Improving your own writing doesn't have anything to do with anyone else's writing.

And, as you report yourself, they don't have much to do with the rating and comment games going on at Literotica.

You should only trust comments that you yourself can see are relevant from developing your writing by writing more and learning to become discerning yourself in what you read either in the mainstream or of other stories posted here.

 

[Mordikai]

These are the things I can do without

 

[sr71plt]

If you mean that your ratings have gone down with the lowering of your number of votes on a story (sweeping), you need to be aware that the votes being erased by the system as suspect were votes uprating your stories, not downrating them.

 

[Mordikai]

Sorry, but I don't see what equal opportunity has to do with your individual honing of skills. Improving your own writing isn't dependent on competition with other stories no matter how it's indexed. I can see your reasons for not posting here, but they don't really attach to the main reason you gave for leaving--improving your writing skills. Improving your own writing doesn't have anything to do with anyone else's writing.

And, as you report yourself, they don't have much to do with the rating and comment games going on at Literotica.

You should only trust comments that you yourself can see are relevant from developing your writing by writing more and learning to become discerning yourself in what you read either in the mainstream or of other stories posted here.

I am not "leaving" to improve my writing

I am "not staying" because I don't believe publishing here has helped or will help to improve it.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, OK then. Bye and best of luck. I'm with you in not posting here to improve my writing. I post here to share stories for free for anyone who might like to read them.

 

[lovecraft68]

I am not "leaving" to improve my writing

I am "not staying" because I don't believe publishing here has helped or will help to improve it.

Its your choice of course, but if you continue to write you will improve and having a place to post your stories and get feedback is a good motivator to continue.

I've been here five years and my recent writing compared to my first stories is night and day. This site helped a lot, especially the forums.

Like everything else, writing takes work to get better and part of that work is taking the bad with the good. Don't worry about what others are doing or getting away with here and worry about your stuff.

That's my advice anyway

 

[Mordikai]

Literati are football hooligans that can't be arsed to leave the house!

 

[lovecraft68]

My star scores are fluctuating as the number of votes goes down. I am losing high and low scores. It seems petty as I only have 18 anyway and as I keep being told ; it is not a competition.

That's called a sweep, when your votes disappear and the score changes because of it.

 

[CyranoJ]

Yes some of them do. If I can't trust that stories have equal opportunity then how do I know which really are the best. I felt I could improve by learning from others, but because so much published here is poor and some of the "high scorers" have been hyped I can't easily find good examples. How do I know whose opinion to trust?

Well. Not being funny here: ever consider trusting your opinion?

I mean ultimately, the person who has to decide what kinds of writing they like and want to emulate is you. There's no voting or scoring system that can do that work for you, that's about you finding stories you like (or steering away from those you don't) and trying to figure out what works in them and what doesn't.

 

[Mordikai]

 

[rjordan]

Yes some of them do. If I can't trust that stories have equal opportunity then how do I know which really are the best. I felt I could improve by learning from others, but because so much published here is poor and some of the "high scorers" have been hyped I can't easily find good examples. How do I know whose opinion to trust?

If you're so worried about the quality of stories to emulate, why are you trying to learn from an amateur author's site? There are countless stories from professional writers going back ~500 years available free all over the internet. Find some you like and emulate them.

This is a site for amateur writers to share their work. Some are professional level, but many are not. Some are great storytellers, but lack polish in grammar and spelling. Some have the basics, but can't tell a story. Do you really need star votes from unknown readers to determine which is which?

I found it amusing that you have been here 3 months and seemed to know all the faults including the existence of voting cliques. I've been here 13 years and didn't know half the points you brought up. Why? Because they have nothing to do with me or anyone else who just wants to write stories, post a few and improve a little along the way.

I think you're making the right decision to leave.

rj

 

[DarkPleasures]

There are many things wrong with this site;
Stories that shouldn't see light of day let alone be published.
Cliques working together to get stories in the top ten.
Rules of submission that don't apply to everybody.
Comments removed for no reason.
Stars submissions disappear.

I came to this site to improve my writing not to take part in a re-enactment of the Alan Freed scandal.

So goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

If anyone knows how to delete my submissions please do it for me thank you.

Nice "story you're critiquing".

 

[LesLumens]

I don't understand. I thought one of the points of this site was to get a range of opinions. I am my worst critic and without encouragement would not write anything. I do need yardsticks, I shall seek them elsewhere.

I just said this to someone else on a different matter, but you've only been here a couple of months. It takes time to build a following that will offset the malicious low-votes everyone gets, as well as build a cushion against the sweeps, which undoubtedly get some legitimate votes as well. When those votes are 5s, it can be heart-wrenching early on when your totals are low anyway.

That following and the exposure the higher scores bring will in turn bring constructive criticism. Don't expect a huge amount of it, but it will come along with the snark, venom, and generic praise.

You're going to have the same "getting noticed" period anywhere, and the audience will be smaller. Lit has easily 2x the traffic of any erotica site.

Edit to add:

I also brought up the mercurial nature of the Non-con category and the lack of enthusiasm for inclusion of supernatural elements in it to you at one point in a different pen name.

I seriously believe that shifting your story to Sci-Fi&Fantasy or Non Human would not only improve your scores, but get you a great deal more feedback. You wouldn't get as many reads or votes, but for the content you're providing, the quality of response will be higher there.

 

[CyranoJ]

I don't understand. I thought one of the points of this site was to get a range of opinions.

That's one of the benefits, sure. But that doesn't change the fact that the most important opinion for guiding what you want from your writing is yours. It isn't possible -- for all sorts of reasons -- for some website to tell you which stories are objectively better, it just doesn't work that way.

If you're so worried about the quality of stories to emulate, why are you trying to learn from an amateur author's site? There are countless stories from professional writers going back ~500 years available free all over the internet. Find some you like and emulate them.

Also, this. I do confess to being puzzled at seeing people irate that certain stories were published on LitE that aren't up to their standards as prose; I'm fond of the site and all but it's not Random House and AFAICS isn't meant to be.

 

[sr71plt]

It also isn't billed as a critique site. There's no requirement to critique and there's no system for gauging the quality of a critique. It's basically a writing/sharing site. You can have higher expectations of what you want it to be, but that becomes your problem, not the Web site's.

 

[patientlee]

I'm not sure I understand the last one...stars submissions disappear? Does that mean when voting is screwed up and you can't click the stars?

I have to say I agree with all of the OP's reasons they are all very real.

Especially the cliques voting stories up. The last contest winner? They are part of a group of about 18 lit authors who formed their own private chat room and part of what they do is go and vote 5's on all each others stories.

Now on an everyday story I still think that's a bit cheap, but what's the big deal?

But in a contest with a cash prize? Its pretty much cheating. Considering the winning story won with maybe 75 votes at the time, getting 18 free 5's makes a huge difference.

In fact since that group was formed three of its members have placed in the last four contests.

But aside from that....all of the reasons are sources of frustration we all deal with. If I had to pick one I think the "stories that shouldn't be posted here, but are would be my biggest peeve.

The rules are jokes here and they tie into "not the same applies for everyone" because some get through some don't, but I don't think that is personal favortism as much as a half ass screening process.

But its a free site and we get to post our work here and there's a lot of good to go with the bad so I play ignorance is bliss and take the good.

I used to get pissed about some of it, but it is what it is, but its why I will never put what I feel is a "very good" story into a contest anymore. I'd rather see it get treated fairly as a regular story than have the trolls and the "super secret sweep" play hell with it.

And the little club I mentioned earlier is the other reason.

As for deleting your stories, as Pilot says you either have to do each manually or send a request to laurel through PM

Good luck to you.

Wasn't a problem when you were a part of it. Fuck you.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, I rather thought so.

 

[Swilly]

Yes, I rather thought so.

The only problem is, dumbass, that the voting conspiracy is bullshit.

There seems to be an awful lot of pissy people around here because someone with real talent has shown up. How ridiculous.

 

[sr71plt]

So, I'm guessing that Shrilly is one of the "around" 18. And there must be some fractioning happening, as this is Hatecraft's "reveal" of a voting group, not mine. I'm just acknowledging that it certainly makes sense. It would be time for popcorn and a Coke if I cared all that much--which I don't. Not even enough to ask Shrilly who this great writer is who has shown up. But does that mean that Shrilly is suggesting that the original 18 weren't great writers? That would be sort of interesting to watch.

Oh what a soap opera we may have going. Maybe you should stay around for a while longer, Mordikai, to watch this spin out.

 

[Swilly]

So, I'm guessing that Shrilly is one of the "around" 18. And there must be some fractioning happening, as this is Hatecraft's "reveal" of a voting group, not mine. I'm just acknowledging that it certainly makes sense. It would be time for popcorn and a Coke if I cared all that much--which I don't. Not even enough to ask Shrilly who this great writer is who has shown up. But does that mean that Shrilly is suggesting that the original 18 weren't great writers? That would be sort of interesting to watch.

Oh what a soap opera we may have going. Maybe you should stay around for a while longer, Mordikai, to watch this spin out.

Oh, that wit of yours Pilot. Shrilly. I almost died laughing at that one. You're quite a comedian. Has Jimmy Kimmel called to ask you to come over and write for the Tonight Show.

There is no "voting group", moron. Never was. It's all just sour grapes, which should be very familiar to you, jackass.

 

[sr71plt]

So, I take it your and PL's three-way affair (and voting block) with Hatecraft is off?