Kicked out of Wattpad

[Ada Stuart]

I recently received an email from Wattpad stating that they wrote:

"Unfortunately we had to close your Wattpad account for the following reason:
Banned - Explicit"

So, with no warning upfront or anything else, they simply removed my account, 44 books I had published and all my followers, Inbox, comments etc. Some customer service, eh?

A few days later, when I had cooled down a bit, I contacted them, claiming that I was going to play by their rules from now on, and the reply was "When we ban you, we ban you for life". Gosh, thanks...that made me feel SOO welcome

I spent 3 years building that account so I'm just really angry with them.

Bottom line, I think what triggered it, was the following (just so you might avoid the same fate):
1. I added the word "smut" in my titles (which worked really well for a while as it generated a lot of traffic and readers)
2. I sent thank you notes to everybody voting for my stories, reaching the daily max number of messages sent
3. They have a serious problem with site security, and constantly allow underage readers to access 18+ content despite being tagged as "Mature"

So, I guess I won't recommend joining that site ever again. Has anyone had similar experiences with this site?

 

[lovecraft68]

Other than for sale, I've only published here, and this site has enough drama and BS to convince me I don't need more of it from anywhere else.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Most sites that supposedly ban viewers under eighteen do absolutely nothing to block them. Of course, most of them are free porn sites, which have proliferated to a huge degree in recent years. The ones that have a paywall may make an effort, and literary sites, I suppose, make an effort too although I don't know what steps they actually take.

 

[gunhilltrain]

"When we ban you, we ban you for life". Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Also, reminds me of the regime in North Korea.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I had a few of my stories show up on there, both fairly erotic. I didn't post them, and asked the people who did to take them down. It sounds kind of arbitrary that they just ban you for life when you've already been on there for several years, yet they don't seem to care where their stories come from, or if the people posting them have any right to claim them as their own.

 

[Ada Stuart]

"When we ban you, we ban you for life". Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. Also, reminds me of the regime in North Korea.

Well, they did use a more "friendly" way to say it:

"Please also note that users' actions are linked to the holder of the account, not the account(s) themselves, which means once your account is closed, it is final. Any new accounts will be closed."

Turns out, I have been able to create a new account by using another email address. But, I doubt I will bother to add anything to it. Unless, I feel evil and want to annoy them

I had a few of my stories show up on there, both fairly erotic. I didn't post them, and asked the people who did to take them down. It sounds kind of arbitrary that they just ban you for life when you've already been on there for several years, yet they don't seem to care where their stories come from, or if the people posting them have any right to claim them as their own.

True! I found so many copies of my stories over there that I just created my own account. After a while, you just stop searching for illegal copies, because the general consensus on Wattpad is that they copy and post everything they "like" to read, no matter where they grab it from. I've given up trying to explain copyright - feels more like banging your head against a brick wall - it works better to ask them to add your author name and a link to your site. Free marketing is always nice

 

[SimonDoom]

Well, that sucks. I'm sorry. That must really feel like crap. All that effort.

So much phony effort is put into "protecting" kids. I have kids. They're grown up now, but the stuff they've told me--the stuff that gets done and gets said in 7th grade hallways and that happens at parties--it's a joke to think we can "protect" them from sex. Kids today, because of cell phones and the Internet, are SO much more worldly and see so much more than I saw or knew about at the same age back in the day. If I was able, every once in a while, to sneak a peek at a Playboy magazine, it was a big deal. What a joke, today.

But, anyway, I'm sorry you got sucker-punched by the sex cops.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, that sucks. I'm sorry. That must really feel like crap. All that effort.

So much phony effort is put into "protecting" kids. I have kids. They're grown up now, but the stuff they've told me--the stuff that gets done and gets said in 7th grade hallways and that happens at parties--it's a joke to think we can "protect" them from sex. Kids today, because of cell phones and the Internet, are SO much more worldly and see so much more than I saw or knew about at the same age back in the day. If I was able, every once in a while, to sneak a peek at a Playboy magazine, it was a big deal. What a joke, today.

But, anyway, I'm sorry you got sucker-punched by the sex cops.

Absolutely, the Internet and social media have changed everything, for adults as well as kids. The only way I could find out about such topics was that my mom would buy paperbacks or take out books from the library and leave them around where I could read them. I remember Portnoy's Complaint and Updike's Rabbit Redux among other things. I'm sure that she did it to spare my parents from having difficult conversations with me, which they did indeed avoid. Well, she also read the books herself.

 

[Wifetheif]

Considering that Wattpad was the launching pad of the "After" series and considering that the "After" series is aimed at teen readers and has rather graphic sex descriptions in it -- I'd say, "I smell hypocrisy!"

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Wattpad doesn't technically allow porn. Like obviously there is erotica on the website but according to the rules, if the people at wattpad decide it is objectionable or poorly categorized they can ban you.

 

[Ada Stuart]

Well, that sucks. I'm sorry. That must really feel like crap. All that effort.

So much phony effort is put into "protecting" kids. I have kids. They're grown up now, but the stuff they've told me--the stuff that gets done and gets said in 7th grade hallways and that happens at parties--it's a joke to think we can "protect" them from sex. Kids today, because of cell phones and the Internet, are SO much more worldly and see so much more than I saw or knew about at the same age back in the day. If I was able, every once in a while, to sneak a peek at a Playboy magazine, it was a big deal. What a joke, today.

But, anyway, I'm sorry you got sucker-punched by the sex cops.

Thanks, Simon

I guess I made an easy target when I admitted it was "smut", eh? Not doing that again.

Looks like I'm not the only one being kicked out of Wattpad, though. I noticed there are several threads about it over at Reddit, with authors experiencing just the same thing.

 

[Wifetheif]

Since the "After" novel series brought fame to Wattpad, the company is on the hunt for the next crossover bestseller. This is why its "Romance" category is overflowing. They want to strike gold again. Oh, by the way -- PLEASE don't mention that many of their "Romance" novels have sex scenes that would make some of the content on Lit.com seem mild. We are a company of artistes -- NOT smut peddlers!

 

[windar]

3. They have a serious problem with site security, and constantly allow underage readers to access 18+ content despite being tagged as "Mature"

Are there sites that really deny access to underage readers? Most sites, this one included, simply ask if you're 18 or warn that the material is adult and shouldn't be accessed unless you are 18. I recall that the UK was going to attempt to institute a requirement for some kind of age verification, but as far as I know that was abandoned as impractical.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Are there sites that really deny access to underage readers? Most sites, this one included, simply ask if you're 18 or warn that the material is adult and shouldn't be accessed unless you are 18. I recall that the UK was going to attempt to institute a requirement for some kind of age verification, but as far as I know that was abandoned as impractical.

Wattpad is especially bad because the minimum age of a Wattpad user is 13. Most adult apps rely on the app store to remember the users birthday and determine if the user is old enough to download the app. Because Wattpad set their age requirement so low, they do less than most other apps in the category to keep minors out.

 

[ChloeTzang]

There's a lot of hypocrisy on Wattpad for sure. I have half adozen stories there, but I'm not adding more. I like their interface, but 80-90% of the readers are teenage girls, and if you look at the user distribution, it's not in countries or a demographic that I get a lot of readers from anyhow.

The company that bought Wattpad, Naver, is South Korean and also own a big chunk of YG Generation (Huge K-pop company), and they have an image they work to - and that may be filtering over onto Wattpad, given Wattpad's big % of asian users.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, they did use a more "friendly" way to say it:

"Please also note that users' actions are linked to the holder of the account, not the account(s) themselves, which means once your account is closed, it is final. Any new accounts will be closed."

Turns out, I have been able to create a new account by using another email address. But, I doubt I will bother to add anything to it. Unless, I feel evil and want to annoy them



True! I found so many copies of my stories over there that I just created my own account. After a while, you just stop searching for illegal copies, because the general consensus on Wattpad is that they copy and post everything they "like" to read, no matter where they grab it from. I've given up trying to explain copyright - feels more like banging your head against a brick wall - it works better to ask them to add your author name and a link to your site. Free marketing is always nice

Interesting that they didn't consider the different email address workaround. Probably they knew about it but they also knew that they couldn't do anything about it.

 

[oneagainst]

Thought I'd revive rather than start a new thread.... Been looking at wattpad as somewhere to also put my old stuff, but it looks like the only option is Romance with a Mature filter on, and then still it's awash with k-pop and werewolf stories.

My problem is The Monogamists (which would be the "trial run") is a romance about a MFf thrupple with chastity and etc. etc. thrown in. How's my mileage going to be? Spoiler alert: none of the characters is a moody billionaire or a mafia kingpin. Or indeed the Alpha of a werewolf pack.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Thought I'd revive rather than start a new thread.... Been looking at wattpad as somewhere to also put my old stuff, but it looks like the only option is Romance with a Mature filter on, and then still it's awash with k-pop and werewolf stories.

My problem is The Monogamists (which would be the "trial run") is a romance about a MFf thrupple with chastity and etc. etc. thrown in. How's my mileage going to be? Spoiler alert: none of the characters is a moody billionaire or a mafia kingpin. Or indeed the Alpha of a werewolf pack.

I doubt you'd get many readers. I have a few hundred followers there, but the views are nothing like Literotica. 80% of the audience are teenagers, and a big % of those are Chinese / Filipino (Wattpad is huge there) with a North American subset. It's not bad, but yeah, k-pop fanfic is huge, translations of chinese novels is huge, and you don't have any visibility. It all works of tags and searches, so you have to really work on your tags. I have a few stories there but I haven't put any work into it, it's not going to generate any money unless you get picked up for publishing. And if its Mature you likely won't. I tag my stories as Mature, and I don't label them as smut. The under-18 sex is rife there, in all the fanfic - Wattpad really only pays lip service to that one.

 

[oneagainst]

The under-18 sex is rife there, in all the fanfic - Wattpad really only pays lip service to that one.

Yeah, it's got kinda a weird vibe, hence the question. I *really* don't want to put up e.g. a story about sex games if it's gonna be picked up by teens. It's just not right.

 

[onehitwanda]

Every time I hear or see wattpad mentioned I can't help the Pavlovian response:

Yes, I'm juvenile.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Yeah, it's got kinda a weird vibe, hence the question. I *really* don't want to put up e.g. a story about sex games if it's gonna be picked up by teens. It's just not right.

When you go read them, it's mostly teens writing the stories and 99% of them are just ....juvenile.

On the other hand, I was doing that when I was 14 and 15 and 16 and...I never found a site like Wattpad, but if I had, I'd have been on there and writing juvenile smut LOL. It's good that Wattpad offers place for mostly girls to start writing, and it's a huge teenage female audience, which is why those werewolf and k-pop fanfic stories do so well. That weird vibe is teenage girls hard at work on their fantasies LOL. And if you're not a teenage girl, try and remember back to all the teenage girls you knew when you were a teenager, and weird is a good description. I remember myself back then, and it's a very hormonal time. LOL. Hindsight is so 20/20. Now I wasn't into werewolves, I liked Regency Romances, and I still have some I rewrote, very very badly.....

 

[Ada Stuart]

Just out of curiosity, I checked whether the Wattpad incident had any impact on my sales.
The result was a slight decrease in the month after (probably because I was sulking instead of writing ), but then the sales rose to an ever higher level than before (probably because I had more time available).

So bottom line: Forget Wattpad if you write erotic romance/erotica. It's better to spend your time on other sites.