Major new feature preview: Story Series

[GnarledWood]

Comments about story series, new site design, and story rankings

I like the idea of showing a series of chapters together (many other sites already do). However, this concept should be expanded to allow an author to select which of his/her stories are grouped together in the series and the order of stories in the group. That alone should solve a number of the problems people are complaining about.

As for the new layout in the top lists--I have a real problem with all the vertical white space. Some may like it, but I think it's a waste. I like the vertical compactness of www.literotica.com/top/, but adding more whitespace in the actual top lists makes people have to scroll and page more often (i.e., what was 75 top items/page is now 50/page). Also, the web site in general suffers from being too narrow. Maybe this is to make stories easier to read by limiting the line size (similar to a newspaper), but I get tired of scrolling and paging for larger stories. Why can't the width be variable like most web pages? Readers can adjust their own browser to fit their width preferences. And why all the pages when a single page will do? Maybe a few pages would still be needed for really long stories, but make the pages longer, not "shorter" with all the added whitespace.

Finally, at least for the Gay Male section, the story rankings appear to be all messed up. What used to be 500 stories in the 4.74 to 5.0 range is now some odd selection from 4.54 to 5.0. I guess it's based on the total number of votes, which completely discards new stories that simply can't compete with ones that have been around forever (or those from popular authors). So many stories could be overlooked because of this. And the "last 30 days" and "last 12 months" doesn't really help either. I have a three-year-old story that runs around 4.70 (it was much higher until some moron gave me a 1) so I'm concerned that it'll just disappear permanently from everyone's view.

What I really used to like about Literotica was the simple/easy access. A few clicks and you could get to where you wanted. And with a different set of a few clicks, you could find new stories fairly easy. Unfortunately, with the series competing with single stories, and a possible future with bunches of new categories, I fear that Literotica will become so complicated that readers will get confused and not return to the site. I don't want to come across as one who doesn't want change, but changes should make the site "simple," especially for those who want quick access. [I'll bet that if you took a readership survey, you'd find at least 1/3 of readers want quick access, primarily because they don't want their reading to be discovered.]

If I've offended anyone with my comments, I sincerely apologize. I really like Literotica because it gives people a place to express themselves in so many ways. But I also hope that good, but not-so-popular authors aren't overlooked in the changeover.

P.S. To perpetuate the trio's discussion of earlier, I vote for a Bi-Sexual category.

 

[GnarledWood]

Sorry, for this addition, but could the site be modified to duplicate, at the top of a "top list", the page number listing which currently exists at the bottom of a "top list?" The page number listing I'm referring to is the one just above the Home | Stories | Webcams | etc., that's at the bottom of a "top list."

 

[sirhugs]

Is there a means to correct missed series or stories from series? Several of my serials have varying titles, so did not get sorted...

 

[Boxlicker101]

I like the idea of having stories that are a series listed together on the authors' indexes. However, is there a way to have the individual authors identify what stories of theirs are to be considered parts of a series, and what are chapters of an individual story? This could easily be included in the "notes" section of the submission.

For instance, I have a series going about Marian & Ryan. The first three parts are not included on the index as part of the series, but I wish they could be. The four stories that are included are listed as chapters, but they are actually individual stories about the same characters. I have another series about Angel Jones, and they are listed as chapters, even though they are all individual stories in a series. The last one that has been listed in the series, "Angel Likes to Get on Top" is completely unrelated to the others, but happens to be about a woman with the same first name.

As I said, I like the idea, but I believe it could be improved.

 

[Sean Renaud]

I noticed this is only sort of a conversation on the new series I'll start by talking about the categories. We got too many some of this must be cut down.

I would start personally by combining Sci-Fi and Non-Human just off the top of my head. Loving Wives should be simply replaced by Cuckold call it what it is. A real loving wife story would be better categorized as Romance anyway.

As far as the series goes I would really like to be able to group them myself. I have several stories that are a series focused around the same girl but I didn't title them all the same thing. I would also like the option to see if a series is complete or not.

 

[KirkEdwards]

A few things:

Why are there so many categories when your site seems to want to pigeon-hole a story before the reader is given a chance to allow the author to begin a story?

There are many worthwhile stories that should command an audience regardless of their content and category. Since when does category take preference to writing style?

When a reader finds a story leaves much to be desired, or the subject matter is not his cup of tea, he can move onto something else.

What if the author chooses to conceal what his story about until after he has been given the chance to develop a plot? By forcing us to put a category to our submissions you make us reveal something we might not yet be ready to do. Many paintings are begun when the artist has no intention but as he goes along he finds the message he was looking for to convey to his viewers.

I think categories act more like "traffic cops" when the most exciting story we could imagine goes unread as it lies down the street; a street we didn't take due to supposed content.

Our focus should be more on style and how we tell our stories and less on their subject matter I would hope? Even our least favorite category can take wing in the hands of a good author and should not fall by the wayside due to subject matter.

Readers have the option to vote with the stars (1-5). This is an input screen that could also be used to prompt a comment as well. It would seem if a reader has taken the time to vote he might put something into the comment field in the form of a blog for all to see, including the authors when they revisit their stories. (Which isn't available to him via his Control Panel for some unknown reason.)

As it is now we're lucky to get an email which isn't my first choice in receiving feedback.

Thanks

 

[Zeb_Carter]

A few things:

Why are there so many categories when your site seems to want to pigeon-hole a story before the reader is given a chance to allow the author to begin a story?

There are many worthwhile stories that should command an audience regardless of their content and category. Since when does category take preference to writing style?

When a reader finds a story leaves much to be desired, or the subject matter is not his cup of tea, he can move onto something else.

What if the author chooses to conceal what his story about until after he has been given the chance to develop a plot? By forcing us to put a category to our submissions you make us reveal something we might not yet be ready to do. Many paintings are begun when the artist has no intention but as he goes along he finds the message he was looking for to convey to his viewers.

I think categories act more like "traffic cops" when the most exciting story we could imagine goes unread as it lies down the street; a street we didn't take due to supposed content.

Our focus should be more on style and how we tell our stories and less on their subject matter I would hope? Even our least favorite category can take wing in the hands of a good author and should not fall by the wayside due to subject matter.

Readers have the option to vote with the stars (1-5). This is an input screen that could also be used to prompt a comment as well. It would seem if a reader has taken the time to vote he might put something into the comment field in the form of a blog for all to see, including the authors when they revisit their stories. (Which isn't available to him via his Control Panel for some unknown reason.)

As it is now we're lucky to get an email which isn't my first choice in receiving feedback.

Thanks

And then there are those authors who think there should be more categories...they want to split Loving Wives into about three or four separate categories.

 

[Sean Renaud]

I don't want to split it. I want to eliminate it it is a pointless category. True Loving Wives material would fit just fine under Romance or Erotic Couplings or some other category if it was special.

Cuckold/Cheating stories are very popular and don't rightly fit under any other category.

Edit: I wonder if it is possible to have us insert our stories into groups that aren't necessarily by us. I don't know for sure how many authors would be interested in this (or would gain interest in this if it was possible) but working in a single universe might be fun.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Quote:
Originally Posted by KirkEdwards
A few things:

Why are there so many categories when your site seems to want to pigeon-hole a story before the reader is given a chance to allow the author to begin a story?

There are many worthwhile stories that should command an audience regardless of their content and category. Since when does category take preference to writing style?

When a reader finds a story leaves much to be desired, or the subject matter is not his cup of tea, he can move onto something else.

What if the author chooses to conceal what his story about until after he has been given the chance to develop a plot? By forcing us to put a category to our submissions you make us reveal something we might not yet be ready to do. Many paintings are begun when the artist has no intention but as he goes along he finds the message he was looking for to convey to his viewers.

I think categories act more like "traffic cops" when the most exciting story we could imagine goes unread as it lies down the street; a street we didn't take due to supposed content.

Our focus should be more on style and how we tell our stories and less on their subject matter I would hope? Even our least favorite category can take wing in the hands of a good author and should not fall by the wayside due to subject matter.

Readers have the option to vote with the stars (1-5). This is an input screen that could also be used to prompt a comment as well. It would seem if a reader has taken the time to vote he might put something into the comment field in the form of a blog for all to see, including the authors when they revisit their stories. (Which isn't available to him via his Control Panel for some unknown reason.)

As it is now we're lucky to get an email which isn't my first choice in receiving feedback.

Thanks

And then there are those authors who think there should be more categories...they want to split Loving Wives into about three or four separate categories.

Kirk, I don't know if you are aware or not, but readers do leave comments on a story. They are called Public comments. Individual authors need to permit them to receive them, but most of us do.

Zeb, it's my understanding that there will soon be many more categories. Some of them, such as NC/R will be divided into Gay, Lesbian and MF categories. I don't know what the total increase would be, but it might double the current number of categories.

Personally, I think the LW category should be named "Cheaters," which would include SO, and otherwise left alone.

 

[driphoney]

A few things:

What if the author chooses to conceal what his story about until after he has been given the chance to develop a plot? By forcing us to put a category to our submissions you make us reveal something we might not yet be ready to do. Many paintings are begun when the artist has no intention but as he goes along he finds the message he was looking for to convey to his viewers.

Thanks

Oh, trust me. If you dragged me through 3 pages of material then revealed it was a genre I didn't like, you would not be happy with my vote!

As for your painter analogy. I don't think it's comparable to readers finding a story. The painting is a complete work by the time the viewer sees it. If you wait to submit your story until it's actually finished, then you should have a pretty good idea where your story fits.

Think of Lit like a library of erotic books. Can you imagine if you went to your public library and they didn't sort them out, just stuck them randomly on the shelf and there were no covers, no art to suggest the material covered, and most of the authors you'd never heard of? Imagine if bookstores did the same thing. People tend to like what they like and want to stay in that genre. You'll probably never find me in the sci-fi or western section of the bookstore. That's not to say I can't enjoy a good book in that genre if a friend insists I read one. I'm just no naturally attracted to them.

There are already too many stories to sort through, too much back-clicking before finding that gem. BTW, I'm learning that many readers sort of do what you wish them to do. When they visit the site, they browse the New list for material and look for catchy titles or descriptions. Some do sort through by topic, but less so than you might imagine. Me? I always head to my favorite Top Lists (which is why I wish they were much longer -- like top 500 -- to give me a bigger selection of higher rated stories.)

dh

 

[Lady Reiha]

Please let me know what you think of the feature and post your suggestions for improvements here in this thread!

Thanks.

http://fc00.deviantart.com/fs46/f/2009/182/2/e/New_Forum_Siggy__D_by_The_manu.png

 

[jomar]

Is there a means to correct missed series or stories from series? Several of my serials have varying titles, so did not get sorted...

I think author control like that's in the works.

 

[Manu]

As for the new layout in the top lists--I have a real problem with all the vertical white space. Some may like it, but I think it's a waste. I like the vertical compactness of www.literotica.com/top/, but adding more whitespace in the actual top lists makes people have to scroll and page more often (i.e., what was 75 top items/page is now 50/page). Also, the web site in general suffers from being too narrow. Maybe this is to make stories easier to read by limiting the line size (similar to a newspaper), but I get tired of scrolling and paging for larger stories. Why can't the width be variable like most web pages? Readers can adjust their own browser to fit their width preferences. And why all the pages when a single page will do? Maybe a few pages would still be needed for really long stories, but make the pages longer, not "shorter" with all the added whitespace.

I just wanted to reply to this and let everyone know that we have taken the above suggestion (and similar messages from other users) and compacted the vertical space on the toplist listings. Per other suggestions, we have also added page links on the top of the toplist pages in addition to the ones that were on the bottom. You can see the updated design here.

As far as making Literotica a wider site, we have experimented with various designs that make the site wider and the response so far been overwhelmingly negative. We certain understand that most websites are wider than Lit, and we have made slow movement toward a wider layout with some of the new content blocks on the right side of the page. However, because more than a million people a day read stories on Lit, we try to be cautious about any sudden changes that result in huge floods of angry emails.

Thank you to GnarledWood and everyone else who has been providing comments and suggestions about the recent updates. Even though I don't reply to everyone individually, I am reading all of the comments - both on the forum and via email - and trying to absorb all of your ideas so that we can keep improving Lit for authors and readers.

More updates soon - keep that feedback coming.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I like the idea of putting stores into series, but I believe the individual authors should be the ones to way which stories are in a series and which are not. There are some stories that have similar names to parts of a series but are not connected at all and there are other stories that are part of a series but do not have similar names. We know what belongs where, and should be the ones to decide that.

New stories in a series should be placed in chronological order, not alphabetic. Sometimes they make references to what happened before, and it might not make sense to somebody reading them in the order they are listed.

We should also be the ones who decide what stories are separate parts of a series and which ones are chapters in an ongoing story.

 

[sr71plt]

Didn't address any of the real problems/issues I saw mentioned on this thread other than some supposedly negative response (from where, I have no idea). Oh well.

 

[wife2hotblk]

My problem is that I always write stories (series) with the same characters but different categories. I suppose it is old-married lady sex, but if everything a couple did fit neatly into a single category, then that would be a boring relationship? So how do I use this feature to link stories that people may like but fall into different categories?

 

[Sean Renaud]

I haven't tested it yet but I don't think a series has to stay in the same category. It just has to have the same name.

See for me I find this "Series" to be a fun way to basically establish a universe. Think Wrestling or most comics even. It is a fact that Spiderman is in a city with the Fantastic Four and anything that can be proven in one can pass over to other at will and thus you may want to read more of this but you don't have to

 

[Boxlicker101]

My problem is that I always write stories (series) with the same characters but different categories. I suppose it is old-married lady sex, but if everything a couple did fit neatly into a single category, then that would be a boring relationship? So how do I use this feature to link stories that people may like but fall into different categories?

I haven't tested it yet but I don't think a series has to stay in the same category. It just has to have the same name.

See for me I find this "Series" to be a fun way to basically establish a universe. Think Wrestling or most comics even. It is a fact that Spiderman is in a city with the Fantastic Four and anything that can be proven in one can pass over to other at will and thus you may want to read more of this but you don't have to

It can be different categories, at least in your public index. I have one series, Marian & Ryan, that has stories in four different categories, and it will have more. They shouldn't have to have the same names either. I have three other stories that belong in that series, but have different names and aren't listed with them.

 

[wife2hotblk]

I admit I'm no techie, but when I follow the link there is no explanation of how we link our stories in a series. I see big catagories that mirror the site's categories. But exactly how do I actually link Muffin MILF in the Mature category with MILF's Bunny Fun in Toys and Masturbation? Who does it and how?

 

[Sean Renaud]

Oh I concur that we shouldn't have to use the same name particularly when stories are episodic and not really connected by anything other than the charachters.

I just wish we had control over what went into what Series. I'm also not entirely sure how I feel about Novels and Novellas being treated as a series but whatever that's one of those minor quirks that I refuse to pay more than a hey there might be a better way to. . .

An eventual feature that might be nice would be the ability to have other people's story considered as part of your series. I don't have any Chain Series up as an example but that would be a one such time where I would want to have that ability. I know collaborations on Lit at this point are terribly rare but I think that PART of that reason is we don't really have much say in the matter. I mean I think th eonly way two (or more) authors could even try would be to have multiple people post the same story on the same day and assuming the Lit Gods didn't stop this I can only imagine the flame wars that would erupt over this.

 

[greagle]

story series

this is a great concept!! I love it!!

please keep making improvements like this for it makes you the greatest site!!!

 

[tomdickery]

one minor suggestion: I love the story spinner link, in whatever category i feel like reading. Could you please have one for the series section too?

 

[ishtat]

I like it!

But what we want more than anything is a revamp of the categories.... "Loving Wives" is a cesspit of hatred.

.

Loving Wives is a cesspit but surely that in itself is a good reason for keeping it. It attracts some of the most vile comment from what are clearly damaged people (mainly men). However if you get rid of the category where will these people go. I can foresee a vast increase in the level of trollery in other categories being the likely result.

Maybe a new category name such as "Divorced mens Revenge," or "Humiliated Women" might keep 'em corralled but well intentioned change could have unintended consequences.

I know that I could be accused of pandering to some very unpleasant people but I think a cess pit is in fact essential.

 

[JoesBabyMama]

I have a question.

the person the won the winter story contest did not wright an erotic story is was a good story but not an eroitc one so why or how did that person win?

 

[driphoney]

the person the won the winter story contest did not wright an erotic story is was a good story but not an eroitc one so why or how did that person win?

Because there is a non-erotic category that is not only allowed, but is set up and maintained by the owners of this web-site. And they allow all categories to be entered for the contests.

Oh, and the winner wrote a great story that was popular with the readers who voted and garnered a high enough score to win.

Perhaps next time your favorite story will win, if this one wasn't.