Newbie question

[Sammitch]

New writer here - I've looked on the FAQs but can't see anything about this. What's the general protocol about 'warning' people about the kinds of sexual activity within a story thread? I've had a couple of negative comments on one of my stories because it had gay (MxM) content as well as straight (MxF) - should I have posted some kind of notice up front? Obviously I know that not everyone likes both kinds in a story, but what's the general 'best practice' here? All help appreciated!

 

[LexxRuthless]

It seems to be a double standard among the readership on this site. Nobody ever objects when two girls go at it in one of my stories, but anything smacking of man-on-man action and people complain about it in the comments. Your story hasn't been up that long--I would give it a few more days at least and see what the consensus says.

As far as posting a "warning" at the beginning, I can't really say. I've never done that outside of one romance story--and I got more grief for the warning than anything in the story.

 

[rutger5]

Like Lexx said people can have a double standard when it comes to gay male content. The truth is even if you had "warned" in advance that wouldn't stop some negative reactions. (Just the way people are. I've also posted on a different site that has a tag system where tags are located right below the story title, unlike Lit where they are buried at the end of the story. Still people would leave comments there like "I don't like gay" or "I don't like anal" even though they had ample warning. I can see a writer putting a quick note before the story to hopefully weed out readers who won't like a theme or kink. Won't eliminate all negativity but maybe some. Some might also say to post any story with male to male sexual content in Gay Male even if it is a bisexual story since Lit doesn't have a bisexual category, though they should and many have asked for it. Wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that or many other improvements.

 

[SimonDoom]

One of the peculiarities of Literotica is how category-specific some readers are, and how much they dislike it if your story introduces something they don't like or expect from outside the category. To give an example, I've had readers of a mom-son incest story blow a gasket when mom's anus got touched. According to such readers no self-respecting mom (keep in mind she's fucking her son, so the insistence on traditional notions of respect seems misplaced, but whatever) would ever allow anal activity of any kind.

First, understand how categories on this site work and what readers expect of them. Read this: https://literotica.com/s/love-your-readers-categories. This is the best essay/explanation I know of on this subject.

Second, if you have a story in Category A that has elements from Category B that are likely to upset Category A readers, you have to decide if you want to use disclaimers. Many do. They may or may not help you stave off unhappy readers and 1-bombs.

 

[KeithD]

Some might also say to post any story with male to male sexual content in Gay Male even if it is a bisexual story since Lit doesn't have a bisexual category,

I mark anything with gay male activity in it to the Gay Male category.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Warnings can be useful. For that I thought were valid reasons, I put a story into Romance even though it had a strong element of BDSM in it. Most seemed to like it, even if a couple complained after ignoring the warnings. It was not your standard roses-and-chocolates story and I suspect quite a few would have objected had there not been a warning.

That said, I don’t think there is any formal policy or rule requiring them.

 

[gordo12]

Readers here have double standards all over the place so you're never satisfy everybody. I would look for the most objectionable content in the story and use that for categorizing.

Take the time to read and understand the category descriptions and respect the readers there. If not, you'll find out...

EDIT: in certain categories warning the natives about objectionable content at the beginning doesn't do jackshit. They'll still flame you.

 

[KenNicottii]

I’ve got a story in the pipeline that is nominally EC. It has a FMC who isn’t that comfortable with her sexuality, and plain vanilla would be a charitable description of her preferences in bed. The MMC hooks up with her later in life and inadvertently finds out she has developed a kink for anal. Since this is the big reveal (or O. Henry twist for those who are literary types), I wasn't sure how to handle this.

My current plan is to submit it to EC with a tag for ‘anal.’ Putting it in the Anal category would be probably be a hit with that crowd, but I’d be limiting the readership to a much smaller subset than EC. Warning EC readers up front there’s an anal scene spoils the twist later in the story. And since Lit puts its tags at the end of the story, few EC readers who have anal as a squick would bother to check the tags before reading. I’m ready to accept whatever negative reactions happen since I expect they’d be a lot less than a GM surprise.

I personally don’t read stories in the Anal category. And when that kink shows up in a non-Anal story, it depends on how it’s handled as to whether I stop reading or keep going. If there’s an overemphasis on getting the woman to give it up in the rear, then I move on. If the woman is the one asking for it as a part of a varied repertoire of sexual activities then I somehow find this less objectionable.

I never intended to write a story with that kink, but that’s where the muse took me.

 

[Shelly2inme]

No escape from negative minds

You can put any disclaimer you want but there are people on Literotica that are negative about everything. I don't know what they are even doing here. The fact that stores are posted in categories should weed-out any that don't want to read whatever type of story.

I appear to be new to Literotica but I have been on before and dropped my account for a while. In the past I wrote a few posts pertaining to the fact that my husband shares me and I like MFM sex. I had imagined that anyone reading posts on a sexually open website like Literotica would be mature enough to choose to read it or not without feeling a need to send negative messages.

But I was wrong. The fact is that the world is loaded with negative minds and no matter what you write or what the topic there will be some twisted little person that feels a need to make a fuss about it.

So, my best advice to you is don't give any disclaimer at all and if someone wants to bitch about it just ignore them. It is good to practice-up on ignoring negative minds because there is no escape from them. The clutter the landscape of the whole planet.

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

Forty Two

It "machts nicht" (doesn't matter) post a story in a catagory and the trolls will pounce.

I posted a story in INCEST/taboo. The trolls don't like that in my Bio it says that IRL I fuck my wonderful big brother, as often as feasible.

Ohhhh. That's awful say those reading the Incest story....

HYPOCRITES

Love and Kisses

Lisa Ann

 

[gordo12]

My current plan is to submit it to EC with a tag for ‘anal.’ Putting it in the Anal category would be probably be a hit with that crowd, but I’d be limiting the readership to a much smaller subset than EC. .

If you look at the hubs for both categories the anal one is far more reactive with favourites (hearts) than EC by a large margin. The exposure on EC will be about 4 days. The exposure on anal looks to be around three weeks. Voting patterns look to be much higher on anal than EC. There's a lot more H (for hot) symbols on the anal hub.

https://www.literotica.com/c/anal-sex-stories
https://www.literotica.com/c/erotic-couplings

Being favourited means there's links in their control panel to take them back to you. They can go back and look for favourite authors

If future readership is in mind when you publish a new story you'll also show up on say 50 feeds rather than 5. Maybe worth a rethink

 

[Sammitch]

Thanks everyone

Thanks everyone - good to know that if there isn't an easy solution, at least it's a common problem! I really appreciate the responses and support