Should authors hold each other up, or tear them down?

[oggbashan]

In the themed contests (Summer Lovin has just ended, Halloween is next) authors generally support each other. Who wins is often a matter of chance and the results of the last sweep rather than the merit of the story. Of course, the winner has to be popular with the voters but the choice of the category can doom you to failure or guarantee a significant number of votes.

 

[Voboy]

In the themed contests (Summer Lovin has just ended, Halloween is next) authors generally support each other. Who wins is often a matter of chance and the results of the last sweep rather than the merit of the story. Of course, the winner has to be popular with the voters but the choice of the category can doom you to failure or guarantee a significant number of votes.

This needs to be stickied at the top of the forum, IMO. Very succinct and accurate.

 

[Comshaw]

The internet, like real life, is a weird place.

People like to have their own little fiefdoms and invest far too much in things that don't matter.

So, I just stay clear of the noise and just write.

Yeah, but sometimes it's fun to poke at the wasp's nest with a stick...untill you get stung that is.

Comshaw

 

[stickygirl]

Maybe I've missed a thread in AH but I've never read anyone claiming they one-bombed another author. Where exactly did this happen?

 

[Voboy]

Maybe I've missed a thread in AH but I've never read anyone claiming they one-bombed another author. Where exactly did this happen?

Shhh.

Don't try to steer people away from their idees-fixe. This is the internet. Nobody's assumptions could possibly be wrong...

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Ideally authors would of course support each other.

In reality they're a bunch of people with fragile egos in search of some calinothérapie, prone to lash out when not caressé dans le sens du poil.

 

[stickygirl]

Ideally authors would of course support each other.

In reality they're a bunch of people with fragile egos in search of some calinothérapie, prone to lash out when not caressé dans le sens des poils.

I love it when you talk dirty

 

[Bubo_bubo]

I love it when you talk dirty

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[Bramblethorn]

Should fellow authors be a part of a fraternity and have each others backs? Or is this a competition and tear down others so you look better?

Neither?

We share a hobby. That's a good starting point for a friendship - I've formed several through this board - but it doesn't oblige us to extend one another anything more than the same basic level of human decency that we owe to every other person on the planet.

I don't enjoy conflict - I find it exhausting and time-consuming - but sometimes it's necessary. When a community values "fraternity" above all else, well... there's a reason that word has some very ugly connotations.

I'd say more but it's pretty well covered here: https://plausiblydeniable.com/five-geek-social-fallacies/

 

[stickygirl]

Neither?

We share a hobby. That's a good starting point for a friendship - I've formed several through this board - but it doesn't oblige us to extend one another anything more than the same basic level of human decency that we owe to every other person on the planet.

I don't enjoy conflict - I find it exhausting and time-consuming - but sometimes it's necessary. When a community values "fraternity" above all else, well... there's a reason that word has some very ugly connotations.

I'd say more but it's pretty well covered here: https://plausiblydeniable.com/five-geek-social-fallacies/

It's a shame the word has been hijacked, but it's contracted form always puts me on edge. Useful link thanks

 

[PennameWombat]

I've noticed that a lot of people on the internet confuse honesty with meanness.

I've also noticed a lot of people don't understand that, oftentimes, the internet brings out the worst of human nature, not the best.

Those two things explain a lot about how this place operates. "This place" being not the Authors' Hangout, but the internet.

Cyberspace gives people the opportunity to play out the fantasy, "What if you could be a total shit, and get away with it?" You can hide behind your pseudonym. For some people, it's too good an opportunity to pass up.

Despite the snits and rancor that sometimes arise at the Author's Hangout, it's actually pretty tame and pleasant compared to many other online forums. Even here at Literotica, the Politics board, for instance, is a cesspool.

As exemplified by Penny Arcade’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.
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[MillieDynamite]

I don't know that one bombing is the way the more competitive down score a person. A four or three is as effective at pulling down a high score, and it doesn't get swept away. This is especially true in the contest arena as it is a limited number of votes in a short period of time. I don't vote on stories during contests because I don't want to pull down an author's chances, and while I know I'll never win a contest, I'm selfish enough not to help someone beat me.

And I don't ever vote on my own stories.

I'd rather be friends with people here than arguing with them.

 

[SimonDoom]

Regarding the OP's initial question, I'm curious how one would know that fellow authors are one-bombing other authors' stories. Is this a real thing? How would one know? I don't think authors usually announce that they are doing that. I've been posting stories here for almost six years and I've never had a fellow author tell me they were giving me a "1." On a few occasions I've had authors tell me they didn't like my story and chose not to give it a score at all.

This is my attitude about this. I don't think we have an obligation to one another to be anything other than honest. We learn by receiving criticism. The one limit is that I try--not always successfully, but I do try-- not to get personal with people. I assume people act in good faith, and I assume they are not stupid, even if I disagree with them. It's not useful to attack people's motives and it's not useful to attack people's kinks. Let people have their fantasies. You shouldn't be a jerk, but you don't have to be a cheerleader, either.

I think sometimes people overstate the negativity in this forum. Things get testy sometimes, but it's really not that bad. If you're going to put your work out there you have to be prepared to get criticism for it. That's the way it works.

 

[NewOldGuy77]

I am kinda shocked.

When I started writing, I thought fellow authors would give advice, pointers, ratings, constructive comments, etc.

And while I have seen a few of those, several others are petty, tear each other down, give 1 stars to lower their rating.

So

Should fellow authors be a part of a fraternity and have each others backs? Or is this a competition and tear down others so you look better?

I believe in giving credit to good authors. When I read a story that is exceptional, I’ll hype the shit out of it. If I think a story is poorly done, I don’t rate it or leave a comment. What’s the point of tearing another author down? Even if I don’t like their product, you have to respect the dedication and commitment it takes to write that we all share.

 

[gunhilltrain]

A single one vote can take the score of a low-vote story down under the radar, where it's no longer perceived as a threat. Efforts switch to the stories with scores that are a threat.

Hoover comes by, the one-bomb is removed, the original high score of the low-vote story is restored, story places. Meanwhile, a story with lots of votes has multiple malicious votes, because it remained in the threat range for far longer, creating a much higher probability that some of them will escape the sweeps.

The single one-bombs that escape the sweeps don't get noticed by most people, because they don't place and are just "also ran".

And that applies whether it's the author or a fan doing it. A story that goes from 4.92 with 25 votes down to 4.77 with 26 votes simply doesn't present as a threat any longer after the first bomb.

Not a valid argument against large scale fan manipulation.

I have "followers" but I don't think I'd of them as "fans." I have almost no contact with them, and I don't check comment names against the list of followers. I only get a handful of positive comments in total - sometimes there are no comments at all. Possibly other authors do have true fans; I wouldn't know. Do you have any that you are sure would be that "loyal?"

It's also possible that authors have alt accounts, or they get friends and relatives to join merely (or mostly) just to vote for them. I've heard those ideas too.

Even if any this was true, what can you do about it? Nothing, really. And who would you complain to? The site's managers, basically all one of them? That's just the nature of being on this site. You can either stay or leave, that's about it.

My own guess - I can't prove this of course - is that's mostly random groups of crazies roaming around down voting stories. There must be tens of thousands of relatively "active" members on here. If they are doing that, it's a pointless activity in my view, but people don't often act the way I would act. Banning non-member voting would help, I guess, if the site ever thinks of doing that. You can ask them to do that if you think they would actually listen to you. I'm sure they get such requests.

 

[CyranoJ]

Maybe I've missed a thread in AH but I've never read anyone claiming they one-bombed another author. Where exactly did this happen?

Not sure what specifically the OP is referring to but I've seen it done, albeit some time ago now. That used to be a 'JAMESBJOHNSON' special, but IDK if he's around anymore (by that or any other name) and I was never sure whether he actually did it or just trolled about it.

As for @MrEmotional: aside from what some others here have told you, there are often some hard-to-see undercurrents that influence actions in Literotica.

• Long-running feuds that may have started out as personal or political clashes that never got resolved (and have therefore just snowballed over years)
• Age-old arguments about what categories should or shouldn't exist
• Trenchant opinions about what approaches to erotica are better or worse (or moral, or immoral)
• People who have made a side hustle (or an unpaid second job) out of building their Literotica libraries
• People whose personal identities are tied up in being the Big Dogs on the site or in its forums and who effectively think they own the place
• IRL loneliness or misery that manifests in toxic online behaviors (being indulged here b/c perps know they'll be sheltered from consequences)

There are plenty of perfectly lovely people here. But the site has been running a long time, much of it without even cursory attempts at community management, and so there is often a lot of the above in various combinations. Whenever you run into seemingly over-the-top hostility or bizarre behavior, keep this in mind and it'll help you to avoid taking it all too seriously or too much to heart.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Not sure what specifically the OP is referring to but I've seen it done, albeit some time ago now. That used to be a 'JAMESBJOHNSON' special, but IDK if he's around anymore (by that or any other name) and I was never sure whether he actually did it or just trolled about it.

As for @MrEmotional: aside from what some others here have told you, there are often some hard-to-see undercurrents that influence actions in Literotica.

• Long-running feuds that may have started out as personal or political clashes that never got resolved (and have therefore just snowballed over years)
• Age-old arguments about what categories should or shouldn't exist
• Trenchant opinions about what approaches to erotica are better or worse (or moral, or immoral)
• People who have made a side hustle (or an unpaid second job) out of building their Literotica libraries
• People whose personal identities are tied up in being the Big Dogs on the site or in its forums and who effectively think they own the place
• IRL loneliness or misery that manifests in toxic online behaviors (being indulged here b/c perps know they'll be sheltered from consequences)

There are plenty of perfectly lovely people here. But the site has been running a long time, much of it without even cursory attempts at community management, and so there is often a lot of the above in various combinations. Whenever you run into seemingly over-the-top hostility or bizarre behavior, keep this in mind and it'll help you to avoid taking it all too seriously or too much to heart.

"Cursory attempts at community management?" There are supposed to be volunteer moderators for each board (I actually know one of them, in the digital sense of knowing) but - I have little idea of what they are actually looking at or attempting to do. It has to be something quite extreme for them to intervene. One of them did remove an image I had inserted (I should have downsized it first), so I guess that is something.

 

[stickygirl]

I was trying to remember JBJ's various alts recently. The last I heard he went temporarily blind, but blamed a food supplement his wife had given him. Whether his return of sight was a brief respite that led to a permanent problem I don't know. That must have been three years or so ago. Haven't heard of him since.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I was trying to remember JBJ's various alts recently. The last I heard he went temporarily blind, but blamed a food supplement his wife had given him. Whether his return of sight was a brief respite that led to a permanent problem I don't know. That must have been three years or so ago. Haven't heard of him since.

Sitckygirl, that sounds like there's a story in there somewhere. My wife blinded me, now, I can't see the light anymore. It might be titled, Blinded by the Wife,

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe I've missed a thread in AH but I've never read anyone claiming they one-bombed another author. Where exactly did this happen?

No one has done that, but we've had endless posts about authors who supposedly it, and one person in particular here who posts incessantly about they're martyrdom because everyone down votes his stories. No proof of course, but they mention it in every contest thread

Irony is that many of us are fairly certain they're doing it to others.

I'd say I'd feel bad for a person who's life is so small they need to resort to that, but in this case I'd be lying I could never feel bad for this person

 

[MillieDynamite]

No one has done that, but we've had endless posts about authors who supposedly it, and one person in particular here who posts incessantly about they're martyrdom because everyone down votes his stories. No proof of course, but they mention it in every contest thread

Irony is that many of us are fairly certain they're doing it to others.

I'd say I'd feel bad for a person who's life is so small they need to resort to that, but in this case I'd be lying I could never feel bad for this person

I wonder who might this person might be? It's rhetorical, lovecraft. But if you wanna name names, we'd love to find out!

 

[SamScribble]

Shortly after I won my first real-world writing prize, many years ago, long before there was an Internet, I received a scruffy note, hand written, all in caps, on blue paper, telling me what a terrible writer I was and warning me to ‘be carful [sic] crossing the road because poeple [sic] are going to be out to run you down’. (I still have the note.)

A few years later, when I was working as the editor of a travel mag, a fellow whose unsolicited submission had been rejected arrived outside the magazine’s offices and tried to shoot me through the window with a large handgun. The cops picked him up within the hour. The writer was apparently very drunk. One of the cops suggested that this was a blessing. ‘Given the state that he was in, I doubt that he could have hit the side of a barn,’ the cop said.

Frankly, Anon E Mouse commenting that my story stinks and my mother wears army boots pales in comparison.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wonder who might this person might be? It's rhetorical, lovecraft. But if you wanna name names, we'd love to find out!

Call them Legion, for the names are many. Meaning so are the bombs.

 

[lovecraft68]

Shortly after I won my first real-world writing prize, many years ago, long before there was an Internet, I received a scruffy note, hand written, all in caps, on blue paper, telling me what a terrible writer I was and warning me to ‘be carful [sic] crossing the road because poeple [sic] are going to be out to run you down’. (I still have the note.)

A few years later, when I was working as the editor of a travel mag, a fellow whose unsolicited submission had been rejected arrived outside the magazine’s offices and tried to shoot me through the window with a large handgun. The cops picked him up within the hour. The writer was apparently very drunk. One of the cops suggested that this was a blessing. ‘Given the state that he was in, I doubt that he could have hit the side of a barn,’ the cop said.

Frankly, Anon E Mouse commenting that my story stinks and my mother wears army boots pales in comparison.

Perspective is a useful tool that has caused me to often question the type of life someone has had that things like a bomb or a shitty comment can get them in such an outrage. The expression first world problems comes to mind. I'm sure many of us would love to be in a place where a snarky comment from Joeynutsac69 is the worst part of life

 

[Bubo_bubo]

OTOH the fact that Nazis committed the Holocaust doesn't mean that bullying at school can't be a problem.