Should I use an ALT / Ins & Outs of Alts

[BuckyDuckman]

Reading forum postings, alts seem mentioned quite often. I'm assuming this means an alternative Literotica persona and it makes some sense to me. Here are my questions:

• What's the point of using an alt? Is it just a secondary way to classify your material?
• As an author whose material will frequently span topics from lesbian to gay to BDSM to romance, is the use of an alt expected?
• How prevalent is the use of alts? Something lots of regular posters use?
• Is there a way to link alts? As a person whose tastes run far and wide, when I find an author whose style I like, I want to read more by that person, regardless of the category. If I use an alt, I guess I remove this option for my readers?

Or maybe there's an element of using an alt that I'm missing completely?

Thanks!

 

[Darkniciad]

The mentions of Alts you see most often on the forum are derogatory, meant to convey nefarious purpose such as voting for yourself or backing up arguments in another identity to create the illusion of support.

An alternate pen name is a choice you just have to make for yourself. If you post all your work under one pen name, it will appear more frequently on the NEW list, attracting eyes and creating familiarity, which generates readership.

However, some have alternate pen names for various reasons. I have three pen names to separate my different types of stories. This one for my fantasy tales, a name to put my short, simple stroke tales in, and LesLumens to catch everything else.

Some also have female pen names, as those will sometimes generate better response in categories such as Lesbian, where male writers often find automatic downvoting.

Some have alternate pen names for collaborative efforts between authors. Some have pen names to post edgy material that their normal readership might be shocked by.

If you don't have some specific reason to create another name, your best bet for generating maximum readership is to stick with one.

If you want to link multiple pen names, you can use the Bio section and forum signature to do so on Lit.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Thanks for the help!

The mentions of Alts you see most often on the forum are derogatory, meant to convey nefarious purpose such as voting for yourself or backing up arguments in another identity to create the illusion of support.

I've noticed those attacks. Not much different than on game servers.

An alternate pen name is a choice you just have to make for yourself. If you post all your work under one pen name, it will appear more frequently on the NEW list, attracting eyes and creating familiarity, which generates readership.

Good point against doing it.

However, some have alternate pen names for various reasons. I have three pen names to separate my different types of stories. This one for my fantasy tales, a name to put my short, simple stroke tales in, and LesLumens to catch everything else.

Interesting way to separate the three. My initial thought is to separate more on subject matter - not everyone is as eclectic of a reader/writer.

Some also have female pen names, as those will sometimes generate better response in categories such as Lesbian, where male writers often find automatic downvoting.[/QUOTE}

Good to know, thanks! Personally, I get grouchy at the suggestion that author gender matters, but I know many carry that perception. Ironically, I know women who purposely use male or gender neutral personas online to avoid trolls. But that is a vote towards having an alt.

Some have alternate pen names for collaborative efforts between authors. Some have pen names to post edgy material that their normal readership might be shocked by.

Which comes across to me as a way to further classify stories.

If you don't have some specific reason to create another name, your best bet for generating maximum readership is to stick with one.

If you want to link multiple pen names, you can use the Bio section and forum signature to do so on Lit.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply!

 

[oggbashan]

I have two alts.

I write mainly as oggbashan, but I decided to try writing some different stories from a female point of view and created jeanne_d_artois for those stories. Her Laundry Tales, and Unatit, seem to have worked but some of her work has very limited appeal.

I 'outed' Jeanne on April Fools' Day because it was difficult to maintain a different posting style when responding as Og or as Jeanne. Sometimes I was signed in as Jeanne and posted as Og, so the purpose of the alt was lost.

Fag-Ash_Lil is just for enjoyment. She is a major character in Jeanne's Unatit and she decided that she should have her own Authors' Hangout persona - so she has.

Alts can be useful to a writer wanting a pen name to try something different, but they can be a nuisance if you post to many threads using alts - and you can annoy and irritate people if you and your alt are frequently used.

Of course, oggbashan himself is an alt, a pen name, a nom de plume, for a real person whose name isn't oggbashan.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

I have alts, but after posting stories to them I regretted it and wonder sometimes if I should close them out, and move the stories over to my "Red" name. They aren't anything I wouldn't have written anyway, and put them as alts for reasons that now seem ridiculous.

I also sometimes look at my work and think, how does someone look at the list and decide what to read. An alt would have a much smaller lot to pick through.

 

[Weird Harold]

Ipost fiction under a different username than I post on the forums. I do that primarily to reduce the possibility of backlash from something I post in the forums affecting story scores.

I use only that one username for posting fiction, although I do have one How To essay posted under this username, so the question of "alts" doesn't really apply. I have one username as an author and one as "me" and see no reason to add more. FWIW, the author username hasn't earned an avatar in nearly 15 years

 

[mynameisben]

I don't see the point in using an Alt when mynameisben is an Alt to begin with. Why would I need to disguise a fictitious name? Virtually nobody on Lit knows who I am, so what difference does it make if my scribblings are in whatever genre I damn well please? None. Using Alts would be nothing more than adding confusion and tedium.

I am not ashamed of who I am. You can see me in my writing, if you choose to look. But I do enjoy safeguarding my privacy. One fictitious username serves me well. An Alt would only muddy the picture and add unnecessary managerial overhead for me. Who needs it? Alts may work well for folks with multiple personality disorders and for those too embarrassed to stand behind what they write. A real jackass can use ever-changing Alts to insult other members of Lit with impunity. That isn't me. You're not me either. I'm just telling you what I perceive to be the downside of using Alts. There is an upside, I suppose, for those who are willing to manage multiple Alts and do so responsibly.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Ipost fiction under a different username than I post on the forums. I do that primarily to reduce the possibility of backlash from something I post in the forums affecting story scores.

I use only that one username for posting fiction, although I do have one How To essay posted under this username, so the question of "alts" doesn't really apply. I have one username as an author and one as "me" and see no reason to add more. FWIW, the author username hasn't earned an avatar in nearly 15 years

I never thought about backlash from my forum use affecting my stories. I guess it probably does, but I also don't think it matters in the grand scheme of things. I don't believe my work is crappy, so if I get crappy scores because someone doesn't like me, oh well, the world will still revolve around me like it does now.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I don't see the point in using an Alt when mynameisben is an Alt to begin with. Why would I need to disguise a fictitious name? Virtually nobody on Lit knows who I am, so what difference does it make if my scribblings are in whatever genre I damn well please? None. Using Alts would be nothing more than adding confusion and tedium.

I am not ashamed of who I am. You can see me in my writing, if you choose to look. But I do enjoy safeguarding my privacy. One fictitious username serves me well. An Alt would only muddy the picture and add unnecessary managerial overhead for me. Who needs it? Alts may work well for folks with multiple personality disorders and for those too embarrassed to stand behind what they write. A real jackass can use ever-changing Alts to insult other members of Lit with impunity. That isn't me. You're not me either. I'm just telling you what I perceive to be the downside of using Alts. There is an upside, I suppose, for those who are willing to manage multiple Alts and do so responsibly.

Your point is well taken, Ben. I get the whole "why hide behind another fictitious name?" I'm new to Lit, but no where close to new when it comes to posting erotic content. One of the advantages of using only BD would be the outside chance that previous readers of mine will find me on Lit.

Personally, I have zero interest in using an alt for the nefarious purposes you mentioned. I don't see myself as schizophrenic or embarrassed. I see its potential value more as a reader service than for the other reasons you outlined. Whether intended or not, you do bring up an issue I was weighing, does the use of an alt automatically suggest a person is suspect? Based on my reading of your words, it would appear you think it does.

"Sure, I'm schizophrenic, but I'm good people!"

 

[NoJo]

I use my alt to say what I really think about everybody here.