The Hazards of Loving Wives Spillover

[ElectricBlue]

Or...Literotica could do what Lush Stories does (did? haven't been there in a while) and not allow anonymous reviews. It's a free site, creating a fake name seems the minimum that should be required.

The site already gives authors that option, to block anon comments.

Other authors would never want to lose anon comments, not in a million years.

 

[onehitwanda]

I like the anonymous comments. Some of them are sweet, some are deep, and some are the kind of unfiltered vitriol that I take delight in. As in all things in life, you've got to take the good with the bad. The barrier to entry when you want to leave a comment is massively larger if you have to register first - just ask any impulse shopper who, when confronted with a "first give us your email address, blood type and a DNA sample" backs away going "You know what, I don't actually need that triple-headed solid gold vibrator after all" *

(*) Names have been changed to protect the innocent

 

[2soon2no]

I placed a story in 'first time' that truly belonged in sifi and fantasy. It had a similar fate, though I didn't see any spillover. It took a week for me to decide to move it, then it took a week for the move to happen. I like to think that it would have been better received. I know I love it. Sigh.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I placed a story in 'first time' that truly belonged in sifi and fantasy. It had a similar fate, though I didn't see any spillover. It took a week for me to decide to move it, then it took a week for the move to happen. I like to think that it would have been better received. I know I love it. Sigh.

Which story?

 

[2soon2no]

I find it most painful when they are right. One of my stories had pail instead of pale and cubical instead of cubicle. I actually did an edit to fix it, though I can't recall if it went through.

 

[2soon2no]

Which story? I'm thinking 'I am definitely not a witch' there is a one and two. The first is lower scoring (from being in ft) the second one got the right cat from the start

 

[2soon2no]

Which story?

I am a list reader. So how does a lover of sci fi and fantasy write so much about loving wives?

 

[NoTalentHack]

I am a list reader. So how does a lover of sci fi and fantasy write so much about loving wives?

I like the human conflict. You can get that elsewhere, but LW is the place you go to cause fistfights over… err, to get feedback. But I do have a handful of F/SF stories I’m working on. Even was working on a Star Trek-inspired (similar setting with enough tweaks to not be a complete ripoff) visual novel before I got sick of doing renders; may get back to it eventually or rework it as a series of stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

My opinion is that the site may be losing talented writers because of the anon reviews -- nor do I think the abuse some LW, and other section, writers take from anon comments is ever warranted. Maybe, as you suggest, the key is to block anon comments. I would also say I don't understand from a business perspective why you wouldn't want people to create a screen name. But it's an interesting discussion.

The reason is obvious: traffic. Literotica makes no money whether readers sign up or not. Its value is based on traffic. Over half of all comments and votes are anonymous, so there's absolutely zero chance that Literotica is going to prevent anonymous votes and comments, because it would discourage traffic.

I don't think there's much actual evidence or reason to believe Literotica is losing significant numbers of authors because of nasty comments and votes. I imagine the owners of Literotica know the answer, and they've made the calculation, and it's not worthwhile to prevent anonymous voting and comments.

 

[NoTalentHack]

The reason is obvious: traffic. Literotica makes no money whether readers sign up or not. Its value is based on traffic. Over half of all comments and votes are anonymous, so there's absolutely zero chance that Literotica is going to prevent anonymous votes and comments, because it would discourage traffic.

I don't think there's much actual evidence or reason to believe Literotica is losing significant numbers of authors because of nasty comments and votes. I imagine the owners of Literotica know the answer, and they've made the calculation, and it's not worthwhile to prevent anonymous voting and comments.

I agree with this. I think what's more likely is that writers with the skills that are inclined to do so are switching to self-pub on Amazon, SW and/or Patreon. I'm planning to (maybe, eventually) start putting stuff up there, starting with edited/cleaned up versions of stories from Lit with a bonus sort story or whatever. But that means less time writing here, and, if it takes off, eventually almost none at all, other than maybe spillover free stories from Patreon.

 

[SimonDoom]

While I don't necessarily disagree with Simon's thoughts about the owners' decisions on business model and traffic -- the point I am emphasizing is the owners could take easy steps to cut down on abuse.

I could be wrong, but I think Simon is suggesting that taking away the ability to write anonymous reviews would impact site traffic. That's an interesting theory but the way to find out if that theory is true would be for the owners to run an experiment and cut off reviewing ability by anon users for a time to see if that negatively impacts traffic.

I agree with NoTalentHack's analysis that the writers with skills are and will switch to other models -- which is a loss for the site.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful comments.

What would those easy steps be? I can't think of any. The site already has sweeps, which are intended to get rid of "invalid" votes. I know that the site sometimes does monitor and delete comments it deems obscene, because they have deleted comments to my stories without my having asked them to.

I don't want to get rid of anonymous comments or votes. I don't care about abusive comments. I can delete them. Readers have the chance to switch off comments if they don't want to get them. But if the site were to adopt the other way, and eliminate anonymous votes and comments, I would have no recourse. I would be deprived of what I want. It's not an equal situation.

It's not my suggestion. Either Laurel or Manu have on rare occasions weighed in on this issue, and it's pretty clear they're not going to take steps because they would adversely affect such a large number of anonymous voters and commenters that want to provide feedback. So I think we can infer that they believe it would adversely affect traffic, and it makes no sense to engage in an experiment because if it does they could lose those readers forever.

 

[PastMaster]

I have found the best route is to simply ignore it - In some respects i enjoy the vitriol of the anonymous comments, it amuses me to think that they have nothing better to do in their lives than try and bring down someone who is able to do something they cannot - create. I am convinced that my stories get onebombed - I recently had some of mine tank for no apparent reason. When anon comments become particularly stupid I will delete them, although I never delete a comment however vitriolic or dumb i think it is if has been left by a named person (except whackdoodle - i delete his before i even read them these days)
There was some suggestion in another forum a while back that you should be able to block certain people from reading your work, but I dont agree with that either - besides that wouldnt stop the anonymous commenters. Like one of my old teachers used to say - take insults as compliments from fools who know no better.

 

[ElectricBlue]

While I don't necessarily disagree with Simon's thoughts about the owners' decisions on business model and traffic -- the point I am emphasizing is the owners could take easy steps to cut down on abuse.

I could be wrong, but I think Simon is suggesting that taking away the ability to write anonymous reviews would impact site traffic. That's an interesting theory but the way to find out if that theory is true would be for the owners to run an experiment and cut off reviewing ability by anon users for a time to see if that negatively impacts traffic.

I agree with NoTalentHack's analysis that the writers with skills are and will switch to other models -- which is a loss for the site.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful comments.

Authors can turn off anons for themselves.

Let those who want that, do that, but leave others the option to keep anons. I'd never turn off anon commentary. There's no need for any trials at all - the site works fine for both types.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Authors can turn off anons for themselves.

Let those who want that, do that, but leave others the option to keep anons. I'd never turn off anon commentary. There's no need for any trials at all - the site works fine for both types.

Ditto.

There is not a serious problem with nasty comments on this site. There is a problem with nasty comments in one category. Why should we take the ability to comment anonymously away from the many users who do so politely and constructively?

 

[other2other1]

I've gotten more nasty emails about my stories than comments in the stories themselves. Most of the time, I find the ignorance of trolls amusing; Simon is correct about the traffic too. This is one of the more popular story sites out there because it doesn't have a commercial bias for writers or readers. We write because we want to write, in any category Loving Wives or any area. Loving Wives draws a little more ferocity due to the emotional topics that it covers.

I believe that most of us leave anonymous comments and ratings turned on in our stories because we're interested to see if we have hit the mark on what we wrote. For example, I've got a reconciliation story in the works that I hope to post later in 2023, however in posting it, I know the rating will be low, and comments will be nasty just because it deals with reconciliation. I'll still post the story, though, because I am enjoying writing it and I know a few people will also enjoy it. Trolls will always be trolls regardless of your topic, your writing skill or any number of items.

My view is that if you enjoyed writing it and want to share it. Publish it and feel confident that only a small percentage of people that throw hate are vocal, everyone else likely enjoys your story