The SCOURIES reader – for both fans and serious scholars…

[sr71plt]

I really think the story tags need to be revamped and given a stronger presence in the various listings. Right at the top of the story, on the "New" page, etc.

Then we need a list of standardized suggested tags to help identify some of the themes that get lumped into "catch-all" cats. Would really help readers weed out the kind of stories they don't like, and find the ones they do.

The only other options are to add a dozen new categories, or reorganize the entire database ( more or less impossible due to the enormous size )

Barring any of that, it's author's notes out the wazzoo to ward away anyone who might be creeped out by a theme they aren't expecting.

I would like to see some story categories within gay, lesbian, and bi, just as there are in straight. Some of the other sites do this. I write in a very wide variety and I sometimes get comments that indicate that there are readers who like one type of story I write in GM (e.g., Romance) but not another (e.g., Horror). I write them to provide variety, but it's a bit unfair that readers can't easily separate them out by they own preferences like they can with straight stories here.

 

[sr71plt]

Also, since we're discussing categories and contests--note how terribly unfair access to monthly contests is. Straights have all sorts of different categories to compete in. Lesbians and GM's have essential one each and bis have none.

 

[Darkniciad]

I'm rather fortunate that the Sci-Fi/Fantasy readers are fairly tolerant of a lot of squicky themes. A quick "Hey watch out for" is about all it takes. I've put all sorts of assorted squicks into my stories there, and never had a bad word about them. I've picked up a lot of thank-you's for the warnings, though. Scores and vote totals are pretty much on the same bar for those chapters/stories too.

I'd imagine that Lit looks at new category suggestions as a snowball rolling downhill. Add a Gay Male Romance category, and somebody asks why there isn't a lesbian horror category. Somebody else wants a cuckold category.

I can understand why they'd sort of go pale at the thought of that.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I really think the story tags need to be revamped and given a stronger presence in the various listings. Right at the top of the story, on the "New" page, etc.

Then we need a list of standardized suggested tags to help identify some of the themes that get lumped into "catch-all" cats. Would really help readers weed out the kind of stories they don't like, and find the ones they do.

The only other options are to add a dozen new categories, or reorganize the entire database ( more or less impossible due to the enormous size )

Barring any of that, it's author's notes out the wazzoo to ward away anyone who might be creeped out by a theme they aren't expecting.

yeah, we've been saying all of this for years-- one of the first things I ever said, and everyone told me; "We've been saying this for years!"

 

[Darkniciad]

yeah, we've been saying all of this for years-- one of the first things I ever said, and everyone told me; "We've been saying this for years!"

*laugh* Well, they are making changes to the way things are presented right now and changing the code that generates the pages to make it easier to update.

Maybe now's the time. Keep squeakin' wheels!

( Nah, I don't really think it will actually happen )

At this point, I'd just like to see my new story that's been on my submissions list and available to read for a while today actually show up in the "New" listing at all... let alone with tags!

 

[sr71plt]

This happens occasionally to me. When it does, I wait until it's been missing from the New list for 24 hours and then PM--and it's always been added within the next day.

 

[Darkniciad]

This happens occasionally to me. When it does, I wait until it's been missing from the New list for 24 hours and then PM--and it's always been added within the next day.

Already PMd. I assume it was probably lost in the shuffle of trying to finalize the results from last year to get the year-end awards up and running.

It's a 4 parter that I submitted on the same day anyhow, so the next chapter will end up in the new list tomorrow ( it's already dated on my author page to release at midnight )

 

[liter_ally]

Much more credible than the theory that all these people actually exist. I don't know why nobody has ever figured it out before!

Not as farfetched as one would think. I won't go so far as to say not all these people exist, but I do believe there is a commonality here. As I read through stories on the site, the number of similar errors committed by different authors lead me to believe that either the authors or the editors are the same, or perhaps Literotica, on running a final check (do they do that?) are using a faulty grammar and spell checker.

Some examples -

descent (should be) decent
dinning - dining
exited - excited
furvative - furtive
heals - heels
in toe - in tow
kneed - knead
lye down - lie down
loose - lose
make due - make do
message - massage
minuet - minute
other that - other than
pedals - petals
pled - pleaded (this could be American vs English, but speaking no American, I leave this open to being shot down)
riggers - rigours
shined - shone
site - sight
taught - taut
taunt - taut
throws - throes
waste - waist
utter - udder
your - you're
you're - your

These are just some that I have noted because I found them irritating enough to detract from the flow of what might have been an otherwise good story. However, the story, the author, the details are a distant memory, while the errors live on, together with the thought "Are all these stories written by one person? One team? One computer?"

Try it, search for stories with the words "taunt muscles". You get a list of 628 stories. A search inside the first six of those did not reveal the phrase, but did show the word "taunt" used instead of "taut".

 

[Darkniciad]

Those are all common errors. A couple of them I made regularly until readers pointed them out, or my editor caught them once I started working with him. Taut/Taunt is one of them.

Look around the internet and you'll find every one of those words listed somewhere in a "common errors" document for writers.

Spell/grammar checkers also don't catch many of them. Once again, Taut/Taunt is a good example. Neither Word nor Wordperfect's spell/grammar checkers give that word a second glance.

The commonality isn't in a single person writing all the stories, it's in innumerable people making the exact same errors every day.

The sheer volume of stories posted ( not to mention forum posts ) makes the assertions ridiculous, anyway. We're talking about an average of tens of thousands of words per day, just in stories.

Not as farfetched as one would think. I won't go so far as to say not all these people exist, but I do believe there is a commonality here. As I read through stories on the site, the number of similar errors committed by different authors lead me to believe that either the authors or the editors are the same, or perhaps Literotica, on running a final check (do they do that?) are using a faulty grammar and spell checker.

 

[sr71plt]

Not as farfetched as one would think. I won't go so far as to say not all these people exist, but I do believe there is a commonality here. As I read through stories on the site, the number of similar errors committed by different authors lead me to believe that either the authors or the editors are the same, or perhaps Literotica, on running a final check (do they do that?) are using a faulty grammar and spell checker.

Some examples -

descent (should be) decent
dinning - dining
exited - excited
furvative - furtive
heals - heels
in toe - in tow
kneed - knead
lye down - lie down
loose - lose
make due - make do
message - massage
minuet - minute
other that - other than
pedals - petals
pled - pleaded (this could be American vs English, but speaking no American, I leave this open to being shot down)
riggers - rigours
shined - shone
site - sight
taught - taut
taunt - taut
throws - throes
waste - waist
utter - udder
your - you're
you're - your

These are just some that I have noted because I found them irritating enough to detract from the flow of what might have been an otherwise good story. However, the story, the author, the details are a distant memory, while the errors live on, together with the thought "Are all these stories written by one person? One team? One computer?"

Try it, search for stories with the words "taunt muscles". You get a list of 628 stories. A search inside the first six of those did not reveal the phrase, but did show the word "taunt" used instead of "taut".

As Darkinciad says, most of these are very common errors that anyone/everyone typically makes and editors are tuned in to catching (in everyone's copy but their own). Like it's/its.

 

[sr71plt]

I'd imagine that Lit looks at new category suggestions as a snowball rolling downhill. Add a Gay Male Romance category, and somebody asks why there isn't a lesbian horror category. Somebody else wants a cuckold category.

I can understand why they'd sort of go pale at the thought of that.

Yeah, we couldn't possibly consider letting lesbian's, GMs, and bis have the same status as straights, could we?

 

[Darkniciad]

Yeah, we couldn't possibly consider letting lesbian's, GMs, and bis have the same status as straights, could we?

It's fairly obvious that Lit made a choice long ago to plow firmly down the center of the mainstream of erotica. Straight, romantic, bump and grind is given precedence. The kinkier the theme, the farther off in the wake it goes. The category choices and placement in the new lists illustrate this well.

I knew coming in that I was going to be off in a dusty corner of the site writing Fantasy. It doesn't take long to see that the vote totals there average one quarter or less the site average. The ratio to cats like LW and Incest is absurd. An Incest story ( even a steaming pile of doo ) will garner more votes in half a day than the best Fantasy story ( not mine *laugh* ) will ever obtain in years on the site.

 

[sr71plt]

It's fairly obvious that Lit made a choice long ago to plow firmly down the center of the mainstream of erotica. Straight, romantic, bump and grind is given precedence. The kinkier the theme, the farther off in the wake it goes. The category choices and placement in the new lists illustrate this well.

I knew coming in that I was going to be off in a dusty corner of the site writing Fantasy. It doesn't take long to see that the vote totals there average one quarter or less the site average. The ratio to cats like LW and Incest is absurd. An Incest story ( even a steaming pile of doo ) will garner more votes in half a day than the best Fantasy story ( not mine *laugh* ) will ever obtain in years on the site.

Yep, Incest, the Web site's "premier" category, certainly is right down that center line.

 

[liter_ally]

The commonality isn't in a single person writing all the stories, it's in innumerable people making the exact same errors every day.

As Darkinciad says, most of these are very common errors that anyone/everyone typically makes and editors are tuned in to catching (in everyone's copy but their own). Like it's/its.

I was not saying there was a single person writing all these (as Darkniciad suggests, that would be a physical impossibility). What I was getting at was the similarity of errors. I agree we all make mistakes - we wouldn't be human if we didn't, but the same ones, across the board - something wrong somewhere surely.

And, by the way, sr71plt, I am ashamed to say I missed it's/its.

 

[sr71plt]

Ibut the same ones, across the board - something wrong somewhere surely.

You'd think so, but it isn't so. I edit books for experienced authors. They habitually make the same mistakes over and over again--even if I'd edited one of their books before. And when an editor has gone over my work, they find the same sorts of errors in what I write.

 

[Darkniciad]

Yep, Incest, the Web site's "premier" category, certainly is right down that center line.

That's just a matter of the kink's underground popularity.

When you think about it, it suffers from the same issues that Lesbian/Gay/Bi stories suffer. You face the same "stoopid fudge pakker" comments if two guys come into physical contact there that you see everywhere else. It's a catch-all category as well.

Combine that with the tail-end-of-the-new-list placement... They're not promoting it, but perfectly happy to take those click profits because the fans will wade through everything to find what they're looking for.

 

[Darkniciad]

I was not saying there was a single person writing all these (as Darkniciad suggests, that would be a physical impossibility). What I was getting at was the similarity of errors. I agree we all make mistakes - we wouldn't be human if we didn't, but the same ones, across the board - something wrong somewhere surely.

And, by the way, sr71plt, I am ashamed to say I missed it's/its.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=185505

That's just part 1 of 6 of one series, amongst many here on Lit alone pointing out errors that pop up all over the place every day.

People write those for a reason. It's because the errors are driving them nuts when they read them every day. Those sort of documents are posted anywhere that amateur writers submit.

The errors are a combination of laziness ( guilty ), the rather convoluted nature of the English language, and decreasing concentration on proper use of the language.

The internet, text messaging, cable t.v., video game consoles... they're all responsible in part for these errors, along with the common wiring in all our brains across racial, social, religious, regional, gender, and all other backgrounds.

 

[scouries]

sorry....

Rachlou - post 2020: The chapter that won first prize in Octobers Monthly contest, was in fact the LAST chapter of the series. Show Me Heaven isn't ongoing, nor is it up to the 9th chapter. I do have other stories that begin with the letter S, so perhaps your sight was blurred during the time you checked out my submissions page?

You’re quite correct ma’am and I apologize. And yes, perhaps my vision was blurred after this sudden explosion of monthly contest winners from HO.

I do want to state though that the ratings I listed for the five chapters (RATING: Ch.1 4.73, Ch.2 4.68, Ch.3 4.80, Ch.4 4.85, Ch.5 4.90.) were correct and that the point I was trying to make about multi chapter stories having a huge advantage in monthly contests is no way diminished by the correction. The first 2 chapters of your story averaged 4.71, and while that is an excellent score, it’s clearly not a contest winning score. By chapter 5 you’d rid yourself of all but committed fans and won.

I have nothing against you personally or your story. I simply feel the system is unfair and should be changed and I will continue to post to that effect.

jrs

 

[scouries]

payback??

[size=+2]Literotica Author Awards[/size]
November Monthly Award Winners​

Same old, same old! These three as a group, for a variety of the same obvious reasons, are perhaps the worst trio chosen among those announced over the last couple of weeks.

Novels Free Universal Carnal Knowledge Pt. 05 by Londonchap 2 comments, chapter 5 out of unless my eyes are blurred, 46!!!! Started at 4.49, then 4.54, then 4.66, then 4.63, then bingo 4.88 and won the contest. A joke! After that the next 41 chapters were all over the lot but mainly in the 4.50’s, 4.60’s and4.70’s.


Romance Jillybean by maxdname 7 comments but at least mercifully short. 4.88 rating and, surprise, surprise, [size=+2]51 VOTES!!![/SIZE] It’s simply fucking unbelievable! I wonder how many votes were mysteriously swept away before the winners were announced?


Romance Finding The Right Woman Ch. 03 by DG Hear 14 comments 4.87 rating, 152 votes. Started at 4.79, then another 4.79 and then a 4.87. Mr Hear is quite a famous LITEROTICAN, an old time insider and his win is no surprise. Payback.

jrs

 

[rachlou]

You’re quite correct ma’am and I apologize. And yes, perhaps my vision was blurred after this sudden explosion of monthly contest winners from HO.

I do want to state though that the ratings I listed for the five chapters (RATING: Ch.1 4.73, Ch.2 4.68, Ch.3 4.80, Ch.4 4.85, Ch.5 4.90.) were correct and that the point I was trying to make about multi chapter stories having a huge advantage in monthly contests is no way diminished by the correction. The first 2 chapters of your story averaged 4.71, and while that is an excellent score, it’s clearly not a contest winning score. By chapter 5 you’d rid yourself of all but committed fans and won.

I have nothing against you personally or your story. I simply feel the system is unfair and should be changed and I will continue to post to that effect.

jrs

That's okay, I accept your apology. In fact, to a large extent I agree with you about the way monthly contests are decided. That said, I was still pleased to accept my prize.

 

[liter_ally]

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=185505

The internet, text messaging, cable t.v., video game consoles... they're all responsible in part for these errors, along with the common wiring in all our brains across racial, social, religious, regional, gender, and all other backgrounds.

I agree with you entirely about the internet and text messaging. I absolutely refuse to answer emails from nieces and nephews that are written in sms-speak and just return them to sender with a request to translate. I think a lot of this is reflected in their everyday language usage.

I grew up learning English from the BBC World Service and I feel that everyone should speak English like wot she should be spoken

By the way, I am not aware of netiquette on this forum. As this was my first venture on it, I apologise for not wishing a good [insert your time of day] to everyone before I spouted forth. As my status reveals me to be a virgin, please be gentle with me.

 

[scouries]

[size=+2]ScouriesWorld[/size]


wishes you all a​

[size=+3]

HAPPY ST. PADDY’S DAY!!

​

[/size]

 

[Darkniciad]

I agree with you entirely about the internet and text messaging. I absolutely refuse to answer emails from nieces and nephews that are written in sms-speak and just return them to sender with a request to translate. I think a lot of this is reflected in their everyday language usage.

I grew up learning English from the BBC World Service and I feel that everyone should speak English like wot she should be spoken

By the way, I am not aware of netiquette on this forum. As this was my first venture on it, I apologise for not wishing a good [insert your time of day] to everyone before I spouted forth. As my status reveals me to be a virgin, please be gentle with me.

Never fear, jumping directly into the discussion is perfectly acceptable.

Just sorry that your first view of the forum had to be this train-wreck of a thread *laugh* The momentary lull of sensible, adult conversation was a mistake on our part. We should really leave this thread for humor and poo-flinging, which is its one redeeming quality.

 

[liter_ally]

Just sorry that your first view of the forum had to be this train-wreck of a thread

I like trains. Even my sneezes go aaaah choo choo.

So is this thread then meant to be to let Mr Scouries plight his troth to the powers that be, while the rest of us take the mick (seeing as its St Paddy's day)?

And staying with the same analogy, would one of the objectives of this "poo slinging" be to derail this thread?

 

[Darkniciad]

I like trains. Even my sneezes go aaaah choo choo.

So is this thread then meant to be to let Mr Scouries plight his troth to the powers that be, while the rest of us take the mick (seeing as its St Paddy's day)?

And staying with the same analogy, would one of the objectives of this "poo slinging" be to derail this thread?

This thread was off the rails with post #1. It therefore has the advantage of being able to roam freely through Scouries' land of make-believe with no need to follow rails, logic, or anything else.

Since we have a troll that's firmly ensconsced, may as well poke fun at it's idiocy and get a laugh out of it once in a while. 90% of the forum wisely has him on ignore.