Trapped! I engaged with a troll, to my sorrow. and here's what happened

[GiddyDreamer]

Some forum participants were not shy about calling the Literotica member who’s been hounding me a troll and there’s no reason why I should refrain from calling him so.

I opted to delete our futile discussion from my story ‘My Sister Kathy and I’ but when I looked at the story’s comments section today, my troll’s comments were no longer there. I deleted my comments and that was that.

The troll had indicated he’d stop pestering me only if I stopped publishing stories on Literotica. I, of course, will publish more stories if I wish to do so and he can suck a lemon.

Should he go on posting caustic comments directed at my stories, I’ll reinstate my saved copies of his entire vitriolic output to the end of ‘Kathy’ on the off chance that should readers light on that hapless tale, they might catch the troll’s comments and thrill at his masterful way of making friends and influencing people.

Thank you to all who responded.

 

[lovecraft68]

chance that should readers light on that hapless tale, they might catch the troll’s comments and thrill at his masterful way of making friends and influencing people.

This is exactly why I'm from the school of never delete a comment. Let the other readers see what a jack ass they are. Great advertising for his own work.

You know, that incredible collection of two stories they have.

 

[alohadave]

More than one of us reported some of his comments, so the site likely nuked his comments.

 

[lovecraft68]

More than one of us reported some of his comments, so the site likely nuked his comments.

It's not your right to decide whether a comment should be removed or not, that's up to the author who just posted they decided to leave those comments so people could see how ignorant that person is.

You did the troll a favor, not the OP.

Good job.

 

[alohadave]

It's not your right to decide whether a comment should be removed or not, that's up to the author who just posted they decided to leave those comments so people could see how ignorant that person is.

You did the troll a favor, not the OP.

Good job.

You do you. When I see a comment that is harassing and abusive towards the author, I will report it. There is no excuse for that shit.

I don't really care if you think it 'helps' the troll or that it's not my place. If we weren't meant to let management know, there wouldn't be a report option. They make the decision to remove or not.

I don't cotton to a code of silence. Snitches don't get stitches, and we aren't on the schoolyard or prison.

 

[Voboy]

If we weren't meant to let management know, there wouldn't be a report option. They make the decision to remove or not.

This.

Reporting comments is not really my style, but yelling at people for using the site as intended seems more than a little silly.

 

[lovecraft68]

This.

Reporting comments is not really my style, but yelling at people for using the site as intended seems more than a little silly.

You realize that management let's all these comment through, right? Even the awful ones in the BTB section. They're thing is to let authors decide what they want to keep and delete. These comments in question were brought here by someone asking how they should handle this....as in themselves. They weren't looking for a hall monitor.

If I were to ask you for advice on how to fix my car, that's not asking you to fix it for me. Its hey, what do you think I should do.

The OP listens to responses, makes a decision, but someone decided to do it for them.

Let him go do that on your comments and see if your tune changes because I know I don't want anyone, unless it was the site itself for some reason, which I imagine would have to be egregious, deciding what I leave there.

I believe we tend to our own houses, meaning I want people staying the hell out of mine. I'd think most would feel the same way.

 

[Voboy]

You realize that management let's all these comment through, right? Even the awful ones in the BTB section. They're thing is to let authors decide what they want to keep and delete. These comments in question were brought here by someone asking how they should handle this....as in themselves. They weren't looking for a hall monitor.

If I were to ask you for advice on how to fix my car, that's not asking you to fix it for me. Its hey, what do you think I should do.

The OP listens to responses, makes a decision, but someone decided to do it for them.

Yeah. Again, I'm not disagreeing with you in principle.

Let him go do that on your comments and see if your tune changes because I know I don't want anyone, unless it was the site itself for some reason, which I imagine would have to be egregious, deciding what I leave there.

That exact thing has happened before. I didn't even read the comment before it was removed. I shrugged and went on with my life, and somehow I've been able to overcome that trauma.

I believe we tend to our own houses, meaning I want people staying the hell out of mine. I'd think most would feel the same way.

I don't disagree.

Apparently, the site does. That's their prerogative. Nobody's forcing me to post here. In doing so, I am subject to their procedures and policies.

 

[Belegon]

I find myself wanting to post a comment on the troll's story now. Point out a couple of flaws to yank their chain.

But I won't, I'll be better than that, but I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be tempting.

This was my first thought as well. I'm not normally a very vengeful person, but this was my first thought.

 

[Comshaw]

I looked up the troll.

And seeing they're such a twit, I'll link this. The comments to one of his whopping two stories where he-as he accuses you of-can't take any critique as he's belligerent with anyone who points out any mistakes.

https://www.literotica.com/s/full-moon-over-tulsa-1?page=22&comments_after=14694852

He also does not allow voting, a sign of someone who's not very confident and doesn't want anyone retaliating in kind.

2 stories and 700 followers....I am underwhelmed.

Contacting Laurel does no good, if you even get a response it will be "That's what ignore is for." If it were me, I would delete your responses to him, but leave his snotty and insulting remarks up there so everyone else can see what a jack ass he is, and just don't respond. Ignoring his prattling really goes up the ass of that type.

2 stories and 750 followers in a year. Did Notalenthack even do that well? (And he is one of the best writers on the site.)

Silly question: Is that 167K view story he wrote that good? I don't care for that category so it is very difficult for me to judge either way.

Okay, maybe I'm being obtuse, but someone needs to explain to me how this is possible. I posted my first stories way back in 2004, a partial series (Payback) that I've yet to finish. I didn't post anything else until 2020. At that time I had 200 followers. Since then I've posted 45 more and acquired 592 more followers. So how did this guy get 700 followers in a year with only 2 stories? Granted I've never won anything here, nor been put on a "best" list of any kind, nor do I put tags on my stories, but from the voting scores and comments it shows they have been well received by the readers. So how is that possible? What is it that he did that I haven't? Not that I'm going to try to change how I do things, it just puzzles me and a puzzle to me is something to solve. So, any answers ya'll have?

Comshaw

 

[NoTalentHack]

Okay, maybe I'm being obtuse, but someone needs to explain to me how this is possible. I posted my first stories way back in 2004, a partial series (Payback) that I've yet to finish. I didn't post anything else until 2020. At that time I had 200 followers. Since then I've posted 45 more and acquired 592 more followers. So how did this guy get 700 followers in a year with only 2 stories? Granted I've never won anything here, nor been put on a "best" list of any kind, nor do I put tags on my stories, but from the voting scores and comments it shows they have been well received by the readers. So how is that possible? What is it that he did that I haven't? Not that I'm going to try to change how I do things, it just puzzles me and a puzzle to me is something to solve. So, any answers ya'll have?

Comshaw

I don’t think he did. From his profile, it sounds like he posted stories earlier, nuked them all, then reposted a couple later.

 

[NoTalentHack]

So I got curious and hit Wayback. At one point, he had 50 stories/chapters on Lit, posted between 2019 and 2021. Most of them were well-reviewed, split primarily between I/T and Mature. At some point he pulled them all down, then reposted two of them with ratings turned off. So, no, it’s not someone who got 700 followers with two stories in one year.

 

[lovecraft68]

So I got curious and hit Wayback. At one point, he had 50 stories/chapters on Lit, posted between 2019 and 2021. Most of them were well-reviewed, split primarily between I/T and Mature. At some point he pulled them all down, then reposted two of them with ratings turned off. So, no, it’s not someone who got 700 followers with two stories in one year.

In his case no, like you said they had a good-sized file at one point. I would imagine back then they had more than 700 and lost a bunch when they removed the stories because most know I/T gets a lot of followers, but many underestimate the mature audience.

But it is not impossible to have 700 followers, or more, with only a couple of stories.

There is an author who has two stories here-and only ever two stories-and has 3714 followers. Granted, one of the two stories is an 'all timer' type story that's #7 I think on the most faved stories list and high on the all-time I/T hall of fame.

 

[Rollinbones]

I like to leave them there until the shame smells like old prawn shells for the shitslinger. I remember a comment on one story that went something like, 'you need to put your typewriter up your bum and save us all from reading your shit.' Then they one bombed the hell out of my story. Anon... Always anon. For the record, the typewriter didn't fit.

 

[NoTalentHack]

In his case no, like you said they had a good-sized file at one point. I would imagine back then they had more than 700 and lost a bunch when they removed the stories because most know I/T gets a lot of followers, but many underestimate the mature audience.

But it is not impossible to have 700 followers, or more, with only a couple of stories.

There is an author who has two stories here-and only ever two stories-and has 3714 followers. Granted, one of the two stories is an 'all timer' type story that's #7 I think on the most faved stories list and high on the all-time I/T hall of fame.

Oh, absolutely. But of the three factors that most influence follower gain (longevity, ratings, and volume), you need to have at least two. Two unrated stories in a single year isn't going to do that.

 

[lovecraft68]

This one has insane stats, most of it from the cuckold genre. There's a huge slumbering audience out there waiting for the right author.

https://www.literotica.com/s/a-cuckold-made

1700+ favs on that story is impressive regardless of category, decent score too, especially for LW.

 

[lovecraft68]

It’s not just that story. Check his entire list: 8,500 followers and 20,000 favs across 20 stories! Millions of views...

Good for him, too bad it looks like he's slowed down of late. The story you linked is his most recent for LW and I think he only has one story after that, an IR from two years ago.

 

[lovecraft68]

I like to leave them there until the shame smells like old prawn shells for the shitslinger. I remember a comment on one story that went something like, 'you need to put your typewriter up your bum and save us all from reading your shit.' Then they one bombed the hell out of my story. Anon... Always anon. For the record, the typewriter didn't fit.

I go along with this. I find it funny when someone leaves a shitty comment, and other readers start calling it out. Let people see their ignorance first hand, especially if they're the rare breed that at least uses a handle.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Trolls are like assholes, we all have at least one and many others troll us, and they themselves are all assholes. I only delete direct attacks, but sometimes, it is better to leave the comments to show the caliber of the attacker. Not responding to them is my current policy. Defending yourself isn't necessary with stats like you have.

 

[NoTalentHack]

This one has insane stats, most of it from the cuckold genre. There's a huge slumbering audience out there waiting for the right author.

https://www.literotica.com/s/a-cuckold-made

Yeah. He's a good writer; the story you've highlighted shows that. Part of why this story performed well, I think, is that it takes the characters through a whole journey, and none of them seem like assholes, even the more dominant male.

One of the problems is that most of the cuckold stories in there are not well told, even the ones that don't belong in NC/R or Fetish, i.e., the hard humiliation stories and forced cuckolding ones. More than that, they're fetish stories that don't give people not into the fetish a reason to be there; that's admittedly not a thing you have to deal with in most fetish categories (people go to BDSM for BDSM, as an example), but it is something in there, simply because it's become such a broad category, and that's not even talking about the BTB stuff.

Taking an example from another category, let's look at Anal. A poorly told anal story involving "regular" anal sex can still do pretty well in there. However, while pegging stories belong in Anal, even if they did arguably once belong in Fetish, they have more of an uphill climb. The pegging stories that do well in Anal lead the reader through it: why the guy would be into it, the sort of slow dance towards it, etc. Like A Cuckold Made, it's that sort of journey that invites the reader along with it.

Unfortunately, very few stories in LW that are about LW-specific kinks do that, even though a bunch of people are there for things that "feel" different to them. Swingers get why they like swinging, for example, but they maybe don't get the whole stag/vixen thing, i.e., the lack of reciprocity bugs them. And for the harder cuckolding stuff especially? For a lot of guys, it's completely alien as to why ANYone would be into that, to the point where it seems upsettingly close to abuse.

I think things might be changing somewhat, though. If you look at the top rated from the last 30 days in there, it's still the case that the marital drama stuff does best there, but there are several of the "classic" types up above 4 stars now, along with even some meaner stuff, including a couple of hardcore NTR stories, a revenge affair, cuckolding, gloryholes, etc. Given that we've reached a point where there are only 2 4.5+ stories from the last thirty days in there at all, and one of them is about... not reconciling, exactly, but a divorcing couple coming to an understanding, that's saying something.

Anecdotally, I'm seeing fewer angry comments in there lately, too. There are still some for sure, but not as many, and not as vitriolic in most cases. Hell, maybe it's just the holiday season, though.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Oh, absolutely. But of the three factors that most influence follower gain (longevity, ratings, and volume), you need to have at least two. Two unrated stories in a single year isn't going to do that.

Category + tropes are the most important factors as far as I have seen. The factors you mentioned are important too but these two matter the most. A couple of months ago I saw a completely new author posting his first story - backseat mom/son thing of about 4k words. After a week he already had about 300 followers only due to that one relatively short story. I even have a screenshot somewhere. Would have been interesting if I kept tracking his success with followers over time based on that one story only.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Category + tropes are the most important factors as far as I have seen. The factors you mentioned are important too but these two matter the most. A couple of months ago I saw a completely new author posting his first story - backseat mom/son thing of about 4k words. After a week he already had about 300 followers only due to that one relatively short story. I even have a screenshot somewhere. Would have been interesting if I kept tracking his success with followers over time based on that one story only.

Category definitely does matter, too, but there are folks in the top 300 followed that have barely touched the big two categories.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Category definitely does matter, too, but there are folks in the top 300 followed that have barely touched the big two categories.

There are definitely other popular categories besides the big two, but in the top twenty most followed authors, there is only one author - WriterAnabelle who seems to be an odd case. Most of their stories are in Non-Human and some are in the Mature category. But every single other author in the top 20 posts (often) in I/T and most of them even post in other popular categories such as LW, Mature, First Time, NC/R etc.
This can't be a coincidence. It would be interesting to research this beyond the top 20 most followed but I am too lazy for that. Maybe @8letters has some stats ready for us.

 

[8letters]

There are definitely other popular categories besides the big two, but in the top twenty most followed authors, there is only one author - WriterAnabelle who seems to be an odd case. Most of their stories are in Non-Human and some are in the Mature category. But every single other author in the top 20 posts (often) in I/T and most of them even post in other popular categories such as LW, Mature, First Time, NC/R etc.
This can't be a coincidence. It would be interesting to research this beyond the top 20 most followed but I am too lazy for that. Maybe @8letters has some stats ready for us.

Sadly, I don't. I don't understand how I gain followers. I typically post only one or two stories a year. My first thought is that most of my follower gain should be in the week or month after I publish a story, but instead, I get a steady amount of new followers every week. How are those readers finding my stories? I don't know. Similar Stories? Search for particular Story Tags? Looking through the top-rated I/T stories list? The Random Taboo Stories list? Someplace on the internet that discusses erotic stories the person likes?

 

[Tomh1966]

Trolls are like assholes, we all have at least one and many others troll us, and they themselves are all assholes. I only delete direct attacks, but sometimes, it is better to leave the comments to show the caliber of the attacker. Not responding to them is my current policy. Defending yourself isn't necessary with stats like you have.

LOL I get a kick out of the meanest ones.

I'll have to get a T-shirt made that says 'I'm a cuck and a wimp.'