Two categories to one story?

[Edey]

Is there a way to add two categories to one story? Or to filter categories by sexual orientation of MCs?
I really struggle in Gay male category as I have stories that include:
Fetish elements - and the MCs are gay males.
Science fiction set up of the story - but the MCs are gay males.
So...
Putting these stories to "Fetish" or "Science fiction/Fantasy" category may result in negative comments and ratings or just low views, and I've seen such situations, as there are mostly straight readers there, and it's not their main interest.

But on the other hand - as I put them in Gay male category, it kind of seem like one big bag of everything.
Incest gay stories? Non con gay stories? All in one category?
I really can't wrap my head around that - why all gay stories should be huddled together, and there are only tags to filter them, but... is it the best options? Are there any other ways to filter stories?

 

[Zeb_Carter]

No. A story goes into one category. You will have to decide which. But if there are gay males in the story it will be placed in Gay Male by the admin as that is a trump category.

 

[trappedinthecl0set]

Seems a bit ridiculous and anachronistic to me that M/F stories can be placed in a multitude of categories but there is just a one-size-fits-all category for a whole world of M/M stories.

 

[Edey]

No. A story goes into one category. You will have to decide which. But if there are gay males in the story it will be placed in Gay Male by the admin as that is a trump category.

For me, it's a bit of closing all gay stories in one confinement
A simple filter at the beginning of every category would suffice. Choose: M/F - F/F - M/M - Group.
It's an “erotic” portal in essence, so this seems rather rational to filter rather than segregate.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Seems a bit ridiculous and anachronistic to me that M/F stories can be placed in a multitude of categories but there is just a one-size-fits-all category for a whole world of M/M stories.

For me, it's a bit of closing all gay stories in one confinement
A simple filter at the beginning of every category would suffice. Choose: M/F - F/F - M/M - Group.
It's an “erotic” portal in essence, so this seems rather rational to filter rather than segregate.

Well the system is over 20 years old and each category now has thousands of stories in them. And a filter wouldn't work as there are no subcategories to the categories.

That's what happens when you are the first and biggest in the industry with millions of readers and thousands of authors.

But if you can design a new database structure and the code a process to take the old to the new without fucking it all up, I'm sure the owners would really appreciate it by giving you free reads the rest of your life.

 

[Edey]

Well the system is over 20 years old and each category now has thousands of stories in them. And a filter wouldn't work as there are no subcategories to the categories.

That's what happens when you are the first and biggest in the industry with millions of readers and thousands of authors.

But if you can design a new database structure and the code a process to take the old to the new without fucking it all up, I'm sure the owners would really appreciate it by giving you free reads the rest of your life.

Well, I appreciate your honesty, although I think about that a bit differently – if no person will ever critique anything, there will be no incentive to change. I try to look at this that way even though I'm not an active programmer/coder, (however I was doing that a bit, back in my days) and I can't help them with that.

But I am an actual information architect by profession and I made webpage and system architecture (especially for community portals and for games) for over a decade, so I may help with designing/suggesting some useful changes in the interface - for free. But some other person would have to code it

 

[Acktion]

Use the "tags."

I understand your reasoning behind the "categories." Frankly, it's an old, old argument from the Author's Hangout that's been around for at least the decade I've been kicking around. (Dear God, the fights between incest and LGBTQ that didn't want that other kink mixing with theirs kink was horrific and stupifying in its collision!) And time was, that would have been all you had to go by to get in front of the eyes of readership, the category. But, frankly, the "tags" are mostly where it's at now anyway for many to decide what they are going to read (or avoid).

It is, of course, completely up to you how you go about it. But, at the end of the day, as I understand it, the single owner and decorator of this art-house's stories side (Laurel) decides whether she's gonna hang your piece at all and on which wall it goes. ***shrug*** Not saying you're wrong (or right). Just that she's the only one, as I understand it (and assuming there hasn't been a change in the four years since I last submitted anything), that makes those decisions.

Best of luck to ya for the sun out of your eyes and the wind at your back for a brighter tomorrow, whichever way you set your sails.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Well, I appreciate your honesty, although I think about that a bit differently – if no person will ever critique anything, there will be no incentive to change. I try to look at this that way even though I'm not an active programmer/coder, (however I was doing that a bit, back in my days) and I can't help them with that.

But I am an actual information architect by profession and I made webpage and system architecture (especially for community portals and for games) for over a decade, so I may help with designing/suggesting some useful changes in the interface - for free. But some other person would have to code it

And I have been a software engineer for most of my life, around 40 of my 70 years. I was also a database architect for a lot of that time working with monster DBs and coding million line database procedures.

And your right, about the no critique no change. And Lit has been critiqued many times and changes are happening, yet I don't see a change to the monster database structure any time soon. But they just changed the BB from vBulletin to this one, which I have no idea right now what it called. They also changed the Author's dashboard not long ago.

So, put it in gay male and use the tags to warn people or alert people this is what they are looking for or not. You can search by the tags. Which is the same as what you want to do with the data base. In fact there is a tag portal I would show your where it at but I personally have never used it.

 

[Edey]

And I have been a software engineer for most of my life, around 40 of my 70 years. I was also a database architect for a lot of that time working with monster DBs and coding million line database procedures.

And your right, about the no critique no change. And Lit has been critiqued many times and changes are happening, yet I don't see a change to the monster database structure any time soon. But they just changed the BB from vBulletin to this one, which I have no idea right now what it called. They also changed the Author's dashboard not long ago.

So, put it in gay male and use the tags to warn people or alert people this is what they are looking for or not. You can search by the tags. Which is the same as what you want to do with the data base. In fact there is a tag portal I would show your where it at but I personally have never used it.

Well, I guess I will stay with the tags
I was hesitant about that because I noticed people tag very... randomly.
It's hard to check all the alternative names/versions.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Well, I guess I will stay with the tags
I was hesitant about that because I noticed people tag very... randomly.
It's hard to check all the alternative names/versions.

Lit does have a tag cloud to help choose tags for stories
tags.literotica.com You can filter by category and popularity.

 

[jehoram]

If you're writing in one category but there's a strong component of another category, it's wise to put a disclaimer in an introduction, like "Warning: there will be gay sex in this story" even though you've categorized it as "Group Sex" or "Fetish." That way, readers who have an aversion to the subject will stay away from it, or at least (hopefully) not downgrade the voting if they encounter it.

And, as Acktion points out, tags are your friends.

 

[Edey]

If you're writing in one category but there's a strong component of another category, it's wise to put a disclaimer in an introduction, like "Warning: there will be gay sex in this story" even though you've categorized it as "Group Sex" or "Fetish." That way, readers who have an aversion to the subject will stay away from it, or at least (hopefully) not downgrade the voting if they encounter it.

And, as Acktion points out, tags are your friends.

I actually was analyzing it quite meticulously, and I noticed that even stories with obvious "gay" tags were down-voted in “straight” categories. Even the really good ones, with a great buildup. And I'm not very forgiving as a reader I may not be a native English speaker, but I can spot a good story among the bad ones.
So - some people were – I guess – interested in intriguing leads and tried to read these stories even if not completely glad about the "gay" part. And... they unavoidably rated it a bit lower(even subliminally) than it would be rated in the pure Gay Male category. Was it worth the risk? I doubt it. Authors are working hard, putting their time and effort in it, and they want to be rated fairly.

So... I'm afraid, gay-story-authors like me, are doomed to confinement in Gay Male category if we want to be rated for the value of a plot and the hotness of sex scenes, and not because our MCs sexuality is off-putting for some.

I will stick with the tags then, ah, well. Thank you all for your posts.

 

[jehoram]

I've written a few "group sex" stories where some people in the group paired off with their own gender once in a while. To me, it's only natural that when you've got a lot of people, not everybody is going to be strictly hetero. I expect that some of those stories will get a lower score (in fact, I've just had a comment from an unhappy reader), but I really don't care if I don't get that red H. I'm writing to please myself, and to please readers who like my viewpoint on the world.

Right now, I'm writing a story that will probably end up in the "incest" category, but there's group sex and lesbian sex in there, too. I'll have to put a disclaimer in the prologue, I guess.

 

[Edey]

I've written a few "group sex" stories where some people in the group paired off with their own gender once in a while. To me, it's only natural that when you've got a lot of people, not everybody is going to be strictly hetero. I expect that some of those stories will get a lower score (in fact, I've just had a comment from an unhappy reader), but I really don't care if I don't get that red H. I'm writing to please myself, and to please readers who like my viewpoint on the world.

Right now, I'm writing a story that will probably end up in the "incest" category, but there's group sex and lesbian sex in there, too. I'll have to put a disclaimer in the prologue, I guess.

Group sex stories rather always have two people of the same sex interacting with each other in a way, so it is hard to... avoid some unhappy comments... Sad, but true.

I feel for you, but this is precisely why I don't want to put my gay stories into different topic-categories. I even have one draft of fantasy story with gay MCs, and I'm a bit afraid what the reaction will be in the Gay Male category. In this category, the king-topics are roommates/college/work/hookups, etc. How fantasy gay male story will fit there?
I'm expecting rather low ratings. But what can I do, there is no other option.
Of course, I can just... not write the story at all, haha! But...
Qui ne risque rien, n'a rien