Unwanted censorship in Story

[DrAhtfunk]

Hi,

I used a fake phone number xxxxxx in my story https://www.literotica.com/s/abandoned-pussy-at-the-goth-club-ch-01
It is definitely a not existing phone number like used in movie production, but it got censored into xxx-xxx-xxxx. Calling it leads to no connection and this number will also not be used in the future. This censorship destroys the immersion of my story and degrades its quality because of the wrong assumption it might be a real number. Can it please be fixed again?
It gives the impression I added a placeholder and forgot to add the number before publishing.



I'm thinking that since you can't use a phone number in a story, you might not want to use one on the forum either.

EF Mod

 

[jaF0]

Not big on the definition of censorship, are you?

 

[DrAhtfunk]

How would you call it? I understand why it was done, to protect the potential owner of the number from harm. But there is no owner, it is a complete fictional number. So why blank out the information?
I don't say it was out of ill intent, the reason behind it is clear. But people writing stories (or doing movies) should know about the phone numbers with the 555 code.
here a youtube video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWx4epOcLd4

If the name of characters would be X-ed out, this would be censorship as well.

 

[VilHaMer]

Isn't this what Hollywood does? They use 555-numbers because no number in the US starts with that?

 

[SyleusSnow]

With hundreds of stories to verify per day, I bet Laurel didn't have time to verify whether the number was functional or not and just applied a standard policy for phone numbers.

Perhaps a note in the submission comments would have prevented that, but let me ask this: what does adding actual telephone digits, real or fake, add to the story? Could it work just as well with something like "she called the number she'd written down"? (haven't read the story... I don't know the specific context)

Then there's the issue of specifics like that taking the reader out of the story. Readers outside north america use different phone number formats... if they've been reading along happily, forming mental images of events and places in their own locale, seeing that style of phone number might be enough to take them out it.

Most Lit readers seem to be Americans, but there are plenty from all over the world. Lately I've tried writing with as few localizations as possible... for example, since the entire world except two countries use the metric system, I use time for distance instead of miles or KM e.g. "He drove 12 hours to get there". Same for weights and measures. Readers are then free to build their mental imagery as it suits them.

 

[DrAhtfunk]

@SyleusSnow I am not mad that it was done. Really not. I understand the reason and yes, you are right by checking a lot of stories a day, this can't be checked, and censoring it just to be on the safe side is justified. I am fine with that.
But if I as the author notice then, that this censorship was not justified, I should be able to claim against it. This is what I do now.
Yes, I could have stated it in the comment when submitting the story, but it didn't come into my mind when I uploaded the story, that the phone number would be an issue.

Why is the phone number important? Because of the context in the story. The phone number is part of a letter, which a girl is writing. Not adding the phone number breaks with the logic of the story. The letter is shown in the story word by word. It is not told "There was a letter and the letter stated some rules, explanation and her phone number"
It is show don't tell. I wanted to show explicitly what is told in the letter for the sake of immersion. Censoring the phone number destroys this intend.


Really, no hard feelings here, I understand why this was done, I am okay with the censorship in the first place. I tried to get into contact with editors another way, but it didn't work out. Maybe because I am not so familiar with the structure of Literotica. So that is why opened this thread.
I don't want to accuse Literotica of ill intend, I just would like the censorship of my story be reversed, it was reasonable, but made out of wrong assumptions.

 

[RoperTrace]

. .

 

[DrAhtfunk]

Isn't this what Hollywood does? They use 555-numbers because no number in the US starts with that?

Yes, exactly. The numbers 555-0100 to 555-0199 are reserved for movie purposes. My number of 555-0117 fits into this range.

 

[SyleusSnow]

I tried to get into contact with editors another way, but it didn't work out. Maybe because I am not so familiar with the structure of Literotica. So that is why opened this thread.
I don't want to accuse Literotica of ill intend, I just would like the censorship of my story be reversed, it was reasonable, but made out of wrong assumptions.

You could re-submit the story (with UPDATED appended to the title) and add a note in the "Note to Admin" that the number isn't functional (as VilHaMer points out, the 555 prefix is used in movies and isn't functional in north america).

But I think you're better off finding some way to avoid using the number in the story.

 

[SyleusSnow]

Actually, the number used by Hollywood was an actual working number at one time. It was the phone company's number for information. Ask me how I know.

You're a member of Telephone Pioneers of America?

 

[RoperTrace]

You're a member of Telephone Pioneers of America?

Damn! Too easy.

 

[DrAhtfunk]

You could re-submit the story (with UPDATED appended to the title) and add a note in the "Note to Admin" that the number isn't functional (as VilHaMer points out, the 555 prefix is used in movies and isn't functional in north america).

But I think you're better off finding some way to avoid using the number in the story.

No, not stating the phone number would be just a bad break in the narrative of the story.

But re-submitting might be the option. How would I do this? I see that I can change pending stories, but all the time I click on the published one, I get to the story page and don't see anything to change it. But this would be very helpful indeed.

 

[SyleusSnow]

No, not stating the phone number would be just a bad break in the narrative of the story.

But re-submitting might be the option. How would I do this? I see that I can change pending stories, but all the time I click on the published one, I get to the story page and don't see anything to change it. But this would be very helpful indeed.

Create a new story, putting in the original text of your story with the fake phone number, the same tags, category, language and everything else exactly the same as the first time you submitted it, and EXACTLY the same title, but with the word UPDATED in all caps at the end.

Then in the Note to Admin briefly explain the situation about the phone number and why you think it should be allowed. Maybe it will be accepted, maybe not. It's entirely up to Laurel who makes the rules and approves all stories.

 

[DrAhtfunk]

I fear that doesn't really work. I get out of characters with my name of the story.
I can't even upload it with the name it is, because the Admin (I guess it was Laurel then) added a Ch. for Chapter 01, which I can't even do, as this extends beyond the character limit for me and I can't upload it with this title.
Impossible to even add an "UPDATED" to it.

I also needed to shorten the Title of the story already, so it fits into the field, as the original title was too long.

But good to know Laurel is doing the uploads, maybe I can reach him/her somehow? It is not an urgent issue, just something I would prefer to get resolved.

 

[SyleusSnow]

I fear that doesn't really work. I get out of characters with my name of the story.
I can't even upload it with the name it is, because the Admin (I guess it was Laurel then) added a Ch. for Chapter 01, which I can't even do, as this extends beyond the character limit for me and I can't upload it with this title.
Impossible to even add an "UPDATED" to it.

I also needed to shorten the Title of the story already, so it fits into the field, as the original title was too long.

But good to know Laurel is doing the uploads, maybe I can reach him/her somehow? It is not an urgent issue, just something I would prefer to get resolved.

You can try sending a PM (private message) to Laurel about all this (if you haven't already, please go into the "User CP" here in the forum and under Options make sure "Receive Email from Admins" is checked).

Regardless, this is an Erotica site, not the New Yorker or The Paris Review As writers, our stories are our darlings and we want them to be perfect, but most readers here probably understand the masking of the phone number in your story and don't care about it in the least.

 

[KeithD]

It's true that Literotica doesn't permit any telephone numbers or URLs whatsoever, fake at the time of posting or not, in its stories. That's just the way it is. It isn't censorship. You're lucky it was just substituted posted. When, not knowing the rules, I used a fake URL, I had to rewrite the story before it would post.

 

[DrAhtfunk]

Hmm... didn't know that this is the case in general. But then it has to stay that way. The reader will know that this is supposed to be a phone number. It harms the immersion, but I understand that Literotica does want to go safe and not publish unknown phone numbers for security reasons.

Although I still would call it censorship, I don't see why this should not be censorship? Information is held away from publication for an audience.
It's no ill intent or because Literotica is evil, they just want to be on the safe side.
Then I will live with the story as it is, although I would prefer to have a number there, instead of xxx-xxx-xxxx.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hi,

I used a fake phone number xxxxxxx in my story https://www.literotica.com/s/abandoned-pussy-at-the-goth-club-ch-01
It is definitely a not existing phone number like used in movie production, but it got censored into xxx-xxx-xxxx. Calling it leads to no connection and this number will also not be used in the future. This censorship destroys the immersion of my story and degrades its quality because of the wrong assumption it might be a real number. Can it please be fixed again?
It gives the impression I added a placeholder and forgot to add the number before publishing.

I doubt it will even be looked at. The policy is to remove anything that might be a real phone number from stories hosted on the site. It might be a phone number somewhere in the world - you don't know for sure that it isn't.

You're worrying over nothing. Readers are clever enough to see a string of xxx and think, phone number, and read on.

 

[DirtyMindedMinx]

I'm sure there's an automated algorithm that blurs out anything in the format of a phone number without considering what that number actually is.

You could go with the old-timey way they did phone numbers...klondike-447, please. Or better yet, you could just use some creativity and find a work-around. Maybe they could write in the letter, "I'll text you her number later" or something like that. Or, "I don't know her number off the top of my head, but she's in the book (or you can Google it - depending on when the story is set).

Unless the phone number is some kind of cipher that the reader can use to unlock a secret code that is a clue to who murdered Mrs. Marple, then you really don't need a literal number. Don't underestimate your readers and their ability to suspend disbelief in a case like this. If you've done your job, most of them should be too busy jerking off to even notice!

Hugz,
-Rachael

 

[KeithD]

You could go with the old-timey way they did phone numbers...klondike-447, please.

I think that a primary point in this is that, no, you can't use a number like that at Literotica. You can't use any number.

 

[jaF0]

You could go with the old-timey way they did phone numbers....

BR549. Just ask fer Junior, he's always a dealin'.

 

[DrAhtfunk]

I'm sure there's an automated algorithm that blurs out anything in the format of a phone number without considering what that number actually is.

You could go with the old-timey way they did phone numbers...klondike-447, please. Or better yet, you could just use some creativity and find a work-around. Maybe they could write in the letter, "I'll text you her number later" or something like that. Or, "I don't know her number off the top of my head, but she's in the book (or you can Google it - depending on when the story is set).

Unless the phone number is some kind of cipher that the reader can use to unlock a secret code that is a clue to who murdered Mrs. Marple, then you really don't need a literal number. Don't underestimate your readers and their ability to suspend disbelief in a case like this. If you've done your job, most of them should be too busy jerking off to even notice!

Hugz,
-Rachael

Nothing about this would actually work in my story. It is about a letter, a girl writes to her idol, which she wants to give him together with a gift. She has no idea, if she will be even able to talk to him at this point, and her only way of communication is by giving him the gift and the letter in the hope, he will read it. She wants to stay in contact with him, that's why she gives him her phone number.
The complete letter she writes to him is stated in full text, because it is interesting to see for the reader, what exactly she had written to him.
Not putting her phone number into this letter would not fit her character, because she wants to get into contact with him.

But I will just leave it x-ed out then. It isn't as good for the immersion, but the readers can guess it is an actual phone number.

 

[ElectricBlue]

But I will just leave it x-ed out then. It isn't as good for the immersion, but the readers can guess it is an actual phone number.

Exactly. Readers are clever like that, they can figure things out for themselves .

 

[MillieDynamite]

You may not be able to call the number, but some scam outfit makes robo calls from xxxxxxx. I'm not sure why that would generate a need to X it out.

 

[_Lynn_]

You may not be able to call the number, but some scam outfit makes robo calls from XXXXXXX. I'm not sure why that would generate a need to X it out.

I'm thinking that since you can't use a phone number in a story, you might not want to use one on the forum either.

EF Mod