Why do Literotica poems get relatively few reads and public comments?

[sack]

Just as a lark, I pulled up a page of non-erotic poems at random, and checked for public comments. MORE THAN THREE FOURTHS HAD NONE!! The remaining had one or two, and a few had 4-6. Even more amazing, if you look at the poems with the most reads, 10,000 is about the limit. Yet some stories can routinely get 50,000-100,000 reads if not more. What is going on here? a poem is much easier to read than a story, and no more difficult to PC on. I also found the same ol' people are making PC's on poetry....My Erotic Tale, Wicked Eve, Tathagata, Maria, Doormouse, Lil Darlin, me, and a few others. If we collectively decided to stop leaving PC's, that would REALLY drop the total number of comments! Even with the new poem previews, there does not seem to be much correlation. Odd, the few times my poems have been mentioned, they've gotten FEWER votes/PC's! There isn't a new story review, to the best of my knowledge, yet stories seem to garner the most attention and comments. Are there a lot of poetry snobs out there, or has it always been this way on Lit.?

Sack

 

[My Erotic Tale]

poetry is in the mentality
It's been that way for the past year
I've tried to encourage poets to write
and read more and learn by reading more
and inspire them to exchange comments

other than your comment that my comments
were superficial it's been working for I can
name a hand full of poeple who love poetry
but didn't like the feedback they got by critics
disecting their creation. And fear the wrath of
the grammer police like yourself <grin> insecurity
may play a small part here but that would mean
that an open mind should leaned a helping hand
not discredit another sack

So I hope to turn that around by encouraging
new poets to write and all poets to comment
as much as possible. There really is some great work
here at this site.

Stories is a whole new realm. This topic has been
discussed many times, where were you then?

there seems to be a continuous shift in who
comments more then another interested reader
goes through the cycle of yearning and reading
and the cycle continues, jim use to. think he changed
his name to comment and not affect his stories
and poems from trolls, several have claimed to
do this. Many have commented that their creations
become vulnerable to 1 bombs. I don't write for votes.
comments perhaps mean more than a score that
is based on reads and votes doesn't mean the
work is astounding. Just accumilated more votes.

 

[sack]

The grammar police.......

I don't think people should be afraid to post poetry because of grammatical or spelling reasons. It's easy enough to do a spell check, I 'm not a perfect speller and the check does alert me to the obvious. There are many articles on grammar in the "How to" section which are short and easy to review. And most people are NOT aware of them according to my informal experience.

If someone has questions about your poem or analyzes it too closely for your comfort, I would simply answer them as honestly as possible or just send a PM back saying you were uncomfortable with the "dissection." (I would relish it myself...not every poet feels as you do.) I think we want to encourage poets to develop tougher skins, and drop the insecurity. It's a free poem site, not a big name contest, and hopefully every thread we read, every submission we analyze, and every new friend we make, just makes us more whole.

Another issue is some poets have no concept of zero population growth. They spew out product like a precision machine, with more emphasis on quantity over quality. I would rather read 1 above average poem than 5 mediocre ones. If I was a moderator, I would have a quota of three poems per day.....no more. That would allow the poet to really work on those three poems to develop them to their fullest, rather than merely giving "lip service" to ten entries.

I have been working on my PC's making them less general and more specific to the poem in question, and see you have as well since I mentioned it. Nice pleasantries are of little help, besides being ego-pumping. That does not mean you have to be a bitch, but a happy medium certainly is possible.




Sack

 

[My Erotic Tale]

Re: The grammar police.......

I don't think people should be afraid to post poetry because of grammatical or spelling reasons. It's easy enough to do a spell check, I 'm not a perfect speller and the check does alert me to the obvious. There are many articles on grammar in the "How to" section which are short and easy to review. And most people are NOT aware of them according to my informal experience.

If someone has questions about your poem or analyzes it too closely for your comfort, I would simply answer them as honestly as possible or just send a PM back saying you were uncomfortable with the "dissection." (I would relish it myself...not every poet feels as you do.) I think we want to encourage poets to develop tougher skins, and drop the insecurity. It's a free poem site, not a big name contest, and hopefully every thread we read, every submission we analyze, and every new friend we make, just makes us more whole.

Another issue is some poets have no concept of zero population growth. They spew out product like a precision machine, with more emphasis on quantity over quality. I would rather read 1 above average poem than 5 mediocre ones. If I was a moderator, I would have a quota of three poems per day.....no more. That would allow the poet to really work on those three poems to develop them to their fullest, rather than merely giving "lip service" to ten entries.

I have been working on my PC's making them less general and more specific to the poem in question, and see you have as well since I mentioned it. Nice pleasantries are of little help, besides being ego-pumping. That does not mean you have to be a bitch, but a happy medium certainly is possible.




Sack

Comment sections are there for comments. That's a given
but I noticed you skipped the topic that the cycle is continuous. There was YDD, jim and sack and others that comment by dissecting anothers creation. A need to improve on instead of take it for what it is and the way it was played out. there has been some critics come and go that were the slap on the back types as you put it. I see nothing wrong with encouragement. You either tear down what you see or you praise it.

You can't exactly make a tiger purr, it has to do it on it's own. You can coax it by rubs and gentle glides and pets. not slapping it with a warrant from the grammer issue. I also know that for published and professional reasons this would be an issue for the editor. But this is a public amature forum where peolpe of all walks of life submitt. You can't help but be a bitch if your a bitch I just try and go and console those who have been bitch slapped with why their poem didn't set well with someone. Every ones poems are not for everyone. But my two cents sack, you can't change and I'm not trying to change you. Just except you for who and what you are, a public comment whore? <grin> I am a slap on the back kind of guy, sorry.

 

[My Erotic Tale]

my stories get much more reads than my poems.
the poets are deffinetly out numbered,
but I like the under dog. I feel encouragement
might help generate more poets,
so when one gets bitch slapped by the
grammer issue I try and console
them and help nurture their talent and
passion to inspire them to continue.

The stories section get more votes which is
why they require 50 votes to be elidgable
and poems only require 10, obvious huh?
hehehehe

be kind to your friendly poet
comment and feedback every chance you
get. you may spark a poet that will florish fom
your words of encouragement.

 

[minsue]

It's a porn site! I'm happy for any reads and comments at all.

 

[sack]

the grammar police...a response to MET.

Since most poems are relatively short and the tiniest misspelling or grammatical problem so glaring, I do think it is important that poets get on top of the spelling and grammar issues. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do this, if I can do it, anybody can! My feeling is if a certain poet is going to be lazy as to the presentation of his poem, then I'm going to be lazy about reading it. Just as clothes make the man, a well presented poem gets high marks in my book.
I wouldn't catagorize all commenters in such a black and white manner. It is possible to be basically positive and supportive, yet offer tips to improve structure, grammar, spelling etc. That is Wicked Eve's approach, and it works rather well. As to being grammar bitch slapped, you ought to read the comments on some of the Loving Wives stories! Now that is a true bitch slap. Out of nearly 600 PC's , I don't think I've left even one that said something like "this poem sucks". Yes, I've been real/honest, and would expect nothing less in return. I wouldn't be reluctant to offer suggestions, MET. If someone would go to pieces over a simple suggestion, than that is their problem, not the commenters'

Sack
PS- Minisue, if this is a porn site, can you explain to me why 2 out of 3 of the winning Winter Holiday Contest stories were in the Non-Erotic category? (The Erotic poems get even fewer PC's than the non-erotic ones!)

 

[minsue]

Re: the grammar police...a response to MET.

PS- Minisue, if this is a porn site, can you explain to me why 2 out of 3 of the winning Winter Holiday Contest stories were in the Non-Erotic category? (The Erotic poems get even fewer PC's than the non-erotic ones!)

Two reasons - First, those who spend time on the boards, esp. the AH, are more likely to go through and read and vote on every single story in a contest because they feel a sense of community and because they want the others to vote on theirs. Most of those who just come here to read just back-click if they end up wandering into a non-erotic story by accident.

Second, they were damn good stories.


Edited to add: And what Cat said.

 

[*Catbabe*]

Re: the grammar police...a response to MET.

PS- Minisue, if this is a porn site, can you explain to me why 2 out of 3 of the winning Winter Holiday Contest stories were in the Non-Erotic category? (The Erotic poems get even fewer PC's than the non-erotic ones!)

So, let me get this straight.

You are actually trying to argue that this isn't a porn site and are stumped as to why poems get less views and votes than stories?

Go to the top lists. How many non-erotic stories did you find there? I would be surprised if there were any on the site's top list. Incest is by far, the most popular story category on literotica, which is hardly non-erotic. This IS very much a porn site.

The people who vote for the contest stories (which I am sure are great) are a small percentage of the literotica readership. They may have great taste, but it would be wrong to say they represent the tastes of the majority of readers at lit.

Contest stories would have to have thousands of votes in order to say that they were truly the choice of the majority of readers and that they represented exactly what literotica readers were interested in reading.

As to why the poems have less votes than the stories. Have you ever been in a bookstore? Take a look at the fiction section and then go search for the poetry shelf. Obviously, poetry appeals to fewer people, so it follows that stories would have more readers/votes than poems.

 

[annaswirls]

it is also a fluke that most people even find the poems here.

most people I know find them by chance, I mean they are not even mentioned on the opening page and then you scroll down below the water line to find them.

and of course the other stuff too

my stories did not get as many comments as most of my poems. I did get more emails after I wrote them, though.

oh and every time I got an email/pm etc about my stories, I directed them to the poetry and people said DAMN I didnt know poetry could be so hot!

 

[HomerPindar]

From Sack:
"a poem is much easier to read than a story,"

I disagree, a story is much much easier to read than a poem, a poem might actually challenge the reader to think, a story (specially one focused on porn/erotica) follows a standard that is more easily understood and followed by the uneducated, quick response focused sort of reader - I want a hard on and I want it now! type.

From MET:
"And fear the wrath of
the grammer police"

Again, in a story it is easy to get the reader to skip over mistakes because the content is set up in a series of explainable words - the typo of "teh" is easy to overlook in a story because the word "the" is easily understood in a story or even in a prose presented story, and hence it does not stand out as worthy of note. In a poem every single word counts because the content is edited down to the minimum.

From Sack:
"I don't think people should be afraid to post poetry because of grammatical or spelling reasons."
I do, in so much as a poem demands a closer examination of every single element. If you are going to use "I" in a poem, then damnit, go to the effort of hitting the shift key with the "i" key, or you demonstrate that your intent is not worthy of the simple effort it takes to preduce English worth reading. If you are not going to this effort than your poem should, in some way, reflect that choice, and as such should reveal something about the writer/content/reader that is reflected in the grammatical choices you have made.

(right now I hear the fireworks, I hear the shouts, I know they are out there, drunk, female, partying, and the world celebrates a new year...I am here, already drunk, posting on poetry ~ and not a typo in my evening of posting. Damn, I need a life)

"If someone has questions about your poem or analyzes it too closely for your comfort, I would simply answer them as honestly as possible or just send a PM back saying you were uncomfortable with the "dissection.""

I agree on this point though - in so much as to say that if you didn't think of such and such an interpretation you should be happy to admit such...so far, I've made up excuses after the fact. But then, I'm good at that.

From Minsue:
"It's a porn site! I'm happy for any reads and comments at all. "
Minsue simply ROCKS. Kick ass lady, cause ya know ya can!!

"Minisue, if this is a porn site, can you explain to me why 2 out of 3 of the winning Winter Holiday Contest stories were in the Non-Erotic category? (The Erotic poems get even fewer PC's than the non-erotic ones!)"

See my fist response on sloppy posting - "do I have a hard on?" "yes" "I like it" That sums up the thought processes of a porn site - that this site has managed to create a group interested in something more than that is a feat worthy of the highest praise.

Literotica rocks, if only because it has introduced me to fellow poets who give a shit and at the same time can laugh at being human. YOU ALL ROCK!!! (and for any I might have pissed off or upset in the recent past, your beyond the simple words of "YOU ALL ROCK!!!" just in case you might have missed it)

 

[minsue]

From Minsue:
"It's a porn site! I'm happy for any reads and comments at all. "
Minsue simply ROCKS. Kick ass lady, cause ya know ya can!!

What a lovely last post of the year for me to read I may just have to steal that for my sigline.

Happy new year to all. May all your needs (and at least half your wants ) be fulfilled in the new year.

 

[twelveoone]

Just as a lark, I pulled up a page of non-erotic poems at random, and checked for public comments. MORE THAN THREE FOURTHS HAD NONE!! The remaining had one or two, and a few had 4-6. Even more amazing, if you look at the poems with the most reads, 10,000 is about the limit. Yet some stories can routinely get 50,000-100,000 reads if not more. What is going on here? a poem is much easier to read than a story, and no more difficult to PC on. I also found the same ol' people are making PC's on poetry....My Erotic Tale, Wicked Eve, Tathagata, Maria, Doormouse, Lil Darlin, me, and a few others. If we collectively decided to stop leaving PC's, that would REALLY drop the total number of comments! Even with the new poem previews, there does not seem to be much correlation. Odd, the few times my poems have been mentioned, they've gotten FEWER votes/PC's! There isn't a new story review, to the best of my knowledge, yet stories seem to garner the most attention and comments. Are there a lot of poetry snobs out there, or has it always been this way on Lit.?

Sack

Sack milad, lets examine this a little further - i have issues (note small i)
1.) Oh geez, my name dropped off the list, I guess I was busy
2.) "a poem is much easier to read than a story" Whoa, did you step in some shit here. "Everyone" knows what the fuck a story is, most "stories" er, have to tell a story, most people can follow "stories" even if the time sequence is jumbled. I would argue, poetry as poetry, is much more difficult to read. There is no agreed upon definition of poetry, certain forms require certain requirements, if certain requirements are met one can say, "oh yes that is a terazelle or a citronelle" and then one has to delve further as to what makes it good. (terazelle,(sp?) I believe is French, a much more static and monolithic language than English, citronelle is what you burn to keep mosquitoes away, I write citronelles, BTW)
Let me back up, to the problem of English, English is now the "linga franca" of the world, subjecting itself to other pronunications, meanings, other ways of saying things. Ever wonder why a Elizabethan sonnet sounds strange, the language changed, the sound and the meaning changed. To the best of my knowledge no other language on earth has been subjected to as many influences and pressures that English has.
This creates problems for forms and rules, add to that, a slow introduction of a visual componet, that was missing before the printing press , i.e. Pound, Berrigan.
I believe the last time a sensibilty was drawn up for English poetry may have been the 17th century.
Now define Poem, Poetry, did the definition keep up with the language?
3.) poetry snob? here?

 

[twelveoone]

it is also a fluke that most people even find the poems here.

most people I know find them by chance, I mean they are not even mentioned on the opening page and then you scroll down below the water line to find them.

and of course the other stuff too

my stories did not get as many comments as most of my poems. I did get more emails after I wrote them, though.

oh and every time I got an email/pm etc about my stories, I directed them to the poetry and people said DAMN I didnt know poetry could be so hot!

DAMN! nobody ever said mine was, did the thought ever occur that maybe they are refering to you? Not that I would ever say a thing like that, I think you're cool. Well maybe Hot and Cool at the same time, but not Lukewarm. Warm, maybe, Cold, I hope not.

 

[sack]

about the top lists....

Go to the top lists. How many non-erotic stories did you find there? I would be surprised if there were any on the site's top list. Incest is by far, the most popular story category on literotica, which is hardly non-erotic. This IS very much a porn site.



I went there and out of the top 100 stories in ALL categories, 7 were non-erotic. That's 7%, pretty amazing when you consider there are over 30 categories. Incest is the most popular category? Nope, Novels and Novellas takes that prize at the moment. I do think Incest stories get the most reads, not necessarily the highest votes.

Now, about poems being easier to read than stories:

1. They take less time to read than a story.
2. Many are about as subtle as a train wreck, so don't require deep thought.
3. Unless they are really far out/vague, the reader can get some idea as to what they are about, certainly enough to vote and/or leave a public comment.
4. Some poems are HIGHLY erotic, more so than many stories, and the erotic ones in particular are generally fast reads.
5. When was the last time anyone used super complicated/remote forms at lit.? I haven't even seen a cinquain lately!

Sack

 

[Tathagata]

I very rarely if ever read the stories
to ME they all seem the same with a few exceptions.

( fuck suck cock cunt hot wet slide hard body entwined, cum salty etc etc)

There are 3 or 4 people here, whom I know, who write ( or wrote) some great stuff.

They have since become poets

The people who are here for poetry are here for that only.
I prefer it that way.
I have nothing against the stories and all...it just doesn't interest me all that much.

as for " stories are easier to read"
Once again your way of looking at things is totally foreign to me.

Stories may be easier for YOU to read and understand.
Everything is spelled out and there is no room for interpretation..
But for me...to say what is said on 14 pages in a story in 5 verses in a poem requires much more effort and talent.
This what we aspire to.

 

[sack]

oops, forgot 12/1!

Who is also known as "and a few others"!






Sack

 

[sack]

in response to Tath....

The people who are here for poetry are here for that only.



Not necessarily. I write stories and poems, and enjoy reading both. People probably come to Lit. first for the stories, then discover the poems later. I invite all the poets to try and write a really good story that isn't of the sex, sex, more sex variety...it isn't as simple as it seems. I think my background in writing stories helped me when I started writing poems, at least in terms of structure, spelling, grammar, etc.


I'm sure you can find some stories you like Tath. I suggest Bearlee's The Old Man and The Boy as a start, one of my favorites! (non-erotic)

Sack

 

[Tathagata]

Re: in response to Tath....

The people who are here for poetry are here for that only.



Not necessarily. I write stories and poems, and enjoy reading both. People probably come to Lit. first for the stories, then discover the poems later. I invite all the poets to try and write a really good story that isn't of the sex, sex, more sex variety...it isn't as simple as it seems. I think my background in writing stories helped me when I started writing poems, at least in terms of structure, spelling, grammar, etc.


I'm sure you can find some stories you like Tath. I suggest Bearlee's The Old Man and The Boy as a start, one of my favorites! (non-erotic)

Sack

You claim you enjoy reading both but want to know why the poems are so vague and don't garner and votes or comments?

me thinks you simply like to argue my friend

Again I have very little interest in stories, I have an account at amazon which keeps me busy reading what I want to read in my allotted reading time.


and as for me...I came here for the poetry from another poetry site.

 

[sack]

On reading poems and stories....

I think a person can read both, but unfortunately even the tiniest error can take away from a poem, so I am more critical of poems for that reason. There are issues with stories too, of course, and I'll probably start a thread some time dealing with those.

Arguing? Discussing? Batting about ideas? Brainstorming?

It's all the same to me...

Sack

 

[My Erotic Tale]

Re: Re: the grammar police...a response to MET.

So, let me get this straight.

You are actually trying to argue that this isn't a porn site and are stumped as to why poems get less views and votes than stories?

Go to the top lists. How many non-erotic stories did you find there? I would be surprised if there were any on the site's top list. Incest is by far, the most popular story category on literotica, which is hardly non-erotic. This IS very much a porn site.

The people who vote for the contest stories (which I am sure are great) are a small percentage of the literotica readership. They may have great taste, but it would be wrong to say they represent the tastes of the majority of readers at lit.

Contest stories would have to have thousands of votes in order to say that they were truly the choice of the majority of readers and that they represented exactly what literotica readers were interested in reading.

As to why the poems have less votes than the stories. Have you ever been in a bookstore? Take a look at the fiction section and then go search for the poetry shelf. Obviously, poetry appeals to fewer people, so it follows that stories would have more readers/votes than poems.

The voting system on the contests are democratic as they
should be the only problem there is that any body soliciting
votes can generate more than another and win, rather their
story was that good or not. Often often often times the winning stories are not as good as some of the less read and less advertised tales. Some times I wish the owners of the site would read and choose the winners for grammer editing content and their likes and dislikes to make it more fair. And to ensure that good stories win not vote generated winners

I also wish there was a poem contest in some form to generate a commoradery with poems as they do with stoiries. There always has been more stories read and voted on since this is a literary forum with stories being the main lure and poetry is a small part of the literary world. As someone suggested go to the book store and see that stories dominate the shelves. Poetry is a section among the mass of books available.

 

[sack]

an extension to MET's post...

Funny, I am about to sit down to write a PM to Laurel and Manu. In it, I am going to suggest that In future contests, stories be identified by NUMBER only, and that their rankings NOT be revealed until the contest is over.

This should solve a lot of problems:

1. "1 bombing" in an attempt to bring the leaders down
2. Any entrant knowing where he/she is in the mix.
3. Tit for tat vote sharing, "5"s for "5"s. I have no problems with this if both parties are sincere about it, but others do, so...
4. Shameless plugs for votes. (Since anyone could do this, it's fair, but others have issues as well here so....)


As far as poetry contests, I would suggest two a year to start, possibly on given themes. I wonder if Laurel and Manu would be worried about the large number of entries that would ensue? (Minisue's sister??) Perhaps there would need to be a one poem per entrant restriction...


Sack

 

[twelveoone]

Re: about the top lists....

Now, about poems being easier to read than stories:

1. They take less time to read than a story.
2. Many are about as subtle as a train wreck, so don't require deep thought.
3. Unless they are really far out/vague, the reader can get some idea as to what they are about, certainly enough to vote and/or leave a public comment.
4. Some poems are HIGHLY erotic, more so than many stories, and the erotic ones in particular are generally fast reads.
5. When was the last time anyone used super complicated/remote forms at lit.? I haven't even seen a cinquain lately!

Sack

1. true, if read once. Most books I read once, I never read the stories here
Before I comment on poetry, I read three times, Once or twice, I had to think about it (the poem) all night.
2. True, but even some of those have value
3. define far out/vague. A well written poem will have multiple, layered meanings. So the comment left, in part depends on the quality of what Angeline likes to call the contract, I prefer contact.
4. I ain't goin there
5. why are you looking for cinquains? you are free to write them if you wish. I don't know what remote forms are.
Super complicated? Sonnets? I've seen some here. WickedEve and I had a bit of a discussion in Interact #6 about forms. I've seen other forms here.
Ah, but grasshopper, have you heard of the form of no form.

Now, did you read what I had to say above, about forms and sensibilties, they work as long as the language is in a static condition, and as long as a form of concensus is reached. In English everything is shifting very fast, because of the massive input and load that is on the language.
I would be curious as to what percent of words in the English language have accepted variant pronounciation. Note the word accepted, does not include used.

Here, I have to ask what are you trying to say? Why doesn't Shakespeare come around here anymore?

 

[My Erotic Tale]

Re: Re: about the top lists....

1. true, if read once. Most books I read once, I never read the stories here
Before I comment on poetry, I read three times, Once or twice, I had to think about it (the poem) all night.
2. True, but even some of those have value
3. define far out/vague. A well written poem will have multiple, layered meanings. So the comment left, in part depends on the quality of what Angeline likes to call the contract, I prefer contact.
4. I ain't goin there
5. why are you looking for cinquains? you are free to write them if you wish. I don't know what remote forms are.
Super complicated? Sonnets? I've seen some here. WickedEve and I had a bit of a discussion in Interact #6 about forms. I've seen other forms here.
Ah, but grasshopper, have you heard of the form of no form.

Now, did you read what I had to say above, about forms and sensibilties, they work as long as the language is in a static condition, and as long as a form of concensus is reached. In English everything is shifting very fast, because of the massive input and load that is on the language.
I would be curious as to what percent of words in the English language have accepted variant pronounciation. Note the word accepted, does not include used.

Here, I have to ask what are you trying to say? Why doesn't Shakespeare come around here anymore?

Shakespeares bloom every century or two
the rarest of flower, it's literary lure of beauty in
life death and existence.
existence forms first as a seed sprout deeply in
the unknown trailing and trial and error reaches.
till one day it sprout. Fates play on these delicate
days, sun burned or clipped stepped on or smothered
by another for existence.
say said root, brown and deep in darkness
dirt grime muck and earth grows stronger
the release propels a sprout to rise. Nutured
or not the reach into existence flows
the days of growing out number the lime lighted
bloom of the flower. for the flowers beauty adored
with no thought to it's root and existence in whole
but only that which flowered in the grow.

okay this inspired a poem <grin>

 

[*Catbabe*]

Re: about the top lists....

Go to the top lists. How many non-erotic stories did you find there? I would be surprised if there were any on the site's top list. Incest is by far, the most popular story category on literotica, which is hardly non-erotic. This IS very much a porn site.



I went there and out of the top 100 stories in ALL categories, 7 were non-erotic. That's 7%, pretty amazing when you consider there are over 30 categories. Incest is the most popular category? Nope, Novels and Novellas takes that prize at the moment. I do think Incest stories get the most reads, not necessarily the highest votes.

Now, about poems being easier to read than stories:

1. They take less time to read than a story.
2. Many are about as subtle as a train wreck, so don't require deep thought.
3. Unless they are really far out/vague, the reader can get some idea as to what they are about, certainly enough to vote and/or leave a public comment.
4. Some poems are HIGHLY erotic, more so than many stories, and the erotic ones in particular are generally fast reads.
5. When was the last time anyone used super complicated/remote forms at lit.? I haven't even seen a cinquain lately!

Sack

You are quoting statistics without putting them into context. How many votes/reads do those seven non-erotic stories have? It only takes ten for them to show up on the top lists. How can you compare a story with a high score but only ten votes to one with a high score but over hundred and fifty votes? You can’t.

I would also suggest the people posting stories in the non-erotic category at lit would be writers more serious about their craft than the average smut story writer here so therefore, the scores of those stories would tend to be higher on average but with fewer votes.

Incest is by far the most popular category at lit because the number of reads a story receives in that category is astounding. Novels and novellas are once again a niche category that requires readers with patience and who want to read longer works. This is the reason why the scores in that category are higher in general. If you stick with a story for twenty pages are you going to give it less than a 5 or a 4?

Also, you are equating high scores with popularity which would be fine if maybe half the readers who look at a story voted, but we all know that the actual number of readers who vote is a very low percentage of the number of reads on each story. High scores mean nothing more than a recommendation from the relatively few people who take the time to vote. They have no meaning in terms of site demographics, except to prove the fact that most readers don’t vote.

Back to poetry

Since when does the length of a piece of writing have anything do to with how long it takes a reader to understand it? Length of time it takes to read anything is a ridiculous standard with which to compare mediums unless you are discussing dictionaries or phone books. Reading isn’t about how long it takes your brain to say the word in your mind. High school students learn pretty quickly when they have to choose between writing an essay on a poem or on a piece of prose that choosing the poem will probably not result in less reading/thinking time when you add in repeated readings and the length of time it takes to try to understand the poem on some level.


Why would anyone want to read the poems that are as subtle as a train wreck? You answer your own question with that comment.

The tabloids are right there for me to pick up every time I go to the supermarket. I am sure they are easy to read and quickly finished. Based on your theory, I should have my cart full of them, but instead I have never even picked one up because to me that would be a waste of time.