Why Has the Quality of Submissions to Literotica Plummeted so Dramatically?

[NotWise]

Not sure, it would depend on the sub. The dom and sub/slave have to work together to find what works best. If humiliation doesn't work then find other ways. For most that is where soft limits and hard come in. You get as close to the edge as possible. The only time where limits are essentially useless is in an Unconditional Consent Relationship (CNC). Another thing I am into is the use of bodily fluids. Not blood or vomit but the other kinds. As long as it doesn't harm their bodies. I don't condone permanent damage. I don't consider piercings or tattoos damaging.

To each their own, it seems. But I'd say that someone like MB is probably not going to make your day. Maybe mine, though.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

I am really surprised that no one has mentioned (except once in passing) one of my simple minded ways of deciding which pile of material to read.

Go to the author's page and get their list of published works and check out their density of coveted 'H's. The higher the density of greater then 4.5 rated stories, the more time I am likely to linger, unless the author focuses on topics that don't appeal to me.

Now obviously there are exceptions. But since there are more stories on Literotica then I am likely to ever finish, I have to do something to help maximize my time.

By that criteria, most of you that post regularly here in AH, have an amazing H-density.

I also tend to read some of the stories that get the coveted less than 1.5 ratings. Just because I would like to know what it was that made them so totally reviled. Hopefully I can avoid those mistakes.

I have tried reading some of the stories submitted in what sound like the OP's "Golden Age" and I don't think they are significantly better or worse than what the current crop are churning out. The random walk in a topic will bubble some of these oldies up and I have been surprised when I go looking at the author and find that they stopped writing 10 years ago or more. Or at least that persona stopped.

james

 

[gunhilltrain]

I tried reading all three of her Grey novels by E L James. Could never get past the first paragraph in each. Not that it was badly written, but it was... written badly. And heaven forbid, I know I'm not a perfect writer, I even mix up my tenses sometimes. But then again, maybe I do that on purpose. Or not.

I also tried to watch the movies... no thank you. It's not that I don't like BSDM and she was very pretty, I just don't get off thrashing... hitting women. I found nothing erotic about either movie.

To digress a bit: BDSM is most interesting when the couple (assuming it's a couple) switch roles. It's sort of a competition, not to see who is cruelest but who can come up with the most vivid scenario.

I've considered one or two satires of that type about Anastasia Steele (or has that been done already?) If I may say so I envision her as wittier and more imaginative than Christian.

 

[KeithD]

Go to the author's page and get their list of published works and check out their density of coveted 'H's. The higher the density of greater then 4.5 rated stories, the more time I am likely to linger, unless the author focuses on topics that don't appeal to me.

At Literotica, I think this is definitely a mistake. The voting system here is a sieve and subject to zapping wars. I'd say it was more a reason to shy away if the list showed almost all red Hs. That's an indication of self-help with thumbs in one dimension and writing pabulum in another.

I suggest you sample likely stories and build a list of authors to follow completely irrespective of the rating system. I think you'd find yourself pleasantly surprised and not seeing a lot of pabulum.

 

[redzinger]

This. There's no requirement to get BDSM "right" by some club's "rules" in a story. If you tie someone up in a story, it's bondage. If you take control of them, it's domination. If you beat them, its sadism. If you have them beat you, it's masochism. These are acts. They don't have to be done by someone's rules--or even according to safety standards, or "right." If you feed the pill to the man rather than the woman, the woman can more easily get pregnant. That doesn't stop the pill from being the pill.

When I mentioned protocols, I mean guidance which is well known and established for the sake of all involved, such as:

- Ignoring consent, or not explaining what it is. (No safe words.)
- Leaving no way for consent to be withdrawn or to stop a scene in case of emergency.
- Ignorance of how to restrain or whip a sub in order to avoid nerve or soft tissue damage.
- Lack of aftercare, therefore no prevention of subdrop. Either withholding it as a punishment, or just not giving it at all. Aftercare is there for a reason.

All of the above are not whims or behavioural guidelines. It's basic safety, which could affect someone's future physical and mental health.

And yes, in response to another person's post, FSOG is being used as a manual for some. Most of the above 'could' be considered common sense, but what about aftercare and avoiding subdrop? Is either word even mentioned?

 

[sethp]

I’m here

Sorry, I haven’t “wroted” much of anything over the past several years. Not unlike a pirate, with a lobster in his pants, I’ve “writed” the ship, hopefully.

You won’t find anything “remotely” associable to Charles Dickens, but I’m stretching the boundaries of farcically, erotic, short stories filled with humor, humanity, wildly inappropriate shenanigans and human emotion.

I must “rote” here a warning for all ye contemplating a casual perusing of my astounding works.

If you hate adverbs, you will loathe me.

I have a new flawed gem “The African Adventure” up, but a pivotal masterwork is pending. I hope you will abide your visuals and gorge your eyes on “Sperm was the Antidote” as soon as it is published.

 

[sethp]

Rating vs Favorite

My best work on lit is lower than a 4.5. No Hot. But it has 2.5 million views and in one of the most favorited stories on lit.

Therefore and thusly, if you only read hot stories your missing some really good erotica

 

[KeithD]

All of the above are not whims or behavioural guidelines. It's basic safety, which could affect someone's future physical and mental health.

Yes, yes, yes, in real life (if you want to survive--but you can even do it wrong in real life and it's still BDSM). There are no such rules in fiction writing. There's no requirement in a story to get it right or be safe or anything else. And, again, the elements of BDSM exist as acts. They don't have to be done by someone's rules, and all you have to do to have someone survive doing it wrong is just to write it that way. If you are tied up during sex, that is bondage. No rules required. And certainly no rules in putting it in a written story. It just is bondage--it happened on the written page. The author controls both the doing of it and the result of having done it.

I don't know why people are so hardheaded about this.

 

[SimonDoom]

Except that with the call-out to "safe, sane, and consensual", the story in question is attempting to claim that the BDSM it describes does follow "club" rules, which it doesn't.

It's been a while, but I read the whole series and I don't recall that Grey ever claims he's part of a club that follows rules. The BDSM crowd doesn't have exclusive rights over the term and its use. For every "true" BDSMer there are dozens of people with a vaguer and more plastic understanding of the term. Grey as I recall is a lone wolf, acting on his own. Maybe I remember incorrectly. I never had the feeling the author was passing herself off as an expert in the lifestyle.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yes, yes, yes, in real life (if you want to survive--but you can even do it wrong in real life and it's still BDSM). There are no such rules in fiction writing. There's no requirement in a story to get it right or be safe or anything else. And, again, the elements of BDSM exist as acts. They don't have to be done by someone's rules, and all you have to do to have someone survive doing it wrong is just to write it that way. If you are tied up during sex, that is bondage. No rules required. And certainly no rules in putting it in a written story. It just is bondage--it happened on the written page. The author controls both the doing of it and the result of having done it.

I don't know why people are so hardheaded about this.

I agree with this.

What I've noticed on this site is that everybody's very tolerant of most things except the one thing that is close to them and that they know something about (or claim they know something about) and then they get upset at stories that deviate from their idea of how that one thing is supposed to be. This is fiction. Fantasy. There are no rules that limit what kind of world you create (except Laurel's rules). Incest stories don't have to account for the horrors of real incest. Loving wives don't have to be punished. BDSM stories don't have to follow BDSM "rules." Nothing has to be anything.

 

[RetroFan]

On a related note, has anyone noticed in recent months that their new stories have been getting lower views and scores than previously? I was getting really good scores, views and comments on a lot of my stories last year, but in recent months things have been different.

My Christmas story, a lesbian sex comedy, flopped abysmally. In January I wrote an Erotic Couplings story about a bitchy movie star in the 1930s which got good scores, some favorites and a positive comment, but very few bothered to read it. Some fetish readers did like my story about a cop who gets stuck in a bathroom closet and sees his daughter's friend in some very private situations, but it wasn't a huge success. Incest/Taboo stories tend to get a lot of views and this was the case with a story about stepsisters I submitted, but on the whole they didn't like it and said so. And a foster sibling voyeurism story I put in a few days ago isn't exactly rating well.

Has anyone else noticed things like this with their new works recently, or is it just me?

 

[oggbashan]

My best work on lit is lower than a 4.5. No Hot. But it has 2.5 million views and in one of the most favorited stories on lit.

Therefore and thusly, if you only read hot stories your missing some really good erotica

I used to run the Authors' Hangout Last Place contest to highlight contest entries that were unpopular. Some of the Last Place winning stories were very good indeed.

I have a low percentage of HOT in my list of stories. As my signature says, it is probably because I write stories with a limited appeal. But I do have some blue Ws and a couple of green Es, so some of my work does get noticed.

I am still capable of writing some poor stories among the rest. I use Literotica as an archive so I leave everything posted.

As for poetry? My poems work or don't. I have one non-erotic poem posted two years ago that doesn't have a single vote yet.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I used to run the Authors' Hangout Last Place contest to highlight contest entries that were unpopular. Some of the Last Place winning stories were very good indeed.

That seems like an intriguing idea. I assume it would contain stories already published, then the contest would just be links to the entries?

So what is the cutoff: 2.99 and down? I have two I could enter. I don't have any below 1.99 (yet, for the grace of God, knock on wood).

 

[NotWise]

That seems like an intriguing idea. I assume it would contain stories already published, then the contest would just be links to the entries?

So what is the cutoff: 2.99 and down? I have two I could enter. I don't have any below 1.99 (yet, for the grace of God, knock on wood).

I think the award went to stories in the current contest, so pre-existing stories wouldn't qualify.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

I've been lurking on this thread and resisting my urge to jump in partly because I'm a newb and what the fuck do I know about things like the quality of writing--period--not just here but anywhere. I like what I like and because of my dyslexia Audible is my go to. Some real shit writing can be turned into compelling listening by a good read or even better an ensemble cast.

The other reason I held back was the very real fact that the best course of action when dealing with a troll--and the OP of this thread would be a good candidate for the poster boy of such, as is evidenced by his two subsequent responses--is to simply ignore them. Imagine if you will how infuriated our mental midget would be if no one responded to his tissue paper thin OP.

Alas that was not to be the case and the discussion has been both interesting and lively from my standpoint.

So my two coppers is that I'm not here because of the quality of work published on Lit. Truth be told I don't give a fuck about the past state, current state or future state of this site. I am here to practice and learn and improve my writing skills. I am not a "I've been a reader here for a decade and have finally decided..." person. Reading printed material that is not strobed at me in 60c/sec is hard enough but I do love to write. It's like I'm making my own little movies when I see my scenes play out on the personal theatre in my head. It's powerful and I enjoy it immensely.

So I am a selfish SOB and I'm here for my own personal reasons, namely to improve. Now before you cast aspersions my way let me update my reference by saying what I didn't know I was going to find was a diverse, interesting, lively, cantankerous, intelligent, eccentric, loveable group of talented individuals who have allowed me to sit at their table and have a cup of Joe with out once saying WTF are you doing here?

That my friends outweighs any fucking talk of quality of content or gauge of worth in my book so in my rather humble opinion the OP can go fuck himself with a saguaro branch bc it's the people here that make the site.

Ok so perhaps that was three coppers worth. I'm stepping down from my box now.

 

[oggbashan]

That seems like an intriguing idea. I assume it would contain stories already published, then the contest would just be links to the entries?

So what is the cutoff: 2.99 and down? I have two I could enter. I don't have any below 1.99 (yet, for the grace of God, knock on wood).

The Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contest was based on the rating of the story when the winners were announced. Authors could nominate their story and rating (or stay anonymous if they didn't want to admit their low rating).

It had to be at the time of the winners being announced or some stories that won the real contest could also be eligible due to furious one-bombing by people who disagreed with the main contest result.

I had a formula for low voting, less than the 25 to qualify for the main contest. The eventual rating was divided by number of votes/25.

BUT - the Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contest was frustrated when scores became much more visible and almost all entries received more than 25 votes. Even embarrassed authors could be seen to have the lowest rating, so I decided to stop running the Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contest. I was personally ineligible because otherwise I would have won most of them.

PS. My current lowest rating is 2.94 with several other stories well below 3.50

 

[gunhilltrain]

Thank you. It's seems more complicated (and tricky) than I had first imagined it.

 

[SimonDoom]

Ok so perhaps that was three coppers worth. I'm stepping down from my box now.

I think you put your box time to good use. Those are much more constructive topics to focus on than "Why do we suck so much more than before?"

 

[TarnishedPenny]

”Why do we suck so much more than before?"

Because Master has us so much better trained?

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

 

[blozo]

With my two semesters of English comp in college, I'm probably among the better educated contributors to Literotica, and my stuff is so full of grammar and syntax errors I'm certain I'd make your "He sucks" list.

There's been a downward spiral of emphasis on writing skills in American schools for many years now. I'm sure that's a factor in what you're noticing.

 

[SimonDoom]

With my two semesters of English comp in college, I'm probably among the better educated contributors to Literotica, and my stuff is so full of grammar and syntax errors I'm certain I'd make your "He sucks" list.

There's been a downward spiral of emphasis on writing skills in American schools for many years now. I'm sure that's a factor in what you're noticing.

That's an interesting thought. But many of the authors on this Site are older. I'm middle-aged, and many are older than I am. I had a solid education in grammar, spelling, and style.

I think it's possible that the average quality of story has declined, in terms of prose style and mechanics, as the Site has become more well-known and perhaps attracted a broader array of authors, and perhaps younger authors less well-grounded in grammar and writing skills. But that's just speculation.

 

[ElectricBlue]

ISo I am a selfish SOB and I'm here for my own personal reasons, namely to improve. Now before you cast aspersions my way let me update my reference by saying what I didn't know I was going to find was a diverse, interesting, lively, cantankerous, intelligent, eccentric, loveable group of talented individuals who have allowed me to sit at their table and have a cup of Joe with out once saying WTF are you doing here?

Now that's an, "Aw shucks" statement that I've not seen the likes of for a while, and echoes the thought I had yesterday but didn't voice, that this thread has evolved into a nice piece of inclusion and camaraderie (excluding the knob-jockey OP of course). So yea team for responding to troll-dom as the AH does best - rambling, circuitous, everyone having a bit of a say, wandering about all over the place, arriving at no conclusions.

Meanwhile, outside the building, a forlorn figure stands alone on a desolate playground, looking in, wondering why all the backs are turned.

 

[Polyacrylate]

Now that's an, "Aw shucks" statement that I've not seen the likes of for a while, and echoes the thought I had yesterday but didn't voice, that this thread has evolved into a nice piece of inclusion and camaraderie (excluding the knob-jockey OP of course). So yea team for responding to troll-dom as the AH does best - rambling, circuitous, everyone having a bit of a say, wandering about all over the place, arriving at no conclusions.

Meanwhile, outside the building, a forlorn figure stands alone on a desolate playground, looking in, wondering why all the backs are turned.

Hey, now, I'm sure plenty of great knob-jockeys would disagree with their talents being dismissed in that manner!

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's been a while, but I read the whole series and I don't recall that Grey ever claims he's part of a club that follows rules. The BDSM crowd doesn't have exclusive rights over the term and its use.

Nobody said they did?

 

[KeithD]

Nobody said they did?

It certainly seems that's what they are doing every time writing BDSM comes up on the board. Instant yammering about doing it "right."