You just bought Literotica...what do you change?

[Bramblethorn]

* I'd split ratings into three categories: heat, plot, and craft. Heat is how arousing the readers find it. Plot is, well, the story itself. Craft is basic writing skill. Not all readers care equally about all 3 things, and our single unified rating makes it hard for readers to identify stories they'd enjoy. You can have a unified rating as well that averages the 3 basic types, or not. I have mixed feelings about that. Someone who's looking for a basic stroker might care almost entirely about heat and not at all about plot, and maybe they care a bit about craft but not much. Hell, you could add sliders to the search function (the basic triangle slider with 3 poles where you move it around based on what you want to weight) and suddenly readers have a lot more control over what they find.

This is something that could work on a site where you have a panel of experts rating stories. I'm not sure how well it'd work on Literotica as it stands, though. Currently voting is about as low-effort as it could possibly be, a single click, and barely 1% of readers vote. Make it more complex, and that percentage would be still lower.

* The above only works though if you remove anonymous voting and track IPs so people don't use fake accounts for vote bombing. You'd also have to block VPNs for voting purposes. If someone wants to express an opinion, great! If they're just trolling and hiding, that's really not helping the community IMO.

I say this every time, but: removing anon voting would make vote-rigging worse, not better. The fewer the votes on each story, the fewer votes a cheat has to cast in order to change the outcome of a contest/etc., and the harder it is to identify that cheating.

* A "next chapter" button! If I'm reading something and there's another chapter to follow, I have to scroll up (or down) and find the author and click on "Stories" under their name, then select the one I want from a list. If it's a series, let me move to the next chapter easily please.

This already exists. At the end of the story, to the right of the comments section, there's a series section like this:

 

[Bramblethorn]

Also, I'm fine with Anal getting dissolved

Don't mind me, just quoting out of context.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I am not going to post what I would do differently as it stands to reason that our ideas and desires are colored by our own worldviews, kinks, and themes. But there is one thing that I believe everybody would agree with.

Communication.

Hire a couple of mods to handle and filter suggestions from registered users and sort them into two piles. Suggestions from authors and suggestions from readers. You don't have to read or respond to every suggestion and every desire list, but if something is requested by many users, at least let them know you have read and acknowledged their suggestion and respond in some way, either by implementing the requested changes or by replying why you disagree or why that suggestion is impossible. I believe that approach would be appreciated by all the users of the website.

As it is now, whatever is said, no matter if it's a genius idea or a moronic one is falling on deaf ears. This "Big Sister" way of managing the website is pure bullshit.

 

[Publius68]

I would do one simple thing: Insert a function to notify registered users when someone has replied to their comment on a story. Or perhaps has commented on a story they have already commented on.
As an author, I would like to be able to respond to commenters and have some hope that they might see my response.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

I would do one simple thing: Insert a function to notify registered users when someone has replied to their comment on a story. Or perhaps has commented on a story they have already commented on.
As an author, I would like to be able to respond to commenters and have some hope that they might see my response.

I agree with this 100%

 

[Levorotatory]

This would be marvelous. A thorough system of preset tags that allows the author to specify exactly what kind of story they're submitting would help SO MUCH when readers want to find something. Looking for a MFF story with oral sex but no anal, with mind control but no humiliation or abuse, no incest, and nobody involved is married? Now you'd be able to find it, based solely on tags. I think this does remove the need for categories altogether. It's basically the AO3 approach reimagined for erotica, as others have noted. It works pretty well there.

Standardized tags goes back long before AO3. Story codes (AKA tags in the title) were a standard feature on alt.sex.stories in the 1990s, and were searchable on ASSTR up until their search function was broken. It is definitely a better way to find your kinks and avoid your squicks.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I wouldn't want to own any site like Literotica. I wouldn't desire to try to figure out how to appease all of you folks and the readers. Everyone here has their own ideas, that's good for them, but what about everyone else?

 

[greenbriefs]

My only big request would be a revamping of the category/tagging system. As is it, it's not too bad, but I wish there were a better filtering system, like on AO3. It feels really shitty to have all these different genres, but only one category for "Gay," one for "Lesbian," an no bisexual category at all. Also, if a story fits into more than one category, there isn't a way to deal with that currently.

I'd also like to be able to reply to comments. Better communication between author and reader would be welcome.

Otherwise, I guess Lit has treated me well. I like my user page that tells me all the stats on my stories. I get lots of views and fairly good reviews. I write niche stories, and I guess the right people are finding them, so I can't complain too much.

 

[AchtungNight]

I would do one simple thing: Insert a function to notify registered users when someone has replied to their comment on a story. Or perhaps has commented on a story they have already commented on.
As an author, I would like to be able to respond to commenters and have some hope that they might see my response.

Edit- I’d appreciate this for Anonymous comments also, but I don’t know how it could be implemented.

 

[MillieDynamite]

If they aren't logged in, it cannot be implemented. If they are, they choose to be anonymous not sure it would be something where they could receive a notification when the writer responded either. There are sites where if you comment with your username, you get a notice when someone responds to your comment but don't when you choose to be anon.

Edit- I’d appreciate this for Anonymous comments also, but I don’t know how it could be implemented.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I'm going to flip this question on it's head.

Of the various changes that people have proposed, which are absolute deal breakers for you?

For me, it would be the restriction of anonymous comments. I'd begrudgingly accept blocking anonymous voting. Maybe. Actually, probably not.

I've had hundreds of kind supportive comments from anonymous readers, as well as some fine, well intended criticism. I may have gotten as many as a couple dozen comments that were in any way objectionable. That might be a high estimate.

I assume that many anonymous readers have commented on multiple stories. It's not unusual that they reference an earlier story in their comments. Disallowing them from further commenting would, in my opinion, represent a betrayal of my readers that I would not countenance. If such a policy were ever enacted, I would remove all my stories and no longer participate here.


There is nothing else that has been mentioned that I would object to so strongly, and there are a lot of good ideas. It's been a very interesting thread. And so far, I don't think their have been any Star Wars references.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Standardized tags goes back long before AO3. Story codes (AKA tags in the title) were a standard feature on alt.sex.stories in the 1990s, and were searchable on ASSTR up until their search function was broken. It is definitely a better way to find your kinks and avoid your squicks.

Standardised tags yes, but I don't think ASSTR had the system Ao3 does where relationships between tags are understood e.g. "bondage" is a child tag of "BDSM" so any story tagged "bondage" will turn up on a search for "BDSM".

 

[ArdentHemingway]

_Increase_ the minimum age to twenty. Disallowing any mention of teens and the all-too-frequent cry of "but I mean _legal_ teens!"
Remove the categories -- have tags only.

 

[FastFastr]

Get rid of the ADULT HEADLINE NEWS with breaking news about Bill Cosby and other VERY OLD headlines.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm going to flip this question on it's head.

Of the various changes that people have proposed, which are absolute deal breakers for you?

Permitting pedo/bestiality stories would be a "pull my stories and leave the site" deal-breaker.

Probably also bans on "violence" and "politics" bans, depending how they're framed and interpreted.

Does "violence" exclude BDSM? Swords-and-sorcery? Gruesome Halloween stories? Stories with military settings?

Some of the people who keep calling for "no politics" in this forum are the same folk who cannot help pushing their own politics here at every opportunity. In some cases it's lack of self-awareness - they don't see their own politics as "political" - and in others it's trying to game the system: if I'm better at making veiled political statements than you are, then a "no politics" rule silences you more than it silences me.

It's particularly wrong-headed considering how much potential RL politics has to affect this site. Obscenity law affects what Lit can and can't publish. The political climate affects things like monetisation (many payment services providers explicitly refuse to handle adult content, for reasons that boil down to politics). LGBT-related themes are eternal political footballs. etc. etc.

Introducing more direct monetisation options wouldn't directly drive me away from this site but the indirect consequences (story theft, account theft, AI spam, further privacy erosion) quite likely would.

I'd also be very wary of any moves toward user registration/erosion of anonymity for the sake of "protecting" the voting system. A site like this should be encouraging users to adopt the best privacy protection practices they can, not pushing them away from that!

For me, it would be the restriction of anonymous comments. I'd begrudgingly accept blocking anonymous voting. Maybe. Actually, probably not.

These probably wouldn't get me to pull my stories, but losing anonymous comments would make me much less interested in posting here; I'd probably shift my focus elsewhere.

Blocking anonymous voting would likely destroy whatever value story ratings currently have. The only reason this isn't a deal-breaker to me is that I'm not hugely invested in story ratings and would be okay if Lit abolished them altogether.

I've had hundreds of kind supportive comments from anonymous readers, as well as some fine, well intended criticism. I may have gotten as many as a couple dozen comments that were in any way objectionable. That might be a high estimate.

Seconded all round.

 

[Duleigh]

The site is a 1990s porn site. I like it because its nostalgic to the early days of the internet. It still sez Bulletin board for gods' sake. Websites today are like new cars.

I respectfully disagree, this is a 21st century erotica site with advanced features that are found at no other erotica sites and very few other sites in general. We have authors and readers from all over the world, many of our readers are published authors outside of the works that they submit here. What other purely erotica site has lasted this long and can claim as many followers?

I as the new owner will try to keep the front page similar to the age old front page but that mess under NEWS is going to be straightened out so a visitor to the site can find what they're looking for. But if you want that 1990's look and feel and catbox smell, just click on the link to Dr. Bizzaro.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I respectfully disagree, this is a 21st century erotica site with advanced features that are found at no other erotica sites and very few other sites in general. We have authors and readers from all over the world, many of our readers are published authors outside of the works that they submit here. What other purely erotica site has lasted this long and can claim as many followers?

I as the new owner will try to keep the front page similar to the age old front page but that mess under NEWS is going to be straightened out so a visitor to the site can find what they're looking for. But if you want that 1990's look and feel and catbox smell, just click on the link to Dr. Bizzaro.

'kay.

 

[Beholders_Eye]

Probably not a popular stance, but: AI exists, both in written forms and imagery. And it is only going to blossom further. 'The new owner(s)' are going to need make an accommodation for AI. Somewhat like the Politics board, there might be a board exclusively devoted to AI images and matter in the Forums. And also a story category devoted to AI creations. Such nominally exclusive categories would collect most of the AI material, although no doubt some of it would slop over into other categories or boards (like Politics does).

It seems to me that to just ban AI (as it now is) will not accommodate a larger and larger group who want to create in that style. I know that other things are banned (rightfully), as mentioned in previous posts, but seems to me AI is of a different species altogether. Just my thought...

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Probably not a popular stance, but: AI exists, both in written forms and imagery. And it is only going to blossom further. 'The new owner(s)' are going to need make an accommodation for AI. Somewhat like the Politics board, there might be a board exclusively devoted to AI images and matter in the Forums. And also a story category devoted to AI creations. Such nominally exclusive categories would collect most of the AI material, although no doubt some of it would slop over into other categories or boards (like Politics does).

It seems to me that to just ban AI (as it now is) will not accommodate a larger and larger group who want to create in that style. I know that other things are banned (rightfully), as mentioned in previous posts, but seems to me AI is of a different species altogether. Just my thought...

Fuck A.I. just gonna say it. There's a few things this site could've accomodated to keep with the times, but it hasn't- hell... it doesn't even this site designs full options. I think keeping the A.I. that's probably already scrubbing this site for material, is just fine.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Permitting pedo/bestiality stories would be a "pull my stories and leave the site" deal-breaker.

Probably also bans on "violence" and "politics" bans, depending how they're framed and interpreted.

Does "violence" exclude BDSM? Swords-and-sorcery? Gruesome Halloween stories? Stories with military settings?

Some of the people who keep calling for "no politics" in this forum are the same folk who cannot help pushing their own politics here at every opportunity. In some cases it's lack of self-awareness - they don't see their own politics as "political" - and in others it's trying to game the system: if I'm better at making veiled political statements than you are, then a "no politics" rule silences you more than it silences me.

It's particularly wrong-headed considering how much potential RL politics has to affect this site. Obscenity law affects what Lit can and can't publish. The political climate affects things like monetisation (many payment services providers explicitly refuse to handle adult content, for reasons that boil down to politics). LGBT-related themes are eternal political footballs. etc. etc.

Introducing more direct monetisation options wouldn't directly drive me away from this site but the indirect consequences (story theft, account theft, AI spam, further privacy erosion) quite likely would.

You are right about the political thing. I've never ventured into the political forum, but I've seen plenty of posts elsewhere where someone was wearing their politics on their sleeve.
It should be like anything else. If you don't like it don't click on the forum.
I'm not here to talk politics, so I don't click that forum.
I don't find NC erotic or titillating so I don't go to that section.
Same energy.


That said I'd like to see the tag section improved, and the ability to respond to reader comments would be nice.
The idea of a "tip jar" is intriguing, and as nice as it is to think someone might actually be willing to give me money for my work, I wonder how difficult implementation would be.

 

[alohadave]

* I'd split ratings into three categories: heat, plot, and craft. Heat is how arousing the readers find it. Plot is, well, the story itself. Craft is basic writing skill. Not all readers care equally about all 3 things, and our single unified rating makes it hard for readers to identify stories they'd enjoy. You can have a unified rating as well that averages the 3 basic types, or not. I have mixed feelings about that. Someone who's looking for a basic stroker might care almost entirely about heat and not at all about plot, and maybe they care a bit about craft but not much. Hell, you could add sliders to the search function (the basic triangle slider with 3 poles where you move it around based on what you want to weight) and suddenly readers have a lot more control over what they find.

That's insanely complicated. A single score is fine.

No one is going to go through all that to rate stories. They'll just not even vote.

* A "next chapter" button! If I'm reading something and there's another chapter to follow, I have to scroll up (or down) and find the author and click on "Stories" under their name, then select the one I want from a list. If it's a series, let me move to the next chapter easily please.

This exists, but it's not obvious on the page.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

That's insanely complicated. A single score is fine.

No one is going to go through all that to rate stories. They'll just not even vote.


This exists, but it's not obvious on the page.

I suspect if you implemented a scoring system like that 90% or more of the people rating would give the same number 3 times.

 

[FeralSmile]

That's insanely complicated. A single score is fine.

No one is going to go through all that to rate stories. They'll just not even vote.

That's fair. This approach would honestly work best with a panel of judges instead of having readers perform the rating. I think your points, and @Bramblethorn's above, are valid.

Where I was coming from is that I don't find the current rating system very informative. There's not a very strong correlation between e.g. writing craft and scores a lot of the time (though there's some correlation, to be sure). And there's just no way to distinguish how arousing readers have found a story or how good the plot is. Sometimes I want to read stories for different purposes, and the all-in-one model just doesn't help much in my searches.

This exists, but it's not obvious on the page.

So I now know! Thanks @alohadave and @Bramblethorn. It really ought to be prominent and right next to the end of the story, instead of half a page down past the end. I don't typically scroll down to read the comments of stories I'm reading, especially when I want to get to the next chapter.

 

[ronde]

And most of all- self editing. I would establish a threshold, based on some sort of combination of time on the site and number of works published, that would allow authors who meet the criteria being given the privilege of editing their own work at will. Abuse of the ability would result in its revocation.

I've been through that process on another site and my first and only story there caused me to leave it. The "editing" turned out to be the "editor" re-writing my story to be like he or she wanted. I had probably a couple typos but nothing that required a complete change to the plot.

I was not given the opportunity to decline the edit. The editor's version was published and I didn't find out until I read the story on the site. I have heard the same complaint from another author. I ended up removing the story from the site because it was no longer my story.

I'm sure there are many authors on Literotica who could benefit from an editor, but let the readers sort them out. If their work is readable, readers will keep reading what that author writes. If not, those authors will either seek an editor on their own or they'll give up writing.

 

[ronde]

You've got me thinking... what if the red h wasn't based on votes? I like your idea, but top stories are still based on votes. What it the red h was linked to favorites instead? You get x favorites to get the red h.

The current voting system is about the only way to assure unbiased ratings of stories, though those same ratings are also biased to some extent. The only problem with the current rating system is there is no way to see what the different voters cast as votes. For instance, if you get ten votes on a story, 5-5's and 5-4's, the rating is 4.5 and you get a red H. That would tell me I've pleased most of the readers of that story. If you get 5-5's, 4-4's, and 1-1, the rating is 4.2 and you don't get a red H. The fact it didn't get a red H doesn't mean it was a bad story. It just means some reader thought it was his obligation to put his dislike into a vote. One might wonder why that particular reader even finished the story and voted at all, but some people can't pass up a chance to feel superior to another.

Not knowing each vote makes it difficult to determine if your writing is causing the votes or if it's just one or two readers who don't like what you wrote in that particular story. Making that information available is probably impossible given the number of votes cast for each story over time. I would be my guess that the average story rating is automatically calculated and displayed at least at the time of the site update.

That's only a problem for the first week or so that the story is published. After that, as long as there are more than just a few votes, 1 votes and 5 votes only change the rating by .01 or so.