Might I suggest, that you don't leave any comments, but you wish readers of your stories would leave comments. Huh?

 

That's an interesting philosophy, and I'm glad you brought it up, even though I don't necessarily agree with it. Yes, certain topics do tend to be more popular than others. So your method tends to counterbalance those of us who read the more popular topics and almost never vote negative.

On the other hand, is that really a good thing? The argument could be made that the more popular topics should score higher than the less popular ones. Of course, I don't necessarily believe that either.

Do I sound indecisive? It's too early in the morning for me to be decisive. I need a cup of coffee.

Assuming you're referring to the vote count on Shelter From the Cold, it's actually not all that unusual compared to some of my favorite authors. JackassTales, for example, has several stories with more votes than that. And if you REALLY want to be astonished, look up My Sister, the Bitch, Chapter 1 by lordofallsouls.

I'm mainly referring to the fact that stories can now be set up to disallow anonymous voting. I don't know if the 10:1 member vs. anonymous ratio is working, but so far it seems that the trolls haven't attacked my newer stories much, and that's a good thing.

I love the irony there. You vote but don't comment on others' stories. Yet you pay attention to comments but not votes on your own stories.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that; I just think it's kind of funny.

 

I signed on yesterday before I drank my first pot of coffee. What a mistake!!!

I don't know if certain topics are necessarily more popular. That's like saying every American is a Teabagger because they're the loudest and most obnoxious.

For argument's sake, let's say that for every person that digs incest stories, there's 5 that walk on by without ever clicking. And then I come along and I'll click on anything that's in the top rated category.

I recognize that I hold incest to a higher standard because I don't enjoy the subject matter, nor do I find most scenarios plausible. I don't think I shouldn't vote on it because I have a higher standard because I don't like the subject.

I mean, look at the one story I've written. It's a niche story. If I finalized it and put it on the stories site, I would pretty much be expecting a solid 20% rating. That's not because it's poorly written; it's just not going to appeal to the vast majority of people. I accept that.

In all fairness, I also hold subjects that I enjoy to a higher standard. I dislike reading rape stories where the victim enjoys their treatment. I dislike reading bondage stories that involve bullwhips in casual pain play (a bullwhip will tear the bark from a tree).

 

I haven't read the story section of the site in quite awhile but I always gave what I felt was a fair score (no matter what the subject matter, author who wrote it, etc), and I always left a comment on a story that I read and gave a score. If something was so awful that I wouldn't like it then I just flat out didn't finish reading it. I always tried to encourage people who could actually write and weren't ego-stroking, offering constructive criticism after pointing out what I liked.

I posted one story on the site and I had tons of people voting it down or giving negative comments simply because they had a problem with me on the forum. I checked the comments from time to time, and if somebody gave some actual constructive criticism that was somewhat accurate, I kept it in mind when writing my next story, and the stories after that. I did like to see that people appreciated my story but really I just wanted to put something that I wrote onto the site for other people to read and hopefully enjoy.

People who vote a story down or leave negative comments because they don't like the author, don't like the subject matter, etc, are pieces of shit. If you don't like it, then DON'T FUCKING READ IT.

 

I think I see now. I misunderstood what you originally said. You're saying that some people add unnecessary elements to a story just so that they can include the popular tags and get a higher rating, and therefore you're more likely to vote it down if you see that that's the case (i.e. you hold it to a higher standard). Am I right?

There's definitely some merit to that system. Using your example of incest, incest stories shouldn't just be a sex scene with "oh, by the way they're brother and sister". The incestuous angle needs to be integral to the plot or the characters' emotions. A father is tormented by guilt because of his secret lust for his daughter. A brother and sister that normally fight all the time learn to get along through sex. A teenage girl feels comfortable experimenting sexually with her brother because she knows she can trust him. A possessive daughter seduces her father out of fear that he'll end up rejecting her when he falls in love with someone else. (Yes, I've used every one of these examples in my stories)

 

There are, in my opinion, far too many people who vote down a story just because they don't like the author personally. It's an easy way to strike out against someone you don't like, especially if you're not an author yourself.

The only criteria for voting on a story should be its own merits. Anything else pollutes the votes and gives a skewed view of what's really worth reading.

I don't mind negative comments on my stories so much; they're usually either constructive criticism (which I like) or written by a person with a 3rd-grade literacy level (and probably IQ), in which case they're not worth responding to. Occasionally a troll will actually put some effort into his comments, which usually end up being very entertaining, especially when my fans come to my rescue and stomp the trolls into the ground.

 

Its a hard thing to write a story and put it out here... granted its under a pseudonym in most cases here but it still hurts to see the rating go down, sure I expect to see a few negatives... but if your going to vote down maybe you should have to justify your negative vote... I'll comment negatively or criticize or critique if I feel the need but won't vote down simply because the author needs to work on some things mechanically.

 

I don't mean to suggest that there's some degree of intentionality. I just have a certain plausibility standard I need in a good story, and that plausibility standard is higher in an incest story.

Incest happens, right? No doubt. Consensual incest happens - I've been to Arkansas. But what we term incest on these forums is considered child molestation by society at large. I've read estimates that over half of all child molesters are family members of the victim. There's no doubt in my mind that incest happens.

But, the vast majority of stories always seem to involve a happy, consensual familiar relationship. Like for every story that even tries to explore the "WTF" aspect, there are three happy-go-lucky "Hey Sis, suck my cock!" stories.

Sure, it happens - but I just don't buy that it happens often, or even if it does, that there isn't some element of self-reflection by those involved.

I have a personal experience: My folks split up when I was 8. My mom raised my brother and me while she put herself thru grad school. There was this incident when I was 10 or 11 and my mom and I were playfully wrestling on her bed and I was developed early and I was always pretty big and strong and my mother restrained my arms and sat on my crotch to hold me down. We were struggling and I developed an erection. She (unintentionally, I'm absolutely sure) ground her crotch into mine while struggling two or three times before she realized I had an erection. I was mortified. I wasn't a particularly shy kid (Surprise! ), but there was this natural revulsion that overtook me when that happened. At the age, I didn't even know the word "incest" or have any notion of the concept of incest. No one had ever told me it was bad; and I was repulsed. I don't even know if I understand the concept of "sex" at that age: but I was so traumatized by that event that I remember it 20 years later.

That event completely redefined our relationship in my young mind. After that point, I don't even think I hugged my mother until I was 20.

Everybody's different, but I have to believe there is something primal encoded in our genes that screams out at incest. For me, even the most loving, consensual stories that involve the participants having a history of abuse, mind-altering substances, etc., need to have some element of the "WTF" inner monologue to allow me to suspend my disbelief sufficiently to not vote negative.

 

So because of one event in your life that happens to probably almost everyone at some point, you're now an expert on all of it and can judge others?

Let me give you one personal example of my own: I have a weird family. At times, with everybody but me, there is a sort of "family" bond, but most of the time, we're just a house of x amount of people, with bonds between people, but no "family" type of bond. We're pretty much just room-mates and have been for a long time, and even before that, me and my siblings had the bond of being people forced into a situation and people who lived together and grew up in the same neighborhood, etc, not a "brotherly" bond. On top of that, on both my mom and dad's side, we're as close to our extended family as we are to each other, and we share the same bond with our cousins/aunts-uncles/grandparents, etc, that we do with each other. If growing up, my mom had touched me in that way, I would be repulsed, not because she's my mom but because she's just a repulsive person.

You can't judge people based off of your own experiences.

 

I really don't fucking care for your input, bawler. I don't even read any of your posts that involve wall-of-text nonsensical rants. Even if, by chance, you agreed with me, you wouldn't admit it. I just ignore you, unless you're speaking directly to me. I ask that you repay the courtesy.

 

OMDzzzzz! Baller and King, please behave or I will lock you back up in your cages and make you read all the books in the Mills & Boon series!!!!

 

I'm quite behaved. He's the one throwing around insults like the catty little bitch that he is. Something you can choose to either learn about me or not learn is that when replying to something, I don't give a shit about anything but what has been said and what is relevant. If the douchebag actually for once was correct about really anything at all, I would agree with him. I seriously do not care whether he lives or dies or whether he leaves and never posts again or posts everyday for the rest of his life and posts shit about me or to me in every single one of his posts. It's the same thing with everybody. I've been answering your questions posed on your threads the same way I'd answer anybody else's. I don't play favorites or any of that other immature kiddy shit.

 

Oooooh, wondered when we would talk about pussy, my favourite subject!!! Mwah Baller xXx

 

I can get out of my cage as soon as I finished my books, right? I don't have to sit there and wait for bawler to learn how to read, do I?

 

King? How did your bra fitting go today? What size did they say D-cup? x

 

I'm going to have to partially disagree with you on this. I happen to specialize in the consensual incest genre, although I know you weren't trying to single me out in particular.

To me, part of what makes a good story is that it's not real. When I want real life, I'll go outside. In here it's all about fantasy. I don't want a story about normal sexual relationships; I want them to have a touch (or more than a touch) of the forbidden. So yes, a story about happy, romantic, incestuous couplings is fine by me.

On the other hand, I agree with you about the inner monologue. There should be some degree of internal conflict in the characters' heads. I don't mean that it has to get all Freudian and over-analyzed, but the characters should believe at some level that what they're doing is wrong. In fact, that internal struggle tends to drive my stories, although for the most part they all end happily ever after.

 

This thread gave me an idea so I figure I'll say it on here: What if there were a thread where people could write out their fantasies and people didn't comment? I figure it should kill two birds with one stone; allowing people to write out their fantasies on a porn forum without being criticized/judged/critiqued as if they're trying to be published, and it would clear up space in the sex stories section for the people who want to be critiqued/judged as if they're trying to be published.

Ehhh, maybe it's a bad idea. I don't know.

 

DC I'm going to have to say that's the most rational thing I have heard all week. What nothing said implies that if I read murder novels all week then I'm inclined to murder people... We have to have faith in people to have common sense... sometimes they don't but most of the time they do and we have to give them that benefit.

*Gives DC T&A award of the week*

 

I signed-up at the time to read, review and rate, but I came at a bad time since the voting system was off-line...

Must say I'm a bit let-down by the system: only a 1000 characters per review/comment, no preview of what you want to post and no possibility to edit once you posted your comment...

When I comment, I disregard any possible grudges betwixt myself and the author, as a story should be 'judged' on its merits and not on who wrote it.

On the other hand, when the waters should be too deep, I simply don't comment (or even don't read the story, however (re)commendable)

JJ

 

You can select to have no comments and no voting etc, but then i want the feedback

FD: Rational Thinking: I want meaningful feedback, as one I got the other day which was fair even if negative.

FD: Irrational Thinking: I only want people to fucking vote and comment positive fucking stuff or STFU..... [breathes!!] (I was joking btw before the wanker brigade comes and starts to make a 5000 word comment!!)