Average age on Lit

[MrStill]

Without having any evidence in support, I get the sense that at various times there are waves of creative writing undergrads submitting here. I get that vibe because, well, I see the sort of stuff I would have written for Lit when I was one

 

[TheWritingGroup]

In answer to this, they probably aren't. I doubt they read much, let alone write, sadly.

Have you ever looked at AO3? For that matter, have you talked to any of the 20somethings I know? (OK, the second one probably not.)

-Rocco

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Have you ever looked at AO3? For that matter, have you talked to any of the 20somethings I know? (OK, the second one probably not.)

Agreed. Most of AO3 is clearly My First Attempt At Dealing With Crushes, along with My First Attempt At Porn. Apart from the slang and all, you can tell by the works they are basing their fic on - K-pop, BTS, any teen drama you care to name.

IME the Youth Of Today are reading as much as they ever did, possibly more given it's much harder to evade school nowadays, but more of it is informally written - blogs and the like - and many novels are written in a very catchy style with easy sentences. But a similar small proportion to ever do get into more challenging stuff, still. Possibly more, thanks to interest being piqued by film and TV adaptations. I didn't know any teenagers actively enjoying Shakespeare when I was a teenager, for example, but currently could give you half a dozen wanting to see his plays. Even when David Tennant isn't in them.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The now elusive @EmilyMiller had a thread, as far as I can remember, where she tracked the ages of all the AH-ers who cared to say the decade of life they were in. If I remember correctly, we had plenty of people in their seventies and eighties but there were also some youngsters. I think that the median age was somewhere in the fifties, which would make me somewhat of a youngster

 

[MyBareTorso]

Where are the kids posting their erotica? AO3?

-Rocco

Maybe the kids are living it rather than writing about it?

 

[MyBareTorso]

The now elusive @EmilyMiller had a thread, as far as I can remember, where she tracked the ages of all the AH-ers who cared to say the decade of life they were in. If I remember correctly, we had plenty of people in their seventies and eighties but there were also some youngsters. I think that the median age was somewhere in the fifties, which would make me somewhat of a youngster

Yeah, it was an interesting one...I posted a link to it up above somewhere in this thread...I think I'm one of the younger ones here too...and I ain't no spring chicken!

 

[sophism]

To me this place both looks and feels more tailored to the tastes of Boomers and Gen-Xers than it does to Millennials or Gen Z. The UI is clunky. The user experience is archaic. The overall aesthetic is vintage 1990s.

I'm in my mid-20s, and when I first started visiting this site I liked how familiar it felt, even if it wasn't always the easiest to navigate.
The recent UI updates are nice but I'm definitely partial to the blocks of text look. Reminds me of when I first started using the internet as a kid.

 

[Escierto]

I'm in my mid-20s, and when I first started visiting this site I liked how familiar it felt, even if it wasn't always the easiest to navigate.
The recent UI updates are nice but I'm definitely partial to the blocks of text look. Reminds me of when I first started using the internet as a kid.

Your last line. That's hilarious.

 

[sophism]

Your last line. That's hilarious.

Hehe. I thought you all would find it amusing.

 

[Escierto]

Hehe. I thought you all would find it amusing.

I laughed out loud. It made me think of AOL and MySpace!

 

[ChloeTzang]

Where are the kids posting their erotica? AO3?

-Rocco

LOL. Wattpad, and there's a swamp of teenage angst there with the occasional good one and millions of fan-lit. The little k-pop fantasies there crack me up. I tried Wattpad for a while but about 80% of the readers are teenage Filipina girls. LOL. Maybe not quite but they have a huge readership in the Phillipines, no idea why, and there's a lot of Chinese stuff there too. Anyhows, go look if you want a laugh, but a lot of the writing is - as bad as mine was when I was that age. LOL

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, I signed up in 2015, a year out of Uni, so early 20's, and that was 9 years ago. Nine and a half I guess so for a while there I brought the average down a lot. LOL. Not so much now, but still here and still writing away as much as ever.

 

[Thomas_Hardy]

Where are the kids posting their erotica? AO3?

-Rocco

Elliquiy still, too

 

[soflabbwlvr]

60+. Started in my late 40s. Will probably keep posting an occasional story until I become too senile to write a complete sentence.

 

[Oniafox]

39

 

[StillStunned]

I'm old enough to know better. I'm also old enough not to care.

 

[MillieDynamite]

35-year-old, black, lesbian female. I started here back in 2017 or 18. I left after a year, maybe two, and came back sometime in 2021. I think. Yes, I'm sure it was October 21 when my first story was posted this go-round. When I left, I had all my work pulled down. I think there are those younger than me that write here, maybe not many, and certainly those older. Why some of y'all predate indoor plumbing and paved roads!

 

[SmokingFap]

Pretty sure this place is Geriatric Park.

Get off my lawn!

 

[subdudeme13]

Pretty sure this place is Geriatric Park.

Is that a problem? If it is then why are you here?

 

[lovecraft68]

Pretty sure this place is Geriatric Park.

As a guy you know you're getting older when you go from looking for older women because they're hot to now looking for girls with daddy issues.

 

[subdudeme13]

35-year-old, black, lesbian female. I started here back in 2017 or 18. I left after a year, maybe two, and came back sometime in 2021. I think. Yes, I'm sure it was October 21 when my first story was posted this go-round. When I left, I had all my work pulled down. I think there are those younger than me that write here, maybe not many, and certainly those older. Why some of y'all predate indoor plumbing and paved roads!

We had indoor plumbing but had to pump it by hand!

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Is that a problem? If it is then why are you here?

It's an accurate statement, whether or not it's a problem depends on your perspective I suppose.
Maybe I think of being here like volunteering at the local Senior Center. You know, doing my part for the old folks before they go to the great beyond.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

35-year-old, black, lesbian female. I started here back in 2017 or 18. I left after a year, maybe two, and came back sometime in 2021. I think. Yes, I'm sure it was October 21 when my first story was posted this go-round. When I left, I had all my work pulled down. I think there are those younger than me that write here, maybe not many, and certainly those older. Why some of y'all predate indoor plumbing and paved roads!

I've often wondered, when Moses parted the Red Sea were LC69 and Simon standing on a hill top arguing about it?

 

[SmokingFap]

It's an accurate statement, whether or not it's a problem depends on your perspective I suppose.
Maybe I think of being here like volunteering at the local Senior Center. You know, doing my part for the old folks before they go to the great beyond.

I had a really vicious response to this, but I forgot it.

 

[alohadave]

I’m 37, and generally get the sense I’m younger than most the regulars here. To me this place both looks and feels more tailored to the tastes of Boomers and Gen-Xers than it does to Millennials or Gen Z. The UI is clunky. The user experience is archaic. The overall aesthetic is vintage 1990s. And yet, this place is an institution, and it continues to stand the test of time - or, well, to slouch the test of time.

Most forums are dead now, taken over by social media platforms like Reddit and X/facebook/etc.

Forums like this one are archaic, and tend to be occupied by a small set of regular posters that know each other well enough that you can tell what they are going to post when you see their name.

Whether or not that's good or bad is up to each person to decide. It has its pluses and minuses.