Is there a long delay in stories getting reviewed for publication?

[dirtyfkr]

FWIW, no movement on this (12 days under pending status), and no response yet to my message. Should I consider deleting the submission and starting over?

I did that with mine this morning. I originally submitted it as part of a series. Wonder if that was causing the problem? Let's see what happens this time!

 

[Britva415]

Should I consider deleting the submission and starting over?

I did that with mine this morning

Yikes, all that does is move your submission to the back of the queue again.

I originally submitted it as part of a series. Wonder if that was causing the problem?

I doubt it.

 

[dirtyfkr]

Yikes, all that does is move your submission to the back of the queue again.

Yep, I realise that. However, after 9 days I imagine it was lost in the system somewhere. Last attempt, then I'll just move on.

 

[Britva415]

after 9 days I imagine it was lost in the system somewhere

Probably not permanently. We've been hearing reports of up to and over two weeks for approval time. I couldn't say why some people get approved in a day or two while others take a lot longer, but there is a queue and as long as the story is in it, it always gets reviewed and either approved or rejected in a way which you'll hear about.

We've also been hearing reports that occasionally a pending story can fall out of the approval queue entirely. This seems like it's due to some bug, and messaging Laurel can bring it to her attention so that it can be resolved.

Ironically, just based on what I've seen people saying about what has led to it, the author behavior which seems to trigger this bug is - Starting over and re-publishing. Apparently sometimes it "works" and just resets their place back to the end of the line, and sometimes it doesn't work and the story isn't in the line at all anymore, until the author notifies Laurel.

Again, just based on what I've seen authors saying about their experiences with that problem, as well as the problem of just having approval take a long-ass time in the first place, nine days is not beyond the pale, not worth risking one's place in line, and not soon enough to ask Laurel whether it got lost in the system.

I don't have first-hand experience with the bug or with long-ass approval times, I'm just showing you some stuff I've seen authors who did experience them say.

 

[baffling8929]

Not that it matters, but my 7/18 resubmit was to correct a typo in the description. I haven't done anything else with it since then.

It's just odd that this one is so dramatically different than my other four pieces in the series. Those all went from submitted to published in under 5 days. I don't think there's any content in this installment that would trigger more stringent review, and I'm reasonably confident in my spelling and grammar.

I guess I'll give it another couple days, but it would be nice to have some kind acknowledgement. Even if it's just "Your story is in the review queue." I understand and appreciate the work involved; I would also appreciate some kind insight into what's going on, an indicator of how many total submissions are currently under review, something, anything.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Thank you for the reassurance! I stupidly did not edit my first draft very carefully. Lesson learned! Hopefully I will not need to request an edit again

Yep, editing after publication can be a nightmare...I try to avoid it unless it's 1000% necessary. Literotica is a lot of fun, but one thing it certainly demands is patience. I've sweated on stories just like your good self, and it can be a little frustrating.

 

[happyyy_]

Yep, editing after publication can be a nightmare...I try to avoid it unless it's 1000% necessary. Literotica is a lot of fun, but one thing it certainly demands is patience. I've sweated on stories just like your good self, and it can be a little frustrating.

Very true. There is a little learning curve to figuring out the site, but I think its a extra rewarding having to be patient. I stayed up till 1am last night waiting to see if my story would post

 

[Arking]

Consider following those instructions?

Or are you asking how to send the story name and URL to support?

I use the 'Feedback' section in the help section in my profile.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I guess I'll give it another couple days, but it would be nice to have some kind acknowledgement. Even if it's just "Your story is in the review queue." I understand and appreciate the work involved; I would also appreciate some kind insight into what's going on, an indicator of how many total submissions are currently under review, something, anything.

It's an electronic queue, obviously, and no-one is going to look at the story until it gets to the front and gets processed. That's a fundamental nature of queues. You can work out for yourself how long the queue is by counting how many stories get published each day, and multiplying that by the number of days since you submitted yours.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I use the 'Feedback' section in the help section in my profile.

The feedback section in your profile is for readers to send you feedback, not for you to send a query to the site. To quiz the site, you should send a PM to Laurel

 

[baffling8929]

It's an electronic queue, obviously, and no-one is going to look at the story until it gets to the front and gets processed. That's a fundamental nature of queues. You can work out for yourself how long the queue is by counting how many stories get published each day, and multiplying that by the number of days since you submitted yours.

By that logic there are ~2400 stories in the queue, which doesn't actually make sense based on the number of stories published, nor does it square with the fact that my first four took less than half the time to get approved.

 

[shelleycat1]

Any model is a simplification. The only people who know what really happens aren’t saying.
My first couple of stories, two days. Third or fourth, 10 days or more.

 

[Jorunn]

I have no idea how the approval system operates but I assume that it starts with some sort of automated scanning process, looking for key words and phrases. If it passes that, it gets approved. If it fails then it would go to human review which obviously takes longer. This week, my story was approved in two days.

I would also expect there to be a system that monitors author's records on quality and adherence to the site rules. A history of previous rejections may well prompt a much closer look at a new submission, which will again cause a delay.

Agree with KachinaDoll - Likely some auto-scan looks for anything possible for under 18 - so if you mention words like baby, child, boy or girl (or others) then you will be flagged. So, be sure to include a "all characters are over 18" note in your story. Some instances of non-con in a non-con category may get flagged (somehow this may be done?) And while I don't think any specific category is flagged more, remember that popular categories build up a backlog. If there are 150 stories in the queue for Loving Wives, and Laurel releases 10 per day, then you go on a 2 week hiatus until yours will show up.

And, one more thought - it's SUMMER TIME! And perhaps Laurel is enjoying a light-working and well deserved vacation!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

remember that popular categories build up a backlog. If there are 150 stories in the queue for Loving Wives, and Laurel releases 10 per day, then you go on a 2 week hiatus until yours will show up.

I'm not so sure about that. If only ten stories are going up per day then that backlog of 150 will just become infinitely longer. We know that that's not the case since many stories in all categories do publish within 48 hrs.

 

[Jorunn]

I'm not so sure about that. If only ten stories are going up per day then that backlog of 150 will just become infinitely longer. We know that that's not the case since many stories in all categories do publish within 48 hrs.

Just a hypothetical, pink. Pick your own numbers, but I have never seen one day of posting completely fill the first page of any category, so I assume there is some limit on the posts-per-category-per-day.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Just a hypothetical, pink. Pick your own numbers, but I have never seen one day of posting completely fill the first page of any category, so I assume there is some limit on the posts-per-category-per-day.

I've seen it happen occasionally in T/CD, but I don't think it's ever wrapped to a second page.

 

[Britva415]

It's an electronic queue, obviously, and no-one is going to look at the story until it gets to the front and gets processed. That's a fundamental nature of queues. You can work out for yourself how long the queue is by counting how many stories get published each day, and multiplying that by the number of days since you submitted yours.

By that logic there are ~2400 stories in the queue, which doesn't actually make sense based on the number of stories published, nor does it square with the fact that my first four took less than half the time to get approved.

There's obviously more than one queue, or at least there's more than one way stories in the queue get handled.

I'm not convinced that every time a story takes 2 weeks to get approved, there aren't also stories published which only took one or two day to be approved. In fact I'm convinced of the opposite, because I've seen posts where someone says "this is taking 2 weeks, what's up?" and someone replies, "my new one just got published and it only took one or two days."

So there is a queue, and not all items in it get reviewed at the same rate, but all items in it do eventually get reviewed.

@baffling: what is the number of stories published, and how did you work out that figure?

Unless: The author tinkers with the story, resets the submission date, and happens to trigger that apparent bug where it apparently disappears from the queue. The evidence for this being a bug is that (A) the story never gets approved even after a longer time than the longest normal reviews, and, it gets published overnight once Laurel is made aware of it. That's two details which are different from it just taking a long time and Laurel still getting to it whenever suits her, when someone messages to say "this is taking a long time."

 

[Britva415]

I have never seen one day of posting completely fill the first page of any category, so I assume there is some limit on the posts-per-category-per-day.

First of all: EC.

Second: Why would you assume that, rather than just assuming that that's how many stories get written and submitted?

I'm not talking about on a day-by-day basis, because obviously there's variation in how many get submitted and published on different days, but, the average rate of submission and approval has to match the average rate of publishing over time, no matter what numbers "get picked," otherwise the queue grows forever, which obviously isn't happening.

You could reverse-engineer your hypothesis by doing two things. 1, count the new stories every day in every category, and figuring out what the upper limit is. You'd have to observe many days where the number reaches but does not exceed some specific constant. And 2, you'd have to correlate that with periods when people are saying their approval took longer than normal and periods when people are saying their approval was quick. And 3, you'd have to demonstrate that everyone's approvals are taking the same amount of time, whether short or long. I've already observed that that is not happening. Some people have long approval times during the same periods when other people have brief approval times.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

No one but Laurel knows how many are actually in the queue anyways, or am I missing something?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

No one but Laurel knows how many are actually in the queue anyways, or am I missing something?

There are those among us that seem to have almost apriori knowledge of things and things of things around here. Maybe there's a secret club with a handshake and all that...

 

[ElectricBlue]

And 3, you'd have to demonstrate that everyone's approvals are taking the same amount of time, whether short or long. I've already observed that that is not happening. Some people have long approval times during the same periods when other people have brief approval times.

Agree. At some point, the queue splits, and some go fast track and some go slow. I figure there's some bot screening going on, possibly a "known writer list" profile (going both "okay" and "not so okay"), possibly a first pass through a key word detector, whatever; and every now and then, something falls through a crack.

I'm usually a 2 - 3 dayer. One of mine went ten days once, I PMd Laurel and got a reply apologising for the delay, and the story went live the next day.

It's not a single speed conveyor belt, that's for sure, more like one of those clever parcel sorting centres, with splits and different tracks everywhere.

 

[baffling8929]

@baffling: what is the number of stories published, and how did you work out that figure?

I don't think the queue is actually that long. I just did the math Electric's way.

And the secondary point about messaging Laurel and it gets fixed the next day. It's been three days with no response and no movement.

To emphasize: I don't care how long things actually take. I would just love some level-setting. I don't even know if there's a problem, whether technical or content-related. I'm confident it's not content-related, but I don't even have the option to try to work that out any sort of misunderstandings.

If there's a bot reading it looking for underage material, one of the characters tells a story from childhood. It has nothing to do with sex, which would be blatantly obvious to a reader.

 

[Britva415]

the secondary point about messaging Laurel and it gets fixed the next day. It's been three days with no response and no movement.

Then you're just still in the queue.

If you were subject to the bug, which doesn't seem to be of concern to Laurel until it's been at least 2 weeks, maybe even longer, then other people's experience shows that you'd get a response pretty promptly and also have the review completed, either approved for publishing that night or else kicked back with some rejection comments.

I think we've done an OK job of level setting for you. Sometimes approval takes 1-2 days, sometimes longer, and "normal" (that is to say, not bug-halted) approval can take up to 2 weeks.

I think I get that you'd rather hear something from site management. Other authors' experiences are the best we can show you.

 

[Britva415]

I just did the math Electric's way

Right, and you compared it to some other figure and concluded that it didn't make sense. I was just wondering how you came to that other figure.

 

[baffling8929]

I think I get that you'd rather hear something from site management. Other authors' experiences are the best we can show you.

Yes.

Other authors' experiences and advice are pretty clearly at odds with each other. People are definitively saying if it's been 10 days it's the bug and you should resubmit. Other people are saying send a PM and don't resubmit. Other people are saying there are no problems, my stories post in two days and you need to wait your turn.

Right, and you compared it to some other figure and concluded that it didn't make sense. I was just wondering how you came to that other figure.

Comparing it to the actual number of stories getting published. Based on Electric's logic, it would be an infinitely expanding queue.

I've waited. I've sent a PM. I'm trying to continue writing, but honestly this is really discouraging. I have like 10k words either pending or sitting ready in a text file.