The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[Kelliezgirl]

Good point. It would absolutely add another laying of "programming" (assuming you are making a bot) to create the account(s) but then it would definitely look suspicious if that's all this account did. No idea if it's actually looked for, but the moment it becomes apparent, I'm sure it would be.

I don't think there are any perfect answers, but if you can make it more difficult for a bad actor while not negatively impacting the readers experience then it's worth considering.
Of course, Laurel and Manu have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I don't think there are any perfect answers, but if you can make it more difficult for a bad actor while not negatively impacting the readers experience then it's worth considering.
Of course, Laurel and Manu have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

Oh absolutely - but it's an interesting thought experiment just the same.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

Of course, Laurel and Manu have bigger fish to fry at the moment.

For someone who isn't up on macroscale issues, is this related to things like the current political state in the US, or is something else going on?

 

[YmaOHyd]

For someone who isn't up on macroscale issues, is this related to things like the current political state in the US, or is something else going on?

There are some site infrastructure problems; there are several live threads in this forum about them. There's also the strains caused by a flood of AI-generated content that needs to be filtered out, plus the strains caused by increasing submission volume. And there are the tensions caused by running a porn site at a time when elements of the federal government and various state governments are trying to ban porn.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

There are some site infrastructure problems; there are several live threads in this forum about them. There's also the strains caused by a flood of AI-generated content that needs to be filtered out, plus the strains caused by increasing submission volume. And there are the tensions caused by running a porn site at a time when elements of the federal government and various state governments are trying to ban porn.

Thanks for saving me some clicks.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Phew. Just submitted "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas". 6 minutes before deadline LOL. Did it again.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Were you able to contact Laurel? It's still in pending...

I PM'd her. ill follow up again on Saturday

 

[Purechicanery]

Hmm, I submitted my Holiday story just over 24 hours before the deadline, but it wasn't published until after that deadline. Am I shit out of luck?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hmm, I submitted my Holiday story just over 24 hours before the deadline, but it wasn't published until after that deadline. Am I shit out of luck?

Should be okay if you followed the instructions for tags and the Note to the Editor, identifying the story as a Contest entry. You'll find out when the Contest story list goes live.

 

[TheLobster]

Hmm, I submitted my Holiday story just over 24 hours before the deadline, but it wasn't published until after that deadline. Am I shit out of luck?

For Halloween, I submitted mine liek 5 hours before the deadline. I still appeared on the list just fine, so you should be good.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Hmm, I submitted my Holiday story just over 24 hours before the deadline, but it wasn't published until after that deadline. Am I shit out of luck?

I submitted mine 6 minutes before the dewadline so lets see. Mine is still pending

 

[Trionyx]

I submitted mine 6 minutes before the dewadline so lets see. Mine is still pending

You are getting sloppy. Usually you publish with one minute to go.

 

[Inkent]

Same. I had 28 parts of a story posted and I could set my watch to when the 1-bomb would come in after each part was released. So at least I know someone cared enough to be very consistent about their hatred. Thanks, buddy!

I'm usually commuting on a train when the stories are released so have a chance to keep a close eye on initial scoring. I tend to write longer pieces, and have noted that many a time, within the first 10-20 minutes or so of being released, long before they've had sufficient time read the works I see the 1 bomb squadron fly by, before the scores start to pull themselves up & recover as the day moves along. Idly, I do wonder why... is it individuals hell bent on a moral/religious/been burnt themselves crusade of some sorts? I guess they hope by 1-bomping, people will be put off to read the work.

Anyway, back on topic, made it! Derailed was almost derailed itself, but made it in last knockings. A nod to Mr Dickens. Loving Wives style.

 

[Jorunn]

An unusual number? My Xmas story went live a few days ago in Romance and things seem slow, so I checked some similar Xmas romance stories submitted around that time.

Favorites and Comments and Votes are driven by the quality of the story. I tend to use lots of history, culture, and nature, so along with my humble writing skills, I accept that readers bailed out before reaching the end.

My score is OK, with a Red H, so I looked at similar Red H stories near mine, and found big differences in Reads. One story had 4x the number of reads. But that author has 5000 followers. Another story had 2x the number of reads, but the author has half the followers that I do.

So what explains that? Same category, same submission date. It has a slightly higher score. Well deserved, it’s good. But not significant. So what else?

Do readers say - Ewww! It’s a Jorunn story! And skip it?

Or perhaps, it shows how important your title and one line description are in attracting (or not) readers. Food for thought.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You are getting sloppy. Usually you publish with one minute to go.

Yes and it shows - a few typos in the last page or so as I rushed it and my mouse is glitching. I better replace the battery (it's an OLD mouse but I have used it for years). Never mind, it was fun to write - laughed my way thru this one!

 

[WittyUserName]

I'm waiting on a posting date. I wish I had gotten mine in earlier. The reason to enter is to get more views. Firelight at Snowcap Ridge is still pending.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

An unusual number? My Xmas story went live a few days ago in Romance and things seem slow, so I checked some similar Xmas romance stories submitted around that time.

Favorites and Comments and Votes are driven by the quality of the story. I tend to use lots of history, culture, and nature, so along with my humble writing skills, I accept that readers bailed out before reaching the end.

My score is OK, with a Red H, so I looked at similar Red H stories near mine, and found big differences in Reads. One story had 4x the number of reads. But that author has 5000 followers. Another story had 2x the number of reads, but the author has half the followers that I do.

So what explains that? Same category, same submission date. It has a slightly higher score. Well deserved, it’s good. But not significant. So what else?

Do readers say - Ewww! It’s a Jorunn story! And skip it?

Or perhaps, it shows how important your title and one line description are in attracting (or not) readers. Food for thought.

I suspect title plays a big factor.
If people look at the list the title is going to sell it.

 

[dreams_in_words]

There were a few I avoided based on title alone. Then read some because of glowing recommendations

 

[Voboy]

Back in the old days, when contests were a bit more predictable, there were usually a few sweeps that went through, deepening each time before the final whopper just before the checkered flag.

I bring that up today because the first sweep used to go through about now, during the first or second day after submissions closed. Then you could expect a second with about 3-5 days left before the winners were announced.

The last couple of contests... well, let's just say they haven't worked quite that way.

 

[TurinTurambar]

I suspect title plays a big factor.
If people look at the list the title is going to sell it.

From my experience title is a major influence on number of views. I submitted two stories to this contest. The first reached 12k views easily on it's first day. The second has barely gotten over 10k on it's fourth day. Both stories were in the same category, so that is not a factor for this. The first story had Sorority in the title, which I suspect was the reason it received so many more views right away.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Back in the old days, when contests were a bit more predictable, there were usually a few sweeps that went through, deepening each time before the final whopper just before the checkered flag.

I bring that up today because the first sweep used to go through about now, during the first or second day after submissions closed. Then you could expect a second with about 3-5 days left before the winners were announced.

The last couple of contests... well, let's just say they haven't worked quite that way.

When sweeps happen, do the total number of "votes" reflect that? Like, do you see suddenly that you have fewer votes? Or does your score just change?

 

[iwatchus]

When sweeps happen, do the total number of "votes" reflect that? Like, do you see suddenly that you have fewer votes? Or does your score just change?

yes that is the easiest way to tell.

 

[Actingup]

Mixed results with two stories in the competition, but I’ll take it. The ‘Jade’ story got heavily bombed immediately when it came out a couple of days ago - it was never going to win anything, but that was still annoying for all the reasons we always discuss.

The other one can’t win anything because statistically it’s almost impossible to do that from Loving Wives, but the engagement was out of sight!

 

[iwatchus]

Like ActingUp, I'm not going to win this time either.
One story was not a serious entry but it was from a joke (maybe earlier on this thread) about a Mommy sat in my lap story.

The other story, which I liked, was doomed by my FMC, apparently, because too many people found her too much of a bitch. I had maybe half a dozen comments that essentially said "I liked the story, but she was too much of a bitch, so I stopped reading." I still like you Jenny even if they are mean to you.

And it's dropped another 0.02 rating since the site decided to render it as effectively unreadable. At least I wasn't going to win with it anyway.

But I had a great week of engagement (my How To broke out of purgatory in the middle of the week) for all three stories (two for this contest). I can't believe I got 80K views for 4 hours f writing/editing, but I still feel disgusted at myself for writing it. And one commenter (I hope he was joking) said it made him think about the first time with his mother. Cringe.

 

[TheLobster]

I can't believe I got 80K views for 4 hours f writing/editing, but I still feel disgusted at myself for writing it. And one commenter (I hope he was joking) said it made him think about the first time with his mother.

I see you got the taste of both the best and the worst parts of T/I.