A New Day

[tickledkitty]

Niche market, then, TK. I mistakenly put one in there, early on, because I naively imagined that it had to do with the exotic. My Haitian woman is exotic, all right! But they really do want Big Black Dick over there. The story did poorly.

That story's gone now, it was published.

Now I've been thinking about this. It's sad, really, the number of good stories that are most likely passed by because of their category.

Interracial, for example. I would probably never go looking for something to read there because it's just not my "thing." I'm not offended by it, but I'm not especially titillated by it either. I just don't care about it one way or another.

I don't have a better solution, and I realize the site has to be organized in some way. It sucks though.

 

[BlackShanglan]

One of the the particularly odd things on this site is that the categories are governed by a mix of defining characteristics. We have some that describe the type of sex, others that describe the nature of the participants, others that focus on the literary genre, and others that look at the structure or length of the piece. That just adds to the confusion, I think, as every story will have those defining characteristics and thus generally fit multiple categories.

If you peer through it all, it suggests a single norm - heterosexual, same-race partners in a vanilla non-romantic sex scene written as a narrative short story and set in the present or historical past - from which all other forms are deviations. In fact, it suggests a very tame porn film written up as a short story. Interesting!

Yet as limiting as that seems in some ways, I can't deny its value in others. I really would rather know if I'm embarking on a novel when I was just looking for a quick read, or if I'm going to have to sit through characters over-identifying their partner's race, family relationship, and/or gender in every sex scene ("Oh, yes, daddy! Fuck your step-son! I've never had a big, white cock up my ass before!").

And you can thank Oblimo for inspiring that last.

 

[sr71plt]

One of the the particularly odd things on this site is that the categories are governed by a mix of defining characteristics. We have some that describe the type of sex, others that describe the nature of the participants, others that focus on the literary genre, and others that look at the structure or length of the piece. That just adds to the confusion, I think, as every story will have those defining characteristics and thus generally fit multiple categories.

If you peer through it all, it suggests a single norm - heterosexual, same-race partners in a vanilla non-romantic sex scene written as a narrative short story and set in the present or historical past - from which all other forms are deviations. In fact, it suggests a very tame porn film written up as a short story. Interesting!

Yet as limiting as that seems in some ways, I can't deny its value in others. I really would rather know if I'm embarking on a novel when I was just looking for a quick read, or if I'm going to have to sit through characters over-identifying their partner's race, family relationship, and/or gender in every sex scene ("Oh, yes, daddy! Fuck your step-son! I've never had a big, white cock up my ass before!").

And you can thank Oblimo for inspiring that last.

Yep, that's a problem. There's a whole run of subcategories for the straight stories and one catchall each for lesbian and gay (and just an ambiguous "group sex" for bi).

One of the real irritations I have is about indignant "this should have gone in Nonconsent" comments slapped on GM nonconsent stories (just an example of a category) I've put in Gay Male. I've put them there because that's essentially the only category a GM reader is going to look at. You need to put the stories in the categories the target audience reads.

 

[Guest]

lisa123414 renamed the categories a few weeks back over a discussion about separating Loving Wives into two subcategories.

Not particularly helpful, of course, but interestingly descriptive and funny as hell.

http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=25297302&postcount=34

Anal – Ass Fuckers
BDSM – Hard Fuckers
Celebrities – Famous Fuckers
Chain Stories – Team Fuckers
Erotic Couplings - Love to Fuckers
Erotic Horror – Scary Fuckers
Exhibitionist & Voyeur – Look at those Fuckers!
Fetish – Kinky Fuckers
First Time – Learning Fuckers
Gay Male – Gay Fuckers
Group Sex – Everybody’s Fucking
How To – How to Fuck
Humor & Satire - Funny Fuck
Illustrated – Fucky see
Incest/Taboo - -(what else) – Mother Fuckers
Interracial Love – Different Fuckers
Lesbian Sex –Girls only Fuckers
Letters & Transcripts – Letters about Fucking
Loving Wives – split into the aforementioned two, Angry Fuckers and Happy Fuckers
Mature – Old Fuckers
Mind Control – Control Fuckers
Non-English – Non-English Fuckers
Non-Erotic – No Fuck
NonConsent/Reluctance – Controlling Fuckers
NonHuman – Unreal Fuckers
Novels and Novellas – Grand Fucks
Reviews & Essays - Artsy Fuckers
Romance – Honorable Seduction (!)
Sci-Fi & Fantasy – Future Fucks
Text With Audio – The sound of Fuckers
Toys & Masturbation – Lone Fuckers
Transsexuals & Crossdressers – What The Fuckers?

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Incest/Taboo - -(what else) – Mother Fuckers

It could have just as easily been "Family fuckers".

 

[BlackShanglan]

*laugh* Liked your post, Sarahh!

Sr has a good point on another twist to this thing. He wants a category that reflects the audience he's looking for - completely fair. Laurel and Manu often go another way - the "most likely thing to offend" route. They place a story in the category of whatever seems to be the most likely to upset people who weren't looking for it. In short, they're catering to the people writing Sr irate notes about the non-consent.

Both models make sense, but they don't mesh very well unless you've got multiple tags available. There's always the "warning note at the start" option, but it does feel so awkward and silly to write a note at the start of a story explaining the story.

Personally, I'd love to see a multiple-tag system created, with the new story / old story tagging issue handled as has been suggested on this thread. However, while I could be wrong, I suspect that there might be a really hideous difficulty involved in figuring out how to present stories to readers. Right now, the whole front end of the site goes by category. Depending on how the program itself handles that, you could have a small issue or a very, very big issue to resolve in trying to switch to a system that can post stories to multiple categories.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Right now, the whole front end of the site goes by category. Depending on how the program itself handles that, you could have a small issue or a very, very big issue to resolve in trying to switch to a system that can post stories to multiple categories.

Like I said, a coding nightmare

 

[Guest]

*laugh* Liked your post, Sarahh!

Sr has a good point on another twist to this thing. He wants a category that reflects the audience he's looking for - completely fair. Laurel and Manu often go another way - the "most likely thing to offend" route. They place a story in the category of whatever seems to be the most likely to upset people who weren't looking for it. In short, they're catering to the people writing Sr irate notes about the non-consent.

Both models make sense, but they don't mesh very well unless you've got multiple tags available. There's always the "warning note at the start" option, but it does feel so awkward and silly to write a note at the start of a story explaining the story.

Personally, I'd love to see a multiple-tag system created, with the new story / old story tagging issue handled as has been suggested on this thread. However, while I could be wrong, I suspect that there might be a really hideous difficulty involved in figuring out how to present stories to readers. Right now, the whole front end of the site goes by category. Depending on how the program itself handles that, you could have a small issue or a very, very big issue to resolve in trying to switch to a system that can post stories to multiple categories.

Other sites handle this, though.

How difficult would it be to add a bit more description (at the risk of telling the story in advance) about some of the details included in the work?

MF, oral, light spanking
FF, oral, toys, romance
MMMMF, oral, anal, double penetration, bring on the Marines

You know?

 

[BlackSnake]

Like I said, a coding nightmare

no, just fix this: http://search.literotica.com/

 

[BlackSnake]

Other sites handle this, though.

How difficult would it be to add a bit more description (at the risk of telling the story in advance) about some of the details included in the work?

MF, oral, light spanking
FF, oral, toys, romance
MMMMF, oral, anal, double penetration, bring on the Marines

You know?

MF, FF, MMF, FFM....I wouldn't have to turn down that type of coding contract for sure insult to my profession.


I would say make the categories more general, leave the new and top lists, and make the search more useful. I just tried a search using "Search by tags" keyword "mother and son" and got nothing.

 

[cantdog]

MF, FF, MMF, FFM....I wouldn't have to turn down that type of coding contract for sure insult to my profession.


I would say make the categories more general, leave the new and top lists, and make the search more useful. I just tried a search using "Search by tags" keyword "mother and son" and got nothing.

With the quotes? Like this? "mother and son"?

no wonder

 

[cantdog]

Now I've been thinking about this. It's sad, really, the number of good stories that are most likely passed by because of their category.

Interracial, for example. I would probably never go looking for something to read there because it's just not my "thing." I'm not offended by it, but I'm not especially titillated by it either. I just don't care about it one way or another.

I don't have a better solution, and I realize the site has to be organized in some way. It sucks though.

Categories are the most numb-ass way to organize anything.

No one mind uses categories which match any other mind's. Look at the universal confusion here! Not that many categories, either, and a great many of them confuse people. Loving Wives-- everybody has to do a double-take when they finally see what the cat really is for. The banner on the site refers to "wifeslut," and that might have been a much more succinct title. I've heard people say they had misconceptions about others, too. Universally people who've written a story find reasons, from time to time, to be very unsure where it goes. The subtitles (the butt, and nothing but, for instance) are often even more misleading.

But I don't much care to see any of it changed.

People are always going on about the MMF, FFM sort of codes. Christ, we have story tags. If you like those codes so well, my dear friends, tag your stories with them.

 

[BlackSnake]

With the quotes? Like this? "mother and son"?

no wonder

That was to highlight what was entered.

 

[sr71plt]

Categories have their problem, yes, but I don't have any idea what would be any better than other just more categories. The category gives some sort of order the reader can readily use. If readers have to search by any sort of keywords themselves, I'm willing to bet the readership will reduce by half as requiring too much effort. Much of the reading seems to be done in those initial days while the story is still on the "new" list, and I'll bet most readers don't index farther than title or author catching their interest and the category listed.

 

[sr71plt]

That was to highlight what was entered.

And was a grammatically correct way to do it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Other sites handle this, though.

How difficult would it be to add a bit more description (at the risk of telling the story in advance) about some of the details included in the work?

MF, oral, light spanking
FF, oral, toys, romance
MMMMF, oral, anal, double penetration, bring on the Marines

You know?

*nods* I think that that would be the best answer. Let the story still be placed in a category, but be marked with additional descriptors.

Mind you, we could always do that ourselves in a peasants' rebellion. Just use the story description space to include some tags as well as the description. Pity it's so small, or it would be all we'd need.

 

[sr71plt]

*nods* I think that that would be the best answer. Let the story still be placed in a category, but be marked with additional descriptors.

Mind you, we could always do that ourselves in a peasants' rebellion. Just use the story description space to include some tags as well as the description. Pity it's so small, or it would be all we'd need.

You already get 10 description tags, don't you? (I do.) As far as I can determine, you can put any words in there you want to.

 

[BlackShanglan]

You already get 10 description tags, don't you? (I do.) As far as I can determine, you can put any words in there you want to.

Ah, no. I meant - I forget precisely what they call it, but the field that lets you describe the story and that appears next to the title when it's listed. The tags I think just work for the search function?

 

[emap]

Who knows, maybe they are paying attention to what we are saying about the categories and are trying to come up with a change. Personally I think they simply need to add new subsections to all of the categories. Loving Wife especially, I wouldn't mind writing up a loving wife story about a wife who is loving of her husband, though if I put it in there I would be assaulted with hundreds of comments about how sick I am to put it in there.

OK dang I gotta write that one and post it in there, I could use a few new laughable comments.

Most of the categories could use a subsection or three, of course loving wife needing more and non consent really not needing any, though two would be good, one for just one attacker and one victim and one for multiple attackers or one attacker and one or multiple victims. I know kinda silly but pretty sure the fans would be happier.

 

[Guest]

Ah, no. I meant - I forget precisely what they call it, but the field that lets you describe the story and that appears next to the title when it's listed. The tags I think just work for the search function?

But the tags will not let you do MF FF MFF - that sort.

I've tried and they were removed.

If the story is in a specific category, BDSM, for example, but has elements of other categories (oral, anal) I'll certainly put those in the tags.

Or do you mean the little blurb that follows the title - the little description about the story itself?

Other erotic sites, ES Online, for one, allows that sort of description. I'm very specific there, including MF, or Mf, or spanking, crop, toys, etc. Very specific. It's almost vital there because their category definitions are just so vague. Lit does a decent job with categories, I feel, but there could always be a bit more descriptors, especially when your story straddles the category line.

Then again, no matter what, you can't please each and every reader. Somebody somewhere will find something to complain about.

 

[3113]

Interracial

In my case, with the first or second story I posted here, I got a handful of angry emails because I hadn't warned them of the "disgusting" interracial factor.

[shaking head]. Funny about that. When I first found Lit, I started reading. And I saw the "interracial" cat and went "huh?" Because my marriage is interracial and I couldn't think why there's be separate erotica for that.

So I took a gander at that category and went "Oh." Got it, yes, people who want fantasies about stereotypes right out of old movies and pulp novels. Submissive Asian girls, primitive (or criminal), well-hung black men (ye gods!), yadda, yadda, yadda. In short, the interracial cat is pretty much a fetish niche that, outdated and un-PC as it is, still exists. Which, amazed me at first though I suppose it shouldn't have. I don't know if it ought to remain, but there is it and it does have readers.

I feel, however, that only stories that focus on such outdated stereotypes should be in the interracial category. If a story about an interracial couple is a straight romance, as one such story I wrote was, then I don't see any reason to label it interracial or for anyone to complain if it's missing that label (if they do complain, then fuck them. I'm not switching it to interracial, nor am I going to stop writing up interracial romances--or an interracial voyeurism story or whatever). I've had no complaints myself about that romance, but then I wonder if it's because the girl is black and the guy is white rather than vice versa.

To me, the interracial cat is all about and ONLY about stereotypical fantasies (white stereotypical fantasies for the most part) about different races and cultures. If my story doesn't pander to such a fetish then it doesn't belong in interracial no matter the race/cultures of the participants in the story.

 

[cantdog]

Ah, no. I meant - I forget precisely what they call it, but the field that lets you describe the story and that appears next to the title when it's listed. The tags I think just work for the search function?

Yes! Brilliant.

That's where they should go, exactly. All we need is a bigger field in the subtitle.

 

[cantdog]

[shaking head]. Funny about that. When I first found Lit, I started reading. And I saw the "interracial" cat and went "huh?" Because my marriage is interracial and I couldn't think why there's be separate erotica for that.

So I took a gander at that category and went "Oh." Got it, yes, people who want fantasies about stereotypes right out of old movies and pulp novels. Submissive Asian girls, primitive (or criminal), well-hung black men (ye gods!), yadda, yadda, yadda. In short, the interracial cat is pretty much a fetish niche that, outdated and un-PC as it is, still exists. Which, amazed me at first though I suppose it shouldn't have. I don't know if it ought to remain, but there is it and it does have readers.

I feel, however, that only stories that focus on such outdated stereotypes should be in the interracial category. If a story about an interracial couple is a straight romance, as one such story I wrote was, then I don't see any reason to label it interracial or for anyone to complain if it's missing that label (if they do complain, then fuck them. I'm not switching it to interracial, nor am I going to stop writing up interracial romances--or an interracial voyeurism story or whatever). I've had no complaints myself about that romance, but then I wonder if it's because the girl is black and the guy is white rather than vice versa.

To me, the interracial cat is all about and ONLY about stereotypical fantasies (white stereotypical fantasies for the most part) about different races and cultures. If my story doesn't pander to such a fetish then it doesn't belong in interracial no matter the race/cultures of the participants in the story.

I agree. So did BlackSnake, starting the thread. Outdated, he said, and that's for sure.

 

[Oblimo]

And you can thank Oblimo for inspiring that last.

Hm? Wha?