Limitations of comment moderation?

[SmilingLez]

I confess I didn't foresee my "not neutral" stance making it okay for "pushback" to extend to a comment advocating murder.

Agree 100%

 

[SmilingLez]

Simply the voice of experience. There is no need for anyone to heed this advice. It’s just my observation.

And likewise it is just my observation, also speaking simply from the voice of experience. Attack mode isn't necessary on every comment that doesn't agree with your (shall we say) experience

 

[Cagivagurl]

There isn't. The site screens for spam and html links, but doesn't adjudicate content.

Authors can delete comments, readers can report comments - in that case the site will look into the circumstances, and spammers will get accounts closed.

Not sure what happens about repeat vile comment offenders - their accounts might get closed. I assume vile anon comments get deleted.

There used to be evidence of a regular hate-speech trawl, although that was a while ago. Folk would report that comments had disappeared, but they didn't delete them - so the site does something. No-one's commented recently about that, though.

Do you report them?

Correct.

It really is up to the author as to whether they let them stay or not. If comments offend you, report them.

If I see offensive comments, yes I report therm...
The problem for members that live on this side of the planet. Offensive comments can sit for a long time because of time zones.
It may take 12 hours before they are seen...
Personally, I do not delete comments unless they are disgustingly vile...
I think stupid nasty comments say more about the commenter then the story...
It does frustrate me that such comments are allowed to post... Hate speech is not acceptable... IMO...

 

[EmilyMiller]

And likewise it is just my observation, also speaking simply from the voice of experience. Attack mode isn't necessary on every comment that doesn't agree with your (shall we say) experience

I think we have a very different view of what constitutes an attack. We have been around this loop before. I said:

Just a couple of suggestions:

Having a Title of, ‘Dominant’ and a Bio that starts, ‘I know how to write. Do you know how to read?’ is not a very neutral stance and is perhaps likely to provoke some pushback. Just sayin’.

I fail to see anything aggressive whatsoever in that. It’s couched as suggestions. It uses the awful pejorative, ‘not very neutral’ (litotes I believe). It uses a conditional. ‘Some pushback’ is such a harsh term, isn’t it? It even qualifies itself with a ‘just sayin’ at the end.

You do see the things people say around here that you don’t jump on, right?

 

[SmilingLez]

I think we have a very different view of what constitutes an attack. We have been around this loop before. I said:

I fail to see anything aggressive whatsoever in that. It’s couched as suggestions. It uses the awful pejorative, ‘not very neutral’ (litotes I believe). It uses a conditional. ‘Some pushback’ is such a harsh term, isn’t it? It even qualifies itself with a ‘just sayin’ at the end.

You do see the things people say around here that you don’t jump on, right?

Whatever dude!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Whatever dude!

That’s now twice you’ve called me out for something I’ve demonstrably not done . It’s becoming a pattern. Why, I have no idea .

You can’t refute what I’m saying to defend myself - just the same as you couldn’t here. Instead you run away failing to acknowledge you are wrong.

I have guests arriving, but please don’t falsely accuse me of something a third time.

 

[TheLobster]

Whatever dude!

Aww, give her a break. She's just irritated that OP seems to be stealing her signature trick, which is to give off a vibe of being an obnoxious twat and then clutch her pearls when people react accordingly.

Besides, it would be mightily entertaining to see the two of them clash, so let's just allow them to square it between themselves, 'k?

 

[Actingup]

Oh, Lordy, this forum gets tetchy sometimes! @MapleMan1961, I wasn’t able to see the comment, so I assume the deletion is in process. And while having an aggressive bio does not mean you deserve a hateful comment, I also agree with Em’s general advice to not insult your potential readers with an aggressive byline. It’s a classic rookie error, even for those with 65 years of life experience and happily moving into erotica writing in retirement (assuming 1961 is your birth year). Your readers are doing you a favour by reading the story, not the other way around.

Another piece of gratuitous advice I have is to link to your stories in your forum signature, so that when you ask for advice or wish to celebrate your wins, it’s easy for us to find your stories from here. You’re going to get critical comment and that can feel intrusive, but it’s a good way to learn. Best of luck with it all.

 

[OddLove]

I just checked your story, the comment is gone. Glad everything worked out.

I've removed a few unhinged comments and I never experienced them sticking around for days after. Maybe it's cause where I live or I just did it at a different time. IDK. For me it's always been instant.

 

[StrentWriter]

So today for only the second time during my stay in Literotica, I had to delete a comment on my latest work.

It abused me, the characters, and the stories, in such a fashion that was shocking to me.

I get that there is no such thing as universal praise. But I wish some commentators on here would remember a human is at the other end of the line.

I do question whether anonymous comments are entirely fair - I’m glad that my regular critics do all, for the most part, use their forum names.

But anonymous comments seem to just revel in making misery. Very sad.

 

[SimonDoom]

I do question whether anonymous comments are entirely fair - I’m glad that my regular critics do all, for the most part, use their forum names.

But anonymous comments seem to just revel in making misery. Very sad.

People seem to have different experiences. Over half of my comments are anonymous, and most of them are positive. I would be sad to see them go. The benefit of getting a lot more comments far outweighs the cost that some of them are stinkers.

 

[StrentWriter]

People seem to have different experiences. Over half of my comments are anonymous, and most of them are positive. I would be sad to see them go. The benefit of getting a lot more comments far outweighs the cost that some of them are stinkers.

I’m glad for you Simon. But my experience with anonymous critics is pretty miserable at the moment. I’d happily trade for what you get.

And I accept, I’m likely not a very good writer and maybe my writing isn’t someone’s cup of tea either, compounding it. I don’t think that should be a free pass for abusive commentary.

 

[SimonDoom]

I’m glad for you Simon. But my experience with anonymous critics is pretty miserable at the moment. I’d happily trade for what you get.

And I accept, I’m likely not a very good writer and maybe my writing isn’t someone’s cup of tea either, compounding it. I don’t think that should be a free pass for abusive commentary.

But we have a tool to get rid of it. You can delete it.

It's asking too much of the site to carefully screen and read every comment to determine if it fails to meet criteria and shouldn't be posted. People complained earlier when the site adopted a system that delayed the posting of comments. A system like this would bring back those delays, which nobody wants.

We aren't similarly situated. You have a remedy in the case of abusive comments: delete them. I have no remedy if the site prevents anonymous comments. Half my comments would be gone (and, according to the site, over half of all comments for all readers would be gone), and I would have no way to retrieve them.

I have sympathy for those who have received terrible comments, because I've received plenty of them, too, but if you step back and ask "What's fair?" it's obviously more fair for those few who complain about bad comments to bear the fact of their existence and to delete them than it is for the rest of us to be deprived of over half of our comments, good and bad.

 

[StrentWriter]

But we have a tool to get rid of it. You can delete it.

It's asking too much of the site to carefully screen and read every comment to determine if it fails to meet criteria and shouldn't be posted. People complained earlier when the site adopted a system that delayed the posting of comments. A system like this would bring back those delays, which nobody wants.

We aren't similarly situated. You have a remedy in the case of abusive comments: delete them. I have no remedy if the site prevents anonymous comments. Half my comments would be gone (and, according to the site, over half of all comments for all readers would be gone), and I would have no way to retrieve them.

I have sympathy for those who have received terrible comments, because I've received plenty of them, too, but if you step back and ask "What's fair?" it's obviously more fair for those few who complain about bad comments to bear the fact of their existence and to delete them than it is for the rest of us to be deprived of over half of our comments, good and bad.

You’re misunderstanding me: I’m not asking the site to moderate more. I’m happy to delete myself.

I just wish some people were not abusive to writers.

 

[Actingup]

You’re misunderstanding me: I’m not asking the site to moderate more. I’m happy to delete myself.

I just wish some people were not abusive to writers.

We can wish, and it's not unreasonable. Sadly, it's just unrealistic.

On the other hand, I take heart from your 'So today for only the second time during my stay in Literotica, I had to delete a comment on my latest work.' That's a good thing. I think that I've deleted less than 10 of more than 1200 comments, even though my most commented stories are in Loving Wives. Hopefully others have similar experiences.

 

[MapleMan1961]

Not sure where I said that. But anyway, it was more a suggestion about how you might be perceived by others. It’s free advice, so by all means request a refund if you are unhappy.

Nor did I imply that you said, that as far as I can see. I was reporting on what happened. I suppose I borrowed your characterization of "not neutral," but I had no intention to bring you into it other than to reply to you. Maybe it's kinder to us both not to pursue this specific aspect of the discussion.

 

[MapleMan1961]

I offer my thanks to everyone who replied, especially those who reported what they say and when they saw it. There are lot of people who did both. It is kind of you to help me learn the timings of events around here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You’re misunderstanding me: I’m not asking the site to moderate more. I’m happy to delete myself.

I just wish some people were not abusive to writers.

If your writing is very good or very bad, commenters will let you know. If you're in the middle of the giant bell-curve of Lit, it can be silence. Lit is, unfortunately, feedback lite, so you get what you get.

In your case, I'm guessing most of the negativity has come from the few chapters you've got in Loving Wives?

I didn't think the Romance category, where most of your work sits, had a hostile audience, but perhaps that's changed - I've only got a few pieces in that category, quite some time ago.

 

[SimonDoom]

I just wish some people were not abusive to writers.

From your mouth to God's ears, brother. Any semi-decent person wants that.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I confess I didn't foresee my "not neutral" stance making it okay for "pushback" to extend to a comment advocating murder.

Your skirt was probably too short... you were clearly asking for it.

 

[SkyBubble]

But anonymous comments seem to just revel in making misery.

I've had anonymous commenters attack commenters for their criticisms of the story, or their support of it. It gets crazy sometimes.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I've had anonymous commenters attack commenters for their criticisms of the story, or their support of it. It gets crazy sometimes.

And I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone arguing with himself.

 

[SkyBubble]

And I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone arguing with himself.

Why?

 

[consistentlyrepudiated]

If you shut off all comments, it will take 24-48 hours for the cache to update

If you shut off comments (or voting) on a specific story, it triggers an immediate data refresh.

Over half of my comments are anonymous, and most of them are positive. I would be sad to see them go.

If you bar the door to anons, the serious ones will just sign in. If someone can spend hours reading but won’t spare two minutes to create an account, their opinion is as worthless as their vote. If anons are so valuable, why are they not allowed to post here in the forums?

If your writing is very good or very bad, commenters will let you know. If you're in the middle of the giant bell-curve of Lit, it can be silence. Lit is, unfortunately, feedback lite, so you get what you get.

Good or bad writing is entirely subjective. If anything, the better the prose, the more likely it is to fly over the readers' heads. I've seen readers gush over writing so flat that I questioned whether we were even the same species, but as I said, it's highly subjective. People don't react to craft -- they react to content.

 

[SimonDoom]

If someone can spend hours reading but won’t spare two minutes to create an account, their opinion is as worthless as their vote.

To you, perhaps. Not to me. I do value their comments, and it doesn't matter at all to me whether they've signed up or not.