Lush Stories is a joke of a website

[lc69hunter]

As for other websites, I have just renewed my membership to Erotic Stories, which I had not been to since discovering Literotica. It is a bit funny, but @Just Plain Bob over there wrote nothing but BTB. Over here, he is a totally different persona. He is a good writer

 

[lc69hunter]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, criticize.

 

[silky52]

We call ourselves Messianic Jews, not Christians. We still practice most of the holidays and feist but also add in Christian ones. We celebrate easter in conjunction with Passover. It isn't all that different; it just needs some adjustments. I have stories here, like you do. I have them elsewhere, (flashback to St. Elsewhere)... My works here are at WollstonecraftWoman. Mostly IR cuckolding, only because I get a kick out of making my first hubby the cuck in them. I've never cheated on either husband.


I'm looking forward to reading some of yours.

Yes, I know what Messianic Jews are. Although I'm not sure how easter connected with Pasach. You are welcome to read mine I think you have to go to the main lit profile to get to them.

 

[alohadave]

Yes, I know what Messianic Jews are. Although I'm not sure how easter connected with Pasach. You are welcome to read mine I think you have to go to the main lit profile to get to them.

If you go to this page: https://forum.literotica.com/account/signature

You can add this link to your stories: https://www.literotica.com/authors/silky52

 

[boytoyjoy]

Lush is way too commercial for my tastes. I like Lit and I like older software that tends to be less bloated and crapified than the stuff we see more now. I did enroll a Lush account to respond to a forum post there, and then got relentless ads to get me to upgrade to a paid membership. I also got into a PM discussion with someone and after about 5 messages it said I'd have to upgrade to a paid membership to continue. I said forget it and left.

Some of the regulars there are actually pretty cool. Is it concevable that they are paying to be there? They should be getting paid by the site instead of paying the site. I can understand their wanting to charge freeloaders like me, but charging authors seems like a non-starter.

Eroticstories is kind of creepy IME. Plus they also push paid memberships heavily. And they have a somewhat celebrated female author who I'm pretty sure is male, so I roll my eyes. .

It was only fairly recently that I realized how much Lit authors crave reader feedback. So now I try to leave more. I used to just read without commenting but I definitely liked some of the stories a lot. It was fanfic sites that got me to figure this out. In the early days, I read on Usenet which wasn't so conducive to commenting.

kristensboard is still around and could go on your list, though it is very low traffic these days. It is some kind of offshoot of asstr.

You could always put up your own site if you want to have a persoal following. Lots of reddit authors have gone that route. I'd avoid posting on reddit for all kinds of reasons but I still sometimes read stuff there (not fiction, more like news and stuff).

 

[RejectReality]

Some of the regulars there are actually pretty cool. Is it concevable that they are paying to be there? They should be getting paid by the site instead of paying the site. I can understand their wanting to charge freeloaders like me, but charging authors seems like a non-starter.

They grandfathered in existing authors ( at least. I can't remember if regular members got comped ) with permanent bronze memberships when they went to "Freemium".

Lord knows if it still works since the new owners took over and rebooted the site design from scratch. The previous owner comped me Platinum when something went haywire with my account, so I haven't had to worry about it since platinum is permanent under the new site as well. So many features that were present at the transition still haven't been restored years into the change.

Anybody complaining about Lit's updates don't know shit. LOL Lush turned into basically a hook-up/chat site where the story part of it barely worked for the longest time and you had to ( mandatory ) enter location and "seeking" data. Many of us set it to bum-fucked Egypt, minimum distance, and put the age range from 99-100 to get off the Wish.com Ashley Madison radar until they finally caved to the pressure to make it optional.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Lush is way too commercial for my tastes. I like Lit and I like older software that tends to be less bloated and crapified than the stuff we see more now. I did enroll a Lush account to respond to a forum post there, and then got relentless ads to get me to upgrade to a paid membership. I also got into a PM discussion with someone and after about 5 messages it said I'd have to upgrade to a paid membership to continue. I said forget it and left.

Some of the regulars there are actually pretty cool. Is it concevable that they are paying to be there? They should be getting paid by the site instead of paying the site. I can understand their wanting to charge freeloaders like me, but charging authors seems like a non-starter.

Eroticstories is kind of creepy IME. Plus they also push paid memberships heavily. And they have a somewhat celebrated female author who I'm pretty sure is male, so I roll my eyes. .

It was only fairly recently that I realized how much Lit authors crave reader feedback. So now I try to leave more. I used to just read without commenting but I definitely liked some of the stories a lot. It was fanfic sites that got me to figure this out. In the early days, I read on Usenet which wasn't so conducive to commenting.

kristensboard is still around and could go on your list, though it is very low traffic these days. It is some kind of offshoot of asstr.

You could always put up your own site if you want to have a persoal following. Lots of reddit authors have gone that route. I'd avoid posting on reddit for all kinds of reasons but I still sometimes read stuff there (not fiction, more like news and stuff).

Damn near everything cost money there, even starting a thread. I wanted to get help on their grabage ass book cover system, is how I found out.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Thanks for the comprehensive list! Ill check some of those out.

What about nom-erotica? Just curious what are the players there?

I forgot about SexStories, which is XNXX's story section.

 

[Priscilla_June]

I forgot about SexStories, which is XNXX's story section.

I’ve seen that one. I disliked that I had to have a certain amount of points on their forums to post a story. So i moved on pretty quick.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I’ve seen that one. I disliked that I had to have a certain amount of points on their forums to post a story. So i moved on pretty quick.

All you need is like 12 post or so.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Yeah, I'm the president of the I Hate Lush Society of Erotic Writers. We have semi-annual meetings to bitch and moan and over-consume jello shots of reluctantly jelled Absolut-Vodka mixed with various flavors of Jello.

I tried submitting to that shitty site and was similarly rejected for whatever ridiculous reasons. I'll just say that with as many issues as I have with this site, it's much better that lush...

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, I'm the president of the I Hate Lush Society of Erotic Writers. We have semi-annual meetings to bitch and moan and over-consume jello shots of reluctantly jelled Absolut-Vodka mixed with various flavors of Jello.

Maybe we should go to one of those legal cannabis shops too; they are popping up everywhere near where I live. If you live long enough, you'll see everything. Anyway, I don't have a particular gripe with Lush. I've got a series going there right now. Not a big audience, but the ones that are there are appreciative.

925 Hunts Point Avenue

 

[Ren_eh]

I gave up on them four or five years back when they went through the "no incest stories" . . . "consensual incest stories only" -- which mine were but you had to actually read them. The characters never EXPLICITLY stated such in the story -- back to "no incest stories" back to "well . . ." in the course of maybe six months.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I know; I had maybe 30 followers, and no one ever voted below a five. It made me feel like the Goddess of Wordsmithing, Millamina the Sexy.

Maybe we should go to one of those legal cannabis shops too; they are popping up everywhere near where I live. If you live long enough, you'll see everything. Anyway, I don't have a particular gripe with Lush. I've got a series going there right now. Not a big audience, but the ones that are there are appreciative.

925 Hunts Point Avenue

 

[gunhilltrain]

I know; I had maybe 30 followers, and no one ever voted below a five. It made me feel like the Goddess of Wordsmithing, Millamina the Sexy.

Hah, I've been jinxed! I ran into the "multiple moderator" problem. It's too complicated to explain, but the first moderator on a chapter a month ago let something slip by, and the second one, on the next chapter, nailed me on the same issue. (Well, it has to do with parody song lyrics done by a certain character.) I guess I could say, "but what's her name didn't mind four weeks ago." I bet that's not going to work. Hey Lush, Arlo Guthrie covered it; he didn't write it!

Since you asked (actually you didn't) it's a song called "The Local to North White Plains" based on this.

 

[RejectReality]

Hah, I've been jinxed! I ran into the "multiple moderator" problem. It's too complicated to explain, but the first moderator on a chapter a month ago let something slip by, and the second one, on the next chapter, nailed me on the same issue. (Well, it has to do with parody song lyrics done by a certain character.) I guess I could say, "but what's her name didn't mind four weeks ago." I bet that's not going to work. Hey Lush, Arlo Guthrie covered it; he didn't write it!

Since you asked (actually you didn't) it's a song called "The Local to North White Plains" based on this.

There's pretty much zero allowance for song lyrics there. I had to provide links showing something was public domain to get one of mine passed with a couple of lines. If it goes through without a hassle, you can rest assured that the mod who approved it didn't recognize that they were lyrics to an actual copyrighted work.

 

[gunhilltrain]

There's pretty much zero allowance for song lyrics there. I had to provide links showing something was public domain to get one of mine passed with a couple of lines. If it goes through without a hassle, you can rest assured that the mod who approved it didn't recognize that they were lyrics to an actual copyrighted work.

One thing to consider is that the amount of scrutiny a story gets can vary according to how much attention a moderator is giving on a certain day. Then too, does a parody violate copyright if few of the words match the original? Maybe she briefly thought that and moved on. The odd thing is that both Arlo Guthrie and Steve Goodman are mentioned in that chapter, but not in the later one.

 

[GrushaVashnadze]

What the fuck is the point of reading erotic lit if you have gatekeepers trying to make it more boring than what you see on Pornhub? Fart fetish isn't everyone's thing, for sure. But it's harmless. Who the fuck are they to decide this kink is inappropriate? Unbelievable.

If Literotica is the Wild West of smut sites, LushStories is the Soviet Union. Here on Lit, people pull out a gun every now and then and shoot at you; and the sheriffs are nowhere to be seen. But on Lush, everything is tightly controlled from the Politburo, and the populace falls in line.

The Lush mantra is "We don't publish crap." A worthy goal, to be sure. But since the definition of said crap is formulated principally by a tiny cabal of apparatchiks led by One Person, and since said definition is never made public in terms any clearer than the supremely non-specific "Erotica is meant to arouse", it means that the "Central Committee" is more or less able to say or do anything it wants without any scrutiny or pushback. Only "agreeable" people (with the right friends) are admitted to their ranks; mere mortals who try to express disagreement are shouted down, or silenced, or driven out of town. Lush can comfortably hide behind the illusion of being a exclusive club for "high-quality" writers of erotica (whatever that means).

This level of dysfunction is crystallised in the story competitions. The shortlist of ten is chosen entirely by One Person. The "panel of judges" is largely chosen by that One Person, to whom they are all beholden for their status, and therefore strongly incentivised to fall in line and not disagree. The judges work to no rubric or agreed set of criteria: they merely rank the short-list in their preferred order and send their ranking back to the One Person. No feedback is ever shared with the writers, thereby protecting the judging procedure from scrutiny. The One Person reserves the right to amend the composite ranking she receives, with often predictable results. If a writer has been found to be criticising the competition procedure, or the site, they have been known to be booted off the podium as punishment.

The judges are also pawns in the process of choosing "Editors' Picks" and "Series Awards". They are under no obligation to read the stories submitted to them in their entirety. Therefore, a story can be rejected on the basis of the opinions of a group of people who have not read the whole story. "Recommended Reads", by contrast, are theoretically up to the discretion of the mods; however, mods who "give too many RRs" (meaning: give RRs to stories which do not match with the house style) get reprimanded, or booted out of their job. They pretty soon learn to be cautious about stepping outside the unwritten rules.

To be sure, Lush does not publish crap. But its opaque procedures, and the level of obedience and secrecy it insists upon from its mods and judges, lead to the forging of a very narrow officially-sanctioned stylistic range. I have watched many wonderful writers being driven away because their style, or their particular kinks, do not match what is officially sanctioned or promoted. But many of the best of the non-officially-sanctioned writers stay on Lush anyway, firstly because they form a mini-community of really good, friendly and supportive writers; and secondly because (and I quote one of them) they like the "subby little sluts"...

 

[ElectricBlue]

This level of dysfunction is crystallised in the story competitions. The shortlist of ten is chosen entirely by One Person. The "panel of judges" is largely chosen by that One Person, to whom they are all beholden for their status, and therefore strongly incentivised to fall in line and not disagree. The judges work to no rubric or agreed set of criteria: they merely rank the short-list in their preferred order and send their ranking back to the One Person. No feedback is ever shared with the writers, thereby protecting the judging procedure from scrutiny. The One Person reserves the right to amend the composite ranking she receives, with often predictable results. If a writer has been found to be criticising the competition procedure, or the site, they have been known to be booted off the podium as punishment.

This sounds a bit like the Stacnash drive-through we had last year, when she appointed herself a master critic and dive-bombed a bunch of stories, using some selection criteria or other that was never disclosed.

Not that I'm complaining too much, because she really liked my Ruby character - despite a very prissy and bizarre dislike of my use of "cunt". "Ass" was fine - she obviously had a thing for anal.

Does Lush have anything to do with the Clitorides awards? Sounds like a similar closed shop with a clique of fan boys and girls.

 

[alohadave]

Does Lush have anything to do with the Clitorides awards? Sounds like a similar closed shop with a clique of fan boys and girls.

Clitorides is run by WLP (World Literature Publishing, the parent org of StoriesOnline).

Stories tend to be mostly from SOL, but plenty of stories from Lit get nominated, and anyone can nominate a story to be voted on.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Clitorides is run by WLP (World Literature Publishing, the parent org of StoriesOnline).

Stories tend to be mostly from SOL, but plenty of stories from Lit get nominated, and anyone can nominate a story to be voted on.

Yes, I knew we can get Lit stories nominated. I had a story come third one year, but that made no visible difference to the number of Views or Votes received here. Very much a closed shop in terms of exposure.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

This sounds a bit like the Stacnash drive-through we had last year, when she appointed herself a master critic and dive-bombed a bunch of stories, using some selection criteria or other that was never disclosed.

Yeah, the response of AH to that episode was truly inspiring.

 

[MillieDynamite]

You were to honest, I'm sure. Yeah, telling them they let one by a week ago can lead to them yanking that one as well.

Hah, I've been jinxed! I ran into the "multiple moderator" problem. It's too complicated to explain, but the first moderator on a chapter a month ago let something slip by, and the second one, on the next chapter, nailed me on the same issue. (Well, it has to do with parody song lyrics done by a certain character.) I guess I could say, "but what's her name didn't mind four weeks ago." I bet that's not going to work. Hey Lush, Arlo Guthrie covered it; he didn't write it!

Since you asked (actually you didn't) it's a song called "The Local to North White Plains" based on this.

Crap is crap even if Lush thinks it isn't and I read a lot of crap there.

If Literotica is the Wild West of smut sites, LushStories is the Soviet Union. Here on Lit, people pull out a gun every now and then and shoot at you; and the sheriffs are nowhere to be seen. But on Lush, everything is tightly controlled from the Politburo, and the populace falls in line.

The Lush mantra is "We don't publish crap." A worthy goal, to be sure. But since the definition of said crap is formulated principally by a tiny cabal of apparatchiks led by One Person, and since said definition is never made public in terms any clearer than the supremely non-specific "Erotica is meant to arouse", it means that the "Central Committee" is more or less able to say or do anything it wants without any scrutiny or pushback. Only "agreeable" people (with the right friends) are admitted to their ranks; mere mortals who try to express disagreement are shouted down, or silenced, or driven out of town. Lush can comfortably hide behind the illusion of being a exclusive club for "high-quality" writers of erotica (whatever that means).

This level of dysfunction is crystallised in the story competitions. The shortlist of ten is chosen entirely by One Person. The "panel of judges" is largely chosen by that One Person, to whom they are all beholden for their status, and therefore strongly incentivised to fall in line and not disagree. The judges work to no rubric or agreed set of criteria: they merely rank the short-list in their preferred order and send their ranking back to the One Person. No feedback is ever shared with the writers, thereby protecting the judging procedure from scrutiny. The One Person reserves the right to amend the composite ranking she receives, with often predictable results. If a writer has been found to be criticising the competition procedure, or the site, they have been known to be booted off the podium as punishment.

The judges are also pawns in the process of choosing "Editors' Picks" and "Series Awards". They are under no obligation to read the stories submitted to them in their entirety. Therefore, a story can be rejected on the basis of the opinions of a group of people who have not read the whole story. "Recommended Reads", by contrast, are theoretically up to the discretion of the mods; however, mods who "give too many RRs" (meaning: give RRs to stories which do not match with the house style) get reprimanded, or booted out of their job. They pretty soon learn to be cautious about stepping outside the unwritten rules.

To be sure, Lush does not publish crap. But its opaque procedures, and the level of obedience and secrecy it insists upon from its mods and judges, lead to the forging of a very narrow officially-sanctioned stylistic range. I have watched many wonderful writers being driven away because their style, or their particular kinks, do not match what is officially sanctioned or promoted. But many of the best of the non-officially-sanctioned writers stay on Lush anyway, firstly because they form a mini-community of really good, friendly and supportive writers; and secondly because (and I quote one of them) they like the "subby little sluts"...

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'd have to be on something stronger than pot to go back to LUSH!

Maybe we should go to one of those legal cannabis shops too; they are popping up everywhere near where I live. If you live long enough, you'll see everything. Anyway, I don't have a particular gripe with Lush. I've got a series going there right now. Not a big audience, but the ones that are there are appreciative.

925 Hunts Point Avenue

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'd have to be on something stronger than pot to go back to LUSH!

I've never used anything stronger than pot. Not everybody in the 1970's was a burnout case. I was lucky perhaps in that my friends then were relatively restrained.

But yeah, I don't want to call attention to the other chapter because they might yank that one too. (Although something similar is certainly possible on Lit too - keep your head down!) But I'm in the middle of series there that I like so I'm not leaving them at this point. But I'm trying to figure out what to put in the hole left by removing that section.