The Literotica rules are too vague!

[PastMaster]

Does it really matter whether other people got away with something?

Basing one's conduct on whether or not the other kid got away with stealing from the cookie jar so why can't you do so as well is not the best way to go about things.

It matters because, since you simply cannot get a definitive answer if you ask laurel - your only yardstick is to see what else is posted on the site and base your stories on that. If you do that, and your story gets rejected, how are you supposed to know the level.

 

[PastMaster]

"I wrote a story with a 13 year old with sexual paraphenalia... the rules are vague... I'm the 664578th user with these clearly explained, rehashed issues..."

The story - as written - did NOT breach the rules AS WRITTEN - so tell me how is it clearly explained?

 

[AlexBailey]

It matters because, since you simply cannot get a definitive answer if you ask laurel - your only yardstick is to see what else is posted on the site and base your stories on that. If you do that, and your story gets rejected, how are you supposed to know the level.

@PastMaster
I’m really trying to help you out here…

You should save yourself some stress and carefully read Laurel’s instructions:

(I clipped the original post down but you can click on her name in blue to find the original post)

Hi writers!

—-

When a story is sent back to you for any reason, this is not a final rejection and it is not meant to be taken personally. This just means we have issues or questions. You are free to resubmit either with corrections - or, if you think we're wrong, an explanation of why we're wrong in the NOTES field.

If you believe your story was rejected in error, please open the submission, respond to the rejection in the NOTES field of the submission, and hit SUBMIT. Please do not add the word EDITED to the title, as that denotes someone editing an already approved story. Since we process all edits after the new stories are posted, adding the word EDITED to a title will cause a delay in the posting of your new story. If you are submitting an edit of a rejected story, simply open the rejected form, make the changes in that form, and hit SUBMIT. Do not start a new submission.

She does later say that you can PM her but since that isn’t working for you the only place you can guarantee you will have her attention is on a story submission as she has described.

 

[PastMaster]

@PastMaster
I’m really trying to help you out here…

You should save yourself some stress and carefully read Laurel’s instructions:

(I clipped the original post down but you can click on her name in blue to find the original post)



She does later say that you can PM her but since that isn’t working for you the only place you can guarantee you will have her attention is on a story submission as she has described.

Hi Alex.

Thank you, I appreciate it, I have found in all forums you are the voice of reason and I appreciate it.

I read the instructions carefully. One line says this..

We do allow references to past activity in stories so long as it is not explicit. For example, an adult character referencing his or her history - "I lost my virginity when I was 15" - is fine. Explicit and/or salacious details are not.

which seems to match up with the OP's description of

"I took a playboy magazine to school when I was 13 and got detention."

There is nothing explicit, or salacious in that statement - its a bald statment of fact.

That is why i say, in my opinion, that story should be fine.


I'm not stressing about this - i'm merely continuing an argument that many here will not accept - which is that the rules, especially the under 18 rule are NOT applied consistently, and the only way to find out if your story will be accepted is to post it and see - which is a pretty poor state of affairs, especially if you are writing a series. Since it can take 2-3 weeks sometimes for a story to be modded in the first place, then it gets rejected for some strange reason, then you either have to alter it and resubmit - or submit your defence - which can take another 3 weeks to be modded again.

This is why my Caleb story is 3 chapters more advanced on EVERY OTHER site it is posted, over this one.

(this is where I get the trolls saying why not just post there then yada yada)

My posting here was not ever meant to be a complaint of MY issues - just to try and explain to a new user the reality of the site and what to expect.

and as it stands I am 0 for 4 attempts at contacting Laurel.

 

[AlexBailey]

Hi Alex.

Thank you, I appreciate it, I have found in all forums you are the voice of reason and I appreciate it.

I read the instructions carefully. One line says this..

We do allow references to past activity in stories so long as it is not explicit. For example, an adult character referencing his or her history - "I lost my virginity when I was 15" - is fine. Explicit and/or salacious details are not.

which seems to match up with the OP's description of

"I took a playboy magazine to school when I was 13 and got detention."

There is nothing explicit, or salacious in that statement - its a bald statment of fact.

That is why i say, in my opinion, that story should be fine.


I'm not stressing about this - i'm merely continuing an argument that many here will not accept - which is that the rules, especially the under 18 rule are NOT applied consistently, and the only way to find out if your story will be accepted is to post it and see - which is a pretty poor state of affairs, especially if you are writing a series. Since it can take 2-3 weeks sometimes for a story to be modded in the first place, then it gets rejected for some strange reason, then you either have to alter it and resubmit - or submit your defence - which can take another 3 weeks to be modded again.

This is why my Caleb story is 3 chapters more advanced on EVERY OTHER site it is posted, over this one.

(this is where I get the trolls saying why not just post there then yada yada)

My posting here was not ever meant to be a complaint of MY issues - just to try and explain to a new user the reality of the site and what to expect.

and as it stands I am 0 for 4 attempts at contacting Laurel.

It is unfortunate that it works this way, and it’s amazing that Laurel does all of the submission reviews solo.

From the face it seems like Literotica would have an office and a professional staff

As it is I can only imagine how much trouble it would be if some politician who wanted to make a name for themself came after lit, so I understand her caution. I wonder about other websites, maybe they are in “safer” jurisdictions, or maybe they are just taking more risks?

My theory is that the best authors here can do is to help streamline things by providing explanations for anything that may be questionable in the submission notes.

I hope that experienced authors on the forum can be helpful and informative when new authors ask the same tired old questions. Thanks for doing what you can to help.

 

[lovecraft68]

Does it really matter whether other people got away with something?

Basing one's conduct on whether or not the other kid got away with stealing from the cookie jar so why can't you do so as well is not the best way to go about things.

Let me start by saying in 13 years here I've had one story kicked back and it was live for a few months, then pulled for violence and underage but I still feel the underage was a mistake. I never reposted it, I had to pull the other four chapters and its now for sale only. But once since 2010 shows that I don't seem to run afoul of anything here.

So when I discuss this I do it unbiasedly, not based on issues I have had.

I get your point of go about your business and ignore the noise, do your job, don't worry if others are doing theirs, right? Sure

But let me give you an analogy. You're going down the highway within the limit, people are blowing past you doing an easy 85 if not more(odds are I'm one of them, I'm a notorious speed demon) and oh, look a state trooper is pulling YOU over. What's the first thing you're going to say, or at least think, me? What about those assholes, this is bullshit!

Get the point?

Writing, as we all know is work. We work hard on the story, the editing, the grammar, we get excited when we put up a story, and then that story is bounced, but you look around and you can easily find stories with far worse violations than yours. You're supposed to what? Grin and say aw shucks, good for them, bad for me hee hee, let me go and rewrite my story even though I shouldn't have to?

Now, all this can be fixed by one thing. Consistency in enforcement. I think we're all reasonable enough to know on a site this big some thing will get through, but to see so many, and then to have ticky tack kick backs in between letting the egregious fly on through, should frustrate people. And if more people had a backbone here you'd get more of that.

There's also as I pointed out several rules here-and none of which I find hard to follow-but the only one everyone screeches over is underage, rape, torture, snuff, none of you give one damn about that, but say "I was 17 when I have head" OMG someone call the wahmulance reeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So the hypocrisy by both the site and its slurpies are what ticks me off, I don't care about the rules themselves, they're not unreasonable, but the lack or anything remotely resembling consistency is the issue.

You know if a couple years ago you typed "Budding Breasts" into the search you would get a nice list of underaged stories, because...when do girl's breasts bud? I have daughters I can tell you its usually not 18. Now, if you go search now you get a list with 'budding' in different context and don't see the breast reference.

Know why? Because for two years anytime this topic came up I posted the link to that search. The site tired of being made to look bad and fixed it, but never a post of "hey, we didn't notice that, thanks" which would have been a lie anyway.

I did the same thing with the story Raping Chay...on the top fav list forever with rape in the title and it was complete non con. I linked it in thread after thread, then all of a sudden its gone. Because again, I wouldn't let up, and again, nothing from the site it vanished as if it were never there.

That's the issue, and I'll close by wondering if you ever had anything rejected? Because over the years I've seen a few staunch defenders of this sites lack of professionalism all of sudden change their tune when its their story.

If the whining here is over how important the rules are then people should be upset that there's so many rule breakers on here. I gave up reporting stories years ago because nothing happened. Shaming the site by linking stories in a thread eventually works. I recall a few years back a story where an 11 year old was raped and 11 was mentioned many times, the author wasn't being slick. It was removed after a ton of "wtf?" posts...tell me whether its bot or human eye how does that get through and how does no think anyone should care.

The site doesn't want outright rape stories yet you can have the word in a title and its gets through...the site can't see it in a title? I said recently in a thread I don't blame the authors at all. You don't want rape but have a non con section? Really? But yeah, let's never discuss that because we all know how popular misogyny is here.

Telling someone to obey the rules then saying why do you care that other people don't obey the rules is contradictory, no?

 

[PastMaster]

I hope that experienced authors on the forum can be helpful and informative when new authors ask the same tired old questions.

You would hope so, but from experience on here - what actually happens is that the pack descends and you get told you have a rubbish story, or in one case you are a pedophile for questioning clarification of the Under 18 rule.

This vitriol - all of which I have personally received, is definitely not helpful.

I understand that those that have been here for a long time - are sick of answering the same questions - so why do they even get involved - leave it to people who are happy to help rather than just yapping at them.

It takes little time to say

Yes - that is the rule - yes we know it's inconsistent but it is what it is - this is how best to deal with it....
Yes we have all tried to get changes made, with no effect. If you want to - them pm Laurel and the best of luck.

This is why, that in the midst of all the yapping, it was refreshing to get your post. As someone with a real desire to help rather than just join the baying pack. so Thanks again.