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Current flood of extreme subject porn stories

al_3 🚫
Updated:

Over the last 6 months, the site has been inundated with a flood of poor quality, extreme subject porn stories, by a small group of authors. Some stories are AI generated, most of them do not permit scores or comments, and the subject matter is repeated constantly.
The author exclusion process does not work on the home page and the home page cannot be avoided because it is the default return page, so one is constantly subjected to these offensive subject matter stories.
I am concerned that this take-over of the site will alienate genuine story authors who may not wish to be associated with this trend.
I used to be comfortable recommending the site to others but not at the moment.
Is there any form of moderation that can be exercised on these stories or can they be moved to a separate site ?
I am not a prude, I am just fed up constantly wading through all this junk.

Replies: Switch Blayde Fick Suck irvmull jimq2 tendertouch Grant irvmull Cheshire_Writer Switch Blayde jps71 Big Ed Magusson al_3 TheDarkKnight moondog_199 Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster) ystokes Finbar_Saunders ptm042

Switch Blayde 🚫

@al_3

most of them do not permit scores

That is not possible. Scoring cannot be turned off.

Fick Suck 🚫

@al_3

Ah, it is not just me that thinks there is a lot of crap being posted lately. Good to have some confirmation.

Replies: doctor_wing_nut garymrssn Sarkasmus

doctor_wing_nut 🚫

@Fick Suck

it is not just me

No, it most definitely is NOT.

Thank you, btw, for sharing your work. I thoroughly enjoy it.

garymrssn 🚫
Updated:

@Fick Suck

it is not just me

I've noticed it also. I'm also concerned it may negatively affect the site if it continues.

Sarkasmus 🚫

@Fick Suck

Seriously, when I talk with other authors I know personally, and they asked why I post only here, I USED to say that the other sites are for masturbation-fantasies, which is why they finance themselves with ads for camgirls and sextoys. But SOL is for stories, which is why it finances itself with a goddamn bookstore!

But now... I don't know anymore.

After seeing this thread, I clicked on the Home page, and the first thing greeting me was this:

"Oh," I faintly heard mom gasp. My eyes fluttered open to see mom now standing, her eyes riveted to my cock as the last of my load dribbled from the tip and slid down my shaft, coating my hand.

That's the STORY DESCRIPTION! They can't even be bothered to write a synopsis anymore, but put the highly-graphic taboo-content right in there for everyone to see!
And when I clicked on said story, it was then all of 1k words, written by someone who can't be bothered to change the keyboard-layout of their phone to include commas, and was posted solely to advertise the full story on ZBS for $2.99.

It's a damn shame!

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Sarkasmus

And when I clicked on said story, it was then all of 1k words, written by someone who can't be bothered to change the keyboard-layout of their phone to include commas, and was posted solely to advertise the full story on ZBS for $2.99.

Teasers are against the rules. Report the story to site management.

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫
Updated:

@Dominions Son

As long as they add to the story at least once every two weeks, it's not against the rules. Otherwise, people like Fenlon, who've been posting their latest "Windy Pines" story for over four months while the completed book is advertised on ZBS, wouldn't be allowed either.

Replies: Big Ed Magusson

Big Ed Magusson 🚫

@Sarkasmus

There's a difference between a pure teaser and a chapter of a story that's available for publication. I don't know what the crap stories are doing, but a lot of us release the full book on Zbookstore before rolling out the chapters for free here. That lets people who can't wait just get the book, but if you don't want to pay, you'll still get the entire story eventually (and at a regular pace).

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫

@Big Ed Magusson

There's a difference between a pure teaser and a chapter of a story that's available for publication. I don't know what the crap stories are doing, but a lot of us release the full book on Zbookstore before rolling out the chapters for free here.

Sure, I did that as well with my first book (~280k words over 25 chapters). But I posted it over the course of two weeks. If your friend Fanlong keeps going at the current pace, it'll be six months before the full 180k words of his book are available here.
And, sure, as long as the full story is available "eventually", it's not just a teaser. But you sure know how to game the system to the exteme.

Replies: awnlee jawking Big Ed Magusson

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Sarkasmus

And, sure, as long as the full story is available "eventually", it's not just a teaser. But you sure know how to game the system to the exteme.

I struggle to comprehend the situation with Teen Dreams Book 4, currently in progress on SOL. SOL posting started over two years ago and a complete book of that name was released on zbookstore over two years ago, but the SOL version is currently 50% longer than the zbookstore version.

AJ

Big Ed Magusson 🚫

@Sarkasmus

It's not "gaming the system" if you play by the rules Lazeez has established.

Besides, if Fanlon's releasing two chapters a week, why does it matter if he's also got an ebook out in ZBookstore? You're getting it for free on a regular schedule.

A "pure teaser" is something where you have to pay to get the full story.

It sounds like you have expectations for how fast something should be released.

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫
Updated:

@Big Ed Magusson

It's less about me having expectations for how fast something should be released. It's more about having feelings about releasing something SO SLOWLY that it's effectively teasing... even if you found a loophole in the rules that legitimizes teasing people into paying money. We all agree that FOMO is a predatory marketing strategy, even if it's not against the law. So, maybe we can just acknowledge that releasing teasers for months on end is just as shitty.

I mean, seriously, if the finished book wasn't on ZBS, but instead on something like the author's Patreon page, the rule suddenly says "Must be caught up within two weeks". That alone should tell everyone what is going on.

irvmull 🚫

@al_3

Agreed. It's hard to find anything worth reading in the new stuff.

jimq2 🚫

@al_3

I don't see how they have time to write the drivel they are posting. A lot looks like AI material, even the descriptions.

tendertouch 🚫

@al_3

The author exclusion process does not work on the home page and the home page cannot be avoided because it is the default return page, so one is constantly subjected to these offensive subject matter stories.

I have the Followed Authors page in my library bookmarked so I can avoid the home page. The only issue is that my library isn't an option for retreating from the forums or some other pages.

I've also noticed the barrage of garbage stories, but mostly I just ignore them if they have extreme content or if the description goes on about how great the story is or how popular the author is.

Grant 🚫

@al_3

Over the last 6 months, the site has been inundated with a flood of poor quality, extreme subject porn stories,

It's been longer than that, but yes it has gone up several levels lately.

I haven't used the Home page for finding stories for quite a while now due to the amount of noise there (for want of a better term. The S/N ratio is very, very low).
Top downloads & Recent top stories have been my main goto places for new stories for some time now, whereas when i first came here the Home page & Reviews were my main source for new stories to read.

irvmull 🚫

@al_3

I am concerned that this take-over of the site will alienate genuine story authors who may not wish to be associated with this trend.

A valid concern. If you can't in good conscience tell your friends where to find your stories, you'll look for some other place to post them.

I still see some great stuff here, but I'm not going to tell my neighbor or co-worker about it.

I believe the decline in quality is just another result of the combination of AI and general laziness on the part of the public. YouTube is the same - well over 50% is useless and inaccurate crap just put there for clicks.

Cheshire_Writer 🚫

@al_3

been like this a long time now on all the story sites.

Started around covid. Fist flush was endless amounts of known authors suddenly publishing new stories that were nothing more then 1 or 2 page plot outlines for a story that never got made.

But now its the AI shit in an endless spiral. I mean were getting drops as large as the current eidtion of 3 square meals on a weekly basis of pure AI generated misery.

Switch Blayde 🚫

@al_3

I find my stories using Category Search not the Home page so I haven't experienced this. So I checked out the Home page.

I don't see any story with the AI tag. And then I realized why I don't find stories on the Home page. They all seem to be ongoing serials. I don't read a story unless it's complete and none of the current stories on the Home page are complete.

jps71 🚫

@al_3

I am finding the home page very off putting with the amount of drivel being posted recently.

It seems to be getting harder to find any decent new stories.

I am finding my self constantly rereading stories.

Replies: jimq2

jimq2 🚫

@jps71

I am finding my self constantly rereading stories.

Hear Hear. I am mostly reading stories from 10-20 years ago. Authors like; oyster50, UncleJim, cmsix, DualWriter, Charlie for now...

Big Ed Magusson 🚫

@al_3

Y'all are pointing to a serious issue for authors who care about having an audience.

The reason I post here is for new readers to find my stuff. Yeah, a bunch of people will only read my work for free, but some percentage will buy my book on ZBookstore and another percentage will become fans. It's a classic funnel.

But the funnel only works if there's a good way to see "new to you" stories. So every reader that's driven off the home page is one less reader who will see my non-drivel story and therefore one less reader who could discover they love my work.

Will that drive me away from posting here? Dunno. I don't have the popularity of some of the authors who've been able to jump to being completely independent of this site. I also know that what I write won't be everyone's cup of tea.

So my one suggestion is--if you really like a story here, consider writing a review or mentioning it to other potential readers. Reviews go on the main page which is at least a stab at pushing back against the drivel and word of mouth is always the best way to find new stuff.

Also consider dropping a comment or sending a feedback email. That lets the author know that their story didn't just go unread because it disappeared in the sea of other posts.

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫

@Big Ed Magusson

Apart from the fact that I could never figure out how to write reviews on this site, I quickly learned that "not writing negative reviews" is a prerequisite for being allowed to.

And, as soon as I learned that, ALL reviews instantly lost all worth to me. If you're not allowed to point out slop in a review, you can just as well not read it.

Replies: helmut_meukel

helmut_meukel 🚫

@Sarkasmus

I quickly learned that "not writing negative reviews" is a prerequisite for being allowed to.
And, as soon as I learned that, ALL reviews instantly lost all worth to me.

Hmm, you implies reviews are far too positive, because negative reviews are not allowed.
But, a positive review can contain criticism.

The "no negative reviews" is – in my opinion – meant to help the reader, because any story with a review should be at least a medium good story. Bad stories can't get a honest positive review.

I'm quite certain if you tell the site management you found a low quality story with a highly positive review, they will check your complaint and act accordingly. (like read other reviews by this reviewer, remove dishonest reviews, ban the reviewer from posting more reviews).

While having a review denotes quality, there are far too many high quality stories never reviewed.

HM.

al_3 🚫

@al_3

I have previously raised the issue of the author exclusions not working on the home page with Lazeez but he explained there are some technical issues that made that difficult.

If those issues could be resolved so that the existing author exclusion function actually worked on the home page and then an author exclusion button was added next to the "EPub" button on all the listing pages, it would be quick and easy for us to exclude the crap directly from any of the listing pages. There at least a dozen current authors I would happily exclude.

Fixing the home page exclusion issue would not clean up the site for new users until they figured out the process but it would for everyone else.

TheDarkKnight 🚫

@al_3

Total disclosure here: I don't read many stories on SOL anymore. I spend most of my spare time writing, but I have noticed something weird recently. There are a lot of stories posted as "True Story". I took a quick glance at a couple of them, and they seem to be crappy. Is that what you folks are talking about?

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫

@TheDarkKnight

It's more about people danbeifen (like https://storiesonline.net/a/danbaifen), who, somehow, shit out stories like they're the literary equivalent of a child worker in a Chinese iPhone factory.

It's flooding the Home page, and every story has explicit content in the description instead of a summary, so every person who visits SOL now gets taboo-content delivered whether they want to see it or not.

Replies: awnlee jawking Dinsdale

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Sarkasmus

danbaifen

It seems to me like the stories are reposts from somewhere else. Google found a link to that name on tiktok, which I don't have access to.

81 titles on zbookstore and photos are of Chinese-looking models. Could they be English translations of Chinese stories?

AJ

Replies: jimq2

jimq2 🚫

@awnlee jawking

81 books posted in a 3 month period is a bit much for a new author.

Replies: Cheshire_Writer

Cheshire_Writer 🚫

@jimq2

the user admits its all chatgpt ai crapp

Dinsdale 🚫

@Sarkasmus

danbaifen is one extreme, the other is a whole raft of authors posting one story each.

moondog_199 🚫

@al_3

A timely thread. As a reader I look at the main page to see new stories or updates from admired authors. Very disappointing to see the volume of low quality and "squick" content and not be able to filter the feed. Would be good if could filter of block authors from that page.

Replies: AmigaClone

AmigaClone 🚫

@moondog_199

I tend to use a combination of New Stories, Updates, Blogs, and My Library instead of the home page.

Replies: Ahab

Ahab 🚫

@AmigaClone

Much the same here, except it's New Stories, Updates and Blogs. I basically click past the Home Page. The Forum sort of keeps me up with any current issues and my favourite part, Lost Stories, is somewhere I can occasionally be helpful, assuming 'I' can remember the damn story myself!

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@al_3

I'm changing the rules for these stories (they're basically ads for ZBookStore books).

There will be less of them.

Replies: Grant Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Grant 🚫
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Thank you.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Update:

The changes have been implemented. The number of daily posts that have an ad at the end of the story will be much lower as of tomorrow.

ystokes 🚫

@al_3

There is one author that has over 1,000 stories in one year.
Just glad there is no pay per click on this site.

Replies: Dinsdale awnlee jawking

Dinsdale 🚫

@ystokes

Hey, he has not posted for several days now. I think his stories appeared over more than a year though.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@ystokes

I participated in his Bananagram challenges, so I was responsible for a minuscule percentage of the output under his name.

AJ

Finbar_Saunders 🚫

@al_3

Maybe a re-vamp of the "home" page to remove the stream from there. Make it more of a site news, links, and statistics page

My habit is to mainly go directly to my library - active serials to see what new chapters have been posted.
Then access the last chapter to drop it out of the list. When it shows "final" I then download the whole thing at once. It keeps me up to date about what I'm reading.

Exceptions are the really long serials that I'm following (like 'Variations on a Theme') where I grab the latest .

I use a text to speech app to listen to them from there.
I also visit the 'Lost Stories ' forum regularly to get some gems.

In recent months I've not found anything to add into this stable of stories - with the shining exception of Al Steiner's 'Living in Sin' I got that because I have favourite authors set up so I get those pop into my library but generally, I rely on user recommendations in the forum or by direct category search

I loathe these new listings that all seem to be harping on the same general kink (either mother/son incest or bdsm)
red flags for me are

-- "award winning author"

-- Comments that gush about how every single chapter is the best thing they've ever read

-- 'AI generated'

-- a poorly proofed or lazy synopsis

ptm042 🚫

@al_3

Maybe a method to delete stories that:
score less than 7, and
fail to have enough downloads to generate a score within 2 weeks.
Glad to see others that think the site has been ovetaken with absolute crap...and that a solution may be at hand.

Replies: rustyken Pixy awnlee jawking

rustyken 🚫

@ptm042

Hmmm...I have my home page set 'My Stream'. I just skim the home page each time I log on, and quite often skip through it without opening anything. Perhaps I should look at 'Stream' again as it has been a while.

As ptm042 threshold of 2 weeks to obtain a score. I think 4 weeks would be a better threshold.

Pixy 🚫

@ptm042

delete stories that:
score less than 7, and

As someone who regularly scores below that, I'm obviously going to say that's a terrible idea.

Going by my reader PM's and comments, removing those stories would annoy many people immensely. Also, just because a large percentage of readers don't (for what-ever reason) absolutely love a story, should not mean it's removed.

I cannot stand country and western music, or drill music for that matter, but my music taste should not mean that those genres are removed from existence, no matter how much I hate them. And that follows for genres of books as well.

Replies: awnlee jawking ghostwritten

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Pixy

I cannot stand country and western music

If all music by people who can't sing (and that means all rap 'artists') was to be deleted, that would mostly be an improvement. That would include artists like Mariah Carey, who always uses electronic voice enhancement these days, but then who needs a new version of 'All I want for Christmas' every year when she was comprehensively outsung by that kid in 'Love Actually'!

AJ

ghostwritten 🚫

@Pixy

Yes, this would be a fantastic way to both discourage new writers and lose current ones. My stuff is like half and half getting to a 7, so I just wouldn't bother posting here anymore if half my stories were just deleted. As a purveyor of slop (non-AI, just to clarify), I find it really strange that a sex stories site hates sex stories so much.

It would also encourage 1-bombers to target stories/themes they don't like; wiping them off the site. It would discourage trying new things because if it failed, boom gone. Some stories also take time to develop, with the score increasing over time.

So yeah, I'm with you Pixy. Terrible idea.

Replies: awnlee jawking Switch Blayde Pixy

awnlee jawking 🚫

@ghostwritten

I find it really strange that a sex stories site hates sex stories so much.

I found the use of the word 'extreme' in the title surprising. The few stories I've read that match the OP's criteria seem to be relatively moderate and formulaic. I've read and edited stuff elsewhere that needed a strong stomach. There may be the equivalent on SOL but I haven't bothered to look for it and I wouldn't want to encourage it.

AJ

Switch Blayde 🚫

@ghostwritten

I find it really strange that a sex stories site hates sex stories so much.

Well said.

Pixy 🚫

@ghostwritten

I find it really strange that a sex stories site hates sex stories so much

That's because it isn't actually a sex stories site. What Laz set it up to be, and what it has become, are two separate things. However, Laz, like the rest of us, has bills to pay and the age old adage has been proven true repeatedly throughout history. Sex sells.

There has been attempts to move away from the porn aspect, but what I can gather from my POV, is that the porn free versions just don't attract the traffic the more adult orientated version does. Do the porn free sites attract enough traffic to pay for themselves, or does the porn version subsidise the less porn versions? We will never officially know.

But don't forget, storiesonline needs the content supplied to it, to exist. And what you see, is what is submitted. It's what people are writing. We would all prefer more stories submitted that cater to our own personal preferences, but this is real life and not a Disney movie where everyone gets a happy ending.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@Pixy

That's because it isn't actually a sex stories site.

SOL is a sex story site. It just happens to allow no sex stories. The other two sites are not sex story sites. Just look at the tags. On SOL they're geared toward sexual situations.

People who complain about too much sex on SOL shouldn't be reading stories on SOL. They should be reading stories on the other two sites. And the authors of those no sex stories should be posting them on the other sites.

Yeah, ask me how I really feel about this topic. I used to argue with Ernest Bywater about it all the time. I don't come to SOL for no sex stories. I can find better ones in the public library or bookstore.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@ptm042

Maybe a method to delete stories that:
score less than 7

The site's median score is 6.0, so deleting everything less than 7 would significantly skew the median, which would then move up in sympathy. That would discriminate against new authors who often use this site to test and home their skills.

My most popular older story has a score of 5.9. It has a high ick factor, but people seem to keep on reading it nevertheless.

While I'm not happy with the current quality of stories on the homepage, I think your proposal would do more harm than good.

AJ

Replies: BlacKnight

BlacKnight 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Worse than that, the median is fixed at 6.0, and stories are scored on a curve, relative to all the other stories in the scoring period, to make that so. Which means that if you delete everything below 7.0, all stories' scores drop, and stories that were originally 7.0 are now like 0.1, and only the original 9s are still above the 7.0 threshold. Repeat this a few times, and you end up with only one story on the site, with the score fixed at exactly 6.0 regardless of votes, and which then gets deleted in the last pass.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@BlacKnight

Agreed!

AJ