Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

I'm with you, @Switch Blayde

the ability to flag miscoding and change the codes is desirable.

The "2nd POV" code should be removed from most, if not all, stories coded with it (I haven't checked all of them).

I do agree with your points. #3 has to do with the "2nd POV" code. But there should be a #3a where "Author" is changed to "Reader." I used to write a lot of non-consent stories. But they weren't "rape" per SOL. They were blackmail, coercion, etc. I used to get feedback all the time that I was missing the "rape" code. I told them I wasn't based on SOL's definition. I would hate for the "rape" code to be added to those stories because readers say so.

Saying that, there was one story where I used my argument that it was non-consent and blackmail, but not rape. I'm in the process of revising that story and came to a scene where the woman is held down and sodomized. Because she would have done it anyway (being blackmailed), I didn't include the "rape" code. But reading it now, there was enough physical aspects to it to code it as rape. When I re-post the story I will add the "rape" code. So authors aren't perfect, even when we try.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone eventually asks Lazeez to require a Poster to code the content of their Forum posts.

Just one — political.

Then the system can send an electrical charge to the the poster's keyboard to shock them.

If I were to include all the "incomplete and inactive" stories that were tagged with all the planned codes when publishing the first chapter, this would be a whole new can of worms.

I finish a story and then post a chapter at a time. Since the story is finished, I know all the codes that are applicable and include them with the first chapter. When I post new chapters, I simply hit "next" on the code screen (no updating). So until my story is completely out there, some might consider some of the codes misleading because that content isn't in the story (yet).

But that's not a bad thing. Imagine some graphic MM sex occurring in the 70th chapter. That would piss off someone who is squicked by that. They would say that if they knew it was going to be there, they wouldn't have started the story.

What about completed stories that have been falsely tagged? And the incomplete and inactive stories that will (probably) never be completed, and therefore invite false expectations if the reader misses the snipped about the author being MIA.

As I posted earlier, if you think a code should be removed or added, contact the author or Lazeez. I suggest author first, if possible, and then Lazeez.

If the reader misses the incomplete and inactive warning, or chooses to read the story anyway, then see above.

The codes assigned to the story by the author are what the author believes is appropriate, but Lazeez has the final say. So far, your suggestion of codes be changed by some form of unorganized 'committee' has been firmly rejected by authors.

Perhaps Lazeez would be amenable to a new feature for authors - the ability of an author to block specific readers from reading their stories and sending them emails. That might solve several problems.

Perhaps Lazeez would be amenable to a new feature for authors - the ability of an author to block specific readers from reading their stories and sending them emails. That might solve several problems.

The only problem with that is, due to the ability to create free accounts, problem children could just do that to avoid the issue.

I know when I had a voting issue, it took Laz quite a while to research into the database to find several 'reader' accounts that ONLY existed to give 'one-bombs' and then delete them. Those accounts had NEVER read full stories, simply voted 1's. From my understanding, it was rather time intensive on his part just for that single search, because much of the hosting processes are automated like they should be.

several 'reader' accounts that ONLY existed to give 'one-bombs'

And that's why you shouldn't fret over the 1-bombs. (But, of course, you can't be driven by the score not to fret over them.)

I'm monitoring a current posting that has one 2 and one 4. I'm happier with the 2 than the 4.

**now that you climbed back onto your chair after falling off, read on**

Assuming the reader uses the description when voting rather than the assigned number (which is a big assumption), I prefer "Hate it" (2) to "Not Good" (4).

Not good tells me the reader didn't think the story was well written. But there are many reasons for hating a story that's well written. They may not like the content. Or a character. Or the ending (someone might hate "Romeo and Juliet" because they died at the end). The "Hated it" doesn't reflect your ability to write a good story (like "Not good" does).

...you can see how people individually scored your stories!?

I don't talk about the scoring system. I was talking about voting and how I would prefer a "hated it" to a "not good."

how people individually scored your stories!?

No, but we can see the overall vote totals. And then when you go to the overall Top 50 serials list, um, my stories have a real bad tendency to be somewhere near the top of that list.

Same physics as a turd in a Jacuzzi.

That's where Alka-Seltzer comes into play for constipation relief. Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz - oh what a relief it is!

I agree. Many of the descriptions don't make much sense to me. However, I doubt that I could come up with a better set of descriptions for the individual ratings. Perhaps just the numbers with 1 (low) and 10 (high) would be an improvement.

A story has multiple aspects that could be rate: Plot, Grammar, Presentation, etc. It isn't realistic to give a single rating for a story and be fair to the author. However, it really doesn't matter if the readers don't discriminate between good and poor stories.

It isn't realistic to give a single rating for a story and be fair to the author.

You're expecting the reader to be a qualified scorer. They're not. All they can do is reflect on how they felt about the story. And if that helps other readers, great.

The system works.

You're expecting the reader to be a qualified scorer.

I don't believe that's true, just as the medical profession doesn't expect you to be a pain expert when it asks you to rate the amount of pain you're experiencing from 1 to 10.

AJ

the medical profession doesn't expect you to be a pain expert when it asks you to rate the amount of pain you're experiencing from 1 to 10

If you're the one experiencing the pain, you are the expert. That's why the medical expert is asking you.

The reader can score a story based on how they liked it. But most aren't experts to score the technical aspects of the story. I've been studying the craft of writing fiction for years and I'm no expert. Do those readers know what POV is? Head-hopping? How passive and active voice is used in fiction? For that matter, proper grammar and punctuation?

If you're the one experiencing the pain, you are the expert. That's why the medical expert is asking you.

The reader can score a story based on how they liked it.

How they liked it compared to other stories they've read.

How much appeal / how much pain. I believe it's a valid analogy.

AJ

How they liked it compared to other stories they've read.

I have no idea if readers compare stories. I don't even know if they do that for the contests. But what difference does that make? They're rating how much they liked or didn't like it. Very subjective.

I think that's rather naive. I think it's inevitable that a reader will compare a story they're reading with others that they've read previously, just as someone in pain compares the pain with other pains they've had previously.

AJ

I think that's rather naive. I think it's inevitable that a reader will compare a story they're reading with others that they've read previously

I thought you meant comparing Story-A to Story-B. But I agree that a reader would compare a story to what they've read on SOL. I do that. If I didn't, my scores would be much lower.

someone in pain compares the pain with other pains they've had previously.

However, one of the fortunate things for us is that we as humans forget pain over time. Otherwise, no woman would EVER have more than one child.

That, and pain is transitory. It happens, you know it's happening, and yet years later you can go - damn, that hurt a lot back then, didn't it? Please note I'm speaking from experience during the recovery from my thoracotomy - where they cut my breastbone in half like they were doing open heart, except they were going in after dead cancer cells in my lungs after my final chemo for metastasized testicular carcinoma (it spreads to your stomach and lungs before going to your bones and killing you if they don't catch it). They stripped the pleural lining (that's the membrane that covers your lungs), took out the bottom lobe of one lung, and then bits and pieces of what remained, while my chest was being held open using surgical meat hooks attached to rope. I have a 23" long scar that starts at the top of my breastbone and goes down from there. Imagine the pain from getting kicked in the nuts - every time you take in a breath.

Yeah, that was literally 40 years ago now - I'm also the second longest surviving TC patient in the world.

However, one of the fortunate things for us is that we as humans forget pain over time.

Not just pain. Talent shows, for example, you want to perform last or thereabouts because the human judges will have started to forget the earlier acts.

AJ

akin to the current raw appeal voting

Isn't that what we're talking about, a single subjective rating?

Pain is simple - 1 is having a baby, 10 is man flu ;-)

AJ

And that's why you shouldn't fret over the 1-bombs. (But, of course, you can't be driven by the score not to fret over them.)

I wasn't looking at the individual numbers. It was when Book Five only had about 100 votes, instead of the current 1085. The score suddenly went from the low 9s to the low 7s, while the vote total only increased by less than 10 votes. Rather obviously, something didn't quite add up from my perspective, so I asked Laz about it.

And they only think about how they label their stories, which most likely they get it right, but there are other authors that don't.

Believe it or not, I think long and hard about codes for my stories. I look up the definitions and the category under which each definition is placed. And I'm pretty sure I get it wrong all too often.

AJ

Because as a reader it is essential for me to know what I will read about, so I don't waste my time and have to stop reading stories because it wasn't labeled correctly.

Yes, I have said this before, but it fascinates me how fervent people have become about this. I mean, I can't help but look at all the DTP press that is just a mass of codes on the front cover.

How as a society, have we become so intolerant of, well everything?

I get it people have general tastes - I myself, don't like political thrillers, Westerns, Easterns and crochet manuals- So, it's handy to know them in advance and skip them, but do we really need to know every minutiae of the plot before we read it? Personally, if I come across something small and objectionable in a bigger story (like tax accountancy or religious theory in a story about two marshmallows getting it on in a bouncy castle) I just skip it till the story gets back to the gelatinous fun. I don't particularly have the urge to shout and rant about it online before I finally vent my rage by taking an AR15 to the nearest play-school.

Some authors deliberately exclude tags as they would destroy the story. Would Neil Jordans script and subsequent film have had the same impact had there been a massive MM, cd and TG tags stuck on the front cover?

If people NEED to have their hands held so much, because their sensibilities are so fragile, then maybe, you know, the internet is not for them... Or, is this just indicative of the current state of society.

Take for instance the current state of Hollywood films. Films so 'inclusive' that they are basically unwatchable. What happened to the good old days of just, you know, having a good story and rolling with it. A story so good that no-one cares that the character, is disabled/black/Gay/Lesbian/identifying as a post box.

What happened to the good old days of just, you know, having a good story and rolling with it. A story so good that no-one cares that the character, is disabled/black/Gay/Lesbian/identifying as a post box.

Or one so funny? "It's twue, it's TWUE!"

Or one so funny? "It's twue, it's TWUE!"

Nothing as funny will ever be made again.

We have too many scolds and too many agendas. It's a shame that hollywood stopped being about making money and became about spreading an agenda.

"Frau Blücher"