Literotica: Feedback and Conduct

***I hope that I do not offend any of the readers on Literotica who take the time to vote and leave feedback on the stories they read, be they named or anonymous.***

I have been writing for over ten years, and posting to Literotica for almost two. Before I posted my stories to Literotica, I posted them to ASSTR (Newsgroup erotica repository). Throughout all those years many different people reviewed me. I was even reviewed by Celeste, whom many web writers will remember as the ultimate source for web-erotica reviews. I never in all this time experienced the reviews I have received on Literotica.

Most of the feedback that I have received has been insightful, and has helped me develop as a writer. It is the small percentage of people, who are like the proverbial rotten apple that spoils the bunch. These people seem to have no clue about what feedback should be. They instead use it as a springboard for their apparently frustrated minds.

I will first start off with what I believe feedback should be. It's just my opinion, but this is also my article. Feedback is a review, pure and simple. Feedback is praise or criticism. Feedback should deal with the plot, grammar and overall quality of the story. A writer should take from the feedback as much as he or she has given with their story.

Many readers on Literotica give proper feedback. Before I go any further, I would like to thank those people who take the time to leave an insightful and useful feedback letter. The next issue is the anonymous review. I have received some good reviews from anonymous people and some bad. The problem is, that the truly inflaming and ignorant feedback ALWAYS comes from an anonymous person. I sometimes find it funny, but sometimes it makes me angry. For the time being, I'll find it funny so as not to lose my cool. Searching through saved e-mails I was able to find the perfect example of what feedback should be. It came as a response for a story I wrote called Saturday night fantasy

Okay, here is some constructive feedback, meant to help, not hurt.

Your fantasy is very strong and a powerful example of its genre. For sub men, I should imagine it is a very good read.

The pissing scene was fine and did not outrage or turn off. (I should imagine more people were turned off by a man being fucked by a woman than by peeing)

You have the imagination to tell a fantastically hot story. Now you need to work a little on your style.

You see, you are repetitive and lack alternatives. You wrote:

"Steve was in ecstasy when she began to lick near his ass, and gasped as her tongue danced against tight hole. His body went rigid as Beth pressed her tongue into his ass. Steve wanted to yell as her soft, wet tongue explored his ass. He was shivering when she stopped.

Steve felt a cool liquid against his ass,"

How many times in such short a space do you say "his ass"? Try using different words. His anus, his clenched ring, his asshole, his sphincter, his backdoor, his nether orifice, his anal passage, his taboo gate...

You need to keep it interesting for the reader, as well as sexy.

I think that is the ONLY reason for this not being a red hot story. Repetition has put the reader off and earned a lower score than it deserves.

This little piece of mail was helpful. It actually pointed out issues in the story as well as made me sharper for the next story I wrote. It is exactly what feedback should be. Now since I have seen more idiotic feedback letters than I can count, I will only reprint a few lines from a couple of them.

Feedback for a Loving Wives story: About the submission: No Easy Way Out When a wife becomes a slutwhore all the trust is gone and never come back... believe me I know... too hard to believe this story, I dumped my wife afer her one night fuck and have not regretted this one minute... happily married again to a real lady... not a slut

Feedback for an Erotic Coupling story:

About the submission: Surviving the Vacation "No. They were actually pretty cheap, but it's the principal." What's the principal's name? A spell checker doesn't help if you start out illiterate.

Feedback for a fetish story:

About the submission: Weekend Surprise

The last sentence seems to imply that there will be a second paragraph.

I HATE it when a writer knows it is posting only the 1st chapter but doesn't give a fuck about the readers to inform them of this fact before the open the fucking thing.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt a not rate this at all at this time, but if a second chapter arrives, especially in a day or two, I will rate both as one (1).

These are all excellent examples of useless feedback. As most writers probably know, this is a very tame selection. I have been called everything from a 'piece of crap' to a 'slime ball that should die'. This is all way too crazy of a response for a simple sex story.

The first example shows how a person cannot take a story for a story. Why does a simple FICTIONAL story have to become somebody's outlet for his or her pent up emotions? Your personal dislike for a certain sex act does not discount how well a story is written. The second example showed a person that may have had a valid point about being careful about synonyms when using a spell checker. Unfortunately the crude and personal attack negated any valid point. The third example is all about creating your own problem. The characters in a story are not finite. They do not cease to exist once a story is done. Every story cannot end with 'And they lived happily ever after' or 'then, they rode off into the sunset'. Whether more of the story is written is dependent on the writer.

A writer has some obligation to his readers, but the same can be said in reverse. I've never started a story with a personal message that read, "Read this you shit heads. I hope you all die", yet some readers feel free to respond to writers this way. It's not fair nor is it right. I only owe a debt to people who support me or help me grow as a writer. Any person too ignorant to converse in a rational manner is not worth my time.

Most writers do this as a part time hobby. Most people try to run their stories through a spell and grammar checker, but some things do get missed. As the reader, you should cut them some slack. As much as they might have messed up, you wouldn't have anything to read without them. Literotica offers an editor service run by volunteers, but not every author has the time to avail him or herself of the service. Some authors just like writing.

I have however been struck by something funny. Those of you, who are the wonderful readers out there, will not need to read this essay. Those that truly need to read it will just grumble and bitch as ignorantly as they always do. They take as usual but give nothing in return. So, to those great readers and authors, I solute you! I not only write, but I read and try and leave the best feedback I can. I am thankful for those that do the same.

It is because of the ignorance and non-constructive feedback that I have decided to do something that I have resisted doing for some time. No dear anonymous, don't throw a party yet. I will not stop writing for Literotica. I will not take my ball and go home. If I did that, than ignorance would win. What I will do is turn off anonymous feedback. So, just like the Romulans in Star Trek, you will need to drop your cloak and become visible before firing on this target. But do be warned, this ship can fire back.

Thank you all.

P.S. I'll leave the anonymous feedback on for a few days after this story is posted. I just can't bring myself to miss all of the wonderful feedback this article may receive from people without names.