Kurahieiritr

Seriously. Some of the twisted stuff my fingers type makes me think "I'm glad you boys are attached to me so I can keep an eye on you."

I write because the voices in my head won't let it go until I do what they say. Considering how sick and twisted some of the stuff they come up with is, its probably good that they stick to writing...

This is exactly the sort of thing that I love to hear, actually. As a woman who writes a good bit of slash, I've also done an enormous amount of research, including the physical and biological imperatives of both genders. I'm fairly sure my daft bugger wrote me off as batshit crazy quite some time ago, but he's sticking around, so I won't complain. I'm always happy to learn more, and hear from more men about the physicality of being male, so thank you!

I briefly skimmed over these answers, so forgive me if I didn't catch anyone specific.
I think that women, for the most part, are perfectly capable of writing male sexual desire scenes. You only have to look at great Fan Fiction artists like Amanuensis of the Harry Potter universe to see how true that is. She loves smut, and usually does male/male pairings. I've long loved her work, and it's very erotic.
However, one thing I believe (again, this is MY belief, and my opinion alone), is that women will never truly understand the psychology of the man during sex, or during the build-up to arousal. Yes, many men make love to their partners with an amazing amount of love and feelings. However, underneath that single emotion is a mountain of Primal Instinct, which exists in all men. The Primal Instinct involves the subconscious telling us, as men, to mark our territory. To claim it. To mark it as OURS. When a man ejaculates or orgasms, there is nothing that even comes close to anything in this world that is as powerful as placing our sperm into another person. Or onto a person (example: facial). It is Instinct at its most Primal. WE have to be the Dominant. WE have to claim our Positions. And, in my opinion, nothing says that like ejaculating. It's also why we tend to brag after sex, or about sexual experiences: beneath the bragging, we're telling the other males "this is what I did, and with whom" and "I'm dominant, don't fuck with me."
And it's not something that we can help. Again: it's Instinct. It's been this way as long as Man has walked this Earth.
And the same could most definitely be said for Women as well. We, as men, will never know what it's like to carry a child. To give birth. To nurse a baby. To experience those "Mother Instincts" that every woman has when she becomes pregnant. We'll never understand that. Only women will. And women will ALWAYS be better at writing such nurturing scenes than men ever will be.
Anyways, that's all. Just thought I would chime in on this subject. I was letting my mind wander (never a good idea, lol) and I came across this topic while cruising the forum.

A: A very good point got made in this post. So few people actually put the things they liked specifically into reviews that they send. Sometimes, I wonder why a reader will refrain from explaining the elements they enjoy. Many writers seem to have this specific frustration of not knowing the powerful elements that keep their readers involved with the story. The please update with more version does seem to be the normal variety of positive feedback reviewers give to writers.

Howdy! I'm not sure if I have introduced myself yet so Ima doing it now. I'm Muhabba, I like to write stories, mostly celeb and have been reading stuff in the archive for a few years now I guess. I am currently writing 2 reeeeaaallllyyyyyyy long stories; Buffy the Vampire Slayer vs. La Blue Girl (cuz one day I was looking for a story like that and couldn't find one and it seemed that it was such a logical team up that I was amazed that nobody had written one yet) and Not The Whedonverse XXX (cuz I love all of Whedon's stuff and I like those "Not The ... XXX" parody movies and then I plotted a story out and I will probably die of old age before it's finished)

6000 hits and no reviews? Incredible. In what category is the fic posted?
A few days ago, I posted an original story ("Firelight") in the Erotica > Het-Male/Female section that has garnered about 1000 hits and 8 ratings but no reviews. My other single-chapter stories (all fanfics) have gotten about 1 to 5 reviews per 1000 hits, so I'm not sure why it's so different for this original fic.
With regard to ratings, people generally give my fanfics either 5s or nothing, whereas this original story has earned a couple of 1s (in addition to some 4s or 5s). That makes me even more curious to know what readers like or don't like about it.

I adore my reviews, especially if they point out specifics that I should either keep doing or fix. A number of my fan fics have no reviews, but honestly, I get the feedback that I want for those from other people, generally people I met in the specific fandom and for whom I write the fics.
My original work has been a blessing and very much fun for me. Within the first 50 views, I had a review. I call that a miracle; personally, I think I posted it at just the right time, because I started getting more in very short order, and I've looked around enough to know that that's rare, in any category. And I must be doing something right, because I had a total of nine reviews on a then two-chapter story by the end of the first month. Now it's up to five chapters, has a rating of 62, and 2,900-some hits. It has 15 reviews, which isn't all that much spread out (3 reviews per chapter), but I'm really delighted to read them because the reviewers are actually leaving opinions--so I know what keeps drawing them in.
If I'm posting a work and looking for reviews, I know that it's my responsibility to make that connection with the readers, that intangible link that makes them want to review. If I'm not getting reviews on a story that I'm trying to get feedback on, then either I haven't asked in the right way or my story was lacking. And if that's the case, it's on me. (Well, either that or I posted in the wrong place, because popularity matters, too, but that would also be my fault.)

Awesome. congrats on taking the plunge.

Have gotten chapters 18 and 19 written and posted to Driven Heart the Prequel after a terribly long hiatus. They are raw drafts at the moment, but due to not having written anything for several months, I went ahead and posted the two as a set of sorts. I will revise them as soon as I am humanly able to do so. I apologize for the long wait for those who have liked the story to date.

Well it all depends. With the story that I'm currently writing I've got pretty much everything planned out well, maybe expect for the chapters and I also put my emotions into the story and lately with Abraham's Daughter, I'm starting to get way to emotionally attached with my OC, is that a bad thing? I seriously can't be the only one on here who gets emotionally attached to their stories? Anyways, I just wanted to put my two cents in this topic.
~Tory~

I just got a big laugh compliments of one of my friend's facebook post. "Husband says my nails remind him of skittles. I painted them people and a bright yellow." I started seeing nano sized people stuck upon her nails like flies trapped upon fly paper. this one made me think she is deserving a funniest typo of the day award for this hilarious post.

I was trying to help a friend edit a terrible star wars fan film. It was pretty bad, but the line:
"As long as the Jedi are pursed by the Empire..."
Made me cry I was laughing so hard. I got a visual of Darth Vader with a purse, going around putting very small Jedi in it.

"Where's my ale? I'm dying of thrust."
Really? Can I be next?

Professionally, the one I love and cherish: Patient has endured lifelong monogamy. Actual dictation: Patient has ENJOYED lifelong monogamy. Docs are still ribbing me for that one.

As I said in the shoutbox, that was pure gold. Some I've made myself:
"I am a neutered side in all of this."
"I like the way you simile."
"Your eyes are like pools of crisis water."
"What the hall is going on here?!"
"You move with such grape..."
These are very old, since I started getting so many of these I turned off the autocorrect option.

October
Age Verification/Underagers (Current)
Confirmed as 18 or older – 64
Now 18, but underage when registered – 11 accounts, 9 actual users
Currently underage, deleted once – 20 accounts, 17 actual users
Inconclusive data found – 95 users
Users posting for minors – 0 users
Returning minors – 0 accounts, 0 actual users

Total users age checked - 185
Year to Date - 4454
Old Underage Users (by registration year)
2002 – 0 accounts, 0 users deleted, 0 users modified; total of 0 actual users
2003 – 5 accounts, 1 users deleted, 4 users modified; total of 5 actual users
2004 – 7 accounts, 4 users deleted, 3 users modified; total of 7 actual users
2005 – 7 accounts, 3 users deleted, 2 users modified; total of 5 actual users
2006 – 14 accounts, 9 users deleted, 2 users modified; total of 11 actual users
2007 – 13 accounts, 7 users deleted, 4 users modified; total of 11 actual users
2008 – 3 accounts, 2 users deleted, 0 users modified; total of 2 actual users

Grand total – 49 accounts, 26 users deleted, 15 users modified; total of 41 actual users
Year to Date – 2310 accounts, 1645 users deleted, 313 users modified; total of 1952 actual users
Plagiarism
Stories deleted (co-author information not provided) – 0, YTD - 4
Stories deleted (permissions not provided) – 2, YTD – 15
Story adoption confirmed – 0, YTD 2
Co – authors verified – 0, YTD – 9
Permissions provided – 2, YTD 24
Unsubstantiated claims of plagiarism – 1, YTD – 9
Users deleted – 0, YTD - 9
Added to the monitor list (for arrival to the archive) – 0, YTD - 4
Posting for another/posting others' work – 0, YTD 7
Added to the Hall of Shame – 0, YTD 3
Trolls/Flamers/Spammers
users and content deleted (trolls) – 2, YTD 32
unfounded (trolls) – 0, YTD 2
flaming (instances found) – 2, YTD 11
spam registrations – 0, YTD 25
Other ToS Violations
63 violations resolved
Year to Date – 392
The bulk of the violations this month was insufficient/improper story tags.
Orphan and Duplicate stories
Total orphan stories found and deleted – 0, YTD 0
Stories to merge – 2, YTD 73
Total stories left after merge – 1, YTD 34
Total stories looked at – 2, YTD 73
Shared Accounts and allowed alternate accounts
Allowed additional accout – 0, YTD - 1
Found and allowed shared/joint accounts - 2, YTD - 12
Invalid and/or disposable email accounts
No issues found with email address – 0, YTD - 0
Users registered with false or disposable mail addresses (deleted when found) – 6, YTD - 22
Users - deleted for non correction bad email address – 158, YTD - 1000
Users - corrected email address issue - 2, YTD - 25
Duplicate Users Processed
Users with no duplicates found - 0,YTD - 1
Users merged - 12, YTD - 466
Users where duplicate had no data, and was deleted - 35, YTD - 847
Total extra accounts deleted after processing - 58, YTD - 1567
Total accounts looked at - 105, YTD - 2891
Actual user amount - 47, YTD – 1318

As part of the migration of servers to the new location, the cluster that our server is part of, will be physically moved tonight from the old location to the new. As the machines will be getting physically moved, there will be up to 2 hours of no service at all for the site, between midnight and 6 am Eastern time, October 25 (tomorrow).

Firstly, I'd like to welcome all the new users we're seeing daily! Glad to have you here! Please do familiarize yourself with the Terms of Service and Content Guidelines. This IS a moderated archive.
Moderation Status (2013)
Updated monthly. September report is here.
Dribs, Drabs and Doggy Tales
Current bi-monthly prompt is here
Current monthly prompt is here
Newly published authors
From time to time, we come across in the archive where one of the users is picked up by a publisher. Congratulations!
+sniffles+ We didn't see any this time around.
Proof of age
On occasion, when checking age on a user, staff will come across wildly conflicting information. When this happens, I will email that user, and ask for proof of age. Please understand that if there is no response to this, the user in question will be deleted. This is something I have to do, as this site is, and always has been restricted in use to users aged 18 and over.
Instructions on how to provide proof of age are here.
Story rewrites
As has been stated previously, duplicates of the same story are not allowed. However, we do understand that at times an author looks at something old, and opts to rewrite it. When this is what you want to do, the procedure for it is outlined here. We all understand that authors would love to keep their original reviews, hit counts and the like as well. By my merging the old to the new, you can.
Category requests and creation
There are a few ways where I'll create a new subcategory, upon request.
First (and quickest), request it in the forum. Directions for that are here. You don't need a forum login to make this request.
Request via email, at technicalsupport@adult-fanfiction.org?subject=New Category. The above rules apply to an email request as well.
Name the fandom in your story itself, by disclaiming it properly. I go through the misc. categories about once a week and create categories for stories where there isn't one.
Please note this does NOT apply to pair specific type categories. For those, I need to see links to 5 pre-existing stories, with the pair that you want the category for.
Access bans, and why they happen
Banning a user is not something done on a whim, or whenever. There are certain conditions which make it so this will happen:
User is underage
The user will be added to the ban filters, with the ban to expire on his or her 18th birthday. Should an underage user opt to return multiple times, on the 4th return, I will ban you permanently. By continuing to create profiles while underage, you're showing a blatant disregard for a rule which I cannot override, in that users MUST be 18 or older.
User is a plagiarist
When plagiarism is proven, whether or not that user ends up Hall of Shamed, that user is banned permanently.
User is a troll
We've all seen the trollfic, where someone posts something just to aggravate the users in a particular fandom. When a user has been determined a troll, that user is deleted and banned.
Spamming
On occasion, there will be users who create a login to spam the archives with the same story, over and over and over again; or the same review. Those users are deleted and banned. None of us needs to see that crap. The archives and review tables don't need glutted with that nonsense.
Continued disregard of the ToS and CG, for the same type of infraction. Users such as this are warned several times. If necessary, the next step would be a suspension. If the suspension of use doesn't cure the behavior, the user is removed and banned. After all, when the bulk of the users can read and abide by the ToS and CG without issue, we can't allow just a few to flout the same.
Minor deletions, and why they affect some review counts
Current minors -
This means users who were underage at time of registration, from 1/1/2009 forward. It doesn't matter when we catch you, you're still deleted. When that happens, if the user has left behind review data, that is ALSO deleted.
Old minors -
This means users who were underage at time of registration, from 12-31-08 and before. When these are found, the processing is a bit different, in that I've allowed for the inadequacies from before. There were a few staff who did their jobs, but they were often ignored, which is why there are so many of these.
With an OM, if there are stories attached, all data posted AFTER the 18th birthday is allowed to stay. Rather than just outright deleting all content such a user has added, I go through the review tables as well, and allow the post 18 reviews to stay too. In all honesty, it's much easier to delete these outright, but that means that many reviews that don't need to be deleted, will be. It takes much longer to process something like this, rather than a standard minor deletion.
Funding Status
As always, we appreciate and thank everyone who can donate. It's certainly not required of the users, but every little bit helps!
Tech Bits
Internet Explorer-
I've done everything I can to try and make the old code compatible to the browser. As nothing has worked, the best bet is for users to use something different for adding stories, such as Chrome or Firefox. The archive works in EVERY other browser I've tried, just not IE. At least not easily for IE.
I have managed to make it so that IE 10 and up should work with no issue, and that with IE 9 you still have to use the workaround. Anything less, my guinea pigs informed me that sometimes they experience their computers locking up at worst, and at best it loads only the chapter title and still no text box, with no way to get to it.
There is a workaround, but it only seems to work for Win Vista and up computers, and IE 9 and up. Thing is, if I make it so that everything works with Internet Explorer, then everything BREAKS for all the other browsers. To me, that's not a viable option.
Domain change-
Due to personnel changes over the years, somehow, the site managed to lose control of the original domain. If you think about it, last year from 9-14 through 9-16, we were effectively down, until the domain was renewed (and not by the site). This is why the domain has been changed. The new domain is attached to the site account, and renewable via the hosting account as well. As the person who has the old domain refuses to transfer it back to the site, there was no other choice. Unless of course we wanted to go through absolute and utter hell every year, waiting for it to be renewed. I've gotten everything permanently redirected, in all subdomains. What this means, is if you click an old link, it'll take you to the new one.
Technical support-
As stated previously, please allow up to 48 hours for initial response. I do try to (and usually manage to) answer much sooner than that, but depending upon my real life obligations, usually work stuff, is how long it actually takes me to be able to get to things. It is CRITICAL that when asking for technical support, you provide as much detail as you can. The more details you give me, the better able I will be to find an answer for you.
When given response, please make sure you follow the directions exactly as given. If one takes the time to read the directions, and follows them step by step, the problem being experienced is usually resolved at that point.
Our FAQ section has much useful information. Having said that, if you're still having trouble, you can either email tech support, or post in the tech support forum. It can take me up to 48 hours to respond, due to real life obligations. Please be patient, I WILL get to you as soon as I can.
Please remember that the authors you read do like to hear from you! Leave them a review or two, and let them know how they're doing!
DemonGoddess061

Having combined a series of prompt-response oneshots into a single story, I had the opportunity to see all my reviews together for the first time, and I have to say, I'm delighted by the number of reviews that contained concrit. It was all valid, and I did take what was said to heart and tried to incorporate that into future prompt responses. Hopefully, I did grow as a writer.
But that is indeed the issue. The concrit was balanced. There was comments on what did work as well as what could have worked better, or didn't work at all. When I can't find a single positive thing to say, or when I'm confronted by something that requires multiple attempts to make sense of a single sentence, I can't find anything positive to say beyond, "I'm so glad you were able to turn on your computer."
I don't do polite lies, and if I couldn't get more than a paragraph into a story before I walk away, then I also feel no obligation to leave a review. What could I say, after all? "I read a paragraph of this story and was unable to continue." Anything further delves into the realm of being unnecessarily unkind, and as a member of the staff here, it is both inappropriate and inexcusable for me to leave such reviews.

To be fair, I don't think that there's any room to complain about reviews on a fic all being positive when what's being said is that you won't leave a negative review.
I understand DG is blunt as a spoon - and generally, so am I. Bronx is one of the most diplomatic individuals I know when it comes to saying something that needs said.
While we may have to disagree on the point of leaving the review, I appreciate your point about "tilting at windmills," though I've left enough concrit to know that there's about a 60/40 ratio - with the larger percentage being the ones who leave the review and will possibly learn from it. As for the 40, when they delete my review, or continue writing poorly, I stop reading their work.
As to the writers who want fanpoodles, yeah, we're all familiar with them. And they get the fanpoodles with their all of three recycled plot lines because they write in a popular genre. Those writers can usually be identified very quickly by their diva tendencies.
That being said, some people actually like being bad writers, because they see "everyone else" doing the same and think it's perfectly fine, and those of us who want more are the ones who are out of our gourds.
Well, I haven't gone 'round the twist - not just yet. But with the response to even the idea of leaving concrit on bad stories, I can answer the question originally asked "Can we trust good reviews?" with "No. Not unless they tell you a particular positive aspect of your story."

I'm going to put in my twenty cents here (inflation you know).
As a reader, if a story is bad, and has no redeeming qualities that I can see, I absolutely will not leave a review for it.
The reason for that, is that regardless of the author maybe, possibly being willing to listen, if it's that bad, I'm too blunt to say anything at all that resembles positive concrit.
Were I to actually review something like that, yes, I'd manage to keep it from being a flame, but as blunt as I am, I promise my review to that kind of story would be very much LESS than kind. While I wouldn't intend to hurt someone's feelings, I know that I would. So, it's better that I say nothing at all on such a story.

There was a time--on different sites, though, I'll readily admit that--where I did bother leaving reviews on such sub-standard works. To the best of my knowledge, not a single one of those reviews was listened to. Indeed, in a few cases I've had authors call "flame!", in another few cases I've had authors send their fluffy fanpoodles after me. That does not bother me as much as it does to some people, and indeed, would not have stopped me if at least one of the authors I left reviews for actually listened.
Unfortunately, the people you describe, who will assume that their story, with all it's flaws, is the best thing since sliced bread solely because they see their view count jump up, tend to also be the people who assume that anything less than sugary sweet reviews are flames and that the reviewer, honestly wanting to help them improve, is just jealous of them and their great story.
Of course, that is just all my experience. However, what I am speaking of in such cases are not just "bad" fics. They're the borderline-troll fics. Anyone who can upload, say, a whole chapter of sentences like "n den i flied on top f teh coluds, wif mai beatyful prefectly whit wings & my fifthy ft long black-blu-blond hare was rifled bye teh wind. Den my pruple-gren-blu eyes spoted............................................... somting weeeeeeeeeiiiiiird. n den jake flied 2 were i am nd puled his 18 ins long fat rod off manmeet outta him lether pans nd stated makin luv 2 me form behin" (not a quote of any specific work to the best of my knowledge, but yes, some inspiration for this... style was drawn from the infamous 'My Immortal') and actually believes their work is perfectly acceptable for uploading will not be likely to start scratching their head and think, 'hey, I could improve some' because of a review. Or twenty.
Like I said, generally speaking, if I come across stories like that, I hit "previous page" before ever reaching the point where I can leave a review. The exceptions is if I'm trying to figure out if someone is a troll or just that bad a writer. Of course, now that I am staff, there'll be more stories I'll have to read for obvious reasons that I normally would have clicked away after a few lines because it's giving me a headache.
There are writers who just have no real interest in writing, just in the fluffy fanpoodles. They see writing as a way to get their attention fix, without any love for the written word, for the stories they've read or the stories they're telling and without any wish to improve, because that would take effort. They don't want to do something that takes effort, they just want their daily/weekly/monthly dose of attention.
There are people that believe whatever they do cannot be anything less than perfect--whether they're people singing for talent shows that honestly believe they're talented, amazing singers and that everyone who dares say different is just jealous, even though that would mean that 99% of the people around them are jealous, whether they're the people that honestly think they're the next great baseball star, even though they can't run or hit a ball or whether they see themselves as awesome writers.
Yes, some of these people do grow a love for writing and a realization that they're not as perfect as they think they are at some point, as well as a wish to improve. However, that requires them to open their eyes. So long as they've gotten their eyes closed, their fingers in their ears and singing loudly "I'm amazing! I can't hear your criticism, because I'm too amazing to improve!", it quite honestly is not worth the effort in my opinion. They might hear what I say, but they will not listen. Especially not if there is not a single point I can mention that is positive.
Now, I don't say this goes for all or even most of the writers whose writing is below "outstanding" or even "acceptable". However, when there is quite literally nothing positive to say about their fic, that tends to be a VERY big clue pointing in that direction. Combined with some other factors--like tone of voice in ANs, certain kinds of snark in disclaimers, etc.--there just are cases where I know there is no way they're going to actually listen.

However, that does not mean I do not care for the future of the written word, or that I want to see sub-standard become the new standard. It's just that, as BronxWench put it, I have no desire to waste time tilting at windmills. If I figure in a case that there is some chance, even if but a small chance, that the author will listen, if not to all I have to say, then at least one or two points, I will be likely to leave a review anyway.
(Though I must admit I have been slacking here at AFF, for a good part because I haven't read as much as I would like. Will be working on that, though.)

To be quite frank, I don't leave reviews on stories that I simply can't read.
It's not because I don't care about the future of the written word. On the contrary, I'm in love with words, and have been all my life. I relish the interplay of language, and I delight in nuance and shading. Nothing makes me happier than to be transported elsewhere by a well written story.
But...
But if you don't care enough to run a simple spellcheck, if you prefer the sloppiness of text-speak, if you haven't the barest notion of how to use punctuation, if grammar is an elderly female relative good only for birthday handouts, NOTHING I say in a review is going to make you change. I've no desire to waste my time tilting at windmills.
The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to improve as a writer is to read. You'll see some common themes in published books everywhere. They follow the basic rules of grammar. They use punctuation appropriately. They spell words correctly. They attribute dialogue in a way that lets me know who's speaking without having to read back three paragraphs. They don't broadcast a change of scene or change in point of view with a banner headline. They research, so you don't have a medieval monk checking his wristwatch. (Brownie points if you can name the play in which Shakespeare makes a similar error.)

On this site, I don't have any worries reviewing something I didn't like.
I know that I'm not overstepping by telling them what I thought, because I always try to do so in a courteous manner. I give points in their story to back up my opinion, and I always try to point out something about the story that I did like - even if it's just the use of active voice instead of passive voice.
An example
One reason I don't have to worry about what I say within the boundaries of civility on this site is simple: flames aren't allowed. So if I review your story with actual viable criticism, and you flame mine in return? I report. The end.
On FFN I have the option to block a user, and I use it quite frequently. Here, I don't have to worry about slow mod response, so I don't need to block users. I don't just say that because I'm a member of the staff, I say that because we actually care about our readership, and anyone that's flamed would get the same treatment, as long as they had abided by the terms of service themselves.
I can say that I haven't had the issue of retaliation reviews on this site. Most of the users here (not all, mind, but most) will either simply delete the review if they don't like it, and ignore you, or they'll accept you have an opinion and respond to you. Some will just ignore the review.
I don't have a problem in the world telling someone what I thought of their story, especially when they make it publicly available. I understand the hesitation, but rest assured, retaliation would not be permitted as a response to true concrit.