Forum posts made by one_winged_angel

I hope that's true OWA.... I'd like to think so at least

I reiterate that as far as the thread goes, everyone has been pleased to receive their accolades, they were just unsure about the icon. That was all.

Now it seems that it's on individuals merits rather than the strength or quality of their writing?

It has nothing to do with the writer as a person and everything to do with the quality of the writing.

I'm quite sure that NN was venting, as many people in this thread have done. It is rather daunting to give someone an award and then find out that they think it messes up their page or they want to hide it.

The award is about the writing and nothing else. Nobody has any black marks against them. If a story is read and the mod who reads it finds it to be exceptional, it will be given the award regardless of who wrote it. Like Sprite said, a good story is a good story, end of. If people don't want it, they can feel free to request that they not get it.

The fact that everyone contributes to the site doesn't really give anyone the right to be a bit harsh about someone else's contributions. (E.g: If someone writes a story and someone else comments, "I hated this." That would be much, much less preferable to them saying , "maybe you could add or remove this or adjust that." I know it's not the same as a story, but it's comparable )

I'm quite sure that no matter what symbol is ultimately chosen, there will be people who have an issue with it. There were complaints about the old one, there are complaints about this one and there will be complaints if a new one is chosen.

Anyway, the decision is ultimately up to Nicola.

Given that this was brought up in a public forum and, as with every other thread on this site or indeed the internet, people have their own opinions and like to share them.

I hadn't heard anyone complain about the original, black icon that appeared. Everyone seemed to like it well enough and those fortunate enough to have one against one of their stories were (as far as I have seen and heard) very pleased indeed to have that honour bestowed.

I personally don't like the check mark in blue and I said so - I also, like others who've posted here, made suggestions for alternatives - that doesn't mean that I didn't appreciate any work which had gone into it.

The new icon seems unpopular and, given that it's something which appears on pages of contributors to the site, I'd have thought that feedback would not only be welcomed, but necessary. We can choose our avatars, backgrounds etc, why should it be a surprise that we'd want to have a say on this.

Whether we volunteer our time as part of the moderating team, contribute to the forums and chat rooms, support the site by purchasing gold memberships or spend many hours writing stories for everyone else to read, we are ALL valuable members of the site. But we are all also putting ourselves out there to be judged by our Lush peers - whether your forum post gets slated or praised, your story gets comments or votes (or not), it is a public place and as such, we can expect that, sometimes, the 'masses' will not like what we say or do.

That's life, that's the internet and instead of getting upset about this, perhaps we should remember that none of this is a personal slight, develop thicker skins and be thankful that people care enough about Lush to offer their opinions, suggestions, creations and ideas to make it the place that we love so much.

There is a Lush improvement thread, perhaps this is where we should be discussing this?

The check mark is not as unpopular as this thread makes it look, there are many people who are quite happy with it.

I'm sure the people in charge are quite happy to listen to suggestions, but I'm sure there's a better way to do it than by people stating that they "hate" what's been put up, that's not supporting the site, that's unnecessarily harsh.

As Sprite said before, nothing's set in stone, so people are free to offer suggestions, but there's no need to pick the current symbol apart.

People are aware that this is a public forum, that doesn't mean a little consideration isn't necessary when others have put in their time and effort to promote our authors. Just how I see it

I'd just like to remind people that Lush isn't run by robots. I know Gav can give off that vibe, but it's run by humans. Someone had to put the time and effort in to make the symbol and then a bunch of other things which I don't quite understand involving coding and what not had to happen. All the tearing it to pieces and people hating on it is kind of a slap in the face to them saying, "I don't appreciate your work or the time you put in even though you've worked hard to see that mine is recognized."

The designs suggested look nice and all but personally, I like the new symbol better than the last one, it was a little dreary and the new one fits nicely next to the audio symbol while still being unique.

I'm quite proud to have one on my page, it means that someone liked my story enough to say "I like this enough to want to share it with more people." To me, that's more important than what my page looks like (although, I'm quite satisfied with how it looks).

http://upload.lushstories.com/1767598339-bam.gif

http://upload.lushstories.com/706954842-aaaaaahhhh.gif

Looks like she just likes giving everything bad reviews:

This review is from: Sex Jar (App)
crazy stupid and disgusting. The people who write these are not people who care about anyone but themselves. Yuck the worst!

This review is from: Talking Cat & Background Dog (Free) (App)
crazy stupid and disgusting. The people who write these are not people who care about anyone but themselves. Yuck the worst!

She's given 11 and 9 are totally negative.

http://upload.lushstories.com/1687116589-zazzy.gif

Not something I could see myself getting done, but that peacock design was . .. whoa

I get why some people would use it, but I'd rather it be an option and not the default. I have a few comments on some stories that I'm rather proud of and wouldn't want to hide.

Well since that's the case, what does murder have to do with anything with any of these cases? I never said I was against guns. But full-fledge, assault weapons...where the intention is murder. I have no problem with self defense. That being said, I'll never carry.



I was just addressing ByronLord's statement that, "buying a handgun is the moral equivalent of murder."

Well, yeah. By definition, murder is murder, no matter the justification. I'm sure a shot to the leg or somewhere that didn't warrant death would have done the trick.

There was no mention of anyone dying in any of those 3 cases, sure the attackers were injured, but they were hospitalized afterwards.

The problem with that line of argument is that as far as most Jews are concerned, the people waving the guns about look much more like the folks wearing the jackboots in Germany than the government they claim to be saving them from.

When people wave a gun in my face as the NRA supporters keep doing when they are losing the argument, it only makes me more certain that they are the enemy of freedom.

Wayne LaPierre and every member of the NRA murdered that little girl just as surely as they pulled the trigger themselves.

And yes, I do want to take every gun away from you all. They are the tools of satan. The only purpose of a handgun is to kill people. Buying or owning a hand gun is the moral equivalent of murder .

I guess that means this woman is a murderer for defending herself and her kids. Or this one who defended herself and her son. Or even this 11 year old . Murderers all of them for defending themselves?

I live in Europe so I might be mistaken but I seem to remember that no one ever teaches people to "shoot someone in the leg" when they are training to use a handgun. You are taught to shoot at the centre of the chest, correct me if I am wrong.

The love of weapons, be they handguns, rifles or others, is totally disproportionate to their actual use. Most weapons are not used correctly, not stored correctly and not considered correctly.

I have a quintessentially British viewpoint. Guns should be only in the possession of the police. Any other weapons are only for sports or hunting and those should be under strict control. I cannot conceive, under any circumstances, why anyone would need a weapon in a domestic scenario. If you can, if you can imagine a situation where you might need it, perhaps you are living in the wrong country.

I was taught that if someone is coming at you, you go for the least lethal shot first. I don't think I'd want to live with a person's death on my conscience when it could have been avoided.

As for not knowing a situation where one would need a gun in a domestic setting. . Have you been watching the news at all?

So you think people who keep guns for personal defense should move? Ok, is your house open? And how soon can all of us move in?

What I object to is parents knowingly keeping guns in their home. You don't need the government to force you to be responsible. Keeping a gun in a home with a child is irresponsible. Giving a four year old a weapon is even more irresponsible. People shouldn't do it.

You are defending the indefensible.

I grew up in a household with guns and it was made very clear by my parents that guns were not toys, I knew the guns were in the house, but I never even saw them until my parents decided that I was mature enough to learn how to use them. The responsibility of keeping children safe from the guns in the house lies with the parents.

A gun company that caters to children simply should not exist.

But no one in the power to do so has talked about banning those.

I never said anyone wanted to ban them, people were comparing guns (of unspecified type) to bombs so I was pointing out what I see the difference as.

But what if I want to use it for fishing? Just like a high powered rifle isn't the best for home defense, bombs wouldn't be for self defense. Or what if I just have a bomb hobby like target shooters do so and I just want to blow shit up in a safe controlled environment? What if the US turns tyrannical? I'd rather have bombs.

I'm not talking about high powered rifles, I meant handguns used for personal defense, or shotguns. But whatever floats your boat. .. or sinks it.

To me, it's about control when it comes to comparing guns and bombs. You can control (to a certain extent) who is harmed by a gun, but with a bomb, there's more room for error, and they're a bit more destructive. Also, you can use a gun to defend yourself, a bomb. .. not so much.

For example, if someone's about to attack you, you can shoot them in the leg, if you use a bomb, you're likely to blow up both them and yourself, not to mention anyone who's standing too close, granted that you just happen to have a bomb handy.

I picked Zebra because they're adorable.

I thought the deadline was the 12th, unless I read the comp page wrong. Oh well, more time to harrass people to read my entry (link in my sig ) I'm shameless, I know

Many thanks to OWA for her topic subject and her most valid points.
Additional kudos to Mazza for her comments, especially about reading it aloud.

If I might add the single most important thing I have learned at Lush is to allow sufficient time after writing a story before attempting to edit it... This prevents the mind from auto-correcting the grammar errors and allows you to read it fresh; I have found this to be as valuable as having a friend read it. Although it is difficult to wait, I feel this has helped me to reduce my own rejections.

I am left with one question regarding OWA's #3) Proofread the entire story before resubmitting. Verifiers can see exactly what has been changed when you re-send a story, granted that you've done it properly and edited the existing file instead of making a new one . You should proofread the entire story and not just the first couple paragraphs.
Could you clarify this a little? I usually edit my original Word document 'off-line' and then copy/paste into the box. Does this create a entire new document to the verifier who must then re-verify the complete story?

Thanks :)

When you make edits, a verifier can see what was fixed and what wasn't. It's highlighed so that we don't have to re-read an entire story and basically double-verify it. This is one of my stories that I edited using the Lush edit box:

http://upload.lushstories.com/671215056-examp.jpg

That makes the verifier's job easier and it takes less time for the story to be re-read, meaning less time you have to wait before your story is verified.

But when you copy it from a different processer:

http://upload.lushstories.com/1976726919-examp 2.jpg

The second one is fine if it's a large amount of edits and it's easier to do it in word, but if it's just one or two typos, it's easier on everyone if it's fixed in the original (on Lush) file. I know it can sometimes be a hassle editing in the edit box, but for small typos, we prefer if you do it that way.

Seeing as there are roughly 30 categories, maybe a badge for 15 or over categories. Could be a challenge for some authors to explore topics they've never tried while still being able to avoid categories that make them feel dirty (not in a good way).

You know, a little politeness when making a request would probably be nice. The person who can make the gray boxes disappear is human. .. well maybe not entirely, he might be part stormtrooper, but I'm sure he appreciates politeness.

Ooooo, what colour is the back?! I do hope it's indigo with silver stars.

I hope it's made of chocolate and dotted with marshmallows :D

I'm always surprised to hear about how someone's story was rejected for composition, grammar, or simple structuring... I figure the MOD mods review the submissions enough to deem them worthy of posting and it seems strict already. While I guess I wouldn't want just pure crap getting posted, at the same time... this IS just expression. Fantasy. An outlet for people. Fine, call it "art" - whatever. That being the case though, EXCEPT for illegal/banned content, why shouldn't people be allowed to share their stories in whatever form they're capable of.

We're allowed to edit them ourselves, so to some extent, being forced through an editing process kinda kills the simply fun of sharing a tale or two.

Lush has standards. They're not impossibly high, the story mods are only asking for basic english skills. Bad grammar is a turn off. I'm sure most readers appreciate a little proofreading and editing by the author to make a story more pleasurable to read.

Thanks :)

I had a story rejected when I first started writing too.

We all know it's no fun having your story rejected. Authors getting rejection notes and verifiers hate having to reject a story. However, if your story has been rejected, there are a few things you can do to make sure it's not rejected a second time.

1) Don't get mad . If you need to, take a breather before you try to work on things, hate mail and public rants do nothing to help anyone. Lush has certain standards, working to meet them makes you a better writer.

2) Read the rejection note thoroughly . The note will tell you exactly why your story was returned to you and in some cases, outline what needs to be fixed. If you can't understand why your story was rejected, you can always message the verifier who processed your story. Do not try to circumvent editing and immediately resubmit your story in the hopes that someone else will pick it up. This just makes it look like you're a troublemaker.

3) Proofread the entire story before resubmitting. Verifiers can see exactly what has been changed when you re-send a story, granted that you've done it properly and edited the existing file instead of making a new one . You should proofread the entire story and not just the first couple paragraphs.

4) If you've been provided with links, read them. Often, links are included at the end of the story to help edit your story.

5) If you've used some sort of literary device and the verifier did not recognize it, you can simply message the verifier with what it was and why. We're reasonable people, if it really is something acceptable, we'll put it through.

6) If your story was rejected for content issues, e.g breaks the guidelines, do a quick check for grammar, punctuation and spelling before sending it in. Chances are, if the section of your story that breaks the rules is at the beginning, the rest of your story may not have been read yet and might be returned to you for those issues afterwards.


This is the format of a general rejection note:

Hi Pleasant Lush Author


We have removed the "I can't think of a good title so I'll type this"

http://www.lushstories.com/stories/Icantthinkofagoodtitlesoi'lltypethis.aspx


Reason for deletion:


This part of the note is a personal message that the verifier sends to you with tips on how to edit your story so that it can be submitted. It's rare that we get a story so bad that it's beyond fixing and ask the author not to resubmit.


Recommended reading: (These are a few of the links often included to help with whatever issue your story is having)

http://www.lushstories.com/writing-tips/punctuation.aspx

http://www.lushstories.com//forum/yaf_postsm1053976_Formatting-Dialogue.aspx

http://www.lushstories.com//forum/yaf_postsm1001284_Advice-before-submitting-a-story.aspx

http://www.lushstories.com//forum/yaf_postst16278_Proofreading-what-is-THAT-all-about.aspx


If you would like to have the story published, please edit your story to comply with the above and resubmit. If you have been advised the story is not for this site, please do not submit it again.


You can edit your stories by clicking the Account > My Stories in the navigation.


Regards,
Lush Admin

because there is a way to make it so you don't have to see the ads if they bother you

There is no way to block story images...yet

Sums it up rather perfectly.