Current story review times?

Hi, has the queue for stories to be moderated grown exceptionally long again? I submitted a story 8 days ago, and I've heard nothing back.

This is the longest I've ever had to wait for a response, so I'm wondering if my submission has fallen down a crack (it says it's with a mod) or whether the queue has grown longer than ever.

Quote by undiecontrol

Hi, has the queue for stories to be moderated grown exceptionally long again? I submitted a story 8 days ago, and I've heard nothing back.

This is the longest I've ever had to wait for a response, so I'm wondering if my submission has fallen down a crack (it says it's with a mod) or whether the queue has grown longer than ever.

There are around 180 and about 60 of them are premium, so yeah, the queue is busy at the moment thanks.

Thanks, Jen,

So is 8+ days the new norm for premium submissions?

Quote by undiecontrol

Thanks, Jen,

So is 8+ days the new norm for premium submissions?

No. We don't really have a normal, to be honest. It just depends on who is available to mod, whether there is a comp on, if there are issues with a story etc. Not everyone wants to mod every category, so some might take longer than others.

Thanks, Jen - that's useful to know!

I suspected this was the case but didn't want to be the one to ask. 😄 I've noticed the lower output over the past couple of weeks -- many days with fewer than 10 stories published, when in the recent past we'd routinely have days with one or two bursts of 15+ stories within one hour -- and figured the queue must be bloated.

Thank you to the mods for volunteering your time, effort, and sanity, which I'm sure are precious resources. 🤪

So maybe we need a scoreboard showing total in queue, premium in queue, and comp entries in queue so people can gauge.😉 Oh, and the number of mods who are present, working, and sober (I know that last one is a biggie😋).

🤣 (Yes that's a joke)

Quote by Chet_Morton
I've noticed the lower output over the past couple of weeks -- many days with fewer than 10 stories published, when in the recent past we'd routinely have days with one or two bursts of 15+ stories within one hour -- and figured the queue must be bloated.

Also, it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere where most, maybe all, of the mods are located so people are more likely to be on vacations or otherwise unavailable.

A few things…

First, as Ape pointed out, it is the middle of summer in the northern hemisphere. Vacations, kids not in school.

On top of that, some mods are in the UK. I just saw something about the lack of AC in Europe, particularly the UK, which coupled with the recent head domes, might be impacting some mods.

Lastly, it’s easy to focus on the number of published stories or how many stories are in the queue. We don’t have any visibility into the number of stories that are not approved for various reasons. With AI getting smarter, trying to keep Lush AI-free is likely more time consuming than most of us realize. That is probably the wildcard.

Quote by paddlingincognito

With AI getting smarter, trying to keep Lush AI-free is likely more time consuming than most of us realize.

We certainly wouldn't want AI-generated stories to crowd out the top stories written by content mills posing as attractive female authors. 😉

Quote by Chet_Morton

We certainly wouldn't want AI-generated stories to crowd out the top stories written by content mills posing as attractive female authors. 😉

Funny. AI aside, I often wonder if I were pose an attractive female author, would my stories have more likes/comments? Would I have more followers? 🤔

Quote by paddlingincognito

Funny. AI aside, I often wonder if I were pose an attractive female author, would my stories have more likes/comments? Would I have more followers? 🤔

I have no doubts. 💯

Quote by Chet_Morton

I have no doubts. 💯

But would my stories be approved faster? That is the real question. 🤣

Okay, I am done with the sarcasm. Please resume sharing questions and legitimate concerns about the queue and story review times.

Quote by paddlingincognito
We don’t have any visibility into the number of stories that are not approved for various reasons... trying to keep Lush AI-free is likely more time consuming than most of us realize.

All of this.

I just got what I had written rejected because it was not “erotic” enough to be published by Lush albeit it was in the “humor” category. I laughed all the way to her fucking cunt.

I had waited 15 days before I decided to pull it. Happened a few months ago on my first story here, but that one had a lot of punctuation errors (my worst). This last one was thoroughly edited. I found myself getting frustrated waiting for it and decided it was better to just forget it for a while. Not sure what I’m doing at this point. Taking a break I guess.

I was just starting to feel good about my writing here and seemed to be getting good reader interaction and followers. If the mods are that overwhelmed, I think they need a break from the writers. I volunteered.