Story verification times

I appreciate the mods and the job you do, I really do. I myself wouldn't be able to do the job because I grade papers for a living and that is NOT how I want to spend my free time. 😅 But I don't understand the continued practice of grabbing a story on Friday, sitting on it all weekend, then realizing that you don't have time to get to it and releasing it back into the pool. Don't claim it until you're ready to read it?

Quote by Chet_Morton
I don't understand the continued practice of grabbing a story on Friday, sitting on it all weekend, then realizing that you don't have time to get to it and releasing it back into the pool.

We have our reasons. Perhaps when we get improved metrics and back-end tools, we may not need to do this. But for now, it helps us manage the queue as a band-aid.

Quote by sprite

you can always ask me. lol

Thank you for your kind offer, Rachel 🙂 However, I was asking for a friend! 🙄🥰

I’ve been following this thread. I’m aware there is a backlog and I appreciate the need for patience. I’d like to ask a question. Please excuse me if it’s been asked before and I’ve missed it.

My story was assigned three days ago to a moderator. I looked this morning and the status has reverted back to being reviewed. Does that mean my story goes back to the end of the queue?

Thanks.

Quote by Shyexhibitionist

I’ve been following this thread. I’m aware there is a backlog and I appreciate the need for patience. I’d like to ask a question. Please excuse me if it’s been asked before and I’ve missed it.

My story was assigned three days ago to a moderator. I looked this morning and the status has reverted back to being reviewed. Does that mean my story goes back to the end of the queue?

Thanks.

No, it will still go with the other stories that had the same submission date. So looking at the queue, your story is with the other ones that were submitted on July 19th.

Thank you. That’s good to know.

Waiting time is 12 days for my story now.

Aug 31 to Sept. 11.

It's a long story, but still.......

I was told that often competition entries take precedence as there is a time issue with these. Perhaps this is why?

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

We have our reasons. Perhaps when we get improved metrics and back-end tools, we may not need to do this. But for now, it helps us manage the queue as a band-aid.

Hi WW, Have the improved metrics and back-end tools arrived yet?

I also wonder if we could all have an update where we are atm with wainting times and plans for the future to reduce them? Thanks in advance... 😊 I do appreciate that there is a lot going on in the background and everyone (especially the moderator’s) are working hard to keep the publishing of stories flowing.

Quote by wxt55uk
Have the improved metrics and back-end tools arrived yet?

No. And no timescales have been provided, sadly.

Quote by wxt55uk
where we are atm with wainting times and plans for the future to reduce them

Waiting times are long.

The current plan is to sit on stories from authors who continue to ignore our reasonable requests to slow down their submission rate, so other authors get a chance.

There's nothing else we can do if people continue to be impatient and spam us with multiple stories at once, or send their latest piece ten minutes after their last one is published. And that's not hyperbole.

As always, with any altruistic system utilising a shared resource, the few are spoiling it for the majority. We're having to waste time identifying and engaging with such people, which is time we could be spending on reducing the queue times for everyone.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Waiting times are long.

The current plan is to sit on stories from authors who continue to ignore our reasonable requests to slow down their submission rate, so other authors get a chance.

There's nothing else we can do if people continue to be impatient and spam us with multiple stories at once, or send their latest piece ten minutes after their last one is published. And that's not hyperbole.

As always, with any altruistic system utilising a shared resource, the few are spoiling it for the majority. We're having to waste time identifying and engaging with such people, which is time we could be spending on reducing the queue times for everyone.

Thank you, WW. I think this makes it very clear to all authors.

Please update us here if, and when, anything changes... 😊

I have noticed a few people who seem to have stories published on a very regular basis. Now that I know about the issue I will certainly not submit constantly, not much chance of that, my mind has been blank recently! Last two stories though were fairly close. My excuse is one was a competition entry. I wont do that again.

Just to give some idea of what's happening now...yesterday, during my lunch break I modded five stories. By the end of my lunch, the total number of stories in the queue hadn't changed because 5 (or more?) stories were added during that same time.

Quote by GreyMatter
Just to give some idea of what's happening now...yesterday, during my lunch break I modded five stories. By the end of my lunch, the total number of stories in the queue hadn't changed

Ah yes, moderator maths. When you spend an hour modding 5x 3K stories, and 7x 8K stories are in there to replace them by the time you're done. Grrr...

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Ah yes, moderator maths. When you spend an hour modding 5x 3K stories, and 7x 8K stories are in there to replace them by the time you're done. Grrr...

That was definitely the case yesterday. I was on limited time (lunch break) so I was focused on shorter stories and the ones that took their place in the queue were longer ones.

Dear mods, thanks for all your efforts 😇

The site is a victim of its own success. The longer waiting times can perhaps mean that authors ‘tee-up’ their next story in drafts with their trigger finger hovering eagerly over the ‘publish’ button.

Guilty of it myself, but trying to reform. 😇

Quote by Alfresco
The longer waiting times can perhaps mean that authors ‘tee-up’ their next story in drafts with their trigger finger hovering eagerly over the ‘publish’ button

That may well account for the phenomenon, yes.

And that's great, except if someone pushes a new story immediately - especially if it's a chapter series - then it doesn't give long enough for many readers to absorb the recently-published chapter. Some people only log on once or twice a week, so if they're following you and suddenly see 3 new stories, each 7K words, they might not bother with any of them due to the time commitment to read them. Spacing them out gives more time for current publications to accrue readers, new followers, and comments, and gives authors time to pimp their work in the forum and on profile walls, as well as to enjoy other people's work.

Clearly there's a cutoff point where some may have forgotten what went on before, so it's a balancing act. And the variable publication times don't help. But I doubt a reader will begrudge an author a week or three between chapters. And that breathing space gives stories more time to gain readers and affords us moderators breathing space too.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith
And that breathing space gives stories more time to gain readers

Also, it allows readers to discover and enjoy other authors, other styles, and maybe even themes. And I think writers too may benefit from reading other authors. That is, in my opinion, the greatest thing about our Lush community.

Plus, if people cared to read—and and respect—the Acceptable Content Guide and maybe check MollyDoll‘s forum post “Before you submit a story”, it would be super helpful and save everyone a lot of time as well.
Ultimately, we all have the same goal: to get stories published.

The Mods do so much work to keep this site the success it is. Now that I am aware, I will definitely take time between stories. I mentioned before though that the same names keep appearing all the time. Could it be a need to stay high in the rankings?? Perhaps the ranking system could be restricted to a certain number of stories. I'm no expert but the more stories an author writes, the more likes, the higher the rank. Perhaps the desire to stay, say in the top 20, pushes writers to produce more? Only a theory. I could be totally wrong.

It might be. But quantity does not necessarily mean quality, imo.

Another thing that would be quite helpful is if authors would make a pause, let the stories rest for some time, and then review them one last time before submitting, making sure everything is to their liking, and that includes adding cover pics. Every day we get numerous resubmissions because someone caught a typo or something they wanted to be changed or just to add the cover pic. Double work, more time. And the stories in the queue keep piling up.

So please, let them sit; readers will still be here to check your stories out. Make sure they are just as you want them from the get go

Guilty as charged!! But I've only done it once. A cover I had chosen wasn't correct, I submitted the story without a cover and only realised it recently. I put a cover on and submitted it again. It was a long time ago I was a bit of a novice! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it 🤣

Quote by Shyexhibitionist

Guilty as charged!! But I've only done it once. A cover I had chosen wasn't correct, I submitted the story without a cover and only realised it recently. I put a cover on and submitted it again. It was a long time ago I was a bit of a novice! That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it 🤣

Haha that's okay. I've done it myself, a while ago

But it's just another little thing that adds up, that's why I mentioned it.

This is all fine for the authors who scour the forums and choose to modify their behavior, but others will continue as before, blissfully unaware, because the site doesn't have a reliable way to make announcements (and the submission guidelines & suggestions are scattered among multiple site pages and discussion threads).

Actually this and the competition are the only forums I'm in. I came across them by chance. I don't use chat rooms either. I agree it might be an idea to put info out about how the Mods are volunteers and more acceptable ways of submitting stories. Not exactly sure how it would work?? Perhaps a standard response every time a story was submitted?

Quote by Chet_Morton
This is all fine for the authors who scour the forums and choose to modify their behavior, but others will continue as before, blissfully unaware, because the site doesn't have a reliable way to make announcements

Interestingly, we do have a Site Announcements feature available to us, but I've never used it so I'm not sure where they show up. Maybe we should give it a whirl someday!

With regards authors being blissfully unaware, that's only the case for the first time. We don't necessarily expect authors to have studied the various terms and info smattered across the site (it's a bone of contention and is on the list to consolidate one day), though it's nice if they do. But in the moderator feedback, we politely remind anyone who does serially submit to please be considerate. Anyone who continues to spam the queue after that is doing it on purpose.

And, yes, we have people who take to the forums, complain on their profiles, and file helpdesk tickets asking why their story hasn't been published, on top of submitting multiple stories in quick succession (or all at once). Even after they've been asked to slow down for the good of the site as a whole. Dealing with this takes away precious time from the team trying to publish as many stories as we can.

Honestly don't know how you and the others have the patience. It seems a thankless task. I'll take the opportunity now to say Thank you to you all 🙏

Quote by Shyexhibitionist

Honestly don't know how you and the others have the patience. It seems a thankless task. I'll take the opportunity now to say Thank you to you all 🙏

Its always appreciated when members say nice things like this. 🥰😘

Please take what I’m providing with a grain of salt. I’m just someone looking from the outside in and my perspective is very limited with the information I can gleam from the forums and seeing how this wonderful website operates. Maybe everything I’m going to suggest has already been mentioned (either in public or private or is already implemented.) and if that is the case, I’m sorry for wasting your time. And I do apologize for the lengthy post.

1. Queue Triage & Smarter Prioritization

Automated pre-checks: Before a story even hits a moderator, software could scan for banned terms, plagiarism, or format errors. That would reduce the number of “instantly rejectable” stories moderators waste time on.

“Fast-track” review pools: Allow trusted platinum/gold authors with good track records to bypass certain checks or require only a light skim. Think of it like TSA PreCheck for authors.

Dynamic prioritization: Instead of strictly by tier, stories could be ranked by both tier and author reputation (measured by rule-following history, past infractions, story ratings, etc.).

2. Moderator Force Multipliers

Moderators are volunteers, so efficiency matters.

Micro-reviewing: Split moderation into stages. One mod skims for rule violations, another later checks formatting or categorization. That keeps each pass quick instead of one mod doing it all.

Community flagging pre-publication: Allow a “preview pool” where select long-term, trusted readers (not just mods) can flag guideline issues. Moderators then review only flagged submissions deeply.

AI-assisted reading: Language models can be trained on Lush’s guidelines to pre-tag or highlight potential violations, letting human mods focus on final judgment. This isn’t about replacing mods, but saving their eyeballs from sifting through obvious cases.

3. Incentive Tweaks

Paid tiers already speed up placement. They could refine this:

Pay-to-skip queue add-on: Occasional one-off “express pass” a user can buy if they’re desperate for quicker publishing.

Gamification of moderation: Trusted members could earn small perks (like temporary premium features, badges, or queue-jumps for their own stories) for helping in the review process.

4. Long-term Scaling Ideas

Recruit more moderators: Obvious but tricky since they’re volunteers. Incentives (like premium membership for free, unique community badges, early story access) could help.

Hybrid publishing model: Let certain tiers self-publish instantly, but mark them as “unreviewed.” A badge/warning could show readers that it hasn’t been mod-checked yet. Readers can report issues. Mods focus on clearing only those that gain traction.

Step-by-Step Workflow Redesign

1. Submission Intake

• Author submits story.

• The system automatically tags it with:

  • Tier level (Regular, Silver, Gold, Platinum).

  • Author trust score (based on past compliance with rules, number of infractions, how often mods approve their stories without issue).

This way, two axes matter: how much the author pays and how trustworthy they’ve proven.

2. Automated Pre-Check

Before humans touch it, software scans for:

• Banned keywords (underage, illegal content, plagiarism, etc.).

• Formatting violations (excessive caps, broken paragraphs, too short/too long).

• Category mismatch (if the story says “poetry” but it’s 5000 words of erotica, flag it).

Any obvious violators get bounced back instantly with an automated note. This clears out the “low-hanging rejections.”

3. Smart Queue Placement

Now the queue is reshaped:

• Platinum + high trust → go into fast-track lane (light human skim, published quickly).

• Gold/Silver or trusted regulars → standard lane.

• New or low-trust authors → deep review lane (requires two mods to approve).

This makes moderation effort proportional to risk.

4. Community Pre-Screening (Optional)

For the deep review lane, Lush could allow trusted readers (not full mods) to preview stories in a hidden section. They can flag issues for moderators. Mods then spend time only on flagged stories rather than reading everything in depth.

Think of this as crowd-sourced triage: "reader scouts" spot problems early.

5. Human Moderation

Moderators work more efficiently because:

• Fast-track stories: skim check (1–2 minutes).

• Standard lane: regular review (5 minutes).

• Deep review: team review (10 minutes, but fewer stories since many were filtered earlier).

Because the machine + community already cut down the noise, mods’ time is reserved for stories that genuinely need judgment.

6. Publication & Feedback Loop

Approved stories get published with their usual tier bump.

Rejected stories generate automated feedback templates (“Your story contained X issue, please resubmit after correction”).

• Author trust scores update:

  • Smooth approval = trust score rises.

  • Rejection/infractions = trust score drops.

This continuously trains the system to give mods less work in the future.

Community Pre-Screening as a “Private Collection”

1. Unlocking Access

Only certain user tiers (say Gold and Platinum) can access the “Private Collection” of unpublished submissions.

This turns what’s normally a pain (waiting in the queue) into a perk: higher-tier members get sneak peeks at new content.

It also incentivizes upgrading because users aren’t just paying for their stories to move faster—they get early access to others’ work.

2. Scoring System

• Readers can upvote, rate (1–5), or give “quick badges” (e.g. “well-written,” “hot,” “clean formatting”).

• Each submission accumulates a community score.

• If it reaches a certain threshold (say, X upvotes from Y unique users), the story auto-publishes.

• Bonus: the author’s trust score rises if they consistently pass community screening without issue.

3. Reporting System

• At any time, a reader can hit “Report” for guideline violations.

• Reports immediately pull the story out of the Private Collection and back into the Moderator Queue.

• To prevent abuse, reporting power could scale with user reputation (serial false reporters get muted).

4. Moderator Backstop

• Mods still exist as the safety net.

• They check stories that are reported or that fail to meet the community score threshold after a set period.

• Mods can also do random spot-checks on auto-published stories to make sure the system isn’t being gamed.

5. Incentive Layer

Users who participate in pre-screening could earn tokens, badges, or small perks (like temporary boosts for their own stories, early release slots, or visible “community scout” status).

This turns reviewing into a fun game, not a chore.

Why This Could Work

• Reduces moderator workload by routing most “safe” stories directly to publication.

• Raises quality since bad stories get caught by readers and strong stories rise quickly.

• Engages the community: instead of passively waiting for stories, members actively shape the library.

• Adds value to paid tiers beyond queue priority, which might increase subscriptions.

This is almost like mixing Reddit karma mechanics with Steam Early Access—let the crowd play-test before the final launch, but keep moderators as guardians of last resort.

Community Scoring & Reporting Algorithm

1. Entry into the Private Collection

• All Regular (free) tier submissions go straight to Moderator Queue.

• All Silver, Gold, Platinum submissions first go through the Private Collection unless:

  • The author has a history of violations (trust score too low).

  • The story trips automatic pre-check filters (keywords, formatting).

2. Scoring System

Each eligible story in the Private Collection can be scored by participating readers:

• Upvote / Downvote (binary option, simple like/dislike).

• Optional rating (1–5 stars, used for fine-grain ranking but not for publish threshold).

Threshold rule (example):

• If a story gets 10 net upvotes from at least 7 unique readers within 72 hours, it is auto-published.

• If a story has fewer than 10 net upvotes after 7 days, it is sent to the Moderator Queue.

This balances speed (popular stories move fast) with fairness (quiet stories aren’t auto-buried).

3. Reporting System

Readers can also Report a story for guideline violations.

• 1 valid report = auto-pull from Private Collection → Moderator Queue.

• If multiple reports come in from trusted users, the story is locked until a moderator reviews.

• Reports are tracked:

  • If a user makes too many false reports, their reporting power is suspended.

  • Trusted reporters (those with accurate past flags) get more weight.

  • 4. Trust & Reputation Effects

  Authors: If their stories consistently pass community pre-screening without being reported, their trust score increases.

  • High trust score = lighter future moderation, faster publishing.

  • Low trust score = bypass Private Collection → always mod-reviewed.

  Readers/Scouts: If their votes align with moderator outcomes (e.g., they upvoted a story that later gets approved), they earn scout points.

  • Scout points could translate into small perks: free Silver for a month, early story access, badges, etc.

5. Safety Nets

Moderator spot checks: Mods randomly review a % of auto-published stories to prevent abuse.

Community feedback post-publish: Even after publication, readers can report a story. If validated, the story can be pulled retroactively.

Example Run

• A Gold member submits a story.

• It enters the Private Collection.

• In 36 hours:

  • 11 readers upvote it.

  • 0 reports.

• Story crosses threshold → auto-published.

• Author’s trust score rises, readers who voted get scout credibility.

• It passes the 10 upvotes/7 unique readers threshold → auto-published without mod eyes.

• Author’s trust score ticks upward. Readers who participated gain scout points.

This system transforms moderation from a bottleneck into a layered sieve: machine filters obvious junk, the community handles the bulk, and moderators focus on edge cases.

Quote by Evocative

Please take what I’m providing with a grain of salt. I’m just someone looking from the outside in and my perspective is very limited with the information I can gleam from the forums and seeing how this wonderful website operates. Maybe everything I’m going to suggest has already been mentioned (either in public or private or is already implemented.) and if that is the case, I’m sorry for wasting your time. And I do apologize for the lengthy post.

Evocative, l am impressed at the time and thought you have put into your post and I want to reassure you not the only member who thinks about how to improve this site for the future. 🙂

I agree wxt55uk that Evocative has spent a lot of time and effort on this subject. To my mind a lot of what he says makes sense and sounds good. How practical and feasible it is, I have no idea.