Story verification times

Thanks. In future, I will wait a few days before I submit anything. May not be a problem. For weeks my mind was a complete blank! 🤣

Quote by GreyMatter

Not really, no. There are too many variables. It depends on how many stories are in the queue, how long the stories in the queue are, the availability of the mods etc. There are often times when we're modding a story and come across a situation (in terms of story content, for example) where we need to ask other mods for guidance and need to wait to hear back from them etc.

Thank you, GreyMatter, for answering my question. 😊 That is exactly what I thought, but it was worth asking, as it is hard to judge what is happening whilst sitting on this side of the curtain. Maybe something had changed.

Quote by Shyexhibitionist
For weeks my mind was a complete blank! 🤣

Oh good, it's not just me who has periods like that. 😋

Quote by wxt55uk

Is there a way authors can know how long the current approval times are?

Sadly not really. It varies.

Quote by wxt55uk

Thank you, dronette56, for sharing this. 😊 However, I have one question made because of the above point...

Is there a way authors can know how long the current approval times are?

you can always ask me. lol

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.