Story verification times

Thanks for your response. I checked everything you said. I see there were issues a few days ago but it looked as though it had been rectified. I know of the backlogs so Ive no plans to submit just now. I just wanted to add to my story while I remembered it! I'm not very techminded and I write directly on the Lush page. Was gutted when I lost my work last night😞

I have a question please. I know being a mod and approving stories is probably a thankless job. For myself I always say thank you to whomever approved my story. My question is this. Lately when I send in a story it sits there a few hours like normal then maybe 12- 15 hours later it says "Your story has been sent to a mod and its too late to recall it" Okay I get that but then why does after a few days go back to "Currently being reviewed" I don't mean to be a pain I am just trying to understand why it does that. Thank you for your time.

Hi Aanna. Thats happened to me a couple of times too and like you I wondered about it. I've seen a few forum posts about it. One said that sometimes a Moderator takes it, but can get bogged down with really long stories, so returns it. Another post said it was a way of reducing the queue. I can understand the first but not the second. I guess Lush is a victim of its own success.

Wouldn’t it be beneficial if Lush had a place for people to apply for story moderator? That may alleviate the backlog. Just saying.

Quote by Banes1

Wouldn’t it be beneficial if Lush had a place for people to apply for story moderator? That may alleviate the backlog. Just saying.

It is not normally something you apply for. An existing mod decides you are a good option and then they decide to extend an invite. Most sites I am on work that way. Opening moderation to an application process just opens the door to a raft of unsuitable applicants (e.g. people with agendas and axes to grind seeking the power) wasting the mods and admins time.

Well, that’s understandable. It was just a thought.

Quote by Seeker4

It is not normally something you apply for. An existing mod decides you are a good option and then they decide to extend an invite. Most sites I am on work that way. Opening moderation to an application process just opens the door to a raft of unsuitable applicants (e.g. people with agendas and axes to grind seeking the power) wasting the mods and admins time.

That’s understandable. It was just a thought. Thank you for clarifying that.

Okay maybe an applications is not the right way but there has been a back log it seems since June. Is that how they do it here wait for a mod to invite someone to be a mod? Maybe they need expand the search. I can think of a couple of people here that have been here for sometime and write good. Maybe ask some of the veterans here for there input. The Mods have enough to do it seems to me. Lets take off some of the things off there plate and maybe make 1 Mod in charge of seeking help here. Just a thought. Just trying to be helpful.

Quote by AAnna

Okay maybe an applications is not the right way but there has been a back log it seems since June. Is that how they do it here wait for a mod to invite someone to be a mod? Maybe they need expand the search. I can think of a couple of people here that have been here for sometime and write good. Maybe ask some of the veterans here for there input. The Mods have enough to do it seems to me. Lets take off some of the things off there plate and maybe make 1 Mod in charge of seeking help here. Just a thought. Just trying to be helpful.

Have a read of page one of this thread and see my questions there and the answers they received. It is a starting point.

Quote by AAnna

I have a question please. I know being a mod and approving stories is probably a thankless job. For myself I always say thank you to whomever approved my story. My question is this. Lately when I send in a story it sits there a few hours like normal then maybe 12- 15 hours later it says "Your story has been sent to a mod and its too late to recall it" Okay I get that but then why does after a few days go back to "Currently being reviewed" I don't mean to be a pain I am just trying to understand why it does that. Thank you for your time.

Let me show you. The queue is split into 3 tabs. The main one, my personal one (obvs everyone sees their own) and then what anyone else has locked. We can click between the tabs.

Sometimes, to move stories out of that main queue, we 'lock' stories and it moves tab. So anyone logging in and looking at the main queue won't see it.

We do that when we're about to verify, but also if we're discussing one, or an author has submitted something 3 seconds after something has been verified and we need them to wait a bit. We use it as a queue management tool. We might verify it ourselves, or move it back. That's when you'll see different messages, so really, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the message.

Premium authors go in at the top, but if we're not careful with the queue, non premium can end up waiting more time than we're comfortable with, which is why we need to manage it. We're just constantly busy these days, so we need to actively manage the queue more than we used to.

Okay. Thank you Jen for letting me know that I do appreciate it.😊

Also, as an adjunct to what Jen said, sometimes resubs or subsequent chapters drop straight into the "Assigned to me" tab of the mod who handled it previously. Nobody has yet figured out why, because every time we try to find a cause, it behaves itself.

So, sometimes you might (re)submit a story and it'll be marked as assigned almost immediately. But maybe the mod doesn't log in for a few days because they're on vacation and then someone else spots it's locked without any movement a few days later and unlocks it. At that moment, it drops into the main queuea and you'll see the "awaiting moderation" message with the Recall link.

Little weird behaviours like that can contribute to the flip-flopping of a story status too. So, as Jen says, don't pay too much attention to the status because it may be this glitch at play too.

Okay that helps as well thank you😊

Unless you pay for the privelege of fast tracking, you may look at a new publication once a month. I am a non-member and have become increasingly frustrated with the wait time, as I have a lot of chapters to add to my existing work. I have been told that the moderators are all working free and in their own time and reviewing long submissions takes time. I get jealous when I see some of them publishing work every three days while I have to wait and wait and wait. So I have quit submitting any more stories on this site.

Quote by moasan

Unless you pay for the privelege of fast tracking, you may look at a new publication once a month. I am a non-member and have become increasingly frustrated with the wait time, as I have a lot of chapters to add to my existing work. I have been told that the moderators are all working free and in their own time and reviewing long submissions takes time. I get jealous when I see some of them publishing work every three days while I have to wait and wait and wait. So I have quit submitting any more stories on this site.

Boy! You’ve published three this month! Lol

Quote by moasan

Unless you pay for the privelege of fast tracking,

Your statement says it all. In life, not everything is free. I realised early on with Lush if I wanted my stories published quicker, then paying was best. Happy to do so. I can also have unlimited chats. The site survives through paid members and the faithful band of volunteers. Sad you feel this way. Good Luck.

The moaning around here makes a haunted house seem positively quiet by comparison. As the Shyexhibitionist says, the site needs money to operate so they give perks to paying members to help get that money. Pretty standard deal on a lot of sites. I've happily paid for years and finally went platinum to save myself the effort of renewing every year.

Quote by moasan
I get jealous when I see some of them publishing work every three days while I have to wait and wait and wait.

I could publish every 3 days too based on the approval time for my last story (again, I'm platinum). It's nothing about being a mod (love how you insinuate something scandalous is happening) and everything about being a gold or platinum member. And if they did get priority in the queue, so what? They are unpaid so why not give them something in return for the effort they put in. They are all excellent writers with a good history on the site so it's not like crap is getting a free pass or something.

Message from the haunted house. I am 67 and retired, living on a limited income in London. To pay a lot of money here would be difficult. At Literotica all submissions are free and I have published a few novellas of 60.000 words with no problems. So I'll go back there.

Quote by moasan

Message from the haunted house. I am 67 and retired, living on a limited income in London. To pay a lot of money here would be difficult. At Literotica all submissions are free and I have published a few novellas of 60.000 words with no problems. So I'll go back there.

Fair enough. I say go for what works for you. I find their interface clunky as hell myself but land there from time to time as a reader.

Quote by moasan

Message from the haunted house. I am 67 and retired, living on a limited income in London. To pay a lot of money here would be difficult. At Literotica all submissions are free and I have published a few novellas of 60.000 words with no problems. So I'll go back there.

If you aren't happy here, then you should definitely not stay. But let me share this thought with you:

As a story mod, when I have suggested to authors to split their longer stories into smaller parts, they have (for the most part) seen an uptick in views, likes, and comments. Why? The average reader does not have time to read 60,000 words in one sitting. They prefer stories in the 2K to 4K range (What's your preferred story length to read?)

The average mod does not have the time to review 60,000 words in one sitting, either. So, if we allowed stories of that length, it would take LONGER to get them published.

I don't know about you, but I publish stories here because I want people to read them and share their thoughts about them with me. I try to keep in mind that if I publish a longer story, it might see less attention.

Quote by Seeker4

I could publish every 3 days too based on the approval time for my last story (again, I'm platinum). It's nothing about being a mod (love how you insinuate something scandalous is happening) and everything about being a gold or platinum member. And if they did get priority in the queue, so what? They are unpaid so why not give them something in return for the effort they put in. They are all excellent writers with a good history on the site so it's not like crap is getting a free pass or something.

Thanks for your comment! Your support is appreciated! When the queue gets busy, sometimes the wait times are longer, even for Platinum and Gold members. But we do our best! 😊

Quote by techgoddess
Your support is appreciated!

I was there myself for a couple years and am staff on another site so I get it.😊

to techgoddess, I understand all of what you say, but I am prolific and get new story ideas every week. Consider that at this moment I have 40 5,000 word chapters all finished in draft form and am ready to start 5 new serials of 6 to 7 chapters each. At the rate of one submission every 3 weeks l will still be submitting the already finished chapters up until next spring. I'll be half a year older.

Quote by moasan

to techgoddess, I understand all of what you say, but I am prolific and get new story ideas every week. Consider that at this moment I have 40 5,000 word chapters all finished in draft form and am ready to start 5 new serials of 6 to 7 chapters each. At the rate of one submission every 3 weeks l will still be submitting the already finished chapters up until next spring. I'll be half a year older.

You might want to consider doing e-books. Your stress might lessen.

Domo Arigato.

Quote by moasan

Domo Arigato.

Dōitashimashite

Quote by moasan

to techgoddess, I understand all of what you say, but I am prolific and get new story ideas every week. Consider that at this moment I have 40 5,000 word chapters all finished in draft form and am ready to start 5 new serials of 6 to 7 chapters each. At the rate of one submission every 3 weeks l will still be submitting the already finished chapters up until next spring. I'll be half a year older.

You had stories published on October 6th, October 9th and October 24th. You had 3 published in September, 2 in August, 3 in July and 4 in June. Now I'm not that good at math, but that seems like a tad more than one in three weeks?

And what exactly is the problem with being half a year older, anyway?

I sometimes wonder what exactly mods review and if they really need to do more than assure that the site's decency stds. are met. If my grammar and proofreading are not reasonable, my stuff won't be liked. While I sometimes appreciate the editing advice, I am well beyond the age when I'm likely to become an expert grammarian.

It seems today that people have lost the trait of patience. Between YouTube, streaming platforms, and social media, you can get a quick hit of dope (amine) at the click of a button. If you don’t get it from one source, you can quickly close out and go to the next. It’s no longer restricted by age, either. Everyone from toddlers to 67+ year olds has fallen under this biological narcotic.

But the world doesn’t revolve around you or me, whether we paid for it or not.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish Lush could be a bit more efficient or expedient with releases. But after talking with a few mods on this particular forum post and through messages, I have no issue with how they operate this website. Lush has a growing audience. A mix of new readers and contributors, people submitting stories upon stories, and AI expediting the process of writing. All this contributes to a growing pool within the queue.

This site only has a handful of mods and admins. The mods? All volunteer work. I can only imagine the kind of stories they have to read (I’d be genuinely curious what the approve-to-deny ratio is). What do they get in return? A few perks. No money (I don’t think). And a shitload of bitching.

My suggestions (if you’re still with me):

• Find another hobby to spend time on while you wait.

• Find other websites to publish your work in the meantime.

• Open up a Patreon, Substack, or OF, and drop your content there — directing people from Lush to your content.

• Quit bitching and be thankful. They could just take your money and say, “Yeah, don’t worry, we’ll post your story soon…”

• Put the phone down and go for a walk.

• Read a book. My recommendation: The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

• Jerk off… whatever it takes to ease that doped-up mind of yours.

• Develop self-discipline (a slightly longer commitment than the two-minute activity mentioned just above).

Alright… if I pissed you off, good. If I made you smile or laugh, good. If you’re indifferent, good.

As the great philosopher Ice Cube once said:

“Today was a good day.”

Evocative, Love it. Sheer honesty and common sense. Lush wants to keep standards high. If that's not for you, then move on. Patience is a virtue. I deliberately held back writing this month because of the backlog I read about. It will be published when/if. May well be returned, my use of commas a main stumbling point. I have a story in Drafts. I appreciate it won't see the light of day for ages. How the Moderators stay sane, is beyond me.

Quote by Johnnycumlately

I sometimes wonder what exactly mods review and if they really need to do more than assure that the site's decency stds. are met. If my grammar and proofreading are not reasonable, my stuff won't be liked. While I sometimes appreciate the editing advice, I am well beyond the age when I'm likely to become an expert grammarian.

Nobody expects authors here to be expert grammarians. If we didn't ask authors to make a reasonable effort with grammar and proofreading, it would make it difficult for us as mods to read and understand what is going on in the stories.

As a reader, if a story is riddled with punctuation errors, contains missed or misspelled words, or lacks clarity about who is speaking, etc., I'm not going to bother continuing to read it. I don't mind a few mistakes here and there, but when the errors start to affect my understanding and enjoyment of the story, I'll look for a different one.

As a writer, I want people to read and enjoy my stories, not skip over them.

Lush Stories has higher standards than some other sites, but with the modern tools of free, online grammar checkers, they aren't unreasonable.