It is with, ahem, grate pleasure that I announce the winner of this little contest to be.... joe71.
Not only did he make me smile, like so many of the other comments, but he correctly identified what I consider to be the 10 deliberate errors in the piece.
Excluding Grate in the title, they were, in order of writing...
beasts - breasts
messaging - massaging
lisp - lips
you’re - your
sign - sigh
bugle - bulge
count - cunt
affect - effect
organism - orgasm
passed - past
However, I found some most intriguing things from this. Firstly, none of the grammar checkers in Grammarly, Word, and Google Docs picked them all up. And they often differed in what they considered were mistakes, some offering ridiculous alternative suggestions.
Secondly, comparatively few people spotted them all. A good few people highlighted other things that I didn't consider mistakes, but on reflection may actually be, if we're sticking to rigid interpretations of grammar. Kneeling by (not at) the desk is technically accurate given the cover picture, and was a holdover from a previous draft where I had her perched on the desk edge, before moving her to the chair and glossing over the preposition.
I was also alerted to a number of other grammatical inconsistencies, most of which were sound, including an intriguing one of whether I should have used the singular panty/pantie instead of plural panties. I've always considered panties as one of those plurals that works in both cases, like data so it never registered that it could be incorrect. I've learned stuff here, so thank you all for your input.
Finally, on a more serious note, I hope the above hammers home how difficult it is to be a moderator on this site. We uphold pretty high standards compared to many other erotic story sites, and I appreciate that can occasionally come across as being nitpicky.
We do try to get as many stories through first time as we can, and encourage authors to listen to the advice - and even politely challenge it if we make a mistake - and put the things learned into practice so this site continues to deliver the highest quality written erotica on the internet.
We're all human volunteers from varying backgrounds and cultures, with varying amounts of free time to devote to the site. We miss stuff. Yes, we try to be consistent, yes we have guidelines, but those are open to interpretation when considering the myriad ways that English can be (ab)used, intentionally or accidentally. If you're in any doubt over anything that may be misconstrued in your story, (e.g. specific misspellings or styles done on purpose) please, please highlight it at submission time using the Moderator Notes box. We will try to take these into account while moderating.
Some of the typos in my story were very hard to spot, deliberately so. And every single one is a typo we have had submitted to us over the years I've been here, and before. Some are ones I've made and never noticed. Being so close to a piece of writing makes it hard to identify errors, which is why the moderation step - an extra pair of eyes - is so beneficial.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site, and thank you to the moderation and development team, past and present, who sometimes thanklessly keep the site running.
I'm proud to have written 100 pieces of work at a place I consider home away from home, and continue to do so. Now go read my 101st 😁
Congrats again joe71. Your coins are in the post.
