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Which improvements or features would you like to see added?

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billy
Active Ink Slinger
I'm down with that idea too. Can I bring my drink or will there be a concession stand?
“It's nice sometimes to open up the heart a little and let some hurt come in. It proves you're still alive.”
Poppet
Cheeky Chick
Quote by Mazza
I'd really like it if stories in the reading queue had to be manually removed. Often I'll take a look to see what I have to read and maybe click on one and then it disappears from my queue, whether I've read it or not...

Or...

Maybe there could be more info about the story itself - all you get right now is the title, not the author, categories etc - maybe if there was more info, like there is on the front page, it would be easier to manage?

(I know, I'm a dumbass, but it would make my Lushlife that little bit easier)

{}{}{}


I suggested this months ago, Nicola said it was a great idea. I'm not sure why it hasn't been added yet. Time to get out the pitch forks and riot. smile
Dani
Big-haired Bitch
Quote by Dirty_D


I can get on board with this suggestion biggrin


Dianna, stop trying to sneak in.

I don't care how huge your boobs are, I will STILL press charges. How many times do I have to tell you?!?!

"What is the quality of your intent?" - Thurgood Marshall
Mysteria27
Prolific Writer
Could the black boxes have more lines. I'd love that....
ChrissieLecker
Story Verifier
Quote by Poppet
Quote by Mazza
I'd really like it if stories in the reading queue had to be manually removed. Often I'll take a look to see what I have to read and maybe click on one and then it disappears from my queue, whether I've read it or not...

Or...

Maybe there could be more info about the story itself - all you get right now is the title, not the author, categories etc - maybe if there was more info, like there is on the front page, it would be easier to manage?

(I know, I'm a dumbass, but it would make my Lushlife that little bit easier)


I suggested this months ago, Nicola said it was a great idea. I'm not sure why it hasn't been added yet. Time to get out the pitch forks and riot. smile


Gav knows something really embarrassing about me, so no rioting here. I'll just stand on the sidewalk and hold up a sign that reads, "This Would Be Great!
Guest
Lurker
Before this question came up, you were running 'male phobia' twice. That should be fixed
billy
Active Ink Slinger
Mysteria wrote: Could the black boxes have more lines. I'd love that....


I think they do allow more characters now than they used to.....could always use more, though. It does force me to be less verbose.....
“It's nice sometimes to open up the heart a little and let some hurt come in. It proves you're still alive.”
Tashtego
Advanced Wordsmith
Quote by Mazza
I'd really like it if stories in the reading queue had to be manually removed. Often I'll take a look to see what I have to read and maybe click on one and then it disappears from my queue, whether I've read it or not...

Or...

Maybe there could be more info about the story itself - all you get right now is the title, not the author, categories etc - maybe if there was more info, like there is on the front page, it would be easier to manage?

(I know, I'm a dumbass, but it would make my Lushlife that little bit easier)

{}{}{}


I like these suggestions. Just getting the author's name would be huge. I do the same thing; take a peek, and - Presto! - it disappears from my queue. I guess I'm a dumbass, too. Of course, if I just read Mazza's stories immediately like everyone else does, I wouldn't have these problems.
Callisto
Rocker of the cocker
Quote by Dreamer90


1) I have to agree. The graphics could be updated. I wouldn't change the color scheme, because it has become lush stories, but especially the forum looks very out of date and doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the site. I also wonder if there is a lush logo. I don't think you need something fancy just something like a white LS on red ground as a part of the lush brand. It could be used in many ways. For example as an avatar for the birthday posts that non avatar looks a bit weird or in promotional things like the twitter or Facebook site or in articles that mention lush.
Amendment: I just saw there actually is a lush logo used for the android app. So you could just pull that one and use it for those things.

2) I kind of like the timeline, but that is just me.

Amendment:
I just found out there actually is a lush android app. Amazing! However it took my over 7 months to accidentally stumble over that information. You should think about making that information easier to find. Like including it into the welcome email.


Great idea, it's been added.
TraceEkies
Active Ink Slinger
Once upon a time, Br'er Rabbit, an avid reader of adult stories, discovered Lush Stories and immediately signed up. As it was a Sunday afternoon and he didn't have anything else that he needed to do, he did a little reading. He started wirh this months popular stories in the straight sex category and managed to get the top six read before getting chased off by Br'er Fox.

Br'er Rabbit thought these six stories were pretty good. He even posted a laudatory comment on each one. He awarded each of them a score of four. his score for really good stories. (He would award a score of five only to a story he considered to be truly exceptional.)

Here are the top twelve stories before his votes:

[code]
Rank Votes Score
1 48 5.00
2 47 5.00
3 24 5.00
4 16 5.00
5 11 5.00
6 11 5.00
7 10 5.00
8 56 4.98
9 36 4.94
10 20 4.94
11 16 4.94
12 14 4.93
[/code]

Here are the top twelve after his votes:

[code]
Rank Votes Score Was
1 10 5.00 7
2 56 4.98 8
3 49 4.98 1
4 48 4.98 2
5 25 4.96 3
6 20 4.95 10
7 36 4.94 9
8 17 4.94 4
9 16 4.94 11
10 14 4.93 12
11 12 4.92 5
12 12 4.92 6
[/code]

And so, after casting six conscience based votes, (no maliciousness intended - he is not an author and had never even heard of the authors of these stories), Br'er Rabbit has wreaked havoc on the rankings. The former #7, with only ten votes, the least of all twelve, has become #1; #8 has become #2; the former #1 is now third; and the previous #5 and #6 are at the bottom of the list.

All of the top ten have more '5' votes than the former #7, yet he is now #1 because Br'er rabbit only read the top six.

Quote by TraceEkies
Do away with numeric voting.

If you like it, click on a 'like' button. If you don't - do nothing.

Vote count becomes 'like' count. I think most of us go by that anyway.

...
AltaBrwnSgr
Brown Sugar
Quote by TraceEkies
Once upon a time, Br'er Rabbit, an avid reader of adult stories, discovered Lush Stories and immediately signed up. As it was a Sunday afternoon and he didn't have anything else that he needed to do, he did a little reading. He started wirh this months popular stories in the straight sex category and managed to get the top six read before getting chased off by Br'er Fox.

Br'er Rabbit thought these six stories were pretty good. He even posted a laudatory comment on each one. He awarded each of them a score of four. his score for really good stories. (He would award a score of five only to a story he considered to be truly exceptional.)

Here are the top twelve stories before his votes:

[code]
Rank Votes Score
1 48 5.00
2 47 5.00
3 24 5.00
4 16 5.00
5 11 5.00
6 11 5.00
7 10 5.00
8 56 4.98
9 36 4.94
10 20 4.94
11 16 4.94
12 14 4.93
[/code]

Here are the top twelve after his votes:

[code]
Rank Votes Score Was
1 10 5.00 7
2 56 4.98 8
3 49 4.98 1
4 48 4.98 2
5 25 4.96 3
6 20 4.95 10
7 36 4.94 9
8 17 4.94 4
9 16 4.94 11
10 14 4.93 12
11 12 4.92 5
12 12 4.92 6
[/code]

And so, after casting six conscience based votes, (no maliciousness intended - he is not an author and had never even heard of the authors of these stories), Br'er Rabbit has wreaked havoc on the rankings. The former #7, with only ten votes, the least of all twelve, has become #1; #8 has become #2; the former #1 is now third; and the previous #5 and #6 are at the bottom of the list.

All of the top ten have more '5' votes than the former #7, yet he is now #1 because Br'er rabbit only read the top six.




BR didn’t look at a rank (determined by number of votes with a perfect average of ‘five’) and honestly believe that giving a score of ‘four’ would help the story maintain a perfect average score of ‘five.’

Please say it ain’t so.

Did BR really believe that he was helping the story/author maintain a top position?
Did he?

TE, I disagree with you concerning the voting. The current system aligns with other voting systems, Amazon for example. You suggest a simple system of clicking ‘like’ for story approval. But, a ‘like’ doesn’t say anything about how well a reader liked a story. The numeric voting system tells how well readers ‘liked’ a story in a collective way.

With that said, I understand that no system is perfect.

I do agree with you; four is a good score. However, I would walk away from a story or poem giving no vote before I kill a story’s ranking by awarding a score of 'four', especially when 48 people felt that the story deserved a five. That’s just me.

HeraTeleia
Top Shot
Quote by SydneySider
I'd like to see a worm hole, or portal, or whatever those things are that transport you through time and space, option added to the drop down when you hover over a friend's name. Once you click on it, you're transported to wherever that person is, anywhere in the world. I know it's a big ask, but I saw them do something similar on Star Trek once. Careful with the coding though. I hear it's similar to a black hole. Let's not find out what really happens with one of those.

Thanks Gav.


Gav, make sure that you give an option to disable this feature. My house is already pretty crowded.
Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!
RejectReality
Errant Smut Slinger
No scoring system is going to please everyone. Hell, no scoring system is going to please most people. I've seen it done umpteen ways, and there's always people arguing that it sucks.

A "Like or Nothing" system turns the rankings into even more of a pure popularity contest.

( Still sitting here hoping for a notes section so important story notes can be displayed at the beginning of the story without affecting the story preview displayed elsewhere )

Three Alarm <= Almost famous, give it a read and get it one step closer!
TraceEkies
Active Ink Slinger
Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion.

Quote by Possibly
...

TE, I disagree with you concerning the voting. The current system aligns with other voting systems, Amazon for example. You suggest a simple system of clicking ‘like’ for story approval. But, a ‘like’ doesn’t say anything about how well a reader liked a story. The numeric voting system tells how well readers ‘liked’ a story in a collective way.

...


The #8 story in my example, the one with 56 total votes and a score of 4.98, is Possibly's latest story. It not only has more votes than any other story released during the month of July, it also has more '5' votes than any other story released during the month, yet it is only ranked #8 because someone, likely without any malicious intent, voted a '4'. I believe it deserves to be #1.

Quote by Possibly
...

I do agree with you; four is a good score. However, I would walk away from a story or poem giving no vote before I kill a story’s ranking by awarding a score of 'four', especially when 48 people felt that the story deserved a five. That’s just me.




I agree wholeheartedly; I too believe that '4' is a good score. And like you, I skip voting if the vote I really want to make would 'kill' the story's ranking. Unfortunately, not everyone is so observant as to notice its current score or so polite as to avoid 'killing' a story's rank by casting a vote that is below the story's current vote average.

Quote by RejectReality
No scoring system is going to please everyone. Hell, no scoring system is going to please most people. I've seen it done umpteen ways, and there's always people arguing that it sucks.

...


So true. I didn't really expect everyone to agree with me, (although it would be nice to see a least a little agreement).

More than anything, I was hoping to inspire a few well thought out comments on the subject, which I seem to have done. In the end, if the ranking method were changed such that a story with 55 votes of '5' and a single vote of '4' did not get ranked below a story with only 10 votes, (albeit all '5'), I would feel that my posts have not gone for naught.
nicola
Matriarch
I'd rather we did away with the "Top Author" lists entirely, including from the front of the site.

Those lists could, *in theory*, be easily manipulated if you have enough unscrupulous friends. Or even in the case that Trace points out, can easily be altered by a few low votes. No mathematical modelling / programming is going to solve that.

The Most Popular / Most Viewed and Suggested give a better indication. The latter, especially.

We had a like / dislike system when we started the site. The overwhelming consensus when we put it to the vote, was that a numerical system would give a lot more flexibility. Members were also given the choice of range, and 1-5 was preferred.
ChrissieLecker
Story Verifier
Quote by nicola
I'd rather we did away with the "Top Author" lists entirely, including from the front of the site.

Those lists could, *in theory*, be easily manipulated if you have enough unscrupulous friends. Or even in the case that Trace points out, can easily be altered by a few low votes. No mathematical modelling / programming is going to solve that.

The Most Popular / Most Viewed and Suggested give a better indication. The latter, especially.

We had a like / dislike system when we started the site. The overwhelming consensus when we put it to the vote, was that a numerical system would give a lot more flexibility. Members were also given the choice of range, and 1-5 was preferred.


I believe Trace's example was not about Top Something boxes but about the "Most Popular" tab and clicking on "This month" - so, in fact, almost the exact opposite reasoning. Any method to push stories to the front is as flawed as the votes will always be - it's easy to see that people often vote not on the story's quality, but on how much it tickles their fancy - and the view count doesn't really tell if a story was read, just that the title caught some eyes. There will be no way to fix that. I believe one strong feature of lush are the multiple ways to find outstanding authors and stories. I don't think cutting away those will improve much. It'll just make manipulation even easier.
ChuckEPoo
Chuckanator
I have a glitch. I don't seem to be able to load the gifs and YouTube vids on the forum page I am able to on my profile page. Can that be corrected?
TraceEkies
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by ChrissieLecker
... it's easy to see that people often vote not on the story's quality, but on how much it tickles their fancy ...


or whether they like or dislike the author... or how that particular author has voted on their own story... or whether the author has offended them in a chat session... or whether the author has made a forum post they disagree with... or, or, etc.
nicola
Matriarch
Quote by TraceEkies


or whether they like or dislike the author... or how that particular author has voted on their own story... or whether the author has offended them in a chat session... or whether the author has made a forum post they disagree with... or, or, etc.


There will always be factors at play, outside of the quality of the story. No system can counteract those. It's like trying to tell people to turn off human nature.

I think if you check with your *cough* other favourite story sites, they do the same as us.

The scoring has been talked to death, it's not going to be changed now.
paul_moadib
Active Ink Slinger
Lush chews up a lot of bandwidth.

It would be good to have an optional setting which will filter large gifs etc from being downloaded/viewed when viewing any profile or forum.
{allba115-feed-5eed-facedeadbeef}
Liz
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by paul_moadib
Lush chews up a lot of bandwidth.

It would be good to have an optional setting which will filter large gifs etc from being downloaded/viewed when viewing any profile or forum.


Depending on what browser you are using, there are loads of extensions available which allow you to block images from loading. They also provide you with a small navigation bar icon so you can toggle the option on and off as you browse between sites.

I don't know if they allow you to set image size limits and/or specific file types, but maybe try one of these?

Magical_felix
Wild at Heart
Quote by TraceEkies


or whether they like or dislike the author... or how that particular author has voted on their own story... or whether the author has offended them in a chat session... or whether the author has made a forum post they disagree with... or, or, etc.


To be honest, the "problem" isn't the scoring system.

It's people who think all perfect 5's from their thirsty friends makes them a better writer. It's people who lie to themselves thinking they are a better writer when they ask people to give them a score. It's people who intentionally try to lower a popular or better author's score because they think their own now higher overall score makes them a better author. It's people who are so weak they will give you a 2 on a story out of hate or jealousy. It's people who recieve a 4 from someone and then go and give that person a 3 for daring to think their shit story should only get a generous 4. It's people who write a story because they want to recieve votes and lie to themselves that they got those votes because someone enjoyed their writing and not because they begged, sent nudes, mass emailed everyone, and generally nagged to get those votes.

I have never understood how anyone can get any satisfaction from that, but they do. No voting system can really get rid of that element on Lush. It's like a girl scout who had her dad, who is a boss, take all her cookies to his office and force his employees to buy them all versus the girl scout who went door to door dragging her cookies in a cart to try and sell them all. So the door to door girl scout didn't sell as many as the girl scout with the boss daddy... Does that really make the girl scout with the boss daddy a better girl scout? I don't think so.

There will always be cheap ass people. No voting system will ever change that.
VanGogh
Sarcastic Coffee Aficionado
Quote by Magical_felix
To be honest, the "problem" isn't the scoring system.

It's people who think all perfect 5's from their thirsty friends makes them a better writer. It's people who lie to themselves thinking they are a better writer when they ask people to give them a score. It's people who intentionally try to lower a popular or better author's score because they think their own now higher overall score makes them a better author. It's people who are so weak they will give you a 2 on a story out of hate or jealousy. It's people who recieve a 4 from someone and then go and give that person a 3 for daring to think their shit story should only get a generous 4. It's people who write a story because they want to recieve votes and lie to themselves that they got those votes because someone enjoyed their writing and not because they begged, sent nudes, mass emailed everyone, and generally nagged to get those votes.

I have never understood how anyone can get any satisfaction from that, but they do. No voting system can really get rid of that element on Lush. It's like a girl scout who had her dad, who is a boss, take all her cookies to his office and force his employees to buy them all versus the girl scout who went door to door dragging her cookies in a cart to try and sell them all. So the door to door girl scout didn't sell as many as the girl scout with the boss daddy... Does that really make the girl scout with the boss daddy a better girl scout? I don't think so.

There will always be cheap ass people. No voting system will ever change that.


This ... soooo true.

And we all have felt the pressure to give a 5 to a friend's writing, not because it is outstanding, even if it did receive a RR honour .... but because you don't want to be singled out as giving them a 4 that then lowers their over-all score and drops them from the Top Author List.

It's a tough fence to walk.
nicola
Matriarch
Quote by Magical_felix
It's like a girl scout who had her dad, who is a boss, take all her cookies to his office and force his employees to buy them all versus the girl scout who went door to door dragging her cookies in a cart to try and sell them all. So the door to door girl scout didn't sell as many as the girl scout with the boss daddy... Does that really make the girl scout with the boss daddy a better girl scout? I don't think so.


I STILL have some of those unsold cookies

Nice analogy and post.
Unknown User
I'd like to see stats on people's profiles showing the number of stories they've commented on.

Accessing Lush from mobile phones is not up to snuff.

A section to warn people about game players and con artists. I haven't had major issues personally, but then again I pretty much keep to myself and don't get emotionally involved with people, but I'm floored by the stories I've heard about people being hurt and conned here. Many sweet and sincere friends have left because of it.
Dirty_D
Head Nurse
Quote by Magical_felix


To be honest, the "problem" isn't the scoring system.

It's people who think all perfect 5's from their thirsty friends makes them a better writer. It's people who lie to themselves thinking they are a better writer when they ask people to give them a score. It's people who intentionally try to lower a popular or better author's score because they think their own now higher overall score makes them a better author. It's people who are so weak they will give you a 2 on a story out of hate or jealousy. It's people who recieve a 4 from someone and then go and give that person a 3 for daring to think their shit story should only get a generous 4. It's people who write a story because they want to recieve votes and lie to themselves that they got those votes because someone enjoyed their writing and not because they begged, sent nudes, mass emailed everyone, and generally nagged to get those votes.

I have never understood how anyone can get any satisfaction from that, but they do. No voting system can really get rid of that element on Lush. It's like a girl scout who had her dad, who is a boss, take all her cookies to his office and force his employees to buy them all versus the girl scout who went door to door dragging her cookies in a cart to try and sell them all. So the door to door girl scout didn't sell as many as the girl scout with the boss daddy... Does that really make the girl scout with the boss daddy a better girl scout? I don't think so.

There will always be cheap ass people. No voting system will ever change that.





(Will you vote on my story? )
Guest
Lurker
[Quote]It's people who write a story because they want to recieve votes and lie to themselves that they got those votes because someone enjoyed their writing and not because they begged, sent nudes, mass emailed everyone, and generally nagged to get those votes. 
I do none of this.

awesome


and great post Felix. I agree 100%
Guest
Lurker
Quote by Seras_Victoria

I do none of this.

awesome


and great post Felix. I agree 100%


Me either.

Begging isn't my style.

I'm lucky to have my friends read them as it is.

And others.
Guest
Lurker
Quote by Magical_felix


To be honest, the "problem" isn't the scoring system.

It's people who think all perfect 5's from their thirsty friends makes them a better writer. It's people who lie to themselves thinking they are a better writer when they ask people to give them a score. It's people who intentionally try to lower a popular or better author's score because they think their own now higher overall score makes them a better author. It's people who are so weak they will give you a 2 on a story out of hate or jealousy. It's people who recieve a 4 from someone and then go and give that person a 3 for daring to think their shit story should only get a generous 4. It's people who write a story because they want to recieve votes and lie to themselves that they got those votes because someone enjoyed their writing and not because they begged, sent nudes, mass emailed everyone, and generally nagged to get those votes.

I have never understood how anyone can get any satisfaction from that, but they do. No voting system can really get rid of that element on Lush. It's like a girl scout who had her dad, who is a boss, take all her cookies to his office and force his employees to buy them all versus the girl scout who went door to door dragging her cookies in a cart to try and sell them all. So the door to door girl scout didn't sell as many as the girl scout with the boss daddy... Does that really make the girl scout with the boss daddy a better girl scout? I don't think so.

There will always be cheap ass people. No voting system will ever change that.


While I agree that all this is true, it's not the whole truth (IMHO). If a writer is interested in reaching as many readers as possible, then there's a motivation other than mere spite or petty egotism at work. Scoring at the top of the voting system here offers the reward of having your name or story appear on the home page. The home page is key real estate (location, location, location), and most authors only get a fleeting moment there when their work is first published. If you don't want to disappear almost instantly into the crowd, then having that perfect 5 (or bombing someone else's perfect 5) gives you a shot at being in the spotlight on one of those lists, where you'll get more attention and more reads. Of course, it requires good writing to keep those readers coming back for more, but I rarely see anything published here that is outright awful so that's generally not an issue. The few times I landed on one of those lists, or in the featured member thing, I saw a significant spike in the amount of notices I got. While the scoring system might not be the "problem" per se, it does incorporate an inherent incentive to attempt to game the system for a very real advantage.

Another thing I was wondering about the other day was what the average score for a story is here at Lush? I don't think I've come across anything lower than a 4.8 or so. As a reader, I want to be able to use a story's score to help me decide if it's worth it for me to invest my very limited erotic reading time. With just about every score being at near perfect levels, they become useless to me as a reader. With this being the case, I'd much rather see some sort of a "Like" arrangement instead of a scoring system. If you like a story you can give it a positive vote, that's all there is to it. No one can drag someone else down by giving them a negative vote (which is what giving a 1 thru 4 score equates to in the current system here). I can then look at the ratio between the number of reads and the number of likes and make a judgement that is based on a potentially useful measure. It's probably not a perfect alternative, but I think it would be better for community amity and more useful to readers in general.

But, then again, what do I know?

Hugz,
Rachael