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sprite
15 hours ago
Moderator
Fluid Female
United States
Forum
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by VirgoGo
You didn't embarass someone, you casually linked/outed Mike and his account. He has his reasons for wanting to make sure that Lush's content management system is working properly, and not like its usual, glitchy self. This indifference to privacy should trouble us all. Moreover, it appears that Mike has since blown up his validation account. I'm on the verge of doing so myself.
I'm apalled by this reintroduced category, and surprised that more people don't recognize the risks it presents. It's embarassing to be caught on a smut site, it's cause for dismissal, at many employers, to be found on THIS kind of smut site. Just flipping a virtual switch and ignoring such foul content does not mean a Lush member is not tainted by it. The reputational cost is potentially devastating (Google "New York cop cannibal" and ponder the custody fight of someone found writing/reading i-porn on Lush, and the concomitant publicity fallout to this site). I can write the article if someone is caught here, so I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to me. The risk isn't tomorrow, the risk is a year or two from now, when the membership has slipped into complacency, when, say, an Ashley Madison like hack occurs. The other risk is an erosion of standards/principles. Whether at a corporate level (the reintroduction of the category) or at the personal level ("I'll never look at the stuff, oh wait, so and so, whose work I really like, wrote a personal piece...I'll read it just this once...")
So...don't diss Mike. I'm looking at you, too, Seeker. He's exercising appropriate caution. I'll be gone shortly, too. Just tidying up some loose ends, first, and playing the role of Cassandra.
wait, i "outed" him to his friends whom he, presumably wanted to stay in contact with? okay, then. and if being on a smut site is such an issue, especially "this" kind of smut site, what are you doing here in the first place? i'm sorry we tainted you. and, for the record, i never once dissed Mike. honestly, i'm sorry to see him go, and i respect his reasons. and don't worry i promise not to "out" you when i do.
as for an erosion of standards and principles, we published i-porn up until 3 years ago before changing our policy. there are people in this thread who have written i-porn stories. we tried going without and, frankly, it is not working out. it's one thing to sit on the sidelines and make judgements about policy changes it's another to be the one forced into making hard choices that you'd rather not, for the sake of the site. if anyone thinks Nicola, i, or anyone else on the modding staff enjoyed this particular change, they're sadly mistaken.
now, if you'll excuse me, i'm going to take a break from this particular thread and probably the entire public section of the site, as i had intended to do before i got pulled back in to work through this and the other category changes.
ciao.
ps - sorry for mucking up the place with this topic, guys. i had hoped that here, at least, i could be off the clock. guess it was a pipe dream. see ya.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Simplicity
I find it very disappointing that people as in you seeker4 and sprite( and sprite being in the position you are in on Lush, I’m surprised that you felt you needed to embarrass him the way you did) would jump so quickly to talk about someone that has been our friend and has done very well for himself and as done a lot for Lush. There is a lot of emotions in this category that has been brought back to Lush. A lot of people as in myself are having a hard time with it and have very mixed emotions on wheather or not to stay. Mike felt he had to delete, and I stand beside his decision. I would expect better then trash talk about him. Your only seeing the beginning of what this category is gonna do to some of our people.
i'm sorry? how did i embarrass anyone? i never trash talked him, i simply pointed out that it was still possible to contact him in case anyone wished to keep in touch, being aware of how well liked he is here. if he'd made an effort to hide his new account, i wouldn't have said a word, but OR2017 along with his avatar, seemed pretty obvious to me. I think you're reading in a lot of things into my two word post that simply aren't there.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by LYFBUZ
Coffee for me please Mr Rumple and whatever the lovely Sprite would like.
a rim job. really, there's needs to be a drink called a rim job. something along the lines of a margarita with the salt around the rim and all that. that's what i meant. honest.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by seeker4
Question: Since Category Blocking is being suggested as a solution for those who don't want to see the category in question, does that stop stories from that category from appearing on the front page and other such places for you or just hides it from the categories list? Because if just hides the category, not the stories, it's kind of pointless to suggest it as a solution. To solve the problem, it needs to completely hide all evidence of "the category". I have blocked the category already just to see what happens.
Personally, I'm cool with it existing in this form as long as it is easily avoidable. My first published story was actually in that category (but was subsequently rewritten to remove the relationship that put it in that category).
don't know. i'll find out.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Milik_the_Red
Well, I really hate to see Mike go. Deleting is such a finality and he had been so very successful here. I know we are all gonna miss him.
or not...
https://www.lushstories.com/or2017
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Milik_the_Red
I have a couple of suggestions.
The first, put in the vault. A genre that rabidly popular and written with Lush’s usual quality would surly help sell memberships. (Other unsavory genres could be placed there too, but enough of that)
Second. PLEASE don’t allow stories to take up space but the top ten stories of the last month. I don’t think many of us want to see How I Screwed My Daddy as the top five stories all the time.
Right. Peace out.
not terrible ideas, really. i'll point Nicola to this post, since she gets to make the calls, thanks, M.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Magical_felix
How are they supposed to do that? Create a poll in the forum that will get 20 votes by the same dopes that post in the forum everyday? Send a Massive PM to the whole membership and then read every reply? lol
can i have some volunteers for that job? while you're at it, you can read all the hate mail that's piled up in my inbox over the years.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Verbal
That line kinda pissed me off too, but discussion of the subject is being entertained, right here (as well in BBs and emails and blog posts all day). I am made uncomfortable by the change, too. And I am not particularly moved by the "we've gotta make money" argument. But this is a community, and one that caters to sexual fantasies, sometimes disturbing ones, and there was an equal outcry against censorship by this same community when the category was first removed.
It was a noble attempt, it didn't work out.
not really about making money, as much as paying for the things that keep the site running. Nikki stopped thinking of Lush as a way to early retirment ages ago - now it's more of a labor of love.
and yeah, we gave it a go, but god, it hurt like a somuvabitch.
ps - come on, you know us, no matter what Nikki says, someone's gonna stick their neck out and field concerns.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Milik_the_Red
It still all comes down to choice, and remember, I am actually in support of the change. I understand your points of supporting woman’s issues. I was here, working behind the scenes with you for years in the fight. Also, I was the one who first purposed the LGBTQ forum, something I was grilled unmercifully for right here on Lush. I consider this to be my greatest contribution to the site. So yes, I totally understand that Lush is more than a simple erotic literature site.
As a mod, I put aside my inherent libertarian bent. I was part of a group that had to look out for the site and put it above my own views and I did. Okay, now I’m just a member and I won’t sell my views short anymore. So I say now, even though I agree in adding the new genre, that trying to say we are protecting women’s issue while allowing is farcical. Most victims of are female after all, we are fooling ourselves if we try to find any moral high ground. We are dancing with the devil here and choosing only one song to dance to is no less a sin.
oh, no, i totally got that, Mr Red. i'm simply doing my best to illuminate, to the best of my abilities, my thoughts on the subject. some of the story mods are less than thrilled, as well, and as always, the option for them to simply not mod stories is there.
and yes, lgbtq friendly, as well, thanks to you, which is something else we can be proud of.
as i said, it's an imperfect world and i'm not attempting to position myself on high moral ground - i'm simply pointing out the fact that if lush weren't here, and people wanted to publish stories, the other choices are far worse, imo. honestly, i'd be fine with never needing to resurrect the category, but the key word there is "need". sometime you gotta make the tough, and unpopular, choices. Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Simplicity
Seems I asked this to be done some time ago. So does this mean ALL categories that are blocked we will not get notified or just ?
if you have a category blocked, you should not be getting a notification when a story is published in that category - IF you are/do, please contact us and we'll do our best to fix the issue.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Varrick
You’re obviously ignoring the part where I said they may never be here again. In the meantime, you’ve managed to piss off some of your current members to the point that they are leaving. I’m not sure how that fosters a sense of community or drives traffic to the site.
Not sure how we’ve been treated with disdain? I guess I’ll just repeat the part where I said that current members weren’t consulted to see if those of us already here wanted the reintroduction of such a divisive category. It just happened. And here are Nicola’s words from the announcement thread:
“No discussions about this decision will be entertained. Please do not create forum posts or contact any moderators or I about it.”
Until this thread blew up, that post made it very clear to us plebs that there was no want to answer any questions on the subject.
I think disdain sums all that up rather well.
you're right, they may not, but we may end up getting a new influx of people. or they could. i really don't know. it's a grand experiment. and yeah, we have managed to piss off people who may, or may not, leave. it happens. people stay and go all the time for various reasons. we were kind of hoping that people would understand the reasoning behind this decision after tempers cool down in like a year or two - lol.
nope, current members were not consulted. it's Nicola's site. in this case, she made an executive decision. often, there will be a discussion. she was very aware of the flak we were going to take on this one, but the decision was made - discussion on the matter would have been insincere at best nor would it have changed a thing.
and i like to think that anyone who knows me just a little would be aware that i would be happy to answer questions and/or concerns, as best i could, either in private or here, as i am attempting to do now.
Her Royal Spriteness
Quote by Milik_the_Red
Nor am I. I do find the idea of it somehow being more morally acceptable to dip your toe in one cesspool rather than another to be laughably self-deluding. But that is the conundrum of any aspect of censorship, isn’t it?
we would all love to live in a black and white world where there was right and wrong and no degrees in between. i like to think that we have worked hard to create a site that is more than just erotica. it's become a community with very real friendships, and even relationships, forged. we've managed to pair dirty stories with threads that support women's issues and mental health and that actually takes a stance on things like non-consent and harassment. no, we don't have a perfect record, but we do try, and i like to think that makes us stand out a little. personally, i'd rather dip my toe in the cesspool a bit rather than start posting at a site that doesn't give a shit - and if lush stops existing, that, or not publishing stories at all, would be my only choice.
it is becoming uncomfortably close to sink or swim, and i prefer to swim, even if the water is a bit smellier than i'd prefer. trust me, i'm not deluding myself, i'm simply making the best choice i can from the options provided, as should everyone else. if people have an issue with it, then they need to decide if the negatives outweigh the positives and, if they do, they need to decide where to go from there. no one's making anyone stay here if they feel it no longer is comfortable. that said, this is exactly why people have the option of blocking story categories.