Quote by Milik_the_Red

It’s all a distraction against the Epstein files at this point

Trump knows he screwed on that issue and so does the insiders of his party. That’s why they’re dragging their feet and trying to keep attention away with anything they can concoct

Don’t be surprised if he starts war in Venezuela just to get people’s minds off that

the issue that he is dealing with, is that his most fervent supporters are the ones wanting the files released, thinking they can jail biden and the clintons and even obama if they are. that is what will, hopefully, screw him eventually.

Quote by M_K_Babalon

That said; I don't believe in censorship. I'm what they call in fanfiction circles, a proshipper. Don't like, don't read. What one doesn't like should be their own personal problem, not everybody's problem.

Just a little note. All the stories here are moderated by a team of volunteers. That means we sometimes have to read things we don't like. There are certain subjects that some of the mods will excuse themself from, but there are some that ALL my mods don't want to read. So, really, even if those were sent in, they'd simply languish in limbo for eternity.

Also, certain subjects throw up certain flags in a search engine. I am ok with people doing a search for (for example) bdsm stories, and therefore we get a lot of people interested in bdsm here. certain crowds I would prefer not to attract. Simple as that.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Morning Rumpies

It’s Friday! an exciting day for those of us still unfortunate enough to work.

I have a question. If no one answers, I’ll be forced to ask Butters.

Are you disappointed as a reader if a story doesn’t have a happy ending?

honestly? while i can appreciate a sad ending, tbh, if i get invested in the story and the characters, i want it to end happily for them. doesn't have to be cookie cutter happily ever after for them, but i want them to be in a good place when the story ends, or at least having the possibility of being in a good place.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

My sister saw her Eras Tour in Chicago, dragged hubby there, and both said it was the most incredible thing they’d ever seen.

Just seen the movie, but yeah, I mean it's over the top amazing

Quote by Obsolete_Fox

I was able to create a new story cover with no issues.

Have a few other verifications of this. Yay.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Jealousy always rears its ugly head. I’ve seen a few wives of players fuss she steals focus away from their husbands. I guess they don’t see all the additional eyes on their husbands because she comes to the games. I don’t listen to her music much, but admire her work ethic and generosity.

We started watching chiefs games because of her and swifties are responsible for driving viewing numbers up like crazy

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Aww, I’ll take a couple of Bear cookies, Fuzzy Lion, and join you in my corner to talk Chiefs! Are you watching “The Kingdom” doc series on ESPN? I’m on the 3rd one.

I was happy they said positive things about the impact Taylor Swift has had on the NFL. She brings money and fans to everything she associates herself with.

Weird that she is such a positive force for so many and gets hated on for it.

Quote by keylime314159

I have been successful in going between editing the cover page and editing the story multiple times. It often takes multiple times, meaning 10 to 15 times, but so far it always happens. I hope I haven't jinxed it.

point is, it should only take once. more than once becomes frustrating.

Quote by deviantsusie

If you really want to use the cover designer, make the cover then take a screen grab before saving it and upload the screengrab.. it works for me.. rather than waiting and holding off on publishing the story for some unspecified time when the developers will get around to fixing it

I have people who have pre-made covers that SHOULD work by simply pasting them into the original submission. And it works when I do it, but not when they do the same exact thing, so I dont know it the fix/work around is universal or not. Some people seem effected while others dont. 🙄

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I am so stealing that emoji

Quote by simplyjohn

I dealt with your support ticket. There is no value raising another one. As I said to you, in my response, the development team are aware of the problem and they will, at some point, investigate it and rectify the problem.

At some point? Yes, I am going to be a pain in the ass one this one, since someone has to. When people submit stories there is actually a prompt that directs them to add a cover. Last time I checked, we are, first and foremost "LushStories". The main emphasis should be on stories. Not chat. Not vid. Not the forum.

The reason most people go gold or platinum, I assume, is the perk of getting fast tracked on their story submissions, something we are falling behind on, in part because of having to deal with issues such as this. Is anyone else aware that we have to verify a story a second time if a cover is added at a later date? Yep.

That's what is going to happen at some point. The longer this goes on, the more work. And look, I know you are just the middle man here, SJ, so sorry about that, but I am simply relaying the amount of frustration bring currently shared with me by some of our writers. Why can't this be pushed forward in priority?

OK, said my peice. Balls is in the dev teams court. Rachel out.

Quote by wxt55uk

Thank you for updating us, Sprite. 😘 It is appreciated, and I honestly hope it all settles down soon. 😊

Not counting on it, honestly. the good thing is that the site has become damn popular. the bad thing is that it puts a lot of stress on those running it to make sure the quality remains. that's one thing I refuse to skimp on. the quality. we have good reason to be proud of what ends up on the front page. i like to think that we attract a lot of the better writers here because of it and it shows. The focus, as far as i am concerned, will always be the stories and taking care of our writers. even the ones who grumble and bitch about us. lol

Quote by KimmiBeGood

A needle in my left forearm throbbed the whole time. My acupuncturist said it was clearing a stress block. Now I’m yawning like crazy.

As to Milik and David’s points, my 2 cents:

I’d definitely think personality would be as important for a mod. Too many chiefs could be a problem. And I’m a people watcher. I’ve seen since I started here the competitive natures of writers. Which can be good and bad. Comparison is often a thief of joy. The happiest writers do their thing because they love creating and interacting with readers and don’t look for accolades in the form of comp wins, stats, or RRs to validate they should write. Sure, those things are nice, but you shouldn’t NEED it so badly that you become bitter towards the site or others. I’ve been called a friend collector behind my back when I maybe sent 10 friend request, I just don’t turn down any. Had RRs questioned. At times it’s sent me into hiding, but not as much now.

I’ve heard comp grumbles since my first one. Everyone wants to win. Authors want to call the process unfair if they don’t. Grumbles of mods getting preferential from judges have always been here. I have NEVER thought comps are unfair. And I’ve maybe Top Ten’d half, probably less. I don’t feel cheated. I don’t even think my story wasn’t good if I don’t Top Ten. I think other authors hit the theme harder, were hotter, or just appealed to the judges’ tastes more. I hate it Sprite said she wasn’t going to enter a comp again because of grumblings. If I was one of those grumblers, I’d be ashamed of myself. I wouldn’t feel good about being in the Top Ten if the best writers sat out.

And I think the best writers want critiques. I know Ensorceled (Verbal) shares his writing in critique groups. He talks about it on SS. No doubt that helps him be better. And although WannabeWordsmith has podiumed many, he has no ego. You’d think a man who has won so much would think everything he writes is perfect, but he doesn’t and welcomes critique if you work with him. I was pleasantly surprised when I co-wrote with him how open he is to change. No doubt that’s a reason he’s so good.

Bear—a best-selling non-fiction writer—is the same way. He accepts criticisms.

Yesterday, I had a lady PM me about my comp piece. She was hesitant to tell me, but told me of something I could have done differently to improve my story, something that disappointed her a bit. I was so thankful to her and would have changed it if not a comp entry. I totally agreed with her assessment.

So, as writers, we have some positive and negative tendencies. I remember being butt-hurt my first SS and Lush comp, but I need to feel joy writing, so I changed my outlook.

Anyway, I am thankful to the mods and all they deal with. I couldn’t do it. And I’m more a loner. I’ve always worked alone as a programmer, managed myself. My team is VPs and users, but I’m the sole programmer on my projects. And there’s still been drama with others at times with what projects I get. Always gonna be drama within any group I think unless those who hear it try to nip it in the bud instead of listening and passing the negativity along.

Anyways, I gotta get back to work.

Love you all!

EPs your post. lol

Quote by wxt55uk

Another here who appreciates what the moderators, like yourself, do here. 😊

However, sitting on the other side of the curtain, I have to also say, we are told very little as to what is going on backstage.

I will be honest. Although I love them, I was surprised that a competition was announced at this time, as I know it will only add to that queue. I was also disappointed with the reply I got from the admins (shareholders?) when I suggested there should be a recruitment drive to slowly add more moderators. With 6,000 gold/platinum members all interested in writing/reading erotica, there must be at least half a dozen out there who are capable of helping with the sterling work.

the queue has been like this since the beginning of the year. if we wait until it gets manageable again,we probably never have another competition, and that would not be fair to the writers her. people love the challenge and it's a huge perk. it's fun and it pushed people to step up their game and maybe write outside of their normal box. as for a drive, we are constantly reaching out to people to join the team. not everyone is keen on doing so, and we are, admittedly picky on who we bring in. we're added 2 i think in the last 2 months and are waiting on a couple more replies. not everyone wants to or has time to vet stories, which is understandable.

Quote by apptobebad

🤣🤣🤣

Some people have no shame

Quote by Milik_the_Red

I understand completely. If so, I can wait. I get it.

Edit. I'll just hold off a bit to submit. 👍

Thanks, much appreciated

Quote by Milik_the_Red

I finished my Comp entry. incredibly I came in it under 5000 words.

Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for a Wild at Heart to be processed and so it has to wait in the edit screen until that story is posted

I’m gonna end up upsetting the mods by giving them so many stories at one time

Let me say sorry to them upfront 🤷‍♂️

Don't be surprised if it gets put on hold for a week. that's pretty much how we're going to handle assembly-lined stories in the future. Lately, our premium members have been doing power dumps and it's not sustainable for us to put them at the top of the queue anymore every time they do.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Drink please! Something fruity with cute lil umbrella so I can pretend I’m lying on a beach somewhere.

I’ll be in my corner scribbling. 2K into my comp entry. Halfway there, I figure. I read Butters what I have so far, and she showed me her tail. 🙄

hires a dump truck, fills it with sand, backs it up to the bar, dumps it out on the floor. sticks a beach umbrella in it, puts down a beach lounger, plays ocean waves over the PA system.

Quote by CuriousAnnie

The competition's theme song, perhaps.

People play that at weddings. Obviously they have no idea what it is actually about lol

7,500 words about correcting bad grammar? Is that even enough?

Quote by techgoddess

A mutual friend of ours said that Mods' Avatars should throb. LOL.

like my clit? i'm all for it. 😜

Quote by techgoddess

My platinum badge is gone. I just noticed this today. Not sure why it would disappear. 🙁

at least you had one. i never did.

Quote by fuzzy1954

To finish on a more mellow note

Fire and Rain

peaceful this lion is

as i gear up for our Kansas City Chiefs start preseason against the Arizona Cardinals tonight at 7 pm CST

it Tay Tay gonna be there? woo! shake it off, baby!

Unexpected time with someone wonderful

I would like to be spanked. Please.

Fantastic Four which was much better than i expected. i actually liked it quite a bit.

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

Quote by wxt55uk

On the wedding, I agree, as I thought it would be more expensive! However, it was around half price, as she got a deal. Don't ask me how, but she is a company buyer. She has managed to book a whole hotel that is out in the countryside and wouldn't have anything going on that night. The wedding and reception are all being held at the same place. We even got a later bar opening time as it New Year! 😳😊

On your Paris story, both parts were hot, but I see that you only had around 60% of the views for the second part over the first. Give it time; it may catch up to part one. There are a lot of variables in play when one story gets more attention than another. I think we both know that.

I'm not going to list them, but one often overlooked factor (the admins might not agree) is how long your story was on the front page. If it stalls there between moderator shifts, you will pick up many extra views and some likes/comments. Can you recall whether there was a significant time difference between the two?

what is a moderator shift? no. seriously.