Literotica News
Update on Voting + Favorites Features
Manu
January 18, 2008
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Hi Everyone! I appreciate all of the suggestions that you have been sending in and posting, both here and on the Lit forum.

This will just be another quick update on the recent changes to the Literotica story page Voting Element and Add To Favorites buttons. So far, everything seems to be working fine. It’s still early, but voting seems to have increased slightly after the changes were launched on the site.

Since the launch, we have made the following additions changes, based on user feedback:

Voting Element:

1. The stars now have numbers on them, to link them more closely to the previous system where each vote was a number between one and five.

2. The text on a few of the votes has been changed. The current text for each vote is:

  • 1. I Hated It!
  • 2. I Didn’t Like It Much.
  • 3. Liked It – Keep On Writing.
  • 4. Really Liked It – Good Read!
  • 5. Loved It – One Of The Best!!

Add To Favorites Button:

1. With the launch of the easy to use buttons, we’ve seen an increase in the number of registered users adding items to their Favorites List. Because of this, and based on current and previous user feedback, we have increased the number of “Favorites” that each user can have from 10 to 25 – for both Stories and Authors.

Additionally:

1. There has been some concern that the new voting system may result in a slight drop in the overall vote scores because readers may only give a “5” to stories that they think are truly exceptional. I don’t know yet if the voting scores will go down at all based on the new system, but even if the middle did change slightly, it may not be a bad thing if the stories that score close to perfect are ones that readers felt were above and beyond the average.

2. We have had some questions asking about changing the voting system from a 1-5 system to a 1-10 system. That is something that we may consider for the future, but we don’t have immediate plans to do it.

3. Some members have been asking about the Public Comment Element (the system where you leave a public comment on a story) voting versus the new on-page voting element. We are already working on standardizing those two systems and, once the Public Comment Element is updated, readers will be able to leave a comment with or without voting.

I think that’s all I have for now. Just wanted to give everyone an update on what I’ve been working on and what’s concerns I’ve been hearing. Thanks for the ongoing feedback and another update should be coming soon! 🙂

Literotica News
Literotica Upgrades: Voting Element + Add To Favorites
Manu
January 15, 2008
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It’s time for another Literotica upgrade update!

Within the last 24 hours, we have rolled out two changes to the Literotica Story/Poem pages. Neither change is huge, but we hope that both of them will encourage Lit visitors to interact a little more with the stories and poems that they read.

The most important changes are:

1. We have changed the Lit voting element from a two click system to a one click system using more modern web technology. The old voting element, which has been used on the site since just about the beginning, required a reader to click on a radio button near the score that they want to give a submission, and then click on the “vote” form button. They would then be taken away from the submission to a confirmation page.

Using the new system, readers simply click on one to five animated stars and the vote is saved. They do not leave the story page, so they can easily click on “post comment”, “send feedback”, “add to favorites”, “author profile”, or other story or author related links. We are hoping that the ease of one click voting will encourage more voting. We have also increased the size of the voting element to bring more attention to it.

Several authors have kindly given their feedback on the new voting element on the Lit forum. One of the main concerns seems to be about making sure that existing users understand the new “star system” versus the old “number system”. We used the stars because they seem to be internet standard voting icons. More of the biggest sites that allow voting (You Tube, Yahoo, IMDB, etc.) seem to use stars when they ask people to rate their submissions, articles, movies, etc. Our thinking is that web users can easily understand these icons as voting icons because they see and use similar systems on many websites. However, we are definitely listening to feedback. If readers seem confused. we may add numbers to the stars to make it clear that one star equals one vote, five stars equal five stars, etc. We are watching the voting results closely right now to try to determine if there is in fact more, less, or the same amount of voting going on.

You can see an example of the new voting element on this story, or on any of the recently submitted Literotica stories. The new voting element should appear on all stories in the next few days.

2. We have added two buttons to the end of the Story/Poem pages on Literotica. One button says “Add Story To Favorites” and the other says “Add Author To Favorites”. If a logged in user clicks on one of the buttons, a box will appear allowing them to confirm their request, and the item will be added to their Favorites List. Just like that. They will not need to leave the page or do anything tricky. Just click, confirm, and keep on reading. If the user is not logged in, they can login directly inside of the new “Add To Favorites” buttons. If the user is not yet a registered member of Literotica, they must signup for the site before they can add anything to their Favorites List, of course.

So far, I don’t think that we have had any suggestions in regards to improving the Add To Favorites buttons. I think they are pretty simple to use and easy to understand. If you do have suggestions for improving them, please post them here. I was thinking maybe we should add a “Join Literotica Now” link on the element, for unregistered users who want to save the story they are reading to their Favorites.

If you have a moment, please test out both of these new features and let me know if you find any bugs or have any suggestions for improving them. You can also let me know if you just generally hate them or love them or anything in between. These are not huge changes, obviously, but small movement towards a more modern and interactive Literotica. Our goal with these changes, and many more to come in 2008, is to make sure that the great Literotica authors (who put so much work into writing their stories) get as much feedback and support from their readers as possible.

Thank you for reading this long update and please feel free to post feedback, suggestions, or anything else in the comments!

News & Media
The Rise of the MILF Fantasy
Manu
December 28, 2007
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The Village Voice has an interesting article from a few weeks ago called “The Rise of MILFs and Mommies in Sexual-Fantasy Material”. In the article, the author charts the rise of the MILF (Mother’s I’d Like to Fuck) phenomenon from it’s explosion in popular culture after the American Pie movies, right up until the present, where MILF porn has become a big industry:

On the Adult Video News bestselling DVD chart for October 2007, there are 13 MILF movies, including It’s a Mommy Thing; Wife, Mother, Whore; and I Scored a Soccer Mom 2. They make up less than 15 percent of the titles listed, but in such a crowded field, that is significant. In fact, AVN.com now devotes an entire monthly sales chart just to MILF titles.

But, the author goes beyond the MILF porn movies, MILF sex stories, and other obviously popular stuff and asks the question – “Does the rise of the MILF mean that people are ready to accept Mommy as an equal sexual fantasy to Daddy?”

In s&m, queer culture, and fantasy role-play, “Daddy” is one of the most popular archetypes around. Search queer or kinky personals for the word daddy, and you’ll have plenty of potential dates to choose from. There’s a level of comfort and familiarity with daddy play, which is not so much about eroticizing incest as it is creating a specific kind of dominant/submissive dynamic, where “masters” are drill sergeants and “daddies” are loving mentors. There are way more self-identified daddies—both male and female—than mommies in those communities. Why?

I’m not sure that I agree with all of the conclusion – or at least speculation – that the author presents, but it’s certainly interesting to ponder. When Literotica started, many years ago now, the MILF meme did not exist. There were already age-gap stories, and Aunt Peg, and teacher/student stories, etc. But when the word “MILF” hit, it set off a new wave of interest in women who were still super sexy, but no longer “Barely Legal”. On Literotica today, there are more than 1500 stories with the exact word “MILF” as a Story Tag, and far more than that which are related in some way to the MILF fantasy.

You can read the full article at the Village Voice Website. Enjoy!

Literotica News
Literotica Feedback Portal Public BETA
Manu
December 27, 2007

Hi Everyone –

The end of the year is getting really really close, but I wanted to get at least one more thing out the door in 2007. So, here goes…

The BETA version of the Literotica Feedback Portal is online now!

If you have a few spare moments, please click over and take a look. The entire feedback portal has been redesigned. We think the new design is superior to the old one, but I’d rather hear from readers than rely on my own opinions in this case.

One thing I’m interested in getting feedback on is the new background image (on the right side of the page). We have used the same background image on Literotica from 1998 to the present. Over the years, we’ve had many requests to tone down the “Literotica” part of the background so that it isn’t as obvious when people are reading over your shoulder. Well, the new version tones it down a bit and, I think, looks better all around. Again, though, I want to hear from Literotica readers to see what all of you think.

If you find any bugs or issues with the BETA page, please let me know about that, as always.

Thank you, Happy New Year, and more updates very soon!

Literotica News
Happy Merry Christmas 2007
Manu
December 25, 2007

Dear friends,

I hope that you all have a great Christmas. May you get whatever gifts you asked for from Santa! 🙂
This time of year always leads to reflection on the last 12 months. When I look back on recent history in regards to Literotica, there have been a lot of big changes, though many of them may not be obvious yet to all of you. We have been working very hard for a long time on modernizing Literotica. In 2008, you should see a lot more of the results of all of the stuff we worked on in 2007. The bottom line is that, as I look back, 2007 was a good year for me and for Lit and I hope the same is true for you.

Maybe I’ll post some more “looking back” or “looking forward” posts next week when I have to face that fact that the year really is over.

Take care everyone, and thank you for all of your friendship and feedback and funness in the last year! 🙂

Literotica News
Literotica Forum Upgrades, December 2007
Manu
December 7, 2007
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I already posted this on the forum, but I thought I’d mention it here as well. Tomorrow (Saturday night, December 8th), I’m going to work on upgrading the Literotica forum to the most recent version of vBulletin. Because the upgrades will involved some changes to the databases that Lit runs on, we will probably have to take parts of the site offline for a short time while upgrading. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and the disruption will be minimal. Hopefully. 🙂

The reasons for the upgrade are many, but one of the big reasons is that we want to get the database updated before we launch some of the new features we are working on. We figure it will be easier to do the upgrades and then add the features, than to add the features and then do the upgrades. We’ll see if that’s really true starting tomorrow.

Once the upgrade is done, I will post a thread on the forum, or latch onto an existing one, so that I can get reports about problems and issues created by the upgrade. I will also need to update all of the forum skins to the latest version, which may take several hours or longer. My main concern is making sure that the upgrade doesn’t inadvertently break anything on the main site. We think we have it all planned out, but we’ve also found that things don’t always go as planned when it comes to Lit. 🙂

If you do see anything strange on the site tomorrow, please feel free to post comments/reports here on the Literotica blog as well as on the forums. More updates on the upgrade soon!

Literotica News
“Add To Favorites” Literotica Feature Launch
Manu
November 19, 2007
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Today on Literotica, you should start seeing the appearance of the “Add To Favorites” feature. It isn’t actually a feature on its own, but a small improvement (we hope) of the already existing Literotica Favorites feature. It may take a few days for this upgrade to appear on all story and member pages.

The already existing Literotica Favorites feature allows registered users to add Stories, Poems, and Authors to their favorites list. This allows users to share their favorite parts of Literotica with others, and also allows users to keep track of their favorite items for later reference. We then use the data from everyone’s combined Favorites to create the Literotica Favorites Portal, which will soon be re-launched with a new and improved design.

The new part of the Favorites feature which is being launched today is a simple modification of the Story and Poem pages and the Member pages that allows you to simply click a link to add a user, story, or poem to your Favorites list. In the past, you would have to go into your member admin and manually add items to your Favorites list. Now, with the new feature, you can just click on a “Add To Favorites” link directly on the item which you are interested in.

Here are two examples: An updated story page and an updated author page.

On the updated Story page, you can see the Add To Favorites link in two places: at the top of the page to add the author to your favorites and at the bottom of the page to add the story to your favorites.

On the updated Member/Author page, the Add To Favorites link appears at the top right of each tab.

Once you click on the “Add To Favorites” link, a box pops up and you are able to add the item to your Favorites without leaving the page.

Please take a look at the new upgrade and let me know what you think.

One issue I was thinking about is whether we should put the Add to Favorites option for the author at the top of each story or just on the author page? If a reader is reading a story, how would they know if they wanted to add the author to their favorites at the top of a page (seemingly before reading the story)? On the other hand, if we add it to the bottom, where we already have the option to add the Story to Favorites, will that cause confusion? For now, we’ve included the option to add the Story to your Favorites at the bottom of the page and the Author to your Favorites at the top of the page, as well as adding the Add To Favorites to every Author/Member page.

Again, please take a look and let me know your thoughts on the upgrade. Thank you! 🙂

Literotica News
The New Literotica Search
Manu
November 19, 2007
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The first of the new features that I want to discuss with you and get feedback from you on (since relaunching the Literotica Blog) is the new Literotica Search.

The new Literotica Search was first launched a few months ago in BETA mode. Since then, thanks to a lot of feedback from users, we’ve released several upgrades and bug fixes. We still consider the search to be in BETA, but it seems to be pretty stable now and most of the initial issues have been resolved.

The goals of the new search included:

  • Full text search of the stories and poems
  • Fast search and less overloading during heavy usage
  • Create a scalable search that can grow with upcoming features
  • Make it easy to use and with better design than the old search

The first and second goals were solved by adding a dedicated server just for the search and using software that was specifically written for high volume full text searching. So far, we are happy with the speed of the search and the full text capabilities. There are a few small issues related to wildcards in searches and in calculating the exact number of results for a given query, but overall it seems to be working fine.

The third goal, creating a search that can grow with some of the new features we’ll eventually be adding is not really relevant right now. We’ll see how that works in the future. 🙂

The fourth goal is probably the one that we need the most feedback on. When we first rolled out the new search, the number of complaints that I got via email was pretty high. Part of that was that we annoyed just about everyone by adding a CAPTCHA to the search for non-logged in users. We also had a few technical issues with the search and even a couple of design issues with some of the less used browsers. It wasn’t a perfect launch, but we didn’t expect it to be. However, after a few days of updates and changes (and the removal of the CAPTCHA except for flood control), we got past most of the major problems.

What we were (and are) left with was a variety of differing user opinions. Some of you love the new design and some of you hate it. Some of you find it easier to use and some of you have said it’s confusing. It’s a big departure from the look of the old search, that’s for sure. During the design stage, Laurel and I wondered whether the tabs were the best way to navigate between different types of search (Stories/Members/etc.), and if the ajax “Advanced Search” was too tricky, and if the big “search” button was too big, and we had many other questions.

But, we can’t answer those questions ourselves. That’s why we went live with a BETA version of the search when we did. Basically, it works. Now we need to know – does it work for you? Not just work, but work in the way you want it to work? What would you do to improve it? What would you change? Do you love or hate the design? Does it make your eyes burn or bleed? How can the results formatting be improved? Are there any obvious options or features that you think are missing?

Now you know the story of the new Literotica Search. I want to read your opinions and suggestions (and even complaints) relating to this feature. Don’t be shy!

I guess that’s all I’ve got on the Search feature for now. There are a lot of other features coming soon, so get ready for lots of post and (hopefully) lots of comments from all of you.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon! 🙂

Literotica News
Comments Captcha Gone For Now
Manu
November 19, 2007
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Well, I’m still messing around with this blog to try to get it back up to speed. I turned off ReCaptcha and turned on Akismet anti-spam. It’s catching close to 1000 spam comments a day to start with. I’m not sure why so many spammers have decided to attack this blog. Maybe because it’s been around for so many years?

The potential problem with Akismet is that blogger report that it sometimes tags real comments as spam. If you leave a comment and see a message telling you that your message has been tagged as spam, please contact me and let me know so that I can remove your post from the spam filter. Because this site has adult content, and some of the links that you might post could be to adult content, there is a risk that the spam killer could think you are spamming. We had that problem sometimes with the Literotica newsletter – big ISPs would see it as spam because it had adult content, even though it was a double opt in.

Let me know if you have any problems with the commenting system or anything else on the site and thank you again for reading!

Literotica News
Welcome The The New (Again) Lit Blog
Manu
November 17, 2007
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Well, it’s been a couple of years since I last updated this blog. I’m not sure if anyone missed it but, hopefully it’s back in active mode. This time around things will be a little different. I’ll probably still be posting links to interesting articles when I see them, but what really motivated me to upgrade the blog and bring it back to life is the coming onslaught of upgrades and BETA features at Literotica.com.

Those of you that’ve been around Lit for a few years know that we have been working hard on about a million upgrades to the site. Some of those changes are finally starting to see the light of day. As the new features are put into BETA mode, I want to have a place to post about them and, very importantly, get feedback from all of you about what you think is going wrong or right.

For example, when we changed the front page of Literotica.com from an old HTML table layout to a modern CSS tableless design, there were (as expected) some problems with a few of the less-used browsers. Lit members were nice enough to email me with their problems and we were able to overcome most (hopefully all) of them. However, if there had been a central depository for complaints/reports, I think bug fixes could have happened quicker. Right now, the communication is only between myself and each user via email. With this blog, and the comments on each blog post, we can do better by including user-user communication in the equation. When more than one user is having the same problem, together we can try to figure out quickly what those users have in common (browser, OS, ISP, etc.) and quickly resolve the problem.

The overall idea behind bringing this Lit Blog back is to create a place where I can share information on the ongoing Literotica upgrades and you can share your opinions of the upgrades and let me know about any problems you encounter. That’s the idea, at least. We’ll see what happens!

Thanks for reading and, once again, Welcome Back!

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