Observation on feedback

Both sides have a point here, but IMHO, spanking obsessions begin when we are very young, so our feeling go back to that time. Thus, I will always find the idea of being a spanked child erotic, and so my stories often have spanked children in them, but I also find other things erotic to read about that I would not want to be involved it.

I wouldn't want to hurt a kid, but I wouldn't want to hurt an adult either; anyone I spanked would have to desire it, and, as with sex, kids cannot intelligently consent, so they are out of it as far as real life is concerned. But in fiction? Even kids enjoy horrific fairy tales, but should the writers of those tales feel guilty for the awful things that happen in them?

Js makes a good point there about when the obsession begins for MOST of us, another thing about children being spanked is that it makes more sense for a child to be spanked for misbehaviour than it does for an adult. Many of the child spanking stories are memories or things that some of us wish were memories.

It's the nature of publishing on the Internet: little feedback and even less constructive criticisim. For those dear folks who do attempt actual critiquing, their reward is often a nasty response. Actual constructive criticism takes time and insight, while most readers of 'net published work don't have the time nor inclination to dedicate what's required to provide it.

Though I would certainly enjoy in-depth obversations on my work, I'll take the occasional "fun story" and be happy with it. At least that way I know folks are reading and enjoying.

-LK

I tend to agree with that, LK.

I think part of the problem is that in this medium it can be difficult to offer a constructive comment without sounding downright rude.

I taught creative writing for many years, and critiquing someone's work face to face is so much easier than in writing. Tone of voice, facial expression, body language can do much to soften what otherwise might seem a very negative comment.

For example, if I were to write in response to a story: 'This was an interesting and original plot, but you might consider using a thesaurus in order to vary your vocabulary', an author might well construe it as, 'Boring and repetetive.'

No easy answer, really.

As a non writer let me try to give you a different perspective. I enjoy reading the stories but I do not read them for any other purpose than enjoyment. Let's be realistic, most of us who have an interest in the spanking genre do so privately. Most of us have very vanilla spouses who are not into this at all. As such other than to make a personal comment whether I was "turned on" by the story any other comment I doubt would be useful for the writer.

My guess is that if I read a story with a critical eye I certainly could do so but I strongly doubt that I would be aroused in any way shape or form doing so.

For those of you who do write, please continue to do so as you do provide much enjoyment to those of us who like reading these type of stories. Just don't be surprised by the lack of critical commentary on your work.

Also true. And this applies to all sorts of literature in any genre. Unfortunately, I've been reading with a 'critical eye' for so long that I find it difficult to simply enjoy 'a good read' without noticing poor sentence construction, incorrect punctuation etc. I don't do it on purpose; it's just a long ingrained habit. *sighs*

Linda

This is an excellent resource, well managed and full of hidden treasures. Well done Februs, flopsybunny and everybody else involved. I'm finding new voices every time I login, and rediscovering 'old friends'.

I'm split over the issue of feedback. Like all good libraries, Kilahara is a quiet place. Hush prevails, with readers buried in books in remote corners (the 'activity' button is a nice feature).

I suspect many come here to get away from it all, to find an alternative world rather than to engage with the real one, to lose themselves in the privacy of a fantasy rather than to offer constructive criticism. Many others may be 'in the zone' as they read, with one hand taking care of business! We've all been there, and one cannot expect much interaction from members in that state )

On the other hand, it is also a place of refuge for (often lonely) writers of spanking fiction, a place where they can see their work in relation to similar material, where they can monitor its progress in the world, meet other writers and perhaps get some tips on how to improve their stories, expand their range or branch out in other directions. Without authors, there would be no spanking fiction. I'm all in favour of encouraging, supporting and inspiring them.

I think it was jsanon who hinted at a rating system to help identify the best or most popular material on the site. This is a good idea. At the moment it's a bit hit-and miss as to whether you open a good story, even with the helpful descriptor symbols. Comments help, but many people are too lazy, self-conscious or busy to write them. I find the star rating system on youtube and spankingtube useful in locating the best videos. In time, maybe something like that could be introduced here, where readers can give a story a score.

Of course a rating system would introduce hierarchy, which might change the tone of the site. It is really a decision for the owners. As it stands, it's very 'democratic'. Writers and their work are listed alphabetically. New stuff is privileged for a few days in the 'latest' section before taking its chances among the thousands of other stories. And therein lies the problem. The reader faced with so many texts doesn't have much to go on when choosing. It's a bit like a lucky dip, which can lead to frustration. A ratings system could help. Yes it's true that scoring is open to manipulation, with writers voting for their own work and that of their friends. But things level out in the end - inevitably if there's enough traffic. Cream tends to rise to the top.

The danger is that some authors might take offence that their work isn't rated highly enough and withdraw it from the site. More open scribes might see what's popular and write for the 'market'. There are many implications of having a ratings system. It's a difficult call and I'm glad I'm not making it. But on the whole I tend to favour it. The most successful internet sites focus on giving users what they want. Readers would benefit from a search option sorting categories in terms of 'highest rated', 'most read', etc.

With regard to direct feedback: I left a comment on a story recently and bristled ever so slightly when a reply popped up saying my message would appear after it had been vetted and approved by a moderator. Yes, I understand the reasons, I really do. But 'supervision' may deter spontaneous and regular feeback.

I often post comments on the websites of national newspapers. Many appear instantly without mediation. Some have a 'report abuse' button, which I assume allows readers to alert staff when something nasty or libelous is posted. You often see 'comment removed by moderator' in The Guardian, for instance. You might try something similar, or have unmediated feedback for a trial period. It might generate more comments. If flaming and insults ensue - back to supervision.

Thanks for your positive comments, Tomslipper. A lot of unpaid work goes on behind the scenes, so it's good to know the library is used and appreciated.

You raise some valid points re the pros and cons of a rating system. It is something we thought about some time ago, but decided against it for the reasons you outlined. It would be great as an author to have a high rating, but how would one feel if they were consistently rated low? (or even worse, zero!) They may decide to ask for their works to be removed, which would be a shame on two counts - firstly that they have produced material which would appeal to some people who haven't yet had the opportunity to read it; and secondly, the behind the scenes activity to get material loaded into the library is very time consuming. If you click the 'About' button, and then click 'Procedures' you will see what I'm referring to.

I fully appreciate your comment re having your feedback comments vetted by a moderator. But as there is not always a library admin on the site 24/7, the comments system is open to abuse. In the past we had someone post copious amounts of very negative and insulting comments, which is why we opt for moderating them.


Yes, that's a valid point. We observe how people use the site, and surprisingly few people use the search facility; some go straight to their favourite author's author page, or select titles alphabetically from between the book ends, but the majority zoom in on the last read or most recently added titles. Incidentally, for those people unsure of what to look at, there is a 'Lucky Dip' button to click, which offers a random selection.

We have discussed the possibility of assisting site users in navigating their way through the various story types, and Februs, our technical wizard, is considering the viability of creating a wizard to do exactly that ...

flopsy

Tomslipper, thanks for an excellent and well thought out post, I thought I'd chip in a few additional comments to those made by flopsy.

Firstly, on the subject of comment validation. Originally, the library site was part of another 'closed' site in which the vast majority of users were well known to us personally. It's still a part of that site and users who access it via that site have their comments automatically accepted. Obviously, with this standalone library site version we don't know the vast majority of members and the criteria for membership are merely a working email address and disclosure of one's country. Although I'm sure it's not been apparent we have had some occasions where the comment facility has been abused and we do know of people who are antagonistic towards us, we've already had a couple of DDOS (distributed denial of service) attacks which were fended off by our host provider. So without a comment validation facility we run the risk of some such person causing a great deal of unpleasantness on the site.

The national newspapers all have a substantial number of full time staff who monitor what gets posted on their sites and also many of them do still require some form of validation. At the moment, the 4 of us who run the site tend to be here most of the day (night in my case as I'm nocturnal) but at some point the time will come when we won't be able to give up so much free time so abandoning comment validation totally isn't really an option. Having said that, there may be a compromise in that we could provide a facility for "approved" users whose comments can clearly be trusted and once on the list their comments would not require validation.

As to providing a rating system for stories it is something we've discussed in the past and for now at least, I'm yet to be convinced and would much rather try and find alternative means for users to find suitable reading matter. The idea in regards to ratings that "cream tends to rise to the top" relies on the supposition that the people doing the rating are accurate judges and their criteria for judging share a common framework and my own experience suggests this is not the case. The negative side of ratings we're all well aware of and given one of our objectives is to encourage writers of spanking fiction I can see it having quite the opposite effect, especially on new authors whose submissions get no ratings or very low ratings. I also checked a couple of other sites that offered ratings of various things and could make no sense of the ratings that had been awarded (at least not from my own subjective viewpoint). So, back on the compromise front, I could maybe provide a "most read" table, possibly in combination with some other parameter such as spanking orientation? I'd also be open to other suggestions which might serve the same ends.

What about the idea of asking readers at random to recommend their favourite stories? It could just be a list of favourite stories or a short review of a few stories they enjoyed reading on the site. It might be less controversial than a ratings system.