I appreciate your honesty.

When I posted in this thread voicing my concerns, I was worried that behavior would set a precedent to other authors to do the same. I personally do not enjoy voicing out on the forums of any issues. I enjoy this site and its' story section, and want to see it improve for all users and creators, no matter the experience level.

I understand the frustrations of having hours of writing be unseen. As it happens to plenty of stories in this site, myself included. The competition to keep updating your work to remain visible is one of the largest issues I have on the stories section. I wish there was some sorta overhaul where stories front page can be sorted out from 'New', 'Just updated', 'Popular', 'Premium, etc, without using some silly search mechanic. (Not many users utilize properly) There are thousands of stories that are in a purgatory state because they have too little views to be easily found/searched.

Rather than feeling guilty/embarrassed/scared, strive to improve your writing and storytelling skills. Prove the dissenters wrong, and create something to be proud of. No matter what skill level, there's always room for improvement. People appreciate a well crafted story, leading to natural readership. Perhaps try other avenues like DeviantArt as well, as I find some success there too.

This whole thread was a learning experience for everyone, and I hope this will inspire users to create better stories.

Glad to help

I comment on this sorta stuff because I care about this site. If you've barely posted your recent story, you can just delete it and repost it with the additional chapters. Some users have already done that anyways. But, you do you. As for me, I'm waiting for my story to cook a little more before presenting it here.

I just wish they'd redesign the stories section... it's interface is so antiquated and makes finding diamonds in the rough impossible.

Some users have been putting requirements, "5 likes = 1 new chapter"

Thus, people will arbitrarily follow that rule to keep the story going, liking it to see where it goes. However eventually due to the story's poor quality or the writer giving up, the story will never finish as it won't meet the requirement established. (Or the author gives up and posts a new story with the same requirements)

It's unnaturally adding likes thus 'gaming' them.

I agree wholeheartedly.

I too, enjoy writing WG stories with a narrative in mind. I take pleasure in setting the story up so the character(s) weight gain can be believable, rather than "I wanna/dreamed be fat now" and then proceed to gain weight quickly.

Unfortunately, the latter is what the readers here at FF want more. Not to rag on that concept, as it gets straight to the point. (And is what people want)

If a user posts a story that gets updated over time, and doesn't make the character gain immediately, then it will quickly lose popularity and thus the algorithm will push the story down. So, even if the story eventually gets to the gaining, the 'age' of it will be discriminated against it by the algorithm.

Example of how the story section works:

(All stories are posted at the same time)

Story 1: A incomplete story with 5 chapters/pages uploaded immediately. This story has short chapters/pages and character(s) begin gaining immediately to different progression levels. Story 1 won't be updated for a week, (or ever). BUT, when it does, its another 5 short pages.

Story 2: A incomplete story with 2 full, well written chapters. Character(s) hasn't started to gain just yet, but plans to. Story 2 will have updates over time, once or twice a week.

Story 3: A "complete" story that is written with 10 short speedwritten chapters/pages. Character(s) will proceed through all the stages until the end very quickly without much detail or background. Story 3 won't be updated.

In this situation, the immediate popularity victor will be Story 3, with Story 1 a close second. (Depending on quality.) Story 2 usually will gather curious readers, but will quickly lose traction as it seems 'incomplete'.

Fast forward a week, and Story 3 is still at the top. Story 1 is close second as the major update will gather new likes, readers and rereaders. Story 2 will have updated once or twice with one or two chapters, but doesnt see the same readership because it isn't as 'fast paced' as the other two. This story has the character gaining slightly.

One more week passes, and Story 1 overtakes story 3 in popularity as it nears the end of the character(s) gaining. 1 is almost complete with one more major update. Story 3 is quickly losing steam because the algorithm discriminates age of story and the lack of updates. Story 2 has faded out of the top group due to the story's pacing. This Only fans will read it or users looking for new stories. Progress wise, the character has gained some weight.

On the third week, Story 3 is out of the top group but just slightly. Dethroned by similar NEW Story 3s and Story 1s. The Original Story 1 is still up there because the story is updated with final gains. Story 2 is has faded further away, and despite the character gaining a decent amount, and written well, the age and popularity make it hard to be seen by typical users.

Hopefully this little scenario will help anyone who are trying to find a good way to release their story.

The take away from this: Complete your story (or a large chunk of it) then post. Do not post one or two, then slowly update. Without quick consistent updates, or large multichapter updates, the story will fall down in the section.

From what I have observed over my time here, is that one click on the story (one page load) is one view. Stories with multiple chapters will collect multiple 'views' as they read each subsequent part. (Each page load within the story is one view) Youtube used to count views similar to this many years ago, but some users abused it.

FF works similar in that sense...though I don't believe there are any or many users who attempt to unnaturally boost their numbers by padding views. I would not be surprised if has happened before. The "Likes" system is supposed to gauge "quality" of a story. (And in my opinion should have more weight in the algorithm)

Additionally, non-users/guests count to views, further inflating the counts, as thousands of users likely browse here with the intent of never making an account in the first place.

In a way, the current system favors popularity than quality as a fraction of a story's traffic is actually from users who are able to even like the story. On top of that some will go back and reread parts for their enjoyment, and the view numbers quickly add up despite lower unique users.

Chapters in my view range from 2000 words to 4000. Ultimately the length lies on the taste of the writer and how scenes play out.

F.F. page/chapter system is rather restrictive... only allowing "10,000" characters per page/chapter. However, I put less due to a glitch where text will disappear if it reaches the 9,500 to 10,000 range.

I can squeeze small chapter in one FF page, but I usually utilize two to round things out.

Hope this helps

In practice, giving them feedback would help and perhaps solve the issue... but in today's internet age, any feedback -good or bad- is good no matter what. Commenting and viewing a story I don't find interesting is equally supportive as someone who does.

In regards to the algorithm, I understand the 'newness' weight added to newly written stories. But, it doesn't incentivise long running, continously updating stories. Therefore incentivizing people to make short stories to grab attention at the top of the section.

Thus leading to the main issue at hand, users putting up 'like requirements' and leaving the story incomplete, moving on to a new one that will generate more attention and take up room at the top of the page. This all pushes other story creators down, thus forcing users to scroll down and search hard for good content.

In summary, the algorithm is easily manipulated. Any feedback is good/doesn't matter to the system. New/concurrent stories are pushed down by multiple stories by a single user.

To be honest, I really doubt things will change here. The only thing that can change is the way we write and how we'll be posting here...for better or worse. Unfortunately if I want my future stories to be read/seen I now have to take in account how this site works, rather than letting it go.

I appreciate you at least being aware of our feedback, and I hope it will lead to improving the site.

Edit: I believe a redesign of the stories section would help, putting 'newly updated', 'new story', 'trending' and 'recommended' all in one page without filtering. That way users can identify new, high quality content without digging around.

@fatchance,

I empathize with you, as I'd hate good authors leave/lose interest too. The sad part is, some will see and read those 'popular' low effort stories and think what are they doing wrong. They see the algorithm manipulation that is 'like farming/restricting' and want to potentially copy the tactic and writing style too, posting rushed content and diluting the pool.

I have no ill will against writers that can't punctuate correctly. (Nobody's perfect, I constantly correct myself) In fact, one of my favorite stories here is made by a first time writer. The difference is, you can tell he put a lot of thought and effort into it. It was once the most popular story on F.F until the algorithm stopped favoring it after not updating for some time despite its popularity. It is the simple fact - you stop updating for a couple of days, tell your story goodbye to the visible parts of the story section. It's that fast paced now. That is why it's best to cut your story in chunks and update it daily.

I could go on and on about how strange the story section behaves. (Among other bugs that had affect me and my creations throughout the months.)

Overall I want to see this site improve and evolve. I don't want to leave it either, I remember the positive comments and support from my first story posted here. But, its the way the cookie crumbles. I doubt things will really change until those type of people get bored and quit posting.

I agree with your post. But on D.A. there are some amazing stories... and not so good ones. Both sites have their caveats, and you have to seach for the diamond in the rough.

That being said, some of my favorite stories are from this site. And in grand scheme of things, a good piece of work will get popular. But, when it's surrounded by 'low effort' ones, it tends to get blended in and buried with them.

I think the whole point of this is to make people aware of this behavior. It's up to them (or admins) to determine if the user's content is worth promoting. Putting a arbitrary "like requirement" artificially undermines what's 'popular' and some users in this community express their frustrations.

As for me, I will simply have to adapt to these tactics and either post/update consistantly to keep it visible on the stories page or simply not post here at all. (The latter I prefer not to do.)

The reason for the "Like Farming" is to reach the top of the 'Authors' tab of the stories section. (And gain more followers) It's unfortunate that F.F. promotes that behavior, causing its users to take advantage of how it works, rather than creating a memorable narrative.

Like I mentioned before, some users post stories that are incredibly short/unfinished which is unfufilling. They set up the "every X likes = new chapter" rule until the the cow has been milked, moving onto a new story. This system is done to keep all of the author's works at the top.

It clutters up the Stories section and also makes the power of pressing like seem more and more worthless. The stories that I appreciate are buried beneath due to the 'like for new chapter'.

I am simply happy people share the same sentiment I have, and hope our criticism will get to the admins to modify the algorithms. Or change the system altogether.