Royal Road Forum Sucks Balls

[TheKillingAlice]

the forum UI is trash and makes my head spin

Exactly. Like, why the fuck did they think that's good?

I didn't really notice the "toxicity" that others mentioned

I don't think it's obvious. It's full of promo, but not technically toxic. If it gets you unwanted attention or not, I really don't know, but I wouldn't think it's unrealistic. I mean, that's been elaborated on already.

The comments I received were perfectly normal, but I ended up shifting to this platform, which has been better for me, I guess.

I think posting on both sites is fine, too. Best of both worlds.

 

[Woolen_Monkey]

I just don’t like how the forum is set up. It feels wrong.

 

[JayMark]

I still say avoid the forum if you're new and competing with the wrong people.
Do not post in the celebratory achievement sections in particular.
That is all.
Your results may vary.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

I still say avoid the forum if you're new and competing with the wrong people.
Do not post in the celebratory achievement sections in particular.
That is all.
Your results may vary.

I don't even know where that is, I believe. Then again, the first time I looked around has been too long ago.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

I still say avoid the forum if you're new and competing with the wrong people.
Do not post in the celebratory achievement sections in particular.
That is all.
Your results may vary.

Why not?

I posted in celebrations as a why not moment because I hit my first 10 followers and such. Was pretty sarcastic and joked about doing decent despite being off meta and doing fuck-all, hardly using the forums, etc. After doing so, a few people gave the standard congrats, one even encouraged me to use the forums more and I gained 3 new followers that day and an extra rating.

 

[JayMark]

Why not?

I posted in celebrations as a why not moment because I hit my first 10 followers and such. Was pretty sarcastic and joked about doing decent despite being off meta and doing fuck-all, hardly using the forums, etc. After doing so, a few people gave the standard congrats, one even encouraged me to use the forums more and I gained 3 new followers that day and an extra rating.

I'm glad your experience was wonderful.
Mine was not.

 

[Alski]

I'm glad your experience was wonderful.
Mine was not.

What achievement did you share?

 

[AliceMoonvale]

I'm glad your experience was wonderful.
Mine was not.

Did you get trolls telling you your story was shit or something?

I see people's celebration posts all the time, haven't seen much negativity. People often use those threads as just a way to comment and reputation farm like they do with welcoming newbies on their intro threads.

 

[JayMark]

Did you get trolls telling you your story was shit or something?

I see people's celebration posts all the time, haven't seen much negativity. People often use those threads as just a way to comment and reputation farm like they do with welcoming newbies on their intro threads.

Worse, I got ratings bombed, hard, on everything I was writing, especially the Lit-rpg that was starting well. Multiple half star ratings the next day and over the course of the next few weeks. After the ratings bomb the trolls smelt blood in the water and came with hateful comments.

Maybe I just am not good enough, but after thinking it through, I'm fairly sure it wasn't my writing that was the problem.

What achievement did you share?

I was happy that I reached a number followers quickly and someone said they loved my work. Some cringe shit like that. Granted I was new toonline posting and a very naive calf.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

Worse, I got ratings bombed, hard, on everything I was writing, especially the Lit-rpg that was starting well. Multiple half star ratings the next day and over the course of the next few weeks. After the ratings bomb the trolls smelt blood in the water and came with hateful comments.

Maybe I just am not good enough, but after thinking it through, I'm fairly sure it wasn't my writing that was the problem.

Yeah, that's a bit strange. It's obvious that making that post brought attention to yourself, but I guess you got unlucky in attracting random trolls who choose to neg-rate instead of simply ignore stories they don't like.

 

[JayMark]

Yeah, that's a bit strange. It's obvious that making that post brought attention to yourself, but I guess you got unlucky in attracting random trolls who choose to neg-rate instead of simply ignore stories they don't like.

I don't think it's just trolls.
But what do I know.
Even so, same result. I'm invisible there forever.

 

[Alski]

I don't think it's just trolls.
But what do I know.
Even so, same result. I'm invisible there forever.

Just get big enough to raid their china shop and smash all their stock.

 

[JayMark]

Just get big enough to raid their china shop and smash all their stock.

That's the only option, need to get swoll.

or go bust.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Yeah, that's a bit strange. It's obvious that making that post brought attention to yourself, but I guess you got unlucky in attracting random trolls who choose to neg-rate instead of simply ignore stories they don't like.

From what I gather, there are competitive "tiers" there - once you get into a tier, people there will defend you, but until you do, they will try to keep you from getting there any way they can, including reporting posts or chapters, using ratings bots to downvote your stories, etc. And the higher tiers will still try to keep you "in your place" as much as they can when/if you break through, because, for some of them, this is their primary or even sole source of income, while others are just ... jerks who got lucky and got in with the top tiers early.

 

[AliceMoonvale]

From what I gather, there are competitive "tiers" there - once you get into a tier, people there will defend you, but until you do, they will try to keep you from getting there any way they can, including reporting posts or chapters, using ratings bots to downvote your stories, etc. And the higher tiers will still try to keep you "in your place" as much as they can when/if you break through, because, for some of them, this is their primary or even sole source of income, while others are just ... jerks who got lucky and got in with the top tiers early.

Strange if true. Haven't really delved into the deep toxic culture of the site's userbase yet nor been interested in doing so. lmao
I guess since I don't write litrpg (yet), I'll likely never receive or discover that level of hate or attention in the first place. Since I just end up getting a handful of people who encourage me to write more and be more active on the forum even though I don't feel like it.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Strange if true. Haven't really delved into the deep toxic culture of the site's userbase yet nor been interested in doing so. lmao
I guess since I don't write litrpg, I'll likely never receive or discover that level of hate or attention in the first place. Since I just end up getting a handful of people who encourage me to write more and be more active on the forum even though I don't feel like it.

I didn't see the worst of it myself, because I didn't make many ripples in my two attempts (and kept a fairly low profile on the forum there), but I've been hearing stories, especially shortly after I stopped going there regularly, that show the toxicity and tiering in full force.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

I don't think it's just trolls.
But what do I know.
Even so, same result. I'm invisible there forever.

That got pretty sad while I was gone.

 

[JayMark]

That got pretty sad while I was gone.

Maybe not forever, but it's going to be a hell of a resource commitment, mental battle, and time slog to overcome what needs to be overcome. Lots of pain and no glory.

Have some roast beef.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

Maybe not forever, but it's going to be a hell of a resource commitment, mental battle, and time slog to overcome what needs to be overcome. Lots of pain and no glory.

Have some roast beef.
View attachment 48866

Here, have a cookie. And a hug.
Stress makes meat tougher.

 

[Alski]

Here, have a cookie. And a hug.
Stress makes meat tougher.

All the cookies were taken earlier.