Royal Road Forum Sucks Balls

Is this a hot take? I just think it sucks drippy balls.
Whenever I'm taking a dip, it feels like swan diving into a cluster fuck of desperate promotion bots, way worse than here, because there's barely any discourse; there's just an abundance of promo, but rarely anyone ever reacts to any of it.
But that's not even what I mean. When I drag my lazy ass around, so I don't have to work on my stories, I can't even properly procrastinate in bed, because when you open this shite on your phone you might just be greeted by this fuck assery if this layout was any more inbred, we could at least call it a sandwich.

havent been on the RR forum in 13 years, but everyone tells me its full of trash.

Alski said:

havent been on the RR forum in 13 years, but everyone tells me its full of trash.

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Well, they aren't telling lies.

I thought of posting my stories there, but I prefer my stuff woke. After the reddit story of how the admins are anti lgbt because "no one will read that shit", " I said naw. I'll find other sites to post my stories lol. I don't even write lgbt stuff, but I'd like to leave that lane open.

I have seen this before. It's like the state of the Wattpad forum before shutdown.

beyondthesmoke said:

I thought of posting my stories there, but I prefer my stuff woke. After the reddit story of how the admins are anti lgbt because "no one will read that shit", " I said naw. I'll find other sites to post my stories lol. I don't even write lgbt stuff, but I'd like to leave that lane open.

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That's odd. The admins are Israeli and the site is based on there. Israel is supposed to be the only country in the middle east to be pro lgbt. They even host lgbt pride land festival in the dead sea and tel aviv every year.

beyondthesmoke said:

I thought of posting my stories there, but I prefer my stuff woke. After the reddit story of how the admins are anti lgbt because "no one will read that shit", " I said naw. I'll find other sites to post my stories lol. I don't even write lgbt stuff, but I'd like to leave that lane open.

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I don't think that's really true. Also, I don't think that "gay" equals "woke" - "Woke" just means you have no story and think it being gay makes it worthwhile. If that's not the case, I believe you just write a regular story with LBGT elements in it.
I also post my Gay Romance Webnovels on Royal Road, though they are both mostly on hiatus, because of my focus on my main story, they didn't get any negative impact, as far as I can tell.

It is not a fun place to discuss writing.

I think the RR forum can be a little hostile and toxic. It's also full of Shoutout/Review beggars and overall beggars.
On the other hand, the SH forum is also very... particular.

Constant AI authors begging for feedback, acting like they wrote the story when it turns out they can't even write basic sentences without AI. Totally shameless and always backpedalling, becoming aggressive when called out.
People with literally 0 readers opening tens of threads.
People creating a dozen stories, constantly opening threads and discussions that nobody ever responds to, yet still writing "i's" small.
People opening threads, bragging about their successes, like "Reached 2k views" and "Wrote 100k words!") without understanding how the site works. The people here can be desperate and thrive on confirmation and attention.
Despite that, people here are extremely friendly and understanding, always trying to help, even if the one who's asking for help is a shameless liar.
This is probably the best place to be if you have genuine questions because people will always offer a helping hand, which is quite miraculous in today's age.

Every place is unique, and for a cynical bastard like me, there is much to dislike everywhere, similar to how I am a pretty honest and thus unlikable person. I can't act like a goodie-two-shoe positive guy, though, and I loathe trying to be kind despite thinking something else. Still, even I have to admit that this place and even RR have a lot of positive and helpful people, and it is a genuinely positive place (minus the toxicity of the RR forum and the shamelessness of the SH forum).

Overall, I love the SH forum, and even the RR forum has its uses. You just have to go there and be aware of the norms.

Also, don't take it too heart if you get called out. It's just random people on the internet. Just try to take away something helpful and positive and forget the rest.

The reason I stay here is to interact with fellow writers (and perhaps readers) and discuss creative writing. I'm not against advertising, but when the discussion revolves solely around engagement, metrics, and numbers, it makes me cringe.

FRWriter said:

It's also full of Shoutout/Review beggars and overall beggars.

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Yeah. I mean, recently, when my Season Two came up after more than a year of hiatus, I was met with people just randomly coming to my literal DMs to "propose" Shoutout Swaps. I did one before, two or three years ago, but that was through that Forum. This was new.

FRWriter said:

like "Reached 2k views" and "Wrote 100k words!"

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Yeah, that, too, was something that didn't happen before my hiatus here. How many golden stars did I miss out on? What sadness.

FRWriter said:

Despite that, people here are extremely friendly and understanding, always trying to help, even if the one who's asking for help is a shameless liar.

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I mean, sure. I may be an asshole, but even I try to be helpful (sometimes. When I feel like it).

FRWriter said:

Also, don't take it too heart if you get called out. It's just random people on the internet. Just try to take away something helpful and positive and forget the rest.

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Nah, I wouldn't give a shit, but it's too soul-sucking, at least in the places I've been to. But yeah, my main gripe was the literal layout. I was just trying to look around, maybe familiarize myself with it to find these rare spots of human interaction, but then the column happened.

If you post in RR forum as an author you make yourself a target for ratings bombs, don't do it.

JayMark said:

If you post in RR forum as an author you make yourself a target for ratings bombs, don't do it.

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The environment is so hostile everyone see another author as competitor.

JayMark said:

If you post in RR forum as an author you make yourself a target for ratings bombs, don't do it.

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Ah, so that's how it happened

JayMark said:

If you post in RR forum as an author you make yourself a target for ratings bombs, don't do it.

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The same happens here on SH.

Earned myself a couple of 1-stars after I called out a few AI stories.

FRWriter said:

The same happens here on SH.

Earned myself a couple of 1-stars after I called out a few AI stories.

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It's easier there because all you have to do to be rating bombed is breathe. No calling out AI stories required.

As if they don't want to breathe the same air as us.

RebelLion said:

It's easier there because all you have to do to be rating bombed is breathe. No calling out AI stories required.

As if they don't want to breathe the same air as us.

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Just don't be a new face that is writing there. If you can go in with a sufficient degree of clout to start they'll back off a little.

FRWriter said:

The same happens here on SH.

Earned myself a couple of 1-stars after I called out a few AI stories.

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Ouch. Still, it also hits different because it actively sabotages your visibility on RR. Also, after two bad reviews, which are both fishy at best for numerous reasons (no, I'm not simply salty or paranoid here) I've had a five-star review actually referencing "critical reviews" and how they believe it's actually a good story instead. And that doesn't even mention numerous low ratings that just seem to come in automatically every time I had a 5-Star rating, all the way until my story's rating fell below four stars. I didn't do anything to anyone; I just posted 5 times on the forum there.

RebelLion said:

It's easier there because all you have to do to be rating bombed is breathe. No calling out AI stories required.

As if they don't want to breathe the same air as us.

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That is, in fact, true.

TheKillingAlice said:

Ouch. Still, it also hits different because it actively sabotages your visibility on RR. Also, after two bad reviews, which are both fishy at best for numerous reasons (no, I'm not simply salty or paranoid here) I've had a five-star review actually referencing "critical reviews" and how they believe it's actually a good story instead. And that doesn't even mention numerous low ratings that just seem to come in automatically every time I had a 5-Star rating, all the way until my story's rating fell below four stars. I didn't do anything to anyone; I just posted 5 times on the forum there.

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That's the work of the cabal. The worst part is the mods let the cabal get away with that because of the money they bring to the site.

TheKillingAlice said:

That is, in fact, true.

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The average cabal members look like this:


They wear bubble helmets to avoid breathing commoner air and command absolute authority, including summoning the mods to protect them.

RebelLion said:

the cabal

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The what?

TheKillingAlice said:

The what?

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A cabal is a small, exclusive group of people who plot secretly to further their own interests, usually within politics or an organization. It implies a, typically disapproved of, conspiracy or clique. Common synonyms include conspiracy, clique, faction, junta, or ring. The term originated from French, stemming from Hebrew qabbālāh.

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Though I think the definition doesn't quite fit, as everyone is playing the game, not just a small group. They are also not secretive, lol...