I wish to collect opinions and points of view on a fundamental rework of the categorization system of gaycupidstories (only)
I propose Cupid is in need of finding it’s own tone and readership if it wishes to garner a following. As such, there are aspects of it’s identity as a ‘brother site’ to Spiral and Collar, where it will always struggle in a side-by-side.
I believe we should scrap the current roster of narrative-focused ‘Categorizations’ (such as Polyamorous, Encounters, Coming of age, etc) and replace them with Categories relevant to literary fictional genres instead, i.e., (but by no means locked down to):
High Fantasy,
Sci fi,
Drama,
Fan Fiction,
Suspense?
Humor/Comedy etc
(not those specifically, please DO NOT reply dealing with these specific choices of genres and ‘what you’d have’ but rather the concept of changing the categorization on Cupid —at all— to a system such as this)
As a side point. If you have opinions on Cupid’s Identity generally, as a brother site to Collar and Spiral, and whether you think there should be, I dunno, more separation to stop readers who’re looking for PORN, getting wank-blocked by lovvy-dovvy fantasy drama instead (or vice versa) how much more or less separation it should have.
Should it be a brother site, a cousin, a first cousin twice removed etc.
Unless a site such as this has unlimited resources and staff I think it should NOT…NEVER try to be all things to all people and it should to be straight forward and simple.
Either this should be a general purpose Fantasy site in which case you will attract all sorts of manuscripts from lots of authors some of which will be pornographic, or it should be a Porn site in which you will receive pornographic stories some of which may include kink. In that case you will have to build a Content Directory listing the various sorts of sexual and kink activity in the stories.
And so, what is Cupid? It’s primarily a ‘Romance-rather-then-porn’ site, but is that enough?
If it’s a Romance-focused story site that has (two and counting) specifically kink and erotica brother sites, then —for want of a bigger range— could it also fit a role of “LGBTQ+ fiction generally” or would that be taking it from too small a scope, to too big a scope?
LGBTQ+ fiction as in; Romance where the leads happen to be queer; Horror where the leads happen to be queer; Sci-Fi where the leads happen to be queer; Fantasy Fiction where the leads happen to be queer. etc, etc.
If you’re creating a LGBTQABCDect romance/dating site I’m out. Only interested in porn/kink. Everything else I can handle real life without assistance.
In which case, are you also ‘out’ of the current version of Cupid?
Like, do you think a more romance focused site such as (the current version of) Cupid should be more annexed (as in ‘separated from’) than Spiral and Collar?
There is a misconception about what Cupid is supposed to be.
I wanted a site where you can publish stories about guys having sex without the need to follow any kind of predefined kink or theme. I love love stories and I love hot sex scenes. So this should be about any kind of sex between men, no matter how and why. If it’s romantic, heart-breaking, tear-of-joy-inducing, all that’s fine, but in the end, I always prefer to read some dirty scenes along with that.
Mind you, this is not a hard requirement, but it’s what I was envisioning when I started the site. GayKinkyStories and the sites around it are meant to be used for having fun and a good wank after all.
I know the Cupid and the name of the site implies that it’s all about romance and that’s it, but I hoped that Cupid being naked would give a hint that this is not a prudish site…
For me, it is. The categories should really be mostly mutual exclusive. I know it’s hard, and I know what you’re trying to achieve, but this is hard to pull of while still making sense in the context of what categories are technical supposed to be.
I still like my idea of using categories on Cupid (only on Cupid) to define the explicitness of a story. Like “Chaste love”, “Soft Sex”, “Hard-core Sex”, “Kinky Sex” or something like this. Because that would definitely be mutual exclusive and also would be meaningful to the user.
But if that’s not appreciated, we just can stick with the current categories as well, even though I’m not overly happy with them either.
Your original idea of narrative-focused categories would work, too, but honestly, I don’t see them as too relevant for a sex-centered story site. All those are fine, but can and should be added by the author as tags when they need it.
@Corin In that case, I’m gonna step back from this for now and put some “meet you half way” suggestions in the feedback section of the forum. They won’t be ‘full makeover’ sized, but they will be —I believe— useful if you heed them.
As a side note, I want to point out the floor was open here and only one user besides Martin and I posted.
Later on, if-or-when I speak about Cupid in pontificating tones, or say “this is how we should do it” or "this is what we are going to do*, I will be assuming the level of disinterest shown here. Where as I have researched and reached out to non-GKS authors in my own time and sought off-site opinion and wisdom, for Cupid specifically.
In other words, when I seek to alter or edit Cupid in ways I believe it should be altered, I won’t be seeking feedback or heeding rebuttals from anyone apart from (of course) Martin, and/or, authors who are self-evidentially ‘Cupid first authors’, more so then Spiral or Collar first.
Them’s the breaks; you can care or not-care, but you don’t get to not-care yet weigh in on the work of those who do care, and who are putting in the time and research.
If you really want more opinions, I can dig through your other post and see if I have any comments, but I’ve largely been ignoring Cupid-related stuff because I don’t plan to post there specifically…only if a GSS story happens to center around appropriate themes. You’re lucky I even noticed this post, as I was mostly just scrolling through to mark the thread as up to date.