I attempted to log in some time later to discover I'd been banned from accessing the site. I have received no emails in response to my request and I am assuming that my details have now been removed but I don't know this for certain.
I always assumed that complaints about the attitude of the site management were a nonsense, made by disgruntled users. Given my own experience, this is sadly not the case.
There are some very nice people on the site and I shall miss them but I recommend you stay away from the site entirely if this is the way they treat their members.
EB Wilson
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The commercial side is purely in the first part, the story site, but even there, the goal is to have the majority of stories free to all readers. There is a limited set of stories that are only available to paying members, but that's largely presented as an alternative to asking for donations to keep the site running. By paying a small monthly subscription, members can read an expanded set of stories, including a number that were previously free but have now been published commercially.
While there have been a handful of problems with the subscription process after a software update, it generally runs smoothly. I suspect many members purchase a membership more as a way to keep the site running than to access the Premium group of stories. The Premium group of stories are the way the site thanks those members for their help.
The quality of stories ranges from fair to excellent, as you would expect from a free site with user-submitted stories. The site tries to maintain a minimum set of quality, so while there are certainly stories that would never make it commercially, they are all readable. They also impose a small set of content restrictions, though for most stories those constraints don't apply.
The community part of the site is active and vibrant. As can be expected with any sort of diverse online community, there are the occasional cases of friction between members. The moderation team appears to do a good job of keeping that friction to a minimum.
As the site acknowledges that ad revenue is a significant revenue stream, the moderation team is vigilant with ensuring that the site content submitted by the users meets the guidelines specified by their advertisement supplier, Google AdSense. If there's a downside, it would be that they can be overly cautious with what they allow, but since the site is run by volunteers, that's not an unreasonable attitude to take. However, as they also allow members as young as 13 to join the community, they are also very protective of member privacy and do their best to ensure that all content is acceptable to viewed by minors.
Overall, for what the site is — an online community of diverse individuals, and a collection of largely free stories — it does an excellent job.
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Yeah, there's stuff that will make you cringe, but it's free content. Move on to the next story. Check the forums for recommendations.
I've been a member for about five years and enjoy the online community. The active population fluctuates periodically, but the forums can be a lively distraction. I haunted the place for several months anonymously before I ever chimed in anywhere. Most people just read the stories.
The management appears a touch heavy-handed at times, but it's always one-sided information because they never give details about moderation issues to the rest of us. In my experience, creative types can be awfully sensitive (not just authors) and I wouldn't want to have to keep this many members in line when they try to game the system.
The negatives aside, I think the site is more than worth taking a peek at.
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Within several hours after the story was cleared for viewing, I received notification that I was restricted pending investigation that I had violated one of their rules – something to do with double membership. I was not provide with any information nor was I allowed to respond. I was cut off completely which I thought rude and very unprofessional.
Within two hours I received two emails addressed to people I'd never heard of, banning me for life from their site. In essence I was tried and convicted without being permitted any input. It gets better.
After some investigating the computer I was working, I discovered that the names of the two individuals and their email address were lodged in the internal contact list of of this computer of which I was unaware.
They indicated that they would monitor my IP address to ensure that I never contacted them again.
Had they contacted me I would have explained that I am living in a furnished apartment of someone who passed away about a year and a half ago and I have been using the computer that was put at my disposal and obviously belonged to this deceased person..
I had to laugh at the Nazi-like message someone at Gay Authors by the name of Steve, Site Admin. Site Moderation left for me.
One of the last sentences from his triad reads as follows: "…and we will be monitoring your IP address to ensure you don't join again."
I can only gather that they had stored information from the past of the person who owned the computer I was working on and based on that and that alone – here again without the courtesy of communicating with me – made the decision to ban me forever.
All I could think of was this guy Steve drooling into his keyboard that 'he got his man.'
And his final words were even more pathetic.
"We do wish you success on the other sites that you have found on the internet, but, due to your own actions, ours won't be one of them.
Please do not contact us again."
I'd love to ask him why I or any sane person would want to contact Gay Authors after being treated like a criminal.
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Pretty clear that while the site started with good intentions, the moderation is so bad that user churn is pretty high. It's pretty clear the site owner just wants to prep it and sell it off, he's obviously angling for more ad revenue and page views over his "stated mission" to make a great place to host his favorite authors. Sad to see.
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