Lush Coins

Just to clarify a few points.

1. Tips can be made anonymously if you prefer.

2. Only you will see how much you have. It's essentially a digital wallet.

3. New members will receive coins as part of their sign up. If they don't want to spend them, they don't have to, but there will not be a discount for not participating.

4. Coins will not be listed against stories, along with likes/favourites. They are allocated to a person.

5. If you withdraw coins as cash, e.g. into a PayPal account, there will be some sort of small admin fee to cover the cost of administering the system.

I see this as a positive thing for those who contribute to the site. It's been designed to try and give something back to those people who generate site traffic. No-one will be worse off from it. If you want to carry on writing for the love of it and either ignore any coin that comes your way, or re-gift them on site, that's absolutely fine.

Thank you, Jen! I'm sure from a development standpoint, this took some doing. As a writer, I appreciate the effort and intention to do something nice for us.

One last thing... do we have to pay taxes on this possibly addtl income or can it just be kept under the table?

asking for a friend, of course...

Quote by KimmiBeGood

One last thing... do we have to pay taxes on this possibly addtl income or can it just be kept under the table?

asking for a friend, of course...

Lol. Lush Stories encourages everyone to follow the relevent tax law of their country.

😇

Quote by KimmiBeGood
do we have to pay taxes on this possibly addtl income

Dunno how it is in the US, but here we have a tax-free allowance that's currently up to about 12k before the government get their grubby mitts on some. Getting 12k from story tips would be a nice problem to have and pass onto my accountant 😎

Bottom line, unless you're a recognised author and it's your only income stream, tidbits can probably be squirelled away as donations or gifts for your hard work. But I didn't say that, if the IRS drop in on you for a coffee. We encourage authors to be upstanding, tax-abiding citizens.

Quote by Jen
<snip>

New members signing up will receive coins as part of their membership fee, and existing users can buy coins to distribute if they want to.

<snip>

This is something I've always disliked, new members/customers/etc. get this benefit or the other. It does feel like "You existing customers thank you for your loyalty but seeing as we've already got you, you get nothing cos you're not as important as new customers."

This is what gave rise to all the comparison sites and why people change or at least review their insurances, phones, energy, broadband, etc. every time their contracts come up. As Lush is the only site offering this type of reward, it won't happen, at least for now.

Yes I have read the renewal bonus or part of the package where coins come as part of the upgrade (I presume expired membership to paid membership is classed as an upgrade.

Just not a fan of "new member will receive..." statements. "New and renewing..." sounds so much better in the headlines.

Now...

This reminds me very much of 'Rays', the currency on Utherverse (aka Red Light Center from your Recommended Sites list). Although on Utherverse you could earn them through activities such as logging in and perving profiles. They also gave a few rays for every month you were a paid member.

In line with what I wrote in response to WWs post, what will these coins be worth?

Will it be a stable market or will there be an exchange where people are effectively buying off other members?

What will be the cash-out currency and procedure? Rays, as mentioned above, could be cashed out but if you didn't have a CC registered with them, it came as a cheque in US dollars.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Dunno how it is in the US, but here we have a tax-free allowance that's currently up to about 12k before the government get their grubby mitts on some. Getting 12k from story tips would be a nice problem to have and pass onto my accountant 😎

Bottom line, unless you're a recognised author and it's your only income stream, tidbits can probably be squirelled away as donations or gifts for your hard work. But I didn't say that, if the IRS drop in on you for a coffee. We encourage authors to be upstanding, tax-abiding citizens.

Just a note of caution about that. Yes the UK has £12.5k tax free allowance, however...

Working or not, earning over the £12.5k or not, if you earn £1000 from other sources (hobbies, pin money, 2nd income, selling on ebay/Amazon/car boots/etc.) you MUST declare it to HMRC. That will entail, I think*, completing a self-assessment form by the 31st Jan the year following the end of the tax year you earned the money in. It might be worth finding an accountant that gives a free initial consultation and confirming with them.

So even if you don't have to pay tax on them, IF you are super successful, then you will have to do some declaration.

Having said all that, I have earned currency on other sites and said currency is still on those sites, 1 had the option to cash in, but I never did. In my mind, until it is cashed in, it isn't money and therefore doesn't have to be declared. If someone gave me a dozen bitcoins (hint) I would not declare that until I cashed them in for hard currency. This is MY personal take on it and not any official recommendation.

*I say I think, as I already complete a self-assessment, it is already one of the questions I have to answer.

Quote by Georgia_27_8

<snip>

Lushcoin rewards those writers which have truly, top-tier ability and (hopefully) prevents them taking material elsewhere which is financially funded in a professional authorship capacity.

I agree it's going to be easy enough to circumvent the rules, hopefully someone with a single mediocre story earning £10k a month who spends loads of time in chat would be flagged and looked into

I have to question your last comment. I am no means a top-tier writer and yet I earn a few hundred a month here and there off the bits I have on Amazon. A friend who I edit for writes basically from a template and earns a few thousand a month over there. I suppose this harks back to my question on what they will be worth, but will top tier writers be able to earn the sort of money here to be competitive enough to stop them going elsewhere?

Which then raises another question, will there be restrictions on publishing elsewhere? If so, will there be a way for authors to opt out of the scheme?

And yes, I know to some they may jump all over me as being anti this, just as my reports of bugs in the bugs thread were jumped over as being anti Lush2. NOTHING is further from the truth, would I take all the time to put together a post this long if I were? No, I would just move on. What I want to make sure is that the developers have looked at all possible issues that might arise with this scheme so that it is a good as possible and welcomed as well as possible by all readers and authors alike.

Quote by kiteares

Which then raises another question, will there be restrictions on publishing elsewhere? If so, will there be a way for authors to opt out of the scheme?

No, no restrictions.

Quote by kiteares
This is something I've always disliked, new members/customers/etc. get this benefit or the other.

The membership/renewal fee will increase to compensate, so it's not that new members will get something for nothing compared with existing.

Details on cashing out etc will be given when they're live. The coins are worth what they were bought for, although as I noted above, there will be a small admin fee if cashing out to PayPal to cover costs.

Quote by CallmeJayne

Given that the idea of the scheme is to reward "authors not performers" why not put the reward in the gift of story moderators?

Ipso facto, anyone submitting a story would have the chance of receiving 'coins'.

first of all, it's not a scheme. when Lance first brought this to my attention it was as an erstwhile effort to reward authors for their work - if there's a scheme involved, it's only to bring more quality writers to the site and incentivize more people to take up the pen/quill/keyboard/chalk etc.

secondly, i don't understand your comment about "putting the reward in the gift of story mods". please elaborate

thirdly, anyone submitting a story will have the chance of receiving coins through tips. i thought that was explained in the initial post.

Quote by CuriousAnnie

How many do that, Georgia, many top-tier writers are still hereabouts? Lol, maybe I'm not on the list, but I've never thought of publishing elsewhere. I came here having published elsewhere and haven't submitted on another site ever since. Most of the writers I know are in the same boat. I just logged up to OnlyFans, it isn't really a story site.

Honestly I write for fun and enter competitions to test myself. The rewards are the validation of my peers, never the money. I concede that there are less comments on stories over the past year, but there is enough feedback for me to keep writing. After all where else would I go. 😊

you're on the list in my book.

Quote by kiteares

I suppose this harks back to my question on what they will be worth, but will top tier writers be able to earn the sort of money here to be competitive enough to stop them going elsewhere?

Which then raises another question, will there be restrictions on publishing elsewhere? If so, will there be a way for authors to opt out of the scheme?

And yes, I know to some they may jump all over me as being anti this, just as my reports of bugs in the bugs thread were jumped over as being anti Lush2. NOTHING is further from the truth, would I take all the time to put together a post this long if I were? No, I would just move on. What I want to make sure is that the developers have looked at all possible issues that might arise with this scheme so that it is a good as possible and welcomed as well as possible by all readers and authors alike.

will there be restrictions on publishing elsewhere? easy answer is no (the complex answer is also no).

will the top tier writers be able to earn the same sort of money to be competitive to stop them from going elsewhere? no idea. maybe. won't really know for a while - i left my crystal ball at home and if it were me, and i could earn more elsewhere but i was still making a little bit here, i wouldn't leave - it'd just publish in more than one place (that is if my sole motivation for publishing was making cash. that's not everyone's goal. personally, i'm too lazy to try to make money off my stories. it's a lot of work. seriously!)

as for looking at all possible issues, this program has been in the works for a long time now and a lot of thought was put into it - it's not a 'scheme' that was hatched last weekend after several rounds of long island ice teas. :)

Quote by sprite
people to take up the pen/quill/keyboard/chalk etc.

My pencil may not be too sharp, but it ain't an etc. Feeling so hurt

Quote by kistinspencil

My pencil may not be too sharp, but it ain't an etc. Feeling so hurt

jesus h christ on a bike, do i have to list everything? not like i don't have other things to do, woman! lol

Quote by sprite

jesus h christ on a bike, do i have to list everything? not like i don't have other things to do, woman! lol

!

Quote by sprite

first of all, it's not a scheme. when Lance first brought this to my attention it was as an erstwhile effort to reward authors for their work - if there's a scheme involved, it's only to bring more quality writers to the site and incentivize more people to take up the pen/quill/keyboard/chalk etc.

secondly, i don't understand your comment about "putting the reward in the gift of story mods". please elaborate

thirdly, anyone submitting a story will have the chance of receiving coins through tips. i thought that was explained in the initial post.

Offering "a quality writer" the possibility that the story they are uploading for free, might receive remuneration via tips at some time in the future, isn't much of an incentive. Particularly as the story would then be deemed to have been published and therefore of no interest to another publisher. Unless, I suppose, the "quality writer" had an absolutely stellar reputation.

The comment you didn't understand simply means that story moderators could award 'coins' in much the way they award a Recommended Read.

Quote by CallmeJayne

Offering "a quality writer" the possibility that the story they are uploading for free, might receive remuneration via tips at some time in the future, isn't much of an incentive. Particularly as the story would then be deemed to have been published and therefore of no interest to another publisher. Unless, I suppose, the "quality writer" had an absolutely stellar reputation.

The comment you didn't understand simply means that story moderators could award 'coins' in much the way they award a Recommended Read.

well, speaking as a "quality writer" who has been uploading their stories for years for free, the thought that i might get a bit a bit of mad money for doing it is kind of nice. is it an incentive for me to write more? no. i'd do that anyway, but, imho, it's a nice gesture to all the people who have been sharing their stories on our site simply because they love writing and they like the site. not everyone here writes as a living. personally, i'm fine with the status quo. not looking to put out a book or have my name on a best sellers list. that's me. a lot of people here feel the same. they just want to write and share their stories and this is a good place to do it. this is a gift to them. a thank you, so to speak. that's the intention. no one is going to get rich off the system. (if they do, i want to know their secret, btw!)

being published outside of lush doesn't make you a quality write, btw. i can think of a lot of people here who are better than some published authors - they just don't want to make it their career. for whatever reason, this is how they like to express themselves.

and, since coins need to be purchased, you're suggesting that my volunteer (meaning they don't get paid) buy coins and award people for writing stories? Umm... sure. i'll suggest that in the next mod meeting. i'm sure i won't have powder donuts bounced off my face for that... AND since we get reamed constantly for only awarding EPs and RRs to other mods, well, can you imagine what's going to happen next? YOU'RE ONLY GIVING COINS TO OTHER MODS. seriously, look me in the eye and say that's not gonna happen.

here's the thing from my POV. we thought of a way to say thanks to our writers and give them something nice that is actually useful (nice as RRs are, they won't buy you a single egg, let alone a dozen) and people are already complaining before the system is set into place. and you possibly understand how demoralizing and demotivating that is? if you prick us, do we not bleed? honestly, i kind of expected something along the lines of my reaction which was "cool! show me the money!" (not my actual reaction, but close enough. my memory is not what it used to be). funny, people wonder why i'm kind of bitchy sometimes. funny that they have to ask. i mean, just read the freaking forums and maybe y'all will get it.

so, to sum it all up... you're welcome.

Quote by CallmeJayne

Offering "a quality writer" the possibility that the story they are uploading for free, might receive remuneration via tips at some time in the future, isn't much of an incentive. Particularly as the story would then be deemed to have been published and therefore of no interest to another publisher. Unless, I suppose, the "quality writer" had an absolutely stellar reputation.

The comment you didn't understand simply means that story moderators could award 'coins' in much the way they award a Recommended Read.

ps - as a member i can think of quite a few authors i'd like to tip - some stories that have stuck with me through the years. and i will probably do so. people like Ensorcled and Jaymal and Lizzy and Dancing Doll and Jen and Evie and Curious Annie and several others. THAT I can do, but yeah, not a moderation thing.

For the record, and to the best of my knowledge, mods won't be giving out Lush Coins for free as incentives for work. They must be bought, just like everyone. If a mod wishes to tip an author, that's up to them, but the coins in their wallet have to be obtained just like everyone else - by purchasing them or being tipped by others.

Quote by Jen

The membership/renewal fee will increase to compensate, so it's not that new members will get something for nothing compared with existing.

Details on cashing out etc will be given when they're live. The coins are worth what they were bought for, although as I noted above, there will be a small admin fee if cashing out to PayPal to cover costs.

Thank you, Jen.

My only point about dislike the headline of "New members signing up will receive coins as part of their membership fee, and existing users can buy coins to distribute if they want to." It felt very much like I said, it wasn't until drilling further, that I saw that it would be part of the renewal package.

Quote by sprite

will the top tier writers be able to earn the same sort of money to be competitive to stop them from going elsewhere? no idea. maybe. won't really know for a while - i left my crystal ball at home and if it were me, and i could earn more elsewhere but i was still making a little bit here, i wouldn't leave - it'd just publish in more than one place (that is if my sole motivation for publishing was making cash. that's not everyone's goal. personally, i'm too lazy to try to make money off my stories. it's a lot of work. seriously!)

Thank you, sprite.

Yep, I know how much work goes into it. My question was more related to how much value the coins would have and I know that some people will do well and others won't see a single donation, it's the way of the beast. It was also in response to what I read as Georgia suggesting that this would stop people leaving to publish professionally now there is a reward scheme in place. And yes, I know, even with your crystal ball with you and fully charged that would be impossible to predict as there are more than a single reason that people move on.

Quote by sprite

as for looking at all possible issues, this program has been in the works for a long time now and a lot of thought was put into it - it's not a 'scheme' that was hatched last weekend after several rounds of long island ice teas. :)

I'm not doubting that many hours have been put into it, I also don't know what questions have been asked and what haven't. I thought that the more people that ask questions, even those that have been answered behind the scenes the more chance of catching something that had not been thought of before it goes live.

As for it being a scheme, I would hope that it would be a scheme, at least as I understand it and from yours and Jen's statements that it has been worked on for a long time, it very much seems to be a scheme to me. I would suggest that our understanding of the word is very different.

Scheme:

I was referring to the noun:

BRITISH

a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining a particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.

I definitely was NOT referring to the verb (at least the 2nd part of it):

make plans, especially in a devious way or with intent to do something illegal or wrong.

Just in case I wasn't clear, I am not anti this, I would love to see this succeed. I think in-house currencies can be a great idea and for those that are even mediumly (??) successful with it, it might buy them their annual renewal or enable them to gift membership to people (this would be something I would be aiming to do with the coins, it would be cool to gift a couple of memberships every so often just because people appreciated my contributions enough).

As I logged out I got the competition banner... win $150...

Perhaps a future option could be to give the winners the choice of being paid via paypal (which some people hate and others can't access) or coins. Just a thought, I don't know if anyone has suggested that yet.

Quote by kiteares

As I logged out I got the competition banner... win $150...

Perhaps a future option could be to give the winners the choice of being paid via paypal (which some people hate and others can't access) or coins. Just a thought, I don't know if anyone has suggested that yet.

Yeah that's the plan. At the moment it's PayPal or Amazon, but the plan is to switch it to lush coins instead.

Quote by kiteares

I'm not doubting that many hours have been put into it, I also don't know what questions have been asked and what haven't. I thought that the more people that ask questions, even those that have been answered behind the scenes the more chance of catching something that had not been thought of before it goes live.

As for it being a scheme, I would hope that it would be a scheme, at least as I understand it and from yours and Jen's statements that it has been worked on for a long time, it very much seems to be a scheme to me. I would suggest that our understanding of the word is very different.

Scheme:

I was referring to the noun:

BRITISH

a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining a particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.

I definitely was NOT referring to the verb (at least the 2nd part of it):

make plans, especially in a devious way or with intent to do something illegal or wrong.

Just in case I wasn't clear, I am not anti this, I would love to see this succeed. I think in-house currencies can be a great idea and for those that are even mediumly (??) successful with it, it might buy them their annual renewal or enable them to gift membership to people (this would be something I would be aiming to do with the coins, it would be cool to gift a couple of memberships every so often just because people appreciated my contributions enough).

"scheme" always sounds unsavory to me - like something out of a Jame's Bond movie uttered by GoldPinkie or something. lol that's just me - don't take it personally. thanks for your support, btw - i'm a little cranky today, so i'm reacting a bit to some of the comments in here in a less than spritely manner. i'll try to keep it in check. :)

btw, Curious Annie came up with a great question that i couldn't answer - how do we treat collaborative stories? does the tip get split up between writers? honor system (here's your half - thanks for writing with me!) the tough luck system (fuck you, it's mine, neener neener?

So, let's say I have a bunch of coins in my "wallet" (for lack of a better term). Doesn't matter how I got them. Maybe I just won a comp or got a lot of tips this past year.

Could I then post something like,

"I want to read stories about (something that is legal under Lush rules). Give me your best new stories on this theme by posting links in this thread by (date). I will read them and give xx coins to each of the 3 (or whatever) that I like best."

So basically an unofficial, personal comp. Obviously avoiding language like "competition" that might sound "official" or compete with site competitions, but essentially using an offer of rewards to drum up stories of interest to the poster.

Is that possible/legal?

Yes, ape brain is having ideas about this coin thing so I might be testing the waters a bit.

Quote by Seeker4

So, let's say I have a bunch of coins in my "wallet" (for lack of a better term). Doesn't matter how I got them. Maybe I just won a comp or got a lot of tips this past year.

Could I then post something like,

"I want to read stories about (something that is legal under Lush rules). Give me your best new stories on this theme by posting links in this thread by (date). I will read them and give xx coins to each of the 3 (or whatever) that I like best."

So basically an unofficial, personal comp. Obviously avoiding language like "competition" that might sound "official" or compete with site competitions, but essentially using an offer of rewards to drum up stories of interest to the poster.

Is that possible/legal?

Yes, ape brain is having ideas about this coin thing so I might be testing the waters a bit.

A very good question. This is an idea that would interest me (though my getting tips to work with might prove problematic).

Quote by kistinspencil
though my getting tips to work with might prove problematic).

I might drop you a few. Once I have coins to drop, that is. 😊

Quote by Seeker4

I might drop you a few. Once I have coins to drop, that is. 😊

Quote by Seeker4

So, let's say I have a bunch of coins in my "wallet" (for lack of a better term). Doesn't matter how I got them. Maybe I just won a comp or got a lot of tips this past year.

Could I then post something like,

"I want to read stories about (something that is legal under Lush rules). Give me your best new stories on this theme by posting links in this thread by (date). I will read them and give xx coins to each of the 3 (or whatever) that I like best."

So basically an unofficial, personal comp. Obviously avoiding language like "competition" that might sound "official" or compete with site competitions, but essentially using an offer of rewards to drum up stories of interest to the poster.

Is that possible/legal?

Yes, ape brain is having ideas about this coin thing so I might be testing the waters a bit.

Sure.

I'll see if we can get a dedicated forum space for things like this.

Quote by sprite

btw, Curious Annie came up with a great question that i couldn't answer - how do we treat collaborative stories? does the tip get split up between writers? honor system (here's your half - thanks for writing with me!) the tough luck system (fuck you, it's mine, neener neener?

The tip will go to the main author, so yeah, it's an honour system. Stories might not be 50:50 involvement. The collaborators will need to decide that between them if they receive tips for that story. Actually, let me check that when the person received coins, they know exactly what story it relates to... I'll get back to you.

Quote by sprite

"scheme" always sounds unsavory to me - like something out of a Jame's Bond movie uttered by GoldPinkie or something. lol that's just me - don't take it personally. thanks for your support, btw - i'm a little cranky today, so i'm reacting a bit to some of the comments in here in a less than spritely manner. i'll try to keep it in check. :)

I guessed you were thinking of the other meaning.

No worries on being cranky, we all get it some of the time and when something you're passionate about appears to be getting knocked it can add up to, at the very least, fingers shaking over the keyboard when you'd really like to be wrapping them around my neck. Hope you're feeling a little better (heck, a lot better) when you read this. (I'd offer you a hug, but the devs have been so damned busy on this coins scheme (you know I'm not going to drop that now ) that they haven't had time to reinstate the old hug emoji )

Quote by spri

you're suggesting that my volunteer (meaning they don't get paid) buy coins and award people for writing stories?

Sigh...of course I wasn't suggesting that...the rest is just a rant.

Anyway, it is what it is. Let the games begin. This time next year I'll be a "coins" millionaire. Probably.😊

(N.B. This post may contain irony)

Quote by CallmeJayne

Sigh...of course I wasn't suggesting that...the rest is just a rant.

Anyway, it is what it is. Let the games begin. This time next year I'll be a "coins" millionaire. Probably.😊

(N.B. This post may contain irony)

Okay, Delboy