I stopped posting on LUSH after the changes to the site turned it into more of a dating site than a story site. To say the least I was disappointed. I never completely went away, I would stop in and check out stories from some of my friends and answer some comments on my own. It's been over a year, but now it's time to cut the cord completely.

I was thinking of coming back. I had posted a bunch of my stories on another site but wasn't satisfied with the response or the lack of feedback from readers. To be honest, I missed it. But now I feel somewhat violated by LUSH.

Let me explain. In just over 2 years I posted almost 200 stories and earned my Omnium Badge. I felt it was a wonderful achievement and something I was quite proud of, especially writing in some genres that made me uncomfortable. I really felt positive about it because I have a bit of an attention deficit issue and finishing something like this was a real achievement for me.

One of the things said when I earned my badge is that even if LUSH added new categories, those with the Omnium Badges would not lose them. Someone in LUSH management lied to me.

I did notice after the site changes many badges were missing, and I assumed they would eventually get caught up. It's been over a year and my precious Omnium Badge is still gone. So, like any good customer, I messaged customer service and I was told that because LUSH added a new category, I would have to write a new story to get my Omnium Bage back again.

I am hurt by this change and I also realize that it doesn't seem to matter to anyone at LUSH that they told me one thing and pulled the metaphorical rug out from under what I felt was an accomplishment. It seems I cannot even post on my own Wall anymore. I am very unhappy right now!

So, instead of rejoining the site and paying for my Gold or even Platinum status, I am going to make sure I have a copy of all of my stories and then cancel my account.

For those who care, I can always be reached at . But you aren't going to see me here any longer.

Quote by adele

We are being told by the new host company that many of the differences are due to the fact that "75% of THEIR users access the site on a phone" and that they used to have features similar to some of ours, but when they polled THEIR users, were told they didn't like them, so they changed. It also appears that they intend to just make Lush part of their dating site "family". We feel like they should take into account what OUR LUSH MEMBERS feel, so here is a list of questions that should provide a good idea for how we feel about things.

  1.   Are you an author?
Yes, 194 stories in less than three years!
  2.   Do you primarily use the chat rooms, forums, neither or both.
Neither very often
  3.   What is the main device you access Lush with? phone/tablet, lappy or PC
PC
  4.   On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the happiest) how happy are you with the chatroom changes?
1
  5.   On a scale of 1 to 5, how happy are you with the forum changes?
1
  6.   As an author, on a scale of 1 to 5, how happy are you with the story changes?
1
  7.   On a scale of 1 to 5, how happy are you with the general overall design changes?
-1, the site seems to be more distracting than anything else.
  8.   Which chatroom features do you miss the most? (ex. mention vs just selecting a name, whisper,  "landing" directly into a room, room size, etc)
None
  9.  Which forum features do you miss the most? (ex. new format, harder to post pics, forum signature, etc.)
None
10.  As an author, which story features do you miss the most? (ex. detail vs rounding stats, ability to sort, tags at end of story instead of top, etc.)
Detail Stats, ability to see the whole list of stories, not broken by pages for sorting, I hate the 'likes', prefer the scoring and comments.  Prefer the old notifications than the current list that disappears after you click one.  Dislike the lack of email when an author you follow posts.  All in all the site no longer is author centric -- which was the original purpose.  I have been averaging a long (not micro) story a week since I joined.  Since the 'upgrade' I have not posted once.  The site is a distraction rather than a tool.
11.  Which general features do you miss the most? (ex. black boxes, ability to customize profiles, ability to sort friends, have friends all show on 1 page, settings don't hold, becoming part of a dating site, etc.)
The image list is awkward to use as well.
12. Any other comments you would like to add or if there is anything you are particularly happy with on the new site.
I dislike the changes and do not see it as an upgrade or improvement.  I work in IT and rule number one when making changes is you do not remove functionality  without giving something better (easier to use or more convenient) in return.

Quote by noll

Quote by Brookell

I am in IT and have done much new development.  The number one rule about implementing a new version of something was never take away functionality.  Even changing how it works, you always left the ability to do it the older way at least for a few releases. It let's you ease users into new things.  So many functions are gone or changed to the point of being less capable.  The few new things (time zone elimination in forums and the My Comments) are nice, but have we lost more than gained.  I haven't posted since the new site went up.  I haven't been interested in posting -- which for any of you who know me understand that's weird.  I haven't stopped writing, just not been posting. 

You don't work with Apple much then I suppose ;) Try connecting a USB-A cable to any of their current devices.

Jokes aside. Lush 2.0 is not an upgrade in the regular sense. It's a completely new implementation, AFAIK, of its core features on an entirely different platform. The previous website had plenty of feature creep. I can only hope that not all of those are coming back, as this dating platform comes with its own feature creep already (given that Lush is not really a dating platform).

LOL, Apple has their own issues, as does MS and Linux.  Hardware is always fun to deal with!  My school system started with a hodgepodge of stuff, but we've slowly migrated to one platform, now we just deal with the discrepancies of upgrades within one family of products rather than the former ridiculously diverse conglomeration :-)

I recognize this isn't as much an upgrade as it is a complete re-write.  But even when doing that professionally, you still maintain the same core functionality.  You don't turn a publishing site into a dating app and expect an easy change for users.

Quote by marleyadmin

Quote by Brookell

Quote by RejectReality

Quote by Brookell

I wish the Story List would be closer to how it was.  For example, when I was trying to find a story of my own, I would open the My Stories and the list would be all 194 of my stories.  I would do a Browser 'Find' on a word in the title or a key word and it would show up.  Finding the word 'Accident' brought me 7 stories to check to find what I was looking for.   With the stories broken up by pages, I have 20 pages to try and search through.  Some folks have many more pages.

Using the Search on the Stories page returned over 660 results for 'Accident' with my 7 buried in there somewhere.

The easiest way to find your stories as things stand is Google.  Search the title plus the limiter site:lushstories.com  The statistics displayed on the actual story page are slightly more detailed than those in your list anyway.  To narrow it down even more if the title has been used by more than one person, include your screen name in the search.

Nude Holly Day RejectReality site:lushstories.com

It's hardly ideal, but it works.  You can also enclose the title in quotes "Nude Holly Day" to ensure it searches for those words in that exact order.

So now I have to go outside Lush to do a function that I used to be able to do within Lush.  It's a workaround, but not a very elegant or intuitive one.  The ability to sort is another function I miss.

I am in IT and have done much new development.  The number one rule about implementing a new version of something was never take away functionality.  Even changing how it works, you always left the ability to do it the older way at least for a few releases. It let's you ease users into new things.  So many functions are gone or changed to the point of being less capable.  The few new things (time zone elimination in forums and the My Comments) are nice, but have we lost more than gained.  I haven't posted since the new site went up.  I haven't been interested in posting -- which for any of you who know me understand that's weird.  I haven't stopped writing, just not been posting. 

We shall be deploying an update that will address this issue shortly. You will be able to visit the stories page and in the 'search' menu you will be able to filter by author.

This means you could do a combination of searching by keywords and the author at the same time to refine the list of stories shown.

Bear in mind that the 'keywords' filter will search multiple parts of a story, such as the title and body.

Hopefully, this should resolve your issue.

Quote by RejectReality

Quote by Brookell

I wish the Story List would be closer to how it was.  For example, when I was trying to find a story of my own, I would open the My Stories and the list would be all 194 of my stories.  I would do a Browser 'Find' on a word in the title or a key word and it would show up.  Finding the word 'Accident' brought me 7 stories to check to find what I was looking for.   With the stories broken up by pages, I have 20 pages to try and search through.  Some folks have many more pages.

Using the Search on the Stories page returned over 660 results for 'Accident' with my 7 buried in there somewhere.

The easiest way to find your stories as things stand is Google.  Search the title plus the limiter site:lushstories.com  The statistics displayed on the actual story page are slightly more detailed than those in your list anyway.  To narrow it down even more if the title has been used by more than one person, include your screen name in the search.

Nude Holly Day RejectReality site:lushstories.com

It's hardly ideal, but it works.  You can also enclose the title in quotes "Nude Holly Day" to ensure it searches for those words in that exact order.

So now I have to go outside Lush to do a function that I used to be able to do within Lush.  It's a workaround, but not a very elegant or intuitive one.  The ability to sort is another function I miss.

I am in IT and have done much new development.  The number one rule about implementing a new version of something was never take away functionality.  Even changing how it works, you always left the ability to do it the older way at least for a few releases. It let's you ease users into new things.  So many functions are gone or changed to the point of being less capable.  The few new things (time zone elimination in forums and the My Comments) are nice, but have we lost more than gained.  I haven't posted since the new site went up.  I haven't been interested in posting -- which for any of you who know me understand that's weird.  I haven't stopped writing, just not been posting. 

I wish the Story List would be closer to how it was.  For example, when I was trying to find a story of my own, I would open the My Stories and the list would be all 194 of my stories.  I would do a Browser 'Find' on a word in the title or a key word and it would show up.  Finding the word 'Accident' brought me 7 stories to check to find what I was looking for.   With the stories broken up by pages, I have 20 pages to try and search through.  Some folks have many more pages.

Using the Search on the Stories page returned over 660 results for 'Accident' with my 7 buried in there somewhere.

Quote by Jen

Quote by Brookell

Are you trying to drive people away from Lush?

I'm being serious.  Since Lush 2.0 started I have gotten several identical emails that all have the same title:

"I'd like to know more . . .". 

And they all have the same body: "Oh hey there!

I've been checking out your profile and I like what I've seen, why don't you take a look at mine to see if we click?
Hope to hear from you soon. 😉 "

If this is the type of crap I can expect, I would like to discuss a refund of my Gold status because I am not going to be posting again.  I've published over 190 stories, I have an Omniun Badge that I was surprisingly proud to have earned in less than 3 years, but these emails indicate that this site is turning from a place to spend time, read quality stories and meet interesting people to something I don't recognize  and do not wish to be a part of.  Please tell me this is some sort of bug.  If not, please tell me how I can download my stories like we used to be able to on the old site and I will pack my bags and go elsewhere.  I am very unhappy right this minute.

  Brookell

Hiya, they are looking to remove this feature

Are you trying to drive people away from Lush?

I'm being serious.  Since Lush 2.0 started I have gotten several identical emails that all have the same title:

"I'd like to know more . . .". 

And they all have the same body: "Oh hey there!

I've been checking out your profile and I like what I've seen, why don't you take a look at mine to see if we click?
Hope to hear from you soon. 😉 "

If this is the type of crap I can expect, I would like to discuss a refund of my Gold status because I am not going to be posting again.  I've published over 190 stories, I have an Omniun Badge that I was surprisingly proud to have earned in less than 3 years, but these emails indicate that this site is turning from a place to spend time, read quality stories and meet interesting people to something I don't recognize  and do not wish to be a part of.  Please tell me this is some sort of bug.  If not, please tell me how I can download my stories like we used to be able to on the old site and I will pack my bags and go elsewhere.  I am very unhappy right this minute.

  Brookell

Quote by LakeShoreLimited

Quote by adele

Quote by Jen

Quote by DarkSide

Did you know that anyone can select the words of anyone's story and cut and paste them into word and then modify them. I think this is a huge bug that should be addressed very soon.

This has been brought up before, I think. Just want to clarify... do you mean you can copy a story to your own computer? I'm assuming you don't mean you can change someone else's story here.

This has actually always been possible from a phone or a tablet. Not being able to cut/paste from a PC might give a false sense of security, but in reality scraper sites and anyone wanting to plagiarise content won't be deterred I'm afraid. 

I noticed this as well... on the old site I could not even copy my own stories if I just opened them up normally. I had to go into edit mode to be able to copy them. Now I can copy any story. I realize a determined person could find a way around it, but at least it deterred some people. For a supposed writing site, writers do seem to have taken the biggest hit in the name of "progress".

It was always possible on two other sites with older software - I mean with a desktop. I just tried it again to make sure. I never experimented with Lush text. Unfortunately a lot of stuff on the Internet can be just copied - most images, for example. It could be protected, but most sites don't bother. Getty Images has a watermark over theirs, until one buys a copy from them.

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

I'm still not getting emails about the authors I'm following. And I know that some have published because I've seen their stories on the (very short) Front Page.

Moreover, I've received ZERO notifications that any of the 53 authors I'm following have published anything. That seems…unlikely.

Thanks.

Quote by kistinspencil

Quote by adele

Quote by Jen

Hiya. The data is there, but how we manage it and access it probably falls under design features rather than bugs at the moment. Great feedback though, so we will add it to the design features list.

Re the scores, this has been noted as a bug and is being looked at. Thank you 🥰

I don't see the loss of story data as a design feature. it is valuable information to a lot of authors. We had it before, and it should still be there now, not months from now as a "new feature".

First time in four years I haven't been able to log my total reads, reads/votes/comments per story, etc. My OCD is going right through the roof. 

I have to agree with Kistin, I track my comments, views, even words written in a spreadsheet and having the data in the old site and losing it now doesn't feel like a design feature. 

A couple of other things I preferred on the old site, looking at the current Competition, the story list is only a partial list.  In fact all the old Comps are that way as well, only about 15 stories are listed and I know for a fact there were many more. My own entries are missing except for the one comp I made it in at the last minute.  That tells me the story list for the comp is probably the last 15 entries.  That really needs to be fixed.

I also would prefer the old "My stories" list.  This one takes up a lot of room for each story and is multiple pages instead of a long list.  We've also lost the ability to sort or download the stories. 

Hopefully these things are on the to-do-list as opposed to the 'someday-list'.  Thanks,

     Brooke

Quote by Jen

Quote by Brookell

Three things I've noticed so far:

1.  The Competition page for the current Comp is only showing a few of the stories.

2.  I prefer the Timeline to the Notifications, I like seeing all the activity in a list, even things I might have already responded to.

3.  The story Views are rounded off, I prefer the old way of whole numbers.  I know, I know I am anal, but I was tracking my views.

Other than that, the upgrade seems kinda clunky compared to the old site.  I will reserve judgement and take the time to get to know it.

  Brookell

For timelines, click on your avatar, then 'my comments'. You can also use this link https://www.lushstories.com/feedback. Then you can filter activity by story, profile etc.

Thanks for the reply, Jen, but hopefully you see what I mean by clunky.  What used to take one click, now takes several to get to the page, change the filter, and then it not displays very few compared to the old timeline, but it has my own replies taking up space.  Clunky!

Three things I've noticed so far:

1.  The Competition page for the current Comp is only showing a few of the stories.

2.  I prefer the Timeline to the Notifications, I like seeing all the activity in a list, even things I might have already responded to.

3.  The story Views are rounded off, I prefer the old way of whole numbers.  I know, I know I am anal, but I was tracking my views.

Other than that, the upgrade seems kinda clunky compared to the old site.  I will reserve judgement and take the time to get to know it.

  Brookell

Quote by clum


That could be a really interesting exercise. Finding the essence of your story and distilling it into 100 words. Makes you really consider what the key moment in the story is that opens up the rest of it.

I don't have many micros, but I'm actually more tempted to go the other direction and expand them into full-length stories. There are so many details that exist only in my head because they didn't make the 100-word cut.

Quote by Green_Man


It might be helpful to some people to try writing micros over on our sister site. For one thing, the stories would definitely not need to be erotic. Any theme or subject matter is welcome since erotica is all you need to avoid. Here on Lush being erotic is the main feature, one would expect.

I've posted 136 micros on SS at this point. Clearly that is mainly because micros were an established category there for many years. Here on Lush, I have only written 7.

Quote by Meggsy


You forgot the "Eh" .... "Eh.

Like Dave- Aussie English --- without the "Eh" I am from New South Wales.

Only Aussies will get this one.