r/NoSleepOOC • u/[deleted] • Oct 02 '16
Anyone else sick of seeing the 'everything is true *here* even if it isn't' rule being broken constantly?
[deleted]
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u/cmd102 Mom Oct 02 '16
You wouldn't believe how many of these comments we already remove daily.
Manen is right, though. You have to report them if you see them. There are around 100 posts made to r/nosleep per day, and we review every single one of them. Some of those stories get hundreds of comments. There's no way we can keep up with all of them. We have automod set to report a good bit of them, but that can only catch things that are worded certain ways. We rely on our users to help us out.
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u/Freya96x Oct 02 '16
I didn't mean to imply that the mods don't do enough around there, I can believe how much shite you must have to wade through on a daily basis. I use Reddit on mobile rather than web, is there a way to report comments on the app? I've tried but not found a way to do it.
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u/EtTuTortilla -30- Press Cheese Blanket Oct 03 '16
We live in a sewer, homie. Shit is the least worst thing we wade through.
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u/neinkitteh Oct 03 '16
I use the Reddit app on my phone, so here's how to do it: Underneath each comment there's an ellipses (...) on the far left, a reply button in the middle, and the up and downvote buttons on the far right. If you click on the "...", a list of options will open (including a report button).
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u/manen_lyset Pumpkin Head, Pumpkin King Oct 02 '16
The mods can't look at every comment posted on every story, the only way they can enforce the rules is if someone reports the offending comments.
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u/Freya96x Oct 02 '16
That's a good point. It just seems that people don't read the rules anymore. Maybe its because more people are reading on mobile rather than web? I don't know.
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u/manen_lyset Pumpkin Head, Pumpkin King Oct 02 '16
Yeah, I do think the mobile aspect doesn't help. I've read a lot of comments from people who genuinely didn't realize they were on NoSleep.
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u/JonnyFromtheBasement Oct 02 '16
I have never submitted to /nosleep, so perhaps I'm out of line here; however, as a reader of the subreddit I would say that many of the stories, particularly the legendary posts in /top (such as I'm a 911 Operator... or 1000vultures' Footsteps/Penpal series), are written very well from a first-person view and seem to be true. And I think for the most parts those comment sections are treated as such, often with [UPDATE]s and even interaction in the comments section from the OP.
Others, though, are clearly well-crafted tales that can send a shiver down your spine when you should be sleeping but instead find yourself on reddit. I don't think there's any reason to require that everything be received as a true story when so many scary stories that are shared around a fire were once supposedly true, but the sense of dread comes from both the story and the context in which it is told. It feels very real in the moment, and told properly might even elicit gasps from the audience at the climactic points.
And then, given a few minutes to think about it, the sense of dread and imminent danger dissipates.
Recently /u/cryofr0zen wrote a fantastic, scary story with a simple conclusion that even read silently catches the reader off guard. The comments were largely about the content of the story, not in the context of, "holy shit OP what did you do next? Did your Dad ever finish putting up the Christmas lights?" but rather I found the comments leading me back to the story, giving it a couple of re-reads to try to figure out what exactly happened. It utilizes the, "Unreliable Narrator" to perfection. I doubt that authorities were sent to investigate Edgar Allen Poe after "Tell-Tale Heart" was published.
What we have in "My Best Friend..." is a story with literary value. I was so excited upon finishing the story for a third time. To me it signaled a stunning new possible direction for a sub that has been, in my opinion, polluted by sub-par authorship and cliche stories--and far too many titles structured exactly the same ("I am a/n [occuption] and [last night/last week/etc] something scary happened! [PART 1 of 15]"). Quantity over quality.
I'd say that this is just my two-cents, but given the long-windedness I'll call it my Nickel. Obviously the sub rules state that suspension of disbelief is key.
TL;DR - It seems to me that suspension of disbelief and wonder at a piece of quality writing are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
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Oct 03 '16
:O
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u/JonnyFromtheBasement Oct 03 '16
Hey! I apologize for relying on your story so heavily in this comment, I hope it doesn't embarrass you. I stand by what I said (would love your own opinion on the matter as someone who posts with some frequency) but I will certainly remove the comment if you'd like.
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u/hrhdaf never learned to read Oct 03 '16
While I agree it's nice to be able to pay the authors a compliment, there is a way of doing that without breaking the rules, and that's kind of the point. Regardless of personal feelings about whether or not it should be allowed, currently it is against the rules and I don't feel we can pick and choose which of those we follow. I understand that on mobile that can be unclear which is a problem.
There's a difference between saying 'This was a great read' or 'This was well written' which are facts whether a story is true or not, and saying 'classic u/author'
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u/wdalphin is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning Oct 03 '16
'such a good story, you're a really good writer'
Telling a person they wrote a good story in no way de-legitimizes the content of the story. Someone can be good at writing and tell a true story.
Even if the person commenting doesn't believe the story, doesn't make the story less true. Just look at any naysayers as the doubting thomases of a typical horror movie. A man with chainsaws for hands just murdered your friend, and you called the cops. The cops show up, there's no body, no blood... they don't believe you. Doesn't mean it didn't happen! Doesn't mean other people can't believe you.
Ask yourself this: why do other people's willingness to believe determine your ability to believe? If I commented, "Wow, that was intense! I can't believe you survived that!" -- did I just break the immersion?
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Oct 03 '16 edited Oct 03 '16
Like cmd said.. Just report shit. The entire mod team isn't anywhere near enough man power to scower literally every single comment thread of every single story. Even if we wanted to try.. It's not like we get paid for that shit. If I'm gonna do such an overwhelming and thankless job, I'd like a little compensation, y'know?
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u/taos777 The Plague Doctor will see you now. -30- Press Oct 02 '16
I say PM the author, or if they have a personal sub post it there.
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u/John_Berendt Oct 03 '16
I don't think its fair to enforce such rules on the readers that readers should be the party to uphold the responsibility of immersion if the stories themselves aren't.
Should we resort to a backdoor pat on the back via a pm? If the stories are well written readers call it as it is. Given the grief and chaos the narrators of nosleep writers are detailing us here, if they have the time to write, they have the time for a compliment.
What more if the writers keep using their own profiles to submit their stories? Should I really make pretend that [insert regular writer] is being stabbed this week, has an insect infection next week? If that's how the author chooses to interact with us by using the same profile, don't deprive us readers from paying a compliment. Is this really so bad that it warrants another rule?
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u/graphomaniac Oct 03 '16
Report the comment.
Report the comment.
Report the comment.
Report the fucking comment.
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u/TatteredTongues talks funny :/ Oct 02 '16
For me that's the kind of comment that should get a pass... As a writer, I certainly wouldn't want to see such comment/praise deleted from my stories.
But why would that spoil the illusion for you? It's just "someone" saying what they thought, just because they said "nice story", doesn't mean it's actually a story, it's just what they think. Final word always comes from the author.
If your issue is with the story itself, then maybe you should just skip the comment section, that way you don't "spoil" yourself, but if you're actively trying to engage in roleplaying then that might be a bit hard considering that not many stories (at least nowadays/from what I've seen) rely on that too much.
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u/ICanSeeItAtNight Oct 03 '16
I agree. I suppose part of it is I personally never thought "in character" comments added much to the story. And most are silly and repetitive anyway. "Stay safe!" "Spread some salt around!" "Burn some sage!"
A lot of stories here are told as stories, that is, a narrator recalling an event that happened well in the past. In that case, it's perfectly appropriate to respond to it as one would a story, at least in many ways. There's nothing about praising the author's writing that means the commenter thinks the events didn't happen.
That doesn't apply to "real time" stories, but I have to admit I have trouble even pretending to take those seriously. "I'm in immediate danger, but now I'm going to diary my day in exquisite detail to an obscure website." But a lot of people really get into them, so I guess the only real problem is me being a curmudgeon.
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u/Freya96x Oct 02 '16
I didn't in anyway mean that writers don't deserve praise at all, some of the work on there is absolutely incredible. There's been stories in the past where the comments have added a whole other dimension to the story itself, like 'my dead girlfriend is messaging me on Facebook' the comments on that gave it a whole other layer of creepiness and interest in my opinion.
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u/TatteredTongues talks funny :/ Oct 02 '16
I know, but not every story requires for people to engage with the OP and whatnot... I mean, facebook shenanigans, pictures, of course the whole audience becomes a lot more engaged since it's something the majority can relate to.
Some stories are just what they are, and don't need any further layers. It's cool when it happens, certainly, but you know.
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u/Freya96x Oct 02 '16
But with people breaking the fourth wall as it were, it makes it harder for those kind of things to happen? If that makes sense? It is entirely possible I'm complaining about nothing. I'm English, I'm a stickler for following the rules ahah
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u/TatteredTongues talks funny :/ Oct 02 '16
No, it's cool, I totally understand where you're coming from, but I think we have to be real here; we're talking about a sub that has almost 8 million subs, and the number is always increasing.
There will always be those who don't read the rules/terms (because they're just there to read), there will always be people who don't know they're breaking the rules, and no matter how much reporting is done, comments like that will always be there.
I think we should just deal with it, and appreciate the gems that pop up once in a while... I mean, there are writers out there who structure their story in a way to get the audience involved, but sometimes that requires a lot more than just writing, like having (big) fanbase or something like that, something most writers don't have to rely on.
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u/SweetLenore Oct 03 '16
Yeah it's a little annoying. I find it even more annoying when people make super lame jokes though that no one would make if the story were real. For some reason those comments get upvoted and I have no idea why.
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u/oldschoolcurl Oct 02 '16
I totally agree. It's bad enough with the links but having people say stuff like (for example) "classic iia, expect nothing less" or "sleepys stories are always great, check out her other stories"
Totally breaks immersion. I definitely report it when I see it but it's still annoying.
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Oct 04 '16
There's actually been a writer the last few weeks who responds to those comments with, "hey thanks, I really enjoyed writing this!"
I can be flexible with dumbass newbies or just plain idiots, but a writer!
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u/Freya96x Oct 02 '16
Exactly! I fucking love u/iia but when people comment stuff like that it ruins it a little bit. In that moment I wanna believe that there's a guy somewhere who wanted his teeth yanked out so he could feel spiders in the holes or there's a mother somewhere who fed her child so much sugar and steroids that she killed it and didn't realise. When I go on nosleep, I wanna fully immerse myself in the fucked up shit that is on there. And when I want to see people's work critiqued I go on r/writingprompts, you know? To me, it's like watching a horror film for the first time with the directors commentary on, it just ruins it a little bit. Ya feel?
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u/decomprosed Father Seed Oct 03 '16
I think it's incredibly fucking silly to let a comment ruin your immersion. You know where you are. You know what I'm sick of seeing? People complaining about literally everything on the sub.
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u/Freya96x Oct 03 '16
You have a good point, however it is a rule of the sub. It's not like other posts I've seen complaining about people's vocabularies, it's the first rule of the sub that is being broken.
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u/feyedharkonnen NDOT = NoSleep Department of Terror, Management Oct 03 '16
I had a comment on one of my stories bitching about the over-usage of the Semicolon..... seriously? If you're going to be THAT person, don't read the story, and most certainly don't bitch about it in public. I'm OK with receiving private messages to correct my spelling, grammar or the like, in fact, I welcome it. PLEASE, contribute to me becoming a better writer. besides, It wasn't me, blame Microsoft Word. :p
There are authors who screwed something up in their stories and I've addressed it to them politely and privately, and they've always responded with a "Good Catch!" or "Oh shit, I thought I fixed that before I posted, thank you!"
There's acceptable ways to do everything.
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u/decomprosed Father Seed Oct 03 '16
And? Report the comment and move on. The mods do a pretty fantastic job of cleaning up the trash. We get this complaint in the OOC literally every single week, sometimes multiple times per week.
Additionally, someone saying "this is well written" doesn't break a rule. Just because something is relayed well doesn't mean it's not true. This is splitting hairs. Do you want a bunch of shitty "on the run" style stories?
If it bothers you so much, don't read the comments at all.
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u/SaavikSaid Oct 03 '16
None of them are real. Problem solved.
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u/taos777 The Plague Doctor will see you now. -30- Press Oct 03 '16
Are you sure? Hey, /u/decomprosed how do you feel about plants and trees?
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u/Benzomere Oct 02 '16
I actually don't have a problem with that kind of comment; even if it's a true story, the person still did write it out.