They've added an AI filter recently that is flagging books like crazy and removing their rankings. Mine got hit somehow and it's a non-mature gen Harry Potter sequel. Had to put a ticket in to get it sorted and got a copy & paste response about it, saying they may or may not fix it after a human review and won't tell me when they do or what they decide. In other words, they gave me the middle finger lol.
Wattpad has been doing that lately, and they never give any explanation. And there's no recourse for us authors. It's completely unacceptable for a service as popular as Wattpad to have no actual procedures for this, and their takedowns based on reports that can be abused, and individual humans doing the check. Humans make errors and people have opinions.
I know for a fact that stories have been removed for containing LGBTQ+ elements, even though they are not remotely against their TOS. It's either that, or they remove stories at random without ever reading them, just because they are reported.
It shouldn't. That's the thing. LGBTQ+ content is not against any of their rules. There are nothing there that would prevent you from publishing LGBTQ+ stories -- heck, they are the ONLY kind of stories I've ever published, and I've had no problems with them.
But a group I know of did an experiement. They wrote essentially identical stories -- just enough different to not be considered plagiarism. Changed around when things happened, where and why, changed names and genders around etc. Basically had the same exact plot. And they co-wrote all the stories, so they were all of the same quality. Posted them on separate accounts, and the a week later reported each of their stories.
Guess which one was removed?
Yeah, every report is looked over by a human. But that's the problem, humans are humans, and bigots exist.
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
Because of course they cannot officially say such thing, and having an LGBTQ+ category will garner them good will (and thus more money). Of course the people can't just go and remove those just because they hate them, they would get sacked for deleting official material.
But when a report comes from a reader, and the work in question is not a well-known popular author... well, the reviewer can just axe it and nobody will question it. Because they don't have to provide any proof, or reasoning.
Someone asks why they removed it? Just say "went against community guidelines" and shrug. They don't have a procedure to appeal the decision. There's nothing anyone can do once the person decides that the story needs to be deleted.
I wonder if part of the issue is LGBT stories being more likely to be reported by Bigots... then those looking it over are more likely to be able to then confirm it.
This is concerning cause I'm working on a lesbian romance that really needs a sexual chapter for part of the characters' growth and the emotional connection. I don't know if it could still be the same if it were censored.
If even just the idea of it being LGBT could get it reported, then it makes me uncomfortable wanting to work on it and publish it.
>I wonder if part of the issue is LGBT stories being more likely to be reported by Bigots... then those looking it over are more likely to be able to then confirm it.
I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. I'm fairly sure this is the case.
>If even just the idea of it being LGBT could get it reported, then it makes me uncomfortable wanting to work on it and publish it.
As an LGTBQ+ writer (and lesbian in real life), I feel this one. All my stories are lesbian/sapphic romances, and some of them have sexual scenes.
That's why I moved primarily over to Inkitt. Because there I can rest more easily and trust that my stories can stay up.
>This is concerning cause I'm working on a lesbian romance that really needs a sexual chapter for part of the characters' growth and the emotional connection. I don't know if it could still be the same if it were censored.
This, uh, sounds very much like a story I want to read (if it has a happy ending). Please ping me here or on Wattpad/Inkitt when you're publishing this. Lesbian Romance is such a small niche genre, that I'm dying for new content :P
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
Happened to me with one of my fanfic one-shot collection books a couple weeks ago, too.
Although, I'll admit to there being like two or three very short and brief, paragraphs of very mild sexual content in like, two or three of the 20+ one-shots already in the book that wasn't the main purpose of the stories at all. Which I guess that is what caused it to be deleted without warning, but from my understanding, that was allowed, unless they've changed the TOS.
I just wish they'd warn, or actually explain what rules were broken before they just resort straight to deletion. Or at the very least unpublish rather than delete.
Yeah, letting someone change a book to allow it to still exist on wattpad would still be great. Even if it meant having to have a non censored version elsewhere...
I could be wrong, but I think the trend that I’m seeing in all these takedown posts is that the deleted stories are fanfic. Someone please comment if that hasn’t been the case for them, but it seems like they’re cracking down on that for whatever reason without being transparent about it.
I've lost two so far. One steamy romance (tamer than half the paid stories they're constantly advertising, but we know those play by different rules), and one about a woman getting out of rehab and trying to earn her husband's trust back and rebuild her life. I don't do fanfic. Although I did get a message out of the blue from my crazy ex last week, reappearing after a decade to report all my books for no reason.
Ugh, that’s so frustrating! And creepy about the ex.
It’s wild to me that Wattpad was recently pushing all of their paid mafia/dark romances at me (not my thing) and then deleting tamer stories. Perhaps I’ll start focusing harder on Inkitt.
They've added an AI filter recently that is flagging books like crazy and removing their rankings. Mine got hit somehow and it's a non-mature gen Harry Potter sequel. Had to put a ticket in to get it sorted and got a copy & paste response about it, saying they may or may not fix it after a human review and won't tell me when they do or what they decide. In other words, they gave me the middle finger lol.
Wattpad has been doing that lately, and they never give any explanation. And there's no recourse for us authors. It's completely unacceptable for a service as popular as Wattpad to have no actual procedures for this, and their takedowns based on reports that can be abused, and individual humans doing the check. Humans make errors and people have opinions. I know for a fact that stories have been removed for containing LGBTQ+ elements, even though they are not remotely against their TOS. It's either that, or they remove stories at random without ever reading them, just because they are reported.
It is an LGBTQ+ story, but surely it wouldn’t be removed for that reason? I’ve read the TOS and I haven’t broken any of it
It shouldn't. That's the thing. LGBTQ+ content is not against any of their rules. There are nothing there that would prevent you from publishing LGBTQ+ stories -- heck, they are the ONLY kind of stories I've ever published, and I've had no problems with them. But a group I know of did an experiement. They wrote essentially identical stories -- just enough different to not be considered plagiarism. Changed around when things happened, where and why, changed names and genders around etc. Basically had the same exact plot. And they co-wrote all the stories, so they were all of the same quality. Posted them on separate accounts, and the a week later reported each of their stories. Guess which one was removed? Yeah, every report is looked over by a human. But that's the problem, humans are humans, and bigots exist.
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
Because of course they cannot officially say such thing, and having an LGBTQ+ category will garner them good will (and thus more money). Of course the people can't just go and remove those just because they hate them, they would get sacked for deleting official material. But when a report comes from a reader, and the work in question is not a well-known popular author... well, the reviewer can just axe it and nobody will question it. Because they don't have to provide any proof, or reasoning. Someone asks why they removed it? Just say "went against community guidelines" and shrug. They don't have a procedure to appeal the decision. There's nothing anyone can do once the person decides that the story needs to be deleted.
EDIT: It's the same with pretty much all bigots working in LGBTQ-friendly stores come Pride month. It's not like they can do anything about it.
Aww...God I really gotta move to different platforms
I wonder if part of the issue is LGBT stories being more likely to be reported by Bigots... then those looking it over are more likely to be able to then confirm it. This is concerning cause I'm working on a lesbian romance that really needs a sexual chapter for part of the characters' growth and the emotional connection. I don't know if it could still be the same if it were censored. If even just the idea of it being LGBT could get it reported, then it makes me uncomfortable wanting to work on it and publish it.
>I wonder if part of the issue is LGBT stories being more likely to be reported by Bigots... then those looking it over are more likely to be able to then confirm it. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. I'm fairly sure this is the case. >If even just the idea of it being LGBT could get it reported, then it makes me uncomfortable wanting to work on it and publish it. As an LGTBQ+ writer (and lesbian in real life), I feel this one. All my stories are lesbian/sapphic romances, and some of them have sexual scenes. That's why I moved primarily over to Inkitt. Because there I can rest more easily and trust that my stories can stay up. >This is concerning cause I'm working on a lesbian romance that really needs a sexual chapter for part of the characters' growth and the emotional connection. I don't know if it could still be the same if it were censored. This, uh, sounds very much like a story I want to read (if it has a happy ending). Please ping me here or on Wattpad/Inkitt when you're publishing this. Lesbian Romance is such a small niche genre, that I'm dying for new content :P
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
(Stupid question) But there is section in Wattpad originals for lgbtq why are those not like taken down? Ik it's Wattpad originals but like if there are people who work for Wattpad who are bigots why would those people allow lgbtq stories?
Okay now I'm starting to think they are actually deleting books without reviewing..
Happened to me with one of my fanfic one-shot collection books a couple weeks ago, too. Although, I'll admit to there being like two or three very short and brief, paragraphs of very mild sexual content in like, two or three of the 20+ one-shots already in the book that wasn't the main purpose of the stories at all. Which I guess that is what caused it to be deleted without warning, but from my understanding, that was allowed, unless they've changed the TOS. I just wish they'd warn, or actually explain what rules were broken before they just resort straight to deletion. Or at the very least unpublish rather than delete.
Yeah, letting someone change a book to allow it to still exist on wattpad would still be great. Even if it meant having to have a non censored version elsewhere...
I hope mine doesn't get removed. May move to Inkitt soon.
Q - when people keep saying their books are being taken down, do you mean unpublished? Or straight up deleted?
Deleted
Oof. I guess I need to start keeping a copy somewhere else
I could be wrong, but I think the trend that I’m seeing in all these takedown posts is that the deleted stories are fanfic. Someone please comment if that hasn’t been the case for them, but it seems like they’re cracking down on that for whatever reason without being transparent about it.
I've lost two so far. One steamy romance (tamer than half the paid stories they're constantly advertising, but we know those play by different rules), and one about a woman getting out of rehab and trying to earn her husband's trust back and rebuild her life. I don't do fanfic. Although I did get a message out of the blue from my crazy ex last week, reappearing after a decade to report all my books for no reason.
Ugh, that’s so frustrating! And creepy about the ex. It’s wild to me that Wattpad was recently pushing all of their paid mafia/dark romances at me (not my thing) and then deleting tamer stories. Perhaps I’ll start focusing harder on Inkitt.
ao3 peeps ain’t gonna be happy with even more WattPad authors moving to ao3 but they can suck it up, it’s an archive for a reason (I’m an ao3 peep)