This was good.

9364242
Thank you ^_^ I'm just still a little worried that people will just think its some filthy rape fic and instantly downvote it.

9364287
Oh, they'll do that just because it has adult content. Don't fret the downvotes.

Seems okay to me. There are some issues with grammar and repetition but it's coherent and the idea is a good one. And far be it from me to complain about a fic starring both Rarity and Fleur.

Yeah... I write these things pretty damned fast, I tend to make small silly mistakes every here and there.

9364563
This. Don't even listen to the upvote/downvote system. It's pure coincidence that those really good multi-chapter epics get high ratings and that unbelievably shitty stories get god-awful scores. Tell you what, slugger, as long as you enjoyed writing it, then that's all that's important. Self-improvement and listening to criticism is for idiots and chumps. The only voices you should be listening to are the users who whisper sweet nothings into your ear and reassure you that the only reason your stories get bombed is because the readers are just jealous or are "haters".

Fuck you. Grow up, realize that you don't shit gold bars, listen when people tell you how to improve, and take the fucking hint if your adult fic gets bombed while another author's own adult fic that covers the exact same subject-matter gets praised. If you keep making excuses, you will NEVER improve and the only people who will read your shit will be the people who reassure you that you're doing wonderfully.

I'm so fucking sick of this attitude because I've seen it cripple writers who could have been amazing. If you care more about getting praise and ignoring scary bad words that make you face reality, then frankly it's your business. But if you do, kindly preface each story you write with "I'm a big baby who poops hard in his diapers" so that people don't waste their time trying to help you.

9375077
I should think it was pretty damned clear from these little things we call "context clues" that I was referring to the handful of downsides that all clopfics, particularly ones with any level of NC play in them, receive. Not to an overwhelming pattern, or to downsides that come with constructive criticism rather than no help whatsoever.

Sorry if that was too difficult to figure out from reading the post I was replying to.

9375077

Generally, votes tend to be less reliable as an indicator of the quality of a story the fewer of them there are. If a story has less than fifty votes, we can actually say that the votes are almost useless because the sample size is too small. If it has a good five hundred or so, we have a fairly reliable and trustworthy indication of its quality.

There are, in fact, quite a large number of people who see content warning tags like "non-con", and then they instantly go "eww, rape," and automatically hit downvote without even reading. That is a simple, plain fact. Ever notice how the fics with the highest like-to-dislike ratios are the ones that are short, E-Rated, featured fics that take some slice-of-life concept and expound upon it for all of 2000 words? That's because they're the ones that are closest to the actual show, thematically-speaking.

The more an author diverges from the show's genre and theme, the more scrutiny their work tends to receive - some of it fair, some of it not. Having a large number of content warnings (especially those dealing in darker themes) is something that frequently provokes instantaneous, knee-jerk negativity. There are people who see fictional rape, torture porn, snuff, and so forth, as an affront to their values, and they react accordingly. Some of these people have very real phobias and stuff where they get literally nauseous just thinking about such things, so it's entirely understandable. However, that doesn't mean that the work in question is bad. It just means that it isn't for them.

Stories are like food. Tropes and themes are like ingredients in a stew. If you empty an entire bottle of Mad Dog 357 into a pot of chili con carne, then only chili heads will eat it. Likewise, if you fill your fic to the brim with brutal, fetishy triple-penetration gang rape with nonstop cumflations, or Higurashi-style fingernail pulling, or whatever suits your fancy, then the sort of audience you'll attract will consist primarily of people who have a deep and abiding appreciation for such things.

In conclusion, I don't really give a damn about votes. If someone has constructive criticism to offer, that's nice, but drive-by downvotes from people who don't even read or comment are completely useless. They don't even offer any suggestions as to what could be improved.