Why don’t the strict guidelines effect big authors?

[maye_1506]

okay well i don’t really want any more emails so yeah .

[line123462]

I do not disagree with the fact episode are letting big authors of easy. and that is not fair

but I just wanted to comment on the fact you say you cant follow the guide lines and write a decent story. that dosent mean the rules are to strick it means you cant write. most stories, not to say movies are allowed for 13 year olds. not to say the thousinds of movies made by Disney and dream works and other animation studeios, very famouse movies avabile for all ages. and you know what they didnt need curse words. the fact you think you need that to make a good story shows your story arent good. following the guidelines arent hard.

what is hard is episode basically made an app where is sexually alluring stories are popular despite the fact sex in stories are against the rules. like look at the popular stories all look sexual. and most talk about lust, not love.
and it dosent even seem like episode are against that since most featured stories too are like that.

but as I have said many times. if you think a story break guidelines report it.

[ssea.episode]

Hi! A fair amount of authors have this issue (hence the Ivy app being released in some countries). Nowadays, more and more young people are downloading the app and others, and the guidelines are there to protect them from any inappropriate content. You’ll find that guidelines on cover photos and backgrounds are more strict which can be frustrating but are there for the benefit of younger people.

Vulgar language without an asterisk is explicitly against the rules. Over time the rules have gotten more strict, but that is most likely because of the wider target audience.

I read a story titled ‘Set Me On Fire’ by lizzie.epi, and it had over 500k reads but was removed due to sexual scenes. Fortunately, episode has given the talented author a chance to edit her story.

By contacting the episode team and not giving up, even removed stories can be brought back, better than before.

As well as this, having an editor (possibly a friend, family member, or member of the community) read your story, you can prevent having - even by accident - any words, lines or scenes against the guidelines.

[Stella2003]

I’ve seen many authors going against guidelines (but I like the story so I don’t mind) and the reason is not taken down is because episode gets money out of those stories. I really don’t like how strict the guidelines are now, I’m just here waiting for Ivy and hope that one is gonna be better

[Baleigh_episode]

@maye_1506

but aren’t having their covers or backgrounds rejected despite having guns and violent stuff in them

I just scrolled through the trending section on the app some and didn’t see one cover with a gun on it so this seems like a wildly inaccurate generalization.

@maye_1506

I can’t write a decent story these days as the way in which we read and it sometimes becomes almost reality as we read on we must now “star” out swear words well that makes it differcult for us authors to add that effect into the story.

I will never get why people throw such a fit over this. It’s an asterick. Believe me, as a writer and reader I don’t judge how good work is based off of whether or not swear words are censored. Trust me, the effect is still there.
You absolutely can write good stories, great stories even by sticking to the guidelines.

I think the main issue with this is that people either take the guidelines as being a lot stricter than they actually are or they take them as being a lot looser than they are. If people would take the time to read them and learn them things would be better. If you have issues knowing whether or not you should add something I’d suggest sending in a support ticket and asking Episode.

@maye_1506

and scenes in their stories that are obviously violating guidelines and their stories aren’t being removed.

To go off of this: To be quite frank the only story I’ve seen screenshots of (I didn’t read it before it got taken down) that was on trending that I’ve seen screenshots of/read that made me feel truly uncomfortable and like it was breaking the guidelines was one that had less than 750k reads.

I’ve noticed a lot of (not necessarily from you, OP) expecting Episode to forgive smaller authors because they’re “up and coming” while also expecting Episode to go down as hard as possible on bigger authors. I’ve seen a lot of stories and scenes in these bigger stories that get completely over exaggerated and blown out of proportion.
Basically, it’s just important to learn the guidelines.

I’m sorry about your friend, but maybe there’s a way she can send an email to Episode to ask them if they can reconsider. However, I find it very hard to believe Episode took a story down because one word wasn’t censored. There might have been something else and they didn’t tell her/forgot to.

[Sydney_H]

Moved to Episode Fan Community since this is about Episode. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about creating topics, and feel free to PM me if you’ve got questions.

[hibiscusgravy]

I mean, I think a major thing is many of the bigger authors have been writing for a long time so when it comes to the guidelines they’re familiar with what they can…I dunno, get away with I guess. Like, it’s not likely they’ll forget to censor swears or have an MC under the age of 13. But many of the guidelines are vague in a way that doesn’t address the underlying context of certain themes, tropes, and scenes that have a net negative cultural influence. People who have a lot of experience writing or reading, even, on the app know all the…loopholes, I guess.

Bigger authors are also probably more likely to try and appeal any decisions Episode has made about removing their stories because they’ve already invested a lot of time and built up a fan base. And at the end of the day, Episode is a business, so they’re always going to do what’s best for their bottom line - just like any other business. If someone with a high retention rate - not just a lot of reads - says they’ll rewrite a story to better fit the guidelines and Episode thinks it will benefit them, then I guess it’s not really surprising they make those choices.

There are many stories that glorify sexual assault or rely on racist stereotypes and caricatures that don’t get removed because authors know how to include those things without violating the technicalities of the guidelines. But authors of any level of popularity are capable of doing this. The guidelines have never been enforced equilaterally, though there are more factors involved than just “big” or “small” authors.

That being said, a few prominent stories have been removed lately which makes it seem like removals are on the rise, but they’re not really. And removals are for serious violations of the guidelines, so I’m a little hesitant to accept at face value that a story was removed for a single uncensored swear. I’ve seen way worse things given the opportunity to be corrected - even among small authors, but there are many people who’ve been able to change the outcome by keeping in contact with Episode, so your friend may be able to do that.

[PoojaI]

@maye_1506

I can’t write a decent story these days as the way in which we read and it sometimes becomes almost reality as we read on we must now “star” out swear words well that makes it differcult for us authors to add that effect into the story.

They’ve had this guideline since October and I’m not understanding what the issue is with censoring profanity. Do you hear words like “fck" and "sht” on a TV show that airs at primetime, 7-8pm? It’s the same deal as that. How is making you put an asterisk stopping you from “writing a decent story”?

@maye_1506

quite clearly violate the guidelines but aren’t having their covers or backgrounds rejected despite having guns and violent stuff in them

I haven’t seen a single cover in trending with a gun in MONTHS so idk what you’re talking about.

@maye_1506

My friends story was just removed as she forgot to star 1 word only 1 and very quickly it was removed quite frankly i don’t find it very fair!!!

I’m sorry this happened to your friend, but are sure her story was removed from the APP and not from TRENDING? They don’t just remove stories from the app for one uncensored profanity. When they ask you to correct stuff, they usually just remove from trending and it’s not visible there, it’s still on the app.

[PoojaI]

@Baleigh_episode

I’ve noticed a lot of (not necessarily from you, OP) expecting Episode to forgive smaller authors because they’re “up and coming” while also expecting Episode to go down as hard as possible on bigger authors.

I’ve seen some people saying this too. A couple stories by smaller/middle got removed for excessively descriptive sexual scenes and people are claiming they’re not taking down “bigger” authors who have not violated this guideline.

[Baleigh_episode]

I’m glad you’ve noticed it too!
For me it gets frustrating because I’ve watched stories I love get dragged for having scenes that stay in guidelines but get accused of breaking them by “bigger authors” while smaller to middling authors get a pass?? I’m sorry, but if the rules are there they’re there for everyone. I’d hope someone would hold me accountable at my reads level now as they might should I grow successful.

[PoojaI]

While there might be maybe one or two things in the guidelines that are vague or grey, it’s mostly very clear and cut on what is and isn’t allowed to be shown.

“Bigger” authors have been writing here for a while and they know what is and isn’t allowed so maybe there would be something in their story that toes a bit close to the guidelines but they don’t violate them. Whereas I’ve seen smaller/middle authors just straight up breaking them and expecting a pass and throwing a fit when their story gets removed.

At a point it isn’t even about “what is appropriate for 13 yo” it’s about the fact that if you are going to write on an app for FREE you should abide by the rules that they set. Not even everything in the guidelines is about staying PG 13. Some of it (like the one about guns on covers) is about advertising and general app rules.

[Baleigh_episode]

I completely agree with everything you’ve written.