RE- The Royal Road Storm
Added 2023-08-06 22:00:04 +0000 UTCWell, this isn't how I planned to start the week. TL:DR- I won't be on RR for the foreseeable future, but I will be posting as usual here. Nothing should change on the Patreon side of things, other than untethering the tiers from RR.
Let's get the obvious out of the way- I was in the Secret Mafia discord group, and am one of the banned authors from it. My main involvement in that server was chatting with people and swapping shout-outs, but it seems I was prominent enough to merit a ban. Right now, the situation is very chaotic- the mods were very clearly forced to move before they wanted to, and as a result, have decided to ban most, and warn a few others. I do plan to appeal the decision, but as I write this, bans are still going out. Frankly, nothing good is going to happen for a few days at the earliest. Best to let the dust settle and see how things shake out.
The thing that kind of kills me is the implication that this story's success was tied to people upvoting reviews. As of the last time I checked, there were in excess of 1,000 5* ratings for Slumrat Rising, and less than twenty .5* ratings. Like I didn't post five times a week and spent an ungodly number of hours a day researching, editing, and reviewing, trying to make this the best story it could be.
Well, self-pity aside, here's what it means for my Patrons: Almost nothing. Yeah, basically, I plan on keeping on the same release schedule, release time, everything. I might streamline the tiers- nobody was using the Dread Magus tier, so that's no loss. Might untether from RR too, but I'm going to hold off on that if I can. If at all possible, I would like to keep releasing on RR, as a way to build an audience.
I haven't mentioned it often, but Slumrat does have a three-book deal with Podium. Those are coming later this year (Vol. 3 will be published next year, of course, as I won't have finished writing it until the end of December at the very earliest, and more realistically, January.) So that's all good.
If the ban does turn out to be truly permanent, with no hope of reconciliation, I will take down all my books from Royal Road, and explore other publishing options. Life will go on, and I will keep writing. But damn, what a lousy outcome from trying to network.
Thank you all for your support. It means the world, now more than ever.
Warby
Comments
I've totally missed this drama. Glad that it sorted itself out.
gostsamo
2023-11-07 20:03:42 +0000 UTCSo uh, extra reviews aren't the problem or the violation that was going on. Asking people to leave a review has always been allowed and is why the system is broken. The issue here was review swaps (authors agreeing to review each others work) without disclosing it or by using 3 authors. The other issue was review rating manipulation, where bad reviews would get down voted while good reviews would get upvoted. It's definitely manipulation but your point about "extra" reviews is why it seems not that major. An author can have 100 extra reviews from friends, family, and swaps, overwhelmingly positive and that's all considered fair and proper by RR.
School work
2023-08-07 09:39:11 +0000 UTCI can get that but it does sound like there was also genuine support and collaboration going on, not solely review fixing. Also a little bit mitigating that the group that brought this to RR's attentions has also seen at least one of their members perma banned and allegedly engaged in similar tactics. Tbh, though, this has always been a problem on RR and is part of why their sorting and reviews are garbage and don't actually lead you to good fiction. Funnily enough I found this fiction because an author I support joined the Patreon. I guess that too could be manipulated but it's less likely.
School work
2023-08-07 06:31:46 +0000 UTCYour work has been the high point in my day hundreds of times, you've had our back for a long while we got yours now
Gavin Olsen
2023-08-06 23:42:20 +0000 UTCI got into your writing through journey to the far shore which is definitely in my top 3 stories I've ever read. I think slumrat is amazing and only getting better over time which is awesome. I'm incredibly happy for your success. I'm not going to get on a high horse and say I don't get why authors do shout outs and whatnot but Jackofhearts and his core gorup DESERVED those bans. Hopefully you didn't do the same things he was doing and can stay on RR once the dust settles.
Jackson Ragland
2023-08-06 23:26:45 +0000 UTCI really think your story is fantastic and it would have got here without any review swapping or artificial review boosting. But, I do think you are avoiding taking any responsibility for how unfair the group has been for authors not in there. I had a read of the Royal Road statement and it’s pretty clear that while they moved before they wanted to, authors were breaking rules which was creating an unfair boosting. Not putting your hands up and saying what you (collective you of authors on a group where you were a mod?) were doing was wrong is kind of distasteful in my opinion. Good luck with everything though. I genuinely think your story is fantastic.
Emma1997
2023-08-06 23:17:37 +0000 UTCYeah, my thoughts exactly. They are probably trying to not overflow their appeals system for other cases, while they block the potential malicious backlash of unbanned alts or members of the group from going on a review bombing spree. Once they can look into who reviewed which stories, and build a general timeline of the fixings, I'm sure they will reduce the severity of the bans for most unrelated people.
Deathly_God
2023-08-06 22:45:57 +0000 UTCWhile I really enjoy this story, and I think it's unfortunate that this happened, it's hard for me not to notice the side-step in your post. Rising Star has always been about publicity and getting extra momentum and views to your story. While I genuinely think your story didn't need any of this cabal nonsense, I find it hard to believe that as a mod of the server, you *never* saw any discussion of nearly 100 people talking about review fixing. With the timeline of everything given, and the timing of the launch of your story, it's conceivable to outside parties like myself and an RR admin digging through, that you could have benefited early on from an extra 10 reviews. I genuinely hope your ban is just temporary, but also it's a bit of a lesson for all of us to be aware of the servers were are in. I've seen somes stories nuked because the author happened to be mod'ing in a Discord server that was spewing racist garbage. The messages never got moderated. Word got out and people dropped the stories like it was hot. And there are still some active RR authors who I have seen have servers like that, not to name any names... Take it easy Warby. You have a great story, and a great written voice. Just turn down mod'ships on servers you don't intend to actively police, and you'll be fine :)
Deathly_God
2023-08-06 22:44:18 +0000 UTCOh man, what a mess. Since it's not on the main page (probably to avoid inciting even more stuff), RR's post is here: https://www.royalroad.com/blog/58/recent-moderation-actions It's really a pity that they were rushed in this case by some other group trying to push the issue. I can see why they felt like they had to move quickly on this one, but hopefully once there's been some time to calm down they'll walk back their policy of immediate permanent bans.
MrHrulgin
2023-08-06 22:30:10 +0000 UTCYour story is absolutely one of the best things that was on RR and to imply that your following was built on anything other than the strength of the content and your incredible publishing rate is incredibly insulting. Keep on trucking im not going anywhere anytime soon and im sure most others agree. Fighting!
Lazerus56
2023-08-06 22:26:00 +0000 UTCHey man food always makes my day better, but that is sucky. For the record though in a year or 2 when your wildly successful and rolling in the dough I hope you can look back and laugh on this:)
Paul
2023-08-06 22:13:36 +0000 UTCwoahh extreme, as others have said, your writing stands on its own merit, and backroom viral marketing is how.. everything gets done these days.. most twitch streamers and youtubers wouldn't be where they were without collabs with bigger artists and fan marketing
William Jackson
2023-08-06 22:11:54 +0000 UTCfrom the sounds of it there was a discord of authors that would trade reviews and shootouts (prolly why a lot of authors on RR started doing shout outs) RR Decided that doing so was padding ratings and being unfair to authors not in the group and banned any authors related to it outright, Warby being one. lil extreme tbh.
William Jackson
2023-08-06 22:10:11 +0000 UTCThey didn't specify what it was that I did, just that I violated the TOS. It is REALLY clear, as in, they said as much on the RR blog, that they were rushed into this. I do have some small hope that I can return to RR, as I really do like the platform in most ways. It is just a hell of a downer. Right now, I think the most productive thing I can do is go cook dinner. So I'm going to do that. Thank you, again, for your support. It's about the only thing lifting my spirits right now.
Nonnyor Business
2023-08-06 22:08:35 +0000 UTCThat's terrible. Sorry that happened to you Warby. I think you should keep your head high. You're a really good writer and by banning you RR is cutting off its own foot.
John Anastacio
2023-08-06 22:06:21 +0000 UTCWhat is the ban in response to? Shout-outs?
_mori
2023-08-06 22:04:38 +0000 UTCSounds like a shitshow, good luck with it all.
Joshua LaBarge
2023-08-06 22:03:15 +0000 UTC
