All Comments on 'Baby Bobbi's Not-So-New Sitter'

This is badly miscategorized. The 'fantasy' part of Sci Fit & Fantasy is talking about magic and dragons, not *personal* fantasies.

This belongs in either Fetish, or perhaps BDSM.

Man, I wish somebody had told me that:

1) a sapient creature that doesn't exist in the real world;

2) an advanced version of the internet that leverages holographic technology;

3) a system of worn, networked devices that efficiently communicate the boundaries of sexual consent;

4) a society where body modding - both via the sexual fluids of said fantastical creature and direct medical intervention - is the norm; and

5) a near-future sexual utopia whose existence is heavily informed by a variety of technological advancements, including the aforementioned;

didn't quality as "Sci-Fi." That would have been really useful information. Did I miss it? Was it in one of the FAQs somewhere?

Honestly, abiostudent3, I don't know where to begin. Did you miss all of that stuff? Did you forget that the category has a second portion, listed first, that you didn't even cover in your complaint? I hesitate to even ask what your version of "magic and dragons only" is for "Sci-Fi." Heaven forbid you include aliens, because I can only imagine that you've got an entire treatise explaining why certain extraterrestrial entities should still be excluded.

I credit you for two things: not making the comment anonymously, and being extremely specific in the utterly absurd and indefensible complaint you made. Sadly, that does elevate yours above many other negative comments published on the site. It's still not great.

I'll be honest, I did miss some of that; by halfway through the second page, I was skimming.

I perhaps didn't make my point clearly, so let me ask you a question: How should a story be categorized - by the background it has to be set in, or by what the action (and sex) is focused on?

If someone writes a story about a man waking up on a generation ship, finding all the life pods have failed, and repopulating it by raping his sisters and mother... Does that story belong in sci-fi? Or incest? Or nonconsent? It has elements of all three, sure, but wouldn't it be best received in nonconsent?

Whatever the other say, I found it to be absolutely Boombastic!!

Please Continue!!

Hey abiostudent23,

Again, I appreciate your honesty, but I lament the low bar. In the future, I'd recommend holding off on offering "constructive criticism" that might turn out to be completely off base because you didn't actually read the whole piece in good faith. I imagine all the writers I edit for on this site would be pretty upset if I treated their work that way. Hell, I treated your previous comment better than that before I replied to it.

As a thought exercise, try to imagine every alternative version of your complaint that this particular story might field from various upset readers, especially when you consider alternate timelines where it got put into other categories to begin with. It contains not only the aforementioned sci-fi/fantasy content, but also anal sex, an erotic coupling of sorts (two, actually, though not with the same couple,) some BDSM mommydom elements and femdom, two different characters that many readers would consider "close enough" to a transgendered/crossdressing character, and even mind-altering substances (pheromones, and their synthetic derivatives) that flirt with fundamentally altering the desires and willpower of characters exposed to them. That intimates both mind control and nonconsent to some degree. "Fetishes," meanwhile, might as well be the free spot on our bingo cards.

Go through all the combination: category placement and the complaints it might have drawn. Who's right? Who's wrong? Can you construct a sensible, credible, internally-consistent set of rules to determine who's offering legitimate criticism and who's just whining? I don't think you can.

Imagine the reader who puts their foot down and declares, "Futanari ARE NOT just transgendered individuals! That's like saying a unicorn is just a horse with a horn glued on its head! How dare anybody NOT put a story with significant futanari involvement into the Sci-Fi & Fantasy category? They're not real-life entities! They're niche! They're a trump!"

Why are they wrong? Why are they more or less right than somebody else with a different version of the same complaint, perhaps focusing on something else besides futanari entirely?