Disproportionate amount of M/M-stories?

[bondagefreak]

@emily-a
A valid observation, but you do realise that most M/M stories on this forum are not "gay" and that most of them are read in large part by guys (straight and otherwise) who simply like the idea of being kidnapped and/or hazed, right?

I'm one of the more prolific M/M authors on here. More than half the of M/M stories I write are PG-rated and contain no trace of "gayness", romance or sexual activity. Some of them are stories surrounding birthday hazings, robberies, tugs between brothers/cousins, etc. A large part of my regular readership (especially on those PG-rated tales) is straight.

I should also point out that over the years, quite a few F/M & M/F authors have publically stated migrating away from writing more stories due to chronically low feedback from said readership. A number of them have migrated towards writing M/M stuff instead. M/M tales generally garner more comments/feedback than their counterparts. This can be attributed to the far greater number of F/M & M/F material/stories on the web. So much so, in fact, that they are often taken for granted. By contrast, outside of this forum, M/M stories are rarer and harder to come by.


Currently, on the 1st page of the "True Stories for Everyone"
3 STORIES OUT OF 25 ARE M/M

Currently, on the 1st page of the "True Stories for Adults"
1 STORY OUT OF 25 IS M/M

Currently, on the 1st page of the "Fictional Stories for Everyone"
5 STORIES OUT OF 25 ARE M/M

Currently, on the 1st page of the "Fictional Stories for Adults"
7 STORIES OUT OF 25 ARE M/M

[FelixSH]

You don't have to be gay to enjoy these stories. A lot of people here like other aspects of bondage. Even if it's a fetish, hetero guys can still have fun with them. And an M/M story can still be college dudes having some innocent fun. The separation between sexual stories and non-sexual stories is already made, after all. I think you are confusing those story types here a bit.

A separation isn't that easy. What about stories, that mix M and m, or M and F?

Imho, there are few stories enough, that if one finds their way, they will probably look through all the stories. It's really not that many pages. The real problem is the lack of feedback. That's a problem for all stories here, even if some types get it worse. With less feedback, you get less writers. And I promise, these stories are found and read, many readers just are too lazy to leave a single line. Or, to be fair, feel too nervous about it (despite people trying a few times to explain, that a simple "nice story" is enough). People probably stopped writing F/F, because it looked like there was no demand, due to lack of feedback. Even when the site was new, and there were only few stories.

Just my thoughts on the topic.

[Gormi]

I am glad I am not the only one who noticed this trend.
It's so discouraging when you check whether there are new stories only to find out an overwhelming majority of them have M as a sub.
More girls in bondage please!

Abd another proposition to moderators - create subcategories to fictional and adult stories threads for M/F stories, so i dont have to filter each page

[Nainur]

...
It seems to me it might discourage some (as it does me) who check the site out and who aren´t into in M/M-stories - and perhaps also discourage them from contributing stories of their own. While I imagine those who are into M/M stories may be encouraged to find them so popular here - and so it gets tilted more and more toward those over time.
...
Note added later: I don´t really expect the website to be redesigned because I posted this; I just felt like pointing out my own impression and hear others. And I´m aware M/M-stories are a lot less common elsewhere than other kinds of tie-up stories, and so their popularity here tends to stand out a little bit for that reason too. But appreciate the comments (here and in PM) and I´m a little bit better informed already!

Valid.
It would be a shame if people would be moved to leave or not to register. Mostly I do not read M/M, but we can't have a quota, can we? If here, for whatever reason, more people like to write M/M than, say: F/F, it can't be helped. It is per se not a problem, if not... (see above).

I fervently hope this site will be able to attract different kind of people - we need diversity!

[BlissfulMisery]

I will be honest, I do not really understand the complaint of 'having to skip part stories I do not like'. As has been pointed out, there are not *so* many M/M stories (or stories of any other type a given person might choose to avoid) that the whole first page is full of them. It takes seconds to skim the page and check whatever tags you are interested in. Sorting stories into further forum subcategories as suggested runs into the obvious problem of stories that have multiple different types of gender mix. It also causes the community to become more segregated/siloed, which would arguably be a negative - I have heard/seen multiple anecdotes of people checking out stories outside their preferred 'genre' and being pleasantly surprised, and this would be much rarer if everything was subdivided.

As for the 'lack' of M/F, F/F, or F/M stories, as others have already said the first thing that comes to mind is the almost complete absence of comments on those stories. To use one example, I have seen a story in those categories with over 60,000 views, and yet quite literally only three people bothered to leave a comment. Obviously view counts will contain a lot of duplicates due to the structure of this board, but even in the absolute worst case, hundreds of unique people must have read that story. Even M/F or F/F stories that do receive a steady amount of comments, if one is to look at *who* is commenting, it is almost inevitably a relatively consistent subset of other M/F or F/F authors doing so.

I know it probably seems silly to some that 'comments' are always brought up, but the fact of the matter is that a big part of the encouragement anyone writing here gets is from people actually leaving comments. Even as a reader, it can be a bit depressing/awkward to open up a thread, and notice that it is literally the author just posting over and over, as if they are talking to themselves. As has been said before, even a very simple encouraging comment is far better then nothing.

[bondagefreak]

It's so discouraging when you check whether there are new stories only to find out an overwhelming majority of them have M as a sub. More girls in bondage please!

You're discouraged because there are F/M stories on this board and you don't like stories where the sub is M? Sheesh!
And why, pray tell, would potential authors heed your lament and publish more M/F stories?

There are literally thousands of M/F stories on this board, and during the entire time you've been here, you've only commented/posted feedback on a single one. This basically proves my point about M/F stories being so plentiful that they're more often than not taken for granted by their intended readership.


Either way, this thread is taking a really bizarre turn.

[GIMMMPH]

If you don’t like it, then stop complaining and make a change. Start creating content with the type of stories you want to see on here. It’s that simple.

[Terry]

why do some people seem to always think M/M stories are gay? It's annoying. I however would personally like to see more robbery/kidnap stories involving M/M what are non-consensual and definitely not gay. Fictional of course. Need to start writing again sometime. I have a few ideas and similar to ones I have already done here in the past. Would love to see more fantasy TUGs what are more my thing and ones involving plain robbers etc rather than families/friends.

[TiedAndTaped3D]

I'm a switch who like being tied by a woman as much as I like tying up a woman, so I enjoy the F/M stories as much as the M/F and F/F. I admit that I tend to skip the M/M stuff as that just isn't my interest, but I see nothing wrong with it. I do think it wouldn't do for the site to be broken up by gender tag. I also think that people could comment more on stories.

[blackbound]

"Comment more" is really the only way. @bondagefreak is in the lucky situation of having a bigger group of commenters than many (at least in M/M), but even on his stories, the comment-to-view ratio is absurd.

Little is more discouraging than days of complete silence after (part of) a story goes up, and I don't want to ponder how many writers it's driven to stop.

[bondagefreak]

@bondagefreak is in the lucky situation of having a bigger group of commenters than many (at least in M/M), but even on his stories, the comment-to-view ratio is absurd.

Don't give up! You're getting there! I do have a lot of regular reviewers, but that's only 'cause I've been publishing steadily on this board for a now-disturbing number of years (almost fifteen! WTF!). Many of my regulars have been following me for years and in some cases, over a decade.

Either way, you're right. Commenting is the only solution.

[blackbound]

Don't give up! You're getting there! I do have a lot of regular reviewers, but that's only 'cause I've been publishing steadily on this board for a now-disturbing number of years (almost fifteen! WTF!). Many of my regulars have been following me for years and in some cases, over a decade.

Either way, you're right. Commenting is the only solution.

Oh, please don't misunderstand that comment as envy (well, maybe a little). I didn't realize just how long you've been around.

[meacham6]

Search tags and/or separate boards for different gender tags would make the site easier to navigate, but it's just not how the site is designed. There are other websites that have these features because they are designed in a different way. I personally like the forum format and would prefer at least one site to stay that way.

[tiedinbluetights]

I love all sorts of tie-up stories, and I love that we have a forum that is diverse and inclusive. I'd hate it if we, who enjoy tie-up games and are already pretty marginalized by the rest of the not-into-tie-ups world, self-isolated into even smaller groups with no cross-overs. I'd sure feel lonely if I focused all my attention on only F+/M stories where the /M is a masochist cross-dresser.

Now, if only I could find the time to read and comment on all the stories I love (ANY/ANY), and also write all the story ideas I have. So many TUGS, so little time, what shall I do?