XaiJu
bestkeptsecret
bestkeptsecret

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Getting your opinion on the requests site

Hey guys,

We’ve come to realise that the current way in which requests are being handled for Secret Tier members on bksaudio.com (where you submit your own request and can vote on others to become stories) is not quite working. 

Currently we are trying to fulfil as many of the top voted requests as we can but it is a struggle due to the sheer volume of requests. You may have seen some of the requests eventually released on Patreon but it takes a long time. 

When we were a smaller community this system worked okay and enabled us to really fulfil story ideas in an interesting way.

But as explained above currently it is grinding to a bit of a halt as we have grown a lot and have huge numbers of scripts going through our audio creation process and it can take months, years even before some of these great ideas get produced as thousands of people on the Secret Tier submit their ideas. 

So I wanted to get your feedback and opinions on how we could structure this in a way that makes more sense/is most democratic for everyone on the Secret Tier going forward (also given our release schedule on Patreon). 

Some of the main ideas we had (to keep fulfilling these) were as below:

Please leave a comment below if you have other ideas about how we could develop the requests site in a way that is fairer for everyone on the Secret Tier. But please be civil too, if someone has an opinion you disagree with that’s okay, just agree to disagree, no personal insults or nastiness. 

X

Rob

Getting your opinion on the requests site

Comments

My suggestion is: create folders for every genre e.g. fantasy, mafia, friends to lovers, etc.

Vicaulia

i think adding specific filters is a good idea for filtering the main tropes/VAs that are requested. i do suggest on removing the ones that are similar or repetitive in nature once they are tabled /considered (?) or even the ones that arent just so it wont be as saturated with same requests. and maybe make the requests on a time limit basis as well. for example, people can only vote for requests the same month it was requested and then we can have a top 5 (or more) for the ones with the most votes every end of the month. so when u open the main request page it would show the top picks for each month , that way the oldest ones wont be stacked with the most votes just bc theyve been requested a long time ago and to make it easier to for u guys as well in terms of script writing

satogeto

I may be a bit late to the game here but something you could do is have a poll on Patreon with the top five stories that you pick from your site. If they have less than a 5% reaction on the Patreon poll you can scrap the idea, but for the ones that have a higher than 5% reaction you can set them up and send them out as it goes the most popular out last the least popular on that specific poll first, sort of build up the excitement for it, fill in the rest. Then on the site you can interchange from most popular stories to least popular stories, (there are some good ones that aren’t getting noticed as much so this is the only reason I bring up this option) for the most popular if it’s at 100 votes or more send that to a bi weekly poll for people to vote on, if there is no interaction there then you scrap the idea for now, for the least popular any story that has less than 20 votes is scrapped. 20 votes or more get added to the next poll for people on Patreon to vote for. Maybe add in who you think (or how ever the stories are divvied out) on that poll for people to vote on not just the story, but bring the intrigue to the story by saying who might read it out. Say (enter brief story idea description here) VA- Chambers or Robinson or Wright for an example of a poll entry. If you have stories that have less than 20 votes on your site for more than a month scrap them plain and simple unless a specific one catches your eye that might be a popular one, just not noticed as well as another has because of the amount of entries you have gotten. Maybe bring the VAs in as well on the voting for story ideas, and a poll of your own for when there are ideas that catch the BKS groups eye, it’s just not a popular one vote wise on the site. Have the VAs vote on whether or not the story could be interesting enough to improv or read out. I’m not sure how BKS works entirely as an entity but I’m sure you have to at least talk to each other every so often right? Sorry if this was long, I just like to give as much detail as I can. Hope it helps. But sometimes just scrapping ideas because they aren’t as popular is the way to go and who knows, the idea might pop back up later on and be more popular then.

J. G.Hazel

Series voting should be separate (somehow) from new ideas. Series requests are probably more time-sensitive than others for preference purposes.

Cori

Maybe every week you could choose the top three voted ideas from the oldest idea page—and go to a newer page every week—and then have those top 3 voted on, like announce it so people can vote on them and that way you could filter through the idea pages a little easier. And maybe the two that didn’t get turned into audios can be voted on again at a later date.

Joanna

Bring back Holmes and let me meet Chambers and Gallo in person..and then we can all g-.......im sorry what was the question again??!

ExxoticPoett

Definitely think that submissions with very few votes need to be removed, especially ones that are a year or more old. I also think it would be cool to do a monthly poll here on Patreon where patrons can vote on a top voted audio from the suggestions to be turned into a script.

gem ✨

Hello there :) I think you could consider "bundling" and queue limiting. You could group similar requests together to handle them at once (after asking if the writers would like their ideas combined with others, maybe). At the same time, you could limit the number of requests you see (as the creator), and then refresh or unlock new requests only after completing previous ones. And I also think removing requests with fewer votes (per month? per week?) would keep the list manageable.

Mlle_Marquı$ę

Maybe also sort it by requests for new stories and Sequels to popular ones like "ours" and maybe finishing the stories which are still waiting for their next parts before producing new stories with open Endings. I could imagine that this could reduce it a little. Also maybe delete comments with to little likes and put the votes down or even the number of submissions per month in general so the pile can't get do big and I bet a lot of people have similar ideas anyway so they can vote for the ones closest to it.

sage

Quarterly sweeps and filtering top 20s sounds alright to me

Jace

Good ideas; I’d add limiting submitted ideas, either have it open for a window, or certain tiers get certain number of submissions a month

Kim

I really like this idea too, although a first, second and third place (or more) would give more stories a chance to be brought to life. If this is done once a quarter then that would be one story a month… not sure if that’s still too much. But I do especially like this idea

Laurelyn

I like the filtering idea so we can search for things like keywords that we particularly like and vote from there. Maybe have a time limit on when requests can be put in and have a closed period for voting only, then close up altogether for time to filter through things, then repeat.

Bow

Only show the top 20 voted ideas on the first page and limiting the number of votes to 10 votes per month and and removing ideas under 100 votes or a certain threshold.

👑Ana D. 😉

I like the idea of having filters to find ideas you want. Also the less than 100 votes. I would also like to see some of the newest first when I go into vote. I feel like if you did the under 100 votes idea, some of the new audios take a minute to get to that point because I feel like people mainly look at the oldest or most voted audios.

Bookworm

i second being able to create our own folders to put put our favourite audios in

Isabella Hollis

I reckon limiting requests would be good and removing any under 100 votes and say any with 100+(etc) be put in a ‘potential’ file. There is always a chance of creating some ideas as ‘written fictional’ docs, that way fans can still get a visual of what some ideas could be without having to feel bad about rejecting an idea. Takes some sort of pressure off VAs and yourself/writers having a tight schedule on scripts that they have to push out. There’s some pros and cons to it though. Is a thought to consider. Or maybe a poll seems pretty good. Say Top 10-15 rather than Top 20, don’t get me wrong 20 is doable but seems like it could be a lot more difficult if you’re trying to rush them all out almost at the same time or within a certain deadline. 10-15 you could reasonably space it out. (Just a thought to put out there)

Chai tEa

I second

Marsela

So glad this was brought up because I’ve seen so many great request on there. I’d say to have a specific time when you open request and close them. For example close them now to do all the recording and sorting that needs to be done and then when you guys are ready for me open it back but only for like couple of days or a week. And just keep doing that so you won’t have so many at once.

miso

Probably a silly idea... but could it be a possibility to stop accepting request for a little while? That way it would be easier for writers and admin to sort through the current requests.

LuckyPenguin

i think limiting the number of votes and removing votes would be a good choice

Cerecita

i say have the top 20 AND removing the ones with low votes. that’ll clean it up for sure

hayley

I believe that having top 20 most popular requests/ideas would be an excellent option. Personally, I would be happy to see what others have suggested and if those ideas are within the realm of my interests or maybe a platform to explore if I haven’t already. I think this might encourage or inspire listeners to explore different types of audios BKS has to offer. Also, not related to the voting but about updating the website or the app, I wish there was a way to create “my playlist” because as much as I appreciate the collection folders of each VA and writers, I want to create my own list of my favorites and listen to them on repeat maybe😅

Ruby

I like all the suggestions in the post. I would think maybe even have that suggestions under a time limit. Have it open for like a week every month then close the submissions and from those submissions, voting can be based off of that? I definitely have no idea how it all works for your side obviously 🤣, but I have seen it done for other creators to help not overwhelm themselves and/or their team. I’m down for whatever though lol

Nandi

Voting by poll comes often in the comments, I agree with this idea.

Aurora Yessir

This mit be a dumb idea. But why not show the top 20 ideas of the month and have people only vote for them and do a voting deadline. Then have a week where new story's can be submitted, then the next 20 can be voted on. If that makes any since.

Grace Vander

I’d love the filter system; it’d be a good way to keep from having duplicate requests. Also maybe having specific dates that requests can be sent in on (i.e. every friday, or the 10th and 20th of every month, etc.) Maybe there could be a ‘rejects’ category (although i probably wouldn’t name it that) for requests that don’t get above a certain amount of votes so if it’s something people want but just haven’t had a chance to see it, they can still vote, but the ‘rejects’ category takes more time/votes to be considered than the top votes of the period

Kehaulani Kreitler

Agree with all suggestions, and I think it would also be good to be able to consolidate ideas that have a similar premise/plot? That way the volume can be trimmed down as well.

Dan

I second this. I subscribe to another Patreon as well and they have “community choice” votes at a specific interval which seems to work pretty well. It’s similar to what you describe but I think it’s quarterly not monthly.

Princess

I really like this idea as well

Miss Bee

I mean Im good for any scraps I can get 😅 but the top 20 on top cud be great? Maybe clear out old ideas too that didnt get votes after a couple months? Either way its a great problem to have I think lol so many ideas so lil time.

Sara

Why not just do a poll for top voted ones? Pick out maybe 10, put the poll here, and release the audios in order of ranking.

L. Kane

More than limiting the number of votes per month per person, maybe more limiting the number of submisssion per month per person. And 'maybe' clear out some ideas that haven't get a certain amount of votes after maybe what, 4 months ?

Wolfgang

I think adding more filters, but also removing older ones that don't hit a certain threshold of votes would be a good combo. If story ideas are cleared out on a semi-regular basis, people might also be more inclined to go check them out and vote on them.

cosmic_sweety

I think this is an excellent idea! 👍🏻❤️

Pam 701

I say maybe making a limit on how much people can vote/submit ideas then clearing out ideas that aren’t gaining votes each month

TheirGirl

Since you also produce audios that haven’t been requested, perhaps decide how many spots are open for requested audios per a given period of time, then accept the top x number of requests based on votes. For example, if you’re set to produce 5 audios in a month and you’ve locked in 3 that are not from requests, there’s availability for 2 requests to be accepted that month. Pick the two with the most votes. With this, showing the most voted audios on the website may also make sense. Requests with fewer votes should naturally start moving to the front as others get done, giving a fair chance over time.

Joy

love the idea of putting the new ones on the 1st page too, i don't check the website or vote very often, but whenever i do, i always adjust the sorting order so i get to check the newest ones out anyway 😂

Amano

Also there can be a voluntary format for submitting requests so people get to better under what they’re voting for and help submitters to better formulate the requests. For example it can contain information including but not limited to: theme, dynamics, VA, sex positions, trope.

M

I like the idea of proposing whatever, it makes the community more diverse. In order to improve the voting system, it can limit the amount of votes/voter to an appropriate amount (5, 10, 15). Maybe even a ranking system so that voters can opt in to rank their choices and cast a weighted ballot.

M

Yes for the company that’s amazing but in my opinion the themes are the same like friends to lovers, virgin audios and mafia audios all the time and I’m happy that the majority loves those type of audios but for me personally I miss the variety audios used to have which is why I’m on and off with my subscription. I’m just speaking from my opinion if that makes sense.

Unknown

I think perhaps having a standardized scheme for the VAs ? Once a month there will be a sequel to one of the popular series , once a month will be a Friends to lovers , once a month would be a werewolf/ demon/ dragon theme, or once a month would be mafia , once a month would be BFE/ husband wife dynamic, once a month would be a BDSM/ sub or dom drop those audio. Once you have a theme set up both the VAs and the listeners will know what to expect and what to prioritize.

Riri

But isn’t popularity key. If the audio request is popular then that means it will also have more listeners ?

Riri

I like limiting votes, maybe also limit submissions too? And having a stricter formatting guidlines? It would filter some out regurly

Fleur Pouvior

Honestly I would prefer newer audios pushed more to the top because I feel like audios have been repetitive for the past two years and I’ve been a fan since 2020. I feel like if popular vote gets pushed to the top we would always have repetitive content in my opinion.

Unknown

You could also limit the amount of requests that the site can take per month so that way you aren't being overloaded with stories before you've had a chance to go through the previously requested/voted on ones

Flwr

Maybe have ones with similar concepts grouped together and have those storylines voted on maybe that may ease some of the congestion?

Keisha Fitzpatrick

I think the removal option would be good. They can always resubmit.

Ahri

Having filters, in my opinion, would be a good idea. I can admit that it's a bit difficult to sift through the abundance of stories that have been submitted, so I tend to skim more than read. Having the individuals who are submitting the story utilize tag options would be great. I also feel that a filter system will allow for scriptwriters to easily find the themes they are more comfortable with writing (regardless of the vote count) and for voters to have the capability to look for the tropes they may be hoping for in the moment. I also feel that a filter system could possibly reduce redundancy in ideas suggested (ex. I'd like to submit a story, but before submission, I can filter through the site for themes/tags that I may utilize and see if that idea has already been submitted). So, yep - my vote is filter system. Good luck! <3

Calypso

Hi Rob, Thanks for reaching out to us for feedback. We understand the challenge of managing such a large volume of requests, and we appreciate your efforts to keep things fair and engaging for everyone. I’d like to propose a “Tournament of Ideas” system to help streamline the selection process. Here’s how it could work: 1. Grouping Ideas: Every two months or quarterly, the ideas submitted are grouped into smaller brackets (e.g., groups of 8-10 ideas each). Members of the Secret Tier vote for their favorite idea within each group. 2. Elimination Rounds: The winning ideas from each group move on to the next round, and this process continues until we have a final winner. The winning idea would be prioritized for production, ensuring that the most popular and fresh concepts are brought to life faster. 3. Regular Cycle: This process repeats regularly, allowing new ideas to have their chance in the spotlight while keeping the system engaging and fair. Benefits: • For the team, this approach helps manage the volume by focusing on a smaller pool of top ideas, making it easier to prioritize and produce content. • For members, it adds an interactive and competitive element to the voting process, encouraging more engagement while ensuring that ideas move through the system efficiently. I hope this suggestion aligns with what you’re looking for.

Adry

Having newer ones first I think is a great idea, as well as the more popular ones, although that would automatically mean new ideas are at the bottom of the list, which could hide gems we would not see… I also like the idea of categories. Filters are great but could lead to inadvertently cutting out great stories that we may not go to first. Categories would allow easier browsing while still allowing us to explore newer concepts we may not go to first… I favor existing relationship stories, and would have been slower to go to the Werewolf series for example.

Laurelyn

I think the Top 20 is a good idea, maybe also in combination with the vote limitation. But honestly all of these seem beneficial to me. I hope you find a good solution that works for everyone!

Little Blueberry

You could have us vote on a poll for themes in Patreon first, then that can help narrow down the stories and then, have us vote on ten stories that fit that description either on the website or on here. That can probably help as well.

Cloey Green

it feels like a lot of the top requests are the ones that have been there the longest (aka the ones in our face first, even if they’re antiquated) so even though they’re from 2021/2022 we are asked to vote ——therefore don’t see brand new requests that are getting a lot of traction

Anonbot

Hi! Maybe try venturing in optimizing the site’s layout to make it easier to read the stories that are submitted. Kind of like a "Tinder" format enabling us to swipe left or right and add likes to the stories we are interested in. But, I agree that a top twenty would be great. Regarding the story request form, possibly adding a title field so that the story’s subject "pops" and adding the selection box "requested VA(s)". If you choose to maintain the same layout, adding more filters to sort through stories would definitely help narrow it down (i.e. VA, trope, tags, etc.). Lastly, since you may be drowning under the massive incoming pile of requests, perhaps limiting story requests to a chosen number per month/Patreon user?

Lotusflower 🤍✨

One person suggested that the newer suggestions could show first and another person suggested that the total votes could be hidden and I have to say I'm a fan of these ideas. Showing the most voted easily leads to the new ones being missed. Also about the quarterly checking of posts, would that be checking only the suggestions that have been up for 3 months? It would have to be, right, cause otherwise a suggestion that was posted a week earlier could get deleted just cause it hasn't had as much time as the others. Limiting suggestions and votes sounds like a good idea. I'd say 1 suggestion and 10-20 votes per month. (Sidenote: reminders to vote could be nice, I almost always forget the thing even exists 😅) A filtering system could also be good. If I remember correctly the suggestions are currently just written into an open text box. Could/should this maybe be changed? Would it create more complete suggestions and ease the filtering, if there were certain things you needed to fill in when making the suggestion? For example the tropes, the trigger warnings etc. There's also previously been talk about giveaways / prices etc and what would people like that's doable. Could one of those be that every once in a while the staff gets the 5 most voted suggestions and let's the giveaway winner choose?

Evedina

I’m really happy with anything, though I favour the first two ideas more than the others. Popular ideas would take precedence, but i think it would be a good idea to keep the less favourable ones. If they don’t get the same attention as the others overtime then of course, I guess it would be okay to get rid of them. This was just my 2 cents.😘

Nosoju4u

The last two ideas seem the best!!

Moments

Yes to adding more filters and keeping only 20 most voted requests on the first page, but I’m not sure about the rest two Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but many requests that were made into audios are not even among the most voted? That’s why I’ve always thought it also serves as a site for writers to find ideas and inspirations. So I think I’d be better if we can still have access to all the requests submitted.

Amano

The last two would help the most. Remove ones that don't get a lot of votes, and limit the votes so people can't spam their own stories.

Dreamer

Definitely a categories or tagging system; if people could see ideas of a certain type all grouped together it might be easier to see the redundancies, and perhaps vote for the most appealing one in a grouping.

Dribeia

I think the first two options are the best.

Julie 🦢

Having the removal of posts without 100 should be raised to 150 or 200, since there is so many posts. On top of that, I believe the votes should get 'reset' once a week, with a max of 10 votes per week. With the idea of the site itself, I think, during the last week of the month, the site should be turned off to look at the top recs !!

Raven Dawn

Top 20 is a very good idea and the voting limitation too ! Like 1 vote per week could be more than enough I think

Ceva

I'm a fan of limiting the number of votes as well as doing a purge of older ideas after a certain threshold. I think it could also be a good idea to implement some kind of ranked choice system if possible rather than just "most votes wins." Hiding the total votes also seems like it would be a good idea so that other submissions that might be just as popular as a current top one don't just get glossed over only for the fact that they don't have a lot of votes.

Amanda

I think a lot of new requests don't get seen due to the majority of old ones because the listing is the most votes to least could we maybe change that so people can see newer requests

Kizø

I think a combination of three of these would benefit you. Add more filters so it's easier to find what's already been suggested. Each tag could be limited to the top 10 or 20 submissions. Every quarter review, and narrow down to the top 5 or 10 based on the votes. But I'm not sure how much additional work that puts on staff.

Jesika Sheffield

Since you already have a LOT to pick from, maybe even shutting it down and occasionally opening up a window for recommendations every quarter on a publicized date for a 24-hour period. That way, you’re hopefully getting even better thought-out ideas. Then, have a short period of voting- like over the course of a week or a month (depends on the timelines y’all are working on). Once the voting period is over, you figure out how you’re going to add the popular choices to your publication timeline and purge the rest.

basicbewitch

I like the filters and then going through monthly or quarterly to remove requests under a certain number!

Jules

I think mixing the ideas of making a filter and getting rid of ones with less than 100 votes would be good. The filter would help weed out the ideas that are similar (cuz I’ve seen some that are) and the 100 votes thing should help make it more manageable. If that doesn’t work maybe use a site where you can organize the ideas by category (fantasy, slice of life, daddy dom, etc) so there is less to go through and it cleans it up a bit.

Meilow

The idea of showing the Top 20 seems to be the most sound idea to myself. I'm also thinking that the Top 20 can go into a tournament setup after a deadline. Those under 100 will be set aside to allow everyone a chance to focus on the Tournament of Tantalizing Tales. 💛😏

Diabolique Mess

I think all of these ideas are great! You could even add a request limit per month since there are so many that come in. Like 2-3 per person a month. That might also help with creating ideas as well, like developing more details or even giving the script writers more to go on. Hope this helps 💕

Nicole

I like all of those

falling_water

Hi Rob, Honestly voting once a month is more than enough. I appreciate the enthusiasm but it def gunks up the process. Maybe submit once and vote once a month. Hope everyone has a great evening

Maro

I think expanding the filter option, allowing people to choose filter(s) they are wanting to vote on for the next audio they want to request possibly? Like a 2some or 3some filter maybe?

Sassy Cassie

The first option works and it would be the easiest.

Rose

I love the 2 middle ideas, especially the removing low voted ideas

KJoK012

I like all of those ideas and think they could work especially the filter

Shavonne Belford

Top 20 for sure!

VegasSin

I like the first option the best

West Coast Crafty Babe

Its a good ideas . I hope it's willbe more easier. Good luck!

Moune

Only show the top 20 voted ideas on the first page.  That one for sure

GALLOSPERSONALHOLE😏

First 💞

Princess B


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