• How often are stories added ?
• How old are stories ?
• Where do the stories come from ?
• Why did you start GaggedUtopia's Story Archive ?
• How can I submit a story to you for posting ?
• What do the various story tags mean ? (updated 08/02/2010)
• Why don't you use the X codes anymore? (updated 08/02/2010)
• How are stories rated ?
• How are stories ranked ?
• What is RSS and does this site support it ?
• How do comments work? What are they for?
• What are author profiles? How can I submit one?
• Why are there snuff stories posted without the 'snuff' code used?
• If snuff and underage stories are not allowed, why are there some posted?
• There are errors in my posted story, can I fix them?

I try and spend a least a few hours each week updating content on the site. Most of my time is spent reading the stories to evaluate content. The site is designed with a queuing system that will automatically post a queued story on days that I have not made any updates. Queued stories are posted at midnight, EST (-5 GMT).

How old are stories ?

Stories that have been posted in the past three days will show as new content. To see when the actual post date was, click on the story and it will display the information in the header.

Aside from stories that I have written myself, they come from author submissions. Anyone can submit a story via our contact page

I started this site for a few reasons. The first and foremost was to have a single location to post my own stories. The second was to provide a good (free) source of stories, information, links and related content. Some websites concentrate on posting bulk with little regard to the quality of the content. Others provide high quality, but are never updated. My hope was to fall somewhere in-between, providing quality content on a regular schedule.

The third and final reason is that I have run many sites in the past and enjoyed them thoroughly and hope to do so again with this site, with my own style and flair.

Simple! Click on Contact on the menu bar. That page contains instructions for uploading a story to us.

Let's start with gender codes as they are featured in all stories. This code indicates the genders involved in the story and what role they typically play. For example a "M-f" story would feature a male dominant and female submissive. A "MF-m" would feature a male and female as dominants and a male that is being dominated. In some cases you might see "Other-f"; this could be a fictional being, machine or something beyond a simple gender. Lastly, the gender code will always appear at the start of the list.

The next code that all stories feature is a level of consent. To date there are just four, consensual, reluctant, blackmail and non-consensual. On occasion a story will featured multiple levels of consent and will be shown in its tag list. Consent levels will always appear after the gender code(s).

The remaining codes represent certain features or topics contained within a story, very similar to a blog. Take for example a story with the following codes, "F-f, blackmail, bondage, chastity, enema". Without reading the story I can see that it features a woman dominating and blackmailing another woman. At some point in the story the submissive is put into a chastity belt and given an enema (not necessarily in that order). For a more detailed list of the codes and what they mean visit our tag glossary page.

Up until June of 2010 we did use the X, XX, XXX codes to reflect the intensity of the story. I did away with them because I found they didn't reflect what the story was really about. Over the years I've found that everyone's definition of what they mean tend to vary. I've tried to solve this by introducing new tags that represent intense situations. "Hardcore" represents tight, possibly painful bondage. "Violent" on the other hand represents extreme pain or torture. Right now there are only two but more will be added as needed. I feel this will let readers better decide if the story suits their tastes.

Stories are rated by visitors to the site. On each story page there is an option to rate the story. There are no official guidelines on how visitors rate the stories, however the higher the number (or stars) the better. Every new story starts out at zero or No Rating. When people rate the a story, it is recorded and ratings for that particular story is averaged to create the rating. All ratings are only recorded once to prevent ballot stuffing.

It is a somewhat complex mathematical equation that takes into account several vital statistics of a story and assigns it a score. Statistics such as number of views, current rating, number of votes and even how long it has been posted on the site are factored into the equation. Not every vital carries the same weight however, thus stories with a lot of readers and few ratings will often rank lower then one with many ratings and few views. Additionally, the longer a story is posted, a small percentage of the score is deducted to give newer (exceptional) stories a chance to rank in the top 10.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is used by many websites to share news headlines, blog entries and even interesting links. People can utilize this syndication power by creating online portals customized with your favorite content, such as the most recent stories posted on this site. The advantage is as more sites begin to support RSS, you can have all your favorite content all on one page instead of surfing several sites for the same content.

Just like many things on the internet, there are several choices in portals and software to choose from. I have tried many, but for portals, there is none easier then My Yahoo. All you need is a Yahoo account and you can start customizing your portal. Clicking on the icon below will allow you to add the RSS feed from this site to your portal.

If you prefer an application instead of a web portal, I would recommend Pluck. As of this writing it is a free download and integrates into Internet Explorer. It is very simple to use and fast.

    

Story comments are a fast and easy way to share your thoughts with other readers and the author. Leaving a comment is fast, easy and anonymous by eliminating the need for email. Other readers can read your comments and quickly decide if they want to read the story while authors can get constructive feedback on their work.

To prevent people from abusing the system, all comments are put into a 48 hour (at most) purgatory queue. During this time, comments maybe reviewed, edited or deleted. Please note that edits will only consist of grammar and spelling corrections. Links or any text deemed as advertising will be removed as well. All comments must be constructive in nature and as such, expecially negative comments (e.g.: "story sucks." or "don't read." by itself won't cut it, you are expected to backup your claims.

Once comments are live on the site, there will be a link in the story header (same area where title, author and stats are displayed). To post your own comments, each story page has a small form at the bottom of the page to submit your own.

Many readers have requested information about the many authors published on this website. While I do keep in contact with many on a regular basis, there are many who I don’t know anything about. The author profiles were created to allow readers some insight of the person behind the story.

If you are a published author or a new author submitting your first work to the site, please download our questionnaire in Microsoft Word format or Plain Text format. Fill out the questionnaire and send it back to us. Most profiles are posted within a few days of receiving them.

I define a snuff story as one with no other options but death. Stories that leave the idea of death to the reader’s imagination do not count. For example, if a person is locked in a cage and tossed into water for several minutes or more, I would mark this as snuff. If a person is trapped in self-bondage and can't get free, I would not mark this as snuff.

Instead of a story, imagine it was a film. It would hardly be called a snuff film if it didn't show the actual death. When I code the stories for this site, which is the point of view I work from.

The short answer is that not all stories are created equal. Another is that some slip through the cracks. The latter relies on the reporting system to notify us of violations, especially if the story is not tagged with snuff or teen.

So where is the line drawn? It's a judgement call and there is no right or wrong answer. Generally if the death is part of the story in a non sexual way (e.g. accidental, revenge) it's usually allowed. Level of consent plays a part as if the victim is accepting of what 's being done. This applies to teen stories as well. While 18 is a general safe age of consent , most areas in the world is 16 or lower. So if the story involves consenting teens, it's typically permitted as well.

In short, no. When stories are posted to the site they are not touched again unless there is new work (e.g. chapters) being added. This is to help ensure that all work submitted is final and fully proofread. Small exceptions can be made by contacting us.