Launch of the Community Favorites board

[Claire]

The Most Important Moment in the Academy's History

Today, about 10 months after the official launch of the Ravishment Academy on April 4 2025, the Community Favorites board joins the Public Stories and Popular Stories boards on the index page of the forum. With this, the forum can finally work as intended. How we as a community now react to this will decide which path the forum takes.

Path 1: The first path is the familiar one. The community is stuck in a downward spiral where the lack of feedback drives more and more authors away which leads to less stories being posted, which in turn leads to the forum being less attractive for readers, which makes the forum even less attractive for authors, and so on and so forth. If you've been here for a while, you've seen this destructive cycle, this negative feedback loop in action over the second half of 2025. And if you are a veteran of the community, then you've also seen this on RavishU, on RapeCage or TheBlackVan. You know where this ends: a forum that feels asleep, sedated, dead - and ultimately closure.

Path 2: The second path is a new one. At this very moment, we have the chance to trigger a positive feedback loop, an upward spiral that will carry the community to new heights, that everyone will profit off: reader, author, roleplayer, even those with little interest in reading or writing rape erotica. Here is what this positive cycle can look like if YOU help us start it.


A Positive Vision for the Future of the Academy

Right now, the Community Favorites board is only accessible to Pillars of the Community, users with a reputation of 50 or higher. But that will soon change. @Vela Nanashi and I are currently working on a mod for the forum that will make it so that users can unlock the stories in the Community Favorites board one by one with the reputation they gained. Instead of having to gather 50 points and then unlock everything at once, each reputation point will earn a user 100 units of a yet unnamed forum currency. And unlocking a story in the Community Favorites board will cost exactly 100 units of this currency. So each reputation point will allow users to unlock one story in the Community Favorites board.

And this is then what the start of the positive feedback loop might look like: Right now there is a single story in the Community Favorites board, Record Chaser. Some new users may want to read that. And all they have to do to gain access to the story will be to comment on one other story and gain 1 reputation point for their comment. That's it, a single comment on another story worth one reputation point.

That effect will be small, probably barely noticeable with only a single story. But a some point, we will have 2 or 3, and then 4 or 5 stories in the Community Favorites board. The benefit of gaining reputation will grow larger and larger. And each point will matter, no long crawl to 50 points will be necessary.

As more and more readers start to comment - at first only to gain those rating points, but after a while because a culture of engagement is normalized - the forum will become more attractive for authors to post their stories. And that faster influx of stories and the greater variety of authors will attract more readers. Getting new Popular Stories and Community Favorites will become a common occurence. The Popular Stories will entice new users to register, to overcome that first psychological hurdle of registering on a rape fantasy forum. We already know that this is working. And the growing list of Community Favorites will make engagement with stories ever more attractive. Over time, I'm sure we will come up with additional things for users to spend their hard earned points on.

If we initiate this cycle, everybody will benefit from that. As an author, you will get more reader comments than ever. As a reader, you will get much more stories to read. As a roleplayer or someone who is mostly interested in the non-story boards, you will have much more active people on the board willing to post and engage. The authors and their stories are the nucleus of the forum that everything else revolves around. That is what communities like ours get found for via search engines, what people initially come here for and find us over. The readers who leave feedback are what makes the forum attractive for authors. Everything else follows from that. So even if you're position is that you are here mainly for the discussion topics in the Dining Hall and Book Club, or for finding role play partners, then it is in your own best interest to show our authors the appreciation they deserve.

Getting this fruitful positive feedback loop started is not a given though. It depends on all of us.

To our authors I would like to say: First, just posting your stories here and ignoring all the other authors' works is not enough. We need a sense of solidarity and reciprocity among us authors. We all know the time and effort we put into our creative work. Reward the creative work of others with the same attention you would like to receive for your own work. And second, if you get (respectful) feedback for your story from readers, make sure you respond to that and rate it back. The most harmful thing you can do is to not respond to feedback you get. That sends the signal to readers who were willing to comment that they don't even need to bother. Rate their feedback back unless it is just rude, or so generic that it could be posted under any story and the reader is just trying to bait a rating with generic praise out of you.

To our readers I would like to say: This forum is the last of its kind. Clicking a like button and leaving a few appreciative words is an easy thing to do. It took Record Chaser 10 months to gain those 24 ratings that pushed it to a total rating of 60. The number of people who read and enjoyed that story vastly exceeds that number. Just yesterday, somebody told me in chat that they enjoyed two of my stories a lot for their creativity. They commented and rated neither of them. That is what kills forums like these. So, let me appeal to your self-interest. You will have more stories to read the more you get into the habit of rating and commenting on the stories you've read. Nobody is asking you to read more than you want to read. Just to rate and comment on those stories you actually do read. If just 10 of you get into the habit of doing that regularly, our chances to kickstart this positive feedback loop grow tremendously!


Closing Words

Finally, let me end on this: We had another chance to go for the positive feedback loop in June when I posted this announcement:

The Launch of the Popular Stories board

Back then, we came off the activity high of the Gang Rape Galore contest and shortly after we had 16 people sign up for the Used and Abused tournament. But instead of building on that momentum, the forum fell into a coma in July and stayed in it until the end of 2025. Partially, that was my fault. I took the foot of the gas pedal thinking that we had reached an activity level that was self-sustaining. Instead, activity came to a halt and Fugitives, our very first Popular Story, barely made it from a rating of 30 to slightly above 40 despite having 5 times the views by now compared to when it first ascended to Popular Story status.

In hindsight, I should have done what we are doing now: start a concerted effort to breathe life into the forum. People back then tried to tell me that the decline in activity was just a summer slump. That was obviously wrong. Now we're trying to dig us out of that hole with Project Relaunch. We're seeing some success so far, but it is tough once you've reached the bottom like we did for the latter half of 2025.

So, who's with me in trying to turn this around? To everyone reading this: Say something, don't leave this monumental moment for the Ravishment Academy uncommented like the launch of the Popular Stories board back in June. Sign up if you haven't done so already! If you even remotely care about seeing a forum like ours succeed, then this is the moment. Back to path 1? Or do we try path 2 for once? I'm all for creating some hype so that we don't have to wait another 6 months to get a second Community Favorite. If you're here to help create that necessary initial momentum to get us off path 1 and onto path 2, speak up and let everybody know!

[RapeU]

I'm with you. I envisioned we would get our first community favorite around this time, but I thought it would be from the holiday gangbang contest

It's good to see that we got our first in the time I was hoping. Let's go full speed ahead until we get more favorites.

[AdmiralPiet]

I guess in this age of social media the classic forum of old will always have a hard time.
Even more for niche themes.
I remain hopeful however.

I want to thank @RapeU , @Claire and the Moderation Team for the effort they put in.

[Claire]

@RapeU I think it will take a while until a newly posted story has a chance to just climb the rating ladder from 0 to 60 over the course of just one contest. But never say never!

@AdmiralPiet I'm glad you're here. Thank you for being a part of this!

[SoftGameHunter]

I'm with you. I envisioned we would get our first community favorite around this time, but I thought it would be from the holiday gangbang contest

It's good to see that we got our first in the time I was hoping. Let's go full speed ahead until we get more favorites.

I'd be happy to see the holiday gangbang winner make it to at least the Popular board. I've heard it's a good read. Time will tell.

I really like the point buy-in system we're starting. I was skeptical about the Popular and Community boards and how exclusive they are. It seems like a good way to hide a story is to reserve it for the popular lunch table crowd. But one story for one rep point is supremely affordable. Make an insightful comment, get a point, read a story. And in time, you don't even have to spend points because you've reached the threshold anyway. My previous concerns are now ended.

[Shocker]

I'm with you. I envisioned we would get our first community favorite around this time, but I thought it would be from the holiday gangbang contest

It's good to see that we got our first in the time I was hoping. Let's go full speed ahead until we get more favorites.

I'd be happy to see the holiday gangbang winner make it to at least the Popular board. I've heard it's a good read. Time will tell.

I really like the point buy-in system we're starting. I was skeptical about the Popular and Community boards and how exclusive they are. It seems like a good way to hide a story is to reserve it for the popular lunch table crowd. But one story for one rep point is supremely affordable. Make an insightful comment, get a point, read a story. And in time, you don't even have to spend points because you've reached the threshold anyway. My previous concerns are now ended.

i think that is a pretty good position to take. I'll simply join you in it.

[Lucius]

Glad to see the forum growing and becoming more shapely, more voluptuous, more... Erm, where was I?

Right now, the Community Favorites board is only accessible to Pillars of the Community, users with a reputation of 50 or higher. But that will soon change. @Vela Nanashi and I are currently working on a mod for the forum that will make it so that users can unlock the stories in the Community Favorites board one by one with the reputation they gained. Instead of having to gather 50 points and then unlock everything at once, each reputation point will earn a user 100 units of a yet unnamed forum currency. And unlocking a story in the Community Favorites board will cost exactly 100 units of this currency. So each reputation point will allow users to unlock one story in the Community Favorites board.

It's an excellent idea, I'd like to see it implemented -- this may work.

If we initiate this cycle, everybody will benefit from that. As an author, you will get more reader comments than ever. As a reader, you will get much more stories to read. As a roleplayer or someone who is mostly interested in the non-story boards, you will have much more active people on the board willing to post and engage. The authors and their stories are the nucleus of the forum that everything else revolves around. That is what communities like ours get found for via search engines, what people initially come her for and find us over. The readers who leave feedback are what makes the forum attractive for authors. Everything else follows from that. So even if you're position is that you are here mainly for the discussion topics in the Dining Hall and Book Club, or for finding role play partners, then it is in your own best interest to show our authors the appreciation they deserve.

Getting this fruitful positive feedback loop started is not a given though. It depends on all of us.

To everyone reading this.

See something you like? Say something you'd like to say.

In hindsight, I should have done what we are doing now: start a concerted effort to breathe life into the forum. People back then tried to tell me that the decline in activity was just a summer slump. That was obviously wrong. Now we're trying to dig us out of that whole with Project Relaunch. We're seeing some success so far, but it is tough once you've reached the bottom like we did for the latter half of 2025.

Okay, okay, I was an 'aestivalist'.

I was wrong.

So, who's with me in trying to turn this around? To everyone reading this: Say something, don't leave this monumental moment for the Ravishment Academy uncommented like the launch of the Popular Stories board back in June. Sign up if you haven't done so already! If you even remotely care about seeing a forum like ours succeed, then this is the moment. Back to path 1? Or do we try path 2 for once? I'm all for creating some hype so that we don't have to wait another 6 months to get a second Community Favorite. If you're here to help create that necessary initial momentum to get us off path 1 and onto path 2, speak up and let everybody know!

Let's do it.

I guess in this age of social media the classic forum of old will always have a hard time.
Even more for niche themes.

Funny thing is, the fetish lit niche holds some potential for old-fashioned forums still. Social media isn't conducive for storytelling, and the forums satisfy the desire for anonymity. So there's hope.

[Vela Nanashi]

I am happy to see a story finally make its way to community favourite, I hope it won't have to be loneöy for long, let's get some more stories to popular and communoty favourite board and every lurker out there, I once was one of you, trust me commenting may feel scary, but the author of that story you love, it really helps motivate them to write more if you comment on their stories and now you have even more reason to for selfish reasons, so come on, pick a pseudonym that is not connected to your real life and post also you do not have to be some educated literature critic, just tell the author about something you liked, it will be a billion times better than a silent view.

[Blue]

Herzlichen Glückwunsch, dass Du es verdient geschafft hast!

[Claire]

I'd be happy to see the holiday gangbang winner make it to at least the Popular board. I've heard it's a good read. Time will tell.

I would like that too! I gave it three points already, so not much I can do anymore. :/

Glad to see the forum growing and becoming more shapely, more voluptuous, more... Erm, where was I?

In one of your beloved Lara Croft fanfiction stories?

Funny thing is, the fetish lit niche holds some potential for old-fashioned forums still. Social media isn't conducive for storytelling, and the forums satisfy the desire for anonymity. So there's hope.

I think so too. I never believed that the classical forum can't work for our purposes. We have more than enough people here every day. And more than 1000 people registering in less than a year is great too.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch, dass Du es verdient geschafft hast!

Danke!