About the Poll (Notice from Saya:UPDATED)

Edited: 7 April 2014

Dear Everyone,

Thank you very, very much for your thoughtful suggestions.
I have read all of your comments and, after giving it a long thought, finally decided against publishing stories written by other people -  for the moment.

I'll keep my mind focused on translating and publishing creepy stories that I discovered by myself as often as I can!

Many of you sent me such encouraging messages - as usual I really appreciate them from the bottom of my heart, as it is mostly your support that motivates me to continue this blog.

Take care :D,
Love, Saya
 


(VOTE CLOSED)
Some of my readers want to share their own stories. Would you like me to post these stories or not?
pollcode.com free polls

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Some of my readers want to share their own creepy stories and they have asked me whether I can publish those stories on this blog.

I thought I would first ask you readers whether you would like me to do that or not.

My concern is that this blog is meant to be a blog for Japanese horror stories and urban legends, and to publish the readers' stories would mean bringing alien elements into it.

I'm also afraid that I wouldn't have enough time to proofread. I'm the only person who is managing this blog and accepting readers' stories might prove too much for me to handle.

Anyway, I thought I would ask for your opinion on this matter first and take them into consideration before making the final decision.

So kindly please take time to vote in the poll that I've set up on the right hand side of the blog.

Thank you! :)

Love, Saya

Comments

Kitty said…
You could do like 1/week as a featured guest post or something, I think I'd enjoy it. Also, I do proofreading, I wouldn't mind helping out if you had a ton of submissions (checking grammar and stuff, not posting or finalizing).

Also, I thought you'd like this-
http://www.sakevisual.com/summerstory.html
Anonymous said…
Some comments of yours I've read have some pretty good scary stories! I think it's ok to share these, but only if you feel it's relevant. I trust in your judgement of good stories Saya :D You have a great selection, so if you feel it's too out of scope from the normal scary stories we hear, then leave it out. But I wouldn't mind seeing some. First hand ghost stories are really interesting. Or you could do a compilation of comment scary stories once in a while, to keep it all in one spot and not too scattered into the blog.


Btw, I wanted to complement you again on your translations. I've been looking at other scary story translation blogs which sometimes double up on stories that you've done too. It made me realise that translation is so important on how the story comes across and I find that your translations give me a fuller story than others'. Which makes me appreciate why you want to "copyright" your translations. It must be so hard doing all the tough work translating and seeing it stolen in another place! I hope people respect your translation as I have learnt to respect it, after reading other blogs. Please keep up the hard work! I really enjoy your translations. Thank you sooooo much for your efforts :)
Anonymous said…
maybe you should, because sometimes when you're lazy or busy or for whatever reasons, don't feel like typing, you can go through those submitted stories and publish them for the readers.

it might bring alien elements to your blog or it can bring in more colors for it. provided their stories are up to standard (level of creepiness/writing skills)

it's really up to you....if you're not comfortable, then it's also alright.
Alicia said…
maybe you could do that in an extension of your blog that would solely publish your readers stories
~桔子~ said…
Hi Saya san,

Personally, I think this would break the uniqueness of this blog. And as you said, it would really take a lot of effort to filter and proof-read. IMHO, i don't really like this idea...
Maybe the readers can share their scary stories personally with you and once in a while, you may selectively read some and share with us if it really creeps you out :-)
Saint Dork said…
For your reader information, if they want to publish their horror story (fiction or non fiction) they could go to reddit /nosleep/! I've been lurking there, it's a decent place :)
CY said…
There are other sites like yourghoststories for stories form around the world.
JazzytheMan said…
I vote no just because with you being unable to have the time to proof read and go through all the stories, it might take away the feel of the blog. While I am sure there are many that would fit perfectly, I would rather not risk it (but that's just me. ^^;;)

I like the feeling you have brought and don't wish to ruin it.
Dethyl said…
I think you should keep this place unique and personal. It just wouldn't feel like "Saya in underworld" if it opens up. In the end, the decision is yours.
blackrealm said…
I dont think thats really a good idea,i mean the blog its about more of a unique thing being about japan,maybe the readers should find another way to share it or you couldpost the linkto their share not the whole story.
CRRobbins said…
My first concern is that this would add to the work that you already do which is significant and I would hate to see that being taken away from.

A second thought is that, as you said, this is a site that is relating to Japanese horror stories and urban legends. This is what brought myself and (I'm sure) many of your other readers here in the first place and what makes this blog essentially what it is.

I do not doubt the capability of your readers in producing fear inducing tales, but I think that they can accomplished this by posting their stories to the comments of relevant stories as they read them. This is where most of us look for this sort of thing anyways, I believe :D.

If they would like to post a long story, the could post it to one of the sites mentioned by Saint Dork or CY and link it in the comments.

Perhaps if you decided you would like to do a post related to user generated stories you could always have a link list with summaries of what the stories are about. So that the readers could get some front page attention without taking away from what your blog is about.


No matter what you do, I have faith in your judgement and will stick around regardless :P
Sadae said…
I like your blog as it is. There are many places where people can post stories, reddit, for example.There are some pretty amazing subredits where people can post. /r/thetruthishere and /r/paranormal are for real experiences, and /r/nosleep is for made up stories.
Anonymous said…
Though reading their stories may be nice, there are forums for that kind of thing. Plus, it would put more work into your already busy schedule and destroy the uniqueness of the blog.

Redirecting the readers' stories to a different site or even a tumblr account seems like the better choice.
Anonymous said…
You could maybe only allow them to submit japanese ghost/cryptic stories instead of allowing everything?
Steeple said…
Maybe make it a special feature? Like "Submission Sunday" or something like that, where it's clearly marked that it's submitted stories by the fans and readers of your blog!

I would really enjoy a feature like that, but you should use your own judgement for proofreading.
Anonymous said…
I'd like to see more of your translated japanese horror stories, so no to having other horror stories of other people.
Anonymous said…
As long as you'll post something, I don't care whether it's Japanese or from other countries.
diru said…
Good evening...
Well..i personally like your blog as it is now..as the blog which posts translation of creepy stories from japanese forum site....
as for reader-submitted story...perhaps it would be better if you just make a mirror blog (when i wrote this, the name 'saya and friends in underworld ' flashed through my mind :P ) specially for those kind of story and link it here (well, i know you must be very busy just working on this blog) well..that's my 2 cents :3
Anonymous said…
I like the idea going around of a once-weekly feature! Or you could also request the submissions include the country of origin and prioritize Japanese stories and stories from other Asian countries? (It's good to see you back, Saya!)
Anonymous said…
I'd rather you keep the stories strictly from Japan, the charm of this blog is there. :)
Brenna said…
I am afraid personal ghost stories would make this website into some off-brand creepypasta. As fantastic as some personal stories may be, it would compromise sayainunderworld.
Adorably Dead said…
i honestly think this is for the best. Good choice, I'll enjoy the blog either way.
@Kitty: Oh I love those "sound novels." Thank you for the link!
Also thank you for your suggestion and kind offer to help me out with proofreading! I'll ask you if the need ever arises! :D


@Anon (18 March 2014 11:06): Thank you for your suggestion! I have also thought of doing a compilation of scary stories left in the comments; maybe I'll do that sometime in the future.

I also really appreciate your compliment on my translations! It has boosted my confidence. :D

I think when you translate scary stories you need to be aware what makes them so scary. As you said often it's not just the storyline but the way it is told that makes them scary! :D

Thank you for your kind words and take care! <3

@diru: "Saya and friends in underworld" ? haha sounds cool!

@Anon (21 March 2014 01:20): Oh thank you I'm glad to be back in action too! Maybe I'll consider doing the once-weekly feature in the future. At the moment I'm living alone in a foreign country and there's too much stress to handle new things.


EVERYONE, thank you so much for taking time to respond to my post! Although I haven't replied to every one of them, I still appreciate them very much. :D <3<3