My Top Problem With Vocal

Thus far, I've had a pretty good experience with Vocal. I'm not racking up hundreds of views or earning a lot of money, but I enjoy the setup, the opportunity to write about the things that interest me, and the small chance to win some money on my own merit.

Having said that, there is one aspect of this platform that I haven't been impressed with: Top Stories.

The idea itself is excellent—the moderators at Vocal pick out a few stories they love and feature them on the home and community pages. It's a great way to draw attention to obscure writers and reward them for their hard work.

What I take issue with is which stories are being uplifted.

Hear me out—this isn't some self-interested rant about how my oh-so deserving work is being passed over.

I'm talking about the quality of writing that I've seen in some of these "top" stories. Not just the occasional typo—it happens to all of us—or a few trivial mistakes. I'm talking eighth-grade-level, barely intelligible, have-to-stop-reading-because-I'm-dying-inside kind of writing.

The great thing about Vocal is that it's a space where anyone can write about anything in any way. There's no mandatory format or content requirement. There is no expectation of perfection. We have pretty much unlimited freedom to express ourselves authentically and get paid for it.

But since I joined Vocal+, I've consistently seen incredibly well-written pieces pushed aside for—forgive me—absolute monstrosities with good premises and horrible executions.

Even some of the Challenge-winning stories are filled with errors. It's bad enough that subpar writing is being featured on a day-to-day basis, but for these kinds of pieces to be bringing home thousands of dollars while meticulously-written stories are passed over just seems incredibly unfair. It's demoralizing and will ultimately discourage people from joining Vocal+ and continuing to enter these competitions.

The Community Guidelines state that "if there are too many issues with grammar, punctuation, incorrect facts, or clarity in your story, we’ll send the story back to you to let you edit your own work." That led me to believe when I first joined that there was a standard at Vocal that was compatible with my own detail-obsessed need for quality writing. I've quickly learned that isn't the case.

The whole point of Vocal is to shine a light on talented writers and help propel them to success. Unfortunately, this site often seems to highlight average writing and to reward mediocrity. It makes milestones like Top Story selection seem arbitrary and unattainable, because there is no clear reason for how they're reached. When it comes to some of these stories, I have absolutely no idea what they're being rewarded for.

Things might be different if we could leave comments with constructive criticism, or if Vocal really did send these stories back with suggestions for improvement. I actually like that a comment feature isn't available and that we're unable to see the number of likes on someone else's story; I think that these are great ways to foster fairness and eliminate the "politics" of similar sites.

But being featured as a Top Story should be an incentive. Knowing that my story might be chosen gives me a goal to hit, something concrete to strive for. If/when I reach that goal, I want it to feel like an accomplishment, like I created something special and impressive. Knowing that badly-written pieces are being selected makes this milestone seem rather meaningless.

I hate to be that person. Truly, I do. I fear that this will come across as some holier-than-thou "grammar Nazi" crusade, and that's not my intention. Vocal is a platform on which we can work to improve our writing and vulnerably share it with others without the negativity that often accompanies outside commentary. I love that we can only react in positive ways to each other's work.

I confess, however, that I had expected a higher standard for submitted stories. And I'm disappointed that that doesn't seem to be the case. I hope that Vocal will raise its standards and begin to reward quality writing, because that's what this site is supposed to be about.