User blog comment:EtherBot/Let's Talk Deletion!!!/@comment-25148755-20170210033945/@comment-24101790-20170210052006

"Then why are you responding?!?" Because leaving someone to bitch about quality standards despite how misguided they are can be harmful. We want to foster users who will spend time on their stories (even their deleted ones) as opposed to walking away at the slightest bit of resistance.

"I admittedly should have been more vague than targeting just deletion but this was supposed to be about this site not the users on it. Obviously the users could do their own shit to have a more enjoyable experience but that philosophy isn't how products are made." Yet... How exactly are products made? Are poorly made concepts accepted outright? If so, please don't point me to those sites as I like to think that the time I put in actually results in a better product/story.

Finally: "this was supposed to be about this site not the users on it" I think you're missing the whole point here. This is a literature site. We want strong stories and active users. We want authors who are willing to put the time in and improve their stories. Look at Blacknumber1, Derpyspaghetti, etc. I deleted both to those authors stories at the start due to issues (I provided to them if you're willing to look them up), and then Blacknumber1 wrote a story that made it to our spotlighted pastas and Derpy has posted stories that have surpassed out standards and made it onto the site and received positive reviews.

I guess it's you're right to assume that not spending time on improving your own stories in the face of deletion is a viable path, but that is sadly not true given the examples provided. (I can dig up more but those two were the most readily available sources.)