An Open Letter to Vocal

After only a few months, I am leaving Vocal. When I first started out I was excited. Vocal looked like such a promising, creative platform where any writer would be welcome. It took very little time to find out that the reality is different. The platform has failed to offer me as a new writer what I need: A welcoming, open-minded space for new writers where they can freely explore and are encouraged to be creative. What I found instead, was deeply disappointing. I put a lot of effort into everything that I write. I try to be open, honest, original, and I like to derive from the mainstream. At first glance, it looks like that's what Vocal strives for. But once you get to know the platform a bit better, you start discovering the ugly reality that hides behind a pretty facade.

It didn't take long at all before the first deception happened while I was using my Vocal account. I had just submitted my second story and only minutes later I received that now dreaded email - at least for me: "Your story has NOT been approved." Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions here - perhaps "not" is written in all caps just for the sake of clarity - but it doesn't seem like a smart move to me. The last thing many new writers want to see after submitting their carefully crafted work is the word "not" in all caps. But I'm willing to ignore my sensitive nature if Vocal would take up their job of providing an open, accepting platform for writers. If they would at least fulfill the most important requirements for a thriving writers community: An encouraging, inspiring, free, and dynamic environment where new writers get excited about pursuing their passions. Not a stifling environment where every submitted story crushes their hopes and also wastes their valuable time that could be spent on writing more inspiring stories.

So, why was my story not accepted? Perhaps I just made a mistake because I was new to the platform and I wasn't aware of all the requirements yet. I spent quite a bit of my time trying to figure out what could be wrong. When I didn't find the answer, I decided to ask Support about it. Through my communication with the support employee, I soon found out that the problem was not on my end. It turns out the AI detector from Vocal had detected my story as AI-generated even though I have never even used AI in my life - not by choice anyway. So, my story was published manually and all seemed alright.

I decided to give Vocal another chance since they did end up publishing my story after the confusion was cleared up. Though I have to admit, I was already less excited about publishing my next story. When I submitted my third story, I was feeling more anxiety over another rejection than excitement about sharing my thoughts with the world. I waited several minutes and everything seemed ok. Maybe the second story was just an exception?

Just when I was starting to regain my enthusiasm and big dreams as a new writer, they were smashed again with my fourth story. "Your story has NOT been approved." I went through the same time-consuming theater of contacting Support to get my story published manually. Again, my work was falsely detected as AI-generated. So, I started reading if other writers had the same issues to see if the problem was perhaps with my writing after all. Soon, I found many other writers who were dealing with the same problems, and some of them have already left Vocal because of it. There was even one writer whose story first was NOT approved, then the story was published manually, and finally, it got picked as a top story. That in itself says it all, doesn't it?

As I was researching issues that other writers have had with Vocal, I discovered a rule that I didn't know about up to now: Writers are not allowed to publish any "religious content" on the platform - whatever that means. So, not only does Vocal incorrectly label original work as AI-generated it also actively practices religious discrimination. An utter shame, if you ask me. Even unconstitutional. In my opinion, Vocal is missing out on a lot there. For so many people, religion forms such a core part of their identity, their life. How can you possibly oust those wonderful people with beautiful stories to tell?

So, before I waste any more of my precious time on Vocal, I'll stick to my Medium account from now on. Bye Vocal! You might not realise it, but your policies are not helping writers to be "vocal" about their beliefs, opinions, thoughts, dreams, and more.

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In case you're interested, I'll continue publishing my stories on my Medium account.