Succinct feedback

[sr71plt]

If Laurel and Manu don't encourage feedback, why do they run contests based on voting scores?

Just bringing up the Web site generates the only number Laurel and Man need for their purposes--generating advertising revenue. Their need doesn't have anything to do with posted feedback as long as they make access to giving and receiving it possible, which they do. There are writing Web sites that encourage and/or force feedback to be able to play. This one doesn't.

 

[Aynmair]

never mind - found you!

Actually I think I do want all the comments I can get. I collect the terminally ignorant ones. And I do appreciate "Thanks, I enjoyed this."

OK. Care to put a link to your stories in your sig line? I looked for you via the story site and haven't found you.


Never mind - I found you.

 

[lovecraft68]

Here's an idea--feel free to tell me if it sucks, or is illegal, or whatever. (I know I didn't have to say that.)

If you're 2 or 3 chapters into a multi-chapter series, how about if you appended a note to the last chapter posted such as:

"OK, readers. Here's the deal. 99% of you do not bother to vote. 99.9% of you do not bother to comment. This is the only payment I receive, and when you don't do it, it's the same as shop-lifting as far as I'm concerned.

"If you like this story and don't vote, you're letting the trolls control the voting and I'm sick of it. If you want to find out what happens next you are going to have to PM me and I'll send you the next chapter. I'm not going to post it until I find out why the voting score is so low. If I thought this was crap I wouldn't have posted it. If you disagree I want to know why. And not anonymously."

You say it like that you're looking to get flamed. You're pointing out how lazy they are(and they are) and they won't like that.

But I post similar "This is a free site and the author's only payment here is through votes or comments so if you liked or hated this story take a second to vote or comment."

I don't know if it helps or hurts. Fact is its no big deal, but I started doing it after I read a bunch of threads about readers complaining writers don't write fast enough , or leave things unfinished etc.... and it got me thinking, we write for free, they read for free.....but who is the one doing the work? So I put that there to sort of remind them "how about a little appreciation"

Sad its the trolls who are the ones who never have an issue taking the time

But if you outright "challenge" them it'll go bad for you score wise.

 

[jacktar48]

OK. Care to put a link to your stories in your sig line? I looked for you via the story site and haven't found you.


Never mind - I found you.

Oh. OK then. Thanks for looking.

And BTW, if you want to read something, maybe you should avoid the highest-rated ones. They're mostly purely pornographic.

I'd kind of like to do some repairs (full rewrite, actually) on the "Seducing Jennifer" series. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't read parts 1-10. It's pure porn. After that I got serious.

I would appreciate thoughtful comment on "The Day Custer Got His Ass Kicked," though.

 

[jacktar48]

You say it like that you're looking to get flamed. You're pointing out how lazy they are(and they are) and they won't like that.

But I post similar "This is a free site and the author's only payment here is through votes or comments so if you liked or hated this story take a second to vote or comment."

I don't know if it helps or hurts. Fact is its no big deal, but I started doing it after I read a bunch of threads about readers complaining writers don't write fast enough , or leave things unfinished etc.... and it got me thinking, we write for free, they read for free.....but who is the one doing the work? So I put that there to sort of remind them "how about a little appreciation"

Sad its the trolls who are the ones who never have an issue taking the time

But if you outright "challenge" them it'll go bad for you score wise.

Good points all. And I like your approach. Seems like I read a couple of your pieces and saw that.

I don't mind getting flamed. Stupidity amuses me. It's indifference that offends me. I can just keep my stuff filed on my computer and forget posting it here if that's what I want.

Now I was up very late last night having a lovely conversation with an intelligent lady, and had the opportunity to watch the numbers roll in on my latest submission.

First three votes, right away, out of maybe 12 reads: score 4.69. Looking good. A few minutes later (maybe a half hour) it's up to 30+ hits, 5 votes, total score 3.2. No comments.

You don't have to do the math. That's 5,5,4,1,1. The trolls hit.

Currently it's 13 votes out of 884 hits, total score 4.38. No comments.

Every vote after the first five must have been a 4 or 5, and more 5's than 4's. (sr71plt please don't get out your slide-rule and tell me there could have been a '3' in there. I don't give a shit.)

How many readers, having limited time, read only the 'H' submissions? They're getting screwed out of additional options and they don't even know it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have lunch time trolls. Every new release I have takes a few bombs between 12-1pm. Guess they are reading at work. Actually its such a pattern that I am sure its name recognition "LC? 1-bomb!"

As for reading based on H's? For me it is title and tag. They catch my eye I just read. Many times I have thought, "damn good story" and seen its low 4's or high 3's. Other times I have been "This sucks" and its 4.6

 

[jacktar48]

I have lunch time trolls. Every new release I have takes a few bombs between 12-1pm. Guess they are reading at work. Actually its such a pattern that I am sure its name recognition "LC? 1-bomb!"

As for reading based on H's? For me it is title and tag. They catch my eye I just read. Many times I have thought, "damn good story" and seen its low 4's or high 3's. Other times I have been "This sucks" and its 4.6

I don't have time to read much, but I have noted the same thing. A high score often indicates well-written porn. But not always.

Incidentally I saw something a week or so ago that had an 'E' on it. "Aha," says I, "Snug harbor ahoy!" WRONG! OMG the technical errors were so egregious I couldn't get past the first three paragraphs. I mean, it looked like it was written by someone who flunked out of school in Mississippi. So how does this happen?

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't have time to read much, but I have noted the same thing. A high score often indicates well-written porn. But not always.

Incidentally I saw something a week or so ago that had an 'E' on it. "Aha," says I, "Snug harbor ahoy!" WRONG! OMG the technical errors were so egregious I couldn't get past the first three paragraphs. I mean, it looked like it was written by someone who flunked out of school in Mississippi. So how does this happen?

Understand that an "E" only means editors choice meaning Laurel, the site owner, liked that story. Its the opinion of one person sort of a gold star from the teacher. So it does not translate into good just means she thought it was good.

I'll take the H. Means a lot of people thought it was good.

 

[jacktar48]

Understand that an "E" only means editors choice meaning Laurel, the site owner, liked that story. Its the opinion of one person sort of a gold star from the teacher. So it does not translate into good just means she thought it was good.

I'll take the H. Means a lot of people thought it was good.

Jeez, I was hoping it wasn't that. I thought maybe a volunteer editor could do it, and maybe had done it for someone whose pants he sought to invade.

 

[Eroticalover1968]

I'm relatively new here but I'd like to comment. The reader/writer relationship reminds me of a bacon and eggs breakfast: the chicken was involved but the pig was commited. At the risk of mixing metaphors, I've been chasing that red h like a dangling carrot and have been making an ass of myself. My 'angry jerk' period got me a couple low 3's. I just don't care anymore. I've noticed my sort of good story's vote/ view ratio is around 1/100. My more crudlike stories get about half that. Looking back, I was delusional enough to think I could win some money, after reading only a few stories. LOL! I know now there are very good writers here, so I'll only write for the fun of it. I have learned lots at least. One last thing, I can't get over a sort of stagefright since one of my early stories scored 1000's of hits in a short time. The result is a bunch of self conscious second guessing on my part. Thanks.

 

[sr71plt]

Incidentally I saw something a week or so ago that had an 'E' on it. "Aha," says I, "Snug harbor ahoy!" WRONG! OMG the technical errors were so egregious I couldn't get past the first three paragraphs. I mean, it looked like it was written by someone who flunked out of school in Mississippi. So how does this happen?

Laurel is the only selection editor here. Any/all Green Es come from her.

The case looks fishy. Laurel is knocking back probably more than she should be on a fun site for technicals, based on folks having stories knocked back for that--and letting others see it, with it not turning out too bad.

Citation of the story, please.

(Incidentally, I think you'll find that the only ones who disparate the Green E are those who don't have one--and they only do so until they get one.)

 

[Handley_Page]

Here's an idea--feel free to tell me if it sucks, or is illegal, or whatever. (I know I didn't have to say that.)

"OK, readers. Here's the deal. 99% of you do not bother to vote. 99.9% of you do not bother to comment. This is the only payment I receive, and when you don't do it, it's the same as shop-lifting as far as I'm concerned.

"If you like this story and don't vote, you're letting the trolls control the voting and I'm sick of it. If you want to find out what happens next you are going to have to PM me and I'll send you the next chapter. I'm not going to post it until I find out why the voting score is so low. If I thought this was crap I wouldn't have posted it. If you disagree I want to know why. And not anonymously."

Sorry jack, but I usually vote Anon out of habit (I don't log in to read a story). I usually put HP in the comment, though.
If I enjoyed the story, I'll say so and thank you for putting it out. If I didn't enjoy it, I'll try and tell you why, - as politely as I can.

 

[Montanos]

How many readers, having limited time, read only the 'H' submissions? They're getting screwed out of additional options and they don't even know it.

I guess I confess. I usually go for the "H" stories by default. I usually don't have time for the rest, and HOPE the 'H' depicts quality. Doesn't always work.

I don't mind porn, but I like erotic porn with a plot, non-human, female dominant (not SM just dominant), yet not weak male, stories. I don't dislike the other stuff, its just that by now I've read so many 'I'm a stud. You woman cannot resist my manly charms. Hahaha.' stories that they blur. Then there are the ones about defloration. Dudes, that shit HURTS. She isn't going to roll with pleasure the first time her hymen is broken through. Give me an experienced slut that knows exactly what she wants any day.

I wish the site was Cross-indexed: If its a Loving Wives, Group Sex, Horror story, have the story appear in all 3 listings specification on it.

Tags are extremely unreliable. I can read 2 different succubus stories and have the 1st story be under the tag 'demon' and the 2nd story be under the tag 'succubus'.

Now, as to increase votes. Maybe by improving navigation? I usually go back to stories. So a few things constantly tug my attention.

1. I wish Page numbers were located at the TOP of each page as well as at the bottom.
2. I wish the voting 'stars' were available on all the pages of a story, not just at the end.
3. I wish the SEARCH option in the main Literotica page was on top, or close to the top, of the webpage. As it stands, it is right smack in the middle of a lot of 'bold blue' options.

Gods, I probably posting in the worst possible place. But, at least I did put it out there.

Montanos

 

[jacktar48]

I'm relatively new here but I'd like to comment. The reader/writer relationship reminds me of a bacon and eggs breakfast: the chicken was involved but the pig was commited. At the risk of mixing metaphors, I've been chasing that red h like a dangling carrot and have been making an ass of myself. My 'angry jerk' period got me a couple low 3's. I just don't care anymore. I've noticed my sort of good story's vote/ view ratio is around 1/100. My more crudlike stories get about half that. Looking back, I was delusional enough to think I could win some money, after reading only a few stories. LOL! I know now there are very good writers here, so I'll only write for the fun of it. I have learned lots at least. One last thing, I can't get over a sort of stagefright since one of my early stories scored 1000's of hits in a short time. The result is a bunch of self conscious second guessing on my part. Thanks.

Thanks for the input. And the honesty.

Interesting point about the vote/view ratio. I hadn't really paid attention except to note a couple of times that it was about 1:100.

 

[jacktar48]

Sorry jack, but I usually vote Anon out of habit (I don't log in to read a story). I usually put HP in the comment, though.
If I enjoyed the story, I'll say so and thank you for putting it out. If I didn't enjoy it, I'll try and tell you why, - as politely as I can.

Thanks for sharing.

I didn't know it was possible to read without logging in, actually. Duh. I guess I've got mine set up so I log in automatically and I never thought about it.

And your policy on comments is the best that anyone can ask for, in my opinion. Thanks for that too. Especially the "as politely as I can" part.

 

[lovecraft68]

Sorry jack, but I usually vote Anon out of habit (I don't log in to read a story). I usually put HP in the comment, though.
If I enjoyed the story, I'll say so and thank you for putting it out. If I didn't enjoy it, I'll try and tell you why, - as politely as I can.

This brings up another interesting dilemma. Commenting "as yourself" as an author.

I usually do except for contests because one theory is it can put a bullseye on someone's story if they see an author they do not like commenting or amongst trolling authors who get upset or see it as favortism.

One of the bigger high school aspects of the voting issues we have here

 

[lovecraft68]

Jeez, I was hoping it wasn't that. I thought maybe a volunteer editor could do it, and maybe had done it for someone whose pants he sought to invade.

Nope its just a pat on the head, sort of. E's are like anything else, there's some good ones, some bad ones.

Interesting that many do not have H's. One theory is that people get jealous and bomb them. That could be, who knows? But it is also possible that the editor's taste does not reflect everyone's and the story is not so good.

Off the top of my head I only know of one "trifecta" story an E an H and a W and that is Paco Fear's Macallan Promises. I have heard there is a couple of others, but have not seen them

 

[jacktar48]

I guess I confess. I usually go for the "H" stories by default. I usually don't have time for the rest, and HOPE the 'H' depicts quality. Doesn't always work.

I don't mind porn, but I like erotic porn with a plot, non-human, female dominant (not SM just dominant), yet not weak male, stories. I don't dislike the other stuff, its just that by now I've read so many 'I'm a stud. You woman cannot resist my manly charms. Hahaha.' stories that they blur. Then there are the ones about defloration. Dudes, that shit HURTS. She isn't going to roll with pleasure the first time her hymen is broken through. Give me an experienced slut that knows exactly what she wants any day.

I wish the site was Cross-indexed: If its a Loving Wives, Group Sex, Horror story, have the story appear in all 3 listings specification on it.

Tags are extremely unreliable. I can read 2 different succubus stories and have the 1st story be under the tag 'demon' and the 2nd story be under the tag 'succubus'.

Now, as to increase votes. Maybe by improving navigation? I usually go back to stories. So a few things constantly tug my attention.

1. I wish Page numbers were located at the TOP of each page as well as at the bottom.
2. I wish the voting 'stars' were available on all the pages of a story, not just at the end.
3. I wish the SEARCH option in the main Literotica page was on top, or close to the top, of the webpage. As it stands, it is right smack in the middle of a lot of 'bold blue' options.

Gods, I probably posting in the worst possible place. But, at least I did put it out there.

Montanos

Thanks.

I have the same habit regarding the "H." I don't have time to read a lot of stories, so I want to start with the best ones. Maybe it's time to abandon that habit. But it's hard to know where to start.

One reason I have written some "first time" stories is that I believe, and have a degree of experience behind that belief, that it doesn't have to be a horrendous experience or even particularly painful. Slightly uncomfortable for a few seconds at worst.

Of course hymens, like humans, vary widely. I spent some time in Taiwan and met a woman there who had been a professional virgin for several years. Apparently she had a really tough one to begin with, and had been careful to avoid rupturing it completely. Maybe they have some kind of exercises they can do to strengthen it; who the hell knows.

In any case, she was quite experienced and still had hers. She was a real money-maker for mama-san.

I sure do agree about the categories. After 50+ submissions I still don't know which one to pick most of the time. Sometimes it doesn't matter anyway because it gets put somewhere else regardless of what I picked.

Good suggestions regarding navigation. I don't know who you could tell that could do anything about it. It might involve a big pain in the ass on the programming end; I have no idea.

Thanks again for "putting it out there." That's what conversation is all about.

 

[jacktar48]

This brings up another interesting dilemma. Commenting "as yourself" as an author.

I usually do except for contests because one theory is it can put a bullseye on someone's story if they see an author they do not like commenting or amongst trolling authors who get upset or see it as favortism.

One of the bigger high school aspects of the voting issues we have here

Oh shit. Again this never occurred to me. I do have my own little negative fan club and if I say I like something they may crap on that author by proxy.

 

[jacktar48]

Nope its just a pat on the head, sort of. E's are like anything else, there's some good ones, some bad ones.

Interesting that many do not have H's. One theory is that people get jealous and bomb them. That could be, who knows? But it is also possible that the editor's taste does not reflect everyone's and the story is not so good.

Off the top of my head I only know of one "trifecta" story an E an H and a W and that is Paco Fear's Macallan Promises. I have heard there is a couple of others, but have not seen them

God, does the chickenshit never end?

I'm beginning to remember why I'm a hermit. I never could sort out the rules of "polite" society, and decided to avoid it until they put out a manual.

 

[LWulf]

I'm a newbie still, so I haven't reached anywhere near the level of frustration of many on this thread, nor do I have the general level of experience.

But, honestly, I don't want comments from people unless they care enough to decide they want to leave them. When I read a story, I tend not to vote badly (below a 3) unless something about the story really pisses me off (more along the lines of very sloppy writing and editing, not topic-related). Often enough I find stories that merit a 4 and occasionally a 5. But even among these latter ones, I frequently don't leave comments because the stories didn't move me enough or in such a way to have anything original to say - I could put a "good job" down on every story, but I feel I have done that with my score. I want my comment to be more than that. I'd rather leave nothing at all than leave something trite. Which I know, from the author's perspective, doesn't help or do anything for the author, but there it is....

So..do you really want all the comments you could be getting? You want only the worthwhile ones, and those will be few and far between.

Likewise. I came in last year, but I was working in the regional busy season for 6 plus months, so really, I'm almost at a year.

I don't think I ever voted below a 3. If I felt strongly enough to vote less than a 3, I still wouldn't vote but then leave a lengthy comment. I remember once leaving almost a two page comment, and mostly that was because I REALLY liked the story, but the writer seemed get tired of the script. After 15 plus chapters, he seemed to fizzle or the words between the lines read like: "I am so fucking tired of writing this story I just want it to end!"

I rarely sigh in a name on my comments too lately. Most people's stories I comment on left Lit a long time ago, so it seems pointless to sign a name to it.

Opposed to you, I like hearing all comments, even the foolishly stupid ones. I had one who got ethnic on me (good god they have not a fucking clue who they are talking to and just presume a whole hell of a lot), and though I didn't flag it, one of the admins must have erased it. So I agree with jacktar more or less regarding this, though I don't let indifference get to me as much.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll take any and all comments. The trolls I laugh at. The "real men" I laugh at even harder. I also laugh at the "you're the bestest writer ever"comments.

Amongst all that amusement are the rare gems, the ones that either critique or compliment the story in a thoughtful fashion that gives you something to go on as far as what your strong/weak points are

In general I'm fine with taking the bad with the good.

 

[Eroticalover1968]

Lol. This just in: by Anonymous
06/19/14
It's a chess game

They are playing chess in this story. Chess instead of Chest is a play on words to describe the story. Please read the story before blaming races Anon

by Anonymous
06/19/14
Get Your Title Right!

"It's Something Off My Chest!"

Are you Indian?

I am sure you are not American but one of those who can't get its English right!


I realize the story has a few glitches and whatnot but now it would seem I'm an "it".
At least the top commenter has all his 'stuff' in one sack.

P.S. I'd be a hermit too if people would leave me alone.

 

[lovecraft68]

There's been threads dedicated to the best of the worst type of comments. I've gotten many that make me laugh.

I think this could be my favorite at the moment because it came from another author. I give them credit for posting their name with it and also....enjoy it even more because "haters" crack me up.

I'll leave out their name


trollcraft68

You won with this? seriously? fuck...You must be sucking the boss. Do you know how to write a frickin sentence? Yeah...you must be sucking cock or this story would have been kicked back a zillion times just because of the multitude of errors.

Corny too!
What are you a 102?

I am offering a reward for anyone who can tell me what a "102" is.

 

[Eroticalover1968]

Maybe under the influence of a specific fraction of 420? No, seriously, I'm thinking the genius meant 12 years old. Either that or 102 years old.