Introducing the Critic Laureate of Literotica... Johnny Spade!

sr71plt said:

Which, to many, would make them a troll--and is the right of anyone to think that for several reasons, already listed here. So, there you go. The question was asked and is answered.

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So any one vote is an automatic troll?

Sounds like the response of either the very thin skinned or the arrogant. My story get a one? Must be a troll because I'm awesome.

JohnnySpade said:

Ziedrich I apologize, I changed some settings on my mobile phone and I guess I inadvertently clicked the messaging off. I have enabled it back again and can now accept messages.

Again, sorry for the hassle.

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Don't worry, it was no trouble at all. I just hope you didn't miss out on any messages other people tried to send in the meantime.

Several People said:

Ratings and also sweeps.

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At the risk of completely sidetracking this thread, what's a 'sweep?'

With regard to telling each other the best way to rate yet other people's stories and grumbling about bad ratings our own stories have gotten, I think I disagree at least partially with everyone so far.

First of all, it strikes me as somewhat unreasonable to label everyone who rates a story a 1 a 'troll.' That's an insult that gets thrown around way too much and is starting to lose its rather important meaning as a result. "I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs, and I do not know what else." The 1 rating exists for a reason, and never using it would make the 2 rating the new 1- which could then be similarly railed against.

On the other hand, I do disapprove of giving out 1 ratings without explanation. I just label people who do that 'lazy' or 'cowardly' instead. A rating without an explanation doesn't help anyone, and a 1 rating without an explanation might also discourage someone who just needed practice or a few tips from writing more. If the story is remarkably bad or good enough that it deserves a 1 or a 5, then it's remarkably bad or good enough that it deserves at least a brief comment.

And then of course the whole rating system ceases to have any meaning or value if people aren't judging stories based on the same general criteria. And since we already have categories and tags to differentiate stories by content, it seems to me that ratings should be used to differentiate stories based on how well they handle the content they contain instead. For that reason I definitely disapprove of people giving a 1 to a story because it's a category they don't like. I also disapprove of people giving 3s to stories for being about things they're ambivalent about, and so on.

lovecraft68 said:

So any one vote is an automatic troll?

Sounds like the response of either the very thin skinned or the arrogant. My story get a one? Must be a troll because I'm awesome.

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Sometimes it's really tough being so awesome that people want to rate my stories 1s, but luckily I'm also so awesome that I don't mind.

What I posted is that any 1 vote based purely on "didn't like" is insensitive. And you are not taking into account that I posted this as well: "Yes, I've seen stories I thought deserved a 1--but it was on quite a bit more than whether or not I "liked" the story." Talk to me in terms of what I actually posted or just stop trying to change what I posted. I was answering a question posed on the thread.

All this aside for a moment, I'd like to point out that when JohnySpade reviewed my silly little story it got a surprising spike in views. That leaves me with the impression that Mr. Spade has a sizeable following.

Getting back to the scoring system... Insult whoever you care to insult with your votes, but recall that we are a community of sorts.

Ziedrich said:

At the risk of completely sidetracking this thread, what's a 'sweep?'

With regard to telling each other the best way to rate yet other people's stories and grumbling about bad ratings our own stories have gotten, I think I disagree at least partially with everyone so far.

First of all, it strikes me as somewhat unreasonable to label everyone who rates a story a 1 a 'troll.'

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I didn't say they were trolls (although I said that many would label them as such, which I think they would do). I said they were insensitive. This isn't a critique site. This is a free-read writing/reading for entertainment site. It's not the New Yorker.

I have said that I think anyone who gives a story a 1 on the single criterion that they didn't "like" it is full of themselves and insensitive. They could just bypass the story if they didn't have more discriminating criteria than "like"--unless they were more full of themselves and insensitive to the writing effort being made than I think someone being given access to free reads by nonprofessionals should be. The question was posed on the thread--and I answered it with my opinion--I didn't give my opinion without the question having been posed.

I don't have any sympathy for vigilante "I could do it so much better than you can" commenters--especially unsolicited comments--here.

sr71plt said:

I didn't say they were trolls (although I said that many would label them as such, which I think they would do). I said they were insensitive. This isn't a critique site. This is a free-read writing/reading for entertainment site. It's not the New Yorker.

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You'll note I didn't say I was talking about you in particular. It was NotWise who said "A score below 3 is an insult. It doesn't make any difference whether the sub-3 score is a 1 or a 2, either of them is simply an insult. Really -- an insult. We get those ratings from trolls and troglodites." But I didn't say I was talking about Notwise in particular either, because I was talking more about the general sentiment that was being discussed than about what anyone in particular said. I do think you skirted closer than you might have meant to to endorsing that view though.

sr71plt said:

I have said that I think anyone who gives a story a 1 on the single criterion that they didn't "like" it is full of themselves and insensitive. They could just bypass the story if they didn't have more discriminating criteria than "like"--unless they were more full of themselves and insensitive to the writing effort being made than I think someone being given access to free reads by nonprofessionals should be. The question was posed on the thread--and I answered it with my opinion--I didn't give my opinion without the question having been posed.

I don't have any sympathy for vigilante "I could do it so much better than you can" commenters--especially unsolicited comments--here.

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As I went on to say before, I generally agree with this sentiment, albeit for slightly different reasons. Not giving a comment explaining one's rating makes the rating thoroughly worthless- as would a vapid and meaninglessly subjective and unspecific comment like "I liked it" or "I disliked it". And giving ratings based on one's own opinion of the subject matter rather than on the quality of the writing undermines the entire purpose of having a rating system to begin with.

NotWise said:

All this aside for a moment, I'd like to point out that when JohnySpade reviewed my silly little story it got a surprising spike in views. That leaves me with the impression that Mr. Spade has a sizeable following.

Getting back to the scoring system... Insult whoever you care to insult with your votes, but recall that we are a community of sorts.

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I don't know about a following but I think anyone who tries to put the attention on the authors who bust their asses here and get some stories read, well then that is a good thing.

Since this ratings discussion has been so interesting let me say this: I am rating for the readers & also the author of the piece, 50-50. How can someone who goes on more than just the star ratings suss out a good story or author unless there are some good reviews (positive or negative) to guide them? When I first started frequenting the site I would look for stories that had lots of reviews thinking if they had lots of attention, good or bad, might be worth reading

My ratings are MY ratings. That's why I try to put what star level I gave to a story in the review because at least on the mobile app I use most of the time there is no indication on what star rating a reviewer rated the story at, you have to go by the text of the comment. I think a 1 star story voted by a certain person may have some validity, if it wasn't for them then maybe someone else will dig it. But I always try to look at the complete picture, characters, story arc, exposition, grammar, etc. in addition to if I really "got off on it".

Which brings me to my last point... This is what most would consider an adult site. Not all, but I'm sure many readers enjoy the stories as fuel for their umm, self love sessions. So to me I am trying to balance a genuine, literary review based on the standards of " normal" literature as well as the titillating and sexually exciting moments a story has that merits it's inclusion on the site.

A 1 star to me is bad in my opinion, but not every 1 star rating is a troll. If you're looking for proof read just 10 random stories from the I/T category and dimes to donuts you'll find one that is utter shit, deserving of a 1 star. My process is more in line of reading through the categories, seeing a story with a decent description or an author I have seen before, OR noticing a story with a great ratings average and then giving critique and congratulations to the story as a whole.

Since I have offered my opinion as Critic Laureate of Literotica on request the stories I read may or may not meet those criteria above, and will be reviewed accordingly. Bottom line is I don't want red light-green light, 1 star bad- 5 star good. My reviews have more nuance than that and my decision to have 4 be a really high rating with 5 being reserved for stories near perfection reflects that. Point is a certain star rating will not arbitrarily be the factor on a good review or a poor review...I am asking readers and writers to read the COMMENTS and then see what the "rating" is or isn't.

sr71plt said:

It would make you insensitive if the only criterion you used for judging a story was "like" or not.

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Sorry. Perhaps I should have used words like "hated/the story had crappy grammar/had nothing to do with English" instead of "didn't like".

I've read several stories that were really bad (grammar (mostly), plot, cardboard dialogues etc). Most of them are usually short stories of 1 or 2 page length. If it's a longer story, I leave reading at the second or third page. I can't handle a torture more than that.

Case in point, I read a story from LW and have it an honest 1 star.

https://www.literotica.com/s/boat-shopping-ends-up-in-mfm-sex

And FYI, it wasn't the theme that made me do it.

Critic Laureate, eh? Nice shtick.

I'm curious about what you have to say on this one. I had the idea two years ago, started writing a year ago and submitted it six months ago. My writing style is now a bit different from what I used to belt out, but I'd still like to see if there's room for improvement.

https://www.literotica.com/s/harp-un-strung

And for the heads-up, it's childish, full of legal-aged high-school seniors and packs an impressive 9 Lit pages. Don't know how people got around to finish this shit, but here it is. Do it on your own time. Or don't.

Either way, let me know.

Learin said:

Sorry. Perhaps I should have used words like "hated/the story had crappy grammar/had nothing to do with English" instead of "didn't like".

I've read several stories that were really bad (grammar (mostly), plot, cardboard dialogues etc). Most of them are usually short stories of 1 or 2 page length. If it's a longer story, I leave reading at the second or third page. I can't handle a torture more than that.

Case in point, I read a story from LW and have it an honest 1 star.

https://www.literotica.com/s/boat-shopping-ends-up-in-mfm-sex

And FYI, it wasn't the theme that made me do it.

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OK. I responded to what you actually posted.

One that I recall giving a one to, I did it because it was just totally sloppy and obvious no effort was ever made to check it. No one is perfect, we make mistakes, typos/grammar etc, I don't look for flawless.

In this story in addition to countless typos, the characters-both of them-name's changed throughout the story. The woman's dress went from red to pink to black within twp pages. They enter the bedroom dressed then are naked with no mention of clothing coming off.

The woman, described as having huge breasts somehow had them deflated into 'her perky little titties' and there was a condom that appeared and reappeared during the sex scene.

To me that amount of pure carelessness warranted a one. That wasn't a few mistakes that was pure "I don't give a fuck' sorry if I am not going to reward that with either a good vote or not voting at all.

JohnnySpade said:

Since this ratings discussion has been so interesting let me say this: I am rating for the readers & also the author of the piece, 50-50. How can someone who goes on more than just the star ratings suss out a good story or author unless there are some good reviews (positive or negative) to guide them? When I first started frequenting the site I would look for stories that had lots of reviews thinking if they had lots of attention, good or bad, might be worth reading

My ratings are MY ratings. That's why I try to put what star level I gave to a story in the review because at least on the mobile app I use most of the time there is no indication on what star rating a reviewer rated the story at, you have to go by the text of the comment. I think a 1 star story voted by a certain person may have some validity, if it wasn't for them then maybe someone else will dig it. But I always try to look at the complete picture, characters, story arc, exposition, grammar, etc. in addition to if I really "got off on it".

Which brings me to my last point... This is what most would consider an adult site. Not all, but I'm sure many readers enjoy the stories as fuel for their umm, self love sessions. So to me I am trying to balance a genuine, literary review based on the standards of " normal" literature as well as the titillating and sexually exciting moments a story has that merits it's inclusion on the site.

A 1 star to me is bad in my opinion, but not every 1 star rating is a troll. If you're looking for proof read just 10 random stories from the I/T category and dimes to donuts you'll find one that is utter shit, deserving of a 1 star. My process is more in line of reading through the categories, seeing a story with a decent description or an author I have seen before, OR noticing a story with a great ratings average and then giving critique and congratulations to the story as a whole.

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Yeah, this is exactly (well almost exactly, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by saying you're rating for the authors and the readers 50-50) what I was advocating for. Giving out 1s is just and necessary for some stories and giving out 5s willy-nilly would make them meaningless. So the most important thing is having a detailed comment/review explaining how one arrived at one's rating for the story and how the piece could have been improved- and what was good about it.

Ziedrich said:

At the risk of completely sidetracking this thread, what's a 'sweep?'

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The site runs a process to identify and remove bad-faith votes, e.g. stuff that looks to be the same person voting repeatedly on one story. If you watch your story stats, once in a while you'll see the vote count go down, because something has been removed in a sweep. You can use the "report story" button to request a sweep on your own or anybody else's; they tend to run at the end of a story contest.

For obvious reasons, L&M don't discuss exactly how sweeps work, and have discouraged speculation that might give people ideas about how to circumvent them. In my experience, unusually low votes on an otherwise high-scoring story are likely to get removed when the sweeps come around.

Bramblethorn said:

The site runs a process to identify and remove bad-faith votes, e.g. stuff that looks to be the same person voting repeatedly on one story. If you watch your story stats, once in a while you'll see the vote count go down, because something has been removed in a sweep. You can use the "report story" button to request a sweep on your own or anybody else's; they tend to run at the end of a story contest.

For obvious reasons, L&M don't discuss exactly how sweeps work, and have discouraged speculation that might give people ideas about how to circumvent them. In my experience, unusually low votes on an otherwise high-scoring story are likely to get removed when the sweeps come around.

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Ah ha, I had indeed noticed the vote count go down and wondered why that happened. I figured it just meant a person un-voted or something. Thanks.

Could you give my story a review?

https://www.literotica.com/s/meet-the-pornstars

It's my first and I'm really hoping I can get a review from someone who's not a Yes Man or criticizes the kink.

Would love to read what you have to say..... https://www.literotica.com/s/the-perfect-professor. tnx

New reviews up now...

I have got a couple new reviews up that some authors requested. Below are the links to the stories:

"The Party" by kcRollins
https://www.literotica.com/s/the-party-156?page=5

"Meet the Pornstars" by Ruchnids
https://www.literotica.com/s/meet-the-pornstars#tabs

I will try to get to more reviews, but I can only get a few hours max free time a week so bear with me. I can't review everyone's story...(cough, cough ahem, Ziedrich).

So check these two out, these reviews are different genres than I usually read...be cool.

Johnny Spade - Critic Laureate of Literotica

A Million Thanks

I appreciate the time you took to read "The Party" even though you're not into the "genre" about which it was written. A good reviewer can be objective and that's exactly what you are. After reading some of your other reviews I knew it was safe to ask you to read my story.

You keep this up and you might earn yourself a place on the Literotica staff.

Once again, thank you

kcRollins said:

I

You keep this up and you might earn yourself a place on the Literotica staff.

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Might even earn the self-anointed title that really could only be bestowed by the Web site owners. Until then it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and conjures up a poster we were plagued with for years here, Scouries, who duped naive forum readers with just such fake claimed "laying on of hands" by the Web site as this claim to be Literotica's critic laureate.

sr71plt said:

Might even earn the self-anointed title that really could only be bestowed by the Web site owners. Until then it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and conjures up a poster we were plagued with for years here, Scouries, who duped naive forum readers with just such fake claimed "laying on of hands" by the Web site as this claim to be Literotica's critic laureate.

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Relax brother, it is a nickname, an angle to introduce myself to the authorship & readership of the site. I have been here lurking a long time & a member for a few years so I have read many different stories. A common issue was afterwards or beforehand in looking for something to read, the real reviews written with thought and longer than 20 letters were few & far between.

So when you see a need in this world, step up or don't bitch. If you can lay some critiques down by all means...

Not really. It's presumptuous and misleading. It's an honor bestowed by someone else based on judged talent by someone other than yourself. You seem to think a lot of yourself, I guess. But if you think you need it to pump yourself up and bamboozle others . . .

sr71plt said:

Not really. It's presumptuous and misleading. It's an honor bestowed by someone else based on judged talent by someone other than yourself. You seem to think a lot of yourself, I guess. But if you think you need it to pump yourself up and bamboozle others . . .

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Your time of the month, huh?

You betray a few obvious character traits that are, to me, pardon the language: fucking annoying. Since you had no compunction to get all BF Skinner on me, allow me to retort with my own analysis of you based on just a few paragraphs written by you online...you know, just as you did to me.

First off 'Dirk', I knew people that were in the military took their rules and regulations seriously but Christ, 'an honor to be bestowed by someone else'?! LMAO! I literally guffawed reading your comment's tone of serious indignation!

There's no such thing, in any other capacity that I'm aware of, as a Critic Laureate. It is a nickname I came up with for myself, period. Not trying to bamboozle anyone or pull the wool over anyone's eyes there Chief.

It is in no way near as important as the 'Literotica Guru' tag that has been bestowed on you for your faithful 10 years on the site. No, mine is just my small little handle to differentiate myself a bit and, God forbid on a creative writing site...be creative.

I am a dyed in the wool liberal, a 4th generation Democrat and great grandson of an abolishonist who was hung in Michigan just trying to do the right thing. In that regard, it takes a sensitive to see a sensitive. But in this case, relax brother. The Critic Laureate of Literotica, Johnny "Ric" Spade IV, Esquire, doth bring you no harm!

sr71plt said:

Not really. It's presumptuous and misleading. It's an honor bestowed by someone else based on judged talent by someone other than yourself. You seem to think a lot of yourself, I guess. But if you think you need it to pump yourself up and bamboozle others . . .

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Thanks, JS, for confirming that you are an arrogant and offensive Scouries wannabe.

I'd like a review

The story is My Daughter Interrupts My Work.

This is by far my lowest rated story. It's currently at 4.09, which is well up from it's sub-4 initial score. The story before is at 4.64 and the stories since are at 4.69 and 4.70. It's my only Dad/Daughter story and is two pages long. I intended it to be on the light side. I don't know why it has such a low score. Is it because the daughter is obviously seducing the dad for her financial benefit? The comments I got was that the story wasn't believable because the main character wouldn't be able to access a secure government network from his home, but that seems to me to be a picayune compliment.