Oddities in Ratings and Views - Observations from New Author

[RichardKimble]

Literotica reader for decades. Have truly enjoyed the site and so many stories. Started writing last year, no idea where it would lead, and lo and behold I wrote erotica. Posted my first series this week with few expectations, other than for them to just vanish into the ether.

Out of curiosity and new writer dread, I read the stories soon after they went live and looked at my control panel. I got more reads more quickly than I would have exptected. Did some research and figured out what you all likely know, that the "New" stories in a category always get quite a few eyeballs, so there was that.

Then I noticed that most of my early ratings were 1s. Like a LOT of them. I think for my first two stories, I had about a dozen ratings within the first 200 or so views, and the overall rating was something like 1.2 or suitably low.

I was a bit surprised and my new author ego was kind of bruised. I did some searching through this forum and noticed that the "One Bomber" is a thing and that my type of story (had a "Cheating" tag) attracts certain negative attention. I get that, but still, all the 1s felt pretty harsh given the effort I put into the work.

I looked at the "New" page for the category (Exhib/Voyeur) while my stories were up and quite a few of them had like 4.9 ratings with fewer views than my set. Many of these gathered the "Hot" tag as well. Read a lot of these highly rated stories and I wasn't impressed by many of them (a few were truly excellent and I felt deserved the ratings).

I wrote all this off and resigned myself to be a no-hit wonder here on Lit, then logged back in a few days ago to submit my final chapter. Saw that my scores were all of a sudden significantly higher (from 1s to low 4s).

I've gathered from searching this forum that this is a thing all Lit authors face: attack of the One Bomber (found the brilliant story about it and had a nice laugh). Nonetheless, I do wonder why such an odd thing happened to my first set of stories (no one knows me from Adam here, so it's not like I have an army of trolls trying to run me off). Or perhaps the "Cheating" tag might be the thing that invited this particular brand of downvoting.

Regardless, I've enjoyed the Literotica Author experience otherwise. Looking forward to publishing more stories and watching them get one-starred into the gutter as well. It's where my mind is anyway.

Cheers,
RichardK

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh yeah, The Fugitive. I was so bored when I was twelve-years-old that I used to watch that show every weekday when it was in syndication.

Anyway, you got above a four on all four parts of your series. Congratulate yourself and have a beer or a glass of wine or whatever it is you like to drink (maybe it's seltzer). If you are wondering - I think this what you're saying - why you didn't get a 4.5 or above on any of them: well, that's impossible to say. The is no point in worrying about a formula or the voting tendencies of readers here. There are too many variables and too many voters (I think people can vote here even if they are not members).

There seems to be a pattern here of new authors who have a great start and still feel unsure about it all. Just relax and keep writing; you're doing fine.

 

[JuanaSalsa]

I'm pretty new too. My first story that got posted is my lowest scored at 3.67. I'm very glad I continued though because that is my lowest score, lol. It was a gang rape story and the second in a series but got posted first because I had no idea what I was doing =]

All of my more non-con stories still get one-bombed, but that's just how it goes, it seems. There are some things that some people really, really, don't like and will seek out to down vote. It's a shame for those of us who like to read those themes because it makes it hard to differentiate between poor writing and just an uncomfortable topic.

If you keep writing, you'll probably find your audience though. Entering contests seems to be a great way to find readers who connect with your style and themes.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is typical. Stories about wives that stray beyond the marital bounds often get 1-bombed by the "Burn the Bitch" crowd of readers, especially within the first twelve hours of posting. Don't be discouraged.

The phenomenon is worse if you publish the story in the Loving Wives category, which is where these stories are supposed to be published. By publishing in Exhibitionist and Voyeur, you probably earned yourself a higher score, although possibly fewer views.

Take some comfort in knowing that despite the presence of the 1-bombers there are a great many Literotica readers who enjoy these stories.

 

[jsmiam]

@OP, when a story is very new with very few votes, scores are meaningless. Wait for about 50 to 100 votes, and that’s probably about where the score will settle on a longer term basis.

There’s a reason that there are virtually zero people with months or years old stories with score fluctuating complaints. There may be other complaints, no doubt. Anti-cheating and anti-strong women sentiments run high. But the complaints for established stories will be about the overall score, not the fluctuation of the score. Sample size. Poisson distribution. Kurtosis. Lambda. I’m just spewing random statistical terms after the first two. .

But welcome, have fun, and remember. Wait for about 50 to 100 votes.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you're story involves any form of cheating, you'll attract Lit's lowest common denominator, angry impotent woman hating incels so expect some bombs. The periodic sweeps will eliminate some of them and help out the score, but there's a lot of them.

Score does not equate whether a story is good or bad. Once you're here for awhile you'll see why. But any type of cheating, or even consensual wife sharing or anything like it the score is more worthless because of the creepers it brings out from under their rocks.

 

[lovecraft68]

This is typical. Stories about wives that stray beyond the marital bounds often get 1-bombed by the "Burn the Bitch" crowd of readers, especially within the first twelve hours of posting. Don't be discouraged.

The phenomenon is worse if you publish the story in the Loving Wives category, which is where these stories are supposed to be published. By publishing in Exhibitionist and Voyeur, you probably earned yourself a higher score, although possibly fewer views.

Take some comfort in knowing that despite the presence of the 1-bombers there are a great many Literotica readers who enjoy these stories.

I recently wrote a hot wife story. Both my sadistic and masochistic side are tempted to put it here then sit back and watch the fireworks, because this one will piss of several factions over there.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I recently wrote a hot wife story. Both my sadistic and masochistic side are tempted to put it here then sit back and watch the fireworks, because this one will piss of several factions over there.

And we all know, pissing off factions is fun!

 

[SimonDoom]

I recently wrote a hot wife story. Both my sadistic and masochistic side are tempted to put it here then sit back and watch the fireworks, because this one will piss of several factions over there.

You'll probably do OK. You'll get your share of the incel trolls, but you'll get a lot of readers who like those stories, too, and you have a lot of followers already to bolster the score. There's a really big readership for hot wife stories. They get overshadowed by the nasty minority. The right attitude is to ignore the score and focus on the views and favorites.

 

[RichardKimble]

Thanks all for your insights and reflections. I appreciate you sharing your experience.

I waffled about whether to post in Loving Wives or Exhib/Voyeur and chose the latter because of key parts of the story, especially the ending, which I felt were critical to the arc. Definitely one of the four chapters could fit in Loving Wives over Ex/Voy, but I was unsure about breaking a multi-part story up between categories. Oh well.

Looking forward to doing more of this as I get the time. It's been fun, and I guess that's what matters. I don't think the stories in my head match a particular category, but I think I'll seek some advice on this before my next one is ready to post.

Cheers,
RichardK

 

[thanagar]

I posted my first story this year after years of reading. The difference might be that I dumb luck picked what seems to be one of the most opening and welcome subject groups, the Mature category. The response and feedback have been tremendous.

I even had a character in one of my stories call a group of guys "a bunch of small dicked incels" and thought for sure the murder wagon of 1s was going to come my way. But it didn't happen.

So you might try posting it different categories and see what happens. But yeah, Loving Wives sounds like it's a brutal area to write in.

 

[SamScribble]

As my real-life editor has pointed out on a number of occasions, 'scores' on sites like Literotica have nothing to do with the quality of the writing. Scores are simply an indication (and a very rough one at that) of the story's popularity with those who voted. End of story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Or perhaps the "Cheating" tag might be the thing that invited this particular brand of downvoting.

Using that tag was like putting William Tell's apple on your head. You made yourself a target, plain and simple.

Next time, post straight to LW and make everyone's life simpler.

 

[gunhilltrain]

@OP, when a story is very new with very few votes, scores are meaningless. Wait for about 50 to 100 votes, and that’s probably about where the score will settle on a longer term basis.

There’s a reason that there are virtually zero people with months or years old stories with score fluctuating complaints. There may be other complaints, no doubt. Anti-cheating and anti-strong women sentiments run high. But the complaints for established stories will be about the overall score, not the fluctuation of the score. Sample size. Poisson distribution. Kurtosis. Lambda. I’m just spewing random statistical terms after the first two. .

But welcome, have fun, and remember. Wait for about 50 to 100 votes.

One won't always get fifty to one-hundred votes. I've had some stories up for a long time that never got close to fifty votes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Using that tag was like putting William Tell's apple on your head. You made yourself a target, plain and simple.

Next time, post straight to LW and make everyone's life simpler.

Everyone should post to LW at least once to find out what the experience is like.

 

[Agiel]

Everyone should post to LW at least once to find out what the experience is like.

If you’re a regular contributor to LW it’s okay but if you try it as a one off experience you have to be prepared for any consequences.

 

[SimonDoom]

Everyone should post to LW at least once to find out what the experience is like.

An excellent idea. I did this early in my Literotica career. I wrote a spoof on BTB stories, which in the end turned out to be a cuckold story, and I received some phenomenally vicious feedback, much of which Laurel deleted on her own, without my recommendation. I poked the bear, and the bear bit back. It was interesting. If not for that effort I would never have had a reader tell me, "Here, eat my condom."

 

[lovecraft68]

An excellent idea. I did this early in my Literotica career. I wrote a spoof on BTB stories, which in the end turned out to be a cuckold story, and I received some phenomenally vicious feedback, much of which Laurel deleted on her own, without my recommendation. I poked the bear, and the bear bit back. It was interesting. If not for that effort I would never have had a reader tell me, "Here, eat my condom."

Courtesy of LW this is still one of my favorite comments.

Anonymousover 7 years ago
Never Again
Where does he get this pathetic shit? I got sick of picking the corn out his verbal diarrhea on the second page and had to stop reading. Awful. Just awful.

 

[gunhilltrain]

An excellent idea. I did this early in my Literotica career. I wrote a spoof on BTB stories, which in the end turned out to be a cuckold story, and I received some phenomenally vicious feedback, much of which Laurel deleted on her own, without my recommendation. I poked the bear, and the bear bit back. It was interesting. If not for that effort I would never have had a reader tell me, "Here, eat my condom."

The two I put there were not spoofs (one was a sequel to the other) and I knew what I was getting into. The results were not as bad as some other cases I've seen.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they didn't recognize that they were being spoofed by you. Did you think it was obvious? But they seem to lack any sense of humor over there.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Everyone should post to LW at least once to find out what the experience is like.

Why?

When I first arrived at Lit I read half a dozen stories in LW, didn't care one bit for the content I'd read, and then the commentary... That was enough for me to make my mind up, without the need for any further empirical evidence. It's the same with non-con, it does nothing for me, so I wouldn't "try" something there, either.

 

[SimonDoom]

The two I put there were not spoofs (one was a sequel to the other) and I knew what I was getting into. The results were not as bad as some other cases I've seen.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they didn't recognize that they were being spoofed by you. Did you think it was obvious? But they seem to lack any sense of humor over there.

It doesn't matter what your intention or awareness is. The goons will do their thing. And no, they have no sense of humor. They live in a bizarro world where women are evil and always cheating and trying with the system's help to take every last cent from their Ex unless he goes full-Charles Bronson on them.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Everyone should post to LW at least once to find out what the experience is like.

I haven't slammed a car door on my hand, either. No hurries on either count. You can have my chance.

 

[yowser]

Posting in LW is an interesting experience, a bit like the old carnival house 'hall of mirrors.'

The first story that ended up there was because Laurel put it there (I'd picked a different category.) I didn't mind, except for the predictable comment ('wrong category, dimwit!') Viewing numbers were several multiples greater than earlier stories.

Second story, deliberately LW this time, the commentary was a fascinating dive into internet anthropology, with people trashing the tale, getting trashed for trashing it, and one courageous defender commenting:

'Loosen up guys. It's just a story and a damn good one at that. Nobody's real wife got fucked. If you're so damn moral, what are you doing on a porn site?'

One commenter informed me I was one sick cheating hotwife, then checked my profile and apologised. 'Oh, you're a guy.' A nice backhanded compliment on my character portrayal.

 

[RichardKimble]

I was not aware that any story with an element of hot or cheating wife activity had to, by default, go into LW. To be honest, based on these tales, I think I'll keep as far away from that category as possible.

I think I chose the proper category for these stories in the end. Voyeurism and Exhibitionism are both critical plot points throughout, so I'm happy with where they reside.

As for the ratings and the advice to 'wait for 50 to 100' votes, well at least one of mine has reached that range now. The original Chapter has 62 votes with a 4.0 rating. As I said in the original post, I observed the rating of this story to be about 1.2 or 1.25 at 12 ratings within the first few hours of going live and with about 200 reads. I understand that the system cleans up some spam voting, so likely not all these are still alive in the current 62 count. But if most of these One-bombs still carry into the current rating, they could affect the score signifiantly (close to 0.5 pts).

Again, thanks for all of the interesting insights and tales of warning. I'm pretty sure my next story is either a Romance or Novella, if I finish, so perhaps I'll be back with a different tale then. Also, I'll definitely avoid using the "cheating" tag from henceforth. Duly Noted.

Cheers,
RichardK

 

[MillieDynamite]

I was not aware that any story with an element of hot or cheating wife activity had to, by default, go into LW. To be honest, based on these tales, I think I'll keep as far away from that category as possible.

I think I chose the proper category for these stories in the end. Voyeurism and Exhibitionism are both critical plot points throughout, so I'm happy with where they reside.

As for the ratings and the advice to 'wait for 50 to 100' votes, well at least one of mine has reached that range now. The original Chapter has 62 votes with a 4.0 rating. As I said in the original post, I observed the rating of this story to be about 1.2 or 1.25 at 12 ratings within the first few hours of going live and with about 200 reads. I understand that the system cleans up some spam voting, so likely not all these are still alive in the current 62 count. But if most of these One-bombs still carry into the current rating, they could affect the score signifiantly (close to 0.5 pts).

Again, thanks for all of the interesting insights and tales of warning. I'm pretty sure my next story is either a Romance or Novella, if I finish, so perhaps I'll be back with a different tale then. Also, I'll definitely avoid using the "cheating" tag from henceforth. Duly Noted.

Cheers,
RichardK

The category was created for cheating wives and cuckold stories, but the incels moved and the neighborhood went to trash. Oh, that sounds a bit racist doesn't it?