Ratings–Is It Really That Big Of A Deal?

[madelinemasoch]

Ironically, yesterday I just got my first Red H in about a year.

 

[Djmac1031]

You're absolutely right. But I feel it, too, when I post a new story, it gets a handful of ratings, maybe sitting pretty for a few tantalizing moments at a perfect 5. I know it's not going to stay there. But that doesn't stop me wanting it to. And a few 4s come in and the drops feel precipitous.

I don't think it's just the red H. And I don't expect a perfect 5, or even a 4.9, ever. If on any given story you told me it would end up anywhere in the 4s I think I'd be fine with that. Like you said, that means most people liked it. But when you watch it go from 5 to 4.6 or whatever, and then maybe start to level out closer to 4, it's hard to not be at least a little disappointed.

It would be hypocritical and dishonest of me to say I haven't felt the exact same things you describe here. Because I have.

And I also admittedly am very happy every time I see that Red H pop up on my newest.

That said, I think my priorities are changing.

I've proven to myself I can write.

I've proven I write well enough that there's an audience for it. A small one sometimes. But they exist.

My goals now are less Red Hs and more about writing something that appeals to a larger audience.

I'm getting greedy, I suppose. Because my reader numbers are good.

But fuck that. I want GREAT. I want THOUSANDS of confirmed reads. Not just hundreds.

I'd trade a Red H for ten thousand more views per story.

Edit: editing myself for clarity.

In more simple terms, I'd gladly trade a 4.6 rating by one thousand readers for a 4 rating by ten thousand.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

but praising their effort in an honest way, letting them know the importance of 'just showing up' is critical to their development

I fully support offering praise and encouragement if it is genuine and deserved. That is where the benefit is derived.

Letting someone believe that "just showing up" merits recognition on a par with someone who puts effort into a task is an insult to both parties.

"Yes, you showed up at all the practices, and that's good. Now, if you just tried a little harder to learn the rules, we would be able to let you play in the game next week. I know you can do it!"

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

In more simple terms, I'd gladly trade a 4.6 rating by one thousand readers for a 4 rating by ten thousand.

Hang on just a little longer. that bot is almost done...

Seriously, I have 2 stories well over 100K views and it blows me away. My average(I did some Excel stuff the other day) is an acceptable 25K. Now that I now what that so coveted Red H means, it has lost a lot of it's prior luster.

 

[samhasstories]

Hang on just a little longer. that bot is almost done...

Seriously, I have 2 stories well over 100K views and it blows me away. My average(I did some Excel stuff the other day) is an acceptable 25K. Now that I now what that so coveted Red H means, it has lost a lot of it's prior luster.

I've peaked at just over 80K, which is a number that doesn't make any sense to me. A couple hundred seems high. (Most of mine are significantly lower than that.)

 

[Djmac1031]

Hang on just a little longer. that bot is almost done...

Seriously, I have 2 stories well over 100K views and it blows me away. My average(I did some Excel stuff the other day) is an acceptable 25K. Now that I now what that so coveted Red H means, it has lost a lot of it's prior luster.

My Most Viewed story is also my most voted on story.

Caring For Carrie was published 02/2022. It now sits at 72.7K views, with 1.1K people actually voting on it for a score of 4.73.

Not too shabby. But it took two years to get that many views and votes.

I want a story with not just 70K views. But 70K VOTES.

okay, that may be... reaching a bit too high ... but I can still dream of one day achieving not just double digit views, but double digit votes.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

My Most Viewed story is also my most voted in story.

Caring For Carrie was published 02/2022. It now sits at 72.7K views, with 1.1K people actually voting on it for a score of 4.73.

Not too shabby. But it took two years to get that many views and votes.

I want a story with not just 70K views. But 70K VOTES.

okay, that may be... reaching a bit too high ... but I can still dream of one day achieving not just double digit views, but double digit votes.

Same, it also leads in favorites and comments.
Teacher's Challenge(link below) was published 05/2022
255 favorites
152645 views
4.91/1003 voting score, and 87 comments.
Ok, it won Reader's Choice, too, but mentioning that might be considered bragging.

Of all those, I like the comments the best

 

[djrip]

Hang on just a little longer. that bot is almost done...

Seriously, I have 2 stories well over 100K views and it blows me away. My average(I did some Excel stuff the other day) is an acceptable 25K. Now that I now what that so coveted Red H means, it has lost a lot of it's prior luster.

Just peeked and jeez you have a lot of red X's!

 

[ElectricBlue]

okay, that may be... reaching a bit too high ... but I can still dream of one day achieving not just double digit views, but double digit votes.

Easy. Dedicate yourself to the one category, if all you want is high numbers. If you want a truck ton of comments, pick the other one. The entry bars aren't very high.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Just peeked and jeez you have a lot of red X's!

You're not doing too bad either, my friend.

 

[SimonDoom]

I want a story with not just 70K views. But 70K VOTES.

That's going to take a story that gets around 5-7 million views. So that's a tall order. Only 23 stories in Literotica history have over 5 million views. Most of those stories are quite old. The most recent dates back to 2015.

 

[Djmac1031]

That's going to take a story that gets around 5-7 million views. So that's a tall order. Only 23 stories in Literotica history have over 5 million views. Most of those stories are quite old. The most recent dates back to 2015.

I did say I might be over reaching a bit .

 

[SimonDoom]

I did say I might be over reaching a bit .

Write the best, most over-the-top Mom and Son in the backseat story ever, and see what happens.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I did say I might be over reaching a bit .

Nah, I did the math. My average views per vote is 56. That's only 3.9 million views. Should have that by, um Saturday. Right? LOL

 

[Small_Island]

When I started visiting Literotica I was overwhelmed by the amount of stories available, so I would only read things that scored above a 4 as a filter. Then as I began to write and pay attention to others' scores, I realized that score and quality (as I saw it) didn't always correspond, particularly in Loving Wives. Once I realized that among the small number of readers who vote, a good percentage are ones who hate cheating/sharing wives (regardless of the official definition of the category), and thus a low score might only reflect their preference for BTB. I see my own 3-parter, Thick and Thin https://literotica.com/s/thick-and-thin-the-beginning as an LW conundrum. In the end, the MC gets drastic and physical against the cheating, so BTB crowd should like. However, in parts 1 & 2, we only see him indulging in consensual sharing and don't realize the shit's going to hit the fan and he's going to hit back. So it remains my lowest-rated series, even though I'm still happy with it. Bottom line, I don't write for numbers and they've become less important to me. Now I'm more pleased to see Favorites showing up after a new release, even if the score stays under 4.

 

[Small_Island]

I also understand the basic conflict in the rating system. I read a story recently where I hated what happened, it certainly didn't excite me, and I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you were looking something stroke worthy. But, the fact that I was so engaged in the asshole character and so outraged by their behavior is a clear indication that it was written brilliantly. So, do I give it a 1 or 2 to warn others away, or do I give it a 5 because it was so well written? In the end, I'll probably do the common thing and not vote at all, although I might drop a comment that both condemns and praises. ;-)

 

[alohadave]

I also understand the basic conflict in the rating system. I read a story recently where I hated what happened, it certainly didn't excite me, and I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you were looking something stroke worthy. But, the fact that I was so engaged in the asshole character and so outraged by their behavior is a clear indication that it was written brilliantly. So, do I give it a 1 or 2 to warn others away, or do I give it a 5 because it was so well written? In the end, I'll probably do the common thing and not vote at all, although I might drop a comment that both condemns and praises. ;-)

I read a cheating wife story a couple years ago that had my blood boiling. I had such a visceral reaction to it.

I don't think I voted on it, but now I wish I knew what it was, because very few stories give me that kind of reaction, and that deserves 5 stars.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Write the best, most over-the-top Mom and Son in the backseat story ever, and see what happens.

Just… so… funny…

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

Just… so… funny…

Em

People over think this stuff.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Write the best, most over-the-top Mom and Son in the backseat story ever, and see what happens.

You'd have to write it from dad's point of view and post in LW, though.

 

[Djmac1031]

You'd have to write it from dad's point of view and post in LW, though.

Hold up, you might be on to something here. Loving Wife cheating on Hubby with her own son??? Dad finds out and sets out to destroy them both.

Title: Burn The Bitch And The Boy.

Someone run with that lol

 

[SimonDoom]

You'd have to write it from dad's point of view and post in LW, though.

Too many heads would explode.

 

[Djmac1031]

Too many heads would explode.

It would be beautiful, though.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Too many heads would explode.