Ratings

[Magnetron]

Can you really take them seriously after some bitter twat gives you a single star on the only one out of 60+ poems of yours that he/she read and left you a comment telling you not to quit your day job?

How about when poets automatically 5 their own poems as soon as they appear?

LOL

 

[Tsotha]

Can you really take them seriously after some bitter twat gives you a single star on the only one out of 60+ poems of yours that he/she read and left you a comment telling you not to quit your day job?

How about when poets automatically 5 their own poems as soon as they appear?

LOL

Well, ratings serve some kind of purpose. However, whether they serve your purpose is another question entirely. It seems to me that most people drop their votes in the 3-5 range, whether they like or dislike what they are reading.

Example:

"This isn't perfect, but it was a fair attempt, so I'll be nice and give you a five."

or

"This is really good! But compared to <my favorite poet> it's trash, so I'll give you a 3."

My point is, there isn't any guideline for voting, so it's difficult to make any sense of the ratings. But the 1-bomb sends a clear message, it is reserved to those who are pissed off or intent on trolling, I think. If you want to increase the quality of your feedback, you can simply disable voting and anonymous comments. However, it will make the amount of feedback even smaller than it already is.

 

[pelegrino]

I think that Magnetron does have one or two valid points, and that Tsotha gives sound advise.

Is there an option for disabling anonymous comments? I don’t know about it.

 

[Tzara]

Is there an option for disabling anonymous comments? I don’t know about it.

1. Go to literotica.com>Stories & Pics>Login
   
2. Enter your login information and go to your page.
   
3. Pick "options" under "Main," which should already be selected.
   
4. Click the radio button for "Accept anonymous feedback?" to "No."

 

[Tzara]

Well, ratings serve some kind of purpose. However, whether they serve your purpose is another question entirely.

Yes, exactly.

I use them to get some kind of feel about how a particular poem was received by "the readers," however nebulous that concept is. Different people are here at different times, particularly when, like me, you've posted here for some years.

Your audience changes, and isn't all that stable to begin with.

Basically, the votes are an unnormalized metric. It might tell you something; it might not tell you anything.

The interpretation is all up to you.

 

[pelegrino]

Thanks, Tzara, I've changed it!
I also agree with your comments about ratings.

 

[Magnetron]

I say, Bring it all on.

Maybe after a year or two, you'll get a more honest consensus of your submissions.

Until then, take whatever constructive criticism you can and keep writing.

 

[twelveoone]

Can you really take them seriously after some bitter twat gives you a single star on the only one out of 60+ poems of yours that he/she read and left you a comment telling you not to quit your day job?

How about when poets automatically 5 their own poems as soon as they appear?

LOL

Do you remember what I said about readership as a whole, you seemed to be offended by it.
You are throwing your oyster irritations unto the dogs. (paraphrased)

 

[Magnetron]

Someone just gave themselves 5 anonymous comments gushing with praise within 24 hours of posting their first poem.

If only the Ignore Button over here could filter out the weeds in the garden over there.

 

[bronzeage]

I have never taken the scores for stories or poems seriously. It's nice to have a high score and get a little red five by the title, but there is no way to know what a person liked or disliked, or why. Perhaps some particular fetish was appealing, maybe it reminded them of their mother. Who knows? It is meaningless.

Literotica is a publishing forum, not a critique forum. We don't have the structure or the community for it, and there's no reason we should. Anyone who posts their work here for anything more than their own personal satisfaction is bound to be disappointed.

 

[twelveoone]

Can you really take them seriously after some bitter twat gives you a single star on the only one out of 60+ poems of yours that he/she read and left you a comment telling you not to quit your day job?

How about when poets automatically 5 their own poems as soon as they appear?

LOL

Did the bitter twat leave a traceable name and have material that you can read?
It is unknown whether the bitter twat, it is assumed by you that only one was read one was read by the as for above mentioned bitter twat.

Besides as far as poetry goes, not quitting you day job is good advice.

There are a hell of a lot of abuses, there is a hell of a lot of apathy, and there is a hell of a lot of grandstanding in the threads.

Where do you stand?

It is what you make of it.

 

[twelveoone]

I have never taken the scores for stories or poems seriously. It's nice to have a high score and get a little red five by the title, but there is no way to know what a person liked or disliked, or why. Perhaps some particular fetish was appealing, maybe it reminded them of their mother. Who knows? It is meaningless.

Literotica is a publishing forum, not a critique forum. We don't have the structure or the community for it, and there's no reason we should. Anyone who posts their work here for anything more than their own personal satisfaction is bound to be disappointed.

Once it was different.
It is what you make of it.

 

[bronzeage]

Once it was different.
It is what you make of it.

You have a little more than a year's seniority on me, so either I missed the Golden Age, or I'm the one who ruined it for everyone.

 

[bronzeage]

Once it was different.
It is what you make of it.

You have a little more than a year's seniority on me, so either I missed the Golden Age, or I'm the one who ruined it for everyone.

 

[Magnetron]

http://www.literotica.com/p/all-in-one-breath

I think that was a fair critique, but my money is on it being deleted.

"A woman broadsided with being discovered sliding a vibrating massager between her naked legs door busted open like her mouth chin up face reddened though she did not remove the device and came in front of her ever curious father."

Very awkward to read as is. One can only assume before finishing the poem that this rambling run on is due to forgotten punctuation breaking it apart into multiple sentences. Two, perhaps three sentences?

Wether is was intentional or not is the question my brain is asking before finishing the read and this is a major distraction.

"He will never forget the flutter as his progeny's cries thumped against his eardrums conjuring sweet razor sharp blood lust."

The flutter of what?

"Pressed it down adjusted. "

Again, an awkward run on sentence. And further lack of information.
Adjusted up or down or how? If you aren't going to tell us in what direction the adjustment was, then there is no point in mentioning "adjusted" at all.

"She wished at least once he would punish her for it. Finally use that formidable weapon."

Two sentences you probably could have combined.

If you are going to persist in 5-ing your own work, at least make sure it is worthy of it.

 

[Tsotha]

From another poem of hers, "Fig Jam":

Curious format. I didn't have trouble reading it, like Maria2394, but it felt a bit like reading a very long sentence without breaks. Was that you intention? It felt like the entire scene was punched into my head at once. Interesting.

I like your description...

I try to write snippets of movement to establish a feel. I like long sentences and hope that the audience is reading them slowly to create a staggered momentum.

So, she is experimenting with rhythm. I sometimes do some strange stuff, too, and more often than not people "don't get it". Which means what I'm doing isn't very useful/"good", if my intent is to share what I'm writing.

 

[twelveoone]

http://www.literotica.com/p/all-in-one-breath

I think that was a fair critique, but my money is on it being deleted.

no she answered
try saying the poem in one breath
first time I ever saw a comment from her
and on her own work, tsk, tsk, not that I don't spar sometimes, but I like to get out in the real world, i.e. others work
remind me never to comment on noncommentors again

 

[twelveoone]

From another poem of hers, "Fig Jam":





So, she is experimenting with rhythm. I sometimes do some strange stuff, too, and more often than not people "don't get it". Which means what I'm doing isn't very useful/"good", if my intent is to share what I'm writing.

after three experiments, it becomes templating, then it becomes templating brain farts, at least with a form you have a flower up your ass, to freshen it a bit

 

[Tsotha]

after three experiments, it becomes templating, then it becomes templating brain farts, at least with a form you have a flower up your ass, to freshen it a bit

Oh, well. I don't know about the template, 12. It's just another tool in the box. Except it's a personal tool, a little blunt and not very useful, but you're attached to it. It's something you do because it holds meaning to you. You feel it when you read it, and you're trying to write it in a way that others will see it, too. Because being alone with an idea sucks. At least, it's how I feel with my "unroll" bullshit/template.

 

[Tsotha]

http://www.literotica.com/p/all-in-one-breath

I think that was a fair critique, but my money is on it being deleted.

I think it was a little mean, and unlikely to help her (given how it's worded). But then, the world sucks and people are evil. Your comment is a rose, by comparison.

 

[twelveoone]

Oh, well. I don't know about the template, 12. It's just another tool in the box. Except it's a personal tool, a little blunt and not very useful, but you're attached to it. It's something you do because it holds meaning to you. You feel it when you read it, and you're trying to write it in a way that others will see it, too. Because being alone with an idea sucks. At least, it's how I feel with my "unroll" bullshit/template.

the template is more of a trap
it is doing and/or saying the same thing
and generally some of the people that do it are notorious for not leaving comments, it becomes graphetti of the worst sort, signing your name over and over again, regardless if it is a sonnet or what SS does.
You want a list of names?
Dick Shore
There is a golem er poem by me A walk on the path, which is about going through new poems, I think it is funny, that was a template for me, it is easy to do for me.
I had the basic poem in half an hour, I had the good sense to cut it by two thirds, and punched it up. ha,ha,ha
If I did the same goddamn thing over and over again, it gets old. Especially for the audience.

 

[Magnetron]

I don't see my comments differing much from person to person. I point out from a reader's perspective what didn't work, which is more often than not some form of distraction that interrupts the flow.

That one in particular was loaded with distractions.

Does the poet in me know she's taking a risk? Yes. As a Literotican, I know she takes many risks like this. But I am only a Literotican poet when I am done reading and volunteer suggestions.

This was little different from other works by her that were nothing more than random phrases slapped together under an irrelevant title.

I leave similar comments for others, like Kokshur ..... but in his case, there are never any magical 5's. Someone gave him a 1 star prior to my comment the other day. It was unfair to him because he is a competent writer and what he wrote was decent enough and I let him know I inflated the rating accordingly.

 

[Tsotha]

I don't see my comments differing much from person to person. I point out from a reader's perspective what didn't work, which is more often than not some form of distraction that interrupts the flow.

That one in particular was loaded with distractions.

Does the poet in me know she's taking a risk? Yes. As a Literotican, I know she takes many risks like this. But I am only a Literotican poet when I am done reading and volunteer suggestions.

This was little different from other works by her that were nothing more than random phrases slapped together under an irrelevant title.

I leave similar comments for others, like Kokshur ..... but in his case, there are never any magical 5's. Someone gave him a 1 star prior to my comment the other day. It was unfair to him because he is a competent writer and what he wrote was decent enough and I let him know I inflated the rating accordingly.

I agree that you gave valid criticism, Magnetron. However, communication is a strange thing, we perceive it as something that takes place in the real world with lips flapping and sounds, but it's actually taking place inside your head (as you process what you've heard into what it has made you feel). You can never be sure what others meant (unless they tell you), and you can never be sure how others will react to what you're saying.

I'm sure you meant well with your comment, but she has made it known (to you) that she processed your words and felt you were trolling. Communication fails, yet again. It fails so often and so spectacularly that I wonder what's even the point. It's one of the most useless things humans do (communication).

And I gave her poem a 5, just because. I don't see the purpose of scores. So there.

 

[Magnetron]

This morning I revisited what she wrote and gave it a 3 because despite the mess it was, I understand her intentions. Had I not seen so many Magic Fives bestowed upon her poems soon after they appear and refrained from commenting, it would have been a 2.

Rarely do I give out a 2 unless it requires serious medical attention.

If it reads well enough without any major distractions and the story is conveyed, a 3.

If it has elements that I consider poetic, 3 + 1 = 4

If I make it from Title to End effortlessly because of your craftsmanship as opposed to my compensations ...... 5

If it is a haiku or less than five lines, I tend to move on without rating or commenting.

 

[Magnetron]

And then I'll throw in a bonus star here and there for originality, like with Butters's rosy rifle toting prawn.

Or for achieving the difficult to impossible, like Todski making a suit and tie business meeting erotic.

I don't judge based on like or dislike or if it was about something that interests me.