The Official Authors' Hangout Summer Lovin' 2023 Contest Support Thread

[WendyTrilby]

This was my first time involved in a writing competition (of any kind), and I entered to see how it would work. I assumed it would have its own voting system outside the normal one, but I see it did not. Works were judged on the overall scores, which, considering how much chatter (including on this thread) I read about score tampering, is fundamentally flawed. Giving people the opportunity to bomb the competition isn't in the spirit of literary progress, it's more like a war.

Would it be possible for stories in the competition to have a separate vote system? The easiest way is to have a voter (a registered reader) vote for 3 stories in order of preference. Literotica could then tabulate those scores and declare a winner (5 points for favorite, 3 points for second favorite, 1 point for third favorite). This way, voters can't hurt a story they don't like but can upvote a story they like. It feels more democratic. In a political election, you vote for who you like, you don't get to hurt the vote count of those you don't like.

Top 3 voting is simple, and it removes the malicious nature of intentionally bombing a story.

I'm sure this has been discussed, and my thinking probably has a glitch, but this system, in its current state, is fundamentally flawed.

Before you all attack me, I am fine with my score. I like the stories that won and several that did not, but I'm just not certain this playing field is level.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Before you all attack me, I am fine with my score. I like the stories that won and several that did not, but I'm just not certain this playing field is level.

It's not, but that's the choice you make when you enter contests.

It's why I prefer the themed collections - there's none of the bullshit that goes with a prize.

Your scoring idea is a good one, but I have no idea how the site could ever make it work.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I read about score tampering, is fundamentally flawed. Giving people the opportunity to bomb the competition isn't in the spirit of literary progress, it's more like a war.

While there are attempts at tampering, I think Laurel has a very good handle on it. Since my story went in fairly late, it didn't have nearly as many views or votes as usual so the bombs were quite obvious. Laurel removed all of them and my score ended up exactly where I expected it to be if the bombs had never been thrown. As for it being a "war," I really don't think it's other authors doing it but certain rather nasty Anon readers who seem to take delight in denigrating our work for some reason and possibly even hating the storyteller for some unknown reason.

A new vote system that depends on a reader reading every story and ranking them isn't realistic; with a few candidates, the system in an election may work fairly well (though many people would disagree), but with 134 or however many stories, it wouldn't be workable or fair.

Moving on, in retrospective, my story ends up as my second highest story and tied as my second-highest score ever, including my highest ever contest entry so I'm extremely happy about that. It also ended with ten comments, a decent showing. However, I'm a little disappointed about my other results. As noted, I finished and entered late so the number of views was way down compared to entries in past contests and because it was so long (my longest on the site), it took a while to read and finished with my second fewest number of votes on any of my stories.

Finally, it attracted far fewer new followers than usual. That's the most disappointing part to me since contests are when we get the widest exposure to readers of categories we might not usually frequent.

That's enough reflection; back to writing and editing!

 

[Duleigh]

This was my first time involved in a writing competition (of any kind), and I entered to see how it would work. I assumed it would have its own voting system outside the normal one, but I see it did not. Works were judged on the overall scores, which, considering how much chatter (including on this thread) I read about score tampering, is fundamentally flawed. Giving people the opportunity to bomb the competition isn't in the spirit of literary progress, it's more like a war.

Would it be possible for stories in the competition to have a separate vote system? The easiest way is to have a voter (a registered reader) vote for 3 stories in order of preference. Literotica could then tabulate those scores and declare a winner (5 points for favorite, 3 points for second favorite, 1 point for third favorite). This way, voters can't hurt a story they don't like but can upvote a story they like. It feels more democratic. In a political election, you vote for who you like, you don't get to hurt the vote count of those you don't like.

Top 3 voting is simple, and it removes the malicious nature of intentionally bombing a story.

I'm sure this has been discussed, and my thinking probably has a glitch, but this system, in its current state, is fundamentally flawed.

Before you all attack me, I am fine with my score. I like the stories that won and several that did not, but I'm just not certain this playing field is level.

I agree with Southern Crossfire, Laurel truly does have a good handle on it, both of my stories landed right where I thought they would. One of my stories was messed with (that was my "Fan Club" letting me know they were unhappy) but just before the end, the raucous votes are removed and I'm happy with both scores. I know the calibre of Tarnished Penny's work so I'm satisfied that she won fairly.

But your idea is interesting, you may want to present it to Laurel and see what she thinks of it.

 

[SimonDoom]

This was my first time involved in a writing competition (of any kind), and I entered to see how it would work. I assumed it would have its own voting system outside the normal one, but I see it did not. Works were judged on the overall scores, which, considering how much chatter (including on this thread) I read about score tampering, is fundamentally flawed. Giving people the opportunity to bomb the competition isn't in the spirit of literary progress, it's more like a war.

Would it be possible for stories in the competition to have a separate vote system? The easiest way is to have a voter (a registered reader) vote for 3 stories in order of preference. Literotica could then tabulate those scores and declare a winner (5 points for favorite, 3 points for second favorite, 1 point for third favorite). This way, voters can't hurt a story they don't like but can upvote a story they like. It feels more democratic. In a political election, you vote for who you like, you don't get to hurt the vote count of those you don't like.

Top 3 voting is simple, and it removes the malicious nature of intentionally bombing a story.

I'm sure this has been discussed, and my thinking probably has a glitch, but this system, in its current state, is fundamentally flawed.

Before you all attack me, I am fine with my score. I like the stories that won and several that did not, but I'm just not certain this playing field is level.

I'm not going to attack, but I'm going to point out the obvious flaw in your proposal. It's obvious, anyway, to those of us who have been around for a while and who have seen the way the Site does things.

Readers matter more than writers. Readers, not writers, drive traffic, and the worth of the site. The purpose of a scoring system is not to make authors feel good, although a minor purpose of it might be to spur writers to write more and write better. But the main purpose is to give readers the opportunity to give feedback and to give them a system that they can use to choose stories.

ANY restriction on their ability to do this is therefore bad, from the Site's point of view. Over half of reader input is anonymous. Much of it is unregistered. There is not a snowball's chance in hell that the Site is going to do anything to restrict the ability of anonymous, unregistered readers to vote on stories.

I see this as a good thing. As authors we should be prepared to get the bad feedback along with the good.

There is no perfect system, and there is no way to eliminate gaming from the voting system altogether, but I'm not in favor of any system that makes it harder for readers to vote.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

WT - it’s said that nobody with four aces ever demands a new deal; as somebody who somehow topped this competition, I suppose anything I say now will be somewhat suspect. Mind you, that’s never stopped me before, so I’ll kick in my thoughts anyway.

First off, I completely understand your frustration. Yup, there are flaws with the present system. Nobody should be able to maliciously influence the voting or rating and I’ve been in the crosshairs myself a fair bit. So, yes. I agree with you to that extent.

That said, there is some good food for thought in some of the responses you have already received, bot the philosophical (per SD) and the more pragmatic ones such as Duleigh and SC. Changes to the system have been pitched for years and I too supported some of them at the time. I now however see the system as akin to Winston Churchill’s description of democracy: ‘The worst possible system, except for all the others.’

Your proposal is intriguing, but as SC mentions, to make it work properly and fairly would require voters to have read all the submissions. That’s simply never going to happen. And having been one-bombed (heck, carpet-bombed!) once or twenty times, I have seen the ability of Lit’s system to do a pretty good job of winnowing grain from chaff. It’s not perfect by any means, but I honestly cannot think of a better one.

Without any attempt to patronize you, your entry seems to have scored very well indeed - far better than my earlier attempts. I wish you well in future - and specifically hope that you continue to submit, for you do have a flare.

Good luck.

tp

 

[ChloeTzang]

I thought about dropping in something last minute, I have a short piece-3 pages short for me- but then I get caught up in the I'm not eligible and I have this weird thing where I don't enter anything unless I have a chance to place, otherwise its not worth it.

I'm way to competitive.

LOL. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not (way to competitive), but I get you. I had one half done, but it'll have to wait for 2024 now. I am getting much better at being patient and doing this, you understand.

You do realize you are painting a target on all the high scoring stories right. A list for the bombers to hit.

A lot of people don't realize that to start with. Remember my little faux pas doing that when I first arrived here. LOL. I was soooooo embarrassed.

I hope that AH readers have more respect for their fellow authors.

Ummmm. LOL. No, a subset do not. In point of fact, they use little lists like that to zero in and one-star bomb the stories. Not that it stops them if there are no lists, it just makes it harder for them.

And a really belated congratulations guys, and love love love Tarnished Penny - a big hug!!!!!

 

[Jalibar62]

Thanks, Ms. Chloe... coming from you that means a lot.

 

[Duleigh]

And a really belated congratulations guys, and love love love Tarnished Penny - a big hug!!!!!

I was truly honored when TP asked me to take a look at a story in the works... "Me?" what an honor.