The Official (Mostly) Literotica April Fool's Day Contest Support Thread!!!

[Trionyx]

But if you click on each story's link, the category will show on that page and if it’s not to your taste, hit the browser back button.

Easily done, but it does create a ‘view’ without the story being read.

 

[Duleigh]

Perhaps request Authors to 'select their category' at the starting line, so judges need not.

The writers do select the category. If you have the time, peruse the Authors Hangout (I love the word peruse, I'm going to make it my Word Of The Month for April) Here in the AH there's a lot of discussion over which category is the best, we're always agonizing over which category our new creation fits into best, which category will reach the most readers, which category attracts the most trolls, how to categorize our stories away from trolls... the debate is friendly and endless.

The AH here at [lit] is an incredible place to be, we're constantly helping and encouraging each other, a rare commodity for competitors. In what other competition do you hear competitors offer advice to potential advisories? "Look, try this out, it's the best way to kick my ass..." and "Can you look at my story and tell me where I fucked up?" I love it, experienced writers are constantly lending a hand to NUBs (New Unexperienced Bodies), ideas are traded, creativity is encouraged, and in the end the readers are the real winners.

 

[PennameWombat]

Easily done, but it does create a ‘view’ without the story being read.

True. I’m actually in favor of adding the category into the Contest Story listing so it shows up with the author and title. I just don’t expect it to ever happen. But that didn’t seem to be the specific question the OP was asking, although it’s part of it.

You could avoid the ’View’ by clicking on the author name, then looking down their list of stories to find the contest entry and that’ll tell you the category. Yeah, not an improvement.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

What doesn't happen is that the list of contest entries doesn't obviously include the category. But if you click on each story's link, the category will show on that page and if it’s not to your taste, hit the browser back button.

I am pretty sure this is by design. My assumption is that less popular categories would get considerably less traffic if they posted each story's category on the main contest page.

By omitting the categories, I think the intention is to encourage readers to check out stories outside their preferred genre.

I'm not certain this is a great idea, but I think it is an intentional idea, and I'd be surprised if they changed it.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I am pretty sure this is by design. My assumption is that less popular categories would get considerably less traffic if they posted each story's category on the main contest page.

By omitting the categories, I think the intention is to encourage readers to check out stories outside their preferred genre.

I'm not certain this is a great idea, but I think it is an intentional idea, and I'd be surprised if they changed it.

If you search thru the threads, you'll find this one has been discussed a few times before and the conclusion has always been that leaving out the categories is a design feature to encourage readers to read and vote without the categories being shoved in their faces. That's my interpretation anyhow and I haven't ever really participated in those discussions, just read them, and most of the discussion's been between people who'd been around in the AH waaaay longer than me.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Bloody hell Chloe, your stories looks to have been hammered since winning. Some people...

LOL. Always happens to my stories during the contests and after them. I have dedicated fans. LOL. I bask in their adulation, secure in the knowledge that the uno-bombing of my happy little tales has given them a moment of pleasure in the dreadful eternity of their existence.

Looking at it a bit more critically, my story was submitted just before the deadline (5 minutes), it was 20 Lit pages, where a lot of readers prefer shorter stories, and I think it had about 9k views at the end of the competition, with a fairly low # of views and votes compared to a lot of stories that were entered. If you do a longer story, it's usually readers who enjoy it that make it through to the end to vote, and thus, the # of votes are lower (altho usually more favorable), which makes the uno-bombs have a greater impact on the score. The morning after I submitted it, it was one-starred down to about 4.1 on about 5 votes, it crept up to 4.7 and was bombed down again to around 4.4, crept up, bombed down 2 or 3 times, and so on.

It sat at about 4.5 for most of the week, but those final sweeps zapped about 15% of the votes I had, and that's when the score jumped. After the winners were announced, it was uno-bombed back down to where it is now, fairly quickly, which is a bit pointless, because it wasn't high enough to make the HOF to start with. LOL. It's entertaining to watch tho, and it does make me laugh. I took it all a lot more seriously the first 3 or 4 years I was here, but the last 4 years I just laugh and go with the flow, mostly because I write because I enjoy it, and not for the scores.

I think this is the 4th contest I've won since my first in 2017, and now I don't really write to win - it's more that I enjoy the challenge of the contests and events and coming up with a good story that's either a little outside the norms or a totally sentimental tear-jerker - and whether I win or come close or bomb out because readers didn't like the story so much is more or less incidental to writing stories I enjoy myself. "American Dream" was definitely one I really enjoyed writing. So was "My Valentine," which didn't come near placing in the Valentine's Day one, and "Hanging Seven" for the Surfing with the Alien event which was just pure fun.

Anyhow, philosophical ramblings done, the hammering the score doesn't bug me. It is what it is, and it's the reader enjoyment that's the real reward for writing here when all's said and done.

 

[panaflora]

Bloody hell Chloe, your stories looks to have been hammered since winning. Some people...

You have to wonder about the life of internet trolls. Do they tell their buddies the next day, "Yeah, I pounded a six pack and fucked with the smut story scores last night?"

Here is a snapshot from right after Laurel's posting.

1 American Dream by ChloeTzang 4.87

2 Blindsiding the Blind Guy by Duleigh 4.85

3 Professor Parent Student Surprises by
Silkstockingslover 4.84

4 Mom, Was That You? by lovecraft68 4.81

5T Table Talk by panaflora 4.8

5T Girl on the Beach by smuttyandfun 4.8

The winners clearly deserve their accolades, and the post bombing just has me shaking my head.

 

[Duleigh]

Blindsiding the Blind Guy has been pounded down to 4.79 and only gained 1 comment, a reader told me that he was unfamiliar with Vietnamese culture but liked living in China. *Shrugs* I'll take it.

I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to lock voting on all of the contest stories for a period of time after the final sweep and the results are announced, then after that time voting is restored.

Comments?

 

[MediocreAuthor]

Blindsiding the Blind Guy has been pounded down to 4.79 and only gained 1 comment, a reader told me that he was unfamiliar with Vietnamese culture but liked living in China. *Shrugs* I'll take it.

I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to lock voting on all of the contest stories for a period of time after the final sweep and the results are announced, then after that time voting is restored.

Comments?

How many new votes?

Honestly, temporarily locking the scores seems reasonable to me. BUT... this is my first contest, so I have no idea how common this sort of thing is.

 

[Duleigh]

How many new votes?

30... along with 3 new followers.

 

[Trionyx]

I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to lock voting on all of the contest stories for a period of time after the final sweep and the results are announced, then after that time voting is restored.

Rest assured, your blue W will attract many, many reads and reasonable votes over the next few years though you certainly could ask Laurel to consider your idea for the future.

 

[GrantBricksly]

You have to wonder about the life of internet trolls. Do they tell their buddies the next day, "Yeah, I pounded a six pack and fucked with the smut story scores last night?"

Here is a snapshot from right after Laurel's posting.

1 American Dream by ChloeTzang 4.87

2 Blindsiding the Blind Guy by Duleigh 4.85

3 Professor Parent Student Surprises by
Silkstockingslover 4.84

4 Mom, Was That You? by lovecraft68 4.81

5T Table Talk by panaflora 4.8

5T Girl on the Beach by smuttyandfun 4.8

The winners clearly deserve their accolades, and the post bombing just has me shaking my head.

Damn...I wasn't even paying attention...and I was closer than I expected t0 be...my story stands at 4.84 this morning....

 

[Duleigh]

Rest assured, your blue W will attract many, many reads and reasonable votes over the next few years though you certainly could ask Laurel to consider your idea for the future.

I will, if only so the readers can see why winners were chosen. @ChloeTzang and I have have been beaten down since the announcement and @silkstockingslover has received the same treatment. I picked up almost 70 votes in the past 24 hours and my score dropped .08 ticks to a point where I'm not considered skilled enough to swing a mop in @TxRad 's coffee shop and poor Chloe! she lost .27 ticks

Huge cudos to @panaflora for grabbing a quick snapshot before our "fanclubs" added their "congratulations"

Here is a snapshot from right after Laurel's posting.

1 American Dream by ChloeTzang 4.87
2 Blindsiding the Blind Guy by Duleigh 4.85
3 Professor Parent Student Surprises by Silkstockingslover 4.84
4 Mom, Was That You? by lovecraft68 4.81
5T Table Talk by panaflora 4.8
5T Girl on the Beach by smuttyandfun 4.8

 

[Voboy]

I will, if only so the readers can see why winners were chosen.

I remember when I won my first contest, I had a comment the next day from a reader who "respectfully" wondered how I'd won: by the time they checked, my score had already been beaten down to the equivalent of about fourth or fifth place. I had no idea; I'd forgotten the contest was ending that day, and didn't find out I'd won until a couple days after. So it's not like I could give any kind of answer, lol. To this day, I have no idea what my "winning" score was.

This has been going on forever. I don't know that freezing the scores is any more worthwhile. At a certain point, if we're accepting the existence of sweeps (as we must), then we're putting our trust in Laurel to "get it right." That trust has to go a long way: she is essentially the sole person who decides winners, through whatever arcane algorithms she (with Manu) has developed.

I'm fine with that, personally. But I suspect the kind of transparency you're seeking is not going to be forthcoming. And, even if it did, I doubt it'll resolve everyone's concerns. I think a better solution than freezing the scores would be simply listing the winning number beside the announcement, then letting the actual score do what it's always done.

 

[Duleigh]

I remember when I won my first contest, I had a comment the next day from a reader who "respectfully" wondered how I'd won: by the time they checked, my score had already been beaten down to the equivalent of about fourth or fifth place. I had no idea; I'd forgotten the contest was ending that day, and didn't find out I'd won until a couple days after. So it's not like I could give any kind of answer, lol. To this day, I have no idea what my "winning" score was.

This has been going on forever. I don't know that freezing the scores is any more worthwhile. At a certain point, if we're accepting the existence of sweeps (as we must), then we're putting our trust in Laurel to "get it right." That trust has to go a long way: she is essentially the sole person who decides winners, through whatever arcane algorithms she (with Manu) has developed.

I'm fine with that, personally. But I suspect the kind of transparency you're seeking is not going to be forthcoming. And, even if it did, I doubt it'll resolve everyone's concerns. I think a better solution than freezing the scores would be simply listing the winning number beside the announcement, then letting the actual score do what it's always done.

I've asked that if locking can't be done, for a snapshot of the scores from Laurel, however that will probably entice the fanclubs to greater efforts.

 

[panaflora]

Damn...I wasn't even paying attention...and I was closer than I expected t0 be...my story stands at 4.84 this morning....

I see that on your profile pages, so I wonder if I just blew by your rating based on the 4.54 on the story page? Anyway you probably had legitimate fourth place.

 

[djrip]

Damn...I wasn't even paying attention...and I was closer than I expected t0 be...my story stands at 4.84 this morning....

Yep, .81 for me, but things were swinging around a lot at the time the contest ended... I was surprised to find myself anywhere close to the placing scores, so that was kind of nice to see!

 

[KeithD]

I see that on your profile pages, so I wonder if I just blew by your rating based on the 4.54 on the story page? Anyway you probably had legitimate fourth place.

The story page view for the reader to see is usually behind what the author sees.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

I will, if only so the readers can see why winners were chosen. @ChloeTzang and I have have been beaten down since the announcement and @silkstockingslover has received the same treatment. I picked up almost 70 votes in the past 24 hours and my score dropped .08 ticks to a point where I'm not considered skilled enough to swing a mop in @TxRad 's coffee shop and poor Chloe! she lost .27 ticks

Huge cudos to @panaflora for grabbing a quick snapshot before our "fanclubs" added their "congratulations"

In all fairness, American Dream rose from 4.44 (that would have been like 30th place or something) up to 4.87 for first place)

For any readers who inexplicably care about the results, but don't understand how the sweeps work, that has to be super jarring and upsetting. (Imagine watching a car race, and from your perspective it seems like a driver near the back teleports to the front. If you don't understand all the intricacies of the sport, [and the fact that such things can easily happen], you'd be gob-smacked)

That said, going back and uno-bombing the winning stories after the fact is really childish and stupid.

I certainly hope none of the uno-bombs are from bitter competitors, (and honestly I doubt it, but it isn't out of the question).

Ultimately, the contest is over, and disappointed fans/authors need to get over it, and move on. I'm sure that won't happen immediately, but soon I'm sure everything will return to whatever passes for normal on this site

 

[KeithD]

It's useless to believe anyone but Laurel knows the actual ratings of the stories at the moment of determination of the winners. The stats change constantly and not in sync. From the outside, no determination can be made on what any of the ratings were at the decision point.

 

[MediocreAuthor]

It's useless to believe anyone but Laurel knows the actual ratings of the stories at the moment of determination of the winners. The stats change constantly and not in sync. From the outside, no determination can be made on what any of the ratings were at the decision point.

Absolutely.

I'm going off of @ChloeTzang's estimated numbers from before the sweeps, which are the closest thing we have to accurate. In her own words:

it crept up to 4.7 and was bombed down again to around 4.4, crept up, bombed down 2 or 3 times, and so on.

 

[ChloeTzang]

It's useless to believe anyone but Laurel knows the actual ratings of the stories at the moment of determination of the winners. The stats change constantly and not in sync. From the outside, no determination can be made on what any of the ratings were at the decision point.

Yep, exactly. I was lucky enough to be online and checking to see if anything had been announced just as Laurel posted the winners, and I'd just checked and seen my own score had jumped up. I think there was an earlier sweep where it jumped from 4.44 or so to around 4.5 and the up it went on that last sweep. You never really now tho, because of that lag and not being in sync, as Keith mentioned.

I cant see the scores being frozen. That's only really important to some of us, and not at all for readers, and it'd be some real work to introduce something like that and then unfreeze and catch up. Who knows what glitches you'd introduce. Better just to leave as is. It works....

As for the one bombs, once you've been here a while you realize it's a fact of life here and you live with it. You don't see KeithD or me bitching about it, not much anyhow, LOL. All part of the fun of the competitions, and seriously, trolls on Literotica are a fact of life. They've been discussed so many times, but whatever you do, there's pros and cons either way. For myself, like I said, I don't worry about. Once a story's written and submitted and gone live, it's in the past and I'm onto the next one. Good stories rise, and readers read them, regardless of the trolls.

The important thing is, these competitions and events get you in front of readers, and for longer that you'll ever be on the new stories list, so nobody should be discouraged by the one stars. It's the exposure that's important, so if you want more readers and more views, write for all the competitions and events you can, and if you miss a deadline, just save it and submit it the following year. I actually started "American Dream" for the 2018 competition but ran out of time, worked on it again for every competition between then and last year, missed it every time and eventually got it edited and finished for this year - so it was a long time in the making and it changed tremendously from my 2018 outline that I started with. And I think my writing improved a bit over that time as well.

So my advice, for what it's worth, which really isn't much, lol, is just go for it, write for the competitions and events first, and other stories second, and if you don't make the deadline, put it aside, let it gestate in the back of your head, and hit it for the following year....and in that year, your writing will probably have improved too, and it'll be a better story for the wait.

And if any of you aren't writing a story for the Geek Day event, hop to it! Reader exposure!!! And way less restrictions than a Literotica contest! LOL

 

[KeithD]

So my advice, for what it's worth, which really isn't much, lol, is just go for it, write for the competitions and events first, and other stories second,

I go more with just writing stories, maintaining a big bank of them, and determining later what existing drafted ones could be put into competitions--with a little shaping, if necessary. I have entries pretty much ready going into 2024.

 

[KeithD]

An encouraging contest note is that one of the stories that placed is under 10,000 words, which is a good sign on what could be competitive in the contests.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I go more with just writing stories, maintaining a big bank of them, and determining later what existing drafted ones could be put into competitions--with a little shaping, if necessary. I have entries pretty much ready going into 2024.

Somehow I don't think I'm anything like as prolific lol - altho I do have a lot of half written drafts and story ideas. I tend to prioritize the top half dozen or so and I don't have anything like a backlog of completed drafts.