Analytics Question

[Just_Jeremy]

Greetings,

When I started posting my Max Connors series, I decided I would track how they were doing in my own little spreadsheet off-site and today I noticed something odd as I was going through and updating my data- it looks like I consistently gained views but somehow lost votes on three of my stories. I wasn't aware of that being a thing. Can votes/rankings be taken back? Or is it more a case of a bot voted/ranked a story and the system caught it in the latest upgrade?

 

[NotWise]

The site uses a fraud detection system. It's used to clean up contest results and now-and-then as needed. It sounds like they ran a sweep, and it took some invalid votes off your stories. Don't know that they were bots. It was more likely a person.

 

[WittyUserName]

Greetings,

When I started posting my Max Connors series, I decided I would track how they were doing in my own little spreadsheet off-site and today I noticed something odd as I was going through and updating my data- it looks like I consistently gained views but somehow lost votes on three of my stories. I wasn't aware of that being a thing. Can votes/rankings be taken back? Or is it more a case of a bot voted/ranked a story and the system caught it in the latest upgrade?

We call them sweeps. Laurel removes fake votes. We don't know how fake votes are determined, but I imagine ones where someone jumps right to the last page and votes, things like that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Greetings,

When I started posting my Max Connors series, I decided I would track how they were doing in my own little spreadsheet off-site and today I noticed something odd as I was going through and updating my data- it looks like I consistently gained views but somehow lost votes on three of my stories. I wasn't aware of that being a thing. Can votes/rankings be taken back? Or is it more a case of a bot voted/ranked a story and the system caught it in the latest upgrade?

Yes it's common, no, it's not a glitch.

In a nutshell, the site runs sweeps on a regular basis, especially towards the end of Contests to remove what it deems are spurious votes.

The process has been around for at least a decade, and this question is always being asked by new writers. Rather than start yet another thread, I suggest you go find some old ones. You'll find everything you need to know, plus more.

Don't speculate how sweeps work, but suffice to say, everyone's stories get swept. It's not a glitch of the system, it's a feature.

 

[Comshaw]

We call them sweeps. Laurel removes fake votes. We don't know how fake votes are determined, but I imagine ones where someone jumps right to the last page and votes, things like that.

Or multiple votes on one story from the same user account or multiple anonymous votes from the same IP address.

Comshaw

 

[AG31]

The site uses a fraud detection system. It's used to clean up contest results and now-and-then as needed. It sounds like they ran a sweep, and it took some invalid votes off your stories. Don't know that they were bots. It was more likely a person.

What makes a person's vote invalid?

 

[NotWise]

What makes a person's vote invalid?

We don't know the standards they use, and that's the way they want it. If they told us what the standards were, then someone would figure out how to beat their system.

 

[ElectricBlue]

What makes a person's vote invalid?

Many things, but don't speculate. The site doesn't want the sweep methodology examined, because then it can be manipulated. A little bit of thought would enable you to figure it out, as I think many of us have.

 

[Bramblethorn]

We don't know the standards they use, and that's they way they want it. If they told us what the standards were, then someone would figure out how to beat their system.

And threads discussing the specifics of how sweeps might work are likely to get shut down by the mod.

 

[Just_Jeremy]

Yes it's common, no, it's not a glitch.

In a nutshell, the site runs sweeps on a regular basis, especially towards the end of Contests to remove what it deems are spurious votes.

The process has been around for at least a decade, and this question is always being asked by new writers.

Don't speculate how sweeps work, but suffice to say, everyone's stories get swept. It's not a glitch of the system, it's a feature.

Or multiple votes on one story from the same user account or multiple anonymous votes from the same IP address.

I figured it was something along these lines. Thank you.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

What makes a person's vote invalid?

I would guess it's determined by some calculation based on standard deviation(They probably know each and every vote and have metrics on the context of the vote, too.)

We have some high end math peep on here. I'm sure one of them could give a more detail guess. I do know that Laurel and Manu don't want us to know because it makes to trolls harder to control.