Latest story, strange experience re. ratings

[OffNSFW]

My newest story, "Cold Reading," went live on Sunday. This is my submission to the A.I. story event. As far as I can tell, viewing numbers are normal, and what feedback I've gotten seems positive enough.

The weird thing is, so far, only four people have rated the story so far. I don't usually get tons of ratings, but this seems low to me, especially for a story that was just added. Has anyone else been seeing this lately? Are fewer ratings happening to anyone else, or is it peculiar to this story? The last time I posted something was "Her Name Is Tessa," my Nude Day story, which didn't have this issue.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I i My newest story, "Cold Reading," went live on Sunday. This is my submission to the A.I. story event. As far as I can tell, viewing numbers are normal, and what feedback I've gotten seems positive enough.

The weird thing is, so far, only four people have rated the story so far. I don't usually get tons of ratings, but this seems low to me, especially for a story that was just added. Has anyone else been seeing this lately? Are fewer ratings happening to anyone else, or is it peculiar to this story? The last time I posted something was "Her Name Is Tessa," my Nude Day story, which didn't have this issue.

I have the impression - that's all it is - that vote totals are lower than they were in previous years. I have heard - could somebody confirm this? - that the number of stories submitted here has gone up, thus there is more material to look at. Whatever it is, it is notable that so many people are trying their hand on this site.

In any case, these various metrics can be extremely unpredictable. I see that my first story ever got 109 votes, way back in 2018. Was that really such a different era?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I have the impression - that's all it is - that vote totals are lower than they were in previous years. I have heard - could somebody confirm this? - that the number of stories submitted here has gone up, thus there is more material to look at. Whatever it is, it is notable that so many people are trying their hand on this site.

In any case, these various metrics can be extremely unpredictable. I see that my first story ever got 109 votes, way back in 2018. Was that really such a different era?

Positive interpretation; the barriers to becoming creative are low and more people are writing

Negative interpretation: the site becomes more and more flooded with dross and so it is harder and harder to stand out

Both are probably true

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If the view number are "normal", what does that mean?

Views are merely clicks into the first page of your story. They are not an indication of who has actually read it. From what I can see, you have only had one reader comment on it so far.

Give it more time. I have a story here that is two and a half years old, with less than 1000 views but it has almost 650 votes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

If the view number are "normal", what does that mean?

Views are merely clicks into the first page of your story. They are not an indication of who has actually read it. From what I can see, you have only had one reader comment on it so far.

Give it more time. I have a story here that is two and a half years old, with less than 1000 views but it has almost 650 votes.

Over time, views go up slowly. Voting slows down a lot after the first couple of weeks. I still get comments on old stories but "likes" are more common. People do find the old stories. I'm reminded of how the movie business is, or was until COVID. The opening weekend started becoming a big deal in the 1970s.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Positive interpretation; the barriers to becoming creative are low and more people are writing

Negative interpretation: the site becomes more and more flooded with dross and so it is harder and harder to stand out

Both are probably true

I'm not even sure how true it is. I think some people on AH mentioned an increase in submissions, but I haven't calculated the number myself.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm not even sure how true it is. I think some people on AH mentioned an increase in submissions, but I haven't calculated the number myself.

Laurel has mentioned the number of stories being published being at an all time high.

 

[NotWise]

I check on posts/day now and then. It was typically 80-90/day in 2017 when I first paid attention. I think it peaked well over 200/day during the pandemic and has held most of that since. What's on the new list right now is about 189/day, with 197 posted today. Those are probably the lowest I've seen lately; 200+ seems more typical.

I think voting may be low right now, but I don't know why. My whole catalog has gotten three new votes in the last five days.

 

[SimonDoom]

Positive interpretation; the barriers to becoming creative are low and more people are writing

Negative interpretation: the site becomes more and more flooded with dross and so it is harder and harder to stand out

Both are probably true

I don't believe things have gotten worse over time. I've been reading stories here since around 2002, or around that. I can't say I read enough to have any sort of empirically valid understanding, but this is my impression. There were good authors then. There are good authors now. I think the level of "polish" with the best stories now might even be a bit higher than it was then. I don't have any idea what's going on at the "bottom" because I never read those stories.

To Gunhilltrain's point: Yes, the number of submissions has increased. As to whether vote totals are lower, it depends on what you mean. If you look at the toplists, the stories at the top are getting around the same numbers as the stories at the top did 8 years ago, when I started paying attention. However, this is interesting: The 250th story on the 12 month most viewed list has conspicously fewer views than did the story at the same position 8 years ago. My take on this: More stories means it's harder to stand out, and stories get bumped off the lists faster. Those that are near the top continue to do just as well as ever, but if your story is in the next tier it's harder to get views and votes.

So, my none-too-empirically-convincing perspective is that total views and votes probably are up, but they're divided among more stories than ever. It's noticeably harder to stand out than it was even 8 years ago when I was in my first year of writing and started paying attention to this stuff.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I don't believe things have gotten worse over time. I've been reading stories here since around 2002, or around that. I can't say I read enough to have any sort of empirically valid understanding, but this is my impression. There were good authors then. There are good authors now. I think the level of "polish" with the best stories now might even be a bit higher than it was then. I don't have any idea what's going on at the "bottom" because I never read those stories.

To Gunhilltrain's point: Yes, the number of submissions has increased. As to whether vote totals are lower, it depends on what you mean. If you look at the toplists, the stories at the top are getting around the same numbers as the stories at the top did 8 years ago, when I started paying attention. However, this is interesting: The 250th story on the 12 month most viewed list has conspicously fewer views than did the story at the same position 8 years ago. My take on this: More stories means it's harder to stand out, and stories get bumped off the lists faster. Those that are near the top continue to do just as well as ever, but if your story is in the next tier it's harder to get views and votes.

So, my none-too-empirically-convincing perspective is that total views and votes probably are up, but they're divided among more stories than ever. It's noticeably harder to stand out than it was even 8 years ago when I was in my first year of writing and started paying attention to this stuff.

It’s only been three years for me, but I think pretty much the same. I do think SciFi & Fantasy views have fallen off a cliff however. I used to get 10k plus views, 2k plus is good now.