Targeted story

[thanagar]

So I’ve reached the point where I’m looking for help on this. About a month ago I noticed one of my stories, the Doctor’s Artist, was dropping in its rating. In terms of my stories, its one of the lesser read ones. I like it, but it never got high traffic, but it was well liked by those who did. A month ago, it was around 4.85. I don’t think anyone on Lit is going to complain about a story with that rating.

As of today, it stands at 4.61 (It says 4.69 on the story, but 4.61 on my dashboard). Every day, for the last month, someone logs in, and gives the story a 1, driving it slowly, steadily down. I assume they’re using a VPN. When the person started it had less than 300 votes. Now it has 327. Almost all of them 1 votes.

Look, we all write for our different reasons, and its certainly not the money. And yes, I should get over it, but this is just….insanely frustrating. It’s a nice story, people liked it. To just see one person doing this is maddening. I’ve used the “Report” button on the story multiple times to ask the moderators to do a sweep of the story for fraudulent voting, but with no response or change. Are they other options available? Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

 

[SmilingLez]

Big difference between fraudulent voting and troll (down)voting or stack voting. I really don't think the moderators have the capacity to determine which votes are "legit" and which aren't. The other side of the coin - someone could have 10 (email accounts) literotica accounts and each account give a 5 star rating to their own story. Again I don't believe the moderators have the capabilities to do anything about vote stacking either.

 

[RejectReality]

Most of the manipulation in Sci-Fi&Fantasy happens on the top end. I'm not surprised the 4.85 got bombed down to where it was off the toplist. ( Assuming it was. Last time I looked, everything from the bottom half of page 1 to the end was 4.85, so <300 votes might not even have been on there ) That just comes with the territory in the category.

Anything beyond that certainly feels like a personal troll. Doesn't look like your posting history would warrant it, so it's not something you said here. ( Although, posting about troll activity on your work can attract it. They're weird critters, trolls... ) Blow off some creep in your DMs?

Honestly, the best thing you can do is take the lumps. Even if it's a personal troll, they're probably going to get bored eventually. A story that had more than a couple hundred votes with a score that high will recover in time on its merits, and the sweeps will eventually catch most of the troll votes, though it may be a good long time. If you've asked for a sweep with the report button, you've taken the only real action you can.

Taking the story down is just giving them a victory.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Targeted story​

It sucks right? When you came second in the 2025 Valentine’s Comp, the same thing happened to my entry. But it was in a compressed timeframe at the 11th hour. My score is still suppressed by the unswept bombs.

Unlike in 2025, I wasn’t challenging for the lead in the 2024 Valentine’s Comp that you won. But nevertheless the same thing happened to my story.

I’m sorry to see the contagion spread to another author, but not surprised. The system is not robust with respect to abuse (authors pumping up their ratings as much as other authors - or their mythical fan clubs - trashing the opposition).

But don’t delete your story. Don’t give the hater you have acquired that endorphin rush. Instead keep publishing, thinking of how the vein on their temple pulses each time they see a new story from you. How bile rises in their esophagus when they see your name. How they uselessly shake their fist at their screen.

And think about the many more less damaged people who smile or cry or laugh (or jerk off) when reading your work. And say fuck the haters. They aren’t gonna win.

 

[NotWise]

So I’ve reached the point where I’m looking for help on this. About a month ago I noticed one of my stories, the Doctor’s Artist, was dropping in its rating. In terms of my stories, its one of the lesser read ones. I like it, but it never got high traffic, but it was well liked by those who did. A month ago, it was around 4.85. I don’t think anyone on Lit is going to complain about a story with that rating.

As of today, it stands at 4.61 (It says 4.69 on the story, but 4.61 on my dashboard). Every day, for the last month, someone logs in, and gives the story a 1, driving it slowly, steadily down. I assume they’re using a VPN. When the person started it had less than 300 votes. Now it has 327. Almost all of them 1 votes.

Look, we all write for our different reasons, and its certainly not the money. And yes, I should get over it, but this is just….insanely frustrating. It’s a nice story, people liked it. To just see one person doing this is maddening. I’ve used the “Report” button on the story multiple times to ask the moderators to do a sweep of the story for fraudulent voting, but with no response or change. Are they other options available? Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

Have you done anything else to fix this?

You can report your story, and tell Laurel in the note what you told us. We can't do anything for you, but she might be able to.

 

[alohadave]

I really don't think the moderators have the capacity to determine which votes are "legit" and which aren't.

They have all the data. That is the point of the sweep, that they can determine fraudulent votes and remove them.

 

[alohadave]

Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

That is some entitled shit. If one of your stories drops below 4.5 you want to delete it?

We all complain from time to time about our scores, but you lose a lot of credibility when your lowest score is 4.62, and most of your stories are in the 4.8s.

 

[EmilyMiller]

They have all the data. That is the point of the sweep, that they can determine fraudulent votes and remove them.

The sweeps are far from comprhensive, sadly. They get rid of dumb one bombs, not smart one bombs.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Personally, I would love to see them scrap the voting and stars altogether. It seems to create a lot of antagonism, gets manipulated for those ith the super large egos....
For me, just dump the voting system.
The story could still be favoured, but no score...
Let's face it, unless it's a competition. Who cares...
Not me...
Cagivagurl

 

[MrPixel]

The sweeps are far from comprhensive, sadly. They get rid of dumb one bombs, not smart one bombs.

Or two-bombs. That's a strategy I've been seeing recently. Not as impactive as one-bombs - unless you write in a low-voting category.

 

[RejectReality]

No need to do away with scoring. Just that bloody Red H.

Notice where the bail bar is: 4.50. That's where the bloody H nukes your readership because the bulk of people won't even look at something without one. It's a distraction for readers, a source of angst for authors, and an easy target for trolls.

 

[Rob_Royale]

So I’ve reached the point where I’m looking for help on this. About a month ago I noticed one of my stories, the Doctor’s Artist, was dropping in its rating. In terms of my stories, its one of the lesser read ones. I like it, but it never got high traffic, but it was well liked by those who did. A month ago, it was around 4.85. I don’t think anyone on Lit is going to complain about a story with that rating.

As of today, it stands at 4.61 (It says 4.69 on the story, but 4.61 on my dashboard). Every day, for the last month, someone logs in, and gives the story a 1, driving it slowly, steadily down. I assume they’re using a VPN. When the person started it had less than 300 votes. Now it has 327. Almost all of them 1 votes.

Look, we all write for our different reasons, and its certainly not the money. And yes, I should get over it, but this is just….insanely frustrating. It’s a nice story, people liked it. To just see one person doing this is maddening. I’ve used the “Report” button on the story multiple times to ask the moderators to do a sweep of the story for fraudulent voting, but with no response or change. Are they other options available? Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

I'm sorry to hear this but this is a widespread issue and it's happening in multiple categories to many writers, myself included. It's the fly in the ointment here and I think Laurel just can't do anything about it and remains silent on the issue rather than admit that and risk losing writers.

 

[ronde]

I'm sorry to hear this but this is a widespread issue and it's happening in multiple categories to many writers, myself included. It's the fly in the ointment here and I think Laurel just can't do anything about it and remains silent on the issue rather than admit that and risk losing writers.

The problem doesn't just exist on Literotica. It is present on any site that publishes anything about anything. That's the price we pay for an internet free of many restrictions.

Examples :

Many so-called "product review" sites are in actuality, just places where a manufacturer can post glorious reviews about their own product.

I once wrote for a site where there was no voting as such. The story placement depended upon the latest comment, i.e., the story with the latest comment was first on the story page. I left that site because one writer had enough stories on the site that she could comment on each one as soon as it dropped off the first page and guarantee her stories were the only ones on the first page. Any other stories were relegated to subsequent pages. It was disappointing to find my story on page three the day after it was published.

It used to be that attempting to register a site with a different name but the same IP address would get you rejected. VPN's protect your actual IP address from others, but also make it possible for any user to assume as many different user names as they want. There is no way to track the original IP address, at least quickly and without some sort of court order, so we live with protection of our privacy a the expense of the resultant misuse of that capability by people too cowardly to identify themselves.

 

[Actingup]

It's a really frustrating situation. Even though it may not help much, please follow the instructions at:
https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/suspicious-votes

It may help. And please don't pull your story - that just rewards the orcs.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I agree with the others. Don’t pull it and feed the trolls. The other thing is to be patient if you’ve reported all the info you included here to Laurel. She’s good about sweeping when requested but I get the impression those sweeps have a good bit of time between them so it may take a while before anything can be done. Good luck!

 

[THoney269]

So I’ve reached the point where I’m looking for help on this. About a month ago I noticed one of my stories, the Doctor’s Artist, was dropping in its rating. In terms of my stories, its one of the lesser read ones. I like it, but it never got high traffic, but it was well liked by those who did. A month ago, it was around 4.85. I don’t think anyone on Lit is going to complain about a story with that rating.

As of today, it stands at 4.61 (It says 4.69 on the story, but 4.61 on my dashboard). Every day, for the last month, someone logs in, and gives the story a 1, driving it slowly, steadily down. I assume they’re using a VPN. When the person started it had less than 300 votes. Now it has 327. Almost all of them 1 votes.

Look, we all write for our different reasons, and its certainly not the money. And yes, I should get over it, but this is just….insanely frustrating. It’s a nice story, people liked it. To just see one person doing this is maddening. I’ve used the “Report” button on the story multiple times to ask the moderators to do a sweep of the story for fraudulent voting, but with no response or change. Are they other options available? Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

I might have an idea to keep interest in your story going .. Would you consider allowing an *audio* version of the story to be published (with proper credit to the author,of course)?

 

[Actingup]

I agree with the others. Don’t pull it and feed the trolls. The other thing is to be patient if you’ve reported all the info you included here to Laurel. She’s good about sweeping when requested but I get the impression those sweeps have a good bit of time between them so it may take a while before anything can be done. Good luck!

I think that the sweeps are only happening at the end of each competition.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

So I’ve reached the point where I’m looking for help on this. About a month ago I noticed one of my stories, the Doctor’s Artist, was dropping in its rating. In terms of my stories, its one of the lesser read ones. I like it, but it never got high traffic, but it was well liked by those who did. A month ago, it was around 4.85. I don’t think anyone on Lit is going to complain about a story with that rating.

As of today, it stands at 4.61 (It says 4.69 on the story, but 4.61 on my dashboard). Every day, for the last month, someone logs in, and gives the story a 1, driving it slowly, steadily down. I assume they’re using a VPN. When the person started it had less than 300 votes. Now it has 327. Almost all of them 1 votes.

Look, we all write for our different reasons, and its certainly not the money. And yes, I should get over it, but this is just….insanely frustrating. It’s a nice story, people liked it. To just see one person doing this is maddening. I’ve used the “Report” button on the story multiple times to ask the moderators to do a sweep of the story for fraudulent voting, but with no response or change. Are they other options available? Because if it drops below 4.5, I’m just pulling the story.

This has happened to me recently and it was the first story of mine that's been targeted. The trigger was being on the category's toplist and the rating dropped from 4.9 to now less than 4.4. It changed what was my best rated story on the site into one of my worst and, now it's below 4.5, I suspect the rating will put off prospective readers.

But I haven't pulled the story or got (more than a bit) upset. My hope is that the low votes will eventually dry up and, as people find the story again, they'll see that it's good and worth more than its rating, and slowly it will go up again. If I took the story down, nobody would ever be able to read one of my best stories again - that's far worse than a 'low' rating.

I take it as the price you have to pay for publishing on a website which has a large audience. I'd rather have the odd bit of frustration with votes and ratings but get thousands of views, than have a story rated 5.0 but with hardly any views elsewhere. This kind of behaviour happens in all walks of life and since time immemorial, unfortunately, and all you can do is not let it get to you.

 

[StillStunned]

Attracting a personal bomber is something of a rite of passage. There's very little you can do except sit and take it, no matter how frustrated or helpless you feel. If you're lucky the bombs will be swept. If your story is good enough, it will eventually attract enough positive votes to balance out the bombs.

For what it's worth, my personal bomber gave up shortly after I stopped complaining.

 

[Cagivagurl]

No need to do away with scoring. Just that bloody Red H.

Notice where the bail bar is: 4.50. That's where the bloody H nukes your readership because the bulk of people won't even look at something without one. It's a distraction for readers, a source of angst for authors, and an easy target for trolls.

I don't understand your logic in keeping scoring, but doing away with the red H???
It is scoring which creates most of the angst here. People complaining about #1 bombs and the like...
No scoring, no bombing....
I am interested in understanding why you feel the need to keep scoring...
Aside from competitions, what does it offer???
Interested

Cagivagurl

 

[Robin_Starveling]

I don't understand your logic in keeping scoring, but doing away with the red H???
It is scoring which creates most of the angst here. People complaining about #1 bombs and the like...
No scoring, no bombing....
I am interested in understanding why you feel the need to keep scoring...
Aside from competitions, what does it offer???
Interested

Cagivagurl

The rating system is one of the main incentives for most writers, so it’s not likely to go anywhere. Every creative mind has three or four stories they just have to get out, other than that, it’s the competitive itch and the subconscious craving for validation that keep them churning like meth-fueled squirrels on a treadmill. Take the scoring away and a lot of the diligent, compulsive contributors would probably vanish.

Exceptional stories take their rightful place eventually, even if it takes years.

OP, Have you drawn the ire of Stacnash? Same category, same setup, and last time people were swearing on their mothers it was her.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

There isn't much you can do, I'm afraid @thanagar . Laurel is unlikely to answer a PM, although you can certainly try.

Being persistent with reporting it is all you can really do. Sometimes it eventually works.

Also, avoid talking about what scores are acceptable for you. People here are insanely touchy about the subject and will always make a comparison to their own scores, and then judge you accordingly.

 

[onehitwanda]

I'd rather have the odd bit of frustration with votes and ratings but get thousands of views, than have a story rated 5.0 but with hardly any views elsewhere.

This is the way.

"The finest line of poetry ever uttered in the history of this whole damn country was said by Canada Bill Jones in 1853, in Baton Rouge, while he was being robbed blind in a crooked game of faro. George Devol, who was, like Canada Bill, not a man who was averse to fleecing the odd sucker, drew Bill aside and asked him if he couldn't see that the game was crooked. And Canada Bill sighed, and shrugged his shoulders, and said, 'I know. But it's the only game in town.' And he went back to the game."

- Neil Gaiman, "American Gods"

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Personally, I would love to see them scrap the voting and stars altogether. It seems to create a lot of antagonism, gets manipulated for those ith the super large egos....
For me, just dump the voting system.
The story could still be favoured, but no score...
Let's face it, unless it's a competition. Who cares...
Not me...
Cagivagurl

No need to do away with scoring. Just that bloody Red H.

Notice where the bail bar is: 4.50. That's where the bloody H nukes your readership because the bulk of people won't even look at something without one. It's a distraction for readers, a source of angst for authors, and an easy target for trolls.

I've sort of advocated for scores not to be publicly viewable. Only the Admins and Authors could see them.

Bombers would have no targets.

 

[StillStunned]

The rating system is one of the main incentives for most writers, so it’s not likely to go anywhere. Every creative mind has three or four stories they just have to get out, other than that, it’s the competitive itch and the subconscious craving for validation that keep them churning like meth-fueled squirrels on a treadmill. Take the scoring away and a lot of the diligent, compulsive contributors would probably vanish.

If that was true, we'd all be writing incest stories. But we're not. We're writing chain stories, SF&F stories, erotic horror and a dozen other categories where you can't expect more than a few thousand views. We're writing quirky stories, dark stories, stories that we know won't appeal to the mainstream, even on Lit. Some of us write April Fool's Day stories, and 750-worders. And we do it again and again.

People write for plenty of different reasons. A "subconscious craving for validation" is fairly low on the list for most of us.