Why ratings don't matter: trolls

[Sam37]

I have responded to several comments over the years that rated their dislike of the story rather than the writing.

I remember reading one story and hating the story, but appreciating the writing. The author was quite good, and evoked strong emotion with his writing. But the emotions were the result of exceptional writing about an unlikable character.

 

[SinderellaSin]

Thanks AwkwardlySet I never knew there was that option. I guess the ultimate answer is to learn as I go along. Every piece of writing is getting better than the one before. Then more people will vote, and their votes will be higher. So when the troll comes out of his hole he won't have as much effect.

 

[dirk2024]

I think getting rid of the anonymity of voters would help. Not a member? I don't care so much about your opinion. Afraid to comment while we know who you are? I care even less.

Plus, people should only be able to vote once on a story and that's it. Anonymous voters can't be tracked, so they can get away with multiple votes.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I think getting rid of the anonymity of voters would help. Not a member? I don't care so much about your opinion. Afraid to comment while we know who you are? I care even less.

Plus, people should only be able to vote once on a story and that's it. Anonymous voters can't be tracked, so they can get away with multiple votes.

Actually, even anonymous accounts using one IP address only get one vote. They can, however, make multiple comments so you don't know if it is one person or several.

 

[dirk2024]

Actually, even anonymous accounts using one IP address only get one vote. They can, however, make multiple comments so you don't know if it is one person or several.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[alohadave]

I think getting rid of the anonymity of voters would help. Not a member? I don't care so much about your opinion. Afraid to comment while we know who you are? I care even less.

Plus, people should only be able to vote once on a story and that's it. Anonymous voters can't be tracked, so they can get away with multiple votes.

You can turn off anonymous voting.

 

[AlwaysDancing]

If you do a thing well, and if someone benefits, then don’t worry about the third thing.

If you write well, and someone enjoys it … that is enough. It is awesome to get good ratings. Even preferable. But it’s incidental.

 

[Adam_Sephenson]

For me, I have the score on to see if my writing is heading in the right direction or not.
To see if my writing style, character development, and plot are working, and is acceptable by those who have read it, it's risky I know, but I have faith in the readers to be honest enough to score appropriately, so getting a 4 is a win, and anything above a 4.5 (hot territory) I take that as a "yes you damn right you're in the right direction!".

 

[babyface23]

If I enjoy a story and get to the end, I always rate it highly. If I enjoy a story and, well, “finish” before I even get to the end, I’ll rate highly and comment.

I rarely give low ratings. I just don’t rate if I don’t like it. But that’s usually a result of not making it to the end to rate it.

As for my own stories, I seem to do okay with my ratings. I rarely get comments, though. I wish I had more of those.

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

Having a dedicated personal troll sucks. I had one who, every morning at the same time, would drop a 1* on two of my stories. Every morning without fail for weeks.

What made it so frustrating was that it was blatant, and there was nothing I could do. I could set my watch by the bombs coming in, and there was no cover.

Every author deals with the same audience. If you enter contests, be prepared for bombing campaigns. If you annoy someone on the forums, be prepared. If someone just wants to be a dick, be prepared.

It's a level playing field in that we all face the same risks. When you're a new writer, the bombs will hurt more, but over time your scores will go up as you find your audience and they find your stories.

It's part of the process of publishing, unfortunately. We create something, and even though loads of people are happy with it, there will always be someone who hates it, or hates us, or hates what we represent.

Focus on the knowledge that hundreds or thousands of readers *didn't* bomb your story. They read it, and your words, your world and your characters, lived inside their minds for a short while. Maybe they loved it. Maybe they were unmoved. But they experienced it.

That's a much better feeling.

I'm new, and my story just came up today. I don't get it. Why would anyone ruin the rating? Is it that bad? I even got help from a kind editor @kenjisato, to proofread it.

I mean, if it's that bad, wouldn't it be helpful to leave a comment on what could be improved rather than just rate-bomb it?

Pardon the rant; thank you for sharing your experience.

I'm in the mood to rate up stories today.

Best regards,
Kumi

 

[StillStunned]

I'm new, and my story just came up today. I don't get it. Why would anyone ruin the rating? Is it that bad? I even got help from a kind editor @kenjisato, to proofread it.

I mean, if it's that bad, wouldn't it be helpful to leave a comment on what could be improved rather than just rate-bomb it?

Pardon the rant; thank you for sharing your experience.

I'm in the mood to rate up stories today.

Best regards,
Kumi

Sorry to hear you're suffering bombs!

Unfortunately, the voting system - like much else on the site - is intended more for the readers than for the readers. It gives them a chance to interact, with minimal effort and commitment on their part, and they get the sense of having an impact. People like that, and it's a small but probably important part of why Lit has survived all this time.

For us writers, though, it means we're subject to the readers' whims. Why do they drop a 1? It could be anything. They don't like your character's name, or your style of writing, or the sex that's described, or any of a dozen other factors. They might just be in a foul mood. Or maybe their internet connection was bad and they blamed Lit. Maybe they were stressed and couldn't get off, no matter how sexy your story was.

Or maybe they've published a story in the same category today, and they figure that if they bomb everyone else theirs will stand out and get more views.

Actually, I just had a quick look at your story. It's in Novels & Novellas, but it's only 2.9k words. I remember when I wrote my first story: it was shorter than yours, but I felt like I'd completed an epic. But here on Lit stories are much, much longer. In Novels & Novellas, readers expect 20,000 words or more. If I had to guess, I'd say they're punishing you for that.

If you have more chapters to follow up with, I'd try to publish them as soon as possible. Otherwise you might want to ask Laurel to move it to another category.

Good luck!

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

Sorry to hear you're suffering bombs!

Unfortunately, the voting system - like much else on the site - is intended more for the readers than for the readers. It gives them a chance to interact, with minimal effort and commitment on their part, and they get the sense of having an impact. People like that, and it's a small but probably important part of why Lit has survived all this time.

For us writers, though, it means we're subject to the readers' whims. Why do they drop a 1? It could be anything. They don't like your character's name, or your style of writing, or the sex that's described, or any of a dozen other factors. They might just be in a foul mood. Or maybe their internet connection was bad and they blamed Lit. Maybe they were stressed and couldn't get off, no matter how sexy your story was.

Or maybe they've published a story in the same category today, and they figure that if they bomb everyone else theirs will stand out and get more views.

Actually, I just had a quick look at your story. It's in Novels & Novellas, but it's only 2.9k words. I remember when I wrote my first story: it was shorter than yours, but I felt like I'd completed an epic. But here on Lit stories are much, much longer. In Novels & Novellas, readers expect 20,000 words or more. If I had to guess, I'd say they're punishing you for that.

If you have more chapters to follow up with, I'd try to publish them as soon as possible. Otherwise you might want to ask Laurel to move it to another category.

Good luck!

O.O 20,000 word count...

Thank you for responding, Mr. Sticky.

Ah, I see. That word count might be the problem. The thing is, I do have chapters 01 and 02 before this one, but they were stuck in pending, so I have deleted them.

This chapter 03, however, did get a publishing date only after a day. So, the story might appear as in medias res without the worldbuilding.

But from the information you shared, I might want to choose better tags. Maybe the Fantasy tag, as one of the MCs has pointy ears x)

Have a super nice day.

Kumi

 

[StillStunned]

Good luck!

 

[RoperTrace]

I generally rate every story that I finish, maybe 90+% of them anyway. If I finish a story, it's usually a 4 or 5, if it's 3.5(in my mind), I'll probably round it up to a 4. Don't think I've ever given a story a 1 or 2, not worth the effort.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I remember reading one story and hating the story, but appreciating the writing. The author was quite good, and evoked strong emotion with his writing. But the emotions were the result of exceptional writing about an unlikable character.

Yeah a story can evoke strong emotion, but what did the author do with it? My question is did you hate the story because of the unlikable characters or the plot? I often really enjoy stories where I don't like the characters, but at the end I can honestly say I enjoyed reading it. I liked the how the plot developed, and how it ended. My enjoyment is how I score a story.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I think getting rid of the anonymity of voters would help. Not a member? I don't care so much about your opinion. Afraid to comment while we know who you are? I care even less.

Won't change things much. Some of my best fans remained anonymous. I could tell who they were by their comments. They would mention something I'd written in an earlier chapter and discuss how that affected something in the present one. Everybody is anonymous as in you don't know their true identity.

 

[Cly_Anders]

As an author, I know how much thankless effort goes into writing, so I won't give out an anonymous kick to another writer because a story wasn't to my taste.

This is why I don't read much. If I read someone else's work, I'm going to comment so I have to make sure I have the time. I'm reading their story not just for the plot and to pick up on new and interesting ways to describe things, but to help. As a writer, I want to improve. I want to become the best author I can possibly be and continue improving. I take that feeling along as a reader. I want other authors to improve. As soon as I learn something new, I go telling all my friends. I've been stuck on a first chapter for a story here on lit because I've been keeping a list of all the things I'm going to tell the author in a DM and so it takes me forever to read people's stuff. A lot of writers tell me I'm the first time they've ever received such detailed feedback. I absolutely will not read stories without the intention of commenting. I know what a thankless job it is. It's not like making art or music. Somehow, writing sits in some kind of weird level of hell where writers are expected to simply learn everything on their own. If you draw, you will get tons of feedback. If you compose, you will get tons of feedback. If you sculpt, you will get tons of feedback. If you're an interior designer, an architect, a jewelry maker, or a nail stylist, improving is easy because there's plenty of people willing to point things out to help you. But as writers, we are expected to figure it out ourselves, at least that's what I've always been told. So when I learn something new, I make sure to point it out to everyone I can. I've only had an artist ever get angry at my feedback, but she was the type to spit hate even at compliments so I don't count it.

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

This is why I don't read much. If I read someone else's work, I'm going to comment so I have to make sure I have the time. I'm reading their story not just for the plot and to pick up on new and interesting ways to describe things, but to help. As a writer, I want to improve. I want to become the best author I can possibly be and continue improving. I take that feeling along as a reader. I want other authors to improve. As soon as I learn something new, I go telling all my friends. I've been stuck on a first chapter for a story here on lit because I've been keeping a list of all the things I'm going to tell the author in a DM and so it takes me forever to read people's stuff. A lot of writers tell me I'm the first time they've ever received such detailed feedback. I absolutely will not read stories without the intention of commenting. I know what a thankless job it is. It's not like making art or music. Somehow, writing sits in some kind of weird level of hell where writers are expected to simply learn everything on their own. If you draw, you will get tons of feedback. If you compose, you will get tons of feedback. If you sculpt, you will get tons of feedback. If you're an interior designer, an architect, a jewelry maker, or a nail stylist, improving is easy because there's plenty of people willing to point things out to help you. But as writers, we are expected to figure it out ourselves, at least that's what I've always been told. So when I learn something new, I make sure to point it out to everyone I can. I've only had an artist ever get angry at my feedback, but she was the type to spit hate even at compliments so I don't count it.

Hi o/

I write and draw, and I rarely get some kind of feedback from any craft >w<

But when I get negative feedback/ratings, it feels unfair and disheartening.

I agree with your sentiment. Please don't let it discourage you, and let's just have fun with it.

 

[Cly_Anders]

Hi o/

I write and draw, and I rarely get some kind of feedback from any craft >w<

But when I get negative feedback/ratings, it feels unfair and disheartening.

I agree with your sentiment. Please don't let it discourage you, and let's just have fun with it.

Did you make the animation in your signature?

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

Did you make the animation in your signature?

Yes

I have more here

https://giphy.com/channel/dPrimatoKumi

 

[Cly_Anders]

Actually, even anonymous accounts using one IP address only get one vote. They can, however, make multiple comments so you don't know if it is one person or several.

If someone has multiple phones, each phone is its own IP. And if they go from tower to tower, it counts as different IPs, at least that I've noticed.

 

[Cly_Anders]

Yes

I have more here

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y...ZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/ufJg8P5hibne1rlAdy/giphy.gif

And here

https://giphy.com/channel/dPrimatoKumi

Well, what I see is someone who is already excelling at the art side! ^.^ Very lovely! I've saved your page.

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

Well, what I see is someone who is already excelling at the art side! ^.^ Very lovely! I've saved your page.

Thank you so much >w< I do write dubcon gothic fantasy too, with pointy ears humanoid, magic and curses.

 

[Cly_Anders]

Thank you so much >w< I do write dubcon gothic fantasy too, with pointy ears humanoid, magic and curses.

I love me some dubcon and elves! ^.^

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

I love me some dubcon and elves! ^.^

Ohhh, Inkitt, I have written a few other title but in Royal Road (they have rating system, too, lol.)