How accurate are the "top lists"?

[realitycheck701]

So, yeah. Is it common for stories not to show up on these lists even though they should?

One chapter of my story is quite highler rated, thankfully. It has a 4.89. It should show up at 11th in the top stories of the last 12 months in "Reluctance/NonConsent."

In fact, it used to be there. But a couple of weeks ago it just.... disappeared. My other chapters are still there, lower down the list. This one though? It's just gone. What gives? It hasn't aged out. I posted it in February I think so it isn't over a year old yet.

I emailed about it but this site is large so I don't expect a reply any time soon.

As a newer author, this stuff is fresh for me so is this common?

 

[Actingup]

So, yeah. Is it common for stories not to show up on these lists even though they should?

One chapter of my story is quite highler rated, thankfully. It has a 4.89. It should show up at 11th in the top stories of the last 12 months in "Reluctance/NonConsent."

In fact, it used to be there. But a couple of weeks ago it just.... disappeared. My other chapters are still there, lower down the list. This one though? It's just gone. What gives? It hasn't aged out. I posted it in February I think so it isn't over a year old yet.

I emailed about it but this site is large so I don't expect a reply any time soon.

As a newer author, this stuff is fresh for me so is this common?

It's common to hear about people being jealously protective of their toplist status and bombing other stories... it's a slippery descent into madness, apparently. Given the way that things are on the site at the moment, I doubt it you will get a result.

It's not pleasant when your story does age off the toplist, anyway. I had a story there for a year, and now I can only find it if I search for the top 668th story of the 49534 stories published on Loving Wives (that's still around the top 1 percentile - you've got to take the wins!). Otherwise, it's now invisible except to your fans.

 

[ThatNewGuy]

How many votes does your story have? I believe it needs a minimum of ten to qualify for the 12-month toplist (100 for the all-time list).

If your story hasn't aged out and the score hasn't fallen, the only reason I can think of for it to disappear from the list would be if the total number of votes fell below ten. This could happen if your story had some suspicious votes removed during the periodic "sweep" process that the site runs. Not a likely scenario, but the only one I can think of other than a glitch of some sort.

 

[SimonDoom]

So, yeah. Is it common for stories not to show up on these lists even though they should?

One chapter of my story is quite highler rated, thankfully. It has a 4.89. It should show up at 11th in the top stories of the last 12 months in "Reluctance/NonConsent."

In fact, it used to be there. But a couple of weeks ago it just.... disappeared. My other chapters are still there, lower down the list. This one though? It's just gone. What gives? It hasn't aged out. I posted it in February I think so it isn't over a year old yet.

I emailed about it but this site is large so I don't expect a reply any time soon.

As a newer author, this stuff is fresh for me so is this common?

Check the vote count. It might have lost votes in a sweep and now no longer have enough to qualify.

Post a link to the story so we can check it out.

 

[THBGato]

I never really look at the 12 months top lists, but the All Time top lists, across multiple categories, having been being systematically down-voted since Oct 2024.

Before then, in Lesbian, you needed 4.94 for the number 1 slot and at least 4.87 to even get into the Top 250. Now, 12 months later, 4.87 would get you number 1. It's very odd.

Of course, for the most part, which stories are in the top twenty hasn't really changed that much...

 

[AwkwardlySet]

A lot has been said about Lit's voting system. Suffices to say that one person with enough motivation and enough time on their hands can rearrange the top lists to their liking.

Obviously, stories with a very large vote count are mostly protected from such shenanigans, but there are plenty of toplist stories with barely enough votes to qualify (100 votes for the all-time list) or more. You'd need around 1000 votes at least to feel somewhat protected from such practice.

 

[designatedvictim]

As already stated, begin with your vote counts.

I just had three pieces age of the 12-month lists (solely due to age) and not show up in all-time due to low vote counts.

If the votes are now below 10, best to blame a sweep.

 

[realitycheck701]

It's common to hear about people being jealously protective of their toplist status and bombing other stories... it's a slippery descent into madness, apparently. Given the way that things are on the site at the moment, I doubt it you will get a result.

It's not pleasant when your story does age off the toplist, anyway. I had a story there for a year, and now I can only find it if I search for the top 668th story of the 49534 stories published on Loving Wives (that's still around the top 1 percentile - you've got to take the wins!). Otherwise, it's now invisible except to your fans.

I feel like I wasn't clear enough in my post due to the nature of the replies. Nobody has bombed it, as far as I'm aware. As I said, it STILL has a 4.89. It should be up there.

The thing is, it WAS there before. For over six months. It hasn't lost votes. It currently has 61 votes. 61 votes should be MORE than enough. There are stories in the top 100 with as few as 10 votes!

I have several other chapters in the top 100. Some of them have more BUT some have fewer votes including one that has 50. And that one shows up in the list. This is what I'm saying, it makes no sense.

I know it seems like a minor thing but having a chapter in the top 10 of a category brings visibility and I want to know why it isn't there any more.

Check the vote count. It might have lost votes in a sweep and now no longer have enough to qualify.

Post a link to the story so we can check it out.

https://www.literotica.com/s/lara-lap-dances-for-a-living-pt-11 Thats the chapter there.

 

[RejectReality]

I feel like I wasn't clear enough in my post due to the nature of the replies. Nobody has bombed it, as far as I'm aware. As I said, it STILL has a 4.89. It should be up there.

The thing is, it WAS there before. For over six months. It hasn't lost votes. It currently has 61 votes. 61 votes should be MORE than enough. There are stories in the top 100 with as few as 10 votes!

I have several other chapters in the top 100. Some of them have more BUT some have fewer votes including one that has 50. And that one shows up in the list. This is what I'm saying, it makes no sense.

I know it seems like a minor thing but having a chapter in the top 10 of a category brings visibility and I want to know why it isn't there any more.



https://www.literotica.com/s/lara-lap-dances-for-a-living-pt-11 Thats the chapter there.

I assume you're talking about the 12 month list if you're talking about stories with 10 votes on there. Be aware that the all-time lists all have minimum vote counts, and it's 100 on most of them.

The toplists have always had a bit of glitchiness where stories just vanish. Usually it happens when your story would have been at a page break. It somehow gets lost in the pagination process. Your score shouldn't have been hit by that. It falls squarely in the upper middle of page 1.

There's also behavior ( I don't know whether to call it a glitch, or whether its intentional ) that if your story is swept ( malicious votes removed ) it often will sit at the old position on the list, showing the old score, until such time as you acquire more votes than you had prior to the sweep. If the score jumped recently, try looking in the list where it would fall under the old score and see if it's there. ( If the old score is high enough to make the list ) This one is kind of flaky. Sometimes it persists for a long time, and sometimes it pops up with the new score regardless of whether your vote total has crossed the threshold.

If it hasn't been swept recently, it's just a glitch. Not much you can do. The consolation prize is it's not sitting there as a prime target for people to 1-bomb it, which happens constantly to stories on the top end of page 1 of the toplist. You're losing the exposure from the toplists for the time being, but at least it isn't taking unwarranted abuse from trolls.

 

[StillStunned]

There's also behavior ( I don't know whether to call it a glitch, or whether its intentional ) that if your story is swept ( malicious votes removed ) it often will sit at the old position on the list, showing the old score, until such time as you acquire more votes than you had prior to the sweep.

I had this with "The Countesses of Tannensdal". It sat in the Erotic Horror 12-month top list with a score of 4.63, even though the actual score was 4.8. It was never corrected before the 12 months ended.

 

[designatedvictim]

I feel like I wasn't clear enough in my post due to the nature of the replies. Nobody has bombed it, as far as I'm aware. As I said, it STILL has a 4.89. It should be up there.

The thing is, it WAS there before. For over six months. It hasn't lost votes. It currently has 61 votes. 61 votes should be MORE than enough. There are stories in the top 100 with as few as 10 votes!

I have several other chapters in the top 100. Some of them have more BUT some have fewer votes including one that has 50. And that one shows up in the list. This is what I'm saying, it makes no sense.

I know it seems like a minor thing but having a chapter in the top 10 of a category brings visibility and I want to know why it isn't there any more.



https://www.literotica.com/s/lara-lap-dances-for-a-living-pt-11 Thats the chapter there.

Are you sure you didn't get uno-bombed?

I just did a quick traversal in the 12-month list and I think I counted eight parts of your same series in the top 250.

That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Until I saw your quoted link above, I was only assuming you were talking about part 11. It is on the 12-month list, but now showing in position 243 with a 4.76 (63).

It still shows 4.89 in your stories by list, by the way. And you say it shows 61 votes.

Looks like something is out of synch.

ETA: to me, those numbers read like you got hit with two 1s.

 

[millamomud]

In Germany, everything gets down voted to 4.6 once it reaches the all time toplist with 100 votes. At least in the bdsm category.

 

[RejectReality]

Are you sure you didn't get uno-bombed?

I just did a quick traversal in the 12-month list and I think I counted eight parts of your same series in the top 250.

That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.

Until I saw your quoted link above, I was only assuming you were talking about part 11. It is on the 12-month list, but now showing in position 243 with a 4.76 (63).

It still shows 4.89 in your stories by list, by the way. And you say it shows 61 votes.

Looks like something is out of synch.

ETA: to me, those numbers read like you got hit with two 1s.

You're reading it backwards. The toplist is still showing the old score prior to the sweep. That's what I suspected. If the OP is lucky, upon getting 3 more votes, the score will start reflecting its current value in the toplists once more.

This particular behavior in the toplists is kind of weird, though. Sometimes it seems like it starts showing the current value even before the number of votes exceeds the old total. Sometimes it stays at the old value despite acquiring more votes than it had before the sweep. There haven't been enough people experience it and report it to really nail down the full scope of what's happening with this. The only thing that has really been nailed down is what triggers it — getting swept and your score going up.

It never seems to happen when you get bombed. You don't sit at your old, high score on the toplist. Honestly, that would be funny. No matter how many times they bombed the score, it sits there taunting them. In your control panel, it would quickly sink in the 2.0s, but it would be a honeypot of sorts, collecting troll data to be fed to the sweeps.

 

[Robin_Starveling]

In Germany, everything gets down voted to 4.6 once it reaches the all time toplist with 100 votes. At least in the bdsm category.

It’s unbelievable how much power the current voting system gives to a handful of jerks. Stop allowing anonymous votes and change the rating scale from 1 to 5 to 3 to 5, namely 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5 -- and you’ll fix most of the problem. It’ll be harder to sabotage with 3-bombs and give diligent voters a more precise way to rate.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

It’s unbelievable how much power the current voting system gives to a handful of jerks. Stop allowing anonymous votes and change the rating scale from 1 to 5 to 3 to 5, namely 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5 -- and you’ll fix most of the problem. It’ll be harder to sabotage with 3-bombs and give diligent voters a more precise way to rate.

(facepalm)

 

[designatedvictim]

You're reading it backwards. The toplist is still showing the old score prior to the sweep. That's what I suspected. If the OP is lucky, upon getting 3 more votes, the score will start reflecting its current value in the toplists once more.

You may be right, but OP said it was there, then disappeared.

So, he'd have to have seen the original position, missed the fact that he got unobombed - twice - then benefited from a two-vote sweep which was run after the last top-list vote-scan.

Is that plausible? Yes. Is it likely? My inner jury is out.

I don't know how often the top-list rescans run, but that's an awfully awkward window to be stuck in.

I also mentioned that something was out of sync.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

From the site's point of view, eliminating anonymous voting removes the incentive for some people to visit (and see ads). You're looking at things from the author POV, which is valid ... but we don't control the site. If you created "WikiErotica" and ran it like Wikipedia, that might be more important.

--Annie

 

[Robin_Starveling]

Hmm, if people can’t vote, they won’t read and masturbate.

 

[realitycheck701]

Thanks for the interesting theories. It's actually gone up to a 4.9 now.....so one of you obviously gave it a good score.

Still doesn't show up though. Very odd. Maybe it will show up again someday, emerging from the shadows like a ninja.

Ironically, personally I think it's one of the weaker chapters I wrote in the series. Shows what I know, I guess.

 

[MythicMind]

I have a story in Non-Human that is #1 for All-Time, #24 for Last 12 Months, and #6 for Last 30 days. So go figure.

 

[realitycheck701]

Schrodinger's ranking....

 

[designatedvictim]

Ironically, personally I think it's one of the weaker chapters I wrote in the series. Shows what I know, I guess.

I know what you mean.

I split the third chapter of my larger project into pieces, instead of posting it as One. Big. Chapter.

Much as I like the material, what I think of as the best parts scored worse than parts I feel are clearly weaker.

Go figure.

It's been getting very low view counts for quite a while, now, but over the last day or two, someone's been working his way through each part and voting on them.

He's given me fives for the first two chapters and the first two parts of chapter three.

The last set of votes they got followed the same pattern two months ago.

 

[designatedvictim]

I have a story in Non-Human that is #1 for All-Time, #24 for Last 12 Months, and #6 for Last 30 days. So go figure.

Actually, that seems to be legit, if odd seeming.

Since you have 102 votes, you qualify to appear in all three date-ranges.

The date range and vote totals alter the eligibility of the stories in each of the time frames.

That's kinda cool.

 

[SimonDoom]

From the site's point of view, eliminating anonymous voting removes the incentive for some people to visit (and see ads). You're looking at things from the author POV, which is valid ... but we don't control the site. If you created "WikiErotica" and ran it like Wikipedia, that might be more important.

--Annie

Right. The voting system exists for readers, not for us as authors. It is not a reward; it is an information system. Scores are intended to provide information to potential readers to help them decide what they want to read. It's no different from scoring systems elsewhere in this regard.

The site is not going to eliminate anonymous voting, and it's not going to fundamentally change the scoring system, because then the new system wouldn't sync with the old system and the results would be a mess. The solution is not to care too much. Let it go. Don't get wedded to scores.

In the OP's case, the fact that Chapter 11, for whatever reason, doesn't show up on the top list hasn't prevented later chapters in the series from continuing to get views, votes, comments, and favorites that are commensurate with those of earlier chapters. In fact, the final chapter, chapter 15, received even more views and comments than chapter 11. So, objectively speaking, there is no problem. That's not to say it isn't annoying that it doesn't show up on the top list, because it looks like it should.

To answer the OP's question in the first post: yes, glitches are fairly common. I've noticed weird discrepancies with my own stories between what appears on my story list and what shows up on the toplists.

I'd recommend continuing to try to reach out to Manu to find out what's going on. You may not get a quick reply but my experience has been that you'll get a response eventually.

 

[SugarStorm]

The site is not going to eliminate anonymous voting

I think they should eliminate anonymous voting. Sure, it might mean fewer votes overall, but the results would be far more accurate and much less noisy. The manipulation is very real, and it discourages people who genuinely care about the competitions. The site has little to lose and a lot to gain by tightening things up.