Slightly Disillusioned

[RomanCEisdead]

Is it me? Or have other authors witnessed some rather odd voting patterns?

For some time I've been suspicious, but this evening I feel I have reason to be aggrieved:

I posted the second part of a story called Julia's Sexual Adventure - Day 2 and it went live earlier today. I happened to look at how it was doing when I got back from work; not many had read it yet, but six readers had voted and given it a score of six. Now, please don't think I have an overrated opinion of my own talents, but something looks very fishy. When I checked again a few minutes ago, surprise surprise the average score was down to 4.50! But with only 8 votes!

It doesn't take a mathematical genius to work out the seven people have given me 5 and one has scored 1 point.

Of course, I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion and my story may have offended or upset someone. But you know what? I can only recall one occasion when I voted only one point for a story (at the time I was quite upset by the subject matter - I later felt guilty that I had done it).

Now, an uncharitable person might suggest that somebody is manipulating the voting?

Anyway, rany over. Thanks everyone for reading and voting on my stories - especially to those who give such encouraging feedback.

Roman

 

[RomanCEisdead]

Correction

Of course, that should have read six people voted 5 points.

Sorry

 

[sr71plt]

Six votes of 5 add up to 30 total. Add two votes of 3 each, and you come up with 36 total votes. Divide that by 8 and you get a 4.50.

Nothing usual in the voting. You probably weren't even 1 zapped--and even if you were, it could only have happened once. With the 1 zappers lurking around, you so far have been lucky.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Stop counting votes. Tey were cast mostly by the unwashed and ignorant masses. They does the votes only go to five? Ask your self that one.

 

[RomanCEisdead]

Good Mathematical Point

Except that I forgot to mention that I had just (for once) bothered to vote myself and I gave the story a 5. So, it was definite zap.

If you want a real pisser; a few years ago I decided to try my hand at the Halloween contest. Now, I didn't expect to get anywhere, but I came up with what I thought was a cute little story. By the time I got to look it had six votes - and four very positive pieces of feedback (indicating full marks). So when I found an average of 3.7 it made me wonder why I bothered. Oh, and the maths suggests two 1 point scores in case you're wondering.

Actually, I guess the scores don;t really count as much as positive comments do. Most of them make me feel that the effort is rewarded. Even (constructive) negative comment is valuable. Like when I failed to read through a story properly before posting. It could have been better. Or, when I should have posted a story in a different category.

Roman

 

[sr71plt]

Except that I forgot to mention that I had just (for once) bothered to vote myself and I gave the story a 5. So, it was definite zap.

If you want a real pisser; a few years ago I decided to try my hand at the Halloween contest. Now, I didn't expect to get anywhere, but I came up with what I thought was a cute little story. By the time I got to look it had six votes - and four very positive pieces of feedback (indicating full marks). So when I found an average of 3.7 it made me wonder why I bothered. Oh, and the maths suggests two 1 point scores in case you're wondering.

Actually, I guess the scores don;t really count as much as positive comments do. Most of them make me feel that the effort is rewarded. Even (constructive) negative comment is valuable. Like when I failed to read through a story properly before posting. It could have been better. Or, when I should have posted a story in a different category.

Roman

So you got 1 zap in 8 votes, the rest being 5 (if your vote counts--it will be swept even if it was permitted in first place). Join the club.

If you write stories for 5s and wonderful comments, just loop them back to yourself in e-mail. If you post here, you get what you get--and you have the comfort that a zap vote on a story probably has practically nothing to do with the quality of the story. (The flip side is that most of the 5s don't either.)

If you really want to gauge how well you write, submit them for paid publication.