The Authors' Hangout 2010 Halloween Contest Support Thread

[scouries]

BTW, is there a thread anywhere that explains how this vote clearing system works? Watching my contest story's score bounce up and down like a jogger's breasts has made me curious (and a little aroused ) about the whole process… Well, I can appreciate the logic there. But on the other hand the secrecy is a bit troubling. I mean, how do we know that an admin's sister-in-law (for example) isn't getting their votes adjusted so they win the competitions?

QUOTE ace No. The site administrators very purposely don't say how it works--to make it harder to circumvent it.

QUOTE hungry Another newby question: are we talking about eliminating votes from people who voted multiple times from the same IP address?

Yes, among other things.

First off our friendly witch is speculating – she has no idea if what she’s saying is true or not.

Meanwhile ace is parroting the QUEEN’S official position but he purposely doesn’t (nor does she) explain or expose the other results of the “don’t ask/we’ll never tell” policy.

Some of which are:

1) Writers spend more time checking their scores than they do writing
2) Huge last day vote swings that steal victory from one while rewarding palace toadies
3) No listing of the results
4) No verification of the vote results
5) No legitimacy
6) Great frustration among contestants (which has led to a boycott by the best authors on the site..

…and on and on…

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that we're working on tallying the votes now. Because of the awesomely high volume of stories in this year's contest, it's taking a bit longer than usual…

A LAUREL sighting! Delighted to see you dear queen.

Seeing you’re having such a problem keeping up with the “awesomely high volume of stories” may I be presumptuous enough to make a small suggestion?

LIMIT ENTRIES – quite simply ONE STORY PER AUTHOR (including her/her ALTS)

How tough would that be?

And one other thing seeing you’re here – Once you’ve finished “tallying” all the scores why don’t you publicly post the results for every author. List the author, total votes cast, total votes rejected, pre sweep rating, final rating.

It’s bad enough that you’re one of the few organizations in the world that holds votes but doesn’t explain what constitutes a legitimate vote (and what doesn’t), nor allow independent vote count verification , but then you exacerbate the problem by not even publishing the final, tampered results. Talk about ‘ace et al in wonderland’…

CHANGE IS EASY – EMBRACE IT DEAR LADY!​

[size=+2]james r scouries esq.[/size]
Multiple A.I.R. AWARD winner, MILLION SELLER,
Author of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA

 

[glynndah]

A congratulatory for the winners from the good little witch.

 

[TxRad]

Poor scouries, he gets so frustrated by the vote sweeps. He wants to know what constitutes a real vote and what constitutes a vote that will be swept. He wants to know how to get around the sweeps so he can go back to cheating the way he did before the sweeps were initiated.

Good luck with that.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Wait, I just realized Samhain Cider has a new ending from the one I read in the beginning. *reads the new ending, curious* I'll keep that in mind for next time. I didn't realize you could edit a story in the middle of the contest. I had a few things I wanted to clean up. Oh well, live and learn.

 

[scouries]

Gay vampire?

http://www.ikeepadiary.com/diary/2003/2003_08_00.The_August_Roundup/images/DSC02902.jpg

Sci-fi apples?

Football Erotic Coupling shenanigans? Hard to argue about the author of this one. But they chose his wrong story – the one that got all the votes was in a category that the QUEEN (through her rules) doesn’t allow to win.

She prefers gay/non-human/sci fi/ romance erotica…

And then AHers ask why the A.I.R. has become so popular with the real readers..

FYI gabby tells me that the OFFICIAL A.I.R. HALLOWEEN CONTEST results will be out tomorrow.​

[size=+2]james r scouries esq.[/size]
Multiple A.I.R. AWARD winner, MILLION SELLER,
Author of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA

 

[scouries]

Wait, I just realized Samhain Cider has a new ending from the one I read in the beginning. *reads the new ending, curious* I'll keep that in mind for next time. I didn't realize you could edit a story in the middle of the contest. I had a few things I wanted to clean up. Oh well, live and learn

Please god, tell me this isn’t true!

Surely, even in the bizarre contest world of LITEROTICA, the QUEEN didn’t let a contestant change his story halfway through the contest?

Which votes were counted? The pre change votes? Or only the post change votes? Surely she just didn’t add up the scores on two different stories.

Did she advise him to change the ending?

This is arrguably worse than what jayman, db, and the moonman did.​

[size=+2]james r scouries esq.[/size]
Multiple A.I.R. AWARD winner, MILLION SELLER,
Author of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA

 

[harding]

Which votes were counted? The pre change votes? Or only the post change votes? Surely she just didn’t add up the scores on two different stories.

Did she advise him to change the ending?

No one told me to change to story. I've kind of ignored you until now, but I guess your mission is to rile us all enough to respond. So I guess you've succeeded.

The ending was changed because I had a lot of comments that the original story just wasn't right. It changed about five days before the end of the contest, and basically I just lost votes from that point on.

I'm sure TX will flame you anyway. As for me, I'll just continue to ignore you from here on out...

PS: If I've upset you then obviously I'm doing something right!

 

[sr71plt]

Well, gotta agree with Scouries on this one. Never heard of a short story contest before that permitted changes/corrections after the offical submission.

Wierd.

 

[TxRad]

Scouries, your ignorance is showing again. An edited story does not lose any votes, pre edit or post edit. Editing does nothing to the votes, period. It changes what is edited only.

Just more smoke and mirrors to spread more propaganda about the Lit contests from the master of bullshit himself.

The man who is a multiple winner of his own fake contest. The man who brags about being on top of lists he makes up himself. A real winner he is.

By the way, there is no rule about editing a story and there never has been.

 

[TxRad]

and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA
The only person interested in the Air Head Awards is scouries. Most of the AH don't even know about them because they have and have had scouries on ignore for years.

Since gabby and scouries are the same person, her announcing the awards is scouries talking to himself, yet again.

I wonder what award he will win. he always wins at least one.

How many real contests has our self proclaimed #1 writer on Lit won?

NONE!

I wonder why that is? Because the real readers know a hack when they read one, id what I figure. Although he will tell you that the AH always cheats him out of his just rewards. Count the number of people that hang out in the AH. Subtract the 90% that have him on ignore and could care less about contests. Now count the high number of votes he always brags about. You do the math. The real reraders keep speaking.

 

[LoveBird1929]

Wow...I just got home from work and what an awesome treat to see my story named as one of the 3 winners. Especially when the competition included a slew of great stories (I myself thoroughly enjoyed and voted on the entries by WickedWendyDru, Nameless Rose & Peelam just to name a few).

If there's anyone here who voted/read or just read my entry, my thanks!

 

[EmeraldKitten]

Congrats!!! es to the winners!



(Bring on Christmas! )

 

[scouries]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42257000/jpg/_42257130_harding.jpg
how good does harding think she is?

The ending was changed because I had a lot of comments that the original story just wasn't right. It changed about five days before the end of the contest, and basically I just lost votes from that point on…PS: If I've upset you then obviously I'm doing something right!

Your first line says it all. You changed the story midway through the contest. Which means that the story now being hailed as a contest winner isn’t the same story many of your readers voted on.

Quite frankly I didn’t believe it at first when your change was reported. I’ve seen a lot of things here but this goes well beyond anything that’s preceded it.

And from an A.I.R. AWARD winner of all things (although I must report that the Board of Directors of A.I.R. will be reexamining your victory in the next few days. A.I.R. will not allow its good name be sullied by authors who don’t play fair).

And my dear girl I don’t want you to worry – you didn’t upset me. The QUEEN may disappoint me from time to time but I’ve seen too many cheaters, rule benders and liars around these parts to get upset when I trip over another one. But girl, what you're doing is sticking your tongue out at every honest LITEROTICAN…​

[size=+2]james r scouries esq.[/size]
Multiple A.I.R. AWARD winner, MILLION SELLER,
Author of the MOST COMMENTED on
and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

TxRad, that's good to know for the future.

HARDING: love Love LOVE the new ending. Very tender and real. But, I saw nothing wrong with the first ending. Fae-kind often look at these things differently.

Congrats Lovebird, can't wait to read your story

 

[michchick98]

And my dear girl I don’t want you to worry – you didn’t upset me. The QUEEN may disappoint me from time to time but I’ve seen too many cheaters, rule benders and liars around these parts to get upset when I trip over another one. But girl, what you're doing is sticking your tongue out at every honest LITEROTICAN…

And that's just from him, his alts and his cock puppets.

Sorry, it was just too good to pass up.

Carry on.

 

[litfan10]

I'm with MC on this one!! For some one who thinks he is just so much smarter and better than the rest of us it amazes me just how clueless scouries is.

Ah Jim, Harding is a guy! As am I which you keep seeming to screw up.

Keep talking Scouries, you're just looking more and more intelligent each post

As MC said - sorry could not pass this one up!

Carry on

 

[michchick98]

and the MOST VOTED on story on LITEROTICA
The only person interested in the Air Head Awards is scouries. Most of the AH don't even know about them because they have and have had scouries on ignore for years.

Since gabby and scouries are the same person, her announcing the awards is scouries talking to himself, yet again.

I wonder what award he will win. he always wins at least one.

How many real contests has our self proclaimed #1 writer on Lit won?

NONE!

I wonder why that is? Because the real readers know a hack when they read one, id what I figure. Although he will tell you that the AH always cheats him out of his just rewards. Count the number of people that hang out in the AH. Subtract the 90% that have him on ignore and could care less about contests. Now count the high number of votes he always brags about. You do the math. The real reraders keep speaking.

You forgot to factor in, Tx, that a good percentage of the special contest and monthly contest winners rarely, if ever, post on the AH or even know of it's existence. He fails to realize or mention that in his endless diatribes about how much he's been cheated or how much money he makes writing for a FREE porn site or any of that other nonsense he posts.

Remember, he claims that there are only a handful of REAL people on Literotica, the rest are alts of you, me, sr71plt, Selena, Daniellekitten......well, you get the idea. Kinda ironic, an alt accusing everyone else of being an alt.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Congratulations to the winners!

 

[EmeraldKitten]

You forgot to factor in, Tx, that a good percentage of the special contest and monthly contest winners rarely, if ever, post on the AH or even know of it's existence. He fails to realize or mention that in his endless diatribes about how much he's been cheated or how much money he makes writing for a FREE porn site or any of that other nonsense he posts.

Remember, he claims that there are only a handful of REAL people on Literotica, the rest are alts of you, me, sr71plt, Selena, Daniellekitten......well, you get the idea. Kinda ironic, an alt accusing everyone else of being an alt.

I'm jealous. I'm not anybody's alt. lol.

 

[litfan10]

I'm jealous. I'm not anybody's alt. lol.

hahaha just keep entering more contests and threading - sooner or later he'll nail ya for it - only took me two!

 

[litfan10]

A hearty congratulations to the three winners - once again, all three stories are incredibly well done and deserve the distinction they have been given!!

 

[manyeyedhydra]

That there last sweep bounced my score up considerably.

Congratulations to the winners.

I did not receive the benefit of a last sweep sadly. I got a mini-one that bumped me up from 4.67 to 4.71, but then the bombs came straight back and knocked it to 4.67.

It did well for a story with a nasty ending.

Congrats to the winners.

Show some spine, harding! Ignore the sheep bleating for the sugary happy-ever-after ending. Dark is where it's at!

 

[WickedWendyDru]

Pondering My Concerns

While I certainly offer my congratulations to the winners, I personally would've liked to know that changes to entries at any point after submission to the contest were acceptable. I had a few little blips in my story that I would've liked to edit and didn't, thinking I had to wait until after judging was complete. That said, I also would like to know how judging was accomplished. No offense to the winners, but "Dark Miracle" is still rating higher than several of the winners, and has all along throughout the contest. I can only surmise that other factors (perhaps total number of votes? number of views?) are taken into consideration.

If Literotica published their judging method in detail, it would put the silly arguments on forum boards like these to rest for good, and a decent amount of the angst involved in the contests could be avoided. We could all simply do what we do best: write. I don't understand what harm it could do to tell the patrons of the site how our own contest winners are actually determined.

But then, I have a disturbing tendency towards fairness in nearly everything...

Well done to the winners - a blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween to all!

- Wicked

 

[sr71plt]

While I certainly offer my congratulations to the winners, I personally would've liked to know that changes to entries at any point after submission to the contest were acceptable. I had a few little blips in my story that I would've liked to edit and didn't, thinking I had to wait until after judging was complete. That said, I also would like to know how judging was accomplished. No offense to the winners, but "Dark Miracle" is still rating higher than several of the winners, and has all along throughout the contest. I can only surmise that other factors (perhaps total number of votes? number of views?) are taken into consideration.

If Literotica published their judging method in detail, it would put the silly arguments on forum boards like these to rest for good, and a decent amount of the angst involved in the contests could be avoided. We could all simply do what we do best: write. I don't understand what harm it could do to tell the patrons of the site how our own contest winners are actually determined.

But then, I have a disturbing tendency towards fairness in nearly everything...

Well done to the winners - a blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween to all!

- Wicked

It's not prohibited in the rules and it's physically possible to do, so it's not against the current rules (along with a lot of other activities that just haven't been spelled out yet).

Of course it defies common sense. What contest has the judges (which in this case is what the voters/commenters are) in midstream make suggestions on improvements in an entry and then let the contestant, again in midstream, change his/her entry? That's pretty dumb, isn't it? That it's a pretty dumb thing is probably why the site administrators didn't pin that down. They couldn't imagine it happening--even though they didn't put in any mechanisms to stop it from happening.

That folks here seem to think it's nifty is largely because Scouries complained about it. Always got to take the other side when it's Scouries (who isn't the one who brought the issue up, incidentally). That too, is a little dumb and high school cliquish. Something isn't incorrect just because Scouries posted it.

Did "Dark Miracle" have the required minimum of votes at the score checking time (the score checking time, incidentally, coming after a secret sweep and being yet another element not revealed--which also means you can have no idea what the exact relative ratings were at that time)? Any relative ratings you would see would be from some other point in time.

If those silly arguments were put to rest, we'd just think of other silly arguments to have.

 

[sr71plt]

*double post* the system was going whacky.