Winter Holiday 2010 Contest Support Thread

[Darkniciad]

The track came out with the same three winners.

Note: Stories that weren't eligible ( Tx's ) or didn't make it to 25 votes are at the bottom.

Vote totals are off. I know mine is by a fair margin. Likewise, sweep totals are also going to be low. This toplist is usually around a day behind. The new score on your submissions page seems to be updated either more often, or earlier than the toplists. I strongly suspect that more stories dropped below the 25 barrier.

The "Next" link on this page doesn't go anywhere, because it is for a future track to catch the final sweep vote totals, plus update the views, PCs, and Favs.

The "Prev" links do work, and will take you back through all the tracking to the first day I tracked.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/winter_holiday_2010_z_c.htm

Okay, everybody -- release your inner OCD *laugh*

If you want to play around with sorting it by other columns, you should be able to paste it into a spreadsheet. I know it works when I paste it back into Excel.

 

[Laurel]

Congratulations to the winners, and a big thanks to everyone who participated. Winter Holidays is always a fun contest!

At the risk of embarrassing him, I wanted to recognize Og's kindness in donating his cash prize to the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation. Hopefully, the money can go to help the spread the holiday spirit to those who are having it extra-tough in these very tough times.

Speaking of holiday spirit, please don't forget to hug your loved ones and tell them you love them.

 

[favoritesgoddess]

You're the best, Ogg. *mwah*

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

See, a totally deserved the win Og *hug* you big ole softy! 'Tis the season!

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Thank for posting Dark. So the amount of votes matters less than the rating? I had wondered that

At least a thousand views for spirit love and messages (only up a couple days).

~Wynter~: Top 25 all the way up until your last count (then 27) and back at the covetted "H." This week FREEDOM!!! Woohooooo, can't get much better than that! *flutters, giggling and dancing happily*

Congrats to everyone!

 

[sr71plt]

Thank for posting Dark. So the amount of votes matters less than the rating? I had wondered that

At least a thousand views for spirit love and messages (only up a couple days).

~Wynter~: Top 25 all the way up until your last count (then 27) and back at the covetted "H." This week FREEDOM!!! Woohooooo, can't get much better than that! *flutters, giggling and dancing happily*

Congrats to everyone!

As long as you've got the minimum 25 qualifying votes (and keep that number to the end of the contest), the number of votes no longer matter. (Although I wonder if they are taken into account if there are winners with identical ratings.)

 

[michchick98]

I see the usual whining from the King of whiners about who won...or didn't win as the case may be. Some things never change.

Had a lot going on over the past few months so didn't get to read any stories, but I hope to remedy that in the next few weeks.

That said, I offer congrats to the REAL winners of the REAL contest.

 

[scouries]

At the risk of embarrassing him, I wanted to recognize Og's…

Don’t worry ma’am, if he wasn’t embarrassed by winning a ‘reader’s choice’ contest on an erotic story site with a half page essay that not one reader favorited and only four (of the millions who visited the site) commented on, and with the story rating miraculously jumping upward at the eleventh hour, then it’s not likely that anything could embarrass him.

I think most of us recognise that the fix was in.

Quite frankly I have no problem with you rewarding your pets but can’t you do it outside the contest system? Why not give these yes-men ‘honorary awards’, or ‘lifetime achievement awards’ or ‘man of the year prizes’ and leave the story contests to the judgement of our readers?

That's what A.I.R. is all about.​

[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

 

[TxRad]

I see what's his name still only reads what he wants to see and not the whole truth. Not any truth for that matter.

Sour grapes grow even sourer. Not to mention poor sportsmanship and all the constant whining.

 

[litfan10]

<shakes umbrella> yep figured His exulted Egoness would be raining on the parade. Sheesh, talk about a broken record.

I've always believed actions speak louder than words....well Ogg, your words deserved the honour they received and now your actions.....Man!!! You have my highest esteem! You truly are the embodiment of my favourite Dickens' line: "and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man possessed the knowledge."

Bravo Ogg!

 

[Darkniciad]

As long as you've got the minimum 25 qualifying votes (and keep that number to the end of the contest), the number of votes no longer matter. (Although I wonder if they are taken into account if there are winners with identical ratings.)

I know that there have been dual winners on a single placing a few times before, so equal scores may very well both win the prize, regardless of votes. I suppose those dual winners may have had equal vote counts, but it seems unlikely to have happened 3-4 times if that's the case.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

sr71, thanks. I was wondering.

 

[Darkniciad]

And, the final track.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/winter_holiday_2010_z_d.htm

I didn't update the score, because by my best determination of the update speeds of the various lists, the scores in the last track are as close to the post-final-sweep numbers as you can obtain without database access.

Updated vote totals and all related columns

This is about as close as we'll get to what the final sweep looked like, if my determination of when the toplists update is even remotely accurate.

Late entry stories still in their "honeymoon" period will have skewed results for swept votes, because those stories were probably still accumulating enough votes while the sweeps were running to make a lot of swept votes invisible on the toplists.

To a lesser extent, the Incest/LW categories have a bit more staying power for accumulating votes for longer periods of time, so that can skew things too. Popular stories with lots of comments, favs, likes, etc. can also hang on longer, skewing results.

Added new columns for "total votes" ( remaining votes + observed swept votes ) and percentage of votes swept from the new total votes column. Subject to the same skew factors as above. The averages and such at the bottom of the new percent column are quick and dirty ones just working from the calculations in the column itself rather than taking all the raw data and averaging it again.

Updated views, PCs, and Favs. Probably the only thing skewing this are the three winning entries. The place where I gather these numbers updates fairly quickly, so those stories are likely reflecting a fair amount of post-contest activity.

The sweeps claimed one victim, dropping a story that showed 25+ votes below the qualification barrier. All other stories below 25 never made it there ( at least on the toplists )

And that wraps it up

 

[sr71plt]

Nearly 24,000 swept votes is an extraordinary example of gross cheating and/or the Web site sweeper going Hal on us, though, I think.

 

[Darkniciad]

Nearly 24,000 swept votes is an extraordinary example of gross cheating and/or the Web site sweeper going Hal on us, though, I think.

Wrong column: That nearly 24k is the total votes I was able to observe contest stories accumulating ( minus the one that was removed from the contest by the author )

Swept votes are 4377. I would guess that the real number is probably about 10-15% higher than that from skew factors.

 

[sr71plt]

Wrong column: That nearly 24k is the total votes I was able to observe contest stories accumulating ( minus the one that was removed from the contest by the author )

Swept votes are 4377. I would guess that the real number is probably about 10-15% higher than that from skew factors.

Opps, sorry.

Still, I'll have to say that I ran a parallel holiday story during the contest under a pen name, and, although a few votes were swept, not anythng like the numbers you got. This indicates to me both that stories other than contest stories are being swept during the contest and that there's a disproportionate percentage of cheated votes in the contests.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Yeah, my other stories get swept as well as contest entries. My former contest entries are constantly ping-ponging. Curious.

 

[Darkniciad]

Opps, sorry.

Still, I'll have to say that I ran a parallel holiday story during the contest under a pen name, and, although a few votes were swept, not anythng like the numbers you got. This indicates to me both that stories other than contest stories are being swept during the contest and that there's a disproportionate percentage of cheated votes in the contests.

My theory is that the sweeps generate a "blacklist" of the worst offenders on contest voting and then wipe all votes from the blacklist within the same time period across the board -- contest or not.

I also believe that the contest sweeps are purposely more draconian, searching farther back in the IP to try to catch multi-voters on dial-up or with rotating IPs. It probably does a fair job of catching those multi-vote tactics ( the lowest-tech and probably most common form ) but also probably nails a lot of votes from people who just happen to live in the same general area. You'd lose a lot of votes from high population density areas and really low population density areas with limited internet service options.

Observations on low-vote stories with signed comments ( and my own stories where I can track from emails too ) lead me to believe that all votes cast by contest entrants are swept from all contest stories as well.

Just some theories. Nowhere near a large enough data sample to even really promote them to theory status, by the scientific definition. They're more along the lines of slightly-educated guesses

 

[sr71plt]

And my theory is that if the Web site dropped the monetary awards, the contests would suffer a lot less cheating and therefore have more to do with the content of the stories than either with the vote mongering or cheating of the contestants.

 

[Darkniciad]

Heh... Yep. Well, it would probably have some effect, but so long as there's any kind of a prize involved ( even just the blue W ) there's gonna be shenanigans by participants and their fanbases ( where I think more of the questionable voting comes from than the authors themselves )

An internet poll ( especially where anonymous voting is allowed ) is simply open to far too many variables to be remotely accurate.

This is all just the programmer in me ( though I haven't coded much in ages ) I have to reverse engineer everything in my head, looking for useful ideas to incorporate into things I might need later.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Those are some theories guys. You've done a lot of thinking about it, huh? Too bad for the insecure/immature people who feel the need mess around.

 

[Laurel]

I know that there have been dual winners on a single placing a few times before, so equal scores may very well both win the prize, regardless of votes. I suppose those dual winners may have had equal vote counts, but it seems unlikely to have happened 3-4 times if that's the case.

If two stories have the same score but differing number of votes (both enough to qualify), the one with the most votes is the winner. In the event of a tie - same score AND same number of votes - then the prize or nomination is awarded. This doesn't happen often with stories, but it does happen often with poetry in the monthly nominations.

BTW, if anyone ever has a question about how something on the site works, I suggest 1) checking the FAQ, and if it's not in the FAQ, dropping me a PM. That's the best way to get accurate information.

I didn't realize that the issue of vote numbers in a tie was not in the contest rules. I'll make sure it gets added.

 

[oggbashan]

Any more claimants for the Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2010 Last Place (tm) Contest?

An aside. After being declared the winning entry, Herd of Donkeys recovered all the votes it had lost in the sweeps and acquired more, but its H vanished very quickly.

That tends to happen to winning stories in every contest and could be a legitimate response because readers will want to look at the winner.

If they don't like it, maybe because it is in a category they don't normally choose to read, or if they are disappointed because it doesn't work for them, or it just doesn't appeal - they'll give it a vote lower than a 5 and the rating will drop fast. There is a downside to the exposure that being a winning entry brings.

The same can apply to editor's choices. That green E can be a red rag to a bull for some readers. If they don't agree with the editor, the votes can be low. My single E has never had an H and probably never will have.

But entering a Lit contest draws attention not just to your entries but to your other stories as well. Several of my older postings have been favorited in the last few weeks (and unfavorited a few days later!). As far as my stories are concerned, favoriting seems to be a way of bookmarking a story for a later read, or to finish reading a longer story - but not necessarily an indication that the reader actually LIKED the story. My recent activity page is littered with broken hearts.

Og

 

[EmeraldKitten]

But entering a Lit contest draws attention not just to your entries but to your other stories as well. Several of my older postings have been favorited in the last few weeks (and unfavorited a few days later!). As far as my stories are concerned, favoriting seems to be a way of bookmarking a story for a later read, or to finish reading a longer story - but not necessarily an indication that the reader actually LIKED the story. My recent activity page is littered with broken hearts.

Og

The same thing happened to be during the Halloween contest and this one too...
Call me crazy, lol, but I bet people are favoriting things they want to read, so they can get back to it easily.
Then once they read it and decide they hate it, it breaks the little heart. lol.
That's the best idea I can come up with. It's something I would do, if not for the broken heart.

 

[Darkniciad]

The favorites didn't change much on the actual contest stories during the tracking. Of course, all I could see is numbers. It could very well be that different people were using the favorites for bookmarks, and then someone else came along and did the same as soon as the first was removed.

All the favs on mine are still there. The only broken hearts I picked up this time were on older stories ( thankfully, outweighed by new favs on older stories & numerous author ones )

I actually discovered that the recent activity pages have a bug in them once you get over a certain number of entries. My 30 day page still crashes, and I've only had my 7 day page back for about a week.