Alts?

[bashfullyshameless]

So I keep seeing references to "alts" as if it's something horrible...

I imagine that this has been asked before (hell, maybe I've asked it myself), and I could go looking for where it's answered, but screw it.

"Alts" means "alternate account," right? What's so bad about doing that? My understanding is that the site won't really record votes by alts since they come from the same IP addresses (in theory). So what does it really matter?

If I write a literary masterpiece on this site and then I also want to do anthropomorphic cyber-monkey smut, but I don't want my fans to know that I have said anthropomorphocybersimianphilial tendencies...why wouldn't I make up an alt?

 

[Darkniciad]

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=744225

Yes, you did ask the question before.

 

[lovecraft68]

So I keep seeing references to "alts" as if it's something horrible...

I imagine that this has been asked before (hell, maybe I've asked it myself), and I could go looking for where it's answered, but screw it.

"Alts" means "alternate account," right? What's so bad about doing that? My understanding is that the site won't really record votes by alts since they come from the same IP addresses (in theory). So what does it really matter?

If I write a literary masterpiece on this site and then I also want to do anthropomorphic cyber-monkey smut, but I don't want my fans to know that I have said anthropomorphocybersimianphilial tendencies...why wouldn't I make up an alt?

Technically there is nothing wrong it depends how they are used. Some authors use them as pen names within their pen names if they want to write under a different category and not upset some of their fans-maybe a romance writer wants to pop out an incest story- Some people have an "alt" for when they surf the personals. Of course they are commonly used for contest voting and nominations and some authors even have their alias's comment on their own work (will never get that one) Also, especially in the general board they seem to be used to argue their own points, pat themselves on the backs or attack others. Even though there are some legit reasons to have one the "alt" really does seem to have a very derogatory connotation on here. maybe be cause the biggest one of all (BFW, SHR, GHP. ATE, and all the other various personalities) is such a thorn in people's sides. I am actually debating making one for the opposite example of what I gave, I write incest and BDSM but have a couple of "romantic" stories I would like to post to see if they are any good but it is so opposite my other work I might make up another author.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Just my take on Alts. I think most of the perceived problems with Alts is from the General Board. What one seems to see is a person will post a comment on a political thread then shift to one of his/her alts and and post another comment to support his 1st comment and the political comment he wanted to make. Thus making it look like there is more support then there really is.(Shrug) I keep saying he when in reality it could be he/she.

At to the authors who have alts I think they are wrong in assuming if they write in another genre their fans will abandon them. I have several authors I really like and will drop anything else to read their new stories. Should my favorites be say Erotic Couplings and my favorite writes in the Romance category I may at least start it or maybe skip over it but, he/she is still one of my favorite authors until he/she proves other wise.

Just my thoughts on Alts. I really don't pay attention to those who cry Alts even on the political threads. So if you feel the need to have an Alt then go for it. I for one really don't care.

 

[sr71plt]

Should my favorites be say Erotic Couplings and my favorite writes in the Romance category I may at least start it or maybe skip over it but, he/she is still one of my favorite authors until he/she proves other wise.

You're talking about minor category differences, not major ones. How about a favorite Nonerotic or Romance author posting in BDSM or in Gay or Lesbian?

 

[Darkniciad]

You're talking about minor category differences, not major ones. How about a favorite Nonerotic or Romance author posting in BDSM or in Gay or Lesbian?

Or writing stories set in the ( sorta ) real world when your whole list is magical fantasy, and delving into the edgier categories as well.

There are a lot of people whom I've talked to that have me favorited as Dark, and read many of the stories I write as Les, but won't favorite Les because I have incest stories posted under that name.

There are a lot of reasons why an alternate pen name can be beneficial.

 

[sr71plt]

Or writing stories set in the ( sorta ) real world when your whole list is magical fantasy, and delving into the edgier categories as well.

There are a lot of people whom I've talked to that have me favorited as Dark, and read many of the stories I write as Les, but won't favorite Les because I have incest stories posted under that name.

There are a lot of reasons why an alternate pen name can be beneficial.

And speaking of writing with alts, you should see all the nice rankings I get with my straight alts here as opposed to the name I use to write mainly in the Gay category and to post to this board with.

 

[Darkniciad]

And speaking of writing with alts, you should see all the nice rankings I get with my straight alts here as opposed to the name I use to write mainly in the Gay category and to post to this board with.

No doubt. My third name doesn't really score as high as my known ones, but that's because most everything gets double or more the votes in that name. Wider range of opinions, and all that.

I don't see the obvious 1-bombs that pop up at around the same time of day every time I post a new story as Dark or Les, though.

 

[lovecraft68]

No doubt. My third name doesn't really score as high as my known ones, but that's because most everything gets double or more the votes in that name. Wider range of opinions, and all that.

I don't see the obvious 1-bombs that pop up at around the same time of day every time I post a new story as Dark or Les, though.

I guess there is something to be said for dedication. Every first day a new story is up I get 2 one bombs between 12-1 in the afternoon. i am assuming someone who reads lit on lunch. I often wonder if it is 2 people or someone with two id's who bombs me from both. I have yet to decide which is more flattering; having two people hate me that much or one person who hates me bad enough to bomb me twice.
I am sure once thse people discover your third name they will be on that one as well. I have to say I don;t understand that. If you don't like a story okay 1 bomb it but what can be so offensive that you feel the need to go out of your way to find each new entry and hit it. How can a story generate that much spite? I write mostly one series but did a stand alone story a month ago and they hit that as well same time so they are looking for my name as much as my series. Then in your case to target your "alts" as well is even worse. These people probably don;t put this much effort into anything else they do in life.

 

[Darkniciad]

Not like my 1-bomber would mean that much in my third name. They rarely drop my known stuff below 4.5, the bombs usually vanish shortly therafter ( though the two on my most recent chapters haven't dropped off yet ) and I average 2-3x the votes per story in my third name.

 

[lovecraft68]

Not like my 1-bomber would mean that much in my third name. They rarely drop my known stuff below 4.5, the bombs usually vanish shortly therafter ( though the two on my most recent chapters haven't dropped off yet ) and I average 2-3x the votes per story in my third name.

You know one of these days these jerks are going to figure out the way to really cause a problem is to drop a "2 bomb" because I don't think the sweeps remove them.
I started a thread on here once about if you ever gave someone a 1-bomb and a lot of people had a good point of why have the option if Lit removes them. I mean don't get me wrong it helps to get them removed but there could be stories bad enough out there to warrant them. All I can think is that if they see 40 votes that are all 4/5 then see a 1 they figure it is on purpose.
Part of me wants to create and alt and put up a nonsensical, complete pile of gibberish (This is where someone swoops in and says 'what you don;t do that all the time?') with just enough punctuation to get though the site and see if Lit sweeps all the one's off of it.

 

[Darkniciad]

You know one of these days these jerks are going to figure out the way to really cause a problem is to drop a "2 bomb" because I don't think the sweeps remove them.
I started a thread on here once about if you ever gave someone a 1-bomb and a lot of people had a good point of why have the option if Lit removes them. I mean don't get me wrong it helps to get them removed but there could be stories bad enough out there to warrant them. All I can think is that if they see 40 votes that are all 4/5 then see a 1 they figure it is on purpose.
Part of me wants to create and alt and put up a nonsensical, complete pile of gibberish (This is where someone swoops in and says 'what you don;t do that all the time?') with just enough punctuation to get though the site and see if Lit sweeps all the one's off of it.

The 1-bombs are actually supposed to be removed by a script that looks for inconsistent votes. If a vote is wildly out of sync with the rest of the votes, it gets scrutinized, and usually removed. The same can happen with 5 votes, though. I suspect that 2s get extra scrutiny as well, considering the percentage of stories holding 4+ averages.

That's part of the reason why lower votes survive in categories like LW. They get bombed so hard that the low votes aren't necessarily out of sync.

Other bombs are probably removed by scripts that check for pattern voting -- bombing an author's whole list, bombing the toplist to move a story up, bombing stories for contest purposes, etc. If it was me, as soon as I identified such pattern voting, I'd log the IP and wipe out every vote cast by it across the board, regardless of value or date. I suspect that is happening, and helps explain why sometimes stories that have sat around idle for ages without a vote will suddenly lose one.

There are probably as many 5s from cheerleaders removed as 1s from trolls, because you hear that complaint come up quite a bit, too.

 

[lovecraft68]

The 1-bombs are actually supposed to be removed by a script that looks for inconsistent votes. If a vote is wildly out of sync with the rest of the votes, it gets scrutinized, and usually removed. The same can happen with 5 votes, though. I suspect that 2s get extra scrutiny as well, considering the percentage of stories holding 4+ averages.

That's part of the reason why lower votes survive in categories like LW. They get bombed so hard that the low votes aren't necessarily out of sync.

Other bombs are probably removed by scripts that check for pattern voting -- bombing an author's whole list, bombing the toplist to move a story up, bombing stories for contest purposes, etc. If it was me, as soon as I identified such pattern voting, I'd log the IP and wipe out every vote cast by it across the board, regardless of value or date. I suspect that is happening, and helps explain why sometimes stories that have sat around idle for ages without a vote will suddenly lose one.

There are probably as many 5s from cheerleaders removed as 1s from trolls, because you hear that complaint come up quite a bit, too.

But in keeping with what you are saying about "inconsistent votes" if a story has a good rank; lets say 4.75 then the majority of the votes are 5's how does it determine "cheerleader votes"
The ultimate solution is something they would never implement and I understand why as it would be too much trouble but first off only registered users can vote. Anon. can comment and contact you as well as read the stories but no vote unless you are logged in as a member. that will help with some of the trouble as someone can;t just vote anon from their, home, phone, office, lap top, etc... because they would have to use and id and only one vote per ID. The second half is to have the vote attached to the name.
Lovecraft68 voted your story a 4.
Now on the surface this would cause serious problems as if I as an author gave you a 2 you may say oh yeah? and return the favor which means I'll do it again. But after awhile it would sink in that just vote legit for god's sakes. To make a one legit next to the 1 you need to give a brief reason: poor grammar, sex was boring, story was inconsistent trolls won't go through the extra work. Just some ideas but easy for me to say I am not doing the work.

 

[Darkniciad]

Forcing a login would drop the vote percentages dramatically. I suspect that incest, non-con, and fetish especially would see a HUGE drop in voting if people were required to sign up for an account.

The current system is imperfect, to say the least, but the rate of feedback in the form of votes and comments is low enough as it is, compared to the views.

 

[lovecraft68]

Forcing a login would drop the vote percentages dramatically. I suspect that incest, non-con, and fetish especially would see a HUGE drop in voting if people were required to sign up for an account.

The current system is imperfect, to say the least, but the rate of feedback in the form of votes and comments is low enough as it is, compared to the views.

You know your are right of course that is how people think but in reality they are wrong. Your point is that they would not want their name associated with certain "taboo" categories. "So and So reads incest?" first off if I don't read non con I am never going to see your name voting there because I don't read them. Also most people do not surf the forums as we do so they are not out and about to run into that. Also who the hell knows who you are? I'm lovecraft68 you and I have corresponded several times on threads do you know who I am? my name where I live? if I didn't have a pic you wouldn't know my sex. It is not like if you create an id your mom is going to call and say "Billy! Have you been reading those mother son stories again!" I told you..." hey there is alwayswantedtoo's next plot bunny!
anyway you are still anon.
My wife has an id here. she has herself younger and with no persoanl info on her bio. She likes to do some dirty Yahoo messaging. she created a fake yahoo with a fake name that shows up when she sends an e-mail no one knows who she is.
Having ranted in the end you are right the average person will not vote ot have their fake name sullied.

 

[sr71plt]

Forcing a login would drop the vote percentages dramatically. I suspect that incest, non-con, and fetish especially would see a HUGE drop in voting if people were required to sign up for an account.

And that would be bad because . . . ?

 

[Darkniciad]

And that would be bad because . . . ?

Yeah, yeah, I know

I don't think that those categories would be the only ones to suffer badly, though. It might not be 1/2 of the votes down the toilet, but it would be enough to hurt.

Not a good trade.

 

[estragon]

Which After All is the Problem With All Voting

on this site: anonymity means irresponsibility. Comments are a tiny fraction of views and votes. Yet I would not want to remove the right to vote or comment anonymously here or anywhere. To paraphrase the late Alfred E. Smith, the only cure for the ills of free speech is more free speech.

 

[sr71plt]

on this site: anonymity means irresponsibility. Comments are a tiny fraction of views and votes. Yet I would not want to remove the right to vote or comment anonymously here or anywhere. To paraphrase the late Alfred E. Smith, the only cure for the ills of free speech is more free speech.

Neither would I, if authors here didn't thereby incessitantly complain about the voting and comments--always seeming to think it only happened to them.

 

[estragon]

Neither would I, if authors here didn't thereby incessitantly complain about the voting and comments--always seeming to think it only happened to them.

I have to quote Ernest Hemingway quoting Sylvia Beach (of Shakespeare & Company fame): "Always talk about it or about anything. Don't you know all writers ever talk about is their troubles?" From A Moveable Feast, p. 72.

 

[estragon]

I have to quote Ernest Hemingway quoting Sylvia Beach (of Shakespeare & Company fame): "Always talk about it or about anything. Don't you know all writers ever talk about is their troubles?" From A Moveable Feast, p. 72.

Suiting the action to the word, I will now state that all my submissions, prose as well as doggerel (that's poetry to you, Jake), were simultaneously one-bombed into outer darkness last night, with no comment or feedback whatsofuckingever. However, there will be no weeping or wailing or gnashing of teeth from me. I must have stung the sonsabitches good for them to take revenge in their usual sniveling, cowardly way. More to come, lads (or lasses, or whatever the hell you are). I got two stories pending and a third out for final approval. Come on, bombers, The Few are waiting, and those Merlins are just starting up.