The Authors' Hangout 2011 Halloween Contest Support Thread.

[Boxlicker101]

On one story, the vote total has been alternating between 100 and 101. I suspect some troll is checking and seeing if his or vote was swept and is voting again if it has. The other story has stayed at 35 votes for about two days now. The last four votes were three 1's and a 2, so I expect these to be swept. If they aren't, I will lose what little confidence I have in the hoover.

 

[AutumnRayven]

Brand new to all of this. I've noticed people talking about various votes (i.e. my last three votes were two 1's and a 2). Is there a way you can see those individually or are you guessing by the way your score changed with each vote?

So far I'm ecstatic about the way my story has been received. I wish more people voted. I've got thousands of views but only a little over a hundred votes. Then again if they all voted 1's I'd be sad so I guess I won't complain.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories and the boards and look forward to continuing to participate here. The troll infestation is even interesting.

Entry Piece: Inucbus http://www.literotica.com/s/incubus-15

 

[Darkniciad]

The only way to know what your recent votes are is to keep close track of your statistics. The more often you check, and the fewer votes you have, the more likely you are to be able to determine with accuracy what the last vote was.

Then, it's a matter of doing the math.

 

[AutumnRayven]

The only way to know what your recent votes are is to keep close track of your statistics. The more often you check, and the fewer votes you have, the more likely you are to be able to determine with accuracy what the last vote was.

Then, it's a matter of doing the math.

That's what I thought. Thank you.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Brand new to all of this. I've noticed people talking about various votes (i.e. my last three votes were two 1's and a 2). Is there a way you can see those individually or are you guessing by the way your score changed with each vote?

So far I'm ecstatic about the way my story has been received. I wish more people voted. I've got thousands of views but only a little over a hundred votes. Then again if they all voted 1's I'd be sad so I guess I won't complain.

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories and the boards and look forward to continuing to participate here. The troll infestation is even interesting.

Entry Piece: Inucbus http://www.literotica.com/s/incubus-15

The specific story I referred to is about a gay celebration of Halloween in San Francisco. The votes have been trickling in so slowly, I have been able to monitor them, and quick calculations after the last four votes were cast showed me what they were.

This is a category that attracts trolls, maybe a higher percentage than even LW. That is, it attracts fewer votes than most categories, but a higher percentage of them are from trolls. Some of them are probably from gay haters and some are probably from gay men who believe I am not portraying that life style the way they think I should.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

.....

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Oooh, Welcome AutumnRayven and I your name! Little over a hundred votes first time out? I'd be ecstatic about that too! I'll have to check out your story tomorrow.

EDIT: So technically it's tomorrow. *laughs* Glad I didn't wait until after sleep to read it...or maybe not!

 

[Darkniciad]

And, here's tonight's track, finally including the data sets I've been skipping because I was feeling lazy this time out *laugh*

The average score is now 4.05 and the median 4.14

The average vote total is 189 with a median of 98 and a total of 25,306

I've observed 607 swept votes thusfar.

The average views are 18,644 with a median of 7,988 and a total of 2,498,270

The average favorites are 5 with a median of 2 and a total of 699

The average number of comments are 8 with a median of 5 and a total of 1055

The list was very volotile in this track between sweeps and the 1-bomb run. The ranks jumped all over the place.

"Observed swept votes" means that the vote total for a story is lower than the data I have for the previous day. Undoubtedly, I miss many swept votes, especially on new stories that are picking up votes as quickly as they lose them to sweeps. If you're keeping close track, your own observations will most likely be higher than mine.

I'm going to continue to be lazy and not update the last three stats again until the end of the contest. It adds better than an hour to update those, and I'm in the middle of a project on top of my own writing. Other than the last couple of days worth of stories, the totals on those stats should be stabilizing anyway.

The sweeps that ran seem to be confined to some categories. A few lower total sweeps hit other categories, but I'm willing to bet that those are maintainence sweeps having nothing to do with the contest.

So, don't despair if the Hoover hasn't visited you to rid you of trollish leavings yet. The big sweeps are yet to come.

 

[AutumnRayven]

Thank you Luna =)! I love your name too. Always loved the moon more than the sun. Thank you so much for the comment. I'm in the process of reading yours. I'm actually glad it's a little longer. I have to kill time at work to get through my day.

Boxlicker: thank you for the rundown. I've been doing the same thing since I only pick up a vote every once in a while now. I've noticed a couple of times I'll get a vote and my score will go down but I'll be favorited too. It's funny.

And Dark, thank you for posting those little updates. It's interesting to see how things stand, somewhat. Can't believe it's almost over already. Time goes by so fast these days.

 

[estragon]

I'm sure it's a high-priority trollish pastime to try to hoax the Hoover. I have some thoughts, but am afraid to post them, lest I give any troll any ideas. I hasten to add that I don't vote on any story in any contest where an author for whom I copy edit has entered a story. I'll mention their stories on my "Embarras de Richesse" thread, and that I copy edited the story of course, so if that's plugging or "campaigning" a story, then at least it's open and aboveboard.

I look forward to seeing the final standings, if Dark is willing once again to take the trouble to assemble the data. Dark has done great service to us all in compiling the numbers.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

estragon, I said yesterday that they should have an award for "Most Helpful AHer." I'm sure Dark would win that award.

 

[estragon]

estragon, I said yesterday that they should have an award for "Most Helpful AHer." I'm sure Dark would win that award.

Luna, entirely agree.

 

[Boxlicker101]

estragon, I said yesterday that they should have an award for "Most Helpful AHer." I'm sure Dark would win that award.

Either him or Og.

 

[Transverse]

I don't think I'm going to recover from the 3-bombs that hit me in the beginning. There must have been at least 20 on like day 1. Ugh.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Box, Og goes without saying. He has his own special threads.

 

[estragon]

Last thing I want to do is to disrespect Ogg in any way. As I said when he announced his retirement from running the support thread, he has done yeoman service and deserves a great vote of thanks.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I don't think I'm going to recover from the 3-bombs that hit me in the beginning. There must have been at least 20 on like day 1. Ugh.

I wouldn't consider a "3" to be a bomb. What that means is "Liked it - keep on writing." I would hardly call that a negative comment. A "1" or "2" is a trollbomb, and anything higher is a genuine expression of opinion.

 

[Darkniciad]

I wouldn't consider a "3" to be a bomb. What that means is "Liked it - keep on writing." I would hardly call that a negative comment. A "1" or "2" is a trollbomb, and anything higher is a genuine expression of opinion.

If cast for the exclusive purpose of bringing down the score, it's a bomb. Trolls don't care what the legend beside the stars says.

A 1 or 2 can be just as much a genuine expression of opinion as a 3. It's when the vote is cast for nefarious purposes that it becomes a troll bomb.

I've even seen people say that they believe that casting a 1 to bring what they believe is an "overrated" story down to more "realistic" levels is perfectly legitimate -- and I saw that opinion openly stated on this very forum. I can't remember who it was, but I was completely taken aback by it, because it was someone I wouldn't remotely classify as a troll, but the behavior advocated certainly was

 

[sr71plt]

But Box is right about the definition the system gives a "3." People reading the contest stories may be taking the spread of differentiation more seriously. Contest scoring should, in fact, I think, use a full range of scoring to help differentiate the very best from the rest. There really isn't a need for this on the regular list. A story can fully be judged just on its own merits on the regular list. If you are taking contest judging seriously, though, you should be doing comparisons and prioritizing and you need to spread the votes and step up to identifying the very best from the rest.

In the stories I read, I gave a lot of 3s. I also gave 4s (and probably more 5s, because a lot of the stories I read were really, really well-written and imaginative). But I probably gave more 3s (because a lot of stories were ho hum as well--I also gave one 2--to a story that should not have been accepted by Lit., because it was underage and not well written or even really a story) and I felt that judging should result in a spread--even in my own scoring history--not a bunching at the top.

In the regular list, by definition, a 3 shouldn't be a negative vote. The real problem in the scoring system, I think is in setting the bar so high (4.5) in relationship to the definitions given the numbers. You have to vote a 5 if you think a story should be identified as "hot." But, by the definitions, a 4 story is also hot. So, once again, I think there should be two levels of good story differentiation. Maybe a red H for Sizzling (4.5-5) and an orange H for hot (4.0-4.4). But the website isn't listening to such suggestions (which I think would enhance its commercial value).

 

[Darkniciad]

Always agreed with you on the second H level. I think it would do much to eliminate over-inflation of scores, the angst associated with dropping below 4.5, and reveal to readers how much quality is actually lurking in that 4.0-4.5 range.

Can't argue with you on the contest voting, either. Doubt that most people do that, though. It's either 4, 5, or back-click. That's why so many 3s are suspicious, especially in closely-packed groups.

 

[Darkniciad]

Here's tonight's track. Just a reminder: I'm not going to update views, favs, or PCs again until the end of the contest to save some time.

The average score is 4.05 with a median of 4.17

The average vote total is 193 with a median of 98 and a total of 25,800

I've observed 931 swept votes thusfar.

 

[DG Hear]

one simple solution could be to drop the 1 vote altogether and add a 4.5.
We would have 2, 3, 4, 4.5 and 5. That way no one bombs and a 4.5 vote which is very fair. I know I would use it quite often if I thought a story was really interesting (hot) but not great.
Just an opinion.
DG

 

[Darkniciad]

I think that would confuse readers more than anything.

SR's suggestion of a second H level should be easy to implement, having minimal impact even with the traffic volume. It would require no changes to reader voting, but would provide an easy visual cue for readers to locate the stories that have thusfar slipped under the radar due to being slightly below the magical H level.

I think in time, 3 votes would become at least as welcome as 4s, since one or two would no longer relegate the story to "no H" obscurity. 4s would also get a better rep, bringing both votes more in line with the text description of them when you click the stars.

As the voting leveled off to the new norm, as it did when they changed to the star voting system, it would make the "3 bomb" all but useless -- the equivalent of voting 4 now.

 

[Darkniciad]

Here's tonight's track.

The average score is now 4.06 and the median 4.17

The average vote total is 194 with a median of 100 and a total of 25,952

I've observed 1139 swept votes thusfar.

Now is the time to get your reading and voting done, because there's only a couple of days left. The winner announcement is the 29th, so I assume that official voting probably ends at 11:59 PM EST on the 28th.

Monster sweeps likely on the horizon.

 

[estragon]

Dark, thanks again.

As for the Lit scoring system, the analogy that comes to my mind is Robert Parker (the wine man, not the detective story writer). If a wine doesn't get at least a 95 from Parker (out of a possible 100), everyone who follows Parker's scoring thinks the wine is rubbish. I once had a boss who wouldn't touch anything below a Parker 98 (he had a lot more money than I did, because Parker 98s were priced accordingly). I've had one or two high-scoring Parkers. While some were great, some weren't, and the prices were ridiculous in any case. So I stopped following Parker's scores.

Bottom line--the Parker 100-point system is really a four or five point system, and the spread isn't great enough to distinguish home runs from long outs.

Same problem here. I like the 4.0 - 4.5, and 4.5 - 5.0 concept generally. But in the contest context, it wouldn't prevent 3-bombing, which is, in the hands of a few trolls, a good way of taking a story out of contention, when it only needs to be knocked down by a few hundredths to be out of the running.