The Author's Hangout Valentine's Day 2012 Support Thread

[lovecraft68]

I've always thought the sweeps tend to favor the lesser voted stories. If you only received 40 votes for instance and the sweep takes two one bombs out it can raise your score a hell of a lot more than a story with votes in the upper hundreds or thousands.

 

[Darkniciad]

Historically, the lower voted stories tend to fall out of qualifying in the final sweeps, which was always the trade-off.

Looking back at my tracks, you can see that only once in the last couple of years has anything with less than 50 votes placed, and very rarely anything with less than 100.

So even if it raises the scores more, it doesn't really matter in the larger picture of the contest.

Likewise, high-voted stories that were in the top tier throughout the contest tend to remain in the top tier at the end.

 

[lovecraft68]

Historically, the lower voted stories tend to fall out of qualifying in the final sweeps, which was always the trade-off.

Looking back at my tracks, you can see that only once in the last couple of years has anything with less than 50 votes placed, and very rarely anything with less than 100.

So even if it raises the scores more, it doesn't really matter in the larger picture of the contest.

Interesting stat. when goofball posted his lists I was looking at the vote totals and there appeared to be quite a few with under 50. I suppose too that because its a contest even categories that get very few votes in general get more because the contest draws readers into reading different things.

 

[Cia81]

Nothing yet

I've had some small sweeps, a few votes disappearing here and there over the last week, but nothing has changed in my votes or scores for my GM story in the last day. We'll just have to see what happens tomorrow. It's my daughter's birthday, so at least I'll have that to keep me from obsessively watching for the announcement, lol!

Good luck to everyone, even if I want to win too!!

 

[lovecraft68]

You know as we wait for the sweeps and final verdicts I thought it might be fun to do something.

I know that earlier in the thread there was some discussion about authors not being able to vote for other contestants and even hesitate to comment for fear of drawing troll votes or accusations of "teaming up"

But I think that's crap and thought it could be fun to have people post which story that they read in the contest that they liked the best.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to read more than a couple of dozen, but the one I liked the best was a short Romance called Absinthe by Akerbeltz.

It was a pretty simple story, but one that grabbed me, perhaps because there is nothing wrong with any story that features a cute little goth. And I did know one that went by that name several years ago.

I also enjoyed Bucky's story my sister turned me into a slut. It was pretty engaging and I even got past through a few things that usually squick me out.

Anyone else?

 

[Darkniciad]

There's already one story in the contest with 38 remaining votes as of last night that I've observed 40 votes swept from.

You can't trust any of goofball's numbers, even if he's reporting them from actual Literotica pages ( which is always questionable ) He has no concept of varied update times, the necessity of methodical tracking, or much of anything else for that matter.

The steady increase in average vote totals has made falling off the list due to disqualification a rarity, though. It's one of the reasons I've suggested several times raising it to 50, in line with the monthly contests, and to help weed out the unfair advantage low vote stories might luck into if they only have a few fans and 1 or 2 trolls vote.

Seeing a low score, subsequent trolls don't bother, and regular readers skip over it. Then the final sweep comes along, and the story catapults into the winner's circle.

50, to me, seems to be the bar that won't cause too many stories to fall out of qualifying, but will still provide some insulation against those low-vote wins, which only serve to give the scumball something he can point to and scream about out of context of reality to make himself look legitimate to the unknowing.

 

[Darkniciad]

Here's tonight's track. Only updated votes and scores.

Average score is 4.29 with a median of 4.35

The average number of votes is 249 with a median of 183 and a total of 21,165

The average number of swept votes is 7 with a median of 3 and a total of 612

Good luck to everyone. Barring problems, the winner's announcement should be tomorrow. I'll try to capture tracks at relevant points, in order to best capture things as they stood at the time of the winner's announcement.

Once I've finished with the track immediately following the announcement, I'll upload everything and post a link here. If everything goes right, I'll likely add another track later on trying to catch the effect of the final sweep on vote totals, and then a final page with sweep %. At some point in this process, I'll update the views, favs, and PCs with final numbers as well.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Good luck everyone! Got some semi-answers this week. After very bizarre results of a tilt table test, it's been discovered that I'm having blood pressure issues. Now the challenge is to figure out what is causing such drastic fluctuations in my bp and pulse (considering I have always had low blood pressure). My cardiologist has dubbed me a "fascinating challenge." *quirks brow* Plot bunny?

I haven't read any entries (except Red's in the very very beginning), but I'm cheering you all on, even so.

 

[TxRad]

Good luck everyone! Got some semi-answers this week. After very bizarre results of a tilt table test, it's been discovered that I'm having blood pressure issues. Now the challenge is to figure out what is causing such drastic fluctuations in my bp and pulse (considering I have always had low blood pressure). My cardiologist has dubbed me a "fascinating challenge." *quirks brow* Plot bunny?

I haven't read any entries (except Red's in the very very beginning), but I'm cheering you all on, even so.

Hey Luna, Semi answers beat the hell out of no answers. BP is easy to control for the most part.

I've always had low BP also. Now I've got the feet tingle thing. Old age is so much fun but then again the alternatives suck.

Hang in there, it will get better. Anyway, you need more time to work on that plot bunny.

 

[DG Hear]

Good luck everyone! Got some semi-answers this week. After very bizarre results of a tilt table test, it's been discovered that I'm having blood pressure issues. Now the challenge is to figure out what is causing such drastic fluctuations in my bp and pulse (considering I have always had low blood pressure). My cardiologist has dubbed me a "fascinating challenge." *quirks brow* Plot bunny?

Hey Luna, Semi answers beat the hell out of no answers. BP is easy to control for the most part.

I've always had low BP also. Now I've got the feet tingle thing. Old age is so much fun but then again the alternatives suck.

Hang in there, it will get better. Anyway, you need more time to work on that plot bunny.

I agree with Tex. Better to have some answers then none at all. We'll be here waiting for you. Just take your time and get well. Bp can be controlled.
Tex I have tingling feet too but it's because I'm diabetic.

As far as the contest goes, we took the roller coaster ride and now it's coming to a stop. Best to everyone.
Take care
DG

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Good luck everyone! Got some semi-answers this week. After very bizarre results of a tilt table test, it's been discovered that I'm having blood pressure issues. Now the challenge is to figure out what is causing such drastic fluctuations in my bp and pulse (considering I have always had low blood pressure). My cardiologist has dubbed me a "fascinating challenge." *quirks brow* Plot bunny?

I haven't read any entries (except Red's in the very very beginning), but I'm cheering you all on, even so.

I am so keeping you in my thoughts ((hugs)) and I hope they can find the underlying cause to these issues. It is, I'm sure, beyond nerve-wracking and annoying. I'm glad though that you are trying to find answers and not ignoring signs and symptoms like some folks do.

You already know how much I appreciate you taking the time to read my entry.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have lost .05 points since yesterday along with at this point a third of my votes. I am not happy.

 

[oggbashan]

I have lost .05 points since yesterday along with at this point a third of my votes. I am not happy.

I feel for you.

I'm not happy because I didn't get any of my drafts anywhere near completion for this contest and my Earth Day drafts aren't doing any better.

(I'm also unhappy because my 'y' key is erratic and often doesn't work. I need to get off my backside and change keyboards.)

 

[NightTempest]

I finally finished reading the last contest submission this morning! Wow, great job everybody and best of luck. Now we wait. I hope everything is announced today because I have a problem with impatience. *laughs* Oh, this could be the longest wait ever....

 

[DG Hear]

I finally finished reading the last contest submission this morning! Wow, great job everybody and best of luck. Now we wait. I hope everything is announced today because I have a problem with impatience. *laughs* Oh, this could be the longest wait ever....

Wow! Great job Night, I don't think I've read that many stories (85 if you read them all) in a year. Thank you if you have read mine. I always appreciated it when other writers read my stories. Now the vaccuming is being done and winners announced. Always happy when a contest comes to an end.
Best of luck to all who entered.
With respect
DG

 

[lovecraft68]

I feel for you.

I'm not happy because I didn't get any of my drafts anywhere near completion for this contest and my Earth Day drafts aren't doing any better.

(I'm also unhappy because my 'y' key is erratic and often doesn't work. I need to get off my backside and change keyboards.)

I had no choice to change my keyboard last month. The s key was sticking and sticking to the A key (because my dog knocked over my coffee) and thew main characters name was Allison so there was no avoiding it.

 

[NightTempest]

Wow! Great job Night, I don't think I've read that many stories (85 if you read them all) in a year. Thank you if you have read mine. I always appreciated it when other writers read my stories. Now the vaccuming is being done and winners announced. Always happy when a contest comes to an end.
Best of luck to all who entered.
With respect
DG

Well of course I read yours, you had three entries right? Haha, kudos to you. I've been reading them little by little since they started posting. There were some really good ones.

 

[lovecraft68]

I finally finished reading the last contest submission this morning! Wow, great job everybody and best of luck. Now we wait. I hope everything is announced today because I have a problem with impatience. *laughs* Oh, this could be the longest wait ever....

More power to you! I think I managed about 20 and everything I read I enjoyed. I also voted even though I'm pretty sure it will get erased.

 

[NightTempest]

More power to you! I think I managed about 20 and everything I read I enjoyed. I also voted even though I'm pretty sure it will get erased.

I had voted on a few at the beginning, but after hearing the votes by authors might get dropped, I just kept reading. I read fast anyway and figured a view was show of support too.

 

[PennLady]

Winners haven't been posted yet, as I'm sure everyone knows. I'll keep checking in and let everyone know when I see them. I actually expect it'll be later in the day.

 

[Darkniciad]

Just had about 16 votes swept and dropped by .02, so hold on to your hats.

I was expecting the drop. It had just edged up .01 before the sweep, so I won't be surprised to see it drop a bit more. As I said a few posts ago, the votes the last few days kept lifting the score outside of my expectations without the sort of feedback that usually comes with that many 5s, and it just didn't wash. Forgot to put the "vote once" note at the end.

EDIT: I take that back. I just looked again, and I was only looking at the second decimal place. My score actually went up by .08 Was NOT expecting that.

Also forgot to ask for votes and comments at the end, so maybe that's why the feedback is below where I usually expect...

 

[TxRad]

Just had about 16 votes swept and dropped by .02, so hold on to your hats.

I was expecting the drop. It had just edged up .01 before the sweep, so I won't be surprised to see it drop a bit more. As I said a few posts ago, the votes the last few days kept lifting the score outside of my expectations without the sort of feedback that usually comes with that many 5s, and it just didn't wash. Forgot to put the "vote once" note at the end.

EDIT: I take that back. I just looked again, and I was only looking at the second decimal place. My score actually went up by .08 Was NOT expecting that.

Also forgot to ask for votes and comments at the end, so maybe that's why the feedback is below where I usually expect...

Everyone should see some rise in score as scouries three 3 votes are removed from every story in the contest.

 

[Darkniciad]

Everyone should see some rise in score as scouries three 3 votes are removed from every story in the contest.

It would have to have been a lot more than 3 of them or lower scores to have changed mine that much

Of course, I do have a personal troll in that pen name, too. That one doesn't have as much experience gaming the system as he-who-shall-not-be-named, so may have been multiple 1s going away from that goofball as well.

 

[litfan10]

It would have to have been a lot more than 3 of them or lower scores to have changed mine that much

Of course, I do have a personal troll in that pen name, too. That one doesn't have as much experience gaming the system as he-who-shall-not-be-named, so may have been multiple 1s going away from that goofball as well.

Wouldn't it be better to refer to him as "he-who-it-is-not-worth-naming"??????

 

[Darkniciad]

Perhaps, but I'm a creature of habit, and that's the nomenclature I've decided to use in place of the troll's name *laugh*

Unfortunately, the amount of disinformation and discouragement he heaps upon newbies who don't know any better require referencing him so they know he's a fraud.

Just for the piece of mind of any said newcomers who haven't yet put him and his primary alt on ignore ( and thus can see his fraudulent contest thread ) he has NO access to your IP, the IPs associated with votes cast on your stories, or anything else.

He has no affiliation with Literotica management, and cannot see any details of your account, no matter what he claims. All he can see is exactly what you can see, because he's nothing more than one of the 1,330,212 peope who have an account here.