The Official Author's Hangout 2014 Winter Holidays Contest Support Thread

[sr71plt]

Congratulations to the contest winners and to all who participated.

 

[DeYaKen]

I assume you checked the scores after the winners were announced. They are probably not the scores when the contest was marked by the site as ended. Trolls work even after the winners are annonced. Even more so sometimes.

Congrats to the winners.

You're right of course, I was just looking to see what sort of score you needed to win and the results looked a bit odd. I'd not considered continued trolling. Most of my work goes in LW and Trolls are just taken for granted there.

As You say, Congratulations to the winners, and in fact well done to all those who took part.

 

[jsragmanus]

Now I am puzzled.
winner score 4.84
runner up score 4.74
third score 4.84

Now that leaves me wondering just how they arrive at these results? I had assumed that it was the score that was all important and that votes would be used to separate equal score.

I'm the runner up, and when the message went out, I was at 4.86.

 

[patientlee]

Congrats to the winners!

 

[TxRad]

I'm the runner up, and when the message went out, I was at 4.86.

Welcome to the AH.

 

[Rozalin_0123]

Congrats to the winners! Looks like it was another neck and neck contest

 

[ScouriesWorld]

yes LAUEL'S done it again!

the winning story was favorited by ONE reader? I wonder who that person might be? LAREL? Or the AUTHOR him/herself?

Just checked the scores and vote totals for three contest stories. Guess which of the three didn’t win anything? The MANU winner got bypassed? I wonder why?

Higher score, hundreds and hundreds more votes, more comments, more often favorited and one hundred thousand more views! LAUREL in Wonderland? However I’m sure the QUEEN’S resident math genius, darkboy, will again cum up with some explanation for this travesty...

And people ask me why there is an A.I.R.!


FIRST PRIZE: Playing with Her Heart
by redzinger (11/26/14) 4.80 (104) 4 comments, 1 favorited and 12,128 views.

SECOND PRIZE: Elves' Tale: A Christmas Romance
by jsragmanus 4.74 (243) 7 comments, 41 favorited, 14,295 views.

NOPE – NO PRIZE FOR THIS ONE: What I Did On My Christmas Vacation
by Tx Tall Tales 4.84 (1975) 68 comments, 144 favorited, 114,060 views.​

 

[DeYaKen]

I'm the runner up, and when the message went out, I was at 4.86.

That explains things, thank you.
Well done by the way.

 

[redzinger]

Mine was on 4.87, I think. Will chck when I get home. Fucking trolls. Btw, this gig fi fucking ace and cider good too. Yay.

 

[oggbashan]

You're right of course, I was just looking to see what sort of score you needed to win and the results looked a bit odd. I'd not considered continued trolling. Most of my work goes in LW and Trolls are just taken for granted there.

As You say, Congratulations to the winners, and in fact well done to all those who took part.

The Winners' scores usually take a hit immediately after the announcement. A few years ago the rating drop could be significant, even removing the Red H, and dropping the stories into the 3.xx range. That is less likely now when the total number of votes for winning stories is in the hundreds, not the tens.

One of my Ws lost its H within hours of the announcement and has never got it back.

When I used to run the Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contests, it was almost possible for one of the winners of the main contest to be a serious contender for Last Place within 24 hours of the result.

I think, but don't know, that some of it is jealousy and the rest is disappointment i.e. 'That's the winner? I don't think it was THAT good.'

 

[bbtp41]

Congrats to all the winners.

My second contest story did .25 and 200 votes better than my first one did. Both settled in within seventy-two hours of being posted with little change throughout the rest of the contest.

 

[redzinger]

Thanks for all the congrats.

To the trolls out there currently bombing my story, . I don't give a damn.

I think, but don't know, that some of it is jealousy and the rest is disappointment i.e. 'That's the winner? I don't think it was THAT good.'

I have to confess that I thought my Romance entry which finished on 4.56 (may have leapt to 4.70 but I've been out) was a better 'story', but c'est la vie.

I love that the winning categories were Group Sex and 2 x Lesbian. So there. IIRC, that's something a bit different to the usual?

I did mention about being bombed several times almost before even getting out of the blocks, and I had a funny feeling that something extraordinary 'may' happen once/if those votes were removed, going on what the percentage of the bombs were. So, even though my votes weren't numerous, my core support was there.

If that makes sense. 'Cos I have been out drinking as a celebration.

*burps ladylikely*

 

[Seanathon]

Congrats to all of the winners!

And I did notice in the Halloween contest it took a few hours for the score listed on the website to match the score listed on my personal page.

I have wondered, though, what is used as a tiebreaker (say, if three stories all finished with 4.84 high scores)?

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Thanks for all the congrats.

To the trolls out there currently bombing my story, . I don't give a damn.



I have to confess that I thought my Romance entry which finished on 4.56 (may have leapt to 4.70 but I've been out) was a better 'story', but c'est la vie.

I love that the winning categories were Group Sex and 2 x Lesbian. So there. IIRC, that's something a bit different to the usual?

I did mention about being bombed several times almost before even getting out of the blocks, and I had a funny feeling that something extraordinary 'may' happen once/if those votes were removed, going on what the percentage of the bombs were. So, even though my votes weren't numerous, my core support was there.

If that makes sense. 'Cos I have been out drinking as a celebration.

*burps ladylikely*

congrats on the win.

but, you do seem to give a damn about the trolls. best thing is not to bang on about it.

now, on to 2015.

 

[redzinger]

congrats on the win.

but, you do seem to give a damn about the trolls. best thing is not to bang on about it.

now, on to 2015.

OK, Sir.

Just find it ironic that what they were aiming to achieve resulted in the opposite. Unless that's what they were aiming to achieve? *mind whirls*

Fucki it. Golden Angel has a new book out today so I'm currenylu enjoying that. Sleep wellm, everyone.

 

[RejectReality]

Congrats to all of the winners!

And I did notice in the Halloween contest it took a few hours for the score listed on the website to match the score listed on my personal page.

I have wondered, though, what is used as a tiebreaker (say, if three stories all finished with 4.84 high scores)?

Vote totals -- Highest wins. It's come up before.

Congratulations to the winners!

 

[geronimo_appleby]

OK, Sir.

Just find it ironic that what they were aiming to achieve resulted in the opposite. Unless that's what they were aiming to achieve? *mind whirls*

Fucki it. Golden Angel has a new book out today so I'm currenylu enjoying that. Sleep wellm, everyone.

no need to call me sir, i work for a living.

uh, although, no, i don't.

ni-night.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Congrats to the winners - redzinger, jsragmanus, & loverofFUN!

My story reached 4.74 early, topped out at 4.75, and never changed. I don't obsess about the number of votes enough to notice changes from day to day in vote totals. Seriously, how often do you have to check your vote totals to catch those changes?

For those who love to track the numbers: According to lit, I'm showing 4.75 score 2113 votes and 150076 reads.

No complaints or sour grapes on my part. From the number of PM's and kind feedback I received, I entertained plenty of people with a nice little story that tried to take a different spin on brother/sister incest.

 

[DeYaKen]

The Winners' scores usually take a hit immediately after the announcement. A few years ago the rating drop could be significant, even removing the Red H, and dropping the stories into the 3.xx range. That is less likely now when the total number of votes for winning stories is in the hundreds, not the tens.

One of my Ws lost its H within hours of the announcement and has never got it back.

When I used to run the Authors' Hangout Last Place (tm) Contests, it was almost possible for one of the winners of the main contest to be a serious contender for Last Place within 24 hours of the result.

I think, but don't know, that some of it is jealousy and the rest is disappointment i.e. 'That's the winner? I don't think it was THAT good.'

I take your point completely. Seeing a story as a winner may tempt people to read stories in categories they don't feel comfortable with, in which case they are liable to mark them down. As I said before I was looking out of curiosity really, to see what sort of score was necessary to win.

My entry was in LW category so I knew it didn't stand a chance. All of the winning entries score way above the best ever LW score. That's the problem with categories, you have to put the story where you think it fits best. I confess I haven't read any of the winners, or any other entries come to that, that's no reflection on writers it is simply that my time is restricted.

Who knows, maybe next year I'll try again. The exposure was probably worth the effort.

 

[redzinger]

For all you stats fans (like me )...

As I was curious, I've just browsed Scouries' rant to see what it was about (viewed the thread in a different browser as I have him/her on ignore).

Not bothered at all. (Tbh, the more I piss Scouries off, the better. ) But as way of explanation for any lurkers fearing more nefarious plots:

- I can confirm that I was at 4.87 at 1540 UK time, I don't know how long I'd been at that score (the previous night at 2000 it was 4.81, before I lost 20 votes). I received the email from Laurel at 1601, it was posted on this thread at 1634, and the next I checked at 1830, the score was 4.82. Not 4.80

- I don't know why PWHH is only showing one favourite, I've had quite a few notifications in 'Recent Activity', but they've never shown up on the story page. And it's not a case of fave/unfaving; I noticed this a few days after the story went up, but didn't think anything of it. *shrugs shoulders*

- As I mentioned earlier in the contest, I had loads more adding me as a favourite author, which is really nice and I really appreciate, more than having individual stories faved (although that's nice too).


I read that other thread, but has anyone else experience strange favouriting on their stories? Another Lit blip?

Anyway, well done everyone, and thanks to everyone who has listened to me ramble over the last month or so. Looking forward to reading some Valentine's stories now.

 

[ScouriesWorld]

QUOTE RED: I can confirm that I was at 4.87 at 1540 UK time, I don't know how long I'd been at that score (the previous night at 2000 it was 4.81, before I lost 20 votes). I received the email from Laurel at 1601, it was posted on this thread at 1634, and the next I checked at 1830, the score was 4.82. Not 4.80

In other words at 8 pm on the night before your score was 4.81,
When the winners were announced the next day at 4 pm it was suddenly at 4.87.
When you looked at 6:30 pm it was back down to 4.82.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that something fishy was going on! And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible!

But the big question for you my English friend is how proud can you be of such a tainted victory? It’s hard not to believe that someone with integrity wouldn’t have refused the prize.

Remember, another story had 10 times the views, 17 times the comments, 144 times the favorites, 19 times the votes and yet your story was declared the “peoples choice”. Huh?

And now we’ve subsequently learned that besides robbing the good texan another author has also seemingly had victory snatched away from him!

Mr Duckman’s story was favorited by 238 readers, received 23 comments, had over 150,000 views and over 2100 votes but was also passed over by a story that was favorited 1 time and and had less than 10% of buckys views and 5% of his votes!​

 

[TxRad]

This message is hidden because ScouriesWorld is on your ignore list.

Yes, this works so much better

 

[redzinger]

This message is hidden because ScouriesWorld is on your ignore list.

Yes, this works so much better

Another rant, was it? Poor diddums.

 

[TxRad]

Another rant, was it? Poor diddums.

I haven't got a clue, which is perfect.

 

[_Lynn_]

A late congrats to the winners.