favorites vs ratings

[HandsInTheDark]

I've starting looking at the favorites page of people who favorite me or my stories. I see two distinct patterns:

1. Readers who seem to only favorite stories with high ratings, following some sort of "a sort of 4.6 and above" rule. (It's tempting to decide that these are the people who like quality.)

2. Readers who favorite stories with ratings all over the place, even down into the 3's. Your first guess would be, "oh, these are the kinksters", but glancing over titles and some stories, they don't always seem to have a single kink, and even when they do it's rarely one my story would have catered to.

The second group seems to be larger than the first.

So the first thing that strikes me is that kink in king here. Your writing can be terrible but if you land the kink you'll get the favorites, no matter what the ratings says.

The second is that maybe good writing is a kind of kink for some people - or at least, bad writing is a serious anti-kink.

In any case, my pet theory that high rankings and lots of favorites go hand in hand is now ruined. Has anyone else sat down and tried to plow through reader's responses to find patterns?

It would be nifty if Lit made it easy to download bulk data on rankings and favoriting. My guess is they are sitting on a pile of useful data that could help authors, at least authors thinking of publishing for profit. It might also be useful for studies on sexual kinks and changes in sexual interests over time. There are probably people who would pay at least a modest fee for access to that data...

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Lit is American Idol where Reuben wins the votes and Clay sells all the CDs.

 

[meddlesome]

It would be nifty if Lit made it easy to download bulk data on rankings and favoriting. My guess is they are sitting on a pile of useful data that could help authors, at least authors thinking of publishing for profit. It might also be useful for studies on sexual kinks and changes in sexual interests over time. There are probably people who would pay at least a modest fee for access to that data...

I would like to be able to see all of the people who have favorited me. I can see today, the last seven days and the last 30 days, but after that, I have no way of tracking them that I know of.

Am I missing something?

 

[oggbashan]

I have several stories favorited each week.

I think some of them are just bookmarks so they can go back to read one of my longer stories - because the longer ones get favorited more often.

But when I look at the pages for the people who has made one of my stories a favorite, some seem to have hundreds of favoritesd stories and/or authors.

I can't see the point of favoriting so many.

 

[RejectReality]

Readers get a benefit from favoriting an author or a story. They get an easy bookmark to find that story or author again. When there's something in it for them, they're more likely to do it.

They get jack-squat for voting or commenting -- at least directly.

So if something has a less than wonderful score, but is still doing fine in the favorites department, then you probably have a fair number of readers who can't be assed to do anything that doesn't directly benefit them.

Human nature.

 

[49greg]

I never tried to analyse my scores vs favorites, it's just too much work for a lazy hack like myself. I have casually looked at it though, and it's a mess. I think you're right about the kink being the gorilla in the room. Find the kink that a lot of readers like and you're sure to get favorites.

There is one craziness that I wonder about though - often when I do get a favorite, there is no vote to go with it. I don't have a lot of high scores or high numbers of votes, so it's fairly easy to spot when a story gets voted on, especially when it's one of my few "h" stories.

Why favorite a story and not vote?

The other oddity is that I haven't managed to finish any of the dozen or so stories I'm working on, and have only finished one really bad one in over a year. Yet I routinely average three or four favorites every week, and a couple of comments a month. I don't have that many stories.

 

[oggbashan]

Why favorite a story and not vote?

...

Because they haven't finished reading it?

 

[meddlesome]

Why favorite a story and not vote?

Some people do not think to vote, but they may want to follow you and see if more chapters emerge.

I only vote if I really like the story and want to give 5 stars, because, as an author, I know anything less than a 5 is sort of a bummer because of the 4.5 red thing.

 

[49greg]

I have several stories favorited each week.

I think some of them are just bookmarks so they can go back to read one of my longer stories - because the longer ones get favorited more often.

But when I look at the pages for the people who has made one of my stories a favorite, some seem to have hundreds of favoritesd stories and/or authors.

I can't see the point of favoriting so many.

I've noticed that on mine too. Often when I look to check out the readers who favorite a story, there's hundreds of them, and even thought it's the same day or the day after they favorited my story or me, the reader has dozens of other favorites after mine. How can they find a favorited story or author again when there's so darned many of them in their list?

Readers get a benefit from favoriting an author or a story. They get an easy bookmark to find that story or author again. When there's something in it for them, they're more likely to do it.

They get jack-squat for voting or commenting -- at least directly.

So if something has a less than wonderful score, but is still doing fine in the favorites department, then you probably have a fair number of readers who can't be assed to do anything that doesn't directly benefit them.

Human nature.

That makes sense. Well, your comment makes sense, human nature often doesn't.

 

[sr71plt]

Why favorite a story and not vote?

I figure that there are some who assume that favoriting is a vote. There's nothing that tells them what the different actions mean and, as pointed out before, there's no pressure or reward for them to do anything.

 

[HeyAll]

I think it's perfectly understandable to not vote.

Just think, I'm sure plenty of us here view tons of youtube videos and have never voted, or bought tons of books from amazon and have never voted or left a review.

I think there's that initial feeling that your one vote doesn't matter. That it's not likely to change the score anyway. Same reason people don't vote in elections.


I've also never found a pattern of people who favorite me, in terms of score.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I figure that there are some who assume that favoriting is a vote. There's nothing that tells them what the different actions mean and, as pointed out before, there's no pressure or reward for them to do anything.

Yup. This is why I don't bother with contests - the only people really incentivised to vote are other authors, and that's just an invitation to disharmony and unmutiality. There's no way the ratings will reflect anything real.

And, yes, favoriting is a bookmark mechanism for lots of readers. I've seen a favorite "move" from chapter 2 to chapter 5, and then vanish, over a few days. The fix for that is to give them an even simpler, and entirely separate, bookmark mechanism. It won't happen, but it would be nice if it did.

I suppose the only way to get the data I really want is to give readers USB powered vibrators, that recorded which story they were on at the time. Not an idea that's likely to catch on, sadly. (And the obvious analogy for males, fleshlights, vaguely creeps me out.) But it could be an interesting technology... it could metrics like which page they were on, the, ah, intensity of their arousal...

Right, time to find something else to think about.

 

[sr71plt]

No matter how much the story authors here would like this to be a critique (and strokes) site, it isn't--nor is the broader world of publishing. There aren't many book buyers/readers who feel compelled to go off and fire off a letter to the author, even on a book they actually laid out money to buy. This is a free-use reader site.

 

[TxRad]

The interesting thing I've found through check the list of who Favorited me is how much their reading list says about the reader. Other than that, the rest is useless information.

 

[trigudis]

Ever notice...

I've starting looking at the favorites page of people who favorite me or my stories. I see two distinct patterns:

1. Readers who seem to only favorite stories with high ratings, following some sort of "a sort of 4.6 and above" rule. (It's tempting to decide that these are the people who like quality.)

2. Readers who favorite stories with ratings all over the place, even down into the 3's. Your first guess would be, "oh, these are the kinksters", but glancing over titles and some stories, they don't always seem to have a single kink, and even when they do it's rarely one my story would have catered to.

The second group seems to be larger than the first.

So the first thing that strikes me is that kink in king here. Your writing can be terrible but if you land the kink you'll get the favorites, no matter what the ratings says.

The second is that maybe good writing is a kind of kink for some people - or at least, bad writing is a serious anti-kink.

In any case, my pet theory that high rankings and lots of favorites go hand in hand is now ruined. Has anyone else sat down and tried to plow through reader's responses to find patterns?

It would be nifty if Lit made it easy to download bulk data on rankings and favoriting. My guess is they are sitting on a pile of useful data that could help authors, at least authors thinking of publishing for profit. It might also be useful for studies on sexual kinks and changes in sexual interests over time. There are probably people who would pay at least a modest fee for access to that data...

Ever notice that people who comment on stories rarely have submitted stories themselves? Why is that?

 

[sr71plt]

Ever notice that people who comment on stories rarely have submitted stories themselves? Why is that?

You don't have to be a writer to be a reader (thank God). And writers can be too busy doing that to be reading any one else's work here. I do very little reading here--I'm busy writing.

 

[lovecraft68]

The only think I do on occasions is when someone favs me is to click on their list and see who else they faved. Most of the time I get people that you can tell are heavy incest readers because I'll keep seeing the same author names on their list.

One thing I take into consideration is how many favorites they have.

If they are the type that has so many favorite authors and stories that it would be a shorter list of who isn't on their list it means nothing. Obviously someone who book marks everything.

What I find flattering is when I see someone who has been on lit a few years, but has very few favorites so if they fav something of mine or me myself, I see it as a compliment.

I also see it as a compliment if another author favs me or a my story to me that's more meaningful than a reader doing it.

But as for the OP's post, I have never looked that closely at what they fav based on scores and H's and such. That's way more time than I want to put in and ultimately not important to me.

 

[RejectReality]

Doing any sort of research that looks for relationship between favorites and score would be an incredible pain in the ass, because they don't appear on the same page except during the brief period they're available as new stories in the category hubs.

Multiple clicks for each data point = serious frustration factor.

The only way it would be tolerable would be automation, or by multiple people who are already tracking their own data to donate it to a pool large enough to analyze.

 

[PervOtaku]

So the first thing that strikes me is that kink in king here. Your writing can be terrible but if you land the kink you'll get the favorites, no matter what the ratings says.

The second is that maybe good writing is a kind of kink for some people - or at least, bad writing is a serious anti-kink.

I would have assumed this to be true anyway, that is, the more a reader's kink is being met, the more tolerant they are of bad writing. (Especially for less common kinks!) If a story isn't hitting your specific kinks, it needs to be an inherently good story to maintain your interest. Either thing, hitting your kink or good writing, will activate the "I want to keep reading" pleasure area of your brain. Reach a minimum threshold with any combination of the two, and the reader will stick with the story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yup. This is why I don't bother with contests - the only people really incentivised to vote are other authors

You're going by the handful here that enter and post on contest threads. There are thousands of authors here who don't enter contests or ever come to the boards so you can't really prove that comment.

In fact what disputes it is the big benefit of contests for anyone who enters is the extra votes and attention your story will get because instead of the typical new story that gets maybe 4 or so days of major traffic then fades away, contest stories stay on the front page for the length of the contest and get kept at the top of the category hubs longer.

Also in general contest entries will get more votes than the regular ones. You seem to follow numbers and stats closely so enter one and see what I mean.

 

[8letters]

Some stats for my stories

All of these stories are non-chapter incest stories. All but the lowest scoring one are brother-sister stories. The most recent story was part of the 2015 Summer Lovin' contest.

Sorted by score:
Days Length Score Votes Views Comments Favorites
403    2    4.07   329   91843    8        39
863    3    4.55  2008  213672   80       103
446    4    4.63  1336  137576   36       115
257    9    4.68   885   80849   36       133
138    3    4.70  1631  108174   21       156

Sorted oldest to newest:
Days Length Score Votes Views Comments Favorites
863    3    4.55  2008  213672   80       103
446    4    4.63  1336  137576   36       115
403    2    4.07   329   91843    8        39
257    9    4.68   885   80849   36       133
138    3    4.70  1631  108174   21       156

Sorted by Length:
Days Length Score Votes Views Comments Favorites
403    2    4.07   329   91843    8        39
863    3    4.55  2008  213672   80       103
138    3    4.70  1631  108174   21       156
446    4    4.63  1336  137576   36       115
257    9    4.68   885   80849   36       133

Days is the number of days since the story was published. Length is the length in number of Literotica pages.

In my limited experience, a low score results in fewer votes, comments and favorites. A longer story results in fewer votes and views. Favorites follows scores. Views depend on Days, Length and Score. Votes and Comments follow no obvious trend.

 

[shropshire125]

faves/ratings

I tend to use them for different things. Ratings I just give for what they are. if I like a story and think the author has done a good job I will give them a 4 or a 5. As authors we all enjoy positive feedback and I figure I would appreciate the same. I don't think I've ever given les than that. that's not because I don't believe authors should be told if you have an issue with their work. But if I'm really not enjoying the style or content I generally won't finish the story, and I don't think it's fair for me to rate a story I didn't finish.

My wife is also a member on here and we tend to sue favourites as a way of 'marking' a story we really enjoyed. I am particularly likely to favourite a story if I think she will like it as well. It's a big turn on for me to look at her favourites and go and read them and think about what specifically about the story turned her on.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

You're going by the handful here that enter and post on contest threads.

Well... No. I did enter one contest. If memory serves, the initial votes were 5 (mine), 1, 2, 1, 1. Even accounting for my usual pair of bombers, it was immediately obvious how things worked. I pulled the story from the site.

Contests may generate good publicity, but as far as I'm concerned they're not worth the aggravation. Rigged games have no appeal, and I don't currently need more publicity.

 

[le_kitty]

I've starting looking at the favorites page of people who favorite me or my stories. I see two distinct patterns:

1. Readers who seem to only favorite stories with high ratings, following some sort of "a sort of 4.6 and above" rule. (It's tempting to decide that these are the people who like quality.)

2. Readers who favorite stories with ratings all over the place, even down into the 3's. Your first guess would be, "oh, these are the kinksters", but glancing over titles and some stories, they don't always seem to have a single kink, and even when they do it's rarely one my story would have catered to.

The second group seems to be larger than the first.

So the first thing that strikes me is that kink in king here. Your writing can be terrible but if you land the kink you'll get the favorites, no matter what the ratings says.

The second is that maybe good writing is a kind of kink for some people - or at least, bad writing is a serious anti-kink.

In any case, my pet theory that high rankings and lots of favorites go hand in hand is now ruined. Has anyone else sat down and tried to plow through reader's responses to find patterns?

It would be nifty if Lit made it easy to download bulk data on rankings and favoriting. My guess is they are sitting on a pile of useful data that could help authors, at least authors thinking of publishing for profit. It might also be useful for studies on sexual kinks and changes in sexual interests over time. There are probably people who would pay at least a modest fee for access to that data...

Can't speak for anyone else, but as a reader, my favourite stories list is over the shop. I'll favourite a series that I know I am hooked to and want to read more. So in a sense, a bookmark yes, but there's no point favouriting the entire series as I've seen some readers do. (I can understand that though, I line my bookshelves with books and story series I've enjoyed immensely, in the process of getting rid of the ones that didn't leave an impact on me.)Then I'll favourite stories that have struck a chord with me, or I've enjoyed very much, doesn't have to be specific to my kinks, or even kinky. My favourite authors list are authors I've read, enjoyed immensely and admired their style and talent. Usually I like their entire collection of work, or their style really tickles me. I also like to think of my favourite author's list as a library for my own readers, if they've enjoyed my work and they're curious, they can work their way back to see who I've enjoyed. I know I've clicked on readers and done that. I find that most writers have few or no favourites on their list, so when they do... gold mine!

Having said that, there's actually a lot to be said for what I've read but haven't favourited, yet I'll go back to re-read for various reasons. I've probably read them more times than any story on my favourites list, but some of those stories take a real dive in the deep end, and I would never expect anyone to be open-minded about them. There are a lot of readers that take these stories really personally. In the end, bottom line, it's fiction.

Good writing is good writing. If someone can dive off the deep end and still write incredibly well, gosh, what can you say?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Ever notice that people who comment on stories rarely have submitted stories themselves? Why is that?

The biggest whiners at AH almost never create threads.