How Can I Stop Someone Bombing?

[Wkd_Macey]

Hi.
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but can anyone suggest what I can do if I think someone is Bombing my work? I read about the term somewhere, but sadly I can't find the thread now.

What happened is...
About 10 days ago I posted an entry on a thread in The Playground.
A little later, someone pointed out that another member was suggesting my 'size' was unrealistic. I went back and found the post,

94lbs and a size 6??? Be who you want to be but at least make the fantasy believable. I can wear a 6 and I am no where near 94lbs. My niece is 105 and wears a double zero.

My 'friend' had suggested this person may be confusing my UK dress size with US sizes... so I posted this reply in the same thread.

Hope this helps xxx
http://www.asos.com/women/dresses-size-guide/?szgid=1&r=2

There was no response, so a few days later I sent L.._S.. a polite PM, asking if they had seen it. The reply I received was abrupt.

I suggested they have a look, and the next reply was both curt and dismissive.

I pointed out they had clearly made a mistake and I asked them (still politely) to go check again.
Their reply was:-
"LMAO. Made no mistake and if you think I'm interested in hunting down a post from a catfish you are cray, cray." (exact quote - (whatever a catfish is ).

I regret I was angered, and I responded by telling this person in no uncertain terms that if they make a mistake publicly, they should at least have the common decency to try to put it right. I also sent a link to the post (to save them having to hunt it down) and another to the web site that proved the truth of how I had described myself.

I have to admit I was a 'little' rude - but let's not forget that this person had publicly called me a liar, and then couldn't even be bothered to look at the evidence I gave to prove the truth of my claim.

I didn't get any reply, but the very next day all of my work took a hit in scoring performance, with two of my works losing their 'Hot' rating.

Now, I'll be the first to say that I'm really not sure if this person was behind my scores all falling - it could be any number of reasons. I just think that... the very next day? - It seems highly coincidental.

If someone doesn't like my work for a legit reason, and they give me a low score, then I'm happy with that - but I would also hope they would leave a comment to say what they didn't like about it. That would help me.

Anyway - If someone has bombed my scores, what (if anything) can I do about it?

Thanks.
Macey.

 

[Wkd_Macey]

Thank You

If you suspect someone is bombing your stories, the best (only) thing you can do is send a PM to Laurel and ask her to check it and, if correct, to remove those votes.

Thanks.
I'll try, but so many times I've sent PMs to Laurel and had no reply

 

[lovecraft68]

Thanks.
I'll try, but so many times I've sent PMs to Laurel and had no reply

Better bet is to use the report this story feature at the bottom of the last page and explain the bombing. She responds faster to reports

 

[SimonDoom]

I guess it must be a hell of a job, to keep this website running

I have no idea how they do it. My impression is it's a small operation but I have no idea.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Better bet is to use the report this story feature at the bottom of the last page and explain the bombing. She responds faster to reports

^^ this. Look for a little triangle with an exclamation mark in it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you suspect someone is bombing your stories, the best (only) thing you can do is send a PM to Laurel and ask her to check it and, if correct, to remove those votes.

Or wait for the April Fools contest sweeps - they'll go through and clean up the one-bombs, and all will be as it was.

Hint to the OP: don't engage with commenters like that - it just leaves rubbish in your Comments, and gives them the satisfaction that they've pissed you off. Logic or facts are futile.

Just delete the comments (including your own replies) and the stench will waft off down the sewer pipe, and the sun will come out from behind the clouds.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Or wait for the April Fools contest sweeps - they'll go through and clean up the one-bombs, and all will be as it was.

Hint to the OP: don't engage with commenters like that - it just leaves rubbish in your Comments, and gives them the satisfaction that they've pissed you off. Logic or facts are futile.

Just delete the comments (including your own replies) and the stench will waft off down the sewer pipe, and the sun will come out from behind the clouds.

Speaking from experience, yes. Don't engage. Delete and forget.

And yes, I know. I'm a living example of engaging but I just love it

 

[NotWise]

Or wait for the April Fools contest sweeps - they'll go through and clean up the one-bombs, and all will be as it was.

This is not as effective as one might like. I have quite a few 1* bombs remaining on stories that have been swept repeatedly.

 

[SimonDoom]

Hint to the OP: don't engage with commenters like that - it just leaves rubbish in your Comments, and gives them the satisfaction that they've pissed you off. Logic or facts are futile.

.

This seems like very good advice to me. I've never responded to a troll, and, despite having received plenty of 1s and nasty comments, I've never had anyone pepper me with emails or, as far as I can tell, engage in a campaign to drive my scores down. No good can come from engaging with these people, I think.

 

[KindofHere]

..................

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Seems petty to me to go one bomb someone due to an argument in chat.
Those will be wiped away at the next sweep.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Seems petty to me to go one bomb someone due to an argument in chat.
Those will be wiped away at the next sweep.

I'd suggest using different userids for chat vs writing myself. Reduces that risk of someone taking offence against your chat persona and taking it out on your stories.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

I feel for ya...

I once got a message from some anonymous shmuck who told me that he intended to tank my stories' ratings from multiple ISPs and leave flame reviews, simply because he could. Sure enough, for quite some time, I noticed a distressing drop in the scores on my stories. He would message me anonymously and cackle about it.

Thankfully, troll-face got bored and went away after a few months. But there's always more of them. I suppose it's possible that the Powers-That-Be could intervene by removing damaging scores, but one would have to convince them that they were completely undeserved. And given how subjective the content of this site tends to be, you'd probably need to be the obvious reincarnation of Homer or Jane Austen before they'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

I agree with Chloe, though, about one thing- best to not use your actual ID you publish under to make these posts, the blood you display attracts the troll sharks. Create another account to ask these questions and keep your works safe from subhumans.

Not a lot of helpful advice, I regret, because the topic is a difficult one. But you're not alone in your suffering, if that is any consolation.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I once got a message from some anonymous shmuck who told me that he intended to tank my stories' ratings from multiple ISPs and leave flame reviews, simply because he could. Sure enough, for quite some time, I noticed a distressing drop in the scores on my stories. He would message me anonymously and cackle about it.

Thankfully, troll-face got bored and went away after a few months. But there's always more of them. I suppose it's possible that the Powers-That-Be could intervene by removing damaging scores, but one would have to convince them that they were completely undeserved. And given how subjective the content of this site tends to be, you'd probably need to be the obvious reincarnation of Homer or Jane Austen before they'd give you the benefit of the doubt.

I agree with Chloe, though, about one thing- best to not use your actual ID you publish under to make these posts, the blood you display attracts the troll sharks. Create another account to ask these questions and keep your works safe from subhumans.

Not a lot of helpful advice, I regret, because the topic is a difficult one. But you're not alone in your suffering, if that is any consolation.

The power that be have an algorithm they run every once in a while contests are running that remove out of scope votes. If you story has received mostly 3,4, & 5 votes then a rash of 1 votes the 1 votes are removed, etc.

No one knows how it works but it does. one day you score is 4.40 the next it's 4.58. Bye-bye troll votes.

 

[member9458]

Better bet is to use the report this story feature at the bottom of the last page and explain the bombing. She responds faster to reports

^^ this. Look for a little triangle with an exclamation mark in it.

Yeah, you guys are sure this would be okay? I was always under the impression that that feature was only for problematic stories.

...That's not a loaded question. My latest story was sitting at the top of the Lesbian Sex category with a 4.9 yesterday after 100+ votes. I figured some kind of correction was coming, but to be busted down to a 4.81 after a couple of dozen votes? I'm sure the vast majority of those are legit, but there's gotta be some bullshit in there. LS is a super-competitve category with a lot of great work, and if a sweep can get my work back on the toplist and keep eyes coming to it, I'd like that to happen as soon as possible. I just don't want to come off as a total punk-ass about it; there's being seen as a whiner on here, and then there's being seen as a whiner in a moderator alert.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah, you guys are sure this would be okay? I was always under the impression that that feature was only for problematic stories.

...That's not a loaded question. My latest story was sitting at the top of the Lesbian Sex category with a 4.9 yesterday after 100+ votes. I figured some kind of correction was coming, but to be busted down to a 4.81 after a couple of dozen votes? I'm sure the vast majority of those are legit, but there's gotta be some bullshit in there. LS is a super-competitve category with a lot of great work, and if a sweep can get my work back on the toplist and keep eyes coming to it, I'd like that to happen as soon as possible. I just don't want to be a total punk-ass about it; there's being seen as a whiner on here, and then there's being seen as a whiner in a moderator alert.

Its fine to do it that way. Select the other option when it asks why you're reporting and explain that you feel the story has been trolled and they will check into it and usually fairly quickly.

 

[Gentleman_G]

Being humble about it instead of a pretentious smart-ass does help too

 

[member9458]

Being humble about it instead of a pretentious smart-ass does help too

Yeah, I try, but being a pretentious smart-ass comes as naturally to me the way complex characters and deep, sometimes meta examinations of Jewish life come to Philip Roth ah fuck I'm doing it again.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yeah, you guys are sure this would be okay? I was always under the impression that that feature was only for problematic stories.

...That's not a loaded question. My latest story was sitting at the top of the Lesbian Sex category with a 4.9 yesterday after 100+ votes. I figured some kind of correction was coming, but to be busted down to a 4.81 after a couple of dozen votes? I'm sure the vast majority of those are legit, but there's gotta be some bullshit in there. LS is a super-competitve category with a lot of great work, and if a sweep can get my work back on the toplist and keep eyes coming to it, I'd like that to happen as soon as possible. I just don't want to come off as a total punk-ass about it; there's being seen as a whiner on here, and then there's being seen as a whiner in a moderator alert.

Yep. Laurel has specifically asked that people use "report story" to report bombing. If you have more than one story being bombed, you can report one and mention in the text field that you want all your stories swept.

From the pattern you describe, I wouldn't be certain of bombing, but it's quite possible. Reporting it is the only way to find out.

 

[Wkd_Macey]

Thanks Everyone

I'd like to say a big Thank You to Everyone who responded to this
A few points...

I'd suggest using different userids for chat vs writing myself. Reduces that risk of someone taking offence against your chat persona and taking it out on your stories.

Thanks Chloe - but I think I prefer to stick with one account, and risk the backlash if someone takes exception
(I generally try to be nice to people anyway so it shouldn't be a big problem

The power that be have an algorithm they run every once in a while contests are running that remove out of scope votes. If you story has received mostly 3,4, & 5 votes then a rash of 1 votes the 1 votes are removed, etc.

No one knows how it works but it does. one day you score is 4.40 the next it's 4.58. Bye-bye troll votes.

I did get a reply from Laurel (below) after someone pointed this thread out to her (Thanks anon )

Being humble about it instead of a pretentious smart-ass does help too

My aim in life (the former, not the latter - lol )

Here's what Laurel wrote

Hello,

Thanks for writing, and I hope you are well.

Someone brought your forum post to my attention. I checked my messages and I don't see one from you. Maybe you are messaging a different user?

As far as vote fraud - we have a script that tags fraudulent votes (fraud votes being anytime someone tries to vote for a story more than once by trying to get around our system). If you see a story - yours or anothers - that has suspicious-looking voting patterns, please do use the REPORT THIS STORY feature to bring it to our attention and we will run a manual check as well. In the OTHER field, tell us to check the voting. When you report suspicious voting this way, the system will send us a direct link to the story and make it much easier for us to check.

If you believe multiple submissions were affected, you only need to report one of the stories. Please do not report the same story more than once in a 48-hour period, and please do not report more than 2 or 3 stories at a time.

Do know in advance that we will not remove votes unless they appear to be fraud.

Thanks again, and take care!

So, there you have it

I (like a good few others have suggested) believe there is probably a team of administrators using a common account under the name of 'Laurel' to manage this site (apologies if I'm wrong) - looking at the volume of members and the number of stories appearing daily, I can't imagine that one person could do all of this - so Thank You to everyone for the site

And... my issue?
I'm going to leave it for a while and see what happens.
The one story of mine that seems to be suffering the most is the latest published in an intended 10 day series. This I would have expected to get a 'Hot' rating quickly, but at the last check it is hovering around the 3.7 level, so it may be that people just don't like it because it's a bit toward the violent end of the spectrum? I thought it might appeal, but perhaps not.

Anyway - Thanks to all for your help and advice.
Macey

 

[ChloeTzang]

I'd like to say a big Thank You to Everyone who responded to this ......

I'm going to leave it for a while and see what happens.
The one story of mine that seems to be suffering the most is the latest published in an intended 10 day series. This I would have expected to get a 'Hot' rating quickly, but at the last check it is hovering around the 3.7 level, so it may be that people just don't like it because it's a bit toward the violent end of the spectrum? I thought it might appeal, but perhaps not.

Anyway - Thanks to all for your help and advice.
Macey

Hey, you're welcome and good luck.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

It is one of the pains we seem to put up with...

I just updated two of my popular stories, and they're struggling to reach 4.5, something they never do. And go, figure, anonymous PM from a troll, saying he's looking forward to tanking them.

*sigh*

These stories are not in the running for any contests, mind, but as someone writing and publishing stories, I freely admit it IS frustrating to know people are tanking your story ratings for caprice, and not at all based on their merits. It's perfectly okay to be frustrated with it.

Now there'll be people who scold me for complaining about two chapters out of my seventy-some published not hitting 4.5, but it's the capricious trolls that bother me. I can never objectively know how these chapters are doing thanks to them. THAT frustrates me.

I feel ya.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yeah, the Usual Suspects just dumped on one of mine. Meh - it that's the only way they can make themselves feel big...

 

[TxRad]

I just updated two of my popular stories, and they're struggling to reach 4.5, something they never do. And go, figure, anonymous PM from a troll, saying he's looking forward to tanking them.

*sigh*

These stories are not in the running for any contests, mind, but as someone writing and publishing stories, I freely admit it IS frustrating to know people are tanking your story ratings for caprice, and not at all based on their merits. It's perfectly okay to be frustrated with it.

Now there'll be people who scold me for complaining about two chapters out of my seventy-some published not hitting 4.5, but it's the capricious trolls that bother me. I can never objectively know how these chapters are doing thanks to them. THAT frustrates me.

I feel ya.

Forward the PM to Laurel with a link to the story.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

Makes me wonder if you(because I've never looked) could block a user outside the forums, so they can't read and/or vote on your shit. I'm sure if Laurel can see IPs, she could simply IP ban somebody after so many users blocked them, just for GP. Sure they can use multiple IPs, but not many are smart enough to use a proxy, all that means is they have multiple outlets to visit the site and maybe an account for each...ehhh...computer at a library or something.