Add odd thing about scores

[openthighs_sarah]

*An* odd thing about scores

Maybe I just haven't been paying attention, I don't know. I haven't posted a new story in several weeks, but when I went and checked how they were all doing, I noticed something interesting. The scores for my two lowest-scoring stories seemed to have increased even though I'd swear the number of votes stayed the same. I wouldn't have noticed at all except that I think of those two stories as my wounded, slightly pathetic children, always in need of my protection.

Again, this is probably just my imagination, but even if two or three additional high votes had crept in there without my knowledge, the jump in the scores was, statistically, too high to make sense.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you -- I still think that feedback is the best barometer of how a story is being received -- but it did intrigue me a little, and I was wondering if anyone else had ever noticed something like this.

 

[jfinn]

Oh wow, I think I've been hanging out here too long. I actually know the answer to this one.

Regularly, like once a month, Laurel looks at all the scores and tries to make sure they're all "legal". Then she adjusts them to show what the correct score should be. So you're right. Your scores could have gone up without your hits changing significantly.

Jayne

 

[openthighs_sarah]

Oh wow, I think I've been hanging out here too long. I actually know the answer to this one.

Regularly, like once a month, Laurel looks at all the scores and tries to make sure they're all "legal". Then she adjusts them to show what the correct score should be. So you're right. Your scores could have gone up without your hits changing significantly.

Jayne

Thank you! I thought maybe there was some kind of Robin Hood of vote pirates out there, stealing from the (vote) rich and giving to the poor. And me a good capitalist... anyway, thanks again!

(And I still can't quite believe I fucked up the subject line like that. And I haven't even been drinking today.)

 

[karmadog]

Wait a minute! Don't be getting all happy yet.

It's true that your hits wouldn't change, but your vote number would. If Laurel takes a supposedly bogus vote away, your vote number does decrease.

Those of us who have submitted poetry can tell you that--the vote numbers are much, much smaller.

On the other hand, go ahead and get happy, Sarah, because it could be that Laurel took away some sort of malicious one vote, and some other readers read your story and gave you fives.

 

[Chicklet]

Oh wow, I think I've been hanging out here too long. I actually know the answer to this one.

lol = )

Sarah, maybe she deleted the fake votes and fake score, and then new people voted well for it, eh?

good job, anywho = )

 

[openthighs_sarah]

Wait a minute! Don't be getting all happy yet.

It's true that your hits wouldn't change, but your vote number would. If Laurel takes a supposedly bogus vote away, your vote number does decrease.

Those of us who have submitted poetry can tell you that--the vote numbers are much, much smaller.

On the other hand, go ahead and get happy, Sarah, because it could be that Laurel took away some sort of malicious one vote, and some other readers read your story and gave you fives.

In order to be happy, I just need to deduce from what I know of Laurel, whether she'd be the kind of person who would put the poison in her *own* cup, or... something...

I still don't understand exactly what happened -- statistically, even switching one or two bad votes with good votes wouldn't do the trick, unless I didn't remember the original scores and vote counts correctly. Which is starting to seem very likely to me. So pretend I never posted this...

 

[Arden]

I just had a situation where I posted a new piece of work, knew exactly how many votes should be there (yes, I counted as they came in based on e-mails, pm's, and feedback) But they have not, to date, all become registered as vote numbers or scores.

Anyway, when my S/O voted and sent feedback, he received a bizarre letter from Lit about SPAM, and that he might be banned from Lit! There were no hyperlinks in his feedback note, he didn't promote any other websites, products or services. All I can figure is that there must be certain keywords that the spam filter doesn't like. We haven't figured out which ones they were, because the feedback sounded quite normal when he relayed it to me later.

His vote is 'one' that did not register, and it's kind of sad because I wrote the darn thing for him. He responded to the letter, but has not heard back from anyone at Lit so far.

I went and tried voting a couple of times to see if the stupid thing was even working at all. It probably won't look very good, now, if they are reviewed as someone here suggested. Guess I screwed that up royally. I assumed the extra votes wouldn't take if the system was operating correctly, but I wanted to see anyway. I remember once, a while back, trying to vote on an unrelated story only to get a "screen message" that I had voted on it already, which I may have done a few months before since I enjoyed that writers work. I didn't get any of these "screen messages" when I was trying to test with voting this time around. I think there may be a bug in the system now since these messages don't appear.

 

[jfinn]

...His vote is 'one' that did not register, and it's kind of sad because I wrote the darn thing for him. He responded to the letter, but has not heard back from anyone at Lit so far.

I went and tried voting a couple of times to see if the stupid thing was even working at all. It probably won't look very good, now, if they are reviewed as someone here suggested. Guess I screwed that up royally. I assumed the extra votes wouldn't take if the system was operating correctly, but I wanted to see anyway. I remember once, a while back, trying to vote on an unrelated story only to get a "screen message" that I had voted on it already, which I may have done a few months before since I enjoyed that writers work. I didn't get any of these "screen messages" when I was trying to test with voting this time around. I think there may be a bug in the system now since these messages don't appear.

You'll be better off if you PM Laurel instead of sending her an email. She gets so many of those yours could be overlooked, but she's really prompt about answering PM's.

Jayne

 

[Ginger_grl]

Query too?

I checked a poem I had submitted last week, a couple of days ago and it had 2 votes. When I checked today it had no votes, how can that be.?? Can people withdraw their votes.?

 

[OT]

how complicated can it be ... it's just a bunch of ones and zeroes.

I checked a poem I had submitted last week, a couple of days ago and it had 2 votes. When I checked today it had no votes, how can that be.?? Can people withdraw their votes.?

After a while the ones weaken, wither and turn to nothing. The once round zeroes miss a meal or two and begin to look thin and frail -- rather one-ish, actually. Ones and zeroes morphing in to one another tends to befuddle the vote displaying program.

Or more simply put, as any programmer can tell you, the only explanation for a program that worked fine yesterday and crashes today is best explained by "Bit Rot" -- it just happens.

Mostly, though, the real answer is that the site runs a "fraud reducing" program that is supposed to eliminate multiple votes from the same person. The algorithm is a bit flawed and tends to eat valid votes every now and then.

You'll stay a lot saner if you think of the votes and scores as amusing trivia and try not to frret about them much.

 

[Ginger_grl]

Re: how complicated can it be ... it's just a bunch of ones and zeroes.

After a while the ones weaken, wither and turn to nothing. The once round zeroes miss a meal or two and begin to look thin and frail -- rather one-ish, actually. Ones and zeroes morphing in to one another tends to befuddle the vote displaying program.

Or more simply put, as any programmer can tell you, the only explanation for a program that worked fine yesterday and crashes today is best explained by "Bit Rot" -- it just happens.

Mostly, though, the real answer is that the site runs a "fraud reducing" program that is supposed to eliminate multiple votes from the same person. The algorithm is a bit flawed and tends to eat valid votes every now and then.

You'll stay a lot saner if you think of the votes and scores as amusing trivia and try not to frret about them much.

Thanks OT, actually that had just dawned on me, being a new comer though it didn't make much sense, until I worked out that it's a law of averages going on.

All's fine with my world now I understand.