Am I Paranoid?

[Bebop3]

Yeah, I'm probably paranoid, but this just seems odd.

I had the final chapter of a story I was working on published last night.

It had 18 5 stars and then someone left a comment trashing the story and the next three votes were either ones or twos (don't remember which).

Overnight there were three more comments that seemed to be by the same anonymous poster and every time the score got around 4.7 there would be a rash of low votes, all in a row.

Paranoia or coincidence?

 

[HisArpy]

It's not a coincidence. 1-bombs are common for stories that rocket to the top because Trolls don't like to see people succeed.

As for the paranoia, only your hairdresser knows for sure.

 

[ChloeTzang]

It's not a coincidence. 1-bombs are common for stories that rocket to the top because Trolls don't like to see people succeed.

As for the paranoia, only your hairdresser knows for sure.

Nope. Been happening to my Valentines story as well. If you look at the story's in the competitions and track the scores daily, you'll see it happening to almost all the stories that get above 4.7 consistently. There's a very small # of authors who it never seems to happen to. Coincidence? Of course, she says, snickering. Doesn't make their stories any better but it obviously makes someone happy. It's kind of amusing tho coz if you track the scores daily, it's almost always the same time, the one stars come in groups, and it stands out like a ..... supply own phrasing.

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean there's any reason not to be paranoid.

 

[yukonnights]

And it's not always just organized trolls. It can also occur after a comment on some thread upsets one or a few people...I guess retribution is sweeter to some personalities than others.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

As a fellow newbie in the same boat, welcome to Oz.

 

[KindofHere]

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

 

[oggbashan]

My new entries tend to get bashed before they even get to 10 votes or above 4.00. After that they might recover but not for long...

 

[yukonnights]

Yeah, I'm probably paranoid, but this just seems odd.

I had the final chapter of a story I was working on published last night.

It had 18 5 stars and then someone left a comment trashing the story and the next three votes were either ones or twos (don't remember which).

Overnight there were three more comments that seemed to be by the same anonymous poster and every time the score got around 4.7 there would be a rash of low votes, all in a row.

Paranoia or coincidence?

You paranoid, nah. I'm paranoid...I'm of the firm belief that my stories get attacked even before I post them...and I'm staying firm on that!

 

[NotWise]

Paranoia or coincidence?

Probably coincidence. I can't think of a reason why 4.7 would trigger anyone to respond, and the site would probably catch (eventually in sweeps) any individual doing such a thing.

I had a similar experience recently with a story hitting 4.5 (red H) and being battered back down. It happened too many times to be an individual. I eventually convinced myself that it was a community reaction (it was in EH). As soon as the red H popped up the readers became more critical.

Bramblethorn recent posted the result of a simple random-number experiment, posted it, and asked if people saw any systematic bombing. The random numbers contains runs of high and low votes--which is pretty much what you described.

 

[PuckIt]

Even paranoid people are sometimes the victim of a conspiracy.

 

[yukonnights]

Even paranoid people are sometimes the victim of a conspiracy.

Oh Puck...why? With all the strain of the conspiracy around the random 'onesie attacks', and now I have to head off to bed with this new information pounding my brain!