Bouncing score

[grenefire]

Hi,

My new story posted today and I am amazed by how much the score has bounced around. It is probably my fault for checking it so often this morning, but I guess I’m surprised by how much the score can shift after every rating.

It has ranged from 4.73 to 4.1 and then back up.

I’ll be honest it can be really frustrating to see the score go up and down so much, especially when it dips under 4.5. I definitely put too much stock in the red H.

Again, I know I probably shouldn’t care, but I just had to vent to other people who may understand.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I think that’s just the normal way it goes. For one thing, a disproportionate number of those early votes probably come from your followers, who are inclined to give you a high score. The next wave of readers is less likely to be weighed in your favor.

 

[MrPixel]

Yeah, it's normal. It's a statistical anomaly when the vote count is low. Single votes, good or bad, will have more influence over the average. As you accumulate more votes, things will level out.

As far as the sudden drops are concerned, there is a contingent on LitE whose purpose in life is to keep us humble by blasting anything showing a high score with 1-votes even though it's unlikely they read the story, just 'cause they can. That's simply the way things are.

 

[grenefire]

As far as the sudden drops are concerned, there is a contingent on LitE whose purpose in life is to keep us humble by blasting anything showing a high score with 1-votes even though it's unlikely they read the story, just 'cause they can. That's simply the way things are.

Wow! I can’t imagine someone’s life is so miserable that they would spend time doing that.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Oh, they're out there. The other thing that happens, particularly now when a competition is concluding, is the mysterious site sweep. Basically, the site manager looks at any vote, high or low, and deletes anything they feel is not genuine. This can make a big difference to who wins a comp.

Exactly how that's determined, nobody knows for sure.

 

[Bamagan]

Here is a graph of a score as it progresses from one vote to 100 votes. Except for vote 9, which is a 1, every other vote is a five. Those are still fine scores, obviously, even at the nadir, but it shows the lingering power of one person's contempt.