How are authors able to get away with disabling scoring while most of their stories still have a red H next to the story? Do they self vote a 5* immediately after posting and then immediately disable scoring? Irrespective of the method these deceitful authors use to accomplish this, Lit should fix their system such that a red H cannot be shown next to stories where scoring is disabled.
Disabling Scoring
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ElectricBlue
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One vote won't give you a Red H, you need at least ten votes to get that.
Some authors disable scoring because trolls attack their stories - indeed my guess is that most authors who disable scoring do so because of trolls. So maybe your question should be reversed and put to readers: why do they one-bomb stories?
Like most things, it works both ways.
lovecraft68
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Narcissism and being thin skinned
KeithD
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This--at least for me with a persistent attacker since last November. If it managed to get a red H in the first place, it's not likely deserving of the one-bombing a detractor is doing. If such detractor is ticked enough that they aren't getting their way to come here and complain about it, it was worth doing. (Case in point(?)
)
KeithD
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Happily, the Web site gives its authors some tools in combatting trolling (while also making trolling possible and giving extraordinary effect to single votes). Of course the trolls won't like this, and some will come to the discussion board to voice their dislike and attack and try to guilt authors for defending their files. These trolls can be identified by their posts on the issue. They invoke the question of why should they care if they aren't just ticked that their power to piss in someone else's Cheerios at will is being diluted? The stories aren't duds. They had to accrue at least ten votes with all votes being at least at the average of 4.5 to have the red H to begin with.
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Yeah, right. A population of 10 is likely to reflect the opinions of all readers of that specific story
Anyway, I did not mention any authors' names. So who exactly was I "attacking"? If the shoe fits...
KeithD
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Again, what is your motivation for even caring about this? Ticked off because your ability to troll is impaired? Time to look up your profile here.
It's at least ten votes and no matter how many it is, the average score must be at least 4.5 to get a red H to begin with. That is not the mark of a dud story.
Bramblethorn
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Also, an author who disables voting at 10 votes is shutting themselves out of top lists (usually require something like 50 or 100 votes minimum, I think 25 for some of the low-readership categories) and permanently disqualifying that story from contests, even if they subsequently switch voting back on.
In exchange for that they get... a tiny red "H" on the story. It's not exactly the Great Train Robbery.
lovecraft68
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The shoe fits, Keith locks in some of his scores....but meanwhile runs around talking about how scores and stats don't matter on this site. Also has a persecution complex-as you just experienced-and thinks everyone is out to get him. This is a guy who claims to have success as a 'mainstream' novelist, but runs around like a screechy old lady about his scores on a free site.
KeithD
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And lives in your guys' pointy little heads 24/7. I don't have to pay attention to my stats. You two have your noses right in there for me.
Of course having a red H on your stories here is important if you want to maximize your readership. But, no, you don't have to compromise your writing just because you want to maximize your readership. It's an access issue, not a write-to-the-lowest-common-denominator issue.
It's been very well established that there are readers who won't read anything that doesn't have the red H. So, if you can maintain the ones you get, you'll get more readers that will give that story a try than if you don't. The Web site gives you choices on how to balance this with limitations. You have to balance what you do--and put up with sick puppy stalkers like LC who has been stalking me for a decade and a half. This isn't "stats" as much as it's market promotion. LC and Bram aren't helping others to choose how they use the tools Lit. gives them. Their agenda is to attack me personally.
I don't have to worry about my stats. LC and Bram have their noses right in there to do it for me.
There's a more important reason why I have frozen my story stats since one or more troll maliciously started attacking them back in November of last year. It's to use the tools Literotica provides me to counter their efforts and to bring them out into the open--like it has done with Lovecraft68. It's quite clear how upset he is not to be able to stalk and troll with impunity.
Of course having a red H on your stories here is important if you want to maximize your readership. But, no, you don't have to compromise your writing just because you want to maximize your readership. It's an access issue, not a write-to-the-lowest-common-denominator issue.
It's been very well established that there are readers who won't read anything that doesn't have the red H. So, if you can maintain the ones you get, you'll get more readers that will give that story a try than if you don't. The Web site gives you choices on how to balance this with limitations. You have to balance what you do--and put up with sick puppy stalkers like LC who has been stalking me for a decade and a half. This isn't "stats" as much as it's market promotion. LC and Bram aren't helping others to choose how they use the tools Lit. gives them. Their agenda is to attack me personally.
I don't have to worry about my stats. LC and Bram have their noses right in there to do it for me.
There's a more important reason why I have frozen my story stats since one or more troll maliciously started attacking them back in November of last year. It's to use the tools Literotica provides me to counter their efforts and to bring them out into the open--like it has done with Lovecraft68. It's quite clear how upset he is not to be able to stalk and troll with impunity.
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Bramblethorn
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And lives in your guys' pointy little heads 24/7. I don't have to pay attention to my stats. You two have your noses right in there for me.
Of course having a red H on your stories here is important. It's been very well established that there are readers who won't read anything that doesn't have it. So, if you can maintain the ones you get, you'll get more readers for that story than if you don't. The Web site gives you choices on this with limitations. You have to balance what you do--and put up with sick puppy stalkers like LC who has been stalking me for a decade and a half. This isn't "stats" as much as it's market promotion. LC and Bram aren't helping others to choose how they use the tools Lit. gives them. Their agenda is to attack me personally.
?????
If anybody other than Keith took my post above to be any kind of "attack" on him, I'd be much obliged if they could explain how it came across that way. I know Keith and I haven't had the greatest of relationships on this forum, but I wasn't trying to pick a fight there and after squinting hard at my post I'm still at a loss to see what in my post could possibly be construed as a personal attack.
To the best of my knowledge, I was agreeing with Keith's position. In response to a suggestion that authors locking voting after securing an "H" are "deceitful", Keith defended their right to do so, and I added the observation that they're not exactly perpetrating a huge crime as they're forgoing things like contest and toplist eligibility in return for securing that "H".
If there was something in my post that reads as an attack on Keith, it wasn't intended, and I'd like to know what it is so I can pick my words more carefully next time. But I just don't see it.
ETA: even if my post had somehow been misread as slamming authors who freeze votes, it's not clear to me how this could be taken as a "personal attack" on an author who's already stated that he does not do that himself:
I'm not sure I've ever mentioned your voting stats, actually? If I have, you're welcome to show me where.
I certainly have mentioned some of the comments on your stories, but that's a different matter and I'm not sure it's relevant to this discussion. We can talk about it if you want, but I had no plans to do so.
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lovecraft68
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People who have reasons to be self defensive are always self defensive.
I wouldn't say freezing a vote is deceitful, but I guess in my opinion its kind of cheap because they don't want to take the ups and downs the rest of us do
I also think, and I'm not saying this is right, but when people see someone do it, the reaction is negative, same for those who shut off comments, even though that is their right
Perception often over rides reality
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SimonDoom
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It's not the biggest deal in the world, but in my opinion it should not be allowed. If you want to reap the benefits of getting a "red H"--whatever they are, to you--then your story must play by the same rules everyone else's plays by to get the same red H.
There is a phenomenon in which as soon as a person wins a contest, the story gets hit with negative votes and the score goes down. It doesn't happen to every story, but it happens to plenty. It happened to me. I don't like it, but I can't complain about it. What would be wrong, I think, would be to let an author win a contest and then lock in that high score by disabling votes from that point forward.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that the voting system is not there for us. It's not about giving us, as authors, kudos and pats on the back and making us feel good. It's to create a system in which potential readers can make meaningful decisions about what they want to read through the use of scores. Like buying Amazon products. It makes no sense to give authors the ability to control how their scores appear.
There is a phenomenon in which as soon as a person wins a contest, the story gets hit with negative votes and the score goes down. It doesn't happen to every story, but it happens to plenty. It happened to me. I don't like it, but I can't complain about it. What would be wrong, I think, would be to let an author win a contest and then lock in that high score by disabling votes from that point forward.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that the voting system is not there for us. It's not about giving us, as authors, kudos and pats on the back and making us feel good. It's to create a system in which potential readers can make meaningful decisions about what they want to read through the use of scores. Like buying Amazon products. It makes no sense to give authors the ability to control how their scores appear.
ElectricBlue
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Your post read as a straightforward statement of fact. The word "also" clearly indicates that you were providing additional information that supported the quoted post. If you had used the word, "contrariwise" one might sense a disagreement, but a polite one.
It's extremely difficult to see how your post could ever be considered personalised, let alone an "attack". If that language was an "attack", the poor soul would be afraid of a kitten.
ElectricBlue
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Agree this. If a contest is involved and the story has won a prize, there has been financial consideration, and that places the story and its score data into a different place.
If the story was never a contest entry, and the author was being trolled, then I reckon locking the score is a reasonable use of a tool given to the author by the site. It's not much different to not allowing scores in the first place, merely locks in a score before malice rears its ugly head and damages the author's story list - which as you say is there to attract readers.
ScottieDog61Redux
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This is very unusual... My story "We See You... Ch. 4" went up last night, and has an astonishingly low score, 2.82 with 98 votes. What is amazing is that most of my stories take a few weeks to get anywhere near that number of votes, if they ever do. At the same time, the previous chapter had a score of 4.63 as of a couple of days ago, but is now down to 4.18...both with no negative comments, and the former with only three comments at all, one of them a response from me. At the same time, I added four new followers; it's been my experience that followers aren't hostile to the work being posted.
It's interesting that within a day of my fourth chapter going up it appears to have been one-bombed (great term, BTW) with great... enthusiasm isn't the word I'd choose, but certainly persistence. The sudden drop from 4.63 , to 4.18, on the third chapter and the number of "reviews" tripling in a little over a day is curious, at the very least.
I don't freeze my stories, as I'm genuinely interested in what people find interesting about them. I also have received, after over ten years on this site, *no* aggressive commenters, and I take any criticisms to heart, or at least consider what others have to say.
I'm very gratified with most of the responses and up-votes I receive. I keep politics and current events mostly out of my work, as this is a place for escape and fantasy, not visiting real world concerns. The impulse guiding this are fascinating, as a student of human behavior.
I'd like to know how prevalent one-bombing actually is. I suspect that the people doing that either object to the story line (and haven't the courage to state their concerns) or have had no success on the site and are trying to bring others down and make themselves look and feel better. My wife's first marriage was with the latter sort... Either way, it seems a mite cowardly to do that. I picture repressed and lonely individuals sitting at their keyboards, looking to pounce on anything they haven't the talent to write...
Any thoughts from the rest of the board?
--ScottieDog61Redux
It's interesting that within a day of my fourth chapter going up it appears to have been one-bombed (great term, BTW) with great... enthusiasm isn't the word I'd choose, but certainly persistence. The sudden drop from 4.63 , to 4.18, on the third chapter and the number of "reviews" tripling in a little over a day is curious, at the very least.
I don't freeze my stories, as I'm genuinely interested in what people find interesting about them. I also have received, after over ten years on this site, *no* aggressive commenters, and I take any criticisms to heart, or at least consider what others have to say.
I'm very gratified with most of the responses and up-votes I receive. I keep politics and current events mostly out of my work, as this is a place for escape and fantasy, not visiting real world concerns. The impulse guiding this are fascinating, as a student of human behavior.
I'd like to know how prevalent one-bombing actually is. I suspect that the people doing that either object to the story line (and haven't the courage to state their concerns) or have had no success on the site and are trying to bring others down and make themselves look and feel better. My wife's first marriage was with the latter sort... Either way, it seems a mite cowardly to do that. I picture repressed and lonely individuals sitting at their keyboards, looking to pounce on anything they haven't the talent to write...
Any thoughts from the rest of the board?
--ScottieDog61Redux
lovecraft68
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Easy answer, its posted in Loving Wives a category filled with the most vile readers on this site for rage and froth over any woman having sex outside the marriage even if the husband is enjoying her doing it, and going further hate every woman that doesn't act like a 1950's dutiful housewife.
The fact this is fiction does not seem to register to them. There's some decent sane readers there too, but they get drowned out by the crazy.
My last effort in that category never got over 2.8.
Plus side to the category is you will get a lot of votes and comments, but...its not always the type of attention you want,
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