Do people that give your story a bad rating still read it in it's entirety?

[Bob_Sacamano]

As a new author/ reader on here, I was caught off guard by comments on other people's story that just ragged on the topic or some of the early exaggerations. Then I posted a story that I thought was great and it bombed in comparison to my first submission that I regarded as a lesser submission. However, I get it. Different strokes for different folks, not everyone is going to like the same things. Though it makes me wonder if the 'non-consent' aspect of my lower rated story causes it to get more extreme swings when being rated by readers? I'm looking for insight as to what has been others past experience with story ratings?

 

[Bamagan]

I would imagine some people who bomb stories read them and hated them, but there are enough incidences of ratings appearing within minutes of being posted to show that some people vote before reading. Or in lieu of reading. (That's true of some folks who drop 5s, too, though.) Maybe they hate the category, or the topic, or the tags, or the author. Some people apparently hate disclaimers and forewords.
Non-consent is definitely something that may cause adverse reactions in readerships outside of the handful of categories where it's more-or-less expected (NC/R, MC, & Fetish, mostly).

 

[SimonDoom]

My 2 1/2 cents regarding the ratings/comments that you get, especially the negative ones:

1. Yes, there are people who will read your story all the way through even though they hate it, and they will let you know. I don't understand those people, because I don't read stories all the way through that I hate. Life is too short to do that.

2. This is a huge Site with a huge readership, and you can't please them all. Always keep that in mind. The people who hate your story don't matter. They can read something else if they want to. It's the people who LIKE your story that count.

3. Don't ever get intimidated from expressing your kinks in your stories by the sad souls who don't share them. Do your thing and find your people. This place is so big and so whacky that they're probably out there, even if your tastes are really weird.

4. When you choose the category for your story, you have to weigh two different things, and only you know how you want to strike the balance: on the one hand, the category that will get the most readers (some categories are much, much more popular than others), versus the category that's the best, most accurate "fit."

5. Don't get discouraged. Just keep writing for your own pleasure.

 

[Voboy]

Welcome to the site, OP!

Write with yourself as the audience. That way, your stories will always have at least one fan!

But seriously? Ratings are anonymous. Unless a reader leaves a comment telling us how many stars they gave us, none of us has the first clue why that rating happened. So it's best not to worry about it too much.

 

[gunhilltrain]

As a new author/ reader on here, I was caught off guard by comments on other people's story that just ragged on the topic or some of the early exaggerations. Then I posted a story that I thought was great and it bombed in comparison to my first submission that I regarded as a lesser submission. However, I get it. Different strokes for different folks, not everyone is going to like the same things. Though it makes me wonder if the 'non-consent' aspect of my lower rated story causes it to get more extreme swings when being rated by readers? I'm looking for insight as to what has been others past experience with story ratings?

I don't remember anybody commenting on whether they've actually read an entire story. If they haven't, they will likely never admit it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Fifty fifty I reckon. There's some who will bail out of your story before finishing, jump to the end and give you a low vote. Why they can't just back-click and go find another story is beyond me, but there you are. Then there's a group who just want to be angry, who will read to the end and comment. Why they bother is beyond me - why would you waste time reading a story you don't like?

Really though, no-one knows, because there's no reliable indicator of how many actually finish reading a story. There are some unreliable indicators and you can make some guesses, but truth is, we don't know for sure.

 

[Cagivagurl]

The way data is displayed. You never know, if the reader read the story, or opened it and read two lines before backing out.
They both show as 1 view....
Comments are the same. Did they open it, dislike the first chapter and went straight to the comments. Or did they read it and truly didn't like it....
I once posted a 40,000 word story in LW, and even a quick reader who skimmed it would take 30 minutes to read... No, the 1 votes popped up within 10 minutes of posting...
You simply have to laugh it off. They didn't like it... Oh well never mind.
Life as they say is too short.

Cagivagurl

 

[shelleycat1]

Another new writer here. I posted my first story in 3 parts. From that i saw that the reader count on part 1 was double, roughly, that on parts 2 and 3. I take that as telling me about half the readers bailed on part 1, and half were engaged enough to read the rest. Only a small percentage, less than 1%, are kind enough to rate. Comments are much much rarer. That is in SF and F.

I will never rate unless I have read it, and even then I have to be moved or impressed. Or upset by something terrible, to me.

I think you should just write for yourself, and then see what happens, and definitely in the category and tags you want. It is a big site. Good luck and enjoy yourself.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Another new writer here. I posted my first story in 3 parts. From that i saw that the reader count on part 1 was double, roughly, that on parts 2 and 3. I take that as telling me about half the readers bailed on part 1, and half were engaged enough to read the rest. Only a small percentage, less than 1%, are kind enough to rate. Comments are much much rarer. That is in SF and F.

That's fairly typical. My rule of thumb is that maybe 20 - 25% of people who open Chapter One will read the last chapter, one in a hundred will Vote, and one in a thousand will Comment. If your Comment ratio is better than that, your writing is either very good or very bad, because readers will tell you that.

 

[AllenWoody]

My favorite was a reader (?) who commented on Lost Colony chapter one that they were pretty sure they wouldn’t like it, then a comment on the last chapter confirming that had in fact been the case. Like, did they really read fourteen chapters of a story they didn’t like?

 

[StillStunned]

My favorite was a reader (?) who commented on Lost Colony chapter one that they were pretty sure they wouldn’t like it, then a comment on the last chapter confirming that had in fact been the case. Like, did they really read fourteen chapters of a story they didn’t like?

Some people will go to a great deal of trouble to prove a point. Being right is more important than being happy.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I've only ever given a 1* rating once, and I did read the whole thing, trying to find something that would allow me to give it a better rating. The plot was interesting, but the writing was so bad that I was starting to wonder if the writer was doing it on purpose.

 

[RetroFan]

My favorite was a reader (?) who commented on Lost Colony chapter one that they were pretty sure they wouldn’t like it, then a comment on the last chapter confirming that had in fact been the case. Like, did they really read fourteen chapters of a story they didn’t like?

I've seen this sort of thing before on long stories, readers saying that they knew as soon as they clicked on it they knew it was going to be dumb, confirming this by reading the entire story.

With the two categories that I find attract the most negative comments - Loving Wives and Incest/Taboo - some stories by title and description will attract negativity straight away, yet in these categories its amazing the small details readers pick up and comment on in these stories. For example, if I was to write a story in Loving Wives called 'The Man In The MAGA Hat' with a description such as 'SJW wife cuckolds wimp husband with Trump fan' this will immediately attract more attention than a story with a more generic title and description, many hating it without reading more than the introduction.

The small details that are picked up and commented on in negative feedback though never ceases to amaze me. Like in one of my actual stories 'Secret Sex With My Stepdaughter' the narrating stepfather describes he and his siblings growing up with his parents who were negative, joyless people; how they refuse to accept his stepdaughter and stepson as their grandchildren; and are insensitive with his older sister and her husband who could never have children (the other brother is gay and the youngest sister a nun so no kids there either). The parents were mostly mentioned in narrative and only have a brief cameo, where their son has Sunday lunch with them which he describes as an ordeal as they don't believe in exotic foods such as Chinese (sweet and sour pork, honey chicken, fried rice), Indian (mild curry and rice) or Italian (spaghetti, lasagne, ravioli. pizza) and only eat things such as stew, meat and three vegetables and cold meat and salad. These types who refuse to try food from different countries - mostly born prior to the Great Depression - were common in Australia years ago and in other countries like England and America too, but less often seen nowadays as their generation dies out. The parents were never written to be liked but had minimal impact on the story, so it was surprising to read such negative comments about such minor characters from a long (10 page) story.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

As a new author/ reader on here, I was caught off guard by comments on other people's story that just ragged on the topic or some of the early exaggerations. Then I posted a story that I thought was great and it bombed in comparison to my first submission that I regarded as a lesser submission. However, I get it. Different strokes for different folks, not everyone is going to like the same things. Though it makes me wonder if the 'non-consent' aspect of my lower rated story causes it to get more extreme swings when being rated by readers? I'm looking for insight as to what has been others past experience with story ratings?

In my experience of writing NC/R stories, the vast majority of people who read them do so because they enjoy them. That's because NC/R by it's very nature tends to drive away people who are horrified by it (for understandable reasons) while those who enjoy NC/R fantasies will actively seek them out.

Quite rarely, I'll get a comment from someone expressing how shocked and appalled they are that a story of mine in the nonconsent/reluctance category contains *gasp* nonconsensual sex! But these are very few and far between. Most people can and do read the tags and categories before reading the actual story, as they should.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

I don't remember anybody commenting on whether they've actually read an entire story. If they haven't, they will likely never admit it.

I do remember seeing a negative comment on one of my stories which inadvertently revealed that the commenter had only skimmed the chapter and might not even have read the preceding six chapters. It was so stupid I actually deleted it, so I can't quote it word-for-word, but it basically accused me of indulging a "BBC fantasy" through the story.

Anyone who's seen my interracial catalog knows that I strongly prefer a "W" in between my Bs and Cs. But more importantly, if the commenter had troubled to read the chapter, s/he might have noticed that the character is webcamming, which means that all the "BBC" stuff is just her talking dirty to her online audience and indulging their fantasies for cash tips. No Black characters are featured anywhere in the entire series.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I've only ever given a 1* rating once, and I did read the whole thing, trying to find something that would allow me to give it a better rating. The plot was interesting, but the writing was so bad that I was starting to wonder if the writer was doing it on purpose.

I find myself dropping stories as I read them. Some I don’t get through the first couple of paragraphs, some not until the end of the first page, some a couple of pages in. In each case, I walk away because the tale is badly related, the grammar or spelling terrible, the characters infantile or whatever. The bottom line is that I don’t finish a story unless I’m thoroughly enjoying it. The end result, of course, is that I rarely score anything less than Five.

 

[ronde]

I don't remember anybody commenting on whether they've actually read an entire story. If they haven't, they will likely never admit it.

I've had at least one comment like that. The commenter (Mr. Anonymous, or course) said he didn't read the story because it praised certain things in history that he hated. I found that interesting because while I did mention one person in passing, it was anything but praise. That fact was pointed out by three other comments on the story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Simply put, there's no way to know for sure.

I imagine some do, and maybe it was the end that pissed them off, but I'm sure there's a lot who knee jerk bomb based on just an opening.

Its not worth trying to figure out.

 

[StillStunned]

I got a comment just yesterday saying the reader had only got half way through. Of course they might have rated the story higher if they'd finished it, but from the expletives they used in their comment I'm pretty sure their mind was already made up. And honestly they're not my preferred readership anyway.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've had at least one comment like that. The commenter (Mr. Anonymous, or course) said he didn't read the story because it praised certain things in history that he hated. I found that interesting because while I did mention one person in passing, it was anything but praise. That fact was pointed out by three other comments on the story.

I had one person recently say that I "was celebrating the use of drugs." No, the characters were using them, but a lot of people in 1977 were. They still are, I think, but the media panic-mode has moved on to other topics.

I assume you were either to far to the left or too far to the right to please that person. P.S.: I think I mentioned it's pointless to respond to most comments because the person has moved on and already forgotten what they wrote. I don't think I've ever had a counter-response.

 

[RetroFan]

Incest/Taboo readers I have noticed are more likely to comment negatively on aspects of a story that are clear by name and description.

For example, for a story that has a title of 'Kiwi Cousin's Hot Feet' and a description of 'Aussie guy loves his pretty NZ cousin's bare feet' you would get comments from some miserable grouch that they don't like stories set in Australia or New Zealand, that they don't like foot fetish stories and that they don't like cousin stories as first cousin marriage is legal in most countries.

 

[AwkwardMD]

All writers on this site understand vote sweeps. Our scores get scoured for votes that were placed but shouldn't count. Of those, some are potentially 5* votes, but in practice nearly all of them are 1* votes which is why scores go up afterwards.

Sure, some people are completionists who finish what they start and are genuinely mad at you if they didn’t like it, but not all of them. Most quit and just tune out like normal people.

 

[cadeauxxx]

Vote ratings is just another way of gauging interaction on a story.

No matter how long or short the story is, you will get the 1 star bombs. They come, regardless how good a story is.

I used to get upset years ago when I first started posting on this site about the bad ratings and anonymous cowards leaving hateful comments. As time has went on, I quit caring and looked at the ratings as another way of how much interaction my stories are getting.

You're not going to please everyone with your writing, and that's totally fine. In the end, this is a hobby we write to entertain ourselves and our own readers. My motto is to not care what others think and write whatever you want. What makes this site so awesome is the freedom we have here opposed to other places.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Obviously some people do and some people don't read to the end.

My latest that I posted this week is doing so poorly, even by my unpopular standards, I will say this. We all know that whenever a writer posts a new story, other stories on their profile get a boost of attention. My latest has been up for three days and has over 2600 hits, yet none of my other nine stories has received a single vote. Not one. None of my other stories have received any more than their usual trickle of daily hits. So in this case, I believe that the vast majority of hits to my story are not only not finishing, but also running far away from anything from me. This includes the voters. I have 19 votes and two or three of them have been fives. Maybe a dozen people total have actually finished reading this.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Who knows one way or the other? The only time I know they didn't read the whole thing is when they make statements about what I wrote that show they didn't read or didn't pay attention.