Do the sweeps ever stop?

[lovecraft68]

So I know all about the "hoover" and the sweeps that are due to the Literotica contests. My question is do they ever stop? Every month they have the "monthly awards" from the previous year and of course the "theme" contests. I've been here long enough to expect it but it seems this month is really bad.

I also don't really understand what they are sweeping. Supposedly it is questionable votes. Of course they will drop some one bombs which is always nice but I don't tend to get to many and seem to be losing a lot of 5's and I don't know what they are seeing "wrong" with them.

For example I have a couple of BDSM stories from last summer that topped off around 50 something votes each they are now down to barely 40 each. Whether you want to believe me or not I do not have any "alts" and do not vote for my own stories or ask my friends to so I really don't know what they are seeing wrong here.

I'm just wondering if there is ever a lull in this or if after a certain period of time the story is no longer "swept" as in if they are doing the 2010 awards why would they look at older?

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Totally Lost

I'm really curious, too. For several months now, I've been doing really well on votes -- I've been seriously flattered -- but just now it looks like my votes have dropped precipitously, both in number and in scoring. It's still not "bad" scores, but when I look at where I was yesterday and where I am today, the difference is huge. I've literally lost a couple hundred votes.

I'd really like to know whether my score was false before, or if it's false now.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm really curious, too. For several months now, I've been doing really well on votes -- I've been seriously flattered -- but just now it looks like my votes have dropped precipitously, both in number and in scoring. It's still not "bad" scores, but when I look at where I was yesterday and where I am today, the difference is huge. I've literally lost a couple hundred votes.

I'd really like to know whether my score was false before, or if it's false now.

Well to me your votes should only be false in the case of trolls as far as negative goes but for positive I think most people are legit unless you are someone like Scouries who has hundreds of fake id's to vote for and favorite his stories if you don't do that I can't see how your votes can be seen as false.

 

[Darkniciad]

Sweeps don't just run for contests. There are sweeps that repair attacks on toplists, for example. None of your average sweeps cut anywhere near as deep as contest sweeps, though.

As I've said in another thread, I think the primary source of lost votes on older stories ( other than failing to notice that a monthly award for the month your story was released posted ) are voters getting flagged in purpose-driven sweeps. I suspect those flagged IPs then have every vote cast -- no matter where or when -- chewed up and spit out for questionable voting behavior on some story/stories.

I've seen a noticeable drop in the number of votes swept from my stories since I started a campaign of telling everyone ( in comment replies, on my website, in closing notes of stories ) that 1 story = 1 vote, and not to downvote others to try to improve my position.

Your fans can be your worst enemy when it comes to the sweeps. They think they're helping, and all they're probably doing is getting every one of their votes eradicated.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Yeah, that's what's strange. If it looked like I had gotten a lot of 1 bombs -- more votes, but a lower score -- that would make sense. But instead it looks like I've just plain lost a ton of votes that must've been on the high end.

 

[lovecraft68]

Sweeps don't just run for contests. There are sweeps that repair attacks on toplists, for example. None of your average sweeps cut anywhere near as deep as contest sweeps, though.

As I've said in another thread, I think the primary source of lost votes on older stories ( other than failing to notice that a monthly award for the month your story was released posted ) are voters getting flagged in purpose-driven sweeps. I suspect those flagged IPs then have every vote cast -- no matter where or when -- chewed up and spit out for questionable voting behavior on some story/stories.

I've seen a noticeable drop in the number of votes swept from my stories since I started a campaign of telling everyone ( in comment replies, on my website, in closing notes of stories ) that 1 story = 1 vote, and not to downvote others to try to improve my position.

Your fans can be your worst enemy when it comes to the sweeps. They think they're helping, and all they're probably doing is getting every one of their votes eradicated.

You have a point there for sure. The top "all time" incest spot has been the subject of some controversy. for a long time it was held by Eldgerin00 Conflicted series. he was heavily trolled and went to Lit who i guess did a sweep. Well the sweep took a lot of view from him and more votes. He got upset and actually pulled his series putting "Colleen" in the #1. The story that is there now got there after what seemed like a spat of low votes on Colleen and now Colleen is back.

The author that got there after Colleen has a rabid fan base and honestly are the kind that will do this. I know I had spoken to that author several times and he told me some of them actually e-mailed him to tell him they were "putting him back in first place where he belonged" he told me that he doesn't want that and I believe him but it does prove your point because when you see it happen you kind of get a negative association with that author like they are the "cheater"

'

 

[bashfullyshameless]

I've seen a noticeable drop in the number of votes swept from my stories since I started a campaign of telling everyone ( in comment replies, on my website, in closing notes of stories ) that 1 story = 1 vote, and not to downvote others to try to improve my position.

Your fans can be your worst enemy when it comes to the sweeps. They think they're helping, and all they're probably doing is getting every one of their votes eradicated.

That's...really kind of sad. I certainly didn't expect to stay where I was forever, but the sudden drop is a bit of a shock.

Ah, well. Easy come, easy go, I guess. I wasn't really thinking about votes when I started writing here, and it's not like I've done badly. Guess I shouldn't worry too much about it now.

 

[PacoFear]

Bashful & Love,

I've felt your pain, fellas. The sweeps' effects on the top list are evil. About six months ago, Lit's anti-fraud scripts peeled off over a thousand votes from my top-end story. I ran around here on the boards like Chicken Little. http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=729895

Here's part of what I got out of my experience: with all due respect to Laurel rose, I'm not sure she has her sensors calibrated right. I gathered from talking to her that one of the many things that tickles her script is a higher than average vote count within a given period. But if your story is perched on the tippity top of the top list (like Bashful's), of course it's going to get more reads and more votes than others; a lot of readers start there.

I'm weak too, but it's best not to obsess over the toplist if you can. Really, is there a difference between a 4.91 and a 4.92 score? We're splitting hairs at that point. Curly ones.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I would bet there are a number of database jobs running at different cycles all the time to sweep away bogus votes, whether they be ones or fives.

Then there are a set of scripts that run during a contest, along with those cyclical jobs.

So, the true answer to the question is no, they never stop unless they break...then all kinds of bells and lights start to ring and blink causing some old lady in Waupaca to go into epileptic seizures, thus notifying Laurel of a malfunction.

 

[Darkniciad]

It may be that the scripts need to be tweaked for Sci-Fi & Fantasy and NonHuman, which are both picking up a lot more votes than they used to.

The biggest contribution to that comes from high-end toplist authors in the category posting more regularly. With the visibility in the New List, the categories are really beginning to pick up steam.

It used to be that the top authors on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy list were posting infrequently ( evil alpaca, solitary thinker ) at best, or not at all ( Joe Brolly, mack the knife )

New authors rising on the toplist has changed that.

It may be that the scripts for all categories need tweaked due to the star rating bringing visibility and familiarity to the voting form, compared to the old radial buttons.

 

[harding]

I posted something related a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure if something is a little "off" at the moment. One of my stories that always was up in the high 4.8's dropped and is now 4.67 and stuck there. A few of my other stories have also dropped around half a point over the last month or six weeks after having been stable over a long, long period.

I know I pissed Scouries and his menagerie when I won the Halloween contest last year, and I was assuming perhaps he had orchestrated a little campaign, but now I'm not so sure.

 

[lovecraft68]

It may be that the scripts need to be tweaked for Sci-Fi & Fantasy and NonHuman, which are both picking up a lot more votes than they used to.

The biggest contribution to that comes from high-end toplist authors in the category posting more regularly. With the visibility in the New List, the categories are really beginning to pick up steam.

It used to be that the top authors on the Sci-Fi/Fantasy list were posting infrequently ( evil alpaca, solitary thinker ) at best, or not at all ( Joe Brolly, mack the knife )

New authors rising on the toplist has changed that.


Decided to move this to it's own thread sorry

 

[Darkniciad]

I posted something related a few weeks ago, and I'm not sure if something is a little "off" at the moment. One of my stories that always was up in the high 4.8's dropped and is now 4.67 and stuck there. A few of my other stories have also dropped around half a point over the last month or six weeks after having been stable over a long, long period.

I know I pissed Scouries and his menagerie when I won the Halloween contest last year, and I was assuming perhaps he had orchestrated a little campaign, but now I'm not so sure.

Was the one that dropped your first story in the Mature category? Your most recent story is in that category, and may have attracted attention to the previous. Did the older story pick up a lot of new votes?

It could be as simple as that. The more people vote on a story, the more likely you are to pick up 4s from readers who vote by the descriptions of the stars ( which list 4 as an excellent story )

Your contest win also attracted extra interest to your list, which may have the same sort of effect with new 4s

It may just be a matter of attracting new eyes who aren't necessarily going to vote 5, and not anything malicious or sweep related.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

Yup, same here noticing sweeps attacking a bit more forcefully than usual.

How come you hardly ever see singular stories up on the toplists? I get that series have a huge fan base, they keep up on new chapters and the authors most likely notify their readers, but...what about singular story authors? Kinda leaves them at a big disadvantage.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yup, same here noticing sweeps attacking a bit more forcefully than usual.

How come you hardly ever see singular stories up on the toplists? I get that series have a huge fan base, they keep up on new chapters and the authors most likely notify their readers, but...what about singular story authors? Kinda leaves them at a big disadvantage.

Long running series get the top spot simply because casual readers have dropped off. The only people reading are die hards and vote mostly fives. So they get a lot of 4.8+ scores as opposed to stand alones which will get more of a "mixed response" I get a lot less votes ont he higher chpaters of my series but higher scores. Honestly at this point I don't look at the scores because they are skewed so once in awhile I put out a stand alone and take that score more seriously.

 

[GinaTina]

I've noticed the same thing on my submissions - but ya know what? A story in the high 4's is a damned excellent score. Who cares about going up or down a few hundredths of a point?

My favorite part about submitting stories is the comments I've received.. Those are far more - shall we say - intimate, than an impersonal click on a numbered star.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've noticed the same thing on my submissions - but ya know what? A story in the high 4's is a damned excellent score. Who cares about going up or down a few hundredths of a point?

My favorite part about submitting stories is the comments I've received.. Those are far more - shall we say - intimate, than an impersonal click on a numbered star.

True, but what is odd is today I had some votes added. the story is too old to have gotten a half a dozen votes last night so the system must have put them back fro some reason.

 

[PacoFear]

It may be that the scripts need to be tweaked for Sci-Fi & Fantasy and NonHuman, which are both picking up a lot more votes than they used to.

The biggest contribution to that comes from high-end toplist authors in the category posting more regularly. With the visibility in the New List, the categories are really beginning to pick up steam.

Lit's Fantasy and NonHuman authors are pulling their weight, but I think it's a rising tide too. Been to a bookstore lately? Watched T.V.? Pop fiction is waist-deep in vampy/wolfy/witchy/ghosty romance. The mainstream (in the U.S. atleast) has developed a major taste for this genre and that interest has been pouring over into our smutty efforts. I say surf it.

 

[twelveoone]

Hello, I don't belong here, being a so-called poet and such.
Darkniciad, thank you for earlier hep regarding formatting.
lovecraft68, and Darkniciad, I admire both of you for your stands. It is much worse over in poetry, anyone with ten friends (real or imagined) gets an H, anyone with one enemy (read, any regular poet) seems to be knocked off. Our readership is so much smaller.
Funny story, some years back. My brother tested it, submitted a bad poem, a provocative poem, testing the system. Thirty-eight one bombs in an hour. Lit. shut the voting off, I think for a week. We laughed our asses off. I don't think there has ever been 38 people in new poems ever for an hour.
So a small number of friends and alts really wrecks havoc over there.
As for me, I'm happy with my three readers and sometimes equal number of trolls. And I'm happy some else has the problem.
Keep up the good work.
Sorry for the intrusion.

 

[lovecraft68]

Hello, I don't belong here, being a so-called poet and such.
Darkniciad, thank you for earlier hep regarding formatting.
lovecraft68, and Darkniciad, I admire both of you for your stands. It is much worse over in poetry, anyone with ten friends (real or imagined) gets an H, anyone with one enemy (read, any regular poet) seems to be knocked off. Our readership is so much smaller.
Funny story, some years back. My brother tested it, submitted a bad poem, a provocative poem, testing the system. Thirty-eight one bombs in an hour. Lit. shut the voting off, I think for a week. We laughed our asses off. I don't think there has ever been 38 people in new poems ever for an hour.
So a small number of friends and alts really wrecks havoc over there.
As for me, I'm happy with my three readers and sometimes equal number of trolls. And I'm happy some else has the problem.
Keep up the good work.
Sorry for the intrusion.

No intrusion. I think it is a shame the poetry section has such view views and voters. I once complained about getting 5,000 views on a story and someone from there said they would kill for half that number. It's too bad.

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

twelveone, a poet is an author too! I've noticed that over in Poetry too. The moment someone mentioned a poem of mine on a thread, I got more reads, but also more 1-bombs and deconstructive criticism. Poetry is a tough crowd, for sure! Not everyone is a poet for the sake of the form. Some people just have the need to get their emotions out, with no rhyme or reason. I find poetry sometimes hard to critique because of the often personal nature of it.

 

[twelveoone]

twelveone, a poet is an author too! I've noticed that over in Poetry too. The moment someone mentioned a poem of mine on a thread, I got more reads, but also more 1-bombs and deconstructive criticism. Poetry is a tough crowd, for sure! Not everyone is a poet for the sake of the form. Some people just have the need to get their emotions out, with no rhyme or reason. I find poetry sometimes hard to critique because of the often personal nature of it.

Well. I have been noted for some nasty crits, mostly on those that should know better. And I do get annoyed when some show up with fan clubs. But I don't recognize the name, Wasn't me, was it? I usually hand out fives. I spent some time ridiculing some anon. that was trying to emulate me, as if I was afraid to leave my number on new writers. With new writers, I just leave one or two suggestions. Give 'em a five, and sometimes they thank me. We've had two new ones that were pretty bad, they are on their way to becoming poets.

Poetry is a tough crowd, we spend years on it and we all hate each other. Except for some of us that are the same person,

But as far as the need to get your emotions out, big mistake in poetry. The emotion should be the impetus, not in the front seat. It's actually best if it's the trunk screaming to get out.

P.S. Screw the form, that's why the "poets" hate me. Just learn a few techniques, start putting it together. If you say what I've never seen before, you'll have me looking in, favourably.
Best

 

[LunaEroticaMystica]

But what I mean is just because a person writes poetry, that doesn't necessarily make them a so-called "poet." It could simply be their way of releasing emotion, and if that's the case, they probably don't care for the critiques anyway. Mistake or not, there's a lot of that out there.

 

[twelveoone]

But what I mean is just because a person writes poetry, that doesn't necessarily make them a so-called "poet." It could simply be their way of releasing emotion, and if that's the case, they probably don't care for the critiques anyway. Mistake or not, there's a lot of that out there.

Turn the comments off. If you don't, that does put us so-called poets in a dilemma, we assume that you do want to get better. Some post because of that. Now whoever does New Poems Recommendations has to read these things. Face the rath of those that are not mentioned, face the rath of those that don't want criticism and zapped. And of course we also get it from the teens with 'tudes and
those that want to compare us to what there version of idealized poetry should be.
One low ball removes an H for us. Very few that leave criticism are able to maintain them. Those that invite there friends over because they wrote a "poem" complicates it further, now their friends "want to show us" what's what. That is very discouraging for poets to see it headed to the lowest common denominator. And it does.

Let me share this with you:

A gift for the authours

which links to the poem which was my emotional response to doing NPR for a month.

Ugly, huh?
If you read it, you should start to feel what I feel, pretty distressing, huh? That is the object of poetry to make the reader feel not to write what you feel, and in this case I use almost no poetic techniques. I'm good at this crap, 'cause I'm a comedian, and comedians are better poets that poets.

 

[ishtat]

. Some people just have the need to get their emotions out, with no rhyme or reason. I find poetry sometimes hard to critique because of the often personal nature of it.

A lot of poetry is bad, precisely because the writers try to pour their emotions into it. It is more often a better result when the writer deliberately dissects and extracts the emotion, thus leaving it to the reader to 'put it in' from whatever is their own experience/point of view. That takes skill.

1201 has a good point about small numbers of votes affecting poetry scores. We have excellent published poets on Lit who get lousy scores, either I guess through jealousy, or ignorance.

I copped the opposite. A few years back I posted poems fairly regularly, and was well pleased with the scores and H's. But then it slowly dawned on me; I had a fan who was pushing my scores up. It was embarrassing, because some of the stuff was, well, total crap! Eventually I ended up with about 14 H's out of about 2 dozen submissions when it should have been 3 or 4 at most.

Eventually, I persuaded her by pm to stop, but if you want to one bomb anything, people can have a crack at mine, to bring about a more sane set of results.

I think it was lovecraft68 who referred to the low numbers of views of poetry; I have one poem which has been up for 4 years and has 290 views so far!

I'm quite proud of that in a perverse sort of way.