Do you rate stories that just didn't appeal to you?

[AG31]

I'm torn when I read a story that I think is really well written, but it just didn't work for me. Should I give it 5 stars because it's technically very good? Should I give it one star because it left me cold? Usually I just don't rate. But I'd like to acknowledge good writing. I wish there were two ways to rate. I loved it, and Super well written.

What do you all do?

 

[Winter_Fare]

I'm torn when I read a story that I think is really well written, but it just didn't work for me. Should I give it 5 stars because it's technically very good? Should I give it one star because it left me cold? Usually I just don't rate. But I'd like to acknowledge good writing. I wish there were two ways to rate. I loved it, and Super well written.

What do you all do?

If it's bad enough to vote three or less I won't get as far as hitting the stars because life is too short to keep reading something I'm not enjoying.

 

[KeithD]

By the nature of this Web site (sex stories), I think more readers are looking for content and ignoring presentation quality than would be the case in a "literary" stories Web site. And I think that's natural for a Web site like this. Thus, I'm a bit more happy here when quality of presentation is mentioned in the comments.

 

[Rob_Royale]

For me, if it's written well, that's the goal. Just because it has surprise buttsex! when I'm not into it, isn't a reason for me to down grade it. If the writing is there, characters good, a plot, it gets a 5. Because the writer put in the work.

 

[Djmac1031]

Just because a story is "well written" (good grammar, punctuation, etc) doesn't mean it's entertaining or even good.

If it's not holding my interest my page one, or if I get far enough into it to realize it's just not for me, I move on.

And no, I don't rate it. Why would I, if I didn’t finish it?

On the flip side, if I make it through a story that engages me and keeps me entertained throughout, I'll probably rate it 5 despite typos, spelling errors or grammar mistakes etc.

That happens to all of us and unless it's just SO bad as to show zero effort in editing, I'm forgiving of it.

And again, if it's just so terribly written that I can't finish, I'm probably long gone before getting close enough to the rating stars to click them.

 

[MrPixel]

If it's bad enough to vote three or less I won't get as far as hitting the stars because life is too short to keep reading something I'm not enjoying.

Bingo. Anything awful (to me) or way out of my interest zone (like I/T) doesn't make it past the first page, if not the first three paragraphs.

Which also backs up my assessment that 1-votes are vandalism, intolerance and hate, and are never (or extremely rarely) honest appraisals. Why would a reasonable person endure 2, 3, 4 or more pages of garbage just to vote it down?

 

[KeithD]

Just because a story is "well written" (good grammar, punctuation, etc) doesn't mean it's entertaining or even good.

Yep, it really needs to be good storytelling too, with a good story to tell.

 

[KeithD]

If the stories didn't appeal to me, I probably wouldn't reach the point of voting or commenting on them.

 

[JusticeGrey]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a question related to this topic. I recently posted a story in the Loving Wives category because, to me, it is an LW story. It's the only real fantasy I have of being cuckolded. There is bisexual male sex involved, but for me that's kind of my normal, so it isn't that kind of story in my mind. There is no bisexual male category, either. It certainly isn't gay, since there is lots of hetero sex. I am getting FLAMED in the comments and rated very poorly.

Some people have favorited the story and followed me, though, so I guess I don't care (it does bother me some). I guess I'll leave it up.

My question is: am I in the wrong, or are the people who voice their displeasure at the content wrong? I put a disclaimer at that beginning, but I guess reading that was too much to ask of people who are here to read erotic stories. Should I have the story moved? If so, where?

 

[Djmac1031]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a question related to this topic. I recently posted a story in the Loving Wives category because, to me, it is an LW story. It's the only real fantasy I have of being cuckolded. There is bisexual male sex involved, but for me that's kind of my normal, so it isn't that kind of story in my mind. There is no bisexual male category, either. It certainly isn't gay, since there is lots of hetero sex. I am getting FLAMED in the comments and rated very poorly.

Some people have favorited the story and followed me, though, so I guess I don't care (it does bother me some). I guess I'll leave it up.

My question is: am I in the wrong, or are the people who voice their displeasure at the content wrong? I put a disclaimer at that beginning, but I guess reading that was too much to ask of people who are here to read erotic stories. Should I have the story moved? If so, where?

The problem isn't your story.

It's the category system, and that one in particular.

The vast majority there want ONE kind of story: Burn The Bitch.

Anything less gets trashed.

Maybe next time try group sex or fetish.

Smaller audience but far more forgiving.

 

[oneagainst]

I rate stories if I get to the end of them, and usually a 5 - after all, life's too short to drink crap wine, and I'd have bailed before the end if it was shocking. A 1-star rating, I agree with the above, is more about vandalism or gaming the ratings than it is an honest appraisal. But then, I take the rating system to be asking me "is it a good story?" where there are a bunch of readers who take it as "Did it do it for me?"

 

[madelinemasoch]

I oftentimes finish reading something I hate because I'm a completionist and my eyes are always on the clock. I do it to pass time. If I get to the end and I really do hate it, I 1-bomb it. I'm one of the authors (few, probably) who'll tell you I actually give a story the rating I think it deserves. I never give a 5 for effort, and I don't think I've ever given a 5 to anyone besides Tilan.

What influences my choice is also whether or not the story in question already has an undeserved high rating. Then I'll go even lower than I planned to. There's a lot of garbage on the site that somehow has 4.something ratings.

 

[oneagainst]

What influences my choice is also whether or not the story in question already has an undeserved high rating. Then I'll go even lower than I planned to. There's a lot of garbage on the site that somehow has 4.something ratings.

Ah, that's a tricky thing to justify, that you're "correcting" the score as opposed to giving the objective rating... after all one person's "OMG-how-can-you-write-this" is someone else's touching-romance-with-feet-licking...?

 

[madelinemasoch]

Ah, that's a tricky thing to justify, that you're "correcting" the score as opposed to giving the objective rating... after all one person's "OMG-how-can-you-write-this" is someone else's touching-romance-with-feet-licking...?

Yes, we all live within an eternally relative hell. That only makes me own my own opinions more.

 

[ruddygore]

I don't rate stories often, but when I do it's a five because it's a story I really like.

There is one situation where I would give a story a one. That's where the story is basically incomprehensible. Then the author will reply back with something like "Y U B H8ING.

 

[Bamagan]

I'm torn when I read a story that I think is really well written, but it just didn't work for me. Should I give it 5 stars because it's technically very good? Should I give it one star because it left me cold? Usually I just don't rate. But I'd like to acknowledge good writing. I wish there were two ways to rate. I loved it, and Super well written.

What do you all do?

I abandoned both giving and receiving ratings not long after I started writing here and saw how passionately crazy it drives everyone. I usually defaulted to a four for anything I completed and enjoyed, with a three if (for example) it needed more editing and polishing of a good concept. I was sparing with fives, because I wanted it to be both well-done in a technical sense and appealing in an aesthetic sense (by which I mostly mean it played to my fetishes). Like the others here have said, I usually wouldn't rate anything that would have deserved a 1 or a 2 by those criteria. I said in an earlier thread I couldn't remember ever doing so, but I later dimly recalled reading a story that did an abrupt about-face in the last three paragraphs or so that ruined it for me, so I did give that a vote of 1 since the reversal turned my enjoyment to regret and irritation.

 

[Euphony]

Votes here are as much a referendum on the realities of the voting system vs. actual merit.

I'm of the opinion the system is diluted/flawed/unrepresentative of writing quality that using the scale actual 1-5 does further harm than good.

It's wide open voting, measured voters, informed voters, fanbois, content softies (that's MY fetish FIVE STARS!!!), have equal weight.

Writers groups are where it's at. There's a lot of AH friends organically reviewing/improving each other's work. If getting better is the real goal, those sorts of relationships are worth cultivating more than any score level or story badge.

Voting is just so filled with data noise I can't see placing but so much stock in it.

 

[KeithD]

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I have a question related to this topic. I recently posted a story in the Loving Wives category because, to me, it is an LW story. It's the only real fantasy I have of being cuckolded. There is bisexual male sex involved, but for me that's kind of my normal, so it isn't that kind of story in my mind. There is no bisexual male category, either. It certainly isn't gay, since there is lots of hetero sex. I am getting FLAMED in the comments and rated very poorly.

Some people have favorited the story and followed me, though, so I guess I don't care (it does bother me some). I guess I'll leave it up.

My question is: am I in the wrong, or are the people who voice their displeasure at the content wrong? I put a disclaimer at that beginning, but I guess reading that was too much to ask of people who are here to read erotic stories. Should I have the story moved? If so, where?

You're wrong if you want favorable votes and comments here on Literotica. I've found the GM category takes male bisexual stories without unfavorable comment. (Have no idea about the votes, other than such stories that I post to GM don't rate lower than others as far as I can see.)

 

[MillieDynamite]

Mary has received comments from other writers about her stories being free of oblivious spelling or grammatical errors and kudos for writing well. I'm sure they weren't fans of the cuckolding subject matter. Her stories seem to be loved or hated in equal measure. She gets lots of trolls hitting her with totally undeserved comments. And, of course, her scores are held down because that's what cheating stories get: a five here, a one there, always offsetting each other.

 

[KeithD]

Authors here will be happy that you stopped rating, because, unfortunately, with this voting system and the way it's used, it's a 5 or down vote.

 

[AG31]

Yep, it really needs to be good storytelling too, with a good story to tell.

For me "well written" is not about grammar, punctuation, etc. In fact those could be really bad. It's whether the story keeps me "in the moment," even if the moment isn't, for me, erotically arousing.

 

[MillieDynamite]

One site used to have a triple-vote system. All three were 1 - 10—Style, Skill, and Hotness.

 

[AchtungNight]

I’m with the OP on this issue. However I’m coming to understand what some writers I know have meant when they talked about getting into intellectual or emotional positions on sexuality more than physical ones as I get older, though I’ve always been that way to a degree… maybe I’ll be more willing to rate for style and substance over performance soon.

 

[luv2custrip]

I gently pass them by. If something positive strikes me, I will leave a positive comment. My thinking is that writers should be encouraged to keep writing. Negative comments and bad ratings may shut a beginner down too soon.

 

[AchtungNight]

And I just gave a story about a vampire here a five even though it really bothered me and did not excite me in a good way at all. I also gave appropriate private feedback to the author, WollstonecraftWoman. I guess “soon” is today. Nice.