Editors Choice, Authors rewards

[Jack T. Ladd]

I know I am a virgin here and so, I know nothing.

But, from what I read, it seems a huge amount of writers here are not very happy with the voting and feedback system.

What is obviously and desperately needed is some form of accredited feedback and reward.

It is clear that votes can always be manipulated. And the number of reads are often misleading. (Sometimes not very well written, crude, and very graphic stories may get the biggest reads of all) So, (and I am sorry if this has been done before), but here is another option for your consideration.

The editors all see and approve every story they publish, right?

So, let them each select just ONE, which in their subjective opinion, is the best they have seen in that weeks submissions. Those selected stories are then notified on the author’s feedback page for further peer approval and voting.

I would suggest content is irrelevant as this is just too subjective. Rather, they are voted on for their ability to be simply a good read, for their quality of writing, and originality.

A formal scoring system should be applied to avoid subjectivity as much as possible and also to ensure a level playing field.

Three votes would do it I think.
1/ Good.
2/ Excellent
3/ A ‘classic’ worthy of real world publication.

All the stories selected for that week and the winner, should then be posted on a new page perhaps called the “Authors or Editors choice selection” page, for general viewing and normal voting and comments.

Visitors to the site would immediately benefit from a great selection of stories, pre-chosen for the quality of writing.

And that can only be a good thing, for all of us, right?

 

[jfinn]

Hi Jack,

Welcome to Lit. It's always nice to see new people and I hope you'll stick around for a long time.

What you're suggesting is really an expanded idea of what already happens.

If you go to the what's new section, or now the different author's pages you'll see where some stories have a green E after them. Those are Editor's Choice stories, picked because Laurel found something in the story that she felt deserved recognition.

Unfortunately there is no central area, but I like that idea. Right now though you'll have to hunt around for them, but I think you'll find it worth your time. I read all the stories I stumble over that have the designation and so far I've rarely been disapointed.

Jayne

 

[Jack T. Ladd]

Thank you for your welcome! I see I am being a foolish virgin... but your point about 'stumbling' upon stories points up the problem rather well, dont you think?

 

[oggbashan]

Get searching

There are pearls out there in the mass of oysters.

There are so many stories on Literotica and nearly as many opinions about what is "good".

Even getting agreement on a definition of "good" is impossible. Good for what? If the story is wankable it will get votes.

If it isn't, now matter how good technically, it won't.

The editors are human and do their best but their likes may not be yours (or mine). Even so, an E beside a story means that it is worth looking at. An H - maybe, maybe not. It might just appeal because it is near porn and may not have much literary merit.

"Good" is in the eye of the reader and any other definition would require many provisos.

Choose a category of story that appeals to you and read at random. If you find a story you like, tell the author and look at their other work.

If you look back through the back files of the Authors' Hangout you will find many discussions on the system.

One last hint. If you like what an author has posted on this board, you might like the stories as well. Most of us put links to our work at the end of each message.

Og

 

[Weird Harold]

The editors all see and approve every story they publish, right?

A minor but important point -- At Literotica, it is Editor, singular.

Laurel and Manu ar the site owners and operators, and either can assign an Editor's Choice marker, butLaurel is the story editor and in practical terms, the green E means "Laurel likes this one."

While I agree with many of Laurel's choices, I don't agree with just as many more, so a seperate list of the stories she likes wouldn't do me much good.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Jack...I see several flaws...

1. your lowest rating is "good." There are plenty of stories on this site that do not deserve even that title. And to echo a fellow poster...good by who's definition. There are plenty of stories on here that are "good" by person x's definition, that "suck" by person y's, and are "publishable" by person z's. And that definition can be as easily swayed by an element such as gay sex, a strap on or the use of something that the reader hates.

2. The voting system is flawed, yes. But Laurel does monitor voting trends...but I would argue that if a story evens out at a 2, it probably deserve a 2. Although I've had a few stories that I felt were mis-scored, for the most part I'm pleased with my scores.

3. Does your score really matter? As most of us have learned over time, the feedback really does carry more of an impact than the score.

 

[Chicklet]

2. The voting system is flawed, yes. But Laurel does monitor voting trends...but I would argue that if a story evens out at a 2, it probably deserve a 2. Although I've had a few stories that I felt were mis-scored, for the most part I'm pleased with my scores.

For the most part (NOT THE WHOLE PART) I tend to agree with whatever scores stories have. Whenever I see a story with a 2, it really deserved that 2. Anything above a 4 is usually very enjoyable.

While the voting system seems pissy to us, I think that it works as well as it's supposed to. It's just when you start mixing money and winning into things that people get irritable.

mho.

Chicklet

 

[Couture]

As has been discussed previously, human scoring, be it by reader or by editor is going to be subjective. Therefore, a system that uses this method will be flawed, since humans are flawed.

My idea is to use a computer model to grade the erotic content of a story. The computer analyzes the story and does a word count on "Fuck" "Cunt" "Whore" "Mother" "Daughter" "Son" "Ass" "Creampie" etc. and scores the story, giving one point for every keyword.

Next, the story gets a point for every comma and qoute mark. 5 points for every semi-colon.

(You may laugh, but I think I'm on to something here. . ."

Oh, and the best part is this. No matter how bad the author's story scores, when the author logs into Lit, they will always see their story in the #1 spot. I mean let's face it. The problem isn't with the scoring . . .the problem lies with our screwed up psyches.

 

[Jack T. Ladd]

Ok, forgive my opening what is obviously an open wound!

Any system would be flawed, and the one you have is fine. For myself, I am just happy that some people are actually reading my stories at all!

btw...delicious...I love that avatar..yummm!

 

[oggbashan]

My idea is to use a computer model to grade the erotic content of a story. The computer analyzes the story and does a word count on "Fuck" "Cunt" "Whore" "Mother" "Daughter" "Son" "Ass" "Creampie" etc. and scores the story, giving one point for every keyword.

Next, the story gets a point for every comma and qoute mark. 5 points for every semi-colon.

(You may laugh, but I think I'm on to something here. . ."

DurtGurl would head the list.

Og

 

[Weird Harold]

My idea is to use a computer model to grade the erotic content of a story. The computer analyzes the story and does a word count on "Fuck" "Cunt" "Whore" "Mother" "Daughter" "Son" "Ass" "Creampie" etc. and scores the story, giving one point for every keyword.

Next, the story gets a point for every comma and qoute mark. 5 points for every semi-colon.

A totally objective way of rating stories on "Erotic Merit" is impossible because whether a story is "good," "Bad," or "Erotic" all depend on who is reading the story.

Just as a glaring example, your choice of keywords are almost all words I would rate a story higher for NOT including.

One major flaw in your idea is that I would just use ";;;" as a scene break marker and score higher than anyone else for using semicolons.

However, your basic idea of a computer rating has some merit and MS Word has a function that could provide a potentially useful rating -- The Readability statistics function of the Grammar checker.

If I had a wayof knowing before I opened a story that it was 3,500 words in five sentences and two paragraphs, and 50% passive voice, at a 12th grade reading level, I could save a lot of download time by ignoring it.

 

[Chicklet]

If I had a wayof knowing before I opened a story that it was 3,500 words in five sentences and two paragraphs, and 50% passive voice, at a 12th grade reading level, I could save a lot of download time by ignoring it.

lmao

 

[flawed_ethics]

It's a good point by WH though, funny as it seems. I have trouble imagining the 'New' page with columns featuring the title, description, author, category, word count, paragraph count, average word length, word diversity ratio, passive %, etc.... That's a long list! My eyes don't squint like they used to, ya know.

The idea is noble. In my opinion at least. Those of us who frequent the boards (well, maybe just the AH, SF and SDC boards) could list in our siglines a story from the past month that we felt stood out (that the poster didn't write). Yeah, taste is subjective, and everyone differs. But highlighting a story that stirred you up in all the right ways might be the good deed that offsets out own shameless promotions.

 

[Weird Harold]

It's a good point by WH though, funny as it seems. I have trouble imagining the 'New' page with columns featuring the title, description, author, category, word count, paragraph count, average word length, word diversity ratio, passive %, etc.... That's a long list! My eyes don't squint like they used to, ya know.

The totals would have to be combined into a single "readability score" to be practical, some mathematical formula and a way of automating the process would have to be developed. People would complain that their story was unfairly treated by the uncaring computer that can't appreciate their brilliance.

Very little would change in the long run because such statistics would only really have meaning to a very few people -- mostly nerds like me -- and wouldn't affect readership or votes one way or the other.

The few nerds like me would also figure out a way to tailor a story for high scores without improving it much in the process.

 

[Jack T. Ladd]

Sadly, a point none of you seem to have picked up on (and one I deliberately let hang in the air) was the ‘community’ aspect of my suggestion. The editor’s choice would actually be REQUIRED READING by his/her peers. It would NOT be to criticise or put down, but rather to encourage us poor, less than worthy, supplicants. Hopefully that would engender an even greater aspiration to climb the heights - not to mention the further promotion of creative and imaginative writing. A good pool of peer-approved work would then be gathered together, for all to easily find, browse, enjoy, and learn from.

Still, if you would all prefer to continue to imitate the Roman senate, endlessly debating semantics and splitting hairs, that’s fine. See? Men have PMT days too!

 

[Couture]

Jack, actually something like that has been tried before. But the fact is, there are just too many stories here. Then you also have stories in different genres. Long story short, while your idea is a good one, it didn't work out.

However, I do think it would be nice to have a review function here.

 

[Jack T. Ladd]

Ok, forgive my rant...blame it on my hormones! (G)