Graph of scores per story

[Altissimus]

Hey,

Apologies if this has already been asked, but would it be possible to see a break-down of scores for each story? To clarify I mean on the author's own submission page, so for the Author's eyes only.

I think this would help authors understand how their stories are being received - for example, a high number of 4s and 5s with a small number of 1s is more informative to the author than an overall score in the high 3s. Similarly, a balanced score across 3s and 4s with some 2s show that the story was far less popular overall.

Would this be useful, and can it be done?

A.

P.s. on a separate note, someone on here talked about requesting a "score cleaning" of some shape, where Laurel/Manu adjusts a scored story for "1-bombs" - how is this achieved please?

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Hey,

Apologies if this has already been asked, but would it be possible to see a break-down of scores for each story? To clarify I mean on the author's own submission page, so for the Author's eyes only.

I think this would help authors understand how their stories are being received - for example, a high number of 4s and 5s with a small number of 1s is more informative to the author than an overall score in the high 3s. Similarly, a balanced score across 3s and 4s with some 2s show that the story was far less popular overall.

Would this be useful, and can it be done??

I've brought this up before. I'd find it useful, at least... Now that laurel has confirmed that they do keep a history of votes with time stamps, it's reasonable to ask for it, but also fair to point out that changes generally don't get made on request. Maybe in the promised-someday Lit 2.0 the feature will appear.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

P.s. on a separate note, someone on here talked about requesting a "score cleaning" of some shape, where Laurel/Manu adjusts a scored story for "1-bombs" - how is this achieved please?

This is a heavily guarded secret of Lit. They have a process the somehow sweeps scores, whether they be 1s or 5s that appear to be out of the average. They also sweep duplicates, votes by the same user from a different IP and vice versa.

Personally I don't pay that much attentions to scores, but have noticed that after the story had dropped off the new list, view, vote stop or trickle down to nothing. So what a chart would tell you is that most of your votes are what they are and happen in the first three days or so of you story being published.

 

[TxRad]

This is a heavily guarded secret of Lit. They have a process the somehow sweeps scores, whether they be 1s or 5s that appear to be out of the average. They also sweep duplicates, votes by the same user from a different IP and vice versa.

Personally I don't pay that much attentions to scores, but have noticed that after the story had dropped off the new list, view, vote stop or trickle down to nothing. So what a chart would tell you is that most of your votes are what they are and happen in the first three days or so of you story being published.

Yes and no. If you have a high enough score to get on a top list or you enter a contest then you can keep on getting reads or at least views. Several new features on the story layout help also. Similar stories, top stories for the category, so on and so forth.

On the question of sweeps, Zeb is more or less right. To get a story or a list of stories swept you have to PM laurel and ask for it.

 

[DreamCloud]

I would expect that the more information that is given out, the easier it would be to game the system. It is best if the system remains a black box.

My only qualm is that anon gets a vote. I think you should have to create a login to vote.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I would expect that the more information that is given out, the easier it would be to game the system. It is best if the system remains a black box.

My only qualm is that anon gets a vote. I think you should have to create a login to vote.

You can block anon votes. It's in you profile on the story side. The problem then exists that an anon read won't vote because he has to login and let the world know he voted. Of course they could just create a new user id and vote, but I don't see too many readers doing that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Apologies if this has already been asked, but would it be possible to see a break-down of scores for each story? To clarify I mean on the author's own submission page, so for the Author's eyes only.

Not currently available as such, but if you record the info on your author page frequently you can get a pretty good idea. If you have say 4.75 off 20 votes, and then the 21st vote drops it to 4.67, the difference is (4.67*21-4.75*20) = 3 so you can figure out that the vote was a 3. Like Zeb says, it tapers off a lot after a few days; mine generally get as many votes in the first week as in the next year or two. (Other authors who post more frequently might get more traffic through to their older stories, I dunno.)

P.s. on a separate note, someone on here talked about requesting a "score cleaning" of some shape, where Laurel/Manu adjusts a scored story for "1-bombs" - how is this achieved please?

They don't give out info on how they detect bogus votes, but if you're asking how to request a sweep, use the "report story" option and ask for it. If you want all your stories swept, just do it on one story and include in the request that you're asking for all your stories.

You can request sweeps on other people's stories too; I've done this once or twice when there was some blatant vote-stuffing going on.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You can block anon votes. It's in you profile on the story side. The problem then exists that an anon read won't vote because he has to login and let the world know he voted. Of course they could just create a new user id and vote, but I don't see too many readers doing that.

Does that block anon votes, or just anon feedback? The only option I can see on voting is to switch off voting altogether.

But yeah, I'd guess about 90% of votes are from people who aren't logged in and don't want to be. It's hard enough to get any kind of response from readers without making them jump through hoops.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I would expect that the more information that is given out, the easier it would be to game the system. It is best if the system remains a black box.

My only qualm is that anon gets a vote. I think you should have to create a login to vote.

You won't get many votes.

What I'd like to see is voting and comments blocked from known anonymizer sites. Nothing emboldens a coward like "no one can find me". I'd probably be hard to detect them all though.

(Note: I get that net anonymity can have value. But it's not needed for voting here. )

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Does that block anon votes, or just anon feedback? The only option I can see on voting is to switch off voting altogether.

But yeah, I'd guess about 90% of votes are from people who aren't logged in and don't want to be. It's hard enough to get any kind of response from readers without making them jump through hoops.

Actually, it's feed back, I'm sorry my mistake. But you really wouldn't know if anon voted or not. You also don't know if say Laurel voted for you or not. Voting is actually truly anonymous.

Even if you had a chart, would you want to know who voted? Sure it would be nice, but I doubt Lit would let you know.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You won't get many votes.

What I'd like to see is voting and comments blocked from known anonymizer sites. Nothing emboldens a coward like "no one can find me". I'd probably be hard to detect them all though.

(Note: I get that net anonymity can have value. But it's not needed for voting here. )

But YOU can't find them. The site (Lit) can by IP, unless it's from a VPN or anonymizer site.

 

[MatthewVett]

Not currently available as such, but if you record the info on your author page frequently you can get a pretty good idea. If you have say 4.75 off 20 votes, and then the 21st vote drops it to 4.67, the difference is (4.67*21-4.75*20) = 3 so you can figure out that the vote was a 3. Like Zeb says, it tapers off a lot after a few days; mine generally get as many votes in the first week as in the next year or two. (Other authors who post more frequently might get more traffic through to their older stories, I dunno.)

That's a lot of work for a histogram, especially near the start. Another site I post to does histograms automatically, and I love it. It's interesting seeing the different curves that each story has, and where the mode is.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

But YOU can't find them. The site (Lit) can by IP, unless it's from a VPN or anonymizer site.

If I were a hater and prone to making anon comments filled with hate, I'd be concerned that Lit could know my IP address and do something about it. Or be forced to do something about it.

There are people here, some in this forum, who seem to believe that 1) they are truly anonymous because of a name change and 2) they can say anything they like to anyone with total impunity. They are quite wrong.

case in point: A few months back I toyed with the idea of proving that several people here and holding this belief, were very wrong, in a very expensive fashion. Words *can* be grounds of legal action and the law *can* compel Laurel et al. to cough up IP addresses. I had the sense not to follow through on the temptation, and solved the problem in much better ways - but not everyone is as nice as I am. Spill enough hate on a website and you can discover, as some have, that you are nowhere near as anonymous as you think.

People rant about free speech, sometimes even here. But it doesn't apply to privately owned websites, which is almost all of them. And they forget that free speech is (in the US) actually a fairly narrow right. It exists to provide for political and social discourse, but if you stray from those and make things personal, what you say better be CORRECT and PROVABLE, or you can end up in an expensive world of pain.

Haters gonna hate, but realistically they should also fear.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

If I were a hater and prone to making anon comments filled with hate, I'd be concerned that Lit could know my IP address and do something about it. Or be forced to do something about it.

There are people here, some in this forum, who seem to believe that 1) they are truly anonymous because of a name change and 2) they can say anything they like to anyone with total impunity. They are quite wrong.

case in point: A few months back I toyed with the idea of proving that several people here and holding this belief, were very wrong, in a very expensive fashion. Words *can* be grounds of legal action and the law *can* compel Laurel et al. to cough up IP addresses. I had the sense not to follow through on the temptation, and solved the problem in much better ways - but not everyone is as nice as I am. Spill enough hate on a website and you can discover, as some have, that you are nowhere near as anonymous as you think.

People rant about free speech, sometimes even here. But it doesn't apply to privately owned websites, which is almost all of them. And they forget that free speech is (in the US) actually a fairly narrow right. It exists to provide for political and social discourse, but if you stray from those and make things personal, what you say better be CORRECT and PROVABLE, or you can end up in an expensive world of pain.

Haters gonna hate, but realistically they should also fear.

Problem: If words hurt you, maybe you shouldn't be where you can hear or read them.

Spending money to get what? It's most likely the person you sought was poorer than dirt. So, what would you get? Satisfaction? A large legal bill? A judgement against someone who will never pay you?

They would just sit there laughing their ass off at you along with everyone else who thinks that the PC police have gone way overboard.

If words hurt your feelings you better grow a thicker skin.

 

[49greg]

Just a ramble, trying to sort this out in my head ...

Anon one bombs suck. By 'one bomb' I mean a low score given just because a reader hates a particular subject or author, regardless of how well or badly the story was written.

I think if someone low balled a story because I made grammar, spelling, generally poor writing or some other reason to do with the story, and explained it, I would try to understand. I mean, if I ran a hundred yard dash and came in last because I am a lousy sprinter, I couldn't complain to the judges. But if I came last because a spectator stuck a foot out and tripped me - well then, that's different.

I can't see a fix for the situation here in Lit that would be better than what is done now. I've thought about the idea of only being able to vote unless signed in, or unless a comment was added, or even if they had actually viewed the story for long enough to have read each page. But I think then that the number of votes would go down and, I'm not sure the scores would go up. Readers who vote high scores, but do it anon, just wouldn't vote. I often read and vote on stories when I'm not signed in.

As for alt IDs, what can you do? Someone mentioned IPs. If that's true then it wouldn't matter.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Some one didn't read...
02/25/09 By: Anonymous in Everywhere
the story, just saw the authors name and farted out a comment.


04/22/08 By: Anonymous
BS, and the language is stupid.. One does not use snipers like that.. Those are highly trained individuals and used for terrorizing and demoralizing the enemy.. But if you're referring to a small arms war with peasants involved, good shots perhaps but no military training on both sides? Nah.. Yoron.

Here is an example of what 49greg is talking about. The bottom comment was posted and as the author I just knew he (Yoron) never even read the story. Then another reader, no not me, called him on it almost a year later.

Oh and I don't have the faintest idea who Yoron is or was.

Or he was responding to this comment...

Well done.
11/17/07 By: damppanties
A really, good effort. It held my interest throughout and the language was impressive.

But I doubt it as it was 6 months after this comment

 

[HandsInTheDark]

If words hurt your feelings you better grow a thicker skin.

The motivation to involve the law was economic, not emotional. I've been called things more accurate than anyone here will ever manage, by people who actually know me. I don't care. But I wasn't going to stand for crap that could affect my standing with a publisher. Feelings, my ass. None of you mean enough to me to affect my feelings. Potential income, though...

havung said that, in a forum, words are all there are. If you pretend to be that uninvolved emotionally in the words here, why are you here at all? Anyone posting, cares enough to post.

There are folk here who seem to be motivated to post largely by hate. Oddly I'm not thinking of jbj's gay nigga cow routine - I think he just likes kicking shit and it means little, even to him. Other folk here are much less vehement but I think more hateful. And that's what I use ignore for.

 

[Bramblethorn]

People rant about free speech, sometimes even here. But it doesn't apply to privately owned websites, which is almost all of them.

Legal guarantees of free speech don't prevent the owners of a private website from restricting its users' speech, but when you're talking about subpoenaing IPs then that's bringing the government into it, and at that point the First Amendment most certainly does apply.

And they forget that free speech is (in the US) actually a fairly narrow right. It exists to provide for political and social discourse, but if you stray from those and make things personal, what you say better be CORRECT and PROVABLE, or you can end up in an expensive world of pain.

Not quite. Truth is indeed an affirmative defense, but there are several other defenses, some of which put the onus of proof on the plaintiff. Some examples:

- that the offending material was a statement of opinion, rather than a statement of fact: it's not defamation if I call somebody a miserable jerk
- that the statement was not damaging: e.g. if you're using an anonymous forum handle it'd be awfully hard to prove that your reputation had been damaged by statements made against that handle
- that the statement is not likely to mislead anybody: see e.g. Hustler Magazine v. Falwell

Any lawyer who offers to represent you in a defamation action for things said about your anonymous forum handle is taking you for a ride.

 

[sybarite_1]

Here is an example of what 49greg is talking about. The bottom comment was posted and as the author I just knew he (Yoron) never even read the story. Then another reader, no not me, called him on it almost a year later.

Oh and I don't have the faintest idea who Yoron is or was.

Or he was responding to this comment...



But I doubt it as it was 6 months after this comment

Interesting. Can you as an author remove hateful posts after your story? Is there a function for doing that? I think it would be a fair way to clean out the crazies.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The motivation to involve the law was economic, not emotional. I've been called things more accurate than anyone here will ever manage, by people who actually know me. I don't care. But I wasn't going to stand for crap that could affect my standing with a publisher. Feelings, my ass. None of you mean enough to me to affect my feelings. Potential income, though...

havung said that, in a forum, words are all there are. If you pretend to be that uninvolved emotionally in the words here, why are you here at all? Anyone posting, cares enough to post.

There are folk here who seem to be motivated to post largely by hate. Oddly I'm not thinking of jbj's gay nigga cow routine - I think he just likes kicking shit and it means little, even to him. Other folk here are much less vehement but I think more hateful. And that's what I use ignore for.

Because I always like a good laugh...sometimes at other peoples expense.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Interesting. Can you as an author remove hateful posts after your story? Is there a function for doing that? I think it would be a fair way to clean out the crazies.

Yes, you can delete any comments on your stories from you dashboard - submission>view.

In most cases I leave them there to show other readers how ignorant some people can be. Besides I like a good laugh.

That first post was from an author I respect. (the damppanites one)