"H" what does this mean?

[kinkspeak]

I trolled the faq's to find out the meaning of this mysterious letter. What does it mean? Maybe for newbies like me, there should be a short explanation on top of the story.lit page on this scarlet letter.
It's been driving me nuts trying to figure this letter out. Put me out of my misery, please.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Trust me, it took me ages to notice that some stories had them, then ages to figure out what they meant. I sat there trying to click on them, thinking they were hyperlinked to some wonderful all-amazing explanation for us newbies, but sadly not the case!

H means hot - the stories have a score of 4.50 and above out of a possible 5.

I've also seen W - I think that means they have won an award or prize.

Cheers, WT

 

[jthserra]

I trolled the faq's to find out the meaning of this mysterious letter. What does it mean?

The H means hot... basically a story or poem maintaining an average of 4.5 in the votes with a minimum of 10 votes.

The other letters are E, editor's choice... a story or poem the editors like.

and W, winner of a contest.

 

[MaxSebastian]

And all the stories without any of those little coloured squares originally started off with an "H" but then some evil swine came along and ruined it by voting less than a "5"... isn't it unfair... people are so nasty... why do people bother to vote if they don't like the story... I know they did it because I had 4.80 with 5 votes and then the next day it was, like, 3.83 with 6 votes and I have a calculator... why does someone out there hate me for no reason... get my lawyer on the damn phone... yada yada yada...

You'll get used to it.

 

[kinkspeak]

And all the stories without any of those little coloured squares originally started off with an "H" but then some evil swine came along and ruined it by voting less than a "5"... isn't it unfair... people are so nasty... why do people bother to vote if they don't like the story... I know they did it because I had 4.80 with 5 votes and then the next day it was, like, 3.83 with 6 votes and I have a calculator... why does someone out there hate me for no reason... get my lawyer on the damn phone... yada yada yada...

You'll get used to it.

That made me laugh out loud and I don't often do that. God, it was the calculator part that was hysterical. I can relate to what you're saying, that is why it was so funny. Thanks for responding.

 

[jthserra]

Yes...

I had an H for a day. But for me it wasn't sudden, just a slow and steady bleed.

 

[Le Jacquelope]

That made me laugh out loud and I don't often do that. God, it was the calculator part that was hysterical. I can relate to what you're saying, that is why it was so funny. Thanks for responding.

Oh what is maddening is when you realize that you can have a high flying (4.75 or better) story with over a hundred votes behind it, and a single low vote can start wearing your average down.

Apparently once in a blue moon writers allegedly vote "1"'s to keep other competing stories down. That's when it gets ugly.

 

[BooMerengue]

Well, for god's sake don't mention when you get good reviews! I was in chat under my unknown-to-anyone-playname once when I heard some gals talking about my stories and saying I didn't deserve praise! Immediately my 5's plunged to 3's! And these gals aren't even writers- but they liked a fella who liked me... ho hummmmm...

 

[HedbangerSA]

The Little "H" and voting

Don't kid yourself that voters, including other authors, don't jump in and slam a story simply because it's doing well. I've seen too many instances where a story is scoring very well among real readers right until it has enough votes to hit the "toplist" - hence pulls above everyone's radar. Then suffers a sudden run of "1" votes. It is very sad, particularly from authors who should know how hard you work to write a story and then post it free of charge with the feedback and reader response as your only reward. The saddest thing is when you're tempted to respond in kind - on the theory that everyone else is doing it and you might as well protect yourself. For me, only tempted so far, thankfully.
The most insidious part of this isn't so much that deserving stories end up with lower scores than they deserve. If you get just a few "1's" early enough, it will offset a great many "5's" (if you have a 4.7, a 5 vote only pulls you up a bit, but a 1 drops you a lot) and if it drops you off the toplist, then all of a sudden no one even sees the story once its not on the "new" first page or two anymore. Then your story drops into oblivion, gets no more reads, and never has a chance to recover. One thing that can help is to send a personal note to readers who've responded favorably to prior stories - and do it right after your story hits the board. That way readers who may be favorably disposed to your style can read the new one and vote (however they want to) early in the game - hopefully you build up a base of objective votes, and get enough critical mass that the same few trash "1" votes can't hurt you enough. It seems to be after about 50-60 votes in total that you become sort of immune to the spite voting - they drop you but not enough to make you really bleed.

 

[jthserra]

Re: The Little "H" and voting

It seems to be after about 50-60 votes in total that you become sort of immune to the spite voting - they drop you but not enough to make you really bleed.

What's really tough, in poetry, you are sometimes lucky to get 50 to 60 reads. It's a struggle to get 10 votes, so your numbers can swing fairly easily.

 

[wishfulthinking]

I was just wondering if other authors find that after a certain time the score for a story starts to settle down? Even after a month or two mine still fluctuate a lot and wonder if this stops?

 

[Guest]

 

[kinkspeak]

here's my rationale

I've learned to ignore the ratings - what counts is the numbers of views. If they really didn't like it, they wouldn't be reading it.

I liken it to books in general - many great writers out there who've never ben on the bestseller list and yet their literary ability far surpasses the standards of a bestseller list. Whenever I pack up my stuff to move to another apartment, it's always the bestsellers that get left behind or carelessly given away and the quality works of literature that were jealously kept in my possession.

I'd rather receive a few reviews that praise the details of my sensual approach to writing than a hundred tellng me that they got a hard-on from the explicit sexual act. I was told that the reason one of my submissions got rejected on ths site was because none of the characters had achieved an orgasm even though it was a story about exhibitionism and I am convinced it was my best writing yet.

So yeah, screw the ratings.

 

[HedbangerSA]

Originally posted by Wishfulthinking

I was just wondering if other authors find that after a certain time the score for a story starts to settle down? Even after a month or two mine still fluctuate a lot and wonder if this stops?


Well, yes - though not for the reason you'd hope. After a month or so your score will stabilize for two reasons. First, your reads and the number of votes will drop off because your story won't be new anymore. Second, as the number of votes grows, it just takes more and more to move the average very much.

If your story can stay on the first page of the "toplist" for the category it is in - in the top 50 or so, then it will continue to get attention and votes, but still not like at first. Sigh.

I see that you're fairly new to the site, but are pretty prolific Wishfulthinking - five stories with the first posted in Dec. of last year. Keep it up. I still say the best defense against the trolls is to develop an "audience" - readers who have enjoyed past stories and are inclined to read and vote on new ones you post. While for most readers you're lucky to get a vote from one out of a hundred, your repeaters almost all vote. I also think it is a good idea to put a personal note at the end of the story encouraging readers to vote and give feedback. But be sincere and professional about it - I've seen authors turn readers off by being too pushy.

My Stories:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=199877

 

[wishfulthinking]

Thanks for that, but 5 stories in the last 3 months hardly makes me prolific, especially compared to the survivor contestants! Don't know how they do it.

All my scores dropped about .10 points last night, so I've reached the point where I don't care about points, but I won't be on the first page much longer at this rate!

 

[thebullet]

I haven't a clue as to how this all works. I had a story that was in the top 5 of one catagory for a couple of months. Then 1 or 2 votes dropped it down to about #100. It stayed there for weeks.

I looked the other day. As far as I could tell it had about the same number of votes, but it was back up in the top 2.

Go figure. How it works is a mystery to me.

thebullet's rantings

 

[HedbangerSA]

Voting, Scores and Prolificacy

Originally posted by Wishfulthinking
Thanks for that, but 5 stories in the last 3 months hardly makes me prolific

Impressive to me - it took me almost a year to put up 11. I haven't posted at Lit for a few months though, my last several stories are at a site that requires a 6 month exclusive period. Once that runs I'll post them here, I miss the feedback and the rush of the initial voting on a story (as frustrating and unfair as it sometimes seems).

Usually when there's a very sudden move in the ranking for a story that has been posted for a while it's because Laurel goes through periodically and cleans out the duplicate votes. Some readers vote more than once, I guess.

The real thrill of posting stories at a site like Lit isn't the score really - it's nice when you do well but it seems kind of arbitrary. The best part is the nice feedback you get from readers who take the time to tell you what they liked and how they connected with your story. That's special. Especially when they're convinced that a fictional story and characters are "real" and ask you about what happened later. That means the story was real - because it lived for the reader.

 

[hiddenself]

Re: Voting, Scores and Prolificacy

I haven't posted at Lit for a few months though, my last several stories are at a site that requires a 6 month exclusive period. Once that runs I'll post them here,...

Ah, and I was wondering whether you had simply upped and quit or just lurking out there. Nice to see that we can look forward to some more of your stories.

 

[hiddenself]

.
(double post deleted)

 

[HedbangerSA]

Originally posted by Hiddenself
Ah, and I was wondering whether you had simply upped and quit or just lurking out there. Nice to see that we can look forward to some more of your stories.

Thanks for noticing. I've got four new stories since my last on Lit and am working on a fifth. The new site is fun because it provides mandatory editing help that is very thorough and competent, and because they have professional illustrators that do drawings to accompany the stories. And they pay!

I still love Lit, though and will post stories here as soon as I'm allowed.

 

[Boxlicker101]

And all the stories without any of those little coloured squares originally started off with an "H" but then some evil swine came along and ruined it by voting less than a "5"... isn't it unfair... people are so nasty... why do people bother to vote if they don't like the story... I know they did it because I had 4.80 with 5 votes and then the next day it was, like, 3.83 with 6 votes and I have a calculator... why does someone out there hate me for no reason... get my lawyer on the damn phone... yada yada yada...

You'll get used to it.

It is hard to get used to, though. I have one story, actually chapter six of a novella, that has 15 votes. The first nine votes were all 5 , ant finally I got a tenth, another 5. That meant it was given an H, and was number one in its category. The next day, some troll, to use the proper term, bombed it with a 1. The next five votes were all 5's, and it has an average of 4.73 now, which goes to show what can happen. Fourteen people really liked the story and one person didn't or, more likely, felt mean, and the score is a quarter of a point lower than it should be.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Originally posted by Wishfulthinking

[
I see that you're fairly new to the site, but are pretty prolific Wishfulthinking - five stories with the first posted in Dec. of last year. Keep it up. I still say the best defense against the trolls is to develop an "audience" - readers who have enjoyed past stories and are inclined to read and vote on new ones you post. While for most readers you're lucky to get a vote from one out of a hundred, your repeaters almost all vote. I also think it is a good idea to put a personal note at the end of the story encouraging readers to vote and give feedback. But be sincere and professional about it - I've seen authors turn readers off by being too pushy.

My Stories:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=199877

You are absolutely right about that personal note. I used to get votes on about .1% of the views, about one out of a thousand. The last four stories to post have included a note at the end asking people to vote and saying I appreciate feedback, and I get votes on about 1% of the views and more feedback too. I am in the process of editing all my stories and resubmitting them and adding a notre at the end. It won't do a lot of good because they will get only a few views but it does help.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Re: here's my rationale

I've learned to ignore the ratings - what counts is the numbers of views. If they really didn't like it, they wouldn't be reading it.

Unfortunately, a large number of views might also mean that a lot of people didn't like it. A view only means that someone clicked on it; it doesn't mean that they read it. They might just take a look at the first sentence and bail out. That counts as a view too.

I look at ratings this way: if one of my stores rates low, it just shows how fucked up the rating system is. If it rates high, then it shows that, yes, it has its problems, but its a pretty good indicator of story quality .

---dr.M.

 

[rhody]

being a fairly new writer here, i have noticed that, while the ratings can be at first intriguing and incouraging, after a while they taper off. i have one of those 'h' next to one of my stories and pleased that it has maintained that. i even wrote another story under a different name and that one appears to be the bigger hit.

as for those trolls, i could care less if they knock me down or not. it's the reader's feedback that i treasure the most. i send feedback on every story i read.


rhody aka darkestsecreets

 

[wishfulthinking]

i send feedback on every story i read.


rhody aka darkestsecreets

I am very curious to know whether you get replies from the authors. I reply to feedback, and one emailed me back just the other day saying that had never happened to them before, and they told me a little bit about who was ready my story - all in the friendliest manner, nothing lewd like I'll be your dom.