Halloween Contest Off-Topic Thread

[SusanJillParker]

It should be noted that all of the contest money you've won here was in a contest that's based only on the number of stories posted in a year across the category list (the survivor contest). It has nothing to do with the themed contests discussed here or with votes or with popularity or with story quality. (This isn't a knock on the quality of your stories. The few I've read have been quite good. It's merely a "point of order" that you are not talking about the same kind of contest that this thread is talking about. You haven't won any themed contests on Literotica, have you? If so, which one(s)?)

So, I should think that you could talk more to the manipulation of themed contests and the art of downvoting than you can to winning strategies or history.

Thank you so very much for pointing out that I won the most difficult contest in the history of Literotica not once, not twice, but an unprecedented three times. I won the year long Survivor Contest three times.

Each win was $500, totaling $1,500.

I also came in 2nd in the most difficult contest on Literotica, the year long Survivor contest, not once, not twice, but three times.

Each 2nd place win was $250, totaling $750.

I also came in 3rd place, not once, but twice.

Each 3rd place finish was $200 totaling $400.

I also won first, placed 2nd, and won third place in 3 different theme contest under three different names winning $150, $100, and $50, totaling $300.

Being that there was no prize money awarded last year for the Survivor contest, Laurel gave the finishers a $25 gift card.

In my 9 years at Literotica, I've won $2,975, more than twice the prize money of any other author on the site.

Thank you Sr71plt for pointing that out. I was too modest to point that our myself.

You're a real pal.

 

[8letters]

I was warned ahead of time that participating in contests would be an infuriating rollercoaster experience. Those same people also warned me about the unfairness of Lit politics' affect on voting. Even still, I wasn't prepared for just how difficult it would be to watch something I poured my heart into get repeatedly and brutally bombed.

My recollection is that your story got brutally bombed on the first day because you posted it in Romance when at the end, it turned into a threesome story.

And, like LC mentioned, it didn't get any better after winning. I was able to enjoy it and be excited for about an hour before the bombing started again. Even worse were the immediate implied and outright accusations of favoritism (huh?) or a manipulation of the votes by Laurel, which made me question whether or not I really did deserve the win.
(Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond thrilled and grateful, but the aftermath was disheartening.)

I generally try to be as nice as I can to other authors, so it's hard for me to be this blunt. I don't think you deserved to win that contest. Your story was sub-4 after the first day of posting. The Romance readers didn't like that the story ended in a threesome. Then you appealed to Laurel to move it to Group Sex. To me, Laurel shouldn't have done that. To me, Laurel shouldn't touch any contest entry. Posted it in the wrong category - tough shit. Made a silly typo - tough shit. Formatting didn't turn out right - tough shit. Once you click Submit, that should be the way the story is until the contest is over.

So Laurel moved your story. Did she reset the votes and views? Because it went from like 3.8 to like 4.5 really quick.

Before Laurel started doing the final vote sweeping, "Quixotic Rapprochement" and "My European Summer Vacation" where neck and neck at 4.83 each. The next stories down were at 4.79. "My European Summer Vacation" had led from like Day 3 but "Quixotic Rapprochement" had been rising steadily and I was sure it would win. And then "Learning to Love the Heat" came from well back to win. I'm not accusing Laurel of manipulating the votes to make "Learning to Love the Heat" the winner. The non-transparency of how she sweeps away votes does make it hard to feel that the contest was won fairly. But anyone who has paid attention to contests before knows that the secret final sweeping is baked into the process. It's Laurel's site, so I'll accept that whoever she declares as the winner is the winner.

I'm not bitter about the loss. I think it was MindsMirror who got screwed out of winning. I got the winnings as an Amazon gift certificate and I've not put it on my account yet. "My European Summer Vacation" is on the Incest/Taboo Hall of Fame, which I think is far more important to my story views than placing first versus second in the contest. I think I would feel the same about how your story placed if I didn't have a story involved.

Ultimately, my opinion doesn't matter. You wrote a great story and won. It's Laurel's contest and by her standards, your story finished first. There are reasons to doubt that your story deserved to win that have nothing to do with site politics or people being mean. But you still won.

 

[Bramblethorn]

And I would agree with you, I do not really think it was our former Blackbird Pilot. All I wanted to do is to illustrate how quickly the atmosphere becomes poisonous

Deliberately making a false accusation against another poster isn't "illustrating" poisonousness, it's exacerbating it.

 

[NicoleZ]

Thank you so very much for pointing out that I won the most difficult contest in the history of Literotica not once, not twice, but an unprecedented three times. I won the year long Survivor Contest three times.

Each win was $500, totaling $1,500.

I also came in 2nd in the most difficult contest on Literotica, the year long Survivor contest, not once, not twice, but three times.

Each 2nd place win was $250, totaling $750.

I also came in 3rd place, not once, but twice.

Each 3rd place finish was $200 totaling $400.

I also won first, placed 2nd, and won third place in 3 different theme contest under three different names winning $150, $100, and $50, totaling $300.

Being that there was no prize money awarded last year for the Survivor contest, Laurel gave the finishers a $25 gift card.

In my 9 years at Literotica, I've won $2,975, more than twice the prize money of any other author on the site.

Thank you Sr71plt for pointing that out. I was too modest to point that our myself.

You're a real pal.

Wow!

That is one of the most impressive self-blowjobs I have ever seen, no wonder you are too modest to mention it yourself.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's roughly at about 100 to 200 votes, where your score will stop fluctuating wildly, simple arithmetic. (A 1 bomb changes your vote wildly when you have just 5 votes, but barely affects the score if you have hundreds or thousands). If part of your concern was based on the moment in time that you had five votes, that was, well, because you only had five votes. Note that this is 100 percent independent of the debate on conpiracies, yay or nay, or nay or yay. This is just the math.

Yup. Attached a graph of my story ratings over time (missing the beginning for the earliest eight because I didn't think to track stats until later).

You can see the same sort of pattern with every new story: the score is extremely volatile for the first few days and then it gradually smooths out. Some of my stories started low and then went up during that volatile period; others started high and then dropped. I suspect one of them might have been subject to some bombing (and yes, that was a contest story) but the volatility affects all new stories.

 

[sr71plt]

How do you cast your votes? One and only one vote after the entries are all in? Thanks!

I don't vote in any contest I've entered. I've entered all Lit. themed contests for years, so it means I don't vote on the entries.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Wow!

That is one of the most impressive self-blowjobs I have ever seen, no wonder you are too modest to mention it yourself.

Thank you but, as you'll find out and probably already know, unless you're one of the insiders around here, there no chance in Hell you'll ever win a contest.

They cancelled the Survivor contest because no one could beat me. Authors even banded together to write stories under one unified named...and they still couldn't beat me.

In 2007, as BostonFictionWriter, I posted more than 200 stories. In 2008, as BostonFictionWriter, I posted 330 stories. I think I deserve to blow my own horn.

I've taken nothing but abuse from Sr71plt, TxRad, and LoveCraft.

Because I wrote under my brother's name, Freddie, in 2007 and 2008, as I was scared to write under my real name, they still call me Freddie and not Susan.

I've been bashed, hounded, stalked, I've had my Facebook page hacked with personal info posted on Literotica, I've had death threats, I've had someone write shit, shit, shit, in the comments section of all of my stories and I've had all over my red H's erased 3 times.

I think I deserve to bra about my accomplishments on a board that is monopolized by deeply disturbed men.

My advice to you is to watch your back. You've already made a lot of enemies with those who post here 24/7 because they don't have a life, this is their life.

Good luck to you.

 

[sr71plt]

I think the best testimony to being able to win here without being on anyone's "love" list (not to mention having been a named target of the group whispered about here)--and certainly not on Laurel's "love" list, as she's called me a troll, is that, through some fluke, I took second this year in the All Fools Day Contest--with a GM story, no less. So a win is definitely possible. It probably takes some miscalculating on someone's/some group's part, though.

 

[TamLin01]

I just like to get over 4.0. If I get under that I feel like I need to work on the story.

Well of course, that's hardly uncommon. But I didn't ask what writers want. I asked what we expect.

 

[oggbashan]

Well of course, that's hardly uncommon. But I didn't ask what writers want. I asked what we expect.

I expect to post stories and then leave the audience to decide what they think of them.

I've moved on to writing the next one.

 

[sr71plt]

Once you click Submit, that should be the way the story is until the contest is over.

I agree with this, unless the system, rather than the author, caused a problem with the story. I don't know of any legitimate writing contest that includes midstream do overs. A friendly contest could, I guess, but the theme contests here have money attached to them (which I think should be done away with anyway).

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well of course, that's hardly uncommon. But I didn't ask what writers want. I asked what we expect.

My bad. Expect? Nada. I do hope tho - but I'm like oggbashan, my minds already into the next story. Never been back to edit and resubmit a story yet. However it goes up is how i'ts going to stay. I'm not a perfectionist. My speellling's probably evidence enough of that if any's needed.

 

[lovecraft68]

There are reasons to doubt that your story deserved to win that have nothing to do with site politics or people being mean. But you still won.

Well that leaves one reason, you simply didn't think it was good enough. You're being passive aggressive here. "I'm not bitter, then yap yap yap. You wrote a great story, but yap yap yap."

Seriously tacky there. But if we're going to be honest, you're pretty goddamn full of yourself and I know I'm not the only one that's seen that.

You had a handful of unremarkable stories spread out over a couple years, then have three or four in the last couple of months, that have done very well and one placed in a contest. Good for you, seriously.

But the way you tell people what you think of their writing in the feedback forum is condescending and that's putting it nicely. Now you come out and tell someone they didn't deserve a win for no other reason than you didn't think it deserved it as you, one reader.

That author was very green so the story being mis-catogorized was a mistake, and it was laurel's decision to move it and the second she did I told Everlux that if she had been here longer people would have bitched. But someone is anyway in that great modern day passive aggressive way.

The hall of fame? Sure, its nice in the beginning until you see more and more manipulation of it and then read a lot of them and wonder how the hell they got there. Your amazon gift card was worth more than a HOF spot, trust me.

The summer loving contest was one of the few in the last couple years that had no BS or complaints. Three people won for the first time and that was great to see and incest took two of three which made me very happy personally.

Don't ruin a nice finish by pretty much saying their story wasn't good enough to win.

Just keep something in mind. There are some seriously good writers on this site. Writers that have been doing it for a long time here and other places. Those people have forgotten better stories than you'll ever write if you keep up your superiority complex. Don't talk down to those you think aren't as good to you, try looking up at the ones you want to be.

To be clear, I'm not saying I'm one of them. Hell, I'm a self described hack and I'm sure others will agree. Here anyway, other places, well, you might be surprised.

Just try to keep it in your pants. You're no better-or worse-than anyone else here.

 

[SecondCircle]

Irony.

 

[sr71plt]

Indubitably.

 

[NicoleZ]

Deliberately making a false accusation against another poster isn't "illustrating" poisonousness, it's exacerbating it.

You mean in exactly the same manner as you just falsely accused me of falsely accusing another poster? Oh I see! Thanks for explaining this!

 

[NicoleZ]

This is actually turning out to be a very good and informative discussion. Thank you!

 

[lovecraft68]

Irony.

Only to you and the Pilot behind you who looks for things to jump in on.

Calling out manipulation and vote blocking is a far cry from telling someone they flat out don't deserve to win. Which if they're not calling politics or cheating that's all that's left.

The irony of ironies is a group of people bailing here because they're just so much better or want to be, then still using the site as a platform to puff up their 'status'

 

[SecondCircle]

Only fine when you do these things?

What's been evident to me is that you usually cry foul or cheating or vote blocking when stories win that you yourself deem unworthy of winning, for whatever reason.

 

[SusanJillParker]

I think the best testimony to being able to win here without being on anyone's "love" list (not to mention having been a named target of the group whispered about here)--and certainly not on Laurel's "love" list, as she's called me a troll, is that, through some fluke, I took second this year in the All Fools Day Contest--with a GM story, no less. So a win is definitely possible. It probably takes some miscalculating on someone's/some group's part, though.

Congratulations on your win. You're a a devoted writer, something we have in common.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You mean in exactly the same manner as you just falsely accused me of falsely accusing another poster? Oh I see! Thanks for explaining this!

Nope. You accused SR of using an alt, right here:

With this answer, I think it is safe to conclude that you are indeed the person behind the obvious alt Jenorma 2012 - https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=3101773 ...

You then acknowledged that you didn't actually believe this, and that you'd only said it to make a point:

And I would agree with you, I do not really think it was our former Blackbird Pilot. All I wanted to do is to illustrate how quickly the atmosphere becomes poisonous...

I'm comfortable with calling that a "false accusation", but other forum members are welcome to form their own opinions.

 

[NotWise]

Well,

It is rather interesting to learn from others what has gone on here before I joined and I wish I had known in advance. As I was curious and had read about one-bombing, I have kept an eye on the stats and this is what I observed:

Wow, you're way too wrapped up in it, and that comment comes from someone who tracks votes almost obsessively.

You get an advantage in exposure any time you post to a contest, and you probably shouldn't count on anything more than that.

I haven't been here for but a little over a year, but I have a hard time swallowing conspiracy theories.

The voting system here is something that you have to take for what its worth. It's a popularity rating, not a comment on your writing. And it ain't science.

Not everyone views the voting scale in the same way. A lot of people may like the story and gush a 5* for you, while other people may like it just as much and give you a 4* -- that's a big difference if you need to get to 4.8. To some people a 3* vote is "well, it's an okay story" and to other people it means "Ick."

If you write in readable English, then a 1* or 2* vote is merely an insult. This is the Internet. Insults are easy.

And as far as I can tell, the size of the vote has little to do with whether or not the site will sweep it. I might have stories where more 5* votes have been swept then 1* votes.

 

[SamScribble]

As several people have already said: contests here are not literary contests, they are popularity contests. If the self-selected group of readers who vote like you and like what you wrote, they’ll probably give you fours and fives; if they don’t particularly like you or what you wrote, they almost-certainly won’t give you fours and fives.

Are there readers (and I use the term lightly) who will one-bomb? Oh, yes! Are there other authors who will one-bomb? I honestly don’t know. But I suspect so.

Should we be worried about all of this? I think it is only natural for an author who feels that he or she has done a good job to feel miffed by a less-than-positive reception – but I’m not sure that there is much that can be done about it. As a dear departed friend of mine used to say: To worry about something which you can’t control is seldom a good idea.

Good luck, boys and girls.

 

[NicoleZ]

Nope. You accused SR of using an alt, right here:

You then acknowledged that you didn't actually believe this, and that you'd only said it to make a point:

I'm comfortable with calling that a "false accusation", but other forum members are welcome to form their own opinions.

I sincerely hope that when they form their opinion, they will not cut out parts that inconveniently give the lie to what you falsely claim but read the whole and original entry:

With this answer, I think it is safe to conclude that you are indeed the person behind the obvious alt Jenorma 2012 - https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=3101773

If not, well, you can very easily see how poisonous and inflamed the issue is - and before you or anyone else point the finger - it did not begin with me!

When they do, they will see that before this entry there had already been several accusations and that they continue with sr71_plt, NOIRTRASH and SusanJill Parker to name three off the top of my head who have been thus accused. Also, when they do, I think they will wonder why you ignore this and single me out, Bramblethorn. Indeed, they themselves may begin to wonder about Bramblethorn...

 

[NicoleZ]

Wow, you're way too wrapped up in it, and that comment comes from someone who tracks votes almost obsessively.

Am I?

My first story was bombed twice, first when new and it had an avge of well above 4.50, then again after about a month when it had recovered to 4.55. I have no doubt that should it once again get back to above 4.50 it will once more be bombed off the Hot List so that as few people as possible get to read it.

Also, tell me that writers are not curious enough about the initial reactions when they have posted a spanking new story to take a gander every now and then! How would you react if your lovechild that you've spent many weeks on, rewriting it entirely twice until you know it is a very good story, better than the first you posted on Litterotics, and it gets bombed down to 3.23?