How much do you pay attention to your ratings?

[sophia jane]

I've already admitted I'm addicted to feedback. Unfortunately I'm also addicted to my ratings. I'm so vain.
So, I was wondering am I just obsessed because I'm new and looking for validation? Or am I normal? (Well, okay I know I'm not normal!)
Also, does it ever piss you off to read a story that has a better rating than one of yours but is full of typos, grammatical errors and bad writing?
I do write for myself. And I will continue to write for myself, no matter what anyone tells me. But here I am obsessed with stupid numbers...
Anyone else?

SJ

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Yep. I think pretty much all of us, though not overly so. We take note, and now and then, I think it gets under all of our skins when we see some story that's terribly written with cardboard characters getting high ratings when ours might have taken longer and more effort and actually have a chance at being considered "literary" for lack of a better word.

I have one I'm about to submit in a few days, not quite done, but working a deadline. It's non-erotic but looks wind up in the Illustrated category, depending on another Lit. member. I'm a bit wery of the votes it'll recieve, since people tend to expect to see porn, and it won't involve any, illustrated of written. I'll still submit it, and I won't defend it as better than anyone else's, but that doesn't mean that when "Mommy's Fukking Dadddy's Best Frind and her own SOon" outrates it, I won't get pissed.

Rambling some.

Q_C

p.s. If I haven't said so before, welcome to Lit. and the AH.

 

[rgraham666]

I'm a feedback slut myself.

I do enjoy watching my scores.

And I regard Lit as being somewhat like TV. Most of the stuff here is for a very specific market. And written to a formula. To find real skill, you have to dig.

 

[minsue]

I pay enough attention to learn that being up for a category nod appears to be a sure way for the score to plummet.


Welcome & keep watching. It's fun.

 

[SlickTony]

I write mostly for my own entertainment, so when I see more and more of my stories acquire H ratings, I'm pleasantly surprised. I confess, I covet an E rating, which I've never gotten. Black Shanglan's Will is one of the very few I've seen that got one that I didn't think, Well, geez, that story's no better than any of mine, how does it rate an E?

 

[impressive]

I check once daily (and I agree with min).

 

[rikaaim]

I only have some poems posted right now. I check the scores on those on occasion. They don't even have enough votes to be anything worth wild. I am finishing up a story that I've been working on for a long time now. I know my poems have flaws, big flaws. I didn't, and still don't, take them seriously. Those are what I write to release random or pent up feelings. This story however, I've put too much into it. I should have dumped it months ago, but I just put everything of myself into and hate to see it fail, by my standards fo course.

Welcome to the AH. I'm sorry I don't have usual kind and oft poetic words to soothe or entice, but I am in a rather shitty mood right now. I offer my most sincere and kind welcome though.

 

[fifty5]

My self-defensive stance is that everyone (even though we claim otherwise) has a thirst for acknowledgement.

There are those who write so much that they can afford to disregard the score on individual submissions. Some win awards. Some actually get paid for writing.

Most of us (alright, 'I') just get off on so many people reading the little I've written - and when my one and only was just under 4.5 I couldn't stay away from watching the rating...

Creeping up to 4.51 was almost (no, I fib, actually nowhere near) as good as orgasm! It was still a thrill.

Enjoy what you get - and pray that the one-bombers don't go for you!

 

[sophia jane]

I'm glad to hear that I am, afterall, normal. Or relatively so. Thanks for the welcomes, too!
I think I did get hit by a one bomber (or maybe it was merely a two) because I had a huge drop in my score yesterday that my new story just hasn't recovered from fully.
While we're on the topic of numbers- what does everyone consider a "good" score? What are you happy with?
SJ

 

[minsue]

While we're on the topic of numbers- what does everyone consider a "good" score? What are you happy with?
SJ

Theoretically, I consider anything above 3.0 to be a good average score. I must admit, though, I'm not happy without that damned H. I'm working on that, though.

 

[rgraham666]

Myself, I would regard anything over 4 as good.

A trick I do is convert the score to a percentage. Multiply the score time 20.

So a four or better would be over 80%. If you got an exam score like that you would be .

 

[brightlyiburn]

Like with everything else I do, I'll wander into the mode of checking my ratings and back out again eventually. I just forget sometimes. Don't ask me how that works, cause I don't know. Like a hyperactive kitten, I get sidetracked very easi-ooo, string!


What's sad is that you really can distract me with string.

 

[rikaaim]

Myself, I would regard anything over 4 as good.

A trick I do is convert the score to a percentage. Multiply the score time 20.

So a four or better would be over 80%. If you got an exam score like that you would be .

That's my problem. I hold myself to a much higher standard. I'm not happy with an exam score unless it's about 93 percent. It has to be higher than even 90 percent for me, because I know I'm better than 90 percent if I just push myself.

 

[rikaaim]

What's sad is that you really can distract me with string.

Sadly, as am I. I noticed you posted several times that you play video games, PM me some time and we'll talk about favs.

 

[Seattle Zack]

Don't kid yourself, sophia, we all write for the attention, not for "ourselves." If that were true, we'd merely keep a diary, not post it for all to see. We all hope to connect with that elusive Reader, that one we can hold entranced because of our deft storytelling talents until said story comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

I'm addicted to scores and feedback too, I must admit. It is depressing to see your story rise to 4.8 or so, then get one-bombed into oblivion. Part of the Literotica circus, though, don't take anything personally.

Liked your stories, by the way.

 

[sophia jane]

Don't kid yourself, sophia, we all write for the attention, not for "ourselves." If that were true, we'd merely keep a diary, not post it for all to see. We all hope to connect with that elusive Reader, that one we can hold entranced because of our deft storytelling talents until said story comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Okay, you're right. I would do it for myself even if I didn't share, though. But yes, I do like the attention. Which is why I just went and submitted three more poems, poems that are far less likely to get good scores but I just had to see what happens with them anyway.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Live by the score, die by the score. I think everyone prefers feedback and public comments to just numbers, but usually numbers are all we have.

I usually watch my numbers for a couple of says after first publishing, but then it falls to once or twice a week maybe. In my experience, you can usually tell how a story's going to do after a few days, because the people who know you are going to read and vote early. After that the scores tend to drift downward a little, or a lot, depending onn whether you get bombed.

It's good to remind yourself every so often that scores are only a measure of popularity, not worth, and if popularity were the same as quality, then McDonald's would be haute cuisine, soap operas would be high drama, and Arnold Shwartzeneggar would be the best actor in the world. You've got to keep things in perspective.

---dr.M.

 

[msboy8]

Myself, I would regard anything over 4 as good.

A trick I do is convert the score to a percentage. Multiply the score time 20.

So a four or better would be over 80%. If you got an exam score like that you would be .

I agree as far as my stories are concerned. I feel that if it has a 4.0 then I have written something that's appreciated. I usually let the stories go where they will when I am writing. I also am involved in SRP threads and I really don't like spelling and grammer errors. (I do make allowances for those whose to whom english is a second language)

The red Hs are like grabbing the ring on a merry-go-round. It's a pretty prize. I've also seen how easy it can go away. Some of my offerings did so much better than I ever imagined they would, while others that I (and others) thought were marvellous have not done as well.

The main thing is to keep writing!

 

[Guest]

For the first week a story is up I check it a few times a day. After a week I check them every couple days. Mainly looking at the number of views.

Yeah, it bothers me when one doesn't do well. but not ad much as it used to.

 

[Lord DragonsWing]

I'll watch the ratings for a week or so after I first post. That usually gives me a good feel of how the story is going to do. I'll pay attention to the comments more to see what the readers like and don't like. Usually after I post a story it gets read and voted on. After the first two weeks, they'll read it but not make a comment or vote. Thank the Gods for AH and everyone on it.

 

[hmmnmm]

I allowed the ratings to push me around for a while.
when they've been low I said, "God I suck" and when they were good, "Hmm, maybe I'm learning something, finally." Such depency does not seem to help in the learning process.
Although I still check on them, the best thing of all happened and the one that I finally submitted that I actually liked has received the lowest rating - a very low one indeed - but it did not hurt because I still liked the piece - I actually laughed about it. It was very liberating.

There was a famous composer I read about a few years ago (can't remember right now just who) and if I correctly recall what I read, the more favorably his work was received the bigger failure he considered himself and when his work was despised it made him feel successful. Something like that. Another way to look at things.

 

[elsol]

Scores are something in lieu of feedback.

They're good to get you in the ballpark of your doing, and then the feedback can zero you in on whether you made it all the way around the bases or got picked off a third.

For the most part the scores only confirm what my ego already tells me

The feedback, now every now and then, someone kicks me in the ass and pushes me forward a step.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[English Lady]

I am more obsessed around a competition entry than at any other time. I watch scores for a fw days on new submissions and check once every now and then if I have no new submissions...I love to get feedback though...adore it...so I mostly check to see if I have and PC's not my score

 

[zschachwitz]

I look every two or three days, and am quite pleased with what I'm getting. No public comments so far, so I guess what I've written isn't too bad. But I have had an anonymous comment: "Cute. But a little early this year". What on earth is that supposed to mean, I wonder. If the writer reads this, could he/she explain. The "cute" is fair enough, but why the rest of it I wonder?

Typos do irritate me, though.

 

[wishfulthinking]

When I was new, I was addicted to votes and feedback! I used to watch the scores closely when I had a new story posted, and sometimes even write them down.

Now I simple watch when competition time comes around [middle of the month], because sure enough I get trolled bigtime, and I can laugh [now], and then just as surely Laurel clears out all the troll votes [sometimes 15 votes disappear]. But generally my scores fluctuate so much that I don't really watch anymore [I write in an unpopular category]. I'm more a pc and feedback slut.

I don't watch other peoples scores, but I figure they must jump up and down like mine, so it wouldn't be much of a comparison. But just because a story has poor grammar and stuff, doesn't mean that there story telling ability is in any way hindered [exception: incest cat ]. I would rather have shit spelling then no creativity, because spelling can be fixed. Although I do admit that when I am reading stories, and see a 4.49, I pop in and give them a 5.