I just discovered something

[mjl2010]

I didn't realize before.

If you get to the end of the story and vote, then leave a comment and vote there too, they both go towards your total votes and score?

It looks that way to me anyway and it's not obvious either.

MJL

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I didn't realize before.

If you get to the end of the story and vote, then leave a comment and vote there too, they both go towards your total votes and score?

It looks that way to me anyway and it's not obvious either.

MJL

Yep. But one of the votes will be deleted during the next sweep. It's not uncommon for readers to vote more than once for a story.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[minsue]

Don't be so sure. After a debate on the poetry threads about whether the thermometer vote effected the score, I tried it on my own and there was no vote counted even when I just left a PC without voting at all.

 

[mjl2010]

Yep. But one of the votes will be deleted during the next sweep. It's not uncommon for readers to vote more than once for a story.

Rumple Foreskin

They should put a note there that you only need to vote once. Either in the comment or at the end of the story.

MJL

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

They should put a note there that you only need to vote once. Either in the comment or at the end of the story.

MJL

Agreed. The voting mechanics at Lit could be smoother. For instance, Lit provides no way to keep track of the stories you've voted on. It's easy to lose track of stories you've voted for during a contest. If I'm in doubt, which does happen, I don't hesitate to vote twice.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Lauren Hynde]

If you vote using the regular voting system and then leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will not be counted.

If you do not vote using the regular voting system and leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will be counted instead.

Any subsequent votes, either using the regular system or the comment feature, will not be counted.

 

[mjl2010]

If you vote using the regular voting system and then leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will not be counted.

If you do not vote using the regular voting system and leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will be counted instead.

Any subsequent votes, either using the regular system or the comment feature, will not be counted.

AHA! Clarification! I love things to be clear!

Thanks Lauren

MJL

 

[Selena_Kitt]

If you vote using the regular voting system and then leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will not be counted.

If you do not vote using the regular voting system and leave a comment, the "vote" left with the comment will be counted instead.

Any subsequent votes, either using the regular system or the comment feature, will not be counted.

so the default "50" could end up being your "vote" if you leave a PC and don't vote first?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

so the default "50" could end up being your "vote" if you leave a PC and don't vote first?

Yep, that's a risk.

 

[S-Des]

Don't be so sure. After a debate on the poetry threads about whether the thermometer vote effected the score, I tried it on my own and there was no vote counted even when I just left a PC without voting at all.

It takes hours (or longer) for a thermometer vote to be counted. Sometimes people miss it because they expect an immediate result (like with voting). Lauren is right, the first vote cast is the only one that counts. At the same time, I've seen some weird stuff happen with votes that seems to fly in the face of what the stated policy is. There are probably flukes that break all the rules, so you just never know.

 

[S-Des]

so the default "50" could end up being your "vote" if you leave a PC and don't vote first?

I've had readers who didn't know the policy and left the Thermometer at 50, intending to come back and vote after they finish the story (if it's written in chapters). Despite my best efforts not to do it, I've accidently left it at 50 a couple of times. The smartest thing to do is vote first, then leave a comment.

 

[RogueLurker]

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that the default vote when you are leaving a comment is now 100% and i'm automatically logged in under my screen name (don't have to retype my name in).

That means if you want to leave a lower vote, you have to choose to do so ... also, if you want to leave an anon comment .. then it is a conscious choice. I thought that was one of the new enhancements Manu was talking about.

Or am I imagining this new enhancement?

 

[minsue]

It takes hours (or longer) for a thermometer vote to be counted. Sometimes people miss it because they expect an immediate result (like with voting). Lauren is right, the first vote cast is the only one that counts. At the same time, I've seen some weird stuff happen with votes that seems to fly in the face of what the stated policy is. There are probably flukes that break all the rules, so you just never know.

Actually, I checked for days and hadn't previously voted on the poems because I don't vote on my own schtuff. No votes were counted from my test PCs.

This was back when the thermometers first came into being, though. Perhaps they've changed their scoring since then. *shrug*

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that the default vote when you are leaving a comment is now 100% and i'm automatically logged in under my screen name (don't have to retype my name in).

That means if you want to leave a lower vote, you have to choose to do so ... also, if you want to leave an anon comment .. then it is a conscious choice. I thought that was one of the new enhancements Manu was talking about.

Or am I imagining this new enhancement?

Nope, you're absolutely right.

 

[RogueLurker]

Nope, you're absolutely right.

I was begining to wonder ... I've seen a few threads/conversations in other threads about voting but nobody else has mentioned the changes. I was starting to wonder if I was imagining it all.

I think it's a great improvement ... half my comments went in as anon because I forgot to log in on the comment page.

 

[Darkniciad]

I was begining to wonder ... I've seen a few threads/conversations in other threads about voting but nobody else has mentioned the changes. I was starting to wonder if I was imagining it all.

I think it's a great improvement ... half my comments went in as anon because I forgot to log in on the comment page.

I mentioned it and gave it a at some point - in the Vday thread I think. I didn't notice that the thermometer defaulted to 100%, though. I was just happy not to have to type my name and password every time I left a comment.

*backspaces rant about the hoops you have to jump through in order to cast a "legitimate" vote*

 

[snooper]

Voting - who cares?

I don't allow voting on my stuff because I don't understand what it means.

If it meant something like 1=bad, 2=not too bad, 3=average, 4=good, 5=can't be improved, then I could just about understand it, despite this being a very crude system, since "interesting" and "well-written" are orthogonal measures. Reading other authors' comments leads me to think that any story with an average less than 4•5 is a complete failure; this means that only votes of 4 or 5 are meaningful and all others are trolls.

 

[minsue]

Reading other authors' comments leads me to think that any story with an average less than 4•5 is a complete failure; this means that only votes of 4 or 5 are meaningful and all others are trolls.

That certainly seems to be the prevailing attitude.

 

[Darkniciad]

That certainly seems to be the prevailing attitude.

Most people, myself included, who don't find a story worth at least a three will never reach the voting form. The back button will be the only thing they click. That inflates the average score, which is pretty much the only real possibility when you aren't required to vote on everything you read ( which I'm not advocating, by the way )

So, that does more or less boil down to anything less than 4.5 is a failure. It means not enough people have liked your story to drop a 4-5 on it, countering the bombs that everyone knows are dropped on everything, probably without having read word one of your story many times.

I know there are people out there who do use the full range of the voting form to express their real opinion. If they feel the story is utter garbage, they give it the one or two they think it deserves. If they feel it's okay, it gets a three. Only truly enjoyable things get a four, and only masterpieces get a five.

I think I can safely say they're a tiny minority, however. Most people simply won't vote that one or two, because the story has turned them away long before the voting form.

 

[minsue]

Most people, myself included, who don't find a story worth at least a three will never reach the voting form. The back button will be the only thing they click. That inflates the average score, which is pretty much the only real possibility when you aren't required to vote on everything you read ( which I'm not advocating, by the way )

So, that does more or less boil down to anything less than 4.5 is a failure. It means not enough people have liked your story to drop a 4-5 on it, countering the bombs that everyone knows are dropped on everything, probably without having read word one of your story many times.

I know there are people out there who do use the full range of the voting form to express their real opinion. If they feel the story is utter garbage, they give it the one or two they think it deserves. If they feel it's okay, it gets a three. Only truly enjoyable things get a four, and only masterpieces get a five.

I think I can safely say they're a tiny minority, however. Most people simply won't vote that one or two, because the story has turned them away long before the voting form.

"The bombs that everyone knows are dropped on everything?" Does that not seem a little paranoid? Isn't it possible that someone just didn't like it? Are we all victims here?

Before coming to the boards, I always voted the full range. Anymore, I just don't bother to vote very often because I'm not going to give someone a vote I don't feel they deserve just because I like them as a person and I don't feel like dealing with having to defend myself as a "troll" for giving a truly average story a 3.

 

[Darkniciad]

If you look around, you can even see threads here in the forum ( not the AH that I know of ) where people admit to bombing people's entire lists, just because they don't like them, or their politics. The entire toplists have been one-bombed in sequence, numerous times. The PCs point out people who haven't read the story, simply voted one because they don't like the category/author/comments/etc.

There's plenty of evidence of extensive trolling, having little to nothing to do with the story the one-bomb was thrown at.

There have been quite a few informal surveys since I've been here, and a plurality of people simply back-click if they don't think the story is at least decent. I've heard the same from numerous readers who don't visit the boards, as well. Hardly perfect science, but the heavy lean lends weight that a large percentage of 1s dropped on stories have suspect reasoning behind them.

It's not paranoia, it's the way things are. If it doesn't have a comment, public, private, anonymous, or whatever, and it's a one or two, it's suspect - especially when there are other factors involved. The trolls are fairly transparent in their tactics most times.

I consider the bulk of threes to be those rare full range voters ( except in contests, where a wider range seems more common compared to typical day-to-day voting ) considering how few of them you actually see.

A lot of the fives are suspect "cheerleader" votes too. Nobody is going to complain about them, though, because the score is a draw for more readers, and more feedback, which is what most are after. That's my only real concern with score, the visibility factor that leads to feedback. I'm perfectly happy with a 4.71 in LW, while that score in Sci-Fi Fantasy would be depressing to me, because the average scores in LW are much lower, and you get plenty of exposure with a 4.71.

"The bombs that everyone knows are dropped on everything?" Does that not seem a little paranoid? Isn't it possible that someone just didn't like it? Are we all victims here?

Before coming to the boards, I always voted the full range. Anymore, I just don't bother to vote very often because I'm not going to give someone a vote I don't feel they deserve just because I like them as a person and I don't feel like dealing with having to defend myself as a "troll" for giving a truly average story a 3.