I usually don't care about my story ratings.....but.....

[deliciously_naughty]

I normally don't care about my story ratings, but I've noticed recently that the stories I consider my "better" work have been taking a hit rating-wise, and the stuff I find less worthy has the higher ratings. For some reason, this is bothering me.

Has this happenned to you? Do you go through periods of sensitivity and others where you don't care? Are you particularly sensitive about one story versus another?

I've considered just not allowing voting on my stories, but i do enjoy the ego stroke a good rating provides.

I don't know...I guess I'm just rambling.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

DN, I sympathize completely. The ratings are a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't thing. I read some of the top-rated stories--or at least try to read them--and just shudder and think that I've just got to leave this site where crap is held in such esteem before I start imitating them.

But you know, despite the trend in American culture, there is a world of difference between being good and being popular. Winning an Oscar is one thing. A "Peoples' Choice" award on the other hand is pretty much of a joke.

As a writer, you hope that you're going to grow and eventually develop your own voice and style. You know when you've taken a chance and tried something new and succeeded, and the fact that readers don't approve shouldn't surprise you that much.

Why don't you post to Feedback and see what your peers think?

---dr.M.

 

[Star of Penumbra]

The lesson here is something Americans have known for years: Do everything really halfassed.

 

[PaulX35]

Hi DN,

I struggle with much the same problem. I sometimes have the impression the top marks go to instant ejaculation-work, while I tend to look for a little more depth in my writing, depth that is not always reflected in the scores.
My principal joy comes from fellow writers giving feedback though, as they seem so much better able to look into aspects that I consider the quality of erotic writing. Scores are "just" the people's vote: no more, no less.

I have also experienced that the actual theme can influence a score. A story I posted for the Holiday contest never made it over 4,00 average, and while not smashingly brilliant, I do think it's a pretty good story: yet it deals with something that may not stroke the male ego all that easily, and a female sneak-previewer already announced that the story might not be voted high for that reason. So far it turns out she was right, unless of course my story is really sucking a lot more than I thought it did

Paul

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Being the optimist that I am, I think that this is because people have been raised to see sex and sinful and dirty, and stories that have foul language, disgusting details, and something "forbidden" in it - interracial, incest, gay/lesbian, etc - are therefor more interesting to people who come here to "do something dirty". They just love to roll around in filth.













Either that, or they're just plain stupid.

 

[Un-registered]

... or both.

 

[Killswitch]

DN
I wrote my fourth story, and it was posted. After 25 votes it was ranked the third story overall in Lit. It was number one in its catagory. Running a 4.88 at the time if I remember corrrectly, maybe a 4.87.
5 votes later it was down to a 4.41.
Its plainly obvious to me that I was trashed with malicious voting.
Now I dont think it takes any rocket scientist to figure out who is doing the malicious voting. It has to be any "Few" of the top ten rated people here in Lit, and or their mailing lists of readers.
It's a flawed voting system, and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Just realize who is doing it. I can post names if youd like....but it's apparent to me it had to be the competition......Killswitch

 

[PaulX35]

Yes, but...

...Its plainly obvious to me that I was trashed with malicious voting.
Now I dont think it takes any rocket scientist to figure out who is doing the malicious voting. It has to be any "Few" of the top ten rated people here in Lit, and or their mailing lists of readers.
It's a flawed voting system, and there is nothing that can be done about it...

Killswitch,

While I will not deny that "tactical" voting is taking place on this board as in every voting system, there may also be a different effect at work. Stories scoring high attract new readers who may not be as much interested in the theme as your previous voters. That may push the score down, as many vote on what tickles them rather than the quality of a story as such.
Just a thought.

Paul

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I struggle with much the same problem. I sometimes have the impression the top marks go to instant ejaculation-work, while I tend to look for a little more depth in my writing, depth that is not always reflected in the scores.
My principal joy comes from fellow writers giving feedback though, as they seem so much better able to look into aspects that I consider the quality of erotic writing. Scores are "just" the people's vote: no more, no less.

Paul I think you're on to something. My top marks (with a few exceptions, like the 5th chapter of Wesley's Woman which is the resolution chapter and almost devoid of sex) have gone to my incest/stroke/fast and dirty works, where the lower scores have gone to the stories that I have cared about more and wherein have striven for things like plot and subplot, character development and depth.

I honestly respond more to feedback, but I often wish that I could open a dialogue with the people who have given me feedback. For example, there is a person who provided incredible feedback on each and every chapter of Wesley's Woman, and signed a name but did not provide an email add. I came to lit to see if that was the persons registered name on lit and to try to open a dialogue b/c he had some amazing views and insights that I would have liked to have discussed with him. Alas, this person remains anonymous.

On the other hand I have gotten feedback from authors whose work I have enjoyed here on the boards and those responses count so much more. To know that author X felt that I handled the story very well or what have you does mean more to me.

But I'm still saddened by the lack of effort/interest some of the readers put forth. Can't an erotic story be sexy AND have more to it than sex and have the readers here at lit respond to it in a positive way?

sigh.

 

[PaulX35]

Paul I think you're on to something. My top marks (with a few exceptions, like the 5th chapter of Wesley's Woman which is the resolution chapter and almost devoid of sex) have gone to my incest/stroke/fast and dirty works, where the lower scores have gone to the stories that I have cared about more and wherein have striven for things like plot and subplot, character development and depth.

Another thing that doesn't get you high scores is dealing with less easy themes, as in not pleasing the sensitive male ego

But I'm still saddened by the lack of effort/interest some of the readers put forth. Can't an erotic story be sexy AND have more to it than sex and have the readers here at lit respond to it in a positive way?

I look at this the way music meets its fate. Most of the stuff making it to the Billboard is not too good, and most really good music doesn't make it to the Billboard. There are a few exceptions now and then, so there is hope. Just a trace though

Paul

 

[wildsweetone]

interesting thread DN

i don't want to get into the usual voting tangle of questions, but was wondering this,

... would you consider your lowest scoring work to be less intense on the sex scenes?

i have two stories that are scoring low, both i consider my best work, and neither are jack/jill off pieces.

 

[Killswitch]

I honestly dont think its all that complicated....Look at the top ten stories.......they are by the same three people generally......is that coincidence....is that fantastic story telling?...or is it voting strategy......I vote for the latter. But I vote only once.

 

[PaulX35]

I honestly dont think its all that complicated....Look at the top ten stories.......they are by the same three people generally......is that coincidence....is that fantastic story telling?...or is it voting strategy......I vote for the latter. But I vote only once.

Did you ever report this to Laurel? I'm sure some IP-tracing can be done on voting, which would rather swiftly unmask whole bunches of fellow students voting for the same stories, or some devices being used to enable multiple-voting.

Paul

 

[christo]

Laurel does do some detective work on her end to make sure someone who works in a college computer lab isn't voting for themselves 500 times. If you think you're stories have been deliberately targeted (i.e. every one of your stories gets hit with a single low vote in one day) send her a PM and she'll check it out. I've done that a couple of times and she's been good enough to investigate and remove the bogus scores. I wouldn't inundate her with requests like that, only if something really disasterous happens.

Mind you, she'll remove HIGH scores from your records if the same thing happens in reverse. It goes both ways.

My attitude toward other people's scores is this-- if ANYONE writes a story with a higher score than me I suspect vote fraud. This is my jumbo-sized ego rationalizing why someone would like another story more than mine, sob sob.

I tend to write longer, more involved stories, and sometimes those don't appeal to readers looking for a quick fix. Then again, many of the stories with very high ratings are pretty long, too. I've tried to figure out why certain stories I don't find very compelling score so high, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't have a goddam idea.

My lowest-scoring stories are, for the most part, the stories I thought were the worst. Some are stories I knew folks wouldn't like. I wrote a story called "Revenge at Omega House" that I knew would make people mad and score low, and it did. Even I don't like the story, but I got it into my head and couldn't let it go till it was done. I wrote a story called "A Virgin on Bourbon Street" that I thought people would really like and it scored even worse. So, the hell do I know?

It would be nice if every reader voted, and if every reader provided insightful feedback, but most people don't come to Lit for a writing workshop. They want to be entertained. How often do you read a novel and write to the publisher? Even though all it takes is a click of the mouse, some folks can't be bothered. Their hands are already occupied, if you've done a good job.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

It would be nice if every reader voted, and if every reader provided insightful feedback, but most people don't come to Lit for a writing workshop. .

Interesting comment....why not start a writing workshop? (or is that the feedback forum that I haven't hung out on yet?)

 

[Killswitch]

Its just satistically impossible to have 25 votes(I know thats a very small number but the stats play out the same) and be running a 4.88, then four or so votes later be down to a 4.41.

Like I said...its fraudulent voting plain and simple.......Take the 100 bux I dont care....but its not like anyones being fooled here.

The simplest answer is usually the right one folks.

 

[Octavian]

Statistically impossible?

quote

originally posted by Killswitch

Its just satistically impossible to have 25 votes(I know thats a very small number but the stats play out the same) and be running a 4.88, then four or so votes later be down to a 4.41.

I do not wish to come across as a smart arse but it is quite possible.

25 at 4.88 = 122
If you then get one vote of '3' and three votes of '1' the total value is 128.
128 divided by 29 (the number of votes) is 4.41

In no way am I condoning the '1' votes. I am just explaining how it happens.

 

[fiery_jack]

interesting thread DN

i don't want to get into the usual voting tangle of questions, but was wondering this,

... would you consider your lowest scoring work to be less intense on the sex scenes?

i have two stories that are scoring low, both i consider my best work, and neither are jack/jill off pieces.

While not what i'd call my best, i have a couple of stories here that aren't (to quote PaulX35) "instant ejaculation-work" and both are scoring low.

I suppose it would be better for me to think the low marks were down to the fact that some people weren't getting off on what i'd written, rather than because they thought it was bloody awful...

 

[jfinn]

Personally I guess I've just accepted that while my stories are well received, they aren't ever going to generate enough interest to give me a lot of high scores or a huge readership. That's because I choose to write romantic plot driven stories that develop slowly and don't have someone getting off in every other paragraph.

But the operative word here is choice. I decide what I'll write and knowing that has gone a long way towards making me accept my fate on sites like this one. So I accept the low numbers philosophically and figure it doesn't matter since there are people who do really like my stories because I've gotten a lot of email from them telling me how much they enjoy it. In fact as odd as it might seem, I often get more positive email than I do votes.

As for the voting, I did have something funny (I have a twisted sense of humor) happen the last time I posted a story. I not only have my work here, but also on two other sites with a voting system. The first day out the story did really well and landed on the top of the heap on all three sites, then, even as I was checking, all three sites registered three 1's in a row in the space of about 20 minutes. Of course that effectively killed my scores since I don't seem to generate a lot of votes. Like I said I've learned to live with this kind of crap, but I do think it's sad that someone would deliberately trash someone elses work whatever their motivation might be.

Jayne

 

[Just_John1]

Votes and ratings

IMHO the rating system indicates mass appeal of a story. My experience is that stories that are relatively well written will score ok. I also find that stories that are written (in the words of Paulx35) for instant ejaculation can score well too. There will always be the one or two that take offense to a story and 1 bomb you for reasons not often explained. Why this happens I don't know.

If I want to get an evaluation on a literary basis on something I've written I'll typically offer it up in the SDC or ask some of the writers that I respect for their opinion. Never ask if you're not willing to provide the same in return, it takes a lot of work. I have always felt that my best written pieces scored lower but they may not have the general appeal that some of my other less literary based work has received.

I guess the bottom line on all of this rambling is that I don't know anything either.

JJ1

 

[Killswitch]

Re: Statistically impossible?

quote

originally posted by Killswitch

Its just satistically impossible to have 25 votes(I know thats a very small number but the stats play out the same) and be running a 4.88, then four or so votes later be down to a 4.41.

I do not wish to come across as a smart arse but it is quite possible.

25 at 4.88 = 122
If you then get one vote of '3' and three votes of '1' the total value is 128.
128 divided by 29 (the number of votes) is 4.41

In no way am I condoning the '1' votes. I am just explaining how it happens.

Yes Octavian, I agree.....but my point was that it's very unlikely that the first 25 people would like the story so much to give it high marks....then the next 4 or so (after the story shows on the top list running strong) think its junk.

Mathmatically it is possible, but voting patterns and stats would say its not. If it is....it's a little to coincidental for my tastes. I still say it is what it is, and I know not to many people really want to say it or whatever......but look at the top vote getters.......AND the number of votes they recieve, not only just the ranks and ratings.

I think there is some good hard eveidence there as well.
I.E the number of votes cast vs number of days for a particular story thats posted. The numbers are scewed....and thats putting it politely

A few days ago I removed the voting option from my stories.

You can not and never will beat these guys. They will make sure of it.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I used to care. Then I got a check in the mail and I really don't give a fuck about the scores any more. The anonymous guy who keeps writing and telling me that I suck and shouldn't quit my day job gets laughed at all the way to the bank.

 

[Grizabella]

Hello everyone,
I've been reading some stories here that were recomended by a friend of mine, and although they weren't to my taste I've found many more that are!
I'm thinking about writing some short stories myself, I used to enjoy that a lot. my question is, since you are more experianced authors - should I just keep the voting off, and interact more with the crowds on the BB for feedback and progress guidelines? The voting doesn't sound to reliable for my personal interests.
Congrats Killermuffin on being published, (I think I understand your post to be saying that?)I'd love to talk with you more about what else you write.

~Bella

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Bella, my advice for you would be to ask yourself if you feel confident enough to risk getting "you suck"-votes for your very first attempts. There are some people around here that are real maniacs, who get off on hurting other people.

If you are strong enough not to let a few morons get to you, then I suggest that you let people vote for you. A high vote makes it worth all the 1's.

Just take things slow at first. Usually people need to write a few stories before they find their own writing-style, and start to get good at writing. If you decide to allow voting, don't be discouraged IF you run into weirdos who spit on your first works.

You go, girl!

 

[Grizabella]

Hello Svenskaflicka,
Thank you for your response. I'm afraid I don't know how I would feel if people voted low on my stories. In person I could handle that kind of response, the communication tools available in person are a great strength for me.
I'm finding the internet much harder to navigate as easily. We meet and interact without the many benifits of face to face conversation. The passion and conviction presented in a post one day, may be entirely forgotten the next day, even by the one who posted it.
I guess a better way to ask my question is, does the comfort of anonymity cover the dissapointments it will always carry with it; as related to the kind of interaction *here* with other authors and the audiance.
Thanks for your attention while I'm learning my way around here!

~Bella