Interesting thing happened to me regarding deleting and reposting

[Bazzle]

There was one of my fairly "old" stories that I went back to and realised that whilst it had a score +4.5 I knew I could improve the English and flow.
I have learnt from anonymous and the two great reviewers on here how to improve my stories.

So I set about editing, it makes it longer (yes one complaint my stories are too long- can't win them all). Rather than just reposting it as an edit, I thought I would delete it and repost it. I now wish I hadn't.

The score is lower.

Should have kept the original.

I clearly made it worse by editing it.

Doh

B

 

[AwkwardlySet]

You made the score worse but the story better. It's a win for you.

Yesterday I stumbled into a two-chapter story in BDSM with 4.81 and 4.82 ratings and with a good number of views. I can't even begin to explain how badly written the story was. The chapters are around 15k words each and there is no dialogue. Instead, the author just says - she said this. I said this. Then she said this, then I said this. Honest to god, I've seen irrigation reports with more life and excitement than this story, a story that should have appealed to me as it was a femdom one. I will never understand why the fuck readers give such high scores to terrible stories. I mean, there are so many good, hot femdom stories out there with a far lower score. I just can't understand what was it that this story had. It was beyond bad.

So, don't mind the scores too much, it is all just a conspiracy of those non-smoking bastards anyway!

 

[alohadave]

You made the score worse but the story better. It's a win for you.

Yesterday I stumbled into a two-chapter story in BDSM with 4.81 and 4.82 ratings and with a good number of views. I can't even begin to explain how badly written the story was. The chapters are around 15k words each and there is no dialogue. Instead, the author just says - she said this. I said this. Then she said this, then I said this. Honest to god, I've seen irrigation reports with more life and excitement than this story, a story that should have appealed to me as it was a femdom one. I will never understand why the fuck readers give such high scores to terrible stories. I mean, there are so many good, hot femdom stories out there with a far lower score. I just can't understand what was it that this story had. It was beyond bad.

So, don't mind the scores too much, it is all just a conspiracy of those non-smoking bastards anyway!

Did it get the kink right? Some people only care about that. A good story is secondary in some cases.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Yesterday I stumbled into a two-chapter story in BDSM with 4.81 and 4.82 ratings and with a good number of views.

Link?

 

[THBGato]

There was one of my fairly "old" stories that I went back to and realised that whilst it had a score +4.5 I knew I could improve the English and flow.
I have learnt from anonymous and the two great reviewers on here how to improve my stories.

So I set about editing, it makes it longer (yes one complaint my stories are too long- can't win them all). Rather than just reposting it as an edit, I thought I would delete it and repost it. I now wish I hadn't.

The score is lower.

Should have kept the original.

I clearly made it worse by editing it.

Doh

B

How long has it been up? The score may change.

I remember feeling a bit glum when my first story went up and it was 3.9 after a week or so... it's a lot higher now 8 months later. Maybe have a bit of patience?

Also.... how old was the original? I also wonder whether tastes change, you see. I only read lesbian, but going through the competition winners from twenty years ago in that category, I often find ones that, well... basically, if they were published now (in the golden age of OneHitWanda, Jackie.Hikaru, BrokenSpokes, BiCathy, WaxPhilosophic, CreatingKate, Ripley, NellyMcBoatface, GenZSub et al) they would probably sink without a trace. And part of that is that they seem to adhere to a different aesthetic to now (back then, it seemed to have been all about the sex; now the top scorers are all about the romance and connection. Perhaps because more and more young people read online now, rather than physical books, yet they are looking for stories still, not just scenes.) Maybe that happened in your category?

 

[MrPixel]

^^^^^ What they said. Easily could be a different cohort perusing the new stories list.

 

[Bazzle]

https://www.literotica.com/s/colliding-worlds-1

 

[AwkwardMD]

There was one of my fairly "old" stories that I went back to and realised that whilst it had a score +4.5 I knew I could improve the English and flow.
I have learnt from anonymous and the two great reviewers on here how to improve my stories.

So I set about editing, it makes it longer (yes one complaint my stories are too long- can't win them all). Rather than just reposting it as an edit, I thought I would delete it and repost it. I now wish I hadn't.

The score is lower.

Should have kept the original.

I clearly made it worse by editing it.

Doh

B

Scores are very volatile if you have fewer than 40 votes. From a mathematical standpoint it's too easy for 1 or 2 naysayers to skew the data. It's always going to be easier for a 1 to affect the score than a 5. That can't be helped. Above 40 votes, then your score is a more and more accurate reflection of the readers collective opinion.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Did it get the kink right? Some people only care about that. A good story is secondary in some cases.

Honestly, I can't say for sure as I couldn't bother reading till the end.

Link?

Eh, I'd rather not shame another author publicly. Those two chapters are the only stories they wrote and they don't frequent AH as far as I know.

 

[Bazzle]

Scores are very volatile if you have fewer than 40 votes. From a mathematical standpoint it's too easy for 1 or 2 naysayers to skew the data. It's always going to be easier for a 1 to affect the score than a 5. That can't be helped. Above 40 votes, then your score is a more and more accurate reflection of the readers collective opinion.

In fetish I never ever ever ever get more than 2 dozen votes

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'll just show a bit of the story I was talking about so you can judge by yourself.

.

I said no dialogue because I stopped after 2k words but this is a dialogue of a sort from later on in the story. The whole story has abysmal punctuation and nonsense structure.

 

[Bazzle]

I'll just show a bit of the story I was talking about so you can judge by yourself.

View attachment 2409277.

I said no dialogue because I stopped after 2k words but this is a dialogue of a sort from later on in the story. The whole story has abysmal punctuation and nonsense structure.

*Not MY story* but the one that @AwkwardlySet read*

 

[Plathfan]

I'll just show a bit of the story I was talking about so you can judge by yourself.

View attachment 2409277.

I said no dialogue because I stopped after 2k words but this is a dialogue of a sort from later on in the story. The whole story has abysmal punctuation and nonsense structure.

Are you insinuating that our beloved voters---the crowners of kings, the cornerstone of our existence, our pride and joy---are nothing but ignorant rubes?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

*Not MY story* but the one that @AwkwardlySet read*

Yeah, I linked a passage from that femdom story that has a 4.82 rating and more than 20k views.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Are you insinuating that our beloved voters---the crowners of kings, the cornerstone of our existence, our pride and joy---are nothing but ignorant rubes?

*Gasp*
I would never...

 

[StillStunned]

Or... readers don't necessarily value the same things that writers do, or rate stories according to the same standards.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Or... readers don't necessarily value the same things that writers do, or rate stories according to the same standards.

Well, yeah, obviously. That is an old and well-known argument. But I still thought that 4.82 for a story like this is just too much, even for their scoring habits.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I'd rather not shame another author publicly.

Oh yeah I see how you got there. I was asking because I thought I'd enjoy them. Some of my favorite stories are poorly rated, and I can see why. But as someone said, they get the kink right.

 

[mirafrida]

I have one story I posted as chapters when a noobie, but it should really be combined.The chapters are too short and just don't make a lot of sense. But I hate to lose the nice rating on the last chapter, so I've never done it. Sad, right?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I have one story I posted as chapters when a noobie, but it should really be combined.The chapters are too short and just don't make a lot of sense. But I hate to lose the nice rating on the last chapter, so I've never done it. Sad, right?

It's crazy how many things we do or avoid doing for ratings. When I took down my stories to correct some early days grammar mistakes - and to avoid a troll, I was given the same advice. Don't do it, you will lose ratings. All I can tell you is that I don't regret doing it one bit. My story is better for it and that's all that matters. I also received more comments the second time.

 

[Bramblethorn]

How long has it been up? The score may change.

This. For the first ~50 votes scores are too volatile to be meaningful, but even after that, the people who find your stories via the New Stories view aren't the same crowd as those who find them through other channels, and they won't vote the same way. IME scores usually drift slowly upwards over time.

 

[Kay_Evans100]

In fetish I never ever ever ever get more than 2 dozen votes

Yes you have to be careful which category to put it in. For example "Illustrated stories" get much higher number of hits, but generally lower scores than for example "fetish" Think about your readership.

 

[Belegon]

I have one story I posted as chapters when a noobie, but it should really be combined.The chapters are too short and just don't make a lot of sense. But I hate to lose the nice rating on the last chapter, so I've never done it. Sad, right?

I don't necessarily see that as sad. We all have different things that make us feel good. Even in things that should, in a more general sense, make us feel good. I don' think that there is anything wrong with enjoying your score and not wanting to lose it. Plus, if your rating is significantly higher in the last chapter of a story with multiple chapters in front of it, I take that as an indication that you did a good job bringing the information from the prior chapters together and paying it off. Certainly not a bad thing if your readers think it ended well.
.