Malicious Votes

[sachiaiko]

Gah, before i posted my story i came and read in here with alla you guys, sorta lurking. I heard some of you talking bout the maicious voters out there, giving you 1's for no reason.

Well... I got one last night! I was so excited that my story was up to 4.64 and was going up with each vote. Then 1 vote crashed me all the way down to 4.57. I am in the contest, the Halloween one, maybe some one was trying to help a friend win. I dont know. I dont *care* about the contest, i just cared that my story was high on the top page so more people would see it and enjoy it.

Anyhow, i guess it just suprised me, made me very sad that people would do this. I have a difficult time believing it was a true 1 vote seeing as i have stayed at 4.60 or above, maybe it was though, i dont know.

::sighs:: Well, if anyone wants to read my story, its in my sig line.

Nikki

 

[medjay]

Any criticism, malicious or well deserved, only serves to make you a better writer. That's the only way to think about it, really. Otherwise you'll be getting your feelings hurt for the rest of your writing career.

There's really nothing you can do to keep someone from bashing your work except writing something that is perfect. And we all know that's impossible. The important thing is trying anyway.

 

[sachiaiko]

Yea...

I guess your right. It just made me sad, ya know? I prolly shouldnt have entered it into the Halloween contest. But i used that as the *reason* to post my first ever story, so its good.

And honestly, the feedback i have gotten on it just melts my heart. I am adoring it, i never thought people could like my writing this much and i'm working on a second story with teh same characters already at the request of many feedbacks... sooo... Its good. Just made me sad people *would* vote like that. I gave a 5 and a LOOONG feedback to D Fiant For Otherworld (who is/was winning the Halloween Contest) because he did great work! Maybe its just me, but i'll never be caught dead giving bad votes.


Anyhoot, i just wanted to vent a little, make mention of it cause it saddend me. Thanks for the response Medjay

Nik

 

[Quasimodem]

Welcome to the club! [In the truest sense of the phrase.]

If you are getting 4.5ish votes in the Halloween Contest, you definitely belong in the Author's Hangout. Welcome!

As for strategic voting, I recommend a philosophical outlook.


Even in the Booker and Nobel Awards, there is usually some controversy about voting, and an element of political correctness behind who actually 'wins'!

A ‘1' vote may be the honest reflection of someone who either has a definite prejudice about some component of your story, or encountered some element that ‘squicked' him/her. Or, it may be another writer, not faring well with his/her votes, who is so lame that s/he can't improve their writing, so they try to ‘improve' their score, by lowering the competition's scores. That is truly pathetic.

It is infuriating, when it happens to you, but the only way to maintain your sanity is, try to view the event philosophically. Your writing is being exposed to a wide enough audience of readers, who value your story highly enough to make it seem 'worth' some imbecile's effort, at sabotaging your story's vote.

That doesn't quite make it, I know, especially during a contest. But, there appears to be no rational alternative.

 

[sachiaiko]

Thanks Quasi!

I really do apreciate your comments, its true, and something to think on.

And Woohoo! I get to be one of the Authors of "Authors Hangout" now! Imagine my surprise when people loved my story. Specially since it was so many firsts for me. I was and still am imensely pleased. But it always helps to get a "welcome" from some of you more seasond writers, so thank you!

I will keep it in perspective, and remember that my most readers of my story loved it. I just want to keep my story up front so everyone can see it! I'm so proud! ::chuckles::

I love your outlook on most things Quasi, you always make me chuckle when i'm reading your posts

Nik

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Keep in mind your "rating" has very little to do with the real quality of your writing...don't get too worried about it

 

[Guest]

Yes - I think we've all been attacked by the dreaded "1" vote (sometimes people truly do suck).

I'm noticing it in the poetry listings lately (it is easier to notice ratings there because of the far fewer reads and votes). At first I was disappointed, but then had to say - what the hell? You can't fight it.

I try to key in on the feedback instead. Malicious people may attempt to knock your story down but they'll rarely waste time sending comments. (OK, sometimes they do - but usually not!!)

Good luck in the contest - I look forward to reading your story!!

 

[Weird Harold]

I am in the contest, the Halloween one, maybe some one was trying to help a friend win. I dont know. I dont *care* about the contest, i just cared that my story was high on the top page so more people would see it and enjoy it.

I'm sure Laurel will look carefully at the votes on the contest story for voting fraud -- if your one vote was accompanied by one votes on most of the other stories from the same source, I'm sure it will be cast out.

Unfortunately, one votes are a fact of life for any story with a high rating. There seem to be some people who just can't stand any story being in the top ten with a score of 4.50 or better. I suspect there are people who come to Literotica just to vote down the scores of every porn story they find simply because it's porn.

 

[Diane Marie]

Sachiaiko

First off congratulation on that third place finish. That’s really kewl.

Anonymous’s comment was rather banal, so I would not let it upset you. I only get upset when someone finds no redeeming value in my writing style and seemingly has the knowledge to back up his, I’d say her/his but it was a him, comment. The one and only time that happened was with my first story. Thank god that was tempered by some very good constructive criticism. I’d never written anything before in my life, that could have just destroyed me. Of all the feedback I get, the constructive ones are the only ones I may reply to.

Myself, I just love the negative feedback, if it’s about my story, not how it’s written, I even like the hate mail. I tend to get a lot of that. Not that I wouldn’t rather have one from a man who’s seen the light, but they seldom do. Admittedly, I cherish the ones that tell me how much they loved my story, how they just love the way I write. The worst thing that can happen is no one reads your story and those few that do don’t respond at all, as is the case with my last one, which I felt was very amusing.

I’m often accused of being a man hater, although in my stories the only man I truly hate is the one I’m married to. I figure it this way, if they had truly hated my story, not just my heroine, they wouldn’t have read it, and they surely wouldn’t have taken the time to give me that feedback. Yes, they are going to vote a one, that does upset me, I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say I want my stories to have high rating.

A comment on wildsweetone’s my comments. I have found, although not here, here what you see is how I wrote it, an editor can do wonders for your story. For one thing, they’ll find the errors that wildsweetone commented on, I’m so guilty of those, they’ll also find punctuation errors, along with pointing out any poorly constructed or unclear sentences. Even make comments about points in your story that seem to lag, need be expanded upon, or deleted altogether. If your story is to be published, you can argue those points if you care to, but in the end if your editor doesn’t agree you’ll have to abide by those comments.

We write for ourselves, but we all want to be on the best seller list.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Damned Ratings

No matter how often I tell myself that ratings don't matter and that I don't care about ratings, I still get all pissed off when I see a story of mine slip.

It's silly because rankings and ratings are for sports; they're just not applicable to art. We'd might as well discuss which football team has more artistic merit. If the history of art teaches us anything, it's that art isn't a popularity contest, and the popular artists of one day are the trite hacks of the day after. Even so, it's really hard not to get angry when yuou don't get the rating you think you deserve.

I don't rate or vote for stories. I just can't. It's like ranking human beings. (Columbus? Oh, I'd give him a solid 3. Peewee Herman? Definitely a 5.) If the story stinks, you should tell the author why you thought so, and if it's good, likewise. So I will critique a story sent to me, but I will not resort to a scale of 1 to 5 to try and sum up what I thought of the whole thing: plot, execution, style, erotic content, characterization, dialogue... It's just ludicrous.

That being said, we do need some way to indicate which stories are probably worth reading and which are not, and it seems like ranking is the only game in town.

What we need is Erotica Writers' Group of responsible and respectable writers who would evaluate stories, but this is not fair either, and who has the time?


---dr.M.

 

[Just_John1]

Story Discussion Circle thread

Doc,

There is a place that author's can get other authors to review and critique stories. I had one reviewed recently, and the comments were great and very informative. I think they made me think about my writing and the style I use alot more. The SDC is moderated by Killer Muffin and has been great. It may take a while for your story to come up for review but its well worth while. Be prepared to provide a review of other writer's work as well, it is a basic, and very understandable requirement prior to getting your stories reviewed.