Malicious voting

[ElectricBlue]

They improved the sweeps to remove multiple 5 bombs as well?

That's always been the case, as long as I can remember - "unhelpful fives from fans" are just as likely to disappear as one bombs.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Maybe it's the Underground anti-Lesbian Army?

If one of them touches a Lesbian, do they explode?

-Rocco

 

[onehitwanda]

Maybe it's the Underground anti-Lesbian Army?

There are lots of them around these days.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

If one of them touches a Lesbian, do they explode?

-Rocco

Which one, the UALA or the lady that loves ladies?

 

[Rob_Royale]

Most of the top list in Lesbian Sex has dropped 0.02 / 0.03 in the last month or so. I am curious what's going on because things were static for a long time before suddenly starting to taper a month ago. (And I'm not just talking about *my* stories; everything seems to be catching it)

This happening on several top ten lists.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

It's possible, and if that's the case then it would explain a lot

It's been going on since the first of the year, and it's not specific to any category. In T/CD the top story all time has dropped from a 4.95 to a 4.87, the majority of the top 100 now sit at 4.85 or 4.84 where they used to run from 4.96 - 4.88 or something like that.

My highest rated story sat at 4.93 +/- 0.01 for two years with over 1100 votes It's now fluctuating between 4.84 and 4.85 with about 1250. Rich people problems, I know, but it illustrates the issue.

In the past, I've been able to see a general correlation between lower scores and the appearance of negative comments on my stories. Now, It's just random. There is still malicious voting, but whatever is going on the the vote normalization behind the curtain is making it appear more impactful.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

If one of them touches a Lesbian, do they explode?

-Rocco

Mudfight, perhaps?

 

[Katie_Mae]

That's always been the case, as long as I can remember - "unhelpful fives from fans" are just as likely to disappear as one bombs.

And twos, threes and fours.

I had a story two bombed* and they were removed.

Not sure how the sweeps work though, because I've had my own votes removed from several stories by other authors that I absolutely read and only voted on once, so they do remove legitimate votes as well. It's annoying because one I really enjoyed and commented on.



*sure, it could have been five ones and five threes, rather than ten twos. On a story that had slowed to getting one vote every day or two it suddenly got 10 all at once so I didn't see then come in individually.

 

[Wifetheif]

I'm sorry but whining about a 4.8 score is the epitome of owning the thinist skin in the writing universe! You are like those writers who troll reviewers who don't give their books five-star reviews. A 4.8 is DAMN GOOD for this site! Try posting in 'Loving Wives!" A story there turned in by a Nobel Prize winner would be one bombed to oblivion immediately! Get a grip!

 

[StillStunned]

I'm sorry but whining about a 4.8 score is the epitome of owning the thinist skin in the writing universe! You are like those writers who troll reviewers who don't give their books five-star reviews. A 4.8 is DAMN GOOD for this site! Try posting in 'Loving Wives!" A story there turned in by a Nobel Prize winner would be one bombed to oblivion immediately! Get a grip!

People aren't complaining about a 4.8 rating. They're complaining about what seems to be deliberate efforts to lower the scores. In other words, they have a problem with people artificially manipulating their stories' scores, or else targeting specific genres out of an abstract dislike.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

Most of the top list in Lesbian Sex has dropped 0.02 / 0.03 in the last month or so. I am curious what's going on because things were static for a long time before suddenly starting to taper a month ago. (And I'm not just talking about *my* stories; everything seems to be catching it)

It's really weird.

Edit: just looked at Romance for the first time in a long time. Same story there; stories I remember being solidly 4.94/4.95 are now 4.92 etc.

I wonder if Lit's implemented some sort of outlier trimming that is forcing everything inwards towards the mean?

@Bramblethorn I choose you! Use your discrete logarithm power!

I've noticed the same thing. Some of my top-rated stories have had significant drops. One dropping from 4.85 down to 4.80, in the space of a day. I just hope they're not doing a major sweep like they did a few years back that knocked down the scores on almost everything I'd written. I can see them deleting one bombs, but I can't understand the motivation for deleting 5's as well. If a reader enjoys what you write and rewards you with a five, I don't see why they think it's necessary to delete it.

 

[Wifetheif]

People aren't complaining about a 4.8 rating. They're complaining about what seems to be deliberate efforts to lower the scores. In other words, they have a problem with people artificially manipulating their stories' scores, or else targeting specific genres out of an abstract dislike.

Not at all! They are complaining that as their sample size grew larger their numbers shrank. This is the natural course of fiction's audience no matter the setting. The evidence of one bombing is anecdotal at best. It certainly won't cost him his coveted red H. If you publish your work be prepared for negative feedback, bad reviews, and outcomes you don't want. Faer one bombing? DON'T publish!

 

[StillStunned]

Not at all! They are complaining that as their sample size grew larger their numbers shrank. This is the natural course of fiction's audience no matter the setting. The evidence of one bombing is anecdotal at best. It certainly won't cost him his coveted red H. If you publish your work be prepared for negative feedback, bad reviews, and outcomes you don't want. Faer one bombing? DON'T publish!

People are reporting, after years of stability, a sudden drop. That's a pattern, not "the natural course". It's not as if the average reader has suddenly changed.

 

[Wifetheif]

People are reporting, after years of stability, a sudden drop. That's a pattern, not "the natural course". It's not as if the average reader has suddenly changed.

I've been here more than a dozen years. I've published some amazingly popular stories on this site. I have a nice distribution of red H's Downward progression IS the natural course on L.com. OP is WHINING!

 

[lovecraft68]

They improved the sweeps to remove multiple 5 bombs as well?

Yes, a long time ago, but it really came into play a few years back when a group here were running around high fiving each other's stories.

The thing is, when the sweeps remove votes, they oftentimes will take a few legit votes with them. So if someone dumped 5 fake 5's on your story, the sweep could take six or seven.

Once that was figured out, they then began to five bomb people they didn't like in hopes that could happen, and make them look bad.

It's always amazed me that people will go to such lengths for a max prize of a $150 or a blue W next to their story.

 

[Wifetheif]

Yes, a long time ago, but it really came into play a few years back when a group here were running around high fiving each other's stories.

The thing is, when the sweeps remove votes, they oftentimes will take a few legit votes with them. So if someone dumped 5 fake 5's on your story, the sweep could take six or seven.

Once that was figured out, they then began to five bomb people they didn't like in hopes that could happen, and make them look bad.

It's always amazed me that people will go to such lengths for a max prize of a $150 or a blue W next to their story.

Yep! praise here s fun but it's just a sideline. I've won and been nominated for prizes elsewhere. Scores shouldn't matter. If you as the author are proud of the story. that is all that matters. As i said I have some red H stories with no comments. What do my readers like about them? No idea! At least a one bomb is viseral.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I'm sorry but whining about a 4.8 score is the epitome of owning the thinist skin in the writing universe! You are like those writers who troll reviewers who don't give their books five-star reviews. A 4.8 is DAMN GOOD for this site! Try posting in 'Loving Wives!" A story there turned in by a Nobel Prize winner would be one bombed to oblivion immediately! Get a grip!

Assuming you're calling me out, I'm absolutely not complaining. In fact, i know exactly how blessed I am to have loyal followers that like what I write. I'm beyond humbled by their support and their responses to my work. My point is that with 1100 votes and an average score of 4.93, 98.6% of the people that voted on my story gave it a 5. That's math.

Since I took that snapshot, the number of votes on my story has only gone up by about 150 votes and the score has dropped to a 4.84. That's an average new vote average of 4.18. Also not to shabby, but a RELATIVELY dramatic impact on the score. My intended message was that, along with some malicious votes that disappeared during the sweep for the Halloween contest and have probably come back, something else is going on probably behind the curtain.

My opinion is that there is something in place that is also skimming excessive fives to go along with the malicious ones. I say this because the number of votes slowed as the score dropped. Yeah, I watched it like a hawk for a while and even reached out to Laurel. The story in question received over 1100 votes in 18 months and only 150 in the last 10. There are a lot of possible reasons for that, but the decreasing rate of incoming votes combined with the dropping score does indicate that some votes aren't making the cut and some of those are 5's.

I also noted that the drop in scores was across the entire T/CD catalog not just my stories. Others are now calling out the same thing for Lesbian and other categories.

It's a trend...

PS. since I'm now this frail little thing with super thin skin, who can't take the heat, I'm also a trans-woman. My fucking pronouns are she/her, not he/him!
Seriously, i couldn't care less about stuff like that. I'd suggest you put your faux ire back in the box it came in and relax. I can suggest a good scotch.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I can see why people might crave that blue W at least once, just to check that box. But a $50–$150 prize? I can’t imagine anyone being that desperate. OTOH, that’s a significant amount in Pakistan. Have we ever had a Paki winner?

BTW, why is the minimum wage in Texas still the federal minimum of 7.25? I thought those cheap bastards were swimming in oil.

Yup, $7.25, and we may be swimming in oil, but we aren't allowed to drill it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've noticed the same thing. Some of my top-rated stories have had significant drops. One dropping from 4.85 down to 4.80, in the space of a day. I just hope they're not doing a major sweep like they did a few years back that knocked down the scores on almost everything I'd written. I can see them deleting one bombs, but I can't understand the motivation for deleting 5's as well. If a reader enjoys what you write and rewards you with a five, I don't see why they think it's necessary to delete it.

The issue is when a reader rewards you with two fives, or more.

 

[lovecraft68]

I can see why people might crave that blue W at least once, just to check that box. But a $50–$150 prize? I can’t imagine anyone being that desperate. OTOH, that’s a significant amount in Pakistan. Have we ever had a Paki winner?

BTW, why is the minimum wage in Texas still the federal minimum of 7.25? I thought those cheap bastards were swimming in oil.

If someone outside the US wins I don't think they get a check, they get an amazon gift card for the amount instead.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I see a lot of guessing but not much logic at work. If people are truly wondering why their scores are dropping then the answer is quite easy to grasp. Take a look at the vote count of any story of yours whose score has changed drastically lately. If the score of a story is noticeably lower but the vote count increased then it's clearly the work of a 1* bomber. If along with the score the vote count dropped as well, only then you can be sure that it was a result of a sweep.
I'd chime in myself and provide some data but I had no noticeable change in the scores or the number of votes.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

The issue is when a reader rewards you with two fives, or more.

Last time, I had about 90% percent of my scores drop. I don't score my own stories, and I rarely score anyone else's.

The one story I mentioned that dropped from 4.85 to 4.80 in a day, has been up since 2019, and the score was just beginning to climb again, when it got knocked back down. Personally, I find it a little deflating if something I've written does well and suddenly the score drops for no reason.

 

[Bamagan]

People are reporting, after years of stability, a sudden drop. That's a pattern, not "the natural course". It's not as if the average reader has suddenly changed.

The average reader doesn't suddenly change, but the 'average' does move slowly over time. To be clear, I have no evidence to suggest that the average Lit reader now is different than a decade ago or longer, but there are some generational differences in things like humor and representation that may be detectable en masse, such as by a voting system. So the shift we're seeing might, in part, reflect a genuine drift in reader preferences that is minor in the grand scheme of things but has a noticeable impact on the margins.

Personally, I think it's more likely that it's a combination of cracking down on alt/bot accounts, and those that exhibit strongly bimodal voting. The case for ignoring votes from alts is pretty obvious, although it probably does result in some legitimate votes being lost. People who tend to reduce their voting to 1/5:dislike/like style could easily be mistaken for a bot designed to influence contest scores, especially if they're competing in said contests, too.

And to reiterate, I'm just speculating on causes based on effects. I have no knowledge of what's going on behind the curtain, I just think the silhouette looks like a blowjob with maybe a finger in the butt for spice.

 

[Bramblethorn]

If someone outside the US wins I don't think they get a check, they get an amazon gift card for the amount instead.

Confirmed.

 

[lc69hunter]

I do not 1-bomb any story. If I extremely dislike it, it gets a 2. However, if I could figure out what aliases certain commenters write under, I would probably go crazy on them.