New Author Rating Question

[gunhilltrain]

I'd be very surprised if it changed. The whole site runs on traffic, and putting up barriers to users isn't in the interest of the people who run the site.

I think the trick is to find ways to connect with your audience that bypass the rating system they have in place. I'll let you know when I've figured out how to do that, lol.

Except, did it occur to you that "your" audience might be the same people who don't like a particular story? William Goldman said about Hollywood, "Not one person in the entire motion picture industry knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out is a guess - and, if you're lucky, an educated one."

For them, the numbers are so big that individual comments don't matter - it's entirely about box office receipts (or I guess streaming service revenue). Yet we face the same possibility that it "won't open" as they say out there (fail to be popular, in other words).

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

Except, did it occur to you that "your" audience might be the same people who don't like a particular story? William Goldman said about Hollywood, "Not one person in the entire motion picture industry knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out is a guess - and, if you're lucky, an educated one."

For them, the numbers are so big that individual comments don't matter - it's entirely about box office receipts (or I guess streaming service revenue). Yet we face the same possibility that it "won't open" as they say out there (fail to be popular, in other words).

I'm new here, but I wonder if there might be benefits to upsetting the trolls.

A new story of mine seems to have upset them, and is being review-bombed as you would expect. The thing is: I'm still getting more 5-Star ratings than 1-Star ratings, and I've gotten more followers in one day than I ever have before.

I can only speculate about what that means, but I have a theory. The trolls want every story to follow the narrow confines of what they want, and they want to punish anyone who doesn't conform. Meanwhile there are people who want to see new and different things. They'll respond well to original storytelling.

I'd rather write things for the new followers than for the trolls. I wonder how many people would have enjoyed the story, but passed it over because it was rated three-point-something.

 

[Actingup]

I'm new here, but I wonder if there might be benefits to upsetting the trolls.

A new story of mine seems to have upset them, and is being review-bombed as you would expect. The thing is: I'm still getting more 5-Star ratings than 1-Star ratings, and I've gotten more followers in one day than I ever have before.

I can only speculate about what that means, but I have a theory. The trolls want every story to follow the narrow confines of what they want, and they want to punish anyone who doesn't conform. Meanwhile there are people who want to see new and different things. They'll respond well to original storytelling.

I'd rather write things for the new followers than for the trolls. I wonder how many people would have enjoyed the story, but passed it over because it was rated three-point-something.

Write for your own intellectual pleasure, first of all, but yes, engagement and scores do not necessarily coincide, and that's perfectly okay. Here's an example from my own story list:



The top four of those are my top four stories by score, but the bottom one is my top by votes, and the total number of votes is higher than the total of the rest of them. It's not 'hot', but it had people reading and commenting (most people liked it), and it likely received more 5 star scores than the others as well - just counterbalanced by more trolls. It also had a big troll review from an infamous reviewer, who put me in her worst of the worst list of authors. Which of these stories is the more 'successful'?

Some of the other commentators here will have more extreme examples than this - I'm a relatively new author and I'm still learning from the experts, but there are others here with vast experience and numbers of followers. But I think the basic point will still hold. Write for yourself. Challenge yourself, improve your writing, enjoy the interactions with readers, and the trolls can go fuck themselves.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm new here, but I wonder if there might be benefits to upsetting the trolls.

A new story of mine seems to have upset them, and is being review-bombed as you would expect. The thing is: I'm still getting more 5-Star ratings than 1-Star ratings, and I've gotten more followers in one day than I ever have before.

I can only speculate about what that means, but I have a theory. The trolls want every story to follow the narrow confines of what they want, and they want to punish anyone who doesn't conform. Meanwhile there are people who want to see new and different things. They'll respond well to original storytelling.

I'd rather write things for the new followers than for the trolls. I wonder how many people would have enjoyed the story, but passed it over because it was rated three-point-something.

I looked at your story list, and sure enough, you're doing incredibly well in the first two months. I'm not sure what more you can ask for. Which one do you think is being trolled? You haven't really been on Lit until you get your first 2.3 or 2.5 as I have gotten at times.

It's impossible to know what people want in any given case. I found out that Dr. Phil is rather unpopular on here and a couple of good-natured romps about him apparently didn't attack him enough.

I've found that followers are mostly useless. I've got over 200 of them and sometimes five or six people vote. The rest are off doing something else.

 

[AlexIce]

Early on when a story is published, the rating is going to jump all over the place. That said, I do get the occasional troll vote for something a specific (anonymous) reader didn't like.

That being said, if someone doesn't like a story because it isn't their cup of tea, don't let it get to you. For the longest time, I didn't incorporate anal sex into any of my stories because I let a few negative comments, on what was an otherwise highly rated story, get to me.

Now I've changed up my tactics a bit in which I do add story specific tags, along with disclosures before every story so that way the reader knows what they're getting themselves into.

The biggest takeaway I'd recommend taking to heart is that as long as people continue to enjoy your writing and provide constructive and/or positive feedback, that's all that matters.

Dance like no one is watching.

Or in the case of this website, post every story like you are SamuelX

 

[iwatchus]

Thanks for the info everyone responding to this. That story that was bombed is slowly coming in rating, but its views are way below all the others. I have published two chapters since that one. The most recent, only up since yesterday already has 3x the views.

Its just frustrating that that chapter got buried, getting a 1 before I even saw it was published.

On the positive side, I had another story with a 1 rating (along with a bunch of 5's) that lost its one -- and then promptly got a three added. Oh well. I need to just ignore the ratings and get back to writing.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

I looked at your story list, and sure enough, you're doing incredibly well in the first two months. I'm not sure what more you can ask for. Which one do you think is being trolled? You haven't really been on Lit until you get your first 2.3 or 2.5 as I have gotten at times.

It's impossible to know what people want in any given case. I found out that Dr. Phil is rather unpopular on here and a couple of good-natured romps about him apparently didn't attack him enough.

I've found that followers are mostly useless. I've got over 200 of them and sometimes five or six people vote. The rest are off doing something else.

I don't want to get into the specifics of any one story in this discussion - I feel like that's off-topic and not helpful to many people. I'd be happy to talk about it, but this doesn't seem like the place.

I'm just saying that the review bombing can hurt a person's feelings and it feels like it's doing tangible harm in the moment, but I think there might be some kind of silver lining. And this is based on a very short tenure here, so it's mostly just my way of trying to interpret and understand what's going on.

I'm looking forward to my first 2.3 rating. I'll put champagne in the fridge so I can be ready to celebrate, lol.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I don't want to get into the specifics of any one story in this discussion - I feel like that's off-topic and not helpful to many people. I'd be happy to talk about it, but this doesn't seem like the place.

I'm just saying that the review bombing can hurt a person's feelings and it feels like it's doing tangible harm in the moment, but I think there might be some kind of silver lining. And this is based on a very short tenure here, so it's mostly just my way of trying to interpret and understand what's going on.

I'm looking forward to my first 2.3 rating. I'll put champagne in the fridge so I can be ready to celebrate, lol.

If you're going to present your work to a huge and completely unrestricted audience, one has to develop a thick skin. I can't always do that myself. Last week a chapter in a series was at 2.5 after five previously successful chapters.

There can be a silver lining because sometimes a critic will, inadvertently perhaps, reveal something useful. There's a fine line between ignoring harsh comments while also looking for some possible advice in them.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

If you're going to present your work to a huge and completely unrestricted audience, one has to develop a thick skin. I can't always do that myself. Last week a chapter in a series was at 2.5 after five previously successful chapters.

There can be a silver lining because sometimes a critic will, inadvertently perhaps, reveal something useful. There's a fine line between ignoring harsh comments while also looking for some possible advice in them.

100%

It's hard to keep a thick skin. Perspective helps, which is why I shared my guide to understanding ratings. Remember: every 2-Star rating is from an incel, and every 1-Star rating is from an incel who didn't read your story. I like to imagine them red-faced and screaming at their monitor while they rate it.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

I just got my very favorite comment yet.

I made a story game, mostly to try it out. I noticed I was getting review-bombed. I wasn't watching the score obsessively, but it seemed to be almost entirely 1-Star ratings or 5-Star ratings. I tried to imagine what it was in my game that was so upsetting to the chuds out there.

Then I got this amazing, enlightening comment:



This anonymous fellow didn't like the game because it was a game.

This is why I wish people were required to leave a comment with every 1-Star or 2-Star review.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Anonymous is often someone who doesn't want to offer helpful criticism.

I just got my very favorite comment yet.

I made a story game, mostly to try it out. I noticed I was getting review-bombed. I wasn't watching the score obsessively, but it seemed to be almost entirely 1-Star ratings or 5-Star ratings. I tried to imagine what it was in my game that was so upsetting to the chuds out there.

Then I got this amazing, enlightening comment:

View attachment 2529077

This anonymous fellow didn't like the game because it was a game.

This is why I wish people were required to leave a comment with every 1-Star or 2-Star review.