Question about Ratings Inconsistencies

[Wanderer49]

This is really addressed to a moderator, and it's a question about the ratings of stories.

In September last year I published a story under Lesbian Sex called "Wonderland: Evening, Night, Morning".

On my personal submissions page (i.e., the one that I can view only when I'm logged in), it's shown as having received 39 votes and having a rating of 4.82. If someone else clicks on my name and goes to my bio, etc, then under submissions that person will also see that Wonderland has a rating of 4.82, although not the number of votes received.

Yet if I go to the Top Lists – Lesbian and look under the last 12 months section, it's shown there at no. 52 or thereabouts with 44 votes and a rating of 4.70. I.e., 5 more votes and a rating thats .12 lower than the rating that I can see.

So that's the first inconsistency. But it's not the only one.

A week ago, on my personal-access page, Wonderland had 40 votes (it now has 39) and a rating of 4.78. So the second inconsistency is that the number of votes seems to have gone down. On my bio entry a week ago it had a rating of 4.79, and on the Top Lists – Lesbian page it had 4.71, but I can't remember the number of votes.

The same sort of thing happened with my other stories, i.e., the number of votes went down, but none of them were on the Top Lists.

Does anybody know how these things can have happened? I'll be honest, I'd much rather have Wonderland with a rating of 4.82 and at number 5 or 6 on the Top List for the last 12 months than with 4.70 and at number 52: the higher it is, the more people will read it, I hope.

Cheers everybody,

Wanda

 

[Darkniciad]

The all-time toplists have minimum votes ( 100 on most categories ) That explains why your story isn't on there. 30 day and 12 month toplists don't have those restrictions, so you'll probably find the story there.

EDIT: Whoops, typing too fast without reading

Your list updates moment to moment. What you see on your private list is the score as of NOW. The toplists only update once per day.

To make it even more confusing, other lists update at different times. Your public submissions page at various times per day, the category listings at others.

The website runs what we call "sweeps", which remove votes the website considers questionable. The only known criteria are duplicate votes from the same IP/ID and votes that are "way off the norm" ( 1-bomb sniffer, for the most part )

Beyond that, the criteria the Hoover is looking for are secret to prevent people from circumventing them.

 

[Wanderer49]

Thanks, Darkniciad, I guessed about the 100-vote minimum for the All Time toplist.

I also guessed that there might have been a "suspect vote sniffer", although what the criteria are I have no idea.

But there's been a discrepancy of at least 4 between the number of votes shown on the 12-month toplist page and the number shown on my author-only-access page for months now. I.e., the numbers of votes shown on both pages change in ways that are hard to understand in themselves, but the hardest thing of all is why there should be such large differences between the numbers (i.e., both the numbers of votes and the ratings) shown on one page and the numbers shown on the other. A difference in updating frequency would explain a small discrepancy for a week or even a month; but the discrepancies are really quite large and they have existed for many months. The toplists page has show three or four or five more votes for Wonderland than my personal-access page for the whole year.

It doesn't make sense to me, and I'm curious.

Wanda

 

[Darkniciad]

Thanks, Darkniciad, I guessed about the 100-vote minimum for the All Time toplist.

I also guessed that there might have been a "suspect vote sniffer", although what the criteria are I have no idea.

But there's been a discrepancy of at least 4 between the number of votes shown on the 12-month toplist page and the number shown on my author-only-access page for months now. I.e., the numbers of votes shown on both pages change in ways that are hard to understand in themselves, but the hardest thing of all is why there should be such large differences between the numbers (i.e., both the numbers of votes and the ratings) shown on one page and the numbers shown on the other. A difference in updating frequency would explain a small discrepancy for a week or even a month; but the discrepancies are really quite large and they have existed for many months. The toplists page has show three or four or five more votes for Wonderland than my personal-access page for the whole year.

It doesn't make sense to me, and I'm curious.

Wanda

As a percentage of your total, it might seem like a lot, but a dozen votes vanishing overnight is nothing unusual. A story in high-vote categories like Incest or Loving Wives might lose a hundred votes overnight -- 100s during themed contest sweeps.

The toplists update some time around 2 am EST, according to my caluculations. It varies a bit depending upon traffic. I'm sure things like that are throttled to avoid slowing down the reading part of the site.

If they update after trolls/cheerleaders have done their work, and then you check your private list after a sweep has run through...

The only way you can tell if it's a voting and sweeping combination is to keep frequent, close track on your vote totals for a couple of days. I'd say that's what's happening, but if you never see the vote totals change on your private page, and the toplist doesn't sync up, then there may be a programming issue that Manu needs to put on his to-do list.

 

[Wanderer49]

The only way you can tell if it's a voting and sweeping combination is to keep frequent, close track on your vote totals for a couple of days！

I should have made it clear, but I have been checking them every day since the story was published. I guessed that the reductions in the number of votes were due to some sort of checking process, but I can't think of any reason that makes sense why there is such a large difference between the number of votes shown on the toplist page and the number shown on my personal access page. The numbers have changed, but there has been a difference of at least three in the numbers of votes for many months, and it doesn't make any sense to me.

Wanda

 

[plusquamperfekt]

I should have made it clear, but I have been checking them every day since the story was published. I guessed that the reductions in the number of votes were due to some sort of checking process, but I can't think of any reason that makes sense why there is such a large difference between the number of votes shown on the toplist page and the number shown on my personal access page. The numbers have changed, but there has been a difference of at least three in the numbers of votes for many months, and it doesn't make any sense to me.

Wanda

In the toplists it shows the highest number of votes received and the score at that time. Once your story gets past that mark again, it will reflect the actual score. Admittedly, it is quite annoying, especially if you have a huge amount of fraudulent votes taken off and have a very decent score, but it appears unlikely that you ever reach the number of votes generated by the trolls.

 

[Darkniciad]

In the toplists it shows the highest number of votes received and the score at that time. Once your story gets past that mark again, it will reflect the actual score. Admittedly, it is quite annoying, especially if you have a huge amount of fraudulent votes taken off and have a very decent score, but it appears unlikely that you ever reach the number of votes generated by the trolls.

If that's the case, it's new.

...And stupid.

Why on earth would you have the toplists designed to reflect statistics that you've flagged as fraudulent?

Everything I have on the all-time toplists currently reflects my vote total and score as I see them on my private list, but they're all stories that have been out for some time, with slow movement on new votes/sweeps. Can't really get a bead from that.

 

[plusquamperfekt]

If that's the case, it's new.

...And stupid.

Indeed. Well, I can't complain about the scores on my English profile and don't care that much about toplists there, but on the German side that and other loopholes in the voting system are being exploited by one author holding the rest of German Lit hostage, because he likes staying on top. The only way to even keep an H appears to be to lock a score, when he starts 3-bombing you. But that's off topic, just to illustrate how I stumbled over the shortcomings of that particular feature.

 

[Wanderer49]

It all seems very weird to me. Wonderland currently has 44 votes and rating 4.70 on the toplist for Lesbian last 12 months, and on my personal page it has 39 votes and 4.82. It's been like that for a week now.

Oh well.

Wanda

 

[Darkniciad]

If the 12 month lists are doing it, then it's not an absolute "must beat your highest vote total ever" I have several on that list, and know for certain that they have changed after sweeps, reflecting the higher score and the lower vote totals.

I've got one right now that's a prime target for sweeps, so I'll keep an eye on how it's listing on the 30day/12 month lists and see what pattern I can discern. Of course, it's a new story, so there may be different criteria for recent releases... I have others that are a few months old, which are in the path of upcoming monthly contest sweeps, so I'll track those as well.

 

[Weird Harold]

It all seems very weird to me. Wonderland currently has 44 votes and rating 4.70 on the toplist for Lesbian last 12 months, and on my personal page it has 39 votes and 4.82. It's been like that for a week now.

Oh well.

Wanda

If thepage that is out of synch only updates once a month, it might be another three weeks before it catches up.

If itreally bothers you that much PM Manu as he is the only one who can do anything about it.