Rating AH authors

[damppanties]

When you read a story by an AH author, do you judge it differently? Are you too harsh on the typos and tenses and the other little things which abound in Dr. M's Backclick Triggers thread?

I found myself doing it yesterday. I rated two stories 3. One was by an AH author. It was quite nice but I guess I expected more from him. The other was bad but I liked the idea. That was all I liked in there and I gave it a 3 for the effort at writing. The grammar and typos were very bad. I would have rated it 2 if it had been an AH author. Now I'm feeling guilty.

 

[snooper]

Two votes

Back to my previous suggestion of two marks, one for "technical merit" and one for "artistic imptession".

And before some smart alec asks about compulsory figures, yes, I would not mind having to write a story about a fixed theme before being allowed to post "freestyle" on here.

The reason these won't happen is that this is an erotica site, not a literary one.

 

[damppanties]

Thanks for the comments snooper but the question was whether there's a different scale for judging AH authors?

Should there be a difference?

If there is, is it more strict (their stories should be perfect cos they are serious authors so I'll vote 3 instead of 4) or more lenient (I know them, we're friends on the board so I'll vote 4 instead of 3) than how you judge the other authors?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

To me there has to be a difference. When I start reading a story by one of the people here I'm doing with a certain level of expectation that is usually higher than when I read any other story. I'm more aware of the literary aspects of the story and less of the erotic. If it fails to meet those heightened expectations, it will get a poorer rating.

 

[English Lady]

I very rarely take note of the author of a piece and when i do it's after i've read and rated it usually. For me I rate everyone the same,I don't expect that just because people post here about language and spelling and such things that their stories will be better than anyone elses. I take each story as it er hmmm comes so to speak but then I think i am pretty lenient on everyone actually*L*

 

[oggbashan]

The only difference it makes for me is that I am more likely to read a story by an AH author, and read it to the end no matter how long it is.

I switch my backclick mode off for them.

Voting and comment would be the same.

Og

 

[Icingsugar]

There seems to be a trend here. An asending percentage of my latest posts here have essentially been me agreeing with Og. So here we go again.

What Og said. Exactly.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I don't read for pleasure a lot any more. Usually I have a reason now to be reading, rather than writing. On the other hand I suffer from severe bouts of insomnia and often after a day or two without sleep I am too scatterbrained to write anything coherent, but can still get into a good story.

I consistantly rate writers from the AH higher than others. I would love to say it's because they are just better and I am being honest, but the truth is I like a lot of people from here and unless they have asked me for a critique of their work I am probably freer with 5's than I am when I just pick a story. That dosen't mean I am always going to give an Ah author a better rating, but if I am sitting the fence between 3 and 4 or 4 and 5 I am going to go higher with you guys.

I am also more likely to send one of my infamous "annonyamous" feedbacks to an Ah author. If I find something that detracts from a work I feel a lot freer to tell someone here than I do with a story I just pick. I am not very confrontational and most of the people here seem more likely to address what I found with me than the writers of random stories.

I think there is a sliding scale for me. It dosen't mean I am going to give good votes to bad stories just because I know the writer from the Ah, but it does mean I am going to give an Ah author the benefit of the doubt if the story falls between good and excellent. I may not give that benefit to a random author.

-Colly

 

[Guest]

There seems to be a trend here. An asending percentage of my latest posts here have essentially been me agreeing with Og. So here we go again.

What Og said. Exactly.

Yep, me too. I very often find myself agreeing with Ogg, he's a very agreeable gentleman.

Lou

 

[oggbashan]

Perhaps "Great minds think alike". I just write it first.

Og

 

[OldnotDead]

Hello, DP and others,

You've definitely touched a nerve with me. Not so much about ratings here, as in grades in school. In terms of Lit, I'm in Ogg's camp. I think ratings and feedback should be even and thoughtful.

I don't like umpires that are inconsistent. I cannot stand the bias of ice skating judges. Diving judges are only a small bit better. But the worst of all, in my mind are teachers that grade harder than necessary for better students .

With children that have to deal with the negative results of having some of their best work graded lower and then justified by statements such as, "I never give out A's", I am one that likes to see consistency in approach.

 

[Guest]

abstain

 

[Guest]

Well, I rate the AH men by their performance during webcam, cyber sex*. The women by their AVs.

Perdita


*I'm tough, rarely give a 5.

 

[Guest]

 

[Lauren Hynde]

To me there has to be a difference. When I start reading a story by one of the people here I'm doing with a certain level of expectation that is usually higher than when I read any other story. I'm more aware of the literary aspects of the story and less of the erotic. If it fails to meet those heightened expectations, it will get a poorer rating.

I'd just like to clarify that I don't think it should be a difference or that I'm in any way happy with my behaviour. It's just the way it happens. I could say I don't look at the name of the author before I finish reading a rating a story, but that would be a lie. I can't help going into different stories with different expectations, or if I applied the same (very high) standard to everything I read, I'd end up rating 95% of the stories in Lit with 1s and 2s.

Which I don't.

 

[Dirty Slut]

How to vote:

I vote on each story here by the story's merits, not the authors laurels. If the story was put together sloppily, then it deserves a 2 just for being brave enough to submit it. If the story is gramatically correct, without spelling errors it deserves a 3. From this point on it gets a 4, or a 5 depending on how much of a page turner it was for me. I never vote a 1 for a story, and believe all 1's should be dropped immediately as a no vote as anyone voting a story a 1 is just being spiteful.

Does it matter who wrote the story? No. Why should it? All votes are made annonymously, and therefore anyone can later say they voted a five when they actually only voted a 2, 3, or 4, or even a spiteful 1. And many here probably do vote differently than they admit if the story isn't that good.

DS

PS: If this became the standard on this site, then Laurel would get a lot less hassel as all she'd have to do is read the story herself, and find out that it deserved better, and thus drop any 1's, and 2's for that story.

 

[ffreak]

Like some of the others here, if a story is submitted by participant in the AH, I'll tend to read it, even when it's not a category I would normally read.

How do I vote? Every time I read something I think is worth voting for.

I've never bothered to vote for anything that I can't finish, whether it's because I can't stand the writing or because it takes a turn deeply into subject matter that turns me off. My rational for this apathy is two-fold. If they get a negative vote, they may not try to improve (yeah, they may be hopeless, but who knows), and I'm not interested in the flame war (I always send mine with my email addr - never one to speak behind their backs).

When I find a story by someone in this forum, I tend to read for more than story. So far, to my delight, the vast majority of stories I read by authors here, I really like - sometimes it's the way they approached the story, sometimes it's because of their use of language, sometimes it's because of an inside joke that I only get because I've been reading their posts. When I do find something that yanks me away from the story, I try to find a nice way to let that person know I thought they meant something different.

Would I be harder or softer on criticism just because a person is or is not participating in the AH? No.

-FF (and I appreciate all the feedback I get from the AH - about 80% of what I get)

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I don't read for pleasure a lot any more. Usually I have a reason now to be reading, rather than writing.

Me too. At least here at Lit. I rarely read anything unless I've been asked to read it for a critique or it's on the feedback board, which is the same thing. Reading off a glowing screen is just not fun for me, no matter what's on it.

I don't vote either. I'll send feedback, but the voting thing gives me trouble. What do you do with a good idea poorly executed, or vice versa? I think about it too much. It's easier just to send feedback.

But since I feel I know the people in the AH better than some author chosen at random, I always take more interest in their work when I do read it. And if someone posts some interesting (or asinine) things to the board, I often get curious as to what their writing is like and go and take a look.

---dr.M.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Like Colly and Doc, I do very little reading for "pleasure" on a computer, even here at Lit. However, I've set a goal of reading all the Halloween contest entries. As for voting, I don't believe I've ever given anyone a one or two. If something's that bad, I hit the backspace and move on.

Unless there are some "bottom of the dogpile" contest considerations, I vote AH folks the same way I do everyone else, that is 3, 4, 5, or not at all. The difference is, I'll try to give AH writers some feedback to explain my vote.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[whispering_surrender]

Personally, I know I would rate AH authors differently than I would others. So unless I ended up there from an AH author's link, I try not to look at the author until I have made my vote. Then I look, as I am more "technical" in my critique if I recognize the author from postings here.

Whisper

 

[damppanties]

However, I've set a goal of reading all the Halloween contest entries.

Rumple Foreskin

The same. That's why I felt a little guilty about my voting process. Because it somehow mattered in the contest. The AH author's story was better than the other story but just because I felt he should have done better I...

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I try to be fair, but I tend to be more strict if only because I've generally read their other work, so I tend to judge individual pieces against the whole. (Have I seen them do much better than this? Hmm, probably only a 3 or a 4 then...)

 

[Sabledrake]

I find that my expectations are a little bit higher when reading a story by someone I recognize from AH. Folks here are more likely to identify themselves as authors -- well, hey, it's the AH! -- and therefore have relatively higher standards regaring their writing. And if I'm used to seeing well-written posts from a name I know, I tend to expect a similar quality in his or her stories.

Sabledrake

 

[Angusthe bull]

Question

On the basis of the only silly question is the unasked one. What does AH mean please?

 

[oggbashan]

Re: Question

On the basis of the only silly question is the unasked one. What does AH mean please?

AH = Authors' Hangout = this board.

Og