rating

[SimonDoom]

The thing to keep in mind is that scores are not for the authors, but for the readers (including the reader giving the score). And that goes for low scores in particular. A lot of writers take it personally, and of course vendettas happen, but I'm convinced most ratings are not given out of any anger or animosity towards the writer.

If I give a story a 2 or 1, it means that I think it doesn't meet a baseline standard of readability. It's not a punishment for the author, just guidance for other readers: skip this one. What more needs to be said? (Of course, grade inflation means that this might only have the effect of changing a 3.92 average to 3.87 or whatever, but we do what we can.)

Maybe if it seems like it's the writer's first ever attempt to string words together I might throw them a quick comment about basic issues (like the common "switches between first-person and third-person mid-sentence") to help them out, but usually I don't think it worth the effort to help a "very bad" writer get to the level of "pretty bad."

I might be more inclined to comment on a story I rate a 3 or 4, where the writing is not terrible but there are some flaws – if I have anything constructive to say (and the author hasn't shown themself completely unreceptive).

I think that's completely fair. That's what the star system is for. 1s and 2s are for stories you hate or dislike. 3 is meant to be average, but in fact the mean story score here is closer to 4.5.

I'm also not sure about the other advice that one should comment if one is going to give a downvote, because negative comments so often are taken badly. Many authors, in my experience, simply don't respond well to, and therefore probably do not profit from, negative criticism.

In practice, I rarely get all the way through a story I would regard as a 3 or below, so I just click out of such stories and don't vote. So, I'm tough in theory but soft in practice.

 

[TheArsonist]

But I don't think it's respectful to give such a negative rating without at least providing an explanation.

If the rating is directed towards you as the writer I would agree (of course, if they rate you so negatively, perhaps they don't respect you). But as I said, I think ratings are mostly directed towards other readers.

If you see a film you hate and you tell your friends (or the Internet at large via Disqus/Twitter/BlueSky/Reddit or a rating on IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes/Letterboxd/etc.) "that movie is terrible, don't watch it," should you be required to write the filmmakers to explain what you didn't like about it, out of respect?

In practice, I rarely get all the way through a story I would regard as a 3 or below, so I just click out of such stories and don't vote. So, I'm tough in theory but soft in practice.

Yeah, if I DNF because a story is really bad I'll sometimes skip to the end to leave a rating, but it's more the exception than the rule. This is no doubt one factor that leads to the grade inflation.

 

[SimonDoom]

Yeah, if I DNF because a story is really bad I'll sometimes skip to the end to leave a rating, but it's more the exception than the rule. This is no doubt one factor that leads to the grade inflation.

I usually don't read enough of a story to feel justified in voting negatively on it, but I agree that as long as you have read enough that you feel justified, in good faith, in giving the vote you want to give, that's enough.

 

[loic333]

If the rating is directed towards you as the writer I would agree (of course, if they rate you so negatively, perhaps they don't respect you). But as I said, I think ratings are mostly directed towards other readers.

If you see a film you hate and you tell your friends (or the Internet at large via Disqus/Twitter/BlueSky/Reddit or a rating on IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes/Letterboxd/etc.) "that movie is terrible, don't watch it," should you be required to write the filmmakers to explain what you didn't like about it, out of respect?



Yeah, if I DNF because a story is really bad I'll sometimes skip to the end to leave a rating, but it's more the exception than the rule. This is no doubt one factor that leads to the grade inflation.

I understand your reasoning, but what explains the fact that you have an average of 4.42 across 9 chapters, and then, without explanation, you give it a star? Personally, if I dislike a film or a story, I simply move on. We're not going to calculate the standard deviation, are we? Your arguments are valid, but I admit that as an author, I'm frustrated by this situation. If the subject I address in my story interests anyone, and although it's written in French, relying in part on Google Translate or other tools, I welcome your feedback, and I'll do so with complete objectivity!

 

[IWroteThis]

An anecdotal story. A few months ago I posted a story Christine and Greg. I opened with a note that the characters first appeared in my story His Professor Aunt Pt. 11 and that I wanted to explore the characters further. Shortly after it went out, His Professor Aunt Pt. 11, which was one of my best rated stories, dropped about 10 points.

Baffling.

I'm not sure why you find it baffling. Being chapter 11 of a story, most of the people clicking on it were people who liked the previous ten chapters enough to click on another. Very few people will click on a chapter 11 as their first exposure to a story. That's why the trend is for ratings to increase and views decrease over the course of a series.

However, you just directed people directly to that chapter, so it's going to be read by a lot of people who didn't get there because they liked the previous chapters. How badly that hurts the rating is going to depend on how well the chapter stands on its own and how well it matches the theme of the new story that prompted them to click on it.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

You are misunderstanding the nature of Literotica. Authors are the sweatshop labor, producing things to sell to the real customers, the readers. No one cares about our working conditions. Once you understand this, how the site prioritizes things becomes more comprehensible.

Emily, JAPs, like me, don't sweat!

 

[loic333]

I'm not sure why you find it baffling. Being chapter 11 of a story, most of the people clicking on it were people who liked the previous ten chapters enough to click on another. Very few people will click on a chapter 11 as their first exposure to a story. That's why the trend is for ratings to increase and views decrease over the course of a series.

However, you just directed people directly to that chapter, so it's going to be read by a lot of people who didn't get there because they liked the previous chapters. How badly that hurts the rating is going to depend on how well the chapter stands on its own and how well it matches the theme of the new story that prompted them to click on it.

I understand your reasoning and your point, but personally, if I want to read a multi-chapter story, I start from the beginning. If I watch a movie starting three-quarters of the way through, I'm likely to be disappointed. For example, if I watch "7," I might say it's rubbish . Sharing chapter 11 is, as you rightly pointed out, for loyal readers or those who would like to discover a new story! Thank you for your analysis.

 

[IWroteThis]

I understand your reasoning and your point, but personally, if I want to read a multi-chapter story, I start from the beginning. If I watch a movie starting three-quarters of the way through, I'm likely to be disappointed. For example, if I watch "7," I might say it's rubbish . Sharing chapter 11 is, as you rightly pointed out, for loyal readers or those who would like to discover a new story! Thank you for your analysis.

I find your mix of agreement and disagreement baffling...

To be more specific, I was referring to people who went looking for the characters' backstory, not those looking for a new series to read.

 

[Ianus4]

I understand your reasoning and your point, but personally, if I want to read a multi-chapter story, I start from the beginning. If I watch a movie starting three-quarters of the way through, I'm likely to be disappointed. For example, if I watch "7," I might say it's rubbish . Sharing chapter 11 is, as you rightly pointed out, for loyal readers or those who would like to discover a new story! Thank you for your analysis.

Please consider that readers don't evaluate the story itself, but rather the experience it provides them. Furthermore, they don't know the ending of the story (yet) and don't know (or care) that it's autobiographically inspired.
All they see is that Carole becomes terribly unpleasant in Chapter 11. She constantly makes demands, Alexandre is willing to do anything for her (even taking a permanent scar upon himself), and in "return," she leaves and sleeps with another man without remorse, essentially cheating on him. In LW, this would immediately mean burning at the stake, and female readers would cry misogyny. I'm curious to see how it ends, but it may have prompted some people to stop reading the series.
In such cases, it may be better to publish several chapters at once so that the reading ends with a sense of relief.

 

[loic333]

Veuillez noter que les lecteurs n'évaluent pas l'histoire en elle-même, mais plutôt l'expérience qu'elle leur procure. De plus, ils ne connaissent pas encore la fin et ignorent (ou ne se soucient pas) qu'elle soit inspirée de leur propre vie.
Tout ce qu'ils voient, c'est que Carole devient insupportable au chapitre 11. Elle est constamment exigeante, Alexandre est prêt à tout pour elle (même à se défigurer), et en « retour », elle le quitte et couche avec un autre homme sans le moindre remords, le trompant ainsi. Dans l'univers de LW, cela signifierait immédiatement le bûcher, et les lectrices crieraient à la misogynie. Je suis curieux de voir la fin, mais cela risque de dissuader certains lecteurs d'abandonner la série.
Dans de tels cas, il peut être préférable de publier plusieurs chapitres à la fois afin que la lecture se termine sur une note de soulagement.

Merci pour votre retour. Malheureusement, la publication ne dépend pas de moi, mais de LIT. Il reste deux chapitres, et ensuite tout sera dévoilé. Merci pour votre analyse très intéressante.

 

[Britva415]

I don't think it's respectful to give such a negative rating without at least providing an explanation

I mean, maybe it's not.