reverse sweep..?

[jsmiam]

I have a very rarely read story tucked away. Nothing great, although I had fun with it, only 40 reviews, 5000 reads. (https://www.literotica.com/s/what-am-i-going-to-do-with-her, if anyone cares)

One unusual thing. I'm assuming something automatic happens every few days, because the number of reviews goes down, but so does the score, meaning it's a 5-bomb getting removed, not the more commonly swept 1-bomb.

I'm assuming the sweep is detecting fraud, or thinks it is, but it's not me doing anything, and I can't imagine someone else likes me enough to put fake ratings up for little ole me. What gives?

 

[HandsInTheDark]

It's almost impossible to come up with an anti-score-meddle algorithm that doesn't hit innocent targets.

Scores are manipulated by hateful people, then by Lit in an attempt at fairness. Both are chaotic processes. I've learned not to take scoring seriously.

Put differently, I thought getting a 4.6 on a story was pretty neat until I read some other stories ranked that way or higher.

People are strange; numbers misleading.

 

[sr71plt]

Have no idea what a reverse sweep here would be.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm assuming the sweep is detecting fraud, or thinks it is, but it's not me doing anything, and I can't imagine someone else likes me enough to put fake ratings up for little ole me. What gives?

A common reason for removing a vote (of any level) is the same problem that causes double posts in the forums -- submitting a vote multiple times because the site doesn't appear to respond quickly enough.

 

[jsmiam]

Thanks to all who responded. It's been odd watching that particular story get rated. Has been at 39, 40, then 41 votes then back down then up/down/up/down about ten or more times for weeks, whereas the other not-new-any-more stories increase in vote count slowly but surely.

It's a small sample size, being so rarely read, but odd that the sweeps clear 5-rated scores. I'm not bothered, but am a little curious. It rarely goes up by two votes in a day, so I haven't seen signs of clicks registering twice.

 

[49greg]

I had something similar happen to me. Recently several of my stories got lower scores, two in particular have over the last year or so bounced up and down, from 4.5 to 4.49, so I keep tabs on them. Then a few months ago one went up to 4.52. Yippee!

Then a week or so ago it dropped to 4.49, and I took note of the number of votes - dropped by one. Then it dropped another vote a day later but stayed at 4.49 My other close one stayed at the 4.49 it's been on for a few months.

Some of my other 'over 4.5' stories have crept upward towards, but not to the levels they were previously. If it hadn't been for that one that lost votes - one of two I watch votes on - I would have assumed I had been trolled.

Oh well, I know the mysterious sweep has bounced up scores before, so I guess it evens out eventually.

 

[Bramblethorn]

A common reason for removing a vote (of any level) is the same problem that causes double posts in the forums -- submitting a vote multiple times because the site doesn't appear to respond quickly enough.

Yep, or somebody reads the story, comes back a while later on a different browser, and forgets that they've already voted.

And if two different people sharing the same net connection vote, that can look like multi-voting.

 

[jsmiam]

I was chuckling at some of the contest entries too (yes, I know various screens have time lags), but I saw two different stories that were favorited more times than they had been viewed...

I bet they tells you that the read counter increments when viewers reach the last page. My strange counting story is a one-pager, maybe that's the culprit! ;-)

 

[ishtat]

Have no idea what a reverse sweep here would be.

A reverse sweep is a shot in cricket when a right handed batter switches to lefthanded as the bowler bowls without changing (necessarily) the top and bottom hands . He or she then ends up hitting the ball in exactly the opposite direction to that anticipated by the bowling (pitching) team.

Alright: you didn't really need to know that, but I had a definite need to tell. Carry on.

 

[sr71plt]

Thanks, that's clear as mud. (But I would believe anything about cricket.)

 

[jsmiam]

A reverse sweep is a shot in cricket when a right handed batter switches to lefthanded as the bowler bowls without changing (necessarily) the top and bottom hands . He or she then ends up hitting the ball in exactly the opposite direction to that anticipated by the bowling (pitching) team.

Alright: you didn't really need to know that, but I had a definite need to tell. Carry on.

Cricket.. Oh, yeah, that game based on baseball, right?

And THAT'S how to annoy someone from England...

 

[redzinger]

A reverse sweep is a shot in cricket when a right handed batter switches to lefthanded as the bowler bowls without changing (necessarily) the top and bottom hands . He or she then ends up hitting the ball in exactly the opposite direction to that anticipated by the bowling (pitching) team.

Alright: you didn't really need to know that, but I had a definite need to tell. Carry on.

I did that once in rounders* at school. The teachers had pointed out that I was left-handed so sent all cover to the right field. I whacked it one...to the left side. Had a nice jog around to fourth base and home.

*like baseball, played in nearly every UK school at any age

 

[redzinger]

Cricket is nothing like baseball.

However, rounders is a better version of baseball.

 

[TxRad]

Uh... Cricket's chirp. Nough said.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Cricket.. Oh, yeah, that game based on baseball, right?

And THAT'S how to annoy someone from England...

Cheers. Cricket. Invented in England. Perfected in India.


I had to duck and back away the first time I used that line (also the only time I've used it with a live audience.) I'm sure the fans are mellower now...

 

[49greg]

Cricket is nothing like baseball.

However, rounders is a better version of baseball.

I don't know about better or worse, but from what I remember it was certainly more civilized. Certainly no girls in our school (it was a girls game at the school I went to) chewed and spit tobacco, or gum for that matter. And no groping of their junk.

And a lot more fun to watch as their PE outfits had short tennis type skirts that tended to flip up in wind or when running.

 

[Everyday_Man]

I don't know much about sweeps ... but on my latest story (only my 2nd) I got a feedback email that said '16 pages, automatic rating of 1' ... ain't that a bitch? How do you ask for regular sweeps?

 

[TxRad]

I don't know much about sweeps ... but on my latest story (only my 2nd) I got a feedback email that said '16 pages, automatic rating of 1' ... ain't that a bitch? How do you ask for regular sweeps?

PM Laurel with a link to the story in question and tell her why you think it needs a special sweep. Be short and sweet. She should get back to you shortly one way or the other.

 

[Everyday_Man]

PM Laurel with a link to the story in question and tell her why you think it needs a special sweep. Be short and sweet. She should get back to you shortly one way or the other.

Thank you ... I'll wait until it's off the front page of new stories.

 

[jsmiam]

It seems like the possibility may exist that the sweep mechanism goes by IP address at least partly, and perhaps is labeling mobile users on 3g/4g/etc as false positives, given that the phone companies dish out and reuse ip addresses over and over. (for example, today's ip will be different next time you go from 4g to your home Wi-Fi then back to 4g again, and someone else now has the ip you had last time.

Just another avenue to speculate how sweeps work.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

It seems like the possibility may exist that the sweep mechanism goes by IP address at least partly, and perhaps is labeling mobile users on 3g/4g/etc as false positives, given that the phone companies dish out and reuse ip addresses over and over. (for example, today's ip will be different next time you go from 4g to your home Wi-Fi then back to 4g again, and someone else now has the ip you had last time.

Just another avenue to speculate how sweeps work.

I can't see the point in speculation. We can't really guess and we're not going to be told how it works (and my guess is there are two reasons: they're changing the mechanism as they go so discussing it is pointless, and they don't want to talk about it because the information is exploitable.)

There are decent algorithms for filtering false votes - Amazon is pretty good at it as I understand it. But they aren't simple and I have no idea how much technical depth Lit has in that area. I doubt doing it brilliantly is important to them anyway; they are selling ad space, not providing a critiquing service.

 

[RejectReality]

Over the years, I've had readers admit to multi-voting and down-voting the competition. I have little doubt that there were many more who were doing so, but didn't tell me. Those who did tell me got replies that I didn't want that sort of "help", and seemed surprised by that.

After a couple of times, I started putting end notes on all my stories, as well as regularly posting the same on my website, blog, etc. Something such as:

Reader votes are what determine the winners of the contests, so I'd appreciate yours. Only vote once, though. If you like it that much, leave me a comment, favorite the story, or favorite me as an author LOL That's worth a lot more to me than an extra vote that will just get removed by Literotica anyway. Reader feedback is the fuel that keeps me writing, and all of the above do the trick.

After only a brief period of doing that, the number of votes I lost in sweeps -- and more importantly, the number of high votes I lost -- dropped dramatically.

Never underestimate the fanbase's desire to "help", or assume you don't have one. The first person to admit this to me was way back when I was struggling to get 10 votes on new submissions. It was a big part of the reason why a story would finally get 10 votes, and then only a couple of days later, drop back down in the single digits when the multi-votes were removed.

It only takes one, if they're enamored enough and determined enough. Most will back off from such activity if informed that you don't want any shenanigans, though.

 

[MatthewVett]

I haven't noticed any sweeps yet, but I'm not checking my votes wicked often. Aside from a few hours in on the first day, my entire score range has been 4.XX plus or minus 0.01, so if I'm getting 1-bombed, I'm not seeing it.

 

[jsmiam]

Thanks, RR. I don't think my story falls into that category, but I suppose I can dream. The story I'm seeing it with is an old one, not in any contest, plus I don't have fans of that loyalty.. Yet.. ;-)

But it's interesting to see the votes come and go. What I need for that particular story is more coming and less going!

 

[49greg]

I had something similar happen to me. Recently several of my stories got lower scores, ....

Oh well, I know the mysterious sweep has bounced up scores before, so I guess it evens out eventually.

Wow, I spoke too soon. Checked in this morning and most scores went up. One of my 4.49 stories jumped back up to 4.52 where it had been for a while until everything went down in August. And it lost another vote in the process.

Other scores went up as well.

I'll have to sacrifice a goat to the sweep goddess. But only under the next full moon after swinging a large toad around my head anti-clockwise 14 times while facing east and hopping on my right foot with my eyes closed, while holding my left earlobe and chanting passages from the Literotica submissions FAQs.