Seemingly widespread ratings manipulation

[EmilyMiller]

It all makes me think that the all-time top list is obsolete because the site can't protect the stories on it. The site might be able to protect future highly-rated stories by taking the list down.

I think that this is the right approach. As is, the toplists serve no function as either a curated list of good stories for readers or a target for keen writers. As is, they have been reduced to gray goo.

 

[Areala-chan]

I gave up and just disabled voting on my stories until this mess gets sorted out.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I gave up and just disabled voting on my stories until this mess gets sorted out.

What a crappy outcome

 

[Trionyx]

The sad result of this is the inability to distinguish truly great works from the rest (like mine.)

 

[JGittes]

The sad result of this is the inability to distinguish truly great works from the rest (like mine.)

A few years ago, I read many of the top-list stories in the seven or eight categories I was thinking of writing in. What I observed was that while the writing was technically sound and clear, the storylines were very vanilla. I wouldn't call them great, but they're well written and popular in a lowest-common-denominator way.

In some categories, romance, for example, I didn't want surprises, and the top list was a good guide to begin an exploration of the category. In most of the other categories I looked into (I avoid LW), many of the stories weren't even especially erotic.

 

[Stanfield2025]

A few years ago, I read many of the top-list stories in the seven or eight categories I was thinking of writing in. What I observed was that while the writing was technically sound and clear, the storylines were very vanilla. I wouldn't call them great, but they're well written and popular in a lowest-common-denominator way.

In some categories, romance, for example, I didn't want surprises, and the top list was a good guide to begin an exploration of the category. In most of the other categories I looked into (I avoid LW), many of the stories weren't even especially erotic.

That's curious to say the least.

 

[TheLobster]

I wouldn't call them great, but they're well written and popular in a lowest-common-denominator way.

You don’t get on the bestseller list — as in, actual market-based list, rather than what NYT thinks should be a bestseller — through feats of literary experimentation. You get it by dishing out decently crafted stories that appeal to the masses and getting lucky.

In other words, less James Joyce and more Dan Brown.

 

[JGittes]

You don’t get on the bestseller list — as in, actual market-based list, rather than what NYT thinks should be a bestseller — through feats of literary experimentation. You get it by dishing out decently crafted stories that appeal to the masses and getting lucky.

In other words, less James Joyce and more Dan Brown.

I completely agree.

Bringing it back to the title of this thread, the NYT bestseller lists are manipulated in ways not entirely dissimilar to the Literotica lists. I've read accounts of EJ James paying people to go to the bookstores she knew the NYT used to determine its lists and buy all the copies of 50 Shades. I suspect there are various other tactics used to influence the lists, as well as 'sweep-like' countermeasures to lower the manipulation.

 

[Bramblethorn]

This "gap" of 1,485 votes cannot be explained simply by someone manipulating scores. If you look at other categories, you will see similar large gaps between stories (look at #6 & #7 or #13 & #14 in Lesbian Sex) with the same score. This only started happening when the flattening began, so there must be some correlation.

But it didn't.

Lesbian Sex toplist, March 1 2015. (I had to try several times to get through the 503 errors, Wayback has had problems with denial-of-service attacks and I guess it's happening again.) Here are the stories with a score of 4.83:




Story #4 has 4.83 from 4728 views; story #5 has 4.83 from 436. That's a bigger gap than the one you're pointing at, from more than 10 years ago.

Here are the 4.82s from that same list. Again, a huge gap in votes between #8 and #9.


And the 4.81s:




So whatever the reason is for having large gaps between top and second-top story at a particular score, it's not a new phenomenon.

IDK why the distribution is like that, but I can think of one possible mechanism that doesn't involve anything other than honest voting and what's publicly known about how the toplists are supposed to work; I'll put that in a separate post when I have time.