Story Ratings Suggestion

[Bill_Monroe]

Sorry, I couldn't find a logical place to post this.

I think it would be helpful for authors -- and make everything more honest -- if to Rate a story, the Reader issuing the Rating be required to do so other than anonymously, and authors be given the option to receive a notice of the Rating, as we now do for story views, additions to Followers, etc. I have no problem with the ratings my stories get. Of the 33 stories I have published on Lit, (as of now) 6 have 4.5 Ratings; 9 have 4.6 Ratings; 8 have 4.7 Ratings; 4 have 4.8 Ratings; and 1 has a 4.9 Rating. The remaining 5 are under 4.5.

Yes, this will probably reduce the number of ratings, but I think quality is always better than quantity...yes, always .

Just an idea.

 

[StillStunned]

The ratings aren't for the writer's benefit, they're for the readers.

They give an indication of what other readers thought of the story. The more votes, the more likely the average score is to reflect a general consensus.

Also, voting increases the readers' sense of engagement with the stories and the site. It's a way to leave their mark, like hikers stacking flat stones along the track. Voting without registering an account is easy and effortless, and it adds to the reader's overall experience.

 

[RejectReality]

It wouldn't "reduce" the number of ratings. It would cause them to absolutely plummet into the sewer. Joe Blow isn't going to sign up to a porn site to vote on a story. That troll who's dropping 1s on you? They'll sign up for 3 and have orders of magnitude more impact with every 1 because of losing all the people who would have given you 5s if they didn't have to jump through hoops to do it.

 

[SmilingLez]

the Reader issuing the Rating be required to do so other than anonymously,

IMO, this whole commercial for profit porn site is based on anonymity. All of our handles are essentially anonymous. There is technically no upside (to individuals) to require membership, other than the harvesting of email addresses by the advertisers. I am definitely glad some email providers block certain sites from flooding individual email account. YMMV