Story Scores

[CorsetLvr]

Hello fellow writers,

I've posted here on this topic before but I have had some recent observations that I want to bounce off the other writers and see if they had noticed the same thing. I have not posted here in a while and thought this might be something that some of you might have knowledge of, or interest in.

When I have a new story post, the score, although based on a limited number of votes, is usually pretty high. If its good enough to make it to a top list, the score suddenly plunges. It's as if being on the top list is the kiss of death, as far as the score is concerned. I have always attributed this to jealous writers or their fans that are out to "torpedo" the competition. I have never really seen writing as a competitive sport. I like to think that it's the fans and not the writers doing this but the familiarity with how voting works, and the impact of a low score on a new story makes me sadly doubt this. Yes, I realize that the vote count will eventually rise to the point where "torpedo" votes become statistically invalid. However, the majority of votes do seem to come within the first few days after a story is posted and its still "fresh."

Today, for example, I had a new story go from #1 on a top list to #85 with just 2-3 votes within a few hours after being posted on the top list. I thought this was more than a coincidence that it happened so quickly on a story that seemed to be received so well. The votes in questions managed to drop the overal score by about 0.2, which I would say is pretty significant and required a couple of 1 votes on a story that was getting mainly 5's and a few 4's. Is it just me or does that smell of conspiracy? For the record, I'm not one of those chronic conspiracy theoryists.

Another thing that I have noticed is that occasionally vote counts will decrease and scores will suddenly rise dramatically. I have always assumed that this was the Literotica powers that be "cleaning up" torpedo votes on otherwise relatively high scoring stories. I'm hoping that Laurel or Manu may see this and comment on, or explain this.

With all that said, I must admit that my ego is playing a large part in all this. What good writer doesn't have some degree of ego, or rather pride in their work. However, I will also say that I have gotten that under control, at least to some degree. I no longer flail about in emotional anguish when I see my story has been torpedoed, as I may have done in the past. I just take it for what it is, human nature, and just one element of the field that we play on in the wonderful world on internet erotica.

Thanks,

 

[voluptuary_manque]

There are, in the readership, a number of what we call Trolls. These are readers without a life whose sole enjoyment in life is trying to make other people unhappy. Pathetic, I know, but true. With a tiny handful of exceptions, the Trolls do not include other writers. What the 'clean-up' runs are supposed to do, I suspect, is eliminate '1-bombs' posted by people who never read the story but just go around blasting everything that looks like it's popular.

 

[rgraham666]

What VM said.

If you're really unlucky you'll collect a person troll. This person will make a point of showing up every couple of days, going down the list of your stories and vote '1' on all of them. I had one that was busy for about three weeks a couple of months ago. All his/her votes got swept and they got bored and wandered off.

By the votes sweeps get rid of all suspicious votes, not just the one bombs.

 

[CorsetLvr]

voluptuary_manque,

Thanks, that explains a lot of things. Its sad that it comes down to this kind of behavior. However, at this point in my life, I'm rarely surprised by the stupid or immature behavior by people that I only share the same species with, as sad as that fact may be.

 

[CorsetLvr]

I've always wondered if there were people out there that actually thought 1 was a good score. In other words, they have the vote scale backwards. I'm sure that happens, at least occasionally.

 

[Jack_Samuel]

Its a sad reflection that even on here where people can feel free to be whatever they choose, some people either bring their baggage with them.

Or even worse choose to be such negative destructive souls