Sudden ratings plunge

[Salish]

My two-part Reboot series has been up for a while (October and December), with a decent number of votes (270 & 200). They were doing rather well, with ratings of 4.82 and 4.86.

About ten days ago, the ratings for the two stories dropped by 0.04 and 0.06 points in the course of a single day, with the vote count increasing by less than 10.

I want every vote to count. If you want to give me three stars because you don't like software nerds or one star because my story was long and boring, I'm fine with that. I very much value all the feedback I get here, both positive and negative, from votes, comments, favorites, and private feedback sent through email.

However, that sudden drop feels like shenanigans to me. Just curious - have other authors had similar experiences?

https://www.literotica.com/s/reboot-pt-02

 

[Zeb_Carter]

A sweep was probably done. Sweeps are done on some time schedule that the owners won't say. They(the sweeps) sweep away duplicate votes or based on some blackbox formula sweep 1 bombs away when the code thinks the story doesn't deserve them. It will also do the same with 5 votes.

 

[RejectReality]

It happens all the time. If you believe someone is maliciously attacking your score, you can request a sweep by clicking the report button on your story and stating that as the reason.

However, most of those low votes will vanish the next time the Hoover comes around anyway, which it will.

Unless it's an ongoing thing, you may as well just wait for the next pass.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

My two-part Reboot series has been up for a while (October and December), with a decent number of votes (270 & 200). They were doing rather well, with ratings of 4.82 and 4.86.

About ten days ago, the ratings for the two stories dropped by 0.04 and 0.06 points in the course of a single day, with the vote count increasing by less than 10.

I want every vote to count. If you want to give me three stars because you don't like software nerds or one star because my story was long and boring, I'm fine with that. I very much value all the feedback I get here, both positive and negative, from votes, comments, favorites, and private feedback sent through email.

However, that sudden drop feels like shenanigans to me. Just curious - have other authors had similar experiences?

https://www.literotica.com/s/reboot-pt-02

You had a 4.86. That's quite high enough for some jealous author to hate you, or even for some fan to think your series shouldn't rank higher than their favorite series.

There are so many pressures on voting that it's difficult to take the results too seriously. There's compression, where a vote of 4 is essentially a bad score and can actually be malicious, during contests. There's jealousy voting. There's I-hate-your-kink voting. There's fanboi voting and voting cliques. And then there's the effect of voting sweeps, which might not always remove the right votes.

Ultimately? Jitter happens. Don't sweat it.

 

[karaline]

Were your scores high enough to put you on the hall of fame? I tend to get one bombed when I'm on there.

Also, I wonder if when people are voting they give stories low scores if they think they're too high. A reader might not think a story is a one but they may score it as such because they don't think it deserves to be 4.86.

 

[Desiretobedesir]

..........

 

[JKendallDane]

Were your scores high enough to put you on the hall of fame? I tend to get one bombed when I'm on there.

I checked the Lesbian HOF and from seeing how tightly packed score-wise the front page of the All Time list is, and with the top four positions all being very recent submissions, I would look more towards the distinct possibility of "fan bombing" from the more rabid fans of other authors.

Showing up in the HOF, especially the front page, is a great thing but it also puts a bulls eye on your stories. You're currently sitting at #1 for the last thirty days and #4 on the All-Time rankings. Sometimes those high profile positions gets you attention you really weren't looking for.

 

[JackLuis]

I've noticed that in the last couple of days I lost three votes and the Saga's scores went up a tiny bit. N&N doesn't get much traffic and fewer votes so it makes some difference. I figured it was Manu's Hoover.

 

[rjordan]

They were doing rather well, with ratings of 4.82 and 4.86.

About ten days ago, the ratings for the two stories dropped by 0.04 and 0.06 points in the course of a single day, with the vote count increasing by less than 10.

https://www.literotica.com/s/reboot-pt-02

Voting is in increments of 1 from 1 to 5. You honestly think 4 HUNDREDTHS of a point is meaningful in any way? Be thankful scores aren't calculated to 5 or 6 places. It would be just as valid mathematically, but watching the variations from 4.82653 to 4.86243 would drive obsessive vote counters crazier.

rj

 

[Handley_Page]

Voting is in increments of 1 from 1 to 5. You honestly think 4 HUNDREDTHS of a point is meaningful in any way? Be thankful scores aren't calculated to 5 or 6 places. It would be just as valid mathematically, but watching the variations from 4.82653 to 4.86243 would drive obsessive vote counters crazier.

rj

Ah, but rounded up or down ?

 

[lovecraft68]

I've had some ratings plunges this week. Started when I made a post about a lit award nomination. What a shock.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Ah, but rounded up or down ?

The function ROUND(): SQL

The ROUND() function is used to round a numeric field to the number of decimals specified.

Note: Many database systems do rounding differently than you might expect. When rounding a number with a fractional part to an integer, our school teachers told us to round .1 through .4 DOWN to the next lower integer, and .5 through .9 UP to the next higher integer. But if all the digits 1 through 9 are equally likely, this introduces a slight bias towards infinity, since we always round .5 up. Many database systems have adopted the IEEE 754 standard for arithmetic operations, according to which the default rounding behavior is "round half to even." In this scheme, .5 is rounded to the nearest even integer. So, both 11.5 and 12.5 would be rounded to 12.

 

[meddlesome]

Voting is in increments of 1 from 1 to 5. You honestly think 4 HUNDREDTHS of a point is meaningful in any way? Be thankful scores aren't calculated to 5 or 6 places. It would be just as valid mathematically, but watching the variations from 4.82653 to 4.86243 would drive obsessive vote counters crazier.

rj

Well said.

 

[JKendallDane]

The function ROUND(): SQL

The ROUND() function is used to round a numeric field to the number of decimals specified.

Note: Many database systems do rounding differently than you might expect. When rounding a number with a fractional part to an integer, our school teachers told us to round .1 through .4 DOWN to the next lower integer, and .5 through .9 UP to the next higher integer. But if all the digits 1 through 9 are equally likely, this introduces a slight bias towards infinity, since we always round .5 up. Many database systems have adopted the IEEE 754 standard for arithmetic operations, according to which the default rounding behavior is "round half to even." In this scheme, .5 is rounded to the nearest even integer. So, both 11.5 and 12.5 would be rounded to 12.

Zeb, I always love your posts and the helpful hints they usually provide. HOWEVER...that little pile of crap ^^up there^^ just caused some seriously ugly flashbacks to a Quantitative Analysis course in college! :caning:

I am pouring Kaluha on my corn flakes right now in hopes it will help get that out of my mind.

.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Zeb, I always love your posts and the helpful hints they usually provide. HOWEVER...that little pile of crap ^^up there^^ just caused some seriously ugly flashbacks to a Quantitative Analysis course in college! :caning:

I am pouring Kaluha on my corn flakes right now in hopes it will help get that out of my mind.

.

And that's the value NULL is indeterminate.