Sweep glitch?

[ElectricBlue]

I find it humorous when I see an author favorite their own work, and/or themself as a writerl.

Favoriting your own work is a bit odd, I agree. Perhaps, to be generous, it's an extra special story .

Not so desperate though, as those using one of their alts to talk their own stories up, writing gushing reviews and pretending it's not them. I've spotted one or two, over the years.

 

[jsmiam]

As a reminder, not even amazon has full control over fake reviews, and they have web developers who actually know what they’re doing as well as entire departments dedicated to various flavors of fraud detection and prevention. Expecting lit to come up with something foolproof is unrealistic. And expecting the most sophisticated fraudsters to stop is unrealistic too.

In the specific case at hand and on the conspiracy theorists side, another possibility is that some of their 5 scores really were fake, used to obfuscate And make less obvious a parallel effort to pump up scores for some other story in a non competing category.

Also a viable explanation on the quite plausible side, perhaps the OP has a super fan, whose night time ritual involves the story, and after a happy ending, perhaps that reader out of gratitude pumps, jacks, rubs, and strokes up something else too, the score. Not an evil plot, necessarily, just some appreciative reader voting more than once. I’m not even sure there’s a place where lit tells readers they shouldn’t vote more than once. They shouldn’t. But some do, I’m sure.

And finally, it’s almost a sure thing that the same level of skill and expertise that goes into Lit’s web design goes into the sweep logic. The possibilities are endless.

P.S. to the person with the new story: totally different issue, scores fluctuate wildly until there’s a critical mass of votes.

 

[lovecraft68]

We have these discussions about once a month.

Would it be unkind of me to point out that the scores on Lit are a bit like the traffic lights in Italy: just a suggestion.

The scores are not being awarded by anyone with a deep understanding of story-telling, character creation, language, composition or anything else of that nature. They are being awarded by readers of smut - many of whom have probably not even read the story they are scoring.

Yes, it's frustrating. But it is the way it is.

That's very true which is why I posted on the "magical red H" thread not to care so much about them, of course I was completely ignored. But I think if people stick around long enough they start to realize how meaningless the H. top lists and scores are.

And adding to you point about legit votes not being rendered by people seeking Pulitzer prize winning material, just simply did it entertain them or not, the way the system is designed is ripe for manipulation and the manipulators have evolved over time as have the sweeps, and are always finding ways to play them.

Used to be the bomb, now they're upvoting and it works better than the bombing.

 

[lovecraft68]

But a reasonable explanation is that the author her/himself was engaging in shenanigans that plumped up the score. The author is the one benefiting. Come on, you can say it. When all else fails, try common sense. We're talking about wanting to be on the top lists, and anyone monitoring closely their top list position, wants to be on the top lists.

And this can be mitigated by the author her/himself.

Short of scouries, I've never seen anyone here who is willing to go through the tedious work of finding ways and outlets to vote dozens of times on their own work.

On the other hand, I've seen several groups and rabid fan bases both attack an author 'threatening' to supplant their fav on a list while upvoting the shit out of the favs story.

Its not indicative of most authors, we can't help what fans do, but I know two who have used blogs and other outlets to encourage "sic em boy' behavior, and as I pointed out, they have figured out its more damaging to upload fives, it gives the story a brief boost, then the sweep crashes it down and people start to think the author is cheating

But as RR pointed out...if you're cheating would you call attention to yourself? U suppose there is reverse psychology....in any case its too much work and I don't know why people care so much.

 

[SeabornFare]

We have these discussions about once a month.

Would it be unkind of me to point out that the scores on Lit are a bit like the traffic lights in Italy: just a suggestion.

The scores are not being awarded by anyone with a deep understanding of story-telling, character creation, language, composition or anything else of that nature. They are being awarded by readers of smut - many of whom have probably not even read the story they are scoring.

Yes, it's frustrating. But it is the way it is.

Like most things in life, these stories are judged by their likeability and appeal, i.e., their enjoyable content, not their overall technical construction.

I'll take Buffy the Vampire Slayer over Billions any day of the week, and more people use Microsoft than Apple.

All the technical skill in the world won't conquer a bland story. (I'm not calling any story on here by anyone in this thread bland.)

 

[tomlitilia]

But a reasonable explanation is that the author her/himself was engaging in shenanigans that plumped up the score. The author is the one benefiting. Come on, you can say it. When all else fails, try common sense. We're talking about wanting to be on the top lists, and anyone monitoring closely their top list position, wants to be on the top lists.

And this can be mitigated by the author her/himself.

If you are suggesting I had voted up my story 100 times, I'm afraid your common sense deduction missed the mark by 99%, Sherlock.

 

[KeithD]

No, I won't.

Wanting to be on the toplists for the increased readership ( or even just the warm, fuzzy feeling of accomplishment ) it provides does not equal doing whatever it takes to get there.

I deal in common sense, not wishful thinking.

 

[KeithD]

If you are suggesting I had voted up my story 100 times, I'm afraid your common sense deduction missed the mark by 99%, Sherlock.

I'm not suggesting anything about you personally. I'm suggesting logic. If sweeps are taking the rating down, the most likely one involved (other than the possibility of faulty sweeping) is the one who benefited directly from the higher rating. That's much more likely an explanation than that some enemy has pumped the numbers of someone else up just to be gleeful when/if they fall (RR's usual take on it). If someone brings a discussion to the board (and even if they don't but do obsess over it) showing a lot of energy into whether/where they are on top lists, then being there is important to them.

Logic. Common sense.

I didn't bring this to the boards.

 

[RejectReality]

Its not indicative of most authors, we can't help what fans do, but I know two who have used blogs and other outlets to encourage "sic em boy' behavior, and as I pointed out, they have figured out its more damaging to upload fives, it gives the story a brief boost, then the sweep crashes it down and people start to think the author is cheating

That tactic ( 5s ) only makes sense when the organizer is ready to spark the accusation themselves and feed it. Outside of themed contests where the timing of sweeps is more or less known, making this tactic work is a dicey prospect.

I don't see it as likely to work with a figurehead whipping up the crowd, either. The minions would have to be given specific instructions that more or less ensured their votes would be removed, and they'd all have to follow them. Otherwise, they just end up boosting the "victim".

A smaller cabal of people who know what they're doing could be more effective, but then you come back to the timing again. They'd have to watch constantly and be ready to spring the accusation themselves as soon as the sweep happened.

Pulling it off during a contest where sweep reporting is the norm, and the timing is known is the only place this tactic is likely to be effective.

The reports in this thread strike me as sudden dramatic changes resulting from monthly contest sweeps, and possibly some overzealous fans. Contest sweeps result in friendly fire in an effort to ferret out the sneakier malicious voters, so 5s vanishing is more likely than the average, everyday sweep. Some of them are undoubtedly legitimate votes caught in a wider net.

Nothing you can do about that. If you have fans who are secretly working on your behalf, that's something you can correct by making your wishes known.

 

[RejectReality]

That's much more likely an explanation than that some enemy has pumped the numbers of someone else up just to be gleeful when/if they fall (RR's usual take on it).

No, my usual take on it is your own fans are probably hurting you by attempting to help you. Extra 5s for you, and possibly 1s for the competition. Direct manipulation of the scores, not some elaborate tactic. Because it's an unsophisticated operation, most of those additional votes vanish when the sweeps come around, resulting in lower scores for you.

When that sweep is a contest sweep, their cumulative bits of manipulation result in that already wide net getting even wider, possibly sweeping up more legitimate votes in addition to all their illegitimate ones. So the result is a loss instead of just leveling your score to where it would be without their boosting. Let them know that, and even the more zealous fans tend to stop mucking about.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

I just noticed a story of mine lost about 100 votes from around 520 to 421. Said story was in the top 10 of its category, and the highest ranked that wasn't a chapter of a long series. Now it's dropped way down into forgetness. I don't normally pay attention to sweeps, and I understand literotica won't tell us what the rationalle behind sweeps are. But this was just dodgy, and I'd like to know wtf is going on. Did the sweep really think the story got 100 dishonest votes, most of them 5? Did anyone else notice weird behaviors?

You are not alone. My top rated story went from 450 votes to 275 votes on Friday. Then later that day dropped to 250.

I didn’t bitch much since it actually raised my score a tad. LOL

 

[RejectReality]

I had several that were in the two most recent monthly contest sweeps, but the last time I recorded them was back in December, and some came out after I ran the track. So my vote totals are up across all of them, and I don't know how many votes were swept from the highs they reached since I last looked.

Now | Recorded on Dec. 19

4.81 on 268 | 4.77 on 158 ( Wingman )
4.73 on 888 | 4.69 on 636 ( Hung by the Chimney )
4.73 on 331 | 4.69 on 274 ( At Heaven's 'Bate )
4.67 on 79 | 4.55 on 65 ( Hot Shorts II )
4.78 on 1533 | 4.79 on 1027 ( Rim Fire )

Rim Fire had been holding 4.78 for a while, so it probably didn't drop from where it was when the sweep happened. I never saw it edge back up to 4.79 anyway. I know it had surpassed 1.5k votes before the sweep, but I don't know by how much. It might have even hit 1.6k, but I hadn't looked at it in a couple of weeks when the sweep hit.

 

[NotWise]

You are not alone. My top rated story went from 450 votes to 275 votes on Friday. Then later that day dropped to 250.

I didn’t bitch much since it actually raised my score a tad. LOL

You guys are talking about some really deep-cutting sweeps. A drop from 450 to 250 in two sweeps is 44%.

I only have one story with much of a vote count from which much more than 12% of the total vote has ever been removed in all the sweeps. One has had less than 4% swept. Some with lower vote totals have had as much as 25% removed, but 44% from a story with a good vote total is huge.

 

[lovecraft68]

That tactic ( 5s ) only makes sense when the organizer is ready to spark the accusation themselves and feed it. Outside of themed contests where the timing of sweeps is more or less known, making this tactic work is a dicey prospect.

I don't see it as likely to work with a figurehead whipping up the crowd, either. The minions would have to be given specific instructions that more or less ensured their votes would be removed, and they'd all have to follow them. Otherwise, they just end up boosting the "victim".

A smaller cabal of people who know what they're doing could be more effective, but then you come back to the timing again. They'd have to watch constantly and be ready to spring the accusation themselves as soon as the sweep happened.

Pulling it off during a contest where sweep reporting is the norm, and the timing is known is the only place this tactic is likely to be effective.

The reports in this thread strike me as sudden dramatic changes resulting from monthly contest sweeps, and possibly some overzealous fans. Contest sweeps result in friendly fire in an effort to ferret out the sneakier malicious voters, so 5s vanishing is more likely than the average, everyday sweep. Some of them are undoubtedly legitimate votes caught in a wider net.

Nothing you can do about that. If you have fans who are secretly working on your behalf, that's something you can correct by making your wishes known.

I get your points, but if the author knows how it works around here, and most of us who have been here awhile do, its not that hard to tell minions to launch the votes a couple days before the end of a contest because we know a big sweep is coming soon or if its a smaller group to all do the same.

As for a request to our readers that would work providing you don't want the help either directly in the sense of extra votes for you, or by targeting someone else. that's fine for us who don't want it.

Unfortunately some here do want it.

Years ago when I used to work a part time security gig for some extra money an older guy told me that you can take whatever measures you can, but if someone wants something bad enough they're going to get it.

Same here, for the average person here, we can't be bothered with the work it would take to engineer these games even if we wanted to, but some can and always will.

BTW...what ever happened to good old scouries? He writing anywhere that you know of?

 

[RejectReality]

You guys are talking about some really deep-cutting sweeps. A drop from 450 to 250 in two sweeps is 44%.

I only have one story with much of a vote count from which much more than 12% of the total vote has ever been removed in all the sweeps. One has had less than 4% swept. Some with lower vote totals have had as much as 25% removed, but 44% from a story with a good vote total is huge.

If they were in the toplists, or more critically the Hall of Fame on the hubs, it's not so unusual. Outside of themed contests, that's where most of the boosting/bombing happens.

 

[RejectReality]

BTW...what ever happened to good old scouries? He writing anywhere that you know of?

Unless he finally wised up and created a new alias that isn't acting like a complete douchenozzle and is quietly posting new stories — no. His account on the other site we both posted on has been dormant forever as well.

He stopped coming here when a slew of his threads were closed, a bunch of posts were deleted, and final warnings issued for a myriad of offenses. He hadn't posted any new stories long before that.

Freddie faced pretty much the same situation here on the forum, and abandoned all his known writing alts in July/August of 2018, at around the same time he stopped posting here. He's probably still writing, but not with any known pen name. With any luck, he discovered that not stirring shit resulted in his work not taking dings from people he pissed off, and he's happily posting new stories to higher scores.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

You guys are talking about some really deep-cutting sweeps. A drop from 450 to 250 in two sweeps is 44%.

I only have one story with much of a vote count from which much more than 12% of the total vote has ever been removed in all the sweeps. One has had less than 4% swept. Some with lower vote totals have had as much as 25% removed, but 44% from a story with a good vote total is huge.

I was pretty shocked. I was at work and glanced at my dashboard on my phone and may actually have exclaimed WTF?! out loud. LOL

I am a pretty big nerd, and I download my metrics every Monday and put them in a spreadsheet I use to track metrics over time. Chapter 8’s votes took a stock-market like hit on Friday.

 

[RejectReality]

I was pretty shocked. I was at work and glanced at my dashboard on my phone and may actually have exclaimed WTF?! out loud. LOL

I am a pretty big nerd, and I download my metrics every Monday and put them in a spreadsheet I use to track metrics over time. Chapter 8’s votes took a stock-market like hit on Friday.

That's the day December's monthly contest results were announced, so that's why that chapter was hit hard. Did you perhaps see a large sweep to the previous chapter on Tuesday of that week? Because that's when November's results were announced.

You've got high ranking in the Hall of Fame, so that explains the deep cut. Lots of less than legitimate voting happens to any story that hits the Hall of Fame. The wide net getting wider due to the additional dings and boosts.

 

[lovecraft68]

Unless he finally wised up and created a new alias that isn't acting like a complete douchenozzle and is quietly posting new stories — no. His account on the other site we both posted on has been dormant forever as well.

He stopped coming here when a slew of his threads were closed, a bunch of posts were deleted, and final warnings issued for a myriad of offenses. He hadn't posted any new stories long before that.

Freddie faced pretty much the same situation here on the forum, and abandoned all his known writing alts in July/August of 2018, at around the same time he stopped posting here. He's probably still writing, but not with any known pen name. With any luck, he discovered that not stirring shit resulted in his work not taking dings from people he pissed off, and he's happily posting new stories to higher scores.

I suppose for Freddie we could look for an extremely prolific three person name.

But if SJP has been put to rest, that makes me happy. That persona and all the "I was raped and abused" shit along with all the men here were picking on her was more annoying than Scouries lame threads.

 

[RejectReality]

I suppose for Freddie we could look for an extremely prolific three person name.

But if SJP has been put to rest, that makes me happy. That persona and all the "I was raped and abused" shit along with all the men here were picking on her was more annoying than Scouries lame threads.

Took a couple of minutes to look, and I'm almost positive I've found one of his current pen names. LOL The writing style is consistent. Outrageous backstory in the profile, "This is what you get" titles on multi-chapter stories, multiple author notes, "I write stories, not porn"...

Holding about a .50 higher average than the SJP incarnation, no voting turned off, genuine Hs, no obvious boosting by other alts in the comments that I noticed, around 1k followers... so good for him.

Kind of sketchy tactic in the bio to pick up followers. But anybody who falls for it... Well, that's on them as much as it is on him.

Not going to link to it or give any other hints, because I'm sure there are some who are still annoyed enough with him to go start bombing his stuff just because it's him. Jives with what I hoped, though. Happily posting stories to higher scores and staying away from the forum.

 

[lovecraft68]

Took a couple of minutes to look, and I'm almost positive I've found one of his current pen names. LOL The writing style is consistent. Outrageous backstory in the profile, "This is what you get" titles on multi-chapter stories, multiple author notes, "I write stories, not porn"...

Holding about a .50 higher average than the SJP incarnation, no voting turned off, genuine Hs, no obvious boosting by other alts in the comments that I noticed, around 1k followers... so good for him.

Kind of sketchy tactic in the bio to pick up followers. But anybody who falls for it... Well, that's on them as much as it is on him.

Not going to link to it or give any other hints, because I'm sure there are some who are still annoyed enough with him to go start bombing his stuff just because it's him. Jives with what I hoped, though. Happily posting stories to higher scores and staying away from the forum.

The irony is that as obsessed with his story count and favs etc as Freddie is....had he stuck with one pen name all along he'd easily be the #1 or 2 author on the site as far as favs, at one point I think he had three alts on the 250 list

 

[NotWise]

The irony is that as obsessed with his story count and favs etc as Freddie is....had he stuck with one pen name all along he'd easily be the #1 or 2 author on the site as far as favs, at one point I think he had three alts on the 250 list

We're drifting a long way from the original topic, but what the heck. What happened to JBJ?

 

[KeithD]

What happened to JBJ?

He was put on time out for the second time in the AH and apparently decided he was tired of the game and hasn't come back. There's been no subsequent alt that posted his line of "whatever."

 

[RejectReality]

The irony is that as obsessed with his story count and favs etc as Freddie is....had he stuck with one pen name all along he'd easily be the #1 or 2 author on the site as far as favs, at one point I think he had three alts on the 250 list

No clue if it's still that way, but I cross-referenced all my followers when those lists became available, and found only about 20% overlap between my pen names, which was mostly Les/Dark overlap. Very little RR overlap with the other two.

Even assuming 50% overlap, I'd be 1000 higher under a single name, or close to breaking the top 50 instead of close to the top 100. Maybe would have been more due to more frequent posting under one name, maybe less if the fantasy readers got more frustrated with me posting the silly little fuck tales I write as RR than the long gaps between new stories.

I would assume that Freddie still has multiple pen names ( assuming I actually found him, which I'm fairly positive I have ) or his production has slowed considerably. He only has about a half or a third of what I would expect based upon past production levels.

Anyway... anybody who wants to come back to the initial topic, feel free to ignore the off-topic musing and jump straight back in. It's easy enough for a thread to go off-topic, but easy enough to bring it back around as well.

 

[lovecraft68]

We're drifting a long way from the original topic, but what the heck. What happened to JBJ?

he ran afoul of the mod a couple times.

He was also having some vision and health issues.

He was a troll, but kind of miss him, if you could weed through his persona he had some decent advice and when he was posting stories for while, they were really good.

JBJ was different behind the scenes as well. I exchanged a lot of e-mails with him about writing and he gave me some good advice...in his insulting 'you fucking suck, but a little less than you did before' manner, which I'm fine with because I was raised with that

I felt bad for him. Getting older and forced to retire, I think he was angry because after being productive his whole life he felt useless, so I think he took it out on people here.

If you were thin skinned he was a PIA. If you could deal with the grumpy old man personality he was okay.