Sweep glitch?

[lovecraft68]

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.

In a loose way, Freddie is sort on on topic as along with scouries they were the two forefathers of upvoting and and hardcore troll bombing to go along with scouries legion of fake favs and comments.

If I recall someone, probably you, saying it, weren't they, or at least scouries the reason for sweeps to begin with?

 

[NotWise]

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

Yeah, I thought he was one of the most interesting assholes I've met.

 

[RejectReality]

In a loose way, Freddie is sort on on topic as along with scouries they were the two forefathers of upvoting and and hardcore troll bombing to go along with scouries legion of fake favs and comments.

If I recall someone, probably you, saying it, weren't they, or at least scouries the reason for sweeps to begin with?

I think it was TXRad, actually.

I'm pretty sure they started before scouries, but his rampant manipulation and constant evolution of same forced more frequent and discriminating sweeps. In the beginning, I'm pretty sure they were limited to the only two things Laurel has ever confirmed for certain: multiple votes from the same IP/ID and obvious outlier 1-bombs.

Pretty sure TX actually elaborated something similar, though he sometimes uses the shorthand of scouries is the reason for the sweeps instead of the reason for the current incarnation of them.

ETA: Wow, I repeat a lot of phrases when I'm not paying attention and not particularly awake LOL I'm just going to leave it as a personal smack in the face to remind me to read back through stuff before hitting the post button in the future.

 

[ElectricBlue]

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

Yeah, me too. I didn't have a huge engagement behind the scenes, but we got on - which was odd, because he was as rabid right as I am looney left - we respected who we both read (outside Lit, I mean). And that's not the first time that's happened, eh girl?

And by no means was he the worst troll in the AH - in fact, I didn't think he was a troll at all, just a grumpy fucker who couldn't see. There was method in his approach, but a few couldn't see it and wouldn't let folk make their own minds up.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yeah, me too. I didn't have a huge engagement behind the scenes, but we got on - which was odd, because he was as rabid right as I am looney left - we respected who we both read (outside Lit, I mean). And that's not the first time that's happened, eh girl?

And by no means was he the worst troll in the AH - in fact, I didn't think he was a troll at all, just a grumpy fucker who couldn't see. There was method in his approach, but a few couldn't see it and wouldn't let folk make their own minds up.

He was the Archie Bunker of lit It was a schtick to make the safety pin crowd get outraged.

Whether people liked him or not he was a character and I always give props for that.

 

[TxRad]

Since my name was brought up...

Yes, scouries was the reason for the upgrade in the sweeps. The sweeps were a minor thing before he started his massive up-voting and down-voting.

Until a few weeks ago, someone was still manipulating the favorites on his and several of his friends and their stories. All incest, by the way. Since then he has dropped down to number ten but he'll hang there awhile as he already had like 800 favorites over the guy below him.

Also the up favoriting on the people above the people he hated has either stopped or slowed.

 

[KeithD]

I think it was TXRad, actually.

I'm pretty sure they started before scouries,

Nope. Scouries was here, gangbusters, when I first arrived in 2006. Sweeps came later. Scouries was arguably the reason for the sweeps, though.

 

[RejectReality]

Nope. Scouries was here, gangbusters, when I first arrived in 2006. Sweeps came later. Scouries was arguably the reason for the sweeps, though.

http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=1253077&postcount=3

There are scripts in place that monitor for a pattern of voter fraud to stop it. The webmasters also do a regular and random check.

Posting date: 03/02/2002

The sweeps far predate scouries.

 

[KeithD]

http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=1253077&postcount=3



Posting date: 03/02/2002

The sweeps far predate scouries.

Interesting in theory, but . . .

They weren't happening in 2006 that anyone noticed/discussed, like so much else here. (How long has the top 250 favorites list been a "to come" sneak peak hanging off the opening page?)

 

[RejectReality]

Interesting in theory, but . . .

They weren't happening in 2006 that anyone noticed/discussed, like so much else here. (How long has the top 250 favorites list been a "to come" sneak peak hanging off the opening page?)

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=381331&highlight=halloween+contest&page=79

Troll sweep results are interesting. On one I lost 2 votes, on the next, 6, and on my best-rated, 37! All scores went up. Unfortunately, not high enough, but I'm pleased with my scores.

Wow! I did finally lose some votes (like seven) and it raised my score a whole .1! I ended up with a 4.77 and 157 votes, which I can be pretty happy with, I think.

From the Winter Holiday Contest thread in 2005, and it was not a new thing even then.

 

[NotWise]

From the Winter Holiday Contest thread in 2005, and it was not a new thing even then.

That was before my time here as an author. Were those sweeps automated and repeated like they are now? Were they as frequent as they are now?

As near as I can tell, they've been nearly non-stop for the last few months.

 

[RejectReality]

That was before my time here as an author. Were those sweeps automated and repeated like they are now? Were they as frequent as they are now?

As near as I can tell, they've been nearly non-stop for the last few months.

The way sweeps happened back in the day is why the contests are sometimes called the "Roller Coaster" by us old-timers.

Sweeps sometimes started hitting the first day of the contest. You could wake up every single day to find you'd lost votes overnight. Your score went up and down like a yo-yo, or a roller coaster ride. Vote totals were far lower then, so not only were you anxious about your score, you were constantly wondering whether you'd end up with the 25 necessary to qualify.

The reason there have been large, noticeable sweeps the last few months is because Laurel has been tallying and announcing the monthly contest results for 2019, starting in December of last year.

 

[KeithD]

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=381331&highlight=halloween+contest&page=79





From the Winter Holiday Contest thread in 2005, and it was not a new thing even then.

Well, OK then.

And evidence this was before Scouries . . . ?

I've actually seen less effect of sweeping of my stories over the past year than before.

 

[TxRad]

Like I said earlier, sweeps were a minor thing back before scouries started stuffing the ballot box and then had to stuff other peoples ballot box to cover his ass. It looked funny the first time he lost 400-600 votes off a contest story.

Back in the day, we had monthly sweeps and then numerous sweeps during the contests. Laurel finally figured out to cut down the number of sweeps in the contests and the monthly contests have been on hold for several years although the sweeps have gone on but i don't think they were the deep type.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Sweeps sometimes started hitting the first day of the contest. You could wake up every single day to find you'd lost votes overnight. Your score went up and down like a yo-yo, or a roller coaster ride. Vote totals were far lower then, so not only were you anxious about your score, you were constantly wondering whether you'd end up with the 25 necessary to qualify.

Yes, I remember that. My first, and for a long time, only, contest entry was a piss-take on the whole contest thing, written back in 2015.

At one point I joked that its Views were re-winding so quickly, and its score increasing in proportion, that by the end of the contest its Views would be down to zero and its score a perfect five. Five years later it's bang in the middle of my story file.

 

[RejectReality]

Well, OK then.

And evidence this was before Scouries . . . ?

Is it so hard to just admit you remember things wrong? The sweeps have been a known and discussed thing for as long as I've been coming around here, which was before I even signed up as Dark, which was before scouries.

Unless you believe that sarahhhh and scouries are the same person. I don't personally subscribe to that theory, but it's been suggested at times by some folks.

Scouries was barely a thing at the end of 2005. He was months away from posting the two "masterpieces" that were the main beneficiaries of his manipulation. The sweeps were a known and expected thing by anyone who had been here for a while. They were already part of contest lore at that point.

Is 2003 sufficient for you?

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=207511&page=2

I think you'll find that because the holiday stories are a 'once only' that Lauren takes more time weeding out the bombers as best she can

 

[KeithD]

Is it so hard to just admit you remember things wrong?

Apparently not, when I just did (without nasty prompting) when you provided evidence, which you obviously had an obsession to find and stick to me.

Buzz off.

 

[NotWise]

Within my five years here, I haven't seen anything like the huge number of votes swept that tomlitilia and BrokenSpokes were talking about. It seems new to me.

 

[KeithD]

Within my five years here, I haven't seen anything like the huge number of votes swept that tomlitilia and BrokenSpokes were talking about. It seems new to me.

I never get that many votes. Somehow I survive.

 

[RejectReality]

Apparently not, when I just did (without nasty prompting) when you provided evidence, which you obviously had an obsession to find and stick to me.

Buzz off.

I found everything in a couple of minutes between doing laundry and making chili. You underestimate my Google skills.

Doesn't feel like much of an admission when it's immediately followed by, "Yeah, but..." Thus, the less than congenial response.

 

[RejectReality]

Within my five years here, I haven't seen anything like the huge number of votes swept that tomlitilia and BrokenSpokes were talking about. It seems new to me.

Seeing as much as 1/3 of the total votes cast vanish during contest sweeps isn't unusual. Looking back at my tracks from themed contests, there's more than one that huge on almost every one.

Earth Day 2011, 18 stories with more than 25% of votes swept, ranging as high as 41%, with a maximum on a single story at over 500 out of almost 1500.

Halloween 2011, 27 stories with more than 25% of votes swept, ranging as high as 52%, with a maximum on a single story over 500 out of just above 1000.

That's the only two I had a %swept column on for quick reference

Monthly contest sweeps are more or less identical to themed contest sweeps, so seeing percentages that high aren't anything out of the ordinary. When the stories are also on the Hall of Fame, it's especially not surprising. Stories that high on the toplist are easily targeted as much as themed contest stories for boosting and bombing.

 

[NotWise]

Seeing as much as 1/3 of the total votes cast vanish during contest sweeps isn't unusual. Looking back at my tracks from themed contests, there's more than one that huge on almost every one.

Earth Day 2011, 18 stories with more than 25% of votes swept, ranging as high as 41%, with a maximum on a single story at over 500 out of almost 1500.

Halloween 2011, 27 stories with more than 25% of votes swept, ranging as high as 52%, with a maximum on a single story over 500 out of just above 1000.

That's the only two I had a %swept column on for quick reference

Monthly contest sweeps are more or less identical to themed contest sweeps, so seeing percentages that high aren't anything out of the ordinary. When the stories are also on the Hall of Fame, it's especially not surprising. Stories that high on the toplist are easily targeted as much as themed contest stories for boosting and bombing.

You realize that 2011 was nine years ago, right?

 

[RejectReality]

You realize that 2011 was nine years ago, right?

That's just the ones I have full data for LOL

If anybody has tracked vote losses from more recent contests, they can feel free to chime in.

Digging up more recent posts without remembering who made them and when would take more Google-fu than I have energy to do tonight. I still have to put away the chili leftovers, wash the pot, get the boy in the bath, me in the shower, and be up for work in less than 6 hours.

These sort of "what the fuck happened!" posts regarding large sweeps have appeared at about the same frequency as they did when I was extensively tracking contests, toplists, and my own numbers, so I doubt much has changed. It could be anecdotal noise, but I doubt it. Regardless, it's historically normal.

 

[tomlitilia]

I just noticed the focal story had been nominated for the October Readers' choice award, and the sweep happened between the finalization of that contest and the nomination for 2019 Category nominations. Maybe the rationale was to remove all votes that had been placed after monthly nominations were posted to not let monthly contest influence yearly contests. A bit disappointing since the score it had before the sweep would have put it in the 2019 category nomination too, which isn't a small achievement for a stand-alone story. A part of me can't help feel it's some dodgy behavior to influence contest results.

 

[lovecraft68]

The way sweeps happened back in the day is why the contests are sometimes called the "Roller Coaster" by us old-timers.

Sweeps sometimes started hitting the first day of the contest. You could wake up every single day to find you'd lost votes overnight. Your score went up and down like a yo-yo, or a roller coaster ride. Vote totals were far lower then, so not only were you anxious about your score, you were constantly wondering whether you'd end up with the 25 necessary to qualify.

The reason there have been large, noticeable sweeps the last few months is because Laurel has been tallying and announcing the monthly contest results for 2019, starting in December of last year.

I could be wrong on this, but something that had an effect on the frequency of the sweeps was back when Scouries would post his fake contest threads and as part of them he'd grab scores off the category lists and post the leading stories making them easier targets for the Trolls.