The Official Authors' Hangout Valentine's Day 2021 Contest Support Thread

[KeithD]

Unless, and I don't even know if this is possible, can a reader remove their vote themselves?

Conventional wisdom says: Nope.

 

[NotWise]

Well, my story is a disaster

But that aside, I'm assuming there was a sweep and my most recent NON-CONTEST story lost a single vote. AND lost rating points. If the arithmetic is to be believed my story was stripped of a five... I only noticed because it's been sitting for days with no votes (but gaining a few views) at 4.49 rating with 39 votes. Now it's 4.47 with 38 votes. Since I hadn't voted on my story it wasn't my vote stripped

Unless, and I don't even know if this is possible, can a reader remove their vote themselves?

I don't see any way for readers to remove their own votes.

For my stories, it's really common for the sweeps to remove 5* votes. Apparently, the score itself has nothing to do with the sweeps rules.

I even had the sweeps remove what back-calculated as 6* votes twice on the same story, in consecutive sweeps almost a month apart. Usually I'd attribute that to a combination of votes and sweeps, but it came when there were hardly any new votes on the story. To get a score change of -6, there would have to be at least three votes and sweeps in a short period of time. That seemed almost impossible, and even less likely when it happened twice in a row.

 

[SisterJezabel]

Conventional wisdom says: Nope.

However, you can go back and change a 5* to a 1*

 

[KeithD]

However, you can go back and change a 5* to a 1*

That's news to me.

 

[NotWise]

However, you can go back and change a 5* to a 1*

How would you do that?

 

[Rustyoznail]

However, you can go back and change a 5* to a 1*

Ok, so I just tried this on one of my low ranked, low voted stories. It was 4.0 with 15 votes. I gave it a 5 anonymously and it went to 4.06 and 16. I closed the browser, reopened the page and changed the score to a 4. My dashboard now sits back at 4.0 but still with 16 votes.

Make of that what you will...

 

[NotWise]

Ok, so I just tried this on one of my low ranked, low voted stories. It was 4.0 with 15 votes. I gave it a 5 anonymously and it went to 4.06 and 16. I closed the browser, reopened the page and changed the score to a 4. My dashboard now sits back at 4.0 but still with 16 votes.

Make of that what you will...

Now tell us if the sweeps do anything. Multiple votes from one address is something that should be cleared by a sweep.

I'm surprised that you can do that at all.

 

[RejectReality]

Now tell us if the sweeps do anything. Multiple votes from one address is something that should be cleared by a sweep.

I'm surprised that you can do that at all.

There are only so many controls you can put in place without severely impacting the experience of the average user, who isn't trying to screw with anything. Everything else has to be cleared up after the fact by sweeps.

I suspect what allowed this is a standard feature of most browsers, judging by the description of how it was done.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Now tell us if the sweeps do anything. Multiple votes from one address is something that should be cleared by a sweep.

I'm surprised that you can do that at all.

That I can't tell you. I don't seem to be able to add to my tally, just amend it.

 

[NotWise]

That I can't tell you. I don't seem to be able to add to my tally, just amend it.

It fits the description of "changing your vote." I wonder if there's a time limit for that.

 

[NotWise]

Well, my story is a disaster

Wow! I don't think I've ever seen a perfect 1 before.

 

[Nellymcboatface]

Well I never thought...

Having suffered a bad bout of flu over Christmas (tested negative for Covid thankfully)... I just couldn't find my mojo to return to writing...
No ideas, just drawing blanks...
As a result I had largely ignored this contest, until about 2 weeks before entry opened.
An idea popped into my head and it gestated there, put a few lines down on keyboard then expanded to a few pages... then it was too late, I was in the grip of my thought...
Victoria's Secrets proved to be the hardest story to write, not just being in 'recovery' but also rediscovering my mojo...
Many high's and lows in writing it..
Is it too long? Do I cut this scene? Should I add some rampant sex?... Should I remove the rampant sex?...

But now it is published and I can sit back and relax. In retrospect it was an enjoyable experience, pushing me beyond my mojo!

SO thanks for the competition, thoroughly enjoyed the writing and now I can safely sit back and enjoy the other participants entries, knowing their trials and tribulations.
Thanks

 

[gordo12]

How would you do that?

It's a feature of the new page format. You can change your votes. I like it because I've tried to hit a 3 and had a 5 vote pop up. Or some other ridiculous combination. This way if you make a mistake or a troll feels guilty he/she can go and exonerate his/her sin.

 

[KeithD]

Wow! I don't think I've ever seen a perfect 1 before.

My first thought when I saw this was "Maybe Bo Derek now," but I checked and think she probably still rates at least an 8.

 

[GinnyPPC]

Very rarely do I give a 5* when I vote initially. But when I read a story for a second time, which I find myself doing somewhat routinely, then I make sure to up the score from 4 to 5.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

My story has settled to 50-100 views a day and no votes for a week. I've just had a 750 words piece posted with 'liked this? Try these two other stories of mine!' so interested to see what that does.

 

[Omenainen]

My masturbation story has been viewed over ten thousand times and voted on more than some of my other ones. I think that's astonishing, I thought "Toys & Masturbation" was a dead category much like "Humor & Satire". That's about as good as it gets for me in this competition, my story is not even hot, but whatever, I've participated and now I have that category checked off my list.

Tomorrow is the last day to post, right? Soon we'll know how many entries there are.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My masturbation story has been viewed over ten thousand times and voted on more than some of my other ones. I think that's astonishing, I thought "Toys & Masturbation" was a dead category much like "Humor & Satire". That's about as good as it gets for me in this competition, my story is not even hot, but whatever, I've participated and now I have that category checked off my list.

Tomorrow is the last day to post, right? Soon we'll know how many entries there are.

106 entries as of this morning.

Not a lot of activity related to either scores or views for the last few days.

As is somewhat typical, stories in the I/T category are getting the most views.

Stories in the Romance category are getting the highest scores. (Tough to figure that trend out for a Valentine's Day contest )

 

[oggbashan]

106 entries as of this morning.

Not a lot of activity related to either scores or views for the last few days.

As is somewhat typical, stories in the I/T category are getting the most views.

Stories in the Romance category are getting the highest scores. (Tough to figure that trend out for a Valentine's Day contest )

Three of my four are at 4.4x; the other at 4.2x. As soon as any of my entries reach 4.5 and H, they get bombed within an hour...

 

[Rustyoznail]

I've tapped out. I want to finish the story the way it should be, and not do a half-arsed job because of a notional timeline I set myself.

Having said that, I'm a lot further into my story than I would have been without the prod.

Maybe a tweak for April Fools? Hmmm...

 

[NotWise]

I've tapped out. I want to finish the story the way it should be, and not do a half-arsed job because of a notional timeline I set myself.

Having said that, I'm a lot further into my story than I would have been without the prod.

Maybe a tweak for April Fools? Hmmm...

April Fools is now the only contest I haven't joined. All of the ways I can think of that would turn a Valentine's Day story into an April Fools day story would just be awkward.

"You thought we had a relationship? Hah! Gotcha."

 

[Voboy]

April Fools is now the only contest I haven't joined. All of the ways I can think of that would turn a Valentine's Day story into an April Fools day story would just be awkward.

"You thought we had a relationship? Hah! Gotcha."

April Fools is the toughest contest I enter, every year. By far.

 

[Rustyoznail]

My story isn't a heavy romantic Valentine's Day thing, and it does have a surprise in it.

I don't know. I'll finish it, then think about it. No rush. Probably just post it outside of a comp.

 

[gordo12]

I'm out. Life interrupted and the last two weeks have been a disaster for time to write. Good luck to the rest of you.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm out. Life interrupted and the last two weeks have been a disaster for time to write. Good luck to the rest of you.

Hope things work out and you come back soon!