The one bomb.

[Rollinbones]

A story will be hovering at 4.9 for like a year and then it drops to 4.8. It hasn't changed. It's still well written and i'm proud of it but someone comes along and it doesn't 'jingle their bells' for some strange reason.

No comment. No criticism. Just a one. If they really didn't like it that much then why didn't they just move along?

I love comments. I love criticism. It helps me.

Wah wah wah...

Fucktards.

She should have had a green top or bigger tits... Who knows?

You're all such very generous people. Giving your creative time to this world of perves. And then they slap you with a one because they don't like their jerk getting interrupted by some foible of nuance.

How do you cope?

Personally i prefer Jamesons whiskey and bad cop shows.

Keep writing groovy people.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Or your story was blocking one of their favorites from being the top story in that category. If it was undeserved, it will disappear with the next sweep.

 

[Emirus]

I’m assuming the reason is not because you are keeping someones favourite down because if it is featured on a top list (which means minimum 100 votes) a single 1-bomb wouldn’t drop it .1 more likely to be .02. The less votes a story has the bigger the drop caused by it being bombed.

Coping? You just have to accept it because you can’t do anything about it. Hopefully a sweep will get rid of it but the impression I have is older stories have less chance of being caught by a sweep than newer ones. But that’s only my opinion and, as I have no idea how the site is programmed for sweeps, I’m possibly wrong.

You can always use the report button to ask for a specific sweep of that story.

 

[ChloeTzang]

......How do you cope?

LOL. By not looking at my scores, usually. It took me 5 years to cultivate this zen-like imperturbability though. That, and winning enough competitions that I feel a bit more secure about my ability to write. LOL.

Loving Wives is also good training for cultivating a thick skin

I do recommend writing in Loving Wives for anyone who wishes to cultivate their ability to cope with the slings and arrows of outrageous one star bombing...

 

[SimonDoom]

I cope by acknowledging and internalizing that it's not something worth fretting or coping about. I've never understood why anyone would fret about a story dropping from 4.9 to 4.8, especially if, as you suggest, the story has been out there a while. At that point the score drop isn't going to have any meaningful impact on readership, so what does it matter?

My attitude toward numbers: get whatever enjoyment or usefulness you can out of them, but don't ever take them too seriously, acknowledge that you have no control over readers, and for goodness' sake don't fret about them.

Just keep writing. Always move forward.

 

[Fervid]

Consider it an honor!

I’ve only been on this site for a year and I must’ve been 1-bombed 30 or 40 times, typically when a story is in danger of getting on the first page of a top list.

At this point my new stories even get 1-bombed while they are still on the first page of the New list, possibly by one of my loyal followers. My guess is that this strategy keeps them from getting a lot of scores while they are new and makes them more susceptible to 1-bombs in the future. This is all guesswork, obviously, since it’s not easy to enter the mind of someone who spends a lot of time voting down other people’s stories.

I consider this my contribution to keeping troublemakers off the street.

The site does eventually get rid of most of these nuisance scores, but it takes weeks, whereas competitive bombing takes half a day.
Overall, using scores as an objective measure of the quality of your work is just not possible. Keeping track of the highest scores you attain after a minimum number of votes might be better.

 

[NotWise]

I cope by acknowledging and internalizing that it's not something worth fretting or coping about. I've never understood why anyone would fret about a story dropping from 4.9 to 4.8, especially if, as you suggest, the story has been out there a while. At that point the score drop isn't going to have any meaningful impact on readership, so what does it matter?

It can matter to readership. A story rated at 4.9 is likely to be on the first page of the all-time top list in most any category. Even a 4.88 might knock it back several pages and, depending on the category, a 4.8 might send it into oblivion.

Stories that are ranked high on the all-time lists are read regularly. Stories that are a page or two back don't get read as often.

 

[Ginlover]

I dont cope. I'm wildly dyslexic and had the stereotypical teacher humiliate me and make out I was stupid in school, in front of my peers, as she would 'teach' me to spell. It took over 2 decades to be brave enough to try writing. I spend hours crafting a story that is readable and tells what I want. I really don't want to be seen as stupid or lazy so I put so much time into editing. Therefore when a story is attacked it hurts a lot.

I entered the winter holiday competition and had my story destroyed while another posted the same day and the same length flew. Because of the voting my story didnt even get read. After a week I had a good score but so few views it was embarrassing. I took the story down and reposted it as not a competition entry. I didnt change a word of the story, this time it didnt attract malicious voting. I've had quadruple the number of views for my reposted non competition entry.

My next story has been popular but someone doesnt like it, every time it hits 4 85 a new vote comes in to drop to 4.84 it is literally within an hour or two. (I'm sad and check my views and voting lots).

I guess I'm the person the malicious voters love, it hurts the fuck out of me, I remove my stories, it makes me not want to write, which I'll assume is the thrill they want and their ultimate goal.

 

[AllenWoody]

Drives me nuts

I've noticed this mostly when a story is first published. I'm in the States, so I usually learn a story has been published when I wake up. By that time, it isn't uncommon for one or two people already to have bombed it. Since it takes a LOT of 5-star votes to make up for that, a story may not recover a decent rating until it's already slipping off of the 'new' list, if ever.

The sole comfort is that people who do that are probably profoundly insecure.

 

[SimonDoom]

I dont cope. I'm wildly dyslexic and had the stereotypical teacher humiliate me and make out I was stupid in school, in front of my peers, as she would 'teach' me to spell. It took over 2 decades to be brave enough to try writing. I spend hours crafting a story that is readable and tells what I want. I really don't want to be seen as stupid or lazy so I put so much time into editing. Therefore when a story is attacked it hurts a lot.

I entered the winter holiday competition and had my story destroyed while another posted the same day and the same length flew. Because of the voting my story didnt even get read. After a week I had a good score but so few views it was embarrassing. I took the story down and reposted it as not a competition entry. I didnt change a word of the story, this time it didnt attract malicious voting. I've had quadruple the number of views for my reposted non competition entry.

My next story has been popular but someone doesnt like it, every time it hits 4 85 a new vote comes in to drop to 4.84 it is literally within an hour or two. (I'm sad and check my views and voting lots).

I guess I'm the person the malicious voters love, it hurts the fuck out of me, I remove my stories, it makes me not want to write, which I'll assume is the thrill they want and their ultimate goal.

I don't think you can assume someone is out to get you or that they single you out more than others. Your six stories' scores range from 4.63 to 4.84. Your average is over 4.7. That's extremely good. That's something to feel good about. There are people who like to knock down high-scoring stories, and it's something that affects everyone, so you should try not to take it personally.

The more votes your story accumulates over time, the less vulnerable it is to the impacts of 1-bombs. Your most recent story, the one with a 4.84, was published only a few days ago, and based on the number of views it has my guess is it still has under 100 votes, which means its score can be affected by completely random votes, both good and bad, and you can't infer much from them. You should expect to see swings in the score until the story has well over 100 votes, and try not to get too excited or too discouraged before then.

That story is doing VERY well in terms of favorites and in terms of the number and positive nature of the comments received, so that's also something to feel good about. Your view:comment and view:favorite ratios are very good.

I have no stories that have scored as high as 4.84, and my average score across 33 stories is just a bit under 4.6. I feel just fine about that. Part of it is that I've written some pretty oddball stories that get downvoted. That's fine with me.

Some of what authors here interpret as deliberate bombing and personal attacks is just random noise. It's important to try to filter out the random noise and extract the positive so you can use it to spur you on and keep writing. In your case there are plenty of positive things to glean from the feedback you've gotten from your six stories, so try to focus on that. It's an approach we'd all do well to follow, I think.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

RB, try not to think too much about the scores and don't worry about them. They're not worth the stress.

The more votes your story accumulates over time, the less vulnerable it is to the impacts of 1-bombs. Your most recent story, the one with a 4.84, was published only a few days ago, and based on the number of views it has my guess is it still has under 100 votes, which means its score can be affected by completely random votes, both good and bad, and you can't infer much from them. You should expect to see swings in the score until the story has well over 100 votes, and try not to get too excited or too discouraged before then.

This was my thought, too, based rollinbones' comment and on my current story. Since mine is part 2 of 2, it doesn't have too many favorites or comments (new favorites are generally going to the much lower rated part 1 instead of part 2), but I'd been watching the score move higher and higher over it's first few days until it reached 4.9. It stayed there through a number of votes for over 24 hours, but it still had less than 100 votes total. Unfortunately, I didn't follow my own advice and was starting to get a little excited about having a new personal high score until two more votes dropped it back to 4.84. That was a good reminder that not everyone's going to like everything and some people give honest 2's or 3's (in accordance with the site's grading system) because of their own personal feelings and circumstances.

 

[Voboy]

Cope?

My children are happy and healthy. The rest of this really isn't very important.

If some fucking asshole mashes a one-star instead of choosing to just move along, how can I stop that? How can I explain his motivation? How can I tailor my future stories in such a way that they avoid his scorn?

Oh. I can't do any of that?

Fine. Then it's out of my control, so I just don't care very much.

 

[Ginlover]

I don't think you can assume someone is out to get you or that they single you out more than others. Your six stories' scores range from 4.63 to 4.84. Your average is over 4.7. That's extremely good. That's something to feel good about. There are people who like to knock down high-scoring stories, and it's something that affects everyone, so you should try not to take it personally.

The more votes your story accumulates over time, the less vulnerable it is to the impacts of 1-bombs. Your most recent story, the one with a 4.84, was published only a few days ago, and based on the number of views it has my guess is it still has under 100 votes

199 votes as of a couple minutes ago.
I get the logic but logic and emotion dont go well together. To drop the score means 1 star vote not a well I dont like the content or style but it's an okay 4, it has to be a 1 to hit a story score. If it's that bad someone feels the need to give it a one star I'm not thick skinned. To me a one star means please leave this site and never insult a reader with your crap again.

My other story I took down and re submitted is just under 300 votes. The score has settled the same but the low voting the first 48 hours meant hardly anyone read it and it dropped off the front page. Resubmitted it got a decent score while it was on the front page, the result means it got views.

I dont think it's me personally but people who get a cheap thrill about having that impact on a complete stranger. And with me it works, I back away from writing, giving them what they want.

 

[SamScribble]

To me a one star means please leave this site and never insult a reader with your crap again.

You haven't insulted anyone.

The problem with the voting system in this interweb era is that there are two different games being played simultaneously. On one playing field we have creators, authors who write their stories and are prepared to share them with readers. More than a few of the readers leave a score, some even leave a comment.

On an overlapping field, we have destroyers, many of whom probably don’t even read the stories. The ‘goal’ for the destroyers is to smash the score, to knock the tops off, to get rid of the little red Hs.

The one slight problem is that would-be readers who have nothing else to guide them, often choose which story to read next by the story’s score. And, if there is no red H to guide them, they move on. It’s just the way it is. Try and ignore ‘the game’, Ginlover. Just write for yourself and your followers.

 

[oggbashan]

...

I dont think it's me personally but people who get a cheap thrill about having that impact on a complete stranger. And with me it works, I back away from writing, giving them what they want.

I have dedicated trolls who one-bomb any new story of mine within hours of it being posted and keep returning to use their alts when it gets to about a Hot rating.

I don't care. Some people like my stories, so I'll keep writing, whatever the rating apparently shows.

 

[Bramblethorn]

A story will be hovering at 4.9 for like a year and then it drops to 4.8. It hasn't changed. It's still well written and i'm proud of it but someone comes along and it doesn't 'jingle their bells' for some strange reason.

No comment. No criticism. Just a one. If they really didn't like it that much then why didn't they just move along?

I love comments. I love criticism. It helps me.

Even if you could force these people to comment... do you expect the comments they'd leave would be constructive criticism? When somebody 1-bombs, either they're griefing or their idea of a good story is so far from yours that you're probably not going to benefit from hearing more about it.

If you want to cheer yourself up I'd suggest picking a book or film that you absolutely love, looking it up on Amazon, and checking out the 1-star reviews to remind yourself that nobody pleases everybody.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I have not yet reached the zen state of Chloe Tzang, but I have come to accept a few things:

1. As long as I am writing noncon I will never be on the first page of the new stories.

2. Since I write in a niche category, my score numbers ae going to a bit volatile because I don't get a ton of ratings. nor as many reads.

3. Some commenters can be unintentially hilarious. Case in point. I have an anonymous poster (who always signs "Tess from UK") who berates me n almost every signal story about incent themes and my use of the term "slave cunt" to denote female penal slaves. She apparently has no problem with calling male penal slaves "slave cocks".

What I find amusing is that she apparently is either reading every story or, more likely positing the comment when I post a story. Either way I appear to be living rent free in her head.

 

[SimonDoom]

I dont think it's me personally but people who get a cheap thrill about having that impact on a complete stranger. And with me it works, I back away from writing, giving them what they want.

It's too bad. I can't tell you not to feel what you feel. That's not respectful. But for your sake and the sake of your writing I hope you learn to be less hurt by it and to keep going.

From my experience, gleaned from comments I've received, a 1-bomb can mean a lot of things that have no bearing on the quality of your writing, and there are readers out there that will not hesitate to give you the worst possible score on these grounds:

1. Your story is immoral. Example: the husband lets her wife cheat. That's disgusting and you are disgusting to write such a story. I've received this kind of feedback, many times.

2. Your story doesn't fit the category. You didn't give me what I wanted. 1 for you, jerk. I've gotten that too.

3. You included something I didn't like or expect in your story. Screw you. Like, an anal episode in an incest story. No self respecting mom would play with her ass, although she would, of course, play with her son. Had that one.

4. Your story isn't realistic. Nobody would have sex like that without protection. You are immoral to write that.

5. Your story is too realistic. I don't ever want to read about safe sex or protection in a story. You spoiled my fun.

6. Your writing is horrible and you suck and you should never write again, ever. I've had that, too. I laughed because of its illiteracy.

7. It can also be game playing. They don't care how good your story is, they just want to cause hurt OR they want another writer to do better than you in a contest.

We're all in the same boat, surrounded by strange sea creatures. Just set your course and keep sailing forward.

 

[Ginlover]

It's too bad. I can't tell you not to feel what you feel. That's not respectful. But for your sake and the sake of your writing I hope you learn to be less hurt by it and to keep going.

Your list made me smile, it sounds totally on point, thank you

 

[gordo12]

I dont think it's me personally but people who get a cheap thrill about having that impact on a complete stranger. And with me it works, I back away from writing, giving them what they want.

Multiple readers thanked you for resubmitting your Winter Contest Story. And it's highly ranked.

Your Nam story appears to have hit a chord with the Romance readers and I personally have been following your scores, measuring it against my Homeless story that landed last night.

12,000 people have read those two stories and voted you a high score. Believe me, you are doing very well and should be proud of your work. Don't let the assholes win.

 

[Ginlover]

gordo12 I have yours open to read. I can tell it's going to be good from the opening, only reason I'm not reading it tonight is I'm about to watch a film but I'm looking forward to reading it

 

[horrorotic]

Of all the terrible tragedies suffered in 2020, surely this is by far the worst.

 

[Rollinbones]

Of all the terrible tragedies suffered in 2020, surely this is by far the worst.

Laughed out loud. 2020 has had a way of putting things into perspective, hasn't it?

 

[ChloeTzang]

199 votes as of a couple minutes ago.
I get the logic but logic and emotion dont go well together. To drop the score means 1 star vote not a well I dont like the content or style but it's an okay 4, it has to be a 1 to hit a story score. If it's that bad someone feels the need to give it a one star I'm not thick skinned. To me a one star means please leave this site and never insult a reader with your crap again.

My other story I took down and re submitted is just under 300 votes. The score has settled the same but the low voting the first 48 hours meant hardly anyone read it and it dropped off the front page. Resubmitted it got a decent score while it was on the front page, the result means it got views.

I dont think it's me personally but people who get a cheap thrill about having that impact on a complete stranger. And with me it works, I back away from writing, giving them what they want.

Look at the favorites and followers. Those can actually be more meaningful.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I dont cope. I'm wildly dyslexic and had the stereotypical teacher humiliate me and make out I was stupid in school, in front of my peers, as she would 'teach' me to spell. It took over 2 decades to be brave enough to try writing. I spend hours crafting a story that is readable and tells what I want. I really don't want to be seen as stupid or lazy so I put so much time into editing. Therefore when a story is attacked it hurts a lot.

I entered the winter holiday competition and had my story destroyed while another posted the same day and the same length flew. Because of the voting my story didnt even get read. After a week I had a good score but so few views it was embarrassing. I took the story down and reposted it as not a competition entry. I didnt change a word of the story, this time it didnt attract malicious voting. I've had quadruple the number of views for my reposted non competition entry.

My next story has been popular but someone doesnt like it, every time it hits 4 85 a new vote comes in to drop to 4.84 it is literally within an hour or two. (I'm sad and check my views and voting lots).

I guess I'm the person the malicious voters love, it hurts the fuck out of me, I remove my stories, it makes me not want to write, which I'll assume is the thrill they want and their ultimate goal.

I've been meaning to ask you why it was reposted and it's in my reading queu. I loved it first time around, but not sure I want to read it all again to give it the 5* it deserves and if I don't read it I suspect the vote will be swept. I enjoy your stories very much and get that there are the naysayers out there, but I have now figured if a story is over 4.7 with plenty of votes, 5* are the most common votes.