drksideofthemoon
West of the moon. . .
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2005
- Posts
- 4,778
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, the beautiful Hawaiian surfing champ and Johnnie’s half sister
will get her due.May I suggest that you yourself concentrate on producing stories that will attract readers? Up to now your elitism seems to have prevented you from forming a bond with the thousands and thousands of people who flock to the site every day. Your continuing need to dazzle a few AHers with your brilliance seems to have become your priority. Instead of writing something someone might want to read.
You can try to become a writer or you can continue down the road you’re traveling now – the road to becoming an old, fussbudget, know-it-all critic who’s completely out of touch with the reading public - your choice.
Me, I think I’ll continue to write best sellers.
Jim
miss chick - i said the results, not the rules....you've gotta work on your reading comprehension...
No, actually, (oh the pain) he has a point.My reading comprehension is just fine, except when I'm tired....working 60 hours a week in 90 degree heat can do that to a person.
However, that makes even less sense that you ask them to post the results after every contest.
Uh, that's what they already do. Maybe it's you who has a problem with reading comprehension.
Actually... and I think everyone recognizes that the current system just doesn't work, that it's been turned into a bit of a circus by a handful of authors that work to manipulate the system, through self promotion, jealousy voting, etc. The site tries to keep it under control, but I think it's failing to do what it should, which is to put the best stories in front of the site visitors (i.e. readers), to keep them coming back for more.
But... it would probably be best if they didn't post any scores, anywhere, including visible to the author himself. Hide them completely, so nobody knows what they are.
The Top Lists and New pages should have a random element, just like the genre links do. Just randomly show stories from the top 500, in no particular order, on every page view. Maybe slightly increase the chances of a story being displayed if it has higher vote totals. For example, a story with a 5.0 rating has twice the chance of being displayed as a story with a 4.8 rating.
By doing it this way, no one really knows which particular story is the top vote getter, so it's hard for anyone to put much effort into affecting scores, up or down. Beyond that, it's probably more fair. The fact that one story has a 4.86 score and another a 4.87 score really doesn't mean the second story is better. There are too many variables (such as was the first published on a Tuesday versus a Friday, when there will be fewer readers in the next few days, before it drops off of the front of the New list).
By hiding the scores, and adding a random element, more stories get exposure, and over time, the best stories really will float to the top.
Oh, and beyond that, each list should have an option to be displayed by month or year (what were the top stories for 2005, or for May, 2007?). Stories that are years older have a huge advantage, because they've had more time to accumulate more reads and votes, but come from a different era, so to speak. It's like trying to compare pitchers in baseball from 1930 versus today. The game has changed, the rules have changed, technology has changed, the population of the country has changed. You can't do it.
Just my two cents.
Nobody knows where they stand now *laugh* It doesn't matter what your score is, once it falls into the mixer of the final sweep, it could end up floating in a completely different layer.
If the scores weren't visible, those who are determined to downvote other stories would simply go the extra mile -- bombing early and bombing often. The cheerleaders would do the same on the opposite end of the scale.
Hiding the author ( which would stop me from entering contests completely, because all I'm ever going to get is exposure ) or mixing up the display isn't going to stop it either. The author knows which story is his or hers, and can email the fanbase with the direct link.
It's an internet poll, and it's going to be subject to internet trolls.
The system that's in place now, so long as the results are based completely upon voting by the masses, is probably just as good as anything else that anyone could propose.
Nobody knows where they stand now *laugh* It doesn't matter what your score is, once it falls into the mixer of the final sweep, it could end up floating in a completely different layer.
If the scores weren't visible, those who are determined to downvote other stories would simply go the extra mile -- bombing early and bombing often. The cheerleaders would do the same on the opposite end of the scale.
Hiding the author ( which would stop me from entering contests completely, because all I'm ever going to get is exposure ) or mixing up the display isn't going to stop it either. The author knows which story is his or hers, and can email the fanbase with the direct link.
It's an internet poll, and it's going to be subject to internet trolls.
The system that's in place now, so long as the results are based completely upon voting by the masses, is probably just as good as anything else that anyone could propose.
the last three or four contests and have willingly provided the statistics on my own stories. Heres what I posted on the winners announcement thread after the Earth Day Contest
You know pal our readers seem to find the authors and stories they like all by themselves…so please, do not post any more of this elitist garbage on my thread!!!
james r scouries
Perhaps, with some highly placed compliments we could fool the queen, as they did in the Emperor's New Clothes, and make her believe that she is wearing beautiful clothes instead of being naked.
"That is such a beautiful dress, Laurel. It's such sheer silk that it looks like you are wearing nothing."
If we continue that logic with more compliments every day, then she'll no longer need to buy clothes and will grace me with a ten thousand dollar bonus this year instead of the five thousand that she generously gave me last year.
By the way, with the volume of stories that I have my hit total is approaching the ten million mark. Surely that warrants, at the very least, a Literotica T-shirt, extra large, please, or a Literotica coffee mug. How about a refrigerator magnet that shows the logo of the woman on the main page?
Hey, if you don't ask, you don't get.