Understanding scoring?

[sciolist13]

I have read a few posts on Authors hangout about being 1 bombed, etc. I can't seem to figure out how they know that they got 1 from someone?

Can someone please explain the tool where I can see the score breakup of my story score?
All I can see now is 'total read' 'total fav' 'score/votes' in a slim band at the bottom of the story in my control panel.
Is there any other tool to observe scoring analysis?

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

I have read a few posts on Authors hangout about being 1 bombed, etc. I can't seem to figure out how they know that they got 1 from someone?

Can someone please explain the tool where I can see the score breakup of my story score?
All I can see now is 'total read' 'total fav' 'score/votes' in a slim band at the bottom of the story in my control panel.
Is there any other tool to observe scoring analysis?

As best I understand it, there is no tool that allows you to see the scoring breakdown, which is unfortunate. Five 1s and five 5s would tell you something completely different than ten 3s. I think people know they got a 1 when they're watching their voting closely enough to see them come in. That allows you to do the math based on your score and number of votes. Sometimes, people may just be making assumptions about voting trends that swing somewhat wildly.

There's a way to download your stats up at the top of your works list where you view each story's stats, but I believe that only includes the same stats you see on the screen.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I tried to figure out the same thing a while back, and that's what I came up with.

 

[RejectReality]

You have to do the math, and that's sketchy at best when you're getting a lot of votes over short periods of time, or a large number of votes period. It's also impossible if you're not doing fairly regular checks of your numbers.

"Regular" is proportional to how many votes you're receiving. A brand new story would require checks every few minutes in some categories to even come close to recognizing a low score bomb, while a story that's a couple of years old in a low-readership category may only require looking every few days.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have read a few posts on Authors hangout about being 1 bombed, etc. I can't seem to figure out how they know that they got 1 from someone?

Can someone please explain the tool where I can see the score breakup of my story score?
All I can see now is 'total read' 'total fav' 'score/votes' in a slim band at the bottom of the story in my control panel.
Is there any other tool to observe scoring analysis?

You can see the total number of votes and the score is the average of all those. So if you keep an eye on the movement in those two factors, you can figure out what the latest vote was.

To give a simple example, if you have three votes, and you have a 4, these are the possible combinations:
3 + 4 + 5 = 12/3 = 4
4 + 4 + 4 = 12/3 = 4
There are no other score combinations that end up with a 4.

With the 4th vote you have five alternatives:
12 + 1 = 13/4 = 3.25
12 + 2 = 14/4 = 3.50
12 + 3 = 15/4 = 3.75
12 + 4 = 16/4 = 4.00
12 + 5 = 17/4 = 4.25

You can figure out the last score by knowing the previous score and the number of votes.
For example:
25 votes and your last score was 4.25. 4.25 x 25 = 106.25
106.25 + 1 = 107.25/26 = 4.13
106.25 + 2 = 108.25/26 = 4.16
106.25 + 3 = 109.25/26 = 4.20
106.25 + 4 = 110.25/26 = 4.24
106.25 + 5 = 111.25/26 = 4.28

 

[SimonDoom]

Here's a good article written a while back about trying to make sense of your score:

https://literotica.com/beta/s/how-to-analyze-your-scores

I tend to pay close attention to the score and votes for my stories for the first 12 or so hours after they are published. So for the first day I have a pretty good idea what sort of votes I'm getting.

When you have 10 votes and a score of 4.5 and the next time you check you have 11 votes and your score suddenly drops to 4.18, you know you've been 1-bombed. Math.

 

[sciolist13]

Amazing

EB66/ EoN/SimonDoom
That’s an amazing amount of work.
Let’s just stay away.

Here's a good article written a while back about trying to make sense of your score:

https://literotica.com/beta/s/how-to-analyze-your-scores

I tend to pay close attention to the score and votes for my stories for the first 12 or so hours after they are published. So for the first day I have a pretty good idea what sort of votes I'm getting.

When you have 10 votes and a score of 4.5 and the next time you check you have 11 votes and your score suddenly drops to 4.18, you know you've been 1-bombed. Math.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

EB66/ EoN/SimonDoom
That’s an amazing amount of work.
Let’s just stay away.

Oh, I don't want to know that badly either. I'd love to see the spread, but not if it takes basic math. *shudder* And not if it takes checking all the time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh, I don't want to know that badly either. I'd love to see the spread, but not if it takes basic math. *shudder* And not if it takes checking all the time.

It's Maths 101. I figured it all out within the first month or so on Lit - natural curiosity, a few tests to see how it all came together. I reckon I've nutted out how the sweeps work, too, but I'm not saying anything about that. Now though, six years on, I don't pay much attention to scores until a story is about thirty days in - by that time it's gone through a sweep or two, the trolling factor has been purged, and it all settles down. I kept a rough spreadsheet for a couple of months, but don't see the point now. I only use scores to see how my stories rate against each other - to use them to compare against other writers is pretty meaningless because the parameters are all different.

Comments matter more.

 

[lovecraft68]

Obsessing is the best way. Spend all your time clicking on your story and writing it down or making a spreadsheet, and focus on it more than you do the story itself, because its obviously more important than the writing to a lot of people(Don't be that guy! Be the guy who worries more about the story itself)

I just don't get it....if you did get a one bomb who cares? Average score on this site is over 4(be higher without the LW category) which means the vast majority of votes are good ones, yet everyone obsesses about a bomb.

But I'll throw a lifeline...the site has periodic sweeps that will remove what they consider an illegitimate vote(any score, but ones are the most blatant) so it will at some point it will fall away

Then you'll have to update your spreadsheet again.

I'm starting to think I'm the outsider here for not giving a damn about scores.

 

[ChloeTzang]

.....I'm starting to think I'm the outsider here for a not giving a damn about scores.

There’s a mathematical correlation between time you’ve been writing on Literotica, number of stories written, categories you write in and number of trolls attracted, and the don’t give a hoot factor, I’m sure. Unfortunately my math is insufficient to come up with a formula for this. But I’m sure it applies to you, Lovecraft. And Keith and Tex and Ogg and a few others.

 

[lovecraft68]

There’s a mathematical correlation between time you’ve been writing on Literotica, number of stories written, categories you write in and number of trolls attracted, and the don’t give a hoot factor, I’m sure. Unfortunately my math is insufficient to come up with a formula for this. But I’m sure it applies to you, Lovecraft. And Keith and Tex and Ogg and a few others.

Since I've always been into comics, my older daughter at one point said I would be apathy man, because my super power is I just don't give a shit about much, as easily proved by my history of shit posting and saying what others thing but have enough filter not to say.

My wife added to the theory saying its sort of a reverse on the law of attraction, if you don't care, and don't worry...it will come.

This was sort of my approach with women even back in HS, I never chased, I always hung back and waited until the girls would start to wonder about me(now okay, at that point they'd be sorry they wondered, but still...)

But you're right on the point of time and experience...jaded could be a word I guess in the sense of if you feel as if you've accomplished whatever it is you wanted here, you are no longer concerned with results.

My advice to anyone here regardless if its a first story or you've written 50 is story first, results later. The worst posts I see are the "will the readers like this" and "what's the most popular category to write in" that process is never going to allow anyone to be the writer they want to be or should be, its 'what do you want me to write' not what your muse is meant to write.

Okay, done now...I have my son in law and daughter coming over to help me build my wife's two by four patio set...its wooden frames and you add different length 2x4's...a lot of them....a whole lot of them at various lengths cause nothing can be uniform in my wife's mind....

Good thing my daughter is good with power tools because the Son in law is coming along to sweep and make coffee runs...he'll probably screw that up.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I figure the best way to get more readers and votes on your stories is to write another story (people who like that one will start looking at your previous stuff). Failing that start posting on relevant forums here with a link to your stories in your signature.

I've mostly got over caring about scores, but I did have my favourite story hovering for the last four months at 4.48,with 9 votes. One more vote, if it were a 5, would get me a red H (you need both 4.5 and 10 votes to qualify)
Someone did that for me yesterday, and I'm unreasonably pleased!

Though readers of my next story may not like my previous ones, so it may soon go down again. Such is life. The one after that may change things another way...

 

[TxRad]

I figure the best way to get more readers and votes on your stories is to write another story (people who like that one will start looking at your previous stuff). Failing that start posting on relevant forums here with a link to your stories in your signature.

I've mostly got over caring about scores, but I did have my favourite story hovering for the last four months at 4.48,with 9 votes. One more vote, if it were a 5, would get me a red H (you need both 4.5 and 10 votes to qualify)
Someone did that for me yesterday, and I'm unreasonably pleased!

Though readers of my next story may not like my previous ones, so it may soon go down again. Such is life. The one after that may change things another way...

Or the sweep comes along, pulls a 1 bomb and you are back to 9 votes and no red H.

So goes life at Lit.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

There is one other thing to take into consideration...

How many votes your have. A 1 will be significant when you only have say 10 votes. It will not be of any significance if you have over 100 votes. The same goes for a 5. Now I'm not saying they don't matter, yet they will not change the score by any visible amount.

 

[PickFiction]

Sometimes it's very possible to see the 1-bomb even if you have more votes. I had a story in the E & V category that finally got to the 100 vote level and was at 102. The rating was 4.82 which dropped it into the hall of fame. The next day when I checked it had dropped to 4.78 and the votes were at 103. It had obviously been 1-bombed. I've had several more cases, not quite as obvious as that one but still easy to spot.

The really bad thing that happened on one of my stories was getting the 1-bomb as the first rating. Who wants to read a story with a 1 rating? It affected the reads drastically until the rating finally recovered.

 

[GroverLang]

The really bad thing that happened on one of my stories was getting the 1-bomb as the first rating. Who wants to read a story with a 1 rating? It affected the reads drastically until the rating finally recovered.

The first vote on three of my stories, over a long period of time, has been a 1. The first two climbed up to reasonable reds although the 1 was never removed. The latest is for my COVID-19 entry. I’m sure it has definitely affected the number of views which also affects the voting.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

Since I've always been into comics, my older daughter at one point said I would be apathy man, because my super power is I just don't give a shit about much, as easily proved by my history of shit posting and saying what others thing but have enough filter not to say.

My wife added to the theory saying its sort of a reverse on the law of attraction, if you don't care, and don't worry...it will come.

This was sort of my approach with women even back in HS, I never chased, I always hung back and waited until the girls would start to wonder about me(now okay, at that point they'd be sorry they wondered, but still...)

But you're right on the point of time and experience...jaded could be a word I guess in the sense of if you feel as if you've accomplished whatever it is you wanted here, you are no longer concerned with results.

My advice to anyone here regardless if its a first story or you've written 50 is story first, results later. The worst posts I see are the "will the readers like this" and "what's the most popular category to write in" that process is never going to allow anyone to be the writer they want to be or should be, its 'what do you want me to write' not what your muse is meant to write.

Okay, done now...I have my son in law and daughter coming over to help me build my wife's two by four patio set...its wooden frames and you add different length 2x4's...a lot of them....a whole lot of them at various lengths cause nothing can be uniform in my wife's mind....

Good thing my daughter is good with power tools because the Son in law is coming along to sweep and make coffee runs...he'll probably screw that up.

I don't doubt your sincerity for a second, but to be fair, it's pretty easy to be dismissive about the scoring when most of your stories get scores of 4.7 or more.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't doubt your sincerity for a second, but to be fair, it's pretty easy to be dismissive about the scoring when most of your stories get scores of 4.7 or more.

Sshhh. Don't give away Lovecraft's secret. Why do you think he started writing incest yarns in the first place? That's got nothing to do with his mom - he's a bigger penguin hunter than Simon .

 

[lovecraft68]

Sshhh. Don't give away Lovecraft's secret. Why do you think he started writing incest yarns in the first place? That's got nothing to do with his mom - he's a bigger penguin hunter than Simon .

You're right....the only way I'd touch my mother inappropriately is to strangle her.

But you did key in on part of why the numbers don't mean anything to me. You write enough stories in a category you get a base who'll vote you a 5 even if they didn't think it was one of your best stories, just how it is...which is why I try and tell the numbers obsessed that they really don't mean a whole lot.

The funny thing is though, people always associate me with I/T, but many of my most successful stories as far as scores and top lists contest placing etc ....aren't in I/T...

I hunted several species of penguins back when I entered the now defunct Survivor contest the last three years it was around.

Then I got bored and went back to I/T

 

[PennameWombat]

Or the sweep comes along, pulls a 1 bomb and you are back to 9 votes and no red H.

So goes life at Lit.

I know another aspect of that feeling. One of my new stories (Adrift in Space) was at 4.67 with 9 votes. Not enough votes for the H. I didn't track closely to know the combination of votes to get to a total of 42 with the 9 votes, not overly concerned about that part.

Now it has 10 votes and it's at 4.3... Quite obvious what happened at this point. So no H either. Whoever it was that rated it that 1 didn't leave a comment to explain why.

Mostly I don't track my votes that closely but when I happen to notice these borderline issues, well, I get more attentive.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sshhh. Don't give away Lovecraft's secret. Why do you think he started writing incest yarns in the first place? That's got nothing to do with his mom - he's a bigger penguin hunter than Simon .

Ahem. I'm proud of my penguin collection but it does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Lovecraft's.

I am proud of the fact that I've actually INCLUDED penguins in a story. It took some ingenuity. I don't think even Mr. LC has done that.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I am proud of the fact that I've actually INCLUDED penguins in a story. It took some ingenuity. I don't think even Mr. LC has done that.

Game on! A Raft of Penguins. Solid working title, now to write the story. Don’t wait up...

 

[lovecraft68]

Ahem. I'm proud of my penguin collection but it does not deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Lovecraft's.

I am proud of the fact that I've actually INCLUDED penguins in a story. It took some ingenuity. I don't think even Mr. LC has done that.

Thanks for the compliment (I'll send that $20 via paypal in a few minutes)

And no penguins...my wife is a big Happy Feet fan and she would be mad if I took penguins down into the cesspool of my mind.

 

[SimonDoom]

Game on! A Raft of Penguins. Solid working title, now to write the story. Don’t wait up...

If anyone can do it with grace and good prose and a thin veneer of artistic plausibility, you can. Go for it!

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

You're right....the only way I'd touch my mother inappropriately is to strangle her.

But you did key in on part of why the numbers don't mean anything to me. You write enough stories in a category you get a base who'll vote you a 5 even if they didn't think it was one of your best stories, just how it is...which is why I try and tell the numbers obsessed that they really don't mean a whole lot.

The funny thing is though, people always associate me with I/T, but many of my most successful stories as far as scores and top lists contest placing etc ....aren't in I/T...

I hunted several species of penguins back when I entered the now defunct Survivor contest the last three years it was around.

Then I got bored and went back to I/T

I want to see you write noir. Well, not SEE you write it, but see the noir you'd write. I want to see what happens when thriller/horror gets hard-boiled. I want to see psychopaths in Chandleresque curtains of rain, stubbing out their cigarettes and making nihilistic remarks.

If it sounds like it couldn't work, consider these Raymond Chandler quotes:

“I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.” – The Long Goodbye

“The plants filled the place, a forest of them, with nasty meaty leaves and stalks like the newly washed fingers of dead men.” – The Big Sleep

“A few locks of dry, white hair clung to his scalp, like wild flowers fighting for life on a bare rock.” – The Big Sleep

“He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.” – Farewell, My Lovely

See? It could work. Plunk down one of your psychologically fractured characters in the midst of that and what would you get? A story I'd like to read.

Lit needs a mystery category.