Vote Culling Data

[filthytrancendence]

I was updating my story stats analysis spreadsheet this evening and saw something real interesting. I think I've seen people speculating about this occurring, but I don't recall seeing evidence/data about it. I did a search and didn't see a thread on this, though that may be down to using different language to describe it.

This table is calculating the difference between vote counts between each batch of story data. The rightmost column is the difference between my data from July 4 and today.



As you can see, I had 3 stories this last period that had negative votes. Meaning votes were removed. I had one last time but chocked it up to an anomaly. Of course, any actual new votes in this period would cancel these out in this method of calculation. I suspect I'm seeing this more clearly now because I've not published anything new in a while, so the new vote count is pretty low.

All 3 accompanied a significant increase in rating (.05, .02 and .17 in order), so I surmise the culled votes were 1 bombs.

 

[AwkwardMD]

If you want to see the threads on this phenomena, we usually call it a "Sweep"

 

[AwkwardMD]

Lots of theories on how they work and what they're looking for, but much like the AI detector there's no confirmation from Laurel and Manu's side on how it works or what it's looking for.

The best we know is that the sweeps look for fraudulent votes (something I know because Laurel once told me how to request a sweep of an individual story of my own specifically to root out fraudulent voting). This is why, *generally speaking*, your score will go up after some votes are removed. The sweep got rid of some 1 star votes that it determined were unwarranted.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Lots of theories on how they work and what they're looking for, but much like the AI detector there's no confirmation from Laurel and Manu's side on how it works or what it's looking for.

The best we know is that the sweeps look for fraudulent votes (something I know because Laurel once told me how to request a sweep of an individual story of my own specifically to root out fraudulent voting).

Thanks! I perused the threads that come back with that keyword and I see what you mean. But it doesn't look like anybody's posted individual data like this yet, so hopefully this is useful/interesting to someone.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/nude-day-2025-contest-thread.1634320/post-101237833

 

[AwkwardMD]

Thanks! I perused the threads that come back with that keyword and I see what you mean. But it doesn't look like anybody's posted individual data like this yet, so hopefully this is useful/interesting to someone.

Only to the extent that it adds to my drinking game.

Shots, everyone. Drink.

 

[filthytrancendence]

Only to the extent that it adds to my drinking game.

Shots, everyone. Drink.

Guess it was my turn. I've got a bottle of whiskey around here somewhere.

 

[Bamagan]

I was updating my story stats analysis spreadsheet this evening and saw something real interesting. I think I've seen people speculating about this occurring, but I don't recall seeing evidence/data about it. I did a search and didn't see a thread on this, though that may be down to using different language to describe it.

This table is calculating the difference between vote counts between each batch of story data. The rightmost column is the difference between my data from July 4 and today.

View attachment 2552982

As you can see, I had 3 stories this last period that had negative votes. Meaning votes were removed. I had one last time but chocked it up to an anomaly. Of course, any actual new votes in this period would cancel these out in this method of calculation. I suspect I'm seeing this more clearly now because I've not published anything new in a while, so the new vote count is pretty low.

All 3 accompanied a significant increase in rating (.05, .02 and .17 in order), so I surmise the culled votes were 1 bombs.

I have the voting turned off on my stories, so with no new votes coming in it's easy to see when something gets removed. I don't check my data very often anymore, but I occasionally see votes go missing even on stories from a couple of years ago. I don't know if that's a result of sweeps catching voters that eventually got pegged as fraudulent, though.
In at least a few cases I think the account was deleted, because comments disappeared along with votes, although whether it was the user cutting ties willingly or getting booted is impossible for me to determine.

 

[filthytrancendence]

I have the voting turned off on my stories, so with no new votes coming in it's easy to see when something gets removed. I don't check my data very often anymore, but I occasionally see votes go missing even on stories from a couple of years ago. I don't know if that's a result of sweeps catching voters that eventually got pegged as fraudulent, though.
In at least a few cases I think the account was deleted, because comments disappeared along with votes, although whether it was the user cutting ties willingly or getting booted is impossible for me to determine.

Seems safe to bet this one's tied to the nude day contest that just finished. I don't keep up with those threads usually, so I missed them talking about it in there.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks! I perused the threads that come back with that keyword and I see what you mean. But it doesn't look like anybody's posted individual data like this yet, so hopefully this is useful/interesting to someone.

It's part of the furniture, happens to us all, and yes, sweeps run several times at the end of Contests, to cull the junk votes. Once I was satisfied that I had a fair idea how they work, I no longer had an interest in analysis. I can always see the effect once a sweep has run, especially if a story gets published while there's a Contest running.

 

[Actingup]

The changes can be quite dramatic, particularly if a story has been tactically bombed and those votes are suddenly removed. Today, I'm not complaining

 

[Soixenta]

My Nude Day story went from 4.51 with 99 votes to 4.68 with 92 votes. I didn't expect it to win, but it seems like someone was trying very hard to make sure.