Voting again

[janiexx]

Hi yui,

Thanks so much for adding the link!

janiexx

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

As I described in an earlier post, during my first few times at bat here the slings and arrows of outrageous trolls, or whoever, made be bitter. It still hurts, but much less, because I know now what to expect.

And I'm glad of that, because I don't want to lose sight of the real reason I do this, and I imagine it's the same for all of you: It's fun. It's a hobby. I get much satisfaction from the positive feedback of readers.

If I ever get to the point where these aspects make it impossible to have fun I will have to ask myself, "Why do it? Turn off the votes, and enjoy the comments and notes from happy, aroused readers."

 

[yui]

Hi yui,

Thanks so much for adding the link!

janiexx

Not a problem, Janie! I'm the Link Queen for newb-ish peeps.

Oh, and welcome to the AH, too.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

And I will add this, also from an earlier post, which the more I think about it the more I seriously believe Lit should do, and it probably would not be hard at all to do:

Maybe if one could see one's actual scores one could sort this out better. Like:

5- 23
4- 9
3- 2
2- 0
1- 6

OK, now I can see that most readers think the story is very good, or good. Based on self knowledge, confidence, and past results, I will probably judge that assessment as fair.

So what do I conclude about the six people who think it really sucks? Mainly that they are almost certainly all dishonest and malicious. That explanation raises the least additional questions (Occam's razor), because after all, 31 fair minded readers, "good men and true," judged very differently, and it would be an insult to them to conclude that they are all wrong. If someone not malicious and dishonest has a serious beef, they are free to send a note explaining it in reasonable terms, and I will take it seriously. That this did not happen is confirming evidence of the conclusion

Bottom line: My story still has a sucky rating, but I feel better, because I know the honest readers of good will think it's pretty good.

PS. I emailed this to Laurel, but I am not convinced "Laurel" really exists.

Edit correction, per the very cute girl in the santa suit below: I PM'd this to Laurel.

 

[cloudy]

I emailed this to Laurel, but I am not convinced "Laurel" really exists.

She does exist, I promise, and she's very kind and responsive. You'd have much better luck if you PM'd her instead of emailing. Every time I've PM'd her, I've received a reply within a day, usually much quicker.

 

[yui]

PS. I emailed this to Laurel, but I am not convinced "Laurel" really exists.

She does. She's the kitty mama.

 

[rgraham666]

Yes Laurel really exists, Roxanne. I received a very nice card from her and Manu when they sent me my contest winnings.

I know how you feel janie. My first story, also a romance, was on top for a bit. Now, it's mired somewhere near the end of the top list.

Romance is especially difficult as there are writers there who are horribly prolific and have huge fan bases. So it's a tough field. My best romance, with a score of 4.85, is on page 3 of the top list.

Don't sweat the score too much. The feedback is a better ego boost.

If you want to sweat the score, multiply it times 20. That gives you a percentage. So your score of 4.73 is a 94.6%. If you got that mark on a test, you'd probably be ecstatic.

Welcome to the AH, by the way.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Sometimes simple patience has a reward. One of my tales, posted quite some time ago, debuted at around the 4.20 - 4.30 mark. (It's a while, so I can't remember exactly, but it was comfortably under the 'H' level.)

As I submitted further works, the story kept on picking up reads and votes, nice votes, so that the score now stands at a respectable 4.71. So patience can have its own reward. You'll understand why I don't give the title . . .

Alex

 

[janiexx]

Thanks for the welcomes and the good words - feel a lot better now.

What I want to know is why the one bad comment or vote affects us so much more than the good feedback?

And I liked Roxanne's method of voting and seeing scores. That makes sense to me and puts it into perspective.

I'm really just happy to get that little H...

janiexx

Oh and PS - got a reply from Laurel almost immediately...

 

[gauchecritic]

What no one has yet mentioned Janie is that about once or twice a month and before every contest closure, Laurel or Manu (probably Manu) send a little robot round the scores which sweep out obvious troll votes (including 5s if necessary).So if you have been given a malicious 1 vote it will stick out a mile and you will see your number of votes go down and your average score go up.

Keep your eyes peeled.

 

[janiexx]

Hi gauchecritic,

Thanks for that reply. I will keep my eyes peeled (can get a bit obsessive about it!).

janiexx