Voting Numbers Explained

[Altissimus]

Based on an extensive study of voting patterns across my own works over many years, a brief guide explaining what number you should choose when voting:

Choose '1' - if they haven't used a tag you wanted them to use, or have used a tag you didn't want them to use. Or if your Significant Other catches you reading half way down the first page and an early exit is necessary.

Choose '2' - if you're too savvy to risk your 1-bomb being caught in one of the sweeps that no one really understands anyway.

Choose '3' - if you have absolutely zero imagination or capacity for original thought, and/or didn't understand some of the words in the story.

Choose '4' - if you realise they've somehow managed to score mostly 5s, feel they really deserve a 5 but someone has to rebalance the karma of the universe, and today that person is you.

Choose '5' - if they've managed to add some words to a blank page in any series and you're one of the few loyal readers that continued past 'part 1'; or if you know them IRL/through Discord.

There we go. Easy.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

And this is precisely why the scores are totally meaningless. One person's 5 is another's 2. There is absolutely no rubric whatsoever. Some people give out 5s like Hallowe'en candy. Others will give something regarded as very very good a 4 (which kills the beloved red H). Still others gives scores entirely based on whether you got their kink 'right' - and right meaning their way, which is apparently the only way.

Thumbs up, thumbs down while certainly imperfect, would be a far more accurate way of scoring. It may not say why but at least you can say with accuracy how many people liked it and how many didn't. You can't really tell that with the 5 pt scoring.

 

[oneagainst]

@NoTalentHack that's you sorted. Maybe print it out for reference?

 

[onehitwanda]

@NoTalentHack that's you sorted. Maybe print it out for reference?

 

[lovecraft68]

Based on an extensive study of voting patterns across my own works over many years, a brief guide explaining what number you should choose when voting:

Choose '1' - if they haven't used a tag you wanted them to use, or have used a tag you didn't want them to use. Or if your Significant Other catches you reading half way down the first page and an early exit is necessary.

Choose '2' - if you're too savvy to risk your 1-bomb being caught in one of the sweeps that no one really understands anyway.

Choose '3' - if you have absolutely zero imagination or capacity for original thought, and/or didn't understand some of the words in the story.

Choose '4' - if you realise they've somehow managed to score mostly 5s, feel they really deserve a 5 but someone has to rebalance the karma of the universe, and today that person is you.

Choose '5' - if they've managed to add some words to a blank page in any series and you're one of the few loyal readers that continued past 'part 1'; or if you know them IRL/through Discord.

There we go. Easy.

4 reminds me of the theory that no one should ever get a five in an employee review because no employee is perfect.

I'm soft, its a five if I enjoyed it to at least some degree, or I don't vote at all.

The only 1 I recall giving was on a story that was placed in fetish that was flat out non con and even then I wouldn't have except in the comments, the author was telling everyone that he knows all about consent and BDSM and they know nothing.

As the saying goes, "And I took that personally"

 

[onehitwanda]

If a story captures my heart and attention long enough for me to finish it, it gets a five. I am capricious and not easily pleased.

 

[Altissimus]

... to finish it

This is the bit that confuses me, tbh. Voting is only possible if you get to the last page. Given the number of page views we all get is far higher than the number of votes, it follows that many people don't vote even when they get to the last page, and yet clearly some folk start the story, hate it that much, and rather than hitting 'back' deliberately select the last page to be able to register their displeasure. I could understand that if it's poorly written, but when it's well-written that seems unbelievably small-minded. Free stories, delivered on a plate, many of them truly quality pieces, and their way of encouraging the authors and rewarding them for their effort is to vote '1' on a story they couldn't be bothered to read. Ah, "What a piece of work is man"!

 

[onehitwanda]

This is the bit that confuses me, tbh. Voting is only possible if you get to the last page. Given the number of page views we all get is far higher than the number of votes, it follows that many people don't vote even when they get to the last page, and yet clearly some folk start the story, hate it that much, and rather than hitting 'back' deliberately select the last page to be able to register their displeasure. I could understand that if it's poorly written, but when it's well-written that seems unbelievably small-minded. Free stories, delivered on a plate, many of them truly quality pieces, and their way of encouraging the authors and rewarding them for their effort is to vote '1' on a story they couldn't be bothered to read. Ah, "What a piece of work is man"!

Just because a story is well-written doesn't mean it's meant for me. I'm mature enough to realise that my wants and needs are not anyone else's, but I'm not going to take that out on the author who has spent anywhere from hours to days committing words to ink. My mum always used to say: "Rather say nothing if you have nothing nice to say" and I follow that rule - unless there is obvious bullshit etc that needs to be called out in no uncertain terms.

It's just who I am.

 

[SimonDoom]

I suspect that we (authors) are not representative of voting patterns as a whole, in that we're probably somewhat kinder. Non-author readers aren't hindered by the Golden Rule, or considerations of whether an author might lose their precious red H. If it sucks, give it a 1! If you think about it that's the way rating systems are generally. People vote from the gut.

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

Like all statistics, the numbers mean what you want them to depending on:

1) What it is you're trying to prove
2) What it is you want to think
3) What mood you're in
4) Whether or not anyone has been nice to you today

I publish here for the people who bother to leave a review that let's you know how it affected them, even if they didn't like it when they reached the end. Them and all the silent dreamers who dip in and out but leave no ripples, taking only their pleasure with them.

 

[onehitwanda]

I suspect that we (authors) are not representative of voting patterns as a whole, in that we're probably somewhat kinder. Non-author readers aren't hindered by the Golden Rule, or considerations of whether an author might lose their precious red H. If it sucks, give it a 1! If you think about it that's the way rating systems are generally. People vote from the gut.

I wanted the sister to go down on the brother! Give it a 1!
The brother should have taken the condom off and given his sister a creampie! Give it a 1!
What? They didn't have sex in the pool? Give it a 1! No, multiple 1's!

 

[SimonDoom]

To be clear, I don't think there's any obligation to be a "nice" voter. One's only obligation as a voter, IMO, is 1) to read the story to the end, and 2) to vote authentically, i.e., vote how you really feel; don't vote because you have a personal beef with the author or nonsense like that.

 

[Altissimus]

Just because a story is well-written doesn't mean it's meant for me. I'm mature enough to realise that my wants and needs are not anyone else's, but I'm not going to take that out on the author who has spent anywhere from hours to days committing words to ink. My mum always used to say: "Rather say nothing if you have nothing nice to say" and I follow that rule - unless there is obvious bullshit etc that needs to be called out in no uncertain terms.

It's just who I am.

I quoted you because you'd referenced finishing, not because I was addressing my comments to you. Borrowed your text as it provoked a thought, sorry

 

[onehitwanda]

I quoted you because you'd referenced finishing, not because I was addressing my comments to you. Borrowed your text as it provoked a thought, sorry

Oh, I know, I wasn't having a go at you

 

[Altissimus]

Like all statistics

I resent the implication that I in any way used statistics - bayesian, inferential, descriptive or otherwise - qualitative analysis, experimental studies, pattern recognition, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, clustering, insight derivation, cause-and-effect, or thought, when writing my original premise.

 

[Djmac1031]

All but one of my stories have a score over 4.

Some high fours, some mid-fours, some low fours.

I don't draw nearly the numbers other authors do. None of my stories have "gone viral" with hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of votes.

I only have one story with over 1K votes on it.

Most of the rest are far less, several to only a few hundred votes.

Others even less than 100 votes.

I don't believe i have a huge troll / One Bomb problem, so I feel for the most part my scores are legitimate.

All scores really tell me is that most of the relatively small audience who read my stories liked them.

The rest I try not to take too seriously.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Based on an extensive study of voting patterns across my own works over many years, a brief guide explaining what number you should choose when voting:

Choose '1' - if they haven't used a tag you wanted them to use, or have used a tag you didn't want them to use. Or if your Significant Other catches you reading half way down the first page and an early exit is necessary.

Choose '2' - if you're too savvy to risk your 1-bomb being caught in one of the sweeps that no one really understands anyway.

Choose '3' - if you have absolutely zero imagination or capacity for original thought, and/or didn't understand some of the words in the story.

Choose '4' - if you realise they've somehow managed to score mostly 5s, feel they really deserve a 5 but someone has to rebalance the karma of the universe, and today that person is you.

Choose '5' - if they've managed to add some words to a blank page in any series and you're one of the few loyal readers that continued past 'part 1'; or if you know them IRL/through Discord.

There we go. Easy.

Brilliant. Please consider writing a story for the humor category. You have the knack.

(If I don’t understand some words in a story, I give it a 5 because at least I learned something even if the plot is rubbish)

 

[Altissimus]

Brilliant. Please consider writing a story for the humor category. You have the knack.

Thank you. I don't fancy writing for the humour category, but I like to include humour in all my stories. Plus, sex can be pretty funny anyway.

 

[lovecraft68]

Just because a story is well-written doesn't mean it's meant for me. I'm mature enough to realise that my wants and needs are not anyone else's, but I'm not going to take that out on the author who has spent anywhere from hours to days committing words to ink. My mum always used to say: "Rather say nothing if you have nothing nice to say" and I follow that rule - unless there is obvious bullshit etc that needs to be called out in no uncertain terms.

It's just who I am.

This is where the word subjective comes into play.

 

[lc69hunter]

I published my first story down in Essays in Sept of 2022, and my second story, also in Essays, in May 2023. They both started out the first day in the mid to high 4's, and when the LW trolls found them, by the second day, they were down in the low to mid 3's, where they have basically stayed until recently.

I do not know if it because how I comment on certain stories or what, but more people have found the stories, my scores have started to creep up, more people are saving them as favorites, and I have gained followers over the last month or so.

Is this how it normally is?