voting on one's own work

[CookieMonster]

Do people vote for their own work? Do people think it's OK to vote for one's own work?

(I haven't yet, it seems "not right" somehow. I don't even know whether the software would allow it -- the closest comparison I have is on the Motley Fool boards, where one isn't allowed to "recommend" one's own posts. OTOH if I were standing for election I'd certainly vote for me.)

 

[JUDO]

It's unethical

In the ultimate game of rating, it probably doesn't matter, but I agree with you, CM, I think it's un-ethical. I don't know if the site wants to actually try and manage it, but I think it is good to air our opinions on this one.

How about you?

- Judo

 

[CreamyLady]

Unethical? How?

Presumably one has an opinion of one's own work. That opinion is probably a good one, or else why bother to submit it?

In the great scheme of things, what harm does it do to give oneself a five? If no one else votes on the story, you have one registered vote. No top list, to prizes, no honor of being the Flavor of The Month, and no possible way of harming anyone else. Voting for oneself does not preclude voting for another, provided one is honest about the ratings given.

I can't see how ethics are compromised by self-congratulation, so perhaps you can enlighten me.

 

[nitengale]

I VOTE...

on all my stories. I can honestly I have given myself all 5's, even knowing I have room to improve. I worked hard on what have written, so the 5 is easily validated in my mind. I will tell you the first time I voted I gave myself a one accidentily. That was annoying.

Unethical? Not from where I sit. I like me. I'm at least worth a five being me.

 

[cymbidia]

The Eternal Conundrum

I have always and will always vote a 5 for all my own submissions. I can't imagine why i should not.

I *believe* in what i'm trying to say. Whether or not i manage to express my ideas in a way that others appreciate/understand/like/accept/are aroused by is largely out of my control and a matter of individual reaction; it does not change the fact that *i* like my own work.

It is unethical, i think, to vote 1's on all the stories in your category but yours. It's unethical to vote 5's on the stories written by your friends, whether or not they deserve such a score. IMO, it's unethical to vote less than a 3 on a story and NOT provide feedback to the author to help him/her improve as a writer.

It is not, however, unethical to have faith in oneself and to support one's own goals of writing good erotica, even and especially if one knows she still has a long way to go. It may be unethical to have so little regard for one's own work that one doesn't mark the submission of every new story with a celebratory 5 vote!

So go vote your own stuff a bunch of 5's. It's probably unethical not to.

 

[JUDO]

I think of the ratings as being for the readers of the stories, not the authors. This mode of thought has no basis, it's just my opinion. But in that realm, authors wouldn't vote; just the readers.

I didn't mean to infer that you shouldn't believe in your work. Sorry, if I offended.

- Judo

 

[cymbidia]

I didn't mean to infer that you shouldn't believe in your work. Sorry, if I offended.

I don't think you offended anyone, Judo darlin', but if you're not going to use all your 5's on your own stories, would you please go use them on mine?



JUST KIDDING!!! Geeze. KM's already drawing on me for that one... back, girl, back!

And Judo? Welcome to Lit. You seem like you'll be a good addition to the place.
(No, that was not a cheap and calculated ploy to grab those freebie 5's!)

 

[nitengale]

I think of the ratings as being for the readers of the stories, not the authors. This mode of thought has no basis, it's just my opinion. But in that realm, authors wouldn't vote; just the readers.

I didn't mean to infer that you shouldn't believe in your work. Sorry, if I offended.

- Judo

You sure didn't offend me. I was merely throwing out my reasons for "fiving" myself.

I second Cyms Welcome to Lit!

 

[Ulyssa]

If I don't give me a five, who's gonna do it?

One of things I do best is piss off the morons who vote as far as they can count. And they can only count on their middle finger.

I'm human and I'm frail, so any time I can give myself the necessary top vote, I do it. But unlike some of the conspiracy people out there--I only vote once.

I don't see an ethics problem here. One"five vote" does not a landslide or award winner make. Five "one votes" makes for a very pissed off author.

 

[Guest]

I'm an idiot

I vote, but I don't always give myself 5's. Why? Because I'm an idiot. But I'm good at it. I give myself a 5 there.

 

[Guest]

I apologize...

My apologies for my last post. It had little content of merit. I just wanted to get that damned "Virgin" title off of my username. Now, I'm no longer a virgin, but I lost that virginity in a cheap way, and I regret it.

Am I going to continue to whore myself out to get people to see me as something other than what I truly am? Why can't I just ignore these labels and all the sexual politics? How many more cheap posts until I get to the next level?

 

[CreamyLady]

Darkness_descending, you will be really experienced at about 100 posts.

You can choose your own title at 1,000.

And, hopefully, you will not feel compelled to type meaningless and cheap posts to achieve that; but then, you wouldn't be the first, so I'll just shut up.

I'm feeling mean right now.

 

[cymbidia]

Hey darkness_descending, we all post meaningless drivel at times. It's part and parcel of the place, part of our charm and character as individuals inhabiting this place, i think. The danger lies in going over to the fluffy side wherein almost all one posts is meaningless drivel. You won't go there, will you? Can we tell you if you begin drifting in that direction, just to save you?

CL, those self-titles... how many characters does one get? Any clue?

 

[KillerMuffin]

I vote on my own stuff. Rarely give myself a 5 though. We are our own worst critics. I gave my poem "He Touched Me" a two.

 

[Ulyssa]

False Modesty, KillerMuffin.

I vote on my own stuff. Rarely give myself a 5 though. We are our own worst critics. I gave my poem "He Touched Me" a two.

I'm going to have to call you on that one, KM. If you're going to rate yourself a 2, why post something in the first place? You know damn well that when you posted it, there was a little girl inside you hoping that all of her friends would invite her over for a surprise party where she would discover that they gave her gift of one hundred 5 votes in less than an hour.

Blind optimist that I am, I figure that I deserve one 5 for submitting. If I thought it deserved a 2 then I'd still give it a 5 in order to make up for three of the 1 votes I know I'll receive when the anti-interracial trolls scroll through the new stories and automatically 1 them. I can usually count on about a dozen 1's from the people who vote merely on name recognition alone.

If I'm intentionally walking into a flaming room, I want my fire extinguisher fully charged.

 

[JUDO]

Speaking of getting "oned".

It was interesting to watch my stories get "oned" yesterday. Happened at least three times. And since my stories, thus far, are basically one story, the other installments got their "ones" on the heels of the latest.

The first "one" shocked me, the second "one" hurt...by the third I said 'fuck it'. Now, I'm just working on the next stories and damning the torpedoes.

Venting.

- Judo

 

[KillerMuffin]

1s happen. The chainstory just dropped from 4.67 to 4.07 in the space of about 5ish votes. Cool huh?

I submitted it thinking it was pretty gosh darn good U, then when it was posted a few days later (the cooling off period is sometimes a cold dash of ice water to the belly), and I chanced (okay, fine, deliberately) read it, I was thoroughly appalled. I mean, just oh my gawd and I thought vogons were bad. I left it there rather than request it be yanked so that people know that I really honestly do suck at poetry. Someone went through and 5'd it. Pissed me the hell off. It was sitting at a 2.25 then all of the sudden shot up to 3.50. I mean really. Don't vote for something cause you like me, whether or not the thing is any good. Damn that cheeses me off. Laurel, someone up voted my poem! I can see Laurel rolling her eyes now.

 

[cymbidia]

Yesterday, apparently, i pissed off some of the GB fluff-heads. Today the scores on every one of my stories, including my singleton nonthreatening and unassuming little poem, are at least .5 lower than they were yesterday. Coincidence? Hmmm... the Mary Poppins part of me would like to think so.

Good thing i'm not watching my scores anymore! (Okay, i take peeks.)
Sooooo...
Good thing i'm finding it all amusing these days!


Seriously: I never vote anything up or down because of how i feel about the author; that's contemptibly dishonest and outside the spirit of helping each other get better as authors. If i don't like someone, i just don't read their stuff.

People who vote according to GB spats, or for any other personal reasons, are both exceedingly immature and failures as moral people. They know that their covert activities identify them as grotesque and pitiful, too, during those quiet moments when they're drifting off to sleep.

I content myself with the knowledge that what goes around, comes around. The Universe never lets good deeds go unrewarded and doesn't allow nastiness to go unremarked, either.

Fuck 'em. I believe i'll cross-post this to the GB (since they'll not ever be coming here to see it).

 

[Ulyssa]

It's okay, Muff, we'll try not to like you.

Sometimes the author is the last person capable of seeing what a piece of work might say to another person. When you're feeling particularly uneasy about being green, Kermit the Frog becomes Poet Laureate of the cause.

Life is often playful and mysterious at the same time.

1 voters are always cursed miscreants whose entire mission in life is to show the rest of us that they're here by utilizing the most pathetic means possible.

I was reading a story which may have deserved a one today. I stopped reading it and didn't vote.

Please Cym, whatever you do, don't encourage those people over there on the GB to visit here!

[Edited by Ulyssa on 05-16-2001 at 05:39 AM]

 

[cymbidia]

I didn't give them a link, Lyssa. They'll never find their way here without a link.

 

[nitengale]

I didn't give them a link, Lyssa. They'll never find their way here without a link.

Don't bet on it. Evil always finds the way.

 

[Alex De Kok]

Cym, hon,

how'd they find their way to the GB in the first place?

Just curious.

Alex

 

[cymbidia]

Don't bet on it. Evil always finds the way.

Nitengale darlin', thanks, but you should not have posted to my alarmingly tantrumlike GB thread on this topic. They'll just have one more author to target now, you know? It was a valiant gesture, and one displaying your great heart, but ultimately foolish, my getting-so-much-better-as-a-writer friend.
~hugs, no snuggles~
b.

 

[cymbidia]

Cym, hon,

how'd they find their way to the GB in the first place?

Just curious.

Alex, hon, you know i was just venting. Ummm, don't you?

 

[nitengale]

Don't bet on it. Evil always finds the way.

Nitengale darlin', thanks, but you should not have posted to my alarmingly tantrumlike GB thread on this topic. They'll just have one more author to target now, you know? It was a valiant gesture, and one displaying your great heart, but ultimately foolish, my getting-so-much-better-as-a-writer friend.
~hugs, no snuggles~
b.

Cym...the targeting started a week ago at me...while I support your efforts to stir the pot, and enlighten folks, I'm only looking after myself. You merely opened the door for me.

And I already canceled my potential interview with the New York Times.

Cym, some battles are fought better when the troops stick together. If nothing else, the foxhole party is more fun!