Voting to be an Asshole

[RisiaSkye]

I can't help it, it pisses me off. Whenever a story of mine makes its debut, it does really well--until it hits the hot list. Then, it sinks like a stone as people inundate stories that don't have a ton of votes with '1's. I assume this does something for them, although I can't imagine how it could be such a thrill.

Does this happen to anyone else?

 

[circe!]

yes,

it happens to me everytime. My last Chapter hit the Top List at number 1 and was IMMEDIATELY deluged with 1 votes which sunk it like a stone.

At least I was expecting this to happen...

circe!

 

[Softly]

You are not alone

Risia,

If you will go to "Author's Hangout," and change the received threads to the last thirty day, on the second page you will find a post by Killer Muffin called, "Someone just went through and "1 ed" all my stories. How stupid is that?"

From that you will see that you are not alone. There can be several reasons for such an act.

Another author, with access to many computers, can vote other stories down, so theirs is the highest.

You offended some dimwit with a post.

Another site operator, hoping to lure you away Literotica, and having the knowledge as to how to muster many votes, could lower your scores, and then write to you asking you to transfer to his site.

You may have offended a special interest group, with the content of your story.

Some religious nut, and his friends, may take offence to the site in general.

You are an excellent author. The regulars of the site know it, and have told you so. The rest, phsssst!

 

[Bob Peale]

Risia,

Te rating thing used to bother me a lot too. When I first started posting to Literotica [deleted out of embarassment] years ago, the rating system was, albeit less sophisticated, a lot less subject to predatory behavior. It was not uncommon for an author to hold one of the top spots for months, and when their reign was over, so be it. You wrote another one, and maybe you grabbed a top spot again.

But success comes with its own set of headaches (like the song Mo' Money, Mo' Problems), and as Literotica grew larger, stuff like this started to happen. Offend somebody on a board, story(ies) get pummelled; post what some feel is too much, bye bye stories.

Recently (as in days ago), I saw several of my story ratings plummet just because I won one of the 2000 awards; whatever.

Ironically, a trait of human nature inadvertently helped counterract one of the more frequent manifestations of malicious behavior. To their credit, Laurel and Manu have done an excellent job of compartmentalizing the site. As an author that writes about a lot of topics, usually people don't bother to retrieve my stories by author; instead, they look for all of my stories in a particular subject and flush them. I can always tell when this has happened because I'll submit several chapters of a story, they each get classified differently, and one will have significantly lower scores that than the rest. If I look at all of my stories for that category, they have suddenly all decreased in popularity. Que cera.

While we all feel good about getting a high rating, I realized eventually that, at least for me, the reason I really wanted a good rating is so that people could easily access my stories. So, in an effort to combat the ill-intended misanthropes, I started an email newsletter at listbot.com (which was free), that let people sign up to be notified when I complete a new story. Originally, I distributed the story that way, then I realized that that might reduce the traffic here, my second home, so now I just notify people that it's at Literotica, with the title a link to the new stories page so that they get to see not just my story but everything that has been submitted recently by other authors as well. Win-Win for everybody.

I'm glad to see this thread because I thought I was being oversensitive, but it sounds like a lot of authors share my frustration.

I wonder if the practice would be so rampant if the user name and rating for every rating were part of every story's rating record?

Anyway, hang tough and keep writing!

Peace,
Bob

 

[Ray Dario]

Risia, Yes this seems to happen all the time. You may expect that, just because you started this thread, your stories may get hit again.

It seems that there are some immature people who visit this site quite regularly and, seemingly, randomly pick an author and low ball him.

The first time I ever saw it happen to me was right after I posted complaining about it happening to another author, who had been ranked above me on the top lists. I really liked his story "Getting The Contract" and because I was watching the lists and he was one spot above me, I noticed when his score dropped dramatically with only a few more votes. Obviously 1'd. I commented on it and the next day my story was hit too.

So don't feel alone, and keep in mind that it is just a slim minority of the people on this wonderful site who do this.

Ray

 

[bluntforcemama]

It happens to everyone's stories as they get more exposure from being on the Top List. Just think of the lists as a battle ground, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!

 

[Samuari]

I'm not sure how to look up the ratings,it is not something that I pay much attention to. I did not used to vote either, but when I saw that it was important to people that I care about, I started voting.

I love getting feedback, thoughtful responces from intelligent readers, but the voter ratings don't do anything for me.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm proud as punch for winning one of the 2000 awards. Somehow it seems different from the ongoing top list.

 

[doctor_insanus]

Fuck 'em

I've written 3 stories so far, and at one point every one of them was on the Hot List with ratings between 4.5 and 4.9 (albeit with somewhat low vote totals). I was beginning to think I was onto something here.

Then, the plunge began. Each one of them tumbled in the standings, then slowly began to climb back toward the top. As soon as they regained the Hot List, they began to drop once more. They currently reside in the 4.4 - 4.5 range.

I haven't been around all that long, but I've figured out the way it goes. This is a great site, and there are a lot of good people here, but there are also some people who don't have anything better to do than play their silly games.

I no longer care what the scores are. I'm a big boy; I can take it. So, as far as I'm concerned, refer to the above title!

 

[RisiaSkye]

Sorry for the late reply, but I've been in computer death-grieving for a few days.

Thanks to all of you who replied. It's nice to know that I'm not being specially targetted somehow. And thanks for all of your support! I feel much better knowing that I'm not alone

 

[Sateema Lunasi]

I have only been here a little while, and I would guess I have read maybe a dozen stories and written a dozen. I have never voted below a 3 (so far) and I don't think I would vote below a 2. To me, a 1 vote is equivilent to "Oh my Gawd that sucked ass." I have only seen good writing here so far, a few average or maybe slightly below but we all have our days, don't we? I can't imagine what kind of prick goes around marking stories low so that they can better their own. Shit, I only mark my own 4's. Don't take it personally. They are just shitheads.

I need to stop fucking cussing.

Luv,
S

 

[Jackie Rudd]

They're probably the same people who expletive up the interactive stories.

 

[Mickie]

Just a theory here, but I've been noting a lot of the stories that hit the E or H spots go down after they do. I think it might be more people are visiting the stories that perhaps don't normally like the category of story posted. They'll vote it down because the content isn't what they want. Plus people expect more from a story with a marking. With high expectations, they vote lower than they would with lower expectations. I had some feedback from a man who loved my incest story. He read my other stories because he liked the first. They had nothing to do with incest, and he didn't like them for that reason. He probably gave them a low score. It's just part of the trade. You can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can please yourself all you want. Bottom line, if you like the story, and the people whose opinions matter to you like the story, then you've got a good story. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and being angry about what may or may not be intentional sabotage won't help you write.
Thanks for listening
Mickie

 

[Samuari]

Sorry Mick

but there are some folks that for reasons of their own like to put people down, and this is a safe way to do it. There is intential sabatage going on and I don't think that there is much that can be done about it. One of those things that we have to be thick skinned enough to not let bother us, sort of like putting up with trolls on the general board.

You are absublutly right when you say that, "If you like the story and the people whose opions matter to you like the story, than you have a good story." That is the standard that I use. I don't think that I have ever looked at where my stories sit on the top lists. I did pay attention to the end of the year voting, but that is a different thing, I think.

 

[Mickie]

rose colored glasses in place

I'll agree with that, but I would guess that there's more people out there who honestly vote than would sabotage anything. Unfortunately, there are people who will hurt others just because they can. I just believe that there are fewer assholes out there than decent people. That might be a bit naive, but... well... okay, I want to believe in the basic good of humanity. Not everyone is a lurking pervert who reads incest stories, and not everyone is a wonderful wife because she reads romance stories. Good and bad mix in us all, and it pays to look at something as infuriating as sabotage from all angles before deciding how to judge.

I think, in the long run, that it's a mix of different reasons, and sabotage is merely one of the reasons points might go down suddenly. It's a moot point, I suppose, and no matter what you do you can't change what happened. Thick skin aside, I don't know anyone who doesn't feel defensive when it happens. All I can do is shrug, keep writing, and hope that something I've written made a difference in someone's attitude or gave someone an emotional thrill. That's what I really write for, not to gain the top spot. My feedback says I've accomplished this with some of my writing. I feel more honored by that than if I'd gained the top spot and kept it.

Now watch my points go down just because someone thought I meant it didn't matter to me. Chuckle. It does matter. It's just secondary, that's all. (See, I do believe in nasty people. I just don't like to give them too much acknowledgment.) Now that I've dug myself a nice hole, I think I'll go look for a shovel so I can get myself out.

*peers wondering into the shed in the yard. Do I own a shovel?*
Thanks for listening.
Mick

 

[Samuari]

Re: rose colored glasses in place

I'll agree with that, but I would guess that there's more people out there who honestly vote than would sabotage anything. Unfortunately, there are people who will hurt others just because they can. I just believe that there are fewer assholes out there than decent people. That might be a bit naive, but... well... okay, I want to believe in the basic good of humanity

Oh yes, otherwise...drop the bombs now. There is no other way to live sanely, of course you could be like Todd.

All I can do is shrug, keep writing, and hope that something I've written made a difference in someone's attitude or gave someone an emotional thrill. That's what I really write for, not to gain the top spot. My feedback says I've accomplished this with some of my writing. I feel more honored by that than if I'd gained the top spot and kept it.

You know Mick, I never used to vote for stories, if I liked them a lot, or I thought that they showed promise that I wanted to encourage, I emailed the author. If they were ok, I didn't vote, but if they stunk I gave them a one. Then I became aware of some folks that I care a great deal about checked the ratings relgiously, and I started voting every time. There are times when I download stories to a floppy to read later, even then I will now go through the hassle of finding the story again andf voting, because it means so much to some. Me? I have no idea where mine stand.I haven't posted a new one in several months.

 

[BrownCuriousity]

Its called "hating" (as in player hating)

When some people see that your stories are popular, natural envy takes over and they "1" you (2 you if your lucky) just because. That's sad because if there's really no reason at all for the low rating then it just proves how childish people can be.

 

[Ulyssa]

These are the very same people who hide under the cover of anonymous feedback to say little witticisms that weren't funny in first and second grade. Those of us who have received high editorial marks are a natural target--but moreover the power of the 1 vote is an extension of the mean-spirited and spitefully anonymous coward who is probably sad because the little symbols in our mail don't include swastikas and burning crosses.

Damn them all.

There, I feel better I guess.

 

[Ray Dario]

I think there may be something to Mickie's theory about the H and E marks.

I got my first E for my story "Station Slut" which I thought was a good story. It hasn't faired nearly as well in the ratings as some of my other stores, that didn't get an E and that I personally didn't think were as good.

But maybe I just don't know good writing or maybe there is something to the hype theory. Maybe people vote lower on a story if it doesn't live up to it's hype.

I'm not sure about that, but I am sure that the E Laurel gave me meant more to me than the ratings.

Ray

 

[christo]

Grrrr....

I read this thread a few days ago and was going to post an understanding little note, something along the lines of "hey, everyone gets nailed with a few 1's here and there, most folks who vote do so according to how they feel about the story, you have to take the bitter with the sweet, etc etc..."

Bullshit, all of it! Some person or persons unknown went thru my stories the past few days and oned me! And it did piss me off royal! I did the math, so I know the scores I got. Why does it bother me so? You have to expect it, but, come on. The worst score I've ever given a story is a 3, on just a few occasions, for stories I felt weren't very well done. I don't know if a story I would give a 1 do would even get posted. So either there are some hyper-critical people out there, or there are just folks who like zinging authors who work pretty doggone hard to post stuff.

How about from now on, when you give a story a 1, you have to submit your name, home address, and the average 911 response time of your local police department? Or am I just overreacting just a wee bit?

Ah, guess I'll follow my usual remedy for a bad score-- a cold beer. Ahh...beer...