Voting
- Thread starter Wislogger
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JPGmvny
Terry Brewer
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It happens to most of us I assume. It's depressing when you have a solid score but not a lot of votes so one 1 or 2 sends the score plummeting. You just have to let more votes come in to cancel it out. And then a sweep may help. I just had one that dropped 0.3 but has fought back to where it was before getting hit.
If you are really whacked, you can report it and ask Laurel to take a look the specific votes on the story. Use the "Report Story" button and explain. That's happened a few times for me, although it can take time.
SamScribble
Yeah, still just a guru
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My latest story has had a red H twice within the past 24 hours, and then, after a further three votes, it's back down in the weeds. 
ChloeTzang
Literotica Guru
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As KeithD says, it happens to all of us. There’s a few bozos out there who take great delight in voting stories scores down. They put a lot of work into it, it’s one of those things that comes with writing stories here. They tend to get bored and move on so don’t worry about it. Just leave the readers to find the good stories - the ratings have a way of finding their level regardless. I had a few screaming tantrums when it first happened to me but now I don’t give a flying (cough) hairball.
NotWise
Desert Rat
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I understand that if I smear a little Vaseline on your paw then it will help you with that (cough) hairball.
I've had some wet and smelly hair balls of my own lately. If you publish enough, then you're bound to get them. They come with the territory.
SamScribble
Yeah, still just a guru
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Oh yes, and another thing: I have (I think) seven or eight stories sitting on 4.49. They have all had red Hs. And they have all been slapped down. It almost makes me think that pulling the wings off insects (a favourite pastime of some of the kids that I grew up with) wasn't that bad after all.
SimonDoom
Kink Lord
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Bad behavior certainly exists, and it causes some of the voting strangeness that we see, but to some degree what we are seeing is random fluctuations in voting, and the tendency to impute bad motives to undesirable scores is akin to ancient peoples attributing bad weather to the anger of the gods.
Javahead
Literotica Guru
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Oh yes, and another thing: I have (I think) seven or eight stories sitting on 4.49. They have all had red Hs. And they have all been slapped down. It almost makes me think that pulling the wings off insects (a favourite pastime of some of the kids that I grew up with) wasn't that bad after all.
I've a couple like that.
The one that amuses me was the sort-of-standalone lead in story in my "Plum Blossoms" saga. It was up above 4.6 for a while, but it was in a relatively troll-free category (Exhibitionist & Voyeur). When I started posting chapters of the follow-up in "Loving Wives", not only did they 1-bomb the new story, they hit most of my others too. And they've managed to keep the original story at 4.49 for the last 3 months or so.
That's still a reasonably respectable score. But they (apparently) only spring into action if that red "H" appears.
ChloeTzang, wasn't your "White Wedding" briefly in red-H territory, after starting below 2? It seems to be floating in the low-mid 4's range now.
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When I have 11 stories downvoted overnight and not one nudged upwards, Simon, 'random fluctuation' has to fight very hard for recognition - especially when a sweep scoured just about all of them away.
Does trollish downvoting account for all sags in scores? Of course not. Does it account for a fair number? You betcha.
Does trollish downvoting account for all sags in scores? Of course not. Does it account for a fair number? You betcha.
SimonDoom
Kink Lord
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I agree that doesn't sound random but your experience surprises me. Your stories in general don't seem like the kind that would trigger that kind of behavior.
I've never encountered anything like that, as far as I have observed. I've had new stories downvoted but I've never seen a drop in scores across the board with my stories.
vanmyers86
Really Really Experienced
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That happened to me during the last contest. Someone made their way through my entire catalog and bombed them all. It's just one of those things to be endured while it lasts. Like Chloe, I have learned to let it go and not take it personally.
oggbashan
Dying Truth seeker
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Oh yes, and another thing: I have (I think) seven or eight stories sitting on 4.49. They have all had red Hs. And they have all been slapped down. It almost makes me think that pulling the wings off insects (a favourite pastime of some of the kids that I grew up with) wasn't that bad after all.
It happens to many of my stories. A new one of mine almost always starts with a flurry of one or two votes and if and when it gets a red H that does not stay long. I have a dedicated following of trolls.
Most of them don't have the patience to troll ALL my stories in a single day. I have too many.
ChloeTzang
Literotica Guru
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Haha yes. It got one star voted heavily in the competition. Most of mine do these days but I don’t worry about it. I have enough readers who like my stories and are familiar enough with my writing style that they always pick up. It got the red H after the competition sweeps but then got promptly voted down again afterwards. Not a worry, those who enjoyed it, enjoyed it, and I had such a good time writing it. It was tongue in cheek all the way. Some trolls just have no sense of humor.
KeithD
Virgin
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This. Usually not more than the first two or three at the top of the list get whacked.
JuanSeiszFitzHall
yet another
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Troll downvoting clearly happens, but there can be a different explanation for a less dramatic downward drift. Let’s say a story is posted in a category with a devoted following, and it gets a really high score from that audience. The score might attract attention from beyond that following, by readers who may have some interest in the category, but not a strong devotion to it. The new readers might be less impressed than the old ones, but still have some appreciation for the story. If the new readers vote 4* (or even 3*), the votes might be sincere. If, by this time, the devoted audience in that category has already read and voted on the story, there might no longer be many new 5* votes to counter the downward trend. This could be a price of success on Lit: Larger readership might get you fewer satisfied customers.
That said, I just had a story jump up because of a removed vote. For those who track this process, on Jan. 3 the story’s vote count went down by one, and the new rating indicated that a 1* had been stricken. The story was published on Dec. 16, and that vote had to have been recorded before Dec. 20, so the removal took about two weeks.
That said, I just had a story jump up because of a removed vote. For those who track this process, on Jan. 3 the story’s vote count went down by one, and the new rating indicated that a 1* had been stricken. The story was published on Dec. 16, and that vote had to have been recorded before Dec. 20, so the removal took about two weeks.
Handley_Page
Draco interdum Vincit
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You'll appreciate that a free site is ripe for any malcontent to play the stupid, I presume ?
And that there are those readers who, for whatever real reason will post a '1' score "just because they can" ??
There are those more knowledgable than I who will, perhaps, guide you in understanding the labyrinthine problems round the Voting. Things tend to even out when there are a decent-sized group of readers.
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At day’s end, Wislogger, it’s something we just have to accept. Much of it gets sorted out with the sweeps. If it gets too bad, report the story and ask for one. Welcome to our monkey house, BTW.
eroticstoryspinner
Really Really Experienced
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Oh yes, and another thing: I have (I think) seven or eight stories sitting on 4.49. They have all had red Hs. And they have all been slapped down. It almost makes me think that pulling the wings off insects (a favourite pastime of some of the kids that I grew up with) wasn't that bad after all.
Yep, same here. I have gotten philosophical about. If you can't create. If you can't offer constructive criticism, then i guess down voting stories makes them feel important.
LexxRuthless
Captain Corruption
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I think another thing that happens is there are people who read a new story and think the score is just a lot higher than it should be. Let's say you open with a 4.72. Someone reads it and thinks, "Well, it was a good story, but it wasn't better than Other Favorite Story in this Category by Author I. Love. That story only had a 4.48."
Then they start bombing your story until it drops below 4.48. It's not that they think you deserve a 1, they're just trying to "correct the score" as they see it.
That wasn't the case with my last story, though. I happened to be up when it went "live" on the site. I often log in and look over new stories not long after they have been published. I check to see how many pages it wound up running on the site (9 pages in this case), and I look it over briefly to make sure the margins don't look weird, and that I didn't mess up and delete six paragraphs right out of the middle of a story again.
Two minutes after The Outsider went live on the site, it had 2 votes and a score of 1. That's a personal attack.
Then they start bombing your story until it drops below 4.48. It's not that they think you deserve a 1, they're just trying to "correct the score" as they see it.
That wasn't the case with my last story, though. I happened to be up when it went "live" on the site. I often log in and look over new stories not long after they have been published. I check to see how many pages it wound up running on the site (9 pages in this case), and I look it over briefly to make sure the margins don't look weird, and that I didn't mess up and delete six paragraphs right out of the middle of a story again.
Two minutes after The Outsider went live on the site, it had 2 votes and a score of 1. That's a personal attack.
ElectricBlue
Joined 11 Years Ago
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Don't flatter yourself. It's just fuck-nuckle central.
oggbashan
Dying Truth seeker
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I get that on almost all my new stories. It is just trolls - nothing personal.
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Just to prove, I guess, that coincidence still rules the multiverse, Wednesday, the day after this was posted, I got up, made a coffee and fired up the 386 to check my stats.
17 of my stories had been voted on. 16 were downvotes, most of them, I think, one-bombs. They were in seven different categories, seemingly at random but all high-scoring.
The Laurel and Manu one-bomb disposal team have swept all that away now, of course, but if anybody asks me, yes, it definitely happens.
L
Liethra
Guest
So far my stories had begun high, then descended. Then I had a new story (my longest thus far) get 1'd. Kinda takes some of the joy out of publishing here a bit, even knowing that ratings are hollow numbers.
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In addition to trolls going after specific writers, there also seem to be some basement-dwellers who routinely one-bomb all new stories, apparently just because. The psychology of it would make a fascinating post-grad thesis.
It does get corrected in the routine sweeps. Actually, if it gets too bad, report the story (little triangle icon near the scoring stars) and ask for a sweep. Takes a couple of days for the site to respond, but it's pretty effective.
