Voting

[Octavian]

I am intrigued. I submitted my first story last week "A Modern Love Story" and I have had some really positive feedback. Modesty forbids me to repeat what was said. Initially it was at7 or 8 with a score of 4.78 in the Combined Top Stories chart before settling in the 20s. Then suddenly with an average score of 4.65 it was at 220 odd in the top stories chart even though the number of votes barely changed. I can't work out how the average could have changed so much with the addition of a few votes. To be honest I have no immediate plans to write another story-- I only wrote this one to prove to myself that I could do it--but it is intriguing. If anyone cares I would appreciate any comments.





http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=51798

 

[SexyChele]

I'm having a little difficulty understanding what it is that you are trying to say here.

But, if I'm understanding you, then here goes. The voting really makes very little sense here, because what criteria is being used? How quickly some one orgasmed? Whether they felt the writing was good? It's too broad, and when you throw in the thousands that visit this site every day, it only complicates things all the more.

Voting, to me, is a barometer. It lets me know what the general public is thinking of a story I've written. It doesn mean anymore than that. I take more stock in the feedback I receive from the readers or fellow writers much more seriously than voting. After all, if some guy didn't have an orgasm by the end of the first page, so he gave me a "1" for the story, how seriously do I take that?

 

[Axeltheswede]

When it comes to vote scores, theories abound, but facts are scarce. I could offer my theory. Turth is, that and a buck and a quarter will get you a ride on the bus.

Like SexyChele said, use it as a barometer to tell how well your story was received. Trying to average out votes and make sense of it will drive you nuts.

 

[Jimbow]

As SexyChele wrote it is only an indication of the public. I write stuff that is of a specific nature and taste...either you like it or you don't. Frankly while I'm sorry it didn't please you, I look at the # of hits some of mine have 13000 another 10000 but others <1000 so it is only a reflection of whoever is reading that particular day and what the reader is looking for. I really like the e-mail feedback with addresses so I can answer their questions, etc. Write more!

 

[REDFOXXY1959]

my thoughts

When I posted my first story here I too watched it constantly to see how it was recieved. I had never put one of my stories out to the public before and I was worried. I watched and found that the votes only reflect the feel of the day. I prefer to read and respond to the feedback and to watch teh number of reads as a gauge. I am a romantic by nature although I have found I can write about other things but it seems that the more extreme the subject the better it is liked. So it all is just a matter of personal preference.

 

[allyourpleasure]

Feedback? What is that?

Feedback you say? I posted a story and the one time I was able to figure out how to get to it and check the voting scores, I was floating around 4. I took this a compliment and subsequently my 2nd story floated around 3. I would think that with a score of 4 I would get some sort of feedback. I suspect that perhaps the readers were men and they would prefer to respond to the ladies only (my preference as well..). Are there no ladies voting..or appreciating my efforts....?

So how do we check scores again? Just so I know if I ever get around to posting my third...

 

[aaron32]

views

i've also recently posted my first story and have been puzzling over the scores. my story has appeared on the top list in its category and then without the rating changing, it has disappeared. now it has reappeared. i think you have all given sage advice on the topic and i do look forward to the feedback i recieve in my email.

i have another question though. i was amazed that the first day the story was posted, it had over 500 views. the next day that number was around 850. but the third day (today), it jumped to over 11,000. i find this a bit hard to believe, especialy when the vote total only went up about 50 votes. can these view totals be trusted?

 

[REDFOXXY1959]

story count

I believe, and may get corrected if wrong, that teh count is teh number of times a story is viewed. Now I figure that this only means the number of people that have opened the link to the story and may not actaully erflect teh ones who actaully read it. I could be wrong though. I keep an eye on that number although I only actaully coun t my success by the vote and feedbacks as those are the ones I know read teh whole thing and bothered to make some kind of comment. Why someone would read a story and not either vote or send the author feedback is beyond me. Every story I read I make sure as a courtsy if nothing else to do one or the other.

 

[aaron32]

Re: story count

I believe, and may get corrected if wrong, that teh count is teh number of times a story is viewed. Now I figure that this only means the number of people that have opened the link to the story and may not actaully erflect teh ones who actaully read it. I could be wrong though. I keep an eye on that number although I only actaully coun t my success by the vote and feedbacks as those are the ones I know read teh whole thing and bothered to make some kind of comment. Why someone would read a story and not either vote or send the author feedback is beyond me. Every story I read I make sure as a courtsy if nothing else to do one or the other.

I'm pretty sure you're right about the views only being how many times the link was opened and not how many times the story has actually been read. I don't put much stock in that number. I pay attention mostly to the feedback I get. It just seemed unlikely that the number of views would jump from 850 in two days to over 11,000 in three days.

Thanks for responding to my question. I appreciate you insights. If you'd like to give my story a read, here's the link ...

My Stepdaughter

I hope the material does not offend you, but remember it's only a fantasy. I've never had an incest experience of any type in my entire life.

 

[Laurel]

Re: Re: story count

I'm pretty sure you're right about the views only being how many times the link was opened and not how many times the story has actually been read. I don't put much stock in that number. I pay attention mostly to the feedback I get. It just seemed unlikely that the number of views would jump from 850 in two days to over 11,000 in three days.

Literotica gets about 400,000-500,000 unique (individual) visitors in any given 24 hour period, so it is not unlikely that your views could jump to that number.

 

[aaron32]

Re: Re: Re: story count

Literotica gets about 400,000-500,000 unique (individual) visitors in any given 24 hour period, so it is not unlikely that your views could jump to that number.

WOW .... thanks Laurel .... from the looks of your AV, you must read every post.... lol

 

[aaron32]

kitty AV

Laurel

you should submit your AV to our cat photo contest at www.petrockfest.com ... check it out

 

[yknow]

I've read a couple of the threads on voting and how scores vary wildly. In one thread the author must have been sitting in front of the computer all day and night watching the score and entering it into a spreadsheet, because he was able to quote the time of day and how he must have gottne a 1 vote to bring his score down ... wow, talk about time to kill.

What I have noticed is that the voting gives a reasonable trend of what's better ... but it appears the high scores go a couple ways. Authors that have a big following (my hats off to them!) and the stories that have the biggest fantasy factor ... which seems to be incest, older younger, that sort of thing. It's hard to believe the best authors on litererotica are concentrating their best efforts in those categories ... so, you have to take the votes with a grain of salt.

If I wasn't worried about copyright laws ... as an experiment, I'd be tempted to plagiarize one of the more sexual chapters from a Henry Miller novel ... I'd be willing to bet the scores would be good, but wouldn't top a mediocre incest story. Sort of funny when you think about it...

I write for the fun of it, typos, weak grammar and all. I also enjoy the more outrageous fantasies as much as the next person and I write about them too. The original post by Octavian is in reference to what I thought was a really well written, interesting story. Octavian obviously put some time into it and it's a shame the voting may never give him the credit due.

 

[Octavian]

Thank you ‘yknow’ for your kind comments. I think I must be a really sad person, because I have been watching the voting, too. I can’t help it; it is my only story. But I have to admit it has been frustrating. On three previous occasions it has broken into the 4.70s only for it then to be voted a ‘1’ and be knocked back. I am not saying it is the best story there ever was, but I wouldn’t have thought it merited a ‘1’ either!

But I am comforted by the comments of SexyChele and above all by the fact that I have had feedback from 20 different sources, all of it highly complimentary. And in case that has whetted the appetite I’ll do a shameless plug here and put in a link that works!

[www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=51798]

A Modern Love Story[/URL]

 

[NoJo]

A simple formula

Octavian,

If you had 20 votes, with an average of 4.78, then a single 2 vote would lower your average to 4.647619.

Let N be the number of votes your story has received, An the average voting score. An+1, the average voting score after the next vote V, is given by the formula (N * An + V ) / (N+1).

I use Excel to perform this calculation, which explains why I have no friends.