What is a good rating?

[CarolinaPeach]

All my stories but one have rated over 4.25. Is this good? The prize winners tend to be over 4.50. Being a perfectionist, I want my stories to be rated 5, but no one gets a 5. But also being realistic, I know my stories are not prize winners. I am just wondering where "tolerable" leaves off and "decent" begins.

And what does "H" mean?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

All my stories but one have rated over 4.25. Is this good? The prize winners tend to be over 4.50. Being a perfectionist, I want my stories to be rated 5, but no one gets a 5. But also being realistic, I know my stories are not prize winners. I am just wondering where "tolerable" leaves off and "decent" begins.

And what does "H" mean?

Depends on how you get your points.
Plenty use alts to pad their scores. Others use friends & family to run up the total.

 

[NEMouse]

By definition a 4 means I really liked it and you're averaging over that so I would say that's a good result.

H means "Hot" it means your story is 4.5 or higher so a good sign people are really picking up what you're putting down.

Just don't get too wrapped up in the number or it will interfere with your writing. Create for you, not for a score.

 

[sr71plt]

If you can set yourself to accept the Web site definitions of the rating (which most can't), a 3.0 rating is pretty good ("Liked It - Keep on Writing") and a 4.0 rating is just fine ("Liked It - Good Read").

You get an H when the story is maintaining at least a 4.50 rating with at least 10 votes. The ratings change instantly on the author's page but not in the system at large, so there will be a delay in either attaining or losing an H as votes come in.

If you strive to get and maintain a 5 on a story, you are setting yourself up for a coronary. There are voters floating around specifically motivated to give you one no matter who you are or how good the story they aren't actually reading is.

 

[CarolinaPeach]

Thanks for pointing out the official site descriptions of what each star rating is supposed to represent, I forgot about that. It gives me a better idea of what my numbers actually mean.

If you strive to get and maintain a 5 on a story, you are setting yourself up for a coronary.

LOL, no heart attack here, I know no one gets a 5 average. I just like complete round numbers.


Thank you for explaining what "H" means.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Create enough alts and you can get pretty close to 5.

 

[Derroreaper]

The red H ruined the rating system. Without it, guys like NEMouse would be out of a job. They get it in their heads that they are the final word on what's good and what isn't, and they feel compelled to act out their OCD by one bombing stories until the H is gone.

 

[NEMouse]

The red H ruined the rating system. Without it, guys like NEMouse would be out of a job. They get it in their heads that they are the final word on what's good and what isn't, and they feel compelled to act out their OCD by one bombing stories until the H is gone.

Ummm well.....

The readers(and authors who read and vote) are the final word when you think about it.

We're the people who vote so who else has say on the scores?

But it seems "we" only count when its a five vote.

The general attitude here is that Lit should abandon the first three stars and only 4/5 should be allowed and there are even gripes of 4's here.

But I agree that having the "H" is an issue.

It causes some authors to create alts and "pad" their numbers and gives them cause for aggravation if they get pushed down to a 4.49.

It also does provide a bullseye to the type that just runs around bombing which exists here.

But if you think the snipers are all readers you're deluded. Some of the authors here are cattier than a bunch of models at a fashion show.

Again it blows my mind that some people cannot accept the fact that their precious baby isn't "H worthy"

 

[salvatore31]

Question

Sorry that this is not about a rating, though the information was helpful. My question is can someone who is experience with this site explain to me hoe to DELETE a story I have posted.

I am not sure how to return to this page so it may be better to email me at saljhnn31@gmail.com

Thanks much in advance.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

The way the scoring works around here is akin to grade inflation in the university system where the B minus has replaced the C as "average".

Generally, stories which score a 4.0 or more are competently written with a minimum of grammatical or copy editing errors. They deliver as advertised, usually ending with a sex scene.

Stories below a 4.0 tend to be a writer's first time at fiction and they haven't yet learned their craft. I tend to be encouraging to these first time writers when they come on the bulletin board and ask for advice because the truth is we all started where they did. Other stories below a 4.0 tend to have major grammatical problems. Often the authors have a native language other than English.

Sometimes a story below a 4.0 will be well written but contain boner killers which will piss off readers mid-stroke.

When a story is below a 3.0 there is usually some deliberately offensive or bad writing. Many times it will be a humorous story that is not in the humor section and readers looking for a quick stroke will get totally offended.

4.50 is the minimum for a red H. Generally this means that the vast majority of readers gave it a five. A 4.5 score is the equivilant of an A plus.

One bombing occurs usually in the first few days a story is posted. A story with ten or more favorites by registered users but is struggling to stay above a 4.0 is usually being one bombed. In the long run, one bombing (or five bombing) hurts every author because scores become meaningless.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Ummm well.....

The readers(and authors who read and vote) are the final word when you think about it.

We're the people who vote so who else has say on the scores?

But it seems "we" only count when its a five vote.

The general attitude here is that Lit should abandon the first three stars and only 4/5 should be allowed and there are even gripes of 4's here.

But I agree that having the "H" is an issue.

It causes some authors to create alts and "pad" their numbers and gives them cause for aggravation if they get pushed down to a 4.49.

It also does provide a bullseye to the type that just runs around bombing which exists here.

But if you think the snipers are all readers you're deluded. Some of the authors here are cattier than a bunch of models at a fashion show.

Again it blows my mind that some people cannot accept the fact that their precious baby isn't "H worthy"

In a just world scores oughta conform to the bell curve, with 67% tween 2-4, '3' being average. But I suspect that 67% score tween 4-5, when the stat oughta be 17%. Maybe I'll find my dice, take a sample, and see what the distribution is.

 

[NEMouse]

The red H ruined the rating system. Without it, guys like NEMouse would be out of a job. They get it in their heads that they are the final word on what's good and what isn't, and they feel compelled to act out their OCD by one bombing stories until the H is gone.

I have never come across a story of yours and wasn't sure if you were an author or not.

I just looked you up and at first was impressed. 10/11 of your work has an H.

But.....

I then saw the tell tale XXX that means you disabled voting as soon as your story struck an H so no more votes can be given.

I cannot tell you how pathetic that is. A perfect example of someone who can only take the good, not the bad.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

I have never come across a story of yours and wasn't sure if you were an author or not.

I just looked you up and at first was impressed. 10/11 of your work has an H.

But.....

I then saw the tell tale XXX that means you disabled voting as soon as your story struck an H so no more votes can be given.

I cannot tell you how pathetic that is. A perfect example of someone who can only take the good, not the bad.

If people are voting more than once on a given story just to prevent an author from getting a red H then I don't think it is cheating to disable the voting after the fact. It is not something I would do but in this environment those actions are understandable.

I only found out about the things that go on with the voting a few weeks ago. All that info really did was cause me to seek out stories with lower scores despite a large number of favorites. Only a registered user can fave a story and unless they have more than one account they can only fave a story once. I am starting to look at number of favorites as an indicator of quality, not red H's or high scores which are manipulated.

BTW, it is not one bombing if a person gives a story one star only once. That is every reader's perogative.

 

[Darkniciad]

In general, if you're at 4 or above, you're doing okay in the inflated scores environment.

Of course, at that level, any vote less than 5 lowers your score, so keep that in mind and don't blow an artery over it.

In the low 4s or high 3s, there may be a problem. It may not be your writing, though. Loving Wives is the standard example, where certain types of stories rile up large groups of haters who love to give low scores to stories of certain kinds and leave scathing comments that can sometimes be as long as your story.

If you're in the mid to low 3s, you've got a serious problem. Either you've really pissed off some readers with the content, or you have actual problems with your writing.

Below that, there's either absolutely something wrong, or you've attracted a personal hater who's blasting you out of spite.

Category makes a difference in all cases. In low-readership categories, the scores trend higher ( Sci-Fi/Fantasy for example ) In high-readership categories, the scores trend lower ( Incest ) The more votes you get, the more likely you are to get 3s or 4s. Low scores removed by sweeps also have a far greater effect on stories with fewer votes.

So, you have to consider your category. Look at the ratings specific to your category in the various toplists ( from 30 days to all-time ) to have a better idea of where you're sitting in respect to similar stories.

Score is but one of a multitude ( and probably the least useful ) of ways to gauge how readers received your story. Don't forget about favorites, which is becoming one of the best indicators. I've observed a lot of people favoriting who don't seem to be voting or commenting, beyond the people who are using favorites to bookmark and read, then remove the favorite after they've read the story. The favorite listing is the only sort of feedback they're giving.

Comments ( public and private ) are naturally your best indicator, as there's reasons in there ( sometimes ) for why they liked it or didn't.

Views can be useful when compared to similar stories as well. If nothing else, it can indicate whether your title and tagline -- which are critical to getting people to open the story -- are good or bad.

You have to take everything as a whole, mentally exclude the outliers, and cast a wide net for comparisons to have an idea where you are.

 

[Derroreaper]

The funny thing is, when I turned off the voting and comments, my red Hs were all gone, and I didn't give a shit anymore. After sweeps, they all came back, which really pisses Lovecraft/NEMouse off bad.

 

[Darkniciad]

I reported that bug to Manu eons ago. All benefits of voting are supposed to be eliminated when you turn off voting, and that includes the Red H.

No clue why he hasn't fixed it. There's already a trap in there for the voting being turned off, it shouldn't be a huge hassle to have that same trap shut off the red H when it displays the x.xx.

 

[Derroreaper]

I solved my problem, I just post my stories under a different user name now.

Now my scores stay constant regardless of who I offend on the forums

 

[NEMouse]

If people are voting more than once on a given story just to prevent an author from getting a red H then I don't think it is cheating to disable the voting after the fact. It is not something I would do but in this environment those actions are understandable.

I only found out about the things that go on with the voting a few weeks ago. All that info really did was cause me to seek out stories with lower scores despite a large number of favorites. Only a registered user can fave a story and unless they have more than one account they can only fave a story once. I am starting to look at number of favorites as an indicator of quality, not red H's or high scores which are manipulated.

BTW, it is not one bombing if a person gives a story one star only once. That is every reader's perogative.

The word "if" in your first sentence is key. No doubt there is a lot of crap that goes on, but it really gets old when every single low story is blamed on games. It is possible for a story to for lack of a better term, to stink. But not according to some.

I equate this to baseball players who after missing a pitch stare at their bat as if it were somehow the bats fault.

Thank you for mentioning that people can give a legitimate one vote. Again if you follow a lot of threads here everyone seems to think every one bomb is a personal attack as again how could their story not be that good?

But anytime there is voting and humans doing it there will always be trouble and there will never be a perfect system.

 

[CarolinaPeach]

In general, if you're at 4 or above, you're doing okay in the inflated scores environment.

Of course, at that level, any vote less than 5 lowers your score, so keep that in mind and don't blow an artery over it.

In the low 4s or high 3s, there may be a problem. It may not be your writing, though. Loving Wives is the standard example, where certain types of stories rile up large groups of haters who love to give low scores to stories of certain kinds and leave scathing comments that can sometimes be as long as your story.

If you're in the mid to low 3s, you've got a serious problem. Either you've really pissed off some readers with the content, or you have actual problems with your writing.

Below that, there's either absolutely something wrong, or you've attracted a personal hater who's blasting you out of spite.

Category makes a difference in all cases. In low-readership categories, the scores trend higher ( Sci-Fi/Fantasy for example ) In high-readership categories, the scores trend lower ( Incest ) The more votes you get, the more likely you are to get 3s or 4s. Low scores removed by sweeps also have a far greater effect on stories with fewer votes.

So, you have to consider your category. Look at the ratings specific to your category in the various toplists ( from 30 days to all-time ) to have a better idea of where you're sitting in respect to similar stories.

Score is but one of a multitude ( and probably the least useful ) of ways to gauge how readers received your story. Don't forget about favorites, which is becoming one of the best indicators. I've observed a lot of people favoriting who don't seem to be voting or commenting, beyond the people who are using favorites to bookmark and read, then remove the favorite after they've read the story. The favorite listing is the only sort of feedback they're giving.

Comments ( public and private ) are naturally your best indicator, as there's reasons in there ( sometimes ) for why they liked it or didn't.

Views can be useful when compared to similar stories as well. If nothing else, it can indicate whether your title and tagline -- which are critical to getting people to open the story -- are good or bad.

You have to take everything as a whole, mentally exclude the outliers, and cast a wide net for comparisons to have an idea where you are.

Oh this is really helpful! I have made note of who gets many favorites, but somehow didn't think to use that info as part of evaluating whether I am hitting the mark and pleasing my audience. I also didn't know that things varied so much from category to category. I will definitely investigate that.

I am not really hung up on low numbers as an ego bruiser, but an indication whether I am as good as I think I am. Like all authors, I LOVE my own stuff, but I realistically know I am no Anais Nin. I DO want to be the best *I* can be, and I am looking for ways to evaluate whether I am hitting the mark for my own standards.

It would be so great if even one tenth of the readers would comment. Comments are the best. I got some really good concrete criticism on my last piece.

Thanks to all for opening my eyes about rating numbers, I understand things better now.

 

[NEMouse]

The funny thing is, when I turned off the voting and comments, my red Hs were all gone, and I didn't give a shit anymore. After sweeps, they all came back, which really pisses Lovecraft/NEMouse off bad.

Are you lumping me in with that author or are you saying I'm that person?

Interesting because there are a few here who think you're Pilot because you follow him like an odor follows flatulence.

I'll waste a few words telling you that I'm no one you "know" but know you will believe what you choose.

As for putting me in that company, posting wise I have no problem with that, but writing wise I wouldn't touch their "material" with a ten foot pole. I have no desire to keep it in my family.

 

[BonnevilleFlats]

Not every score in the low four's or high three's is necessarily the result of one bombing. Stories written by Indian authors often have a difficult time because despite the fact that most people from India are fluent in English the syntax of Indian English is radically different than Yank, Brit or Aussie English. It is not uncommon for an excellent Indian writer to receive a lower score because the prose flows differently than most Americans are used to. The casual American reader may lose patience with it.

Boner killers lower scores. A boner killer won't ruin a story for me and I usually give kudos for a writer brave enough to risk something humorous or out of the ordinary in an erotic story. But a reader looking for a quick wank who comes across a boner killer 1 1/2 pages into a story will often react by giving it a one.

Serialized stories with shorter sections tend to have lower scores than longer pieces submitted in a single shot. To me, this is kind of sad because in the tradition of American and British fiction serialized stories in pulp magazines were a writer's bread and butter in the days before every university hired at least one published fiction writer and one published poet to attract potential English majors and grad students.

 

[Darkniciad]

Oh this is really helpful! I have made note of who gets many favorites, but somehow didn't think to use that info as part of evaluating whether I am hitting the mark and pleasing my audience. I also didn't know that things varied so much from category to category. I will definitely investigate that.

I am not really hung up on low numbers as an ego bruiser, but an indication whether I am as good as I think I am. Like all authors, I LOVE my own stuff, but I realistically know I am no Anais Nin. I DO want to be the best *I* can be, and I am looking for ways to evaluate whether I am hitting the mark for my own standards.

It would be so great if even one tenth of the readers would comment. Comments are the best. I got some really good concrete criticism on my last piece.

Thanks to all for opening my eyes about rating numbers, I understand things better now.

I'm much the same way. I know I'm no bestseller, but I know there are people out there who like my writing style, and the tales I tell. I've been approached by a couple of ebook publishers ( with researchable track records ), but on top of thinking it would feel too much like work, I don't think my stuff is worthy of charging real money for *laugh*

I'm still in the process of doing the current quarterly track, but you may be able to use my numbers from the previous ( late ) one in March to do a few comparisons.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_03_09_13.htm

I have a fair range of categories, usually with multiple entries in each ( mostly as Les and RR. Dark is mostly fantasy ) and I indicate whether the story was put in a themed contest.

Stories in themed contests tend to get more views and votes than regular stories, so that makes a difference when you're considering comparisons as well. They also tend to score lower than average ( if not by much )

 

[sr71plt]

Oh this is really helpful! I have made note of who gets many favorites, but somehow didn't think to use that info as part of evaluating whether I am hitting the mark and pleasing my audience. I also didn't know that things varied so much from category to category. I will definitely investigate that.

I am not really hung up on low numbers as an ego bruiser, but an indication whether I am as good as I think I am. Like all authors, I LOVE my own stuff, but I realistically know I am no Anais Nin. I DO want to be the best *I* can be, and I am looking for ways to evaluate whether I am hitting the mark for my own standards.

It would be so great if even one tenth of the readers would comment. Comments are the best. I got some really good concrete criticism on my last piece.

Thanks to all for opening my eyes about rating numbers, I understand things better now.

The favoriting system is one of the better ways of gauging that you have a legitimate fan base and are doing well with enough readers to continue. It's one of the few indicators here that someone purposely trying to run you down through your story ratings can't take the edge off of. Another one is the Green H, awarded by the sole acquisitions editor here, Laurel. It's only one opinion, but it's the opinion of the site owner who is the only one who has all of the stories going by her eyes. And no one can chip away at it.

 

[TheTask]

A good rating for me would be around 4.40 or above, give or take a few hundredths or tenths. Luckily for me, all of my stories so far are past 4.50 and have gained an H (except for one hovering around that mark.
People looking for a quick wanking off sesh should look for single part stories or individual chapters from multi-part stories they like. People who expect a gratuitous amount of sex in every chapter of a multi-part story and vote ones for chapters that don't... Well they can blow it out their ass.
Yea, you should judge stories mainly by a large amount of faves or favorable reviews.

 

[Ironiclaconic]

Most of your reads come in the first few days after publishing, when no one can see your score. Score doesn't matter there. Where score does matter:

1) In more popular categories a higher score will make you more visible in the last 30 says top list, getting you more reads. The necessary score varies by category.

2) Really high scores can make the all time toplist and get you many more views. How high varies by category (4.9 in SF, 4.7 in EH, etc.)

3) High scores make it more likely your story will get clicks if it shows up in a search result or a sidebar, or if someone clicks your author page. Threshold here will vary by reader. I almost never click anything less than a 4 unless I really like the author or it has an E. Have rarely found stories I like that get voted that low. Other readers will behave different.

4) Contests. To win a contest prize you usually need something better than a 4.8.

Otherwise, it's whatever score makes you happy. Some writers love trolling readers and chortle when their stories pull a sub-three.