Why if people read stories do they not rate them?

[Chantal Marchon]

Why do people read stories and not rate them? Isn't that odd? Or maybe I just think it is and its not.

Oh well.

I think my stories are doing okay, over a 1000 people have read them but not very many have voted. The ones that did have rated them highly.

Is this unusual?

 

[lobito]

Maybe their fingers are too sticky?

 

[T.H. Oughts]

Some people don't give a hoot about who wrote the story, they just came to get there rocks off or get horny for their partner...

My new story showed up this morning, I don't expect feedback from everyone, but I do agree that it is nice when feedback is done.

Remember when someone votes low it might not because your story sucks, it might be because it is not their fetish etc.

 

[MunchinMark]

Laziness in all likelihood.

 

[mig]

For one thing you have to read a story to know if you like it.

The only stories I don't bother with are Gay Male.

Then if I like a story I'll vote.If I really like or hate it I'll make a comment.

I'm sure most readers do that.

 

[patient1]

Many reasons, from what I've learned from previous threads &e-mails with other writer

First you may have noticed the 10:1 views to post comments ratio on the general board. That is true for stories, too.

Most people are reading to get turned on or to get off. Some just print out the stories & read them in bed.

Some people get bored & click to another story before they finish reading. In any of these scenarios, they often don't get to the end.

Another explanation for this is that many of the people who frequent this site don't want anyone else to know, & are reluctant to interact. voting creates a record. You can't vote twice for the same story, so if you're afraid your boss, family, or SO might find out, you avoid leaving a trail.

Sometimes I read a poem or story, & I don't think I'm qualified to judge a kink or a style that I do't understand & find boring or confusing. I don't vote. In those cases I should PM them & tell them I don't get it, but I usually haven't.

 

[Weird Harold]

An additional factor

I save the stories I'm interested in to read offline. A story has to be VERY good or bad to make me go find it again to vote on it.

If your story is very long, some people may need to "read" it several times before they finish it. Just opening a story to see if you're interested in it counts as a "read." Being interrupted and going back to finish a story counts as another "read." and so forth.
There are a lot of circumstances that count as a view that don't ncessarily mean the viewer actually read the story.

 

[Wiggles]

I was wondering about the ratings. I love to vote on peoples stories, but that doesn't neccesarily mean that I want them to know I'm reading their stories.

I think I've had a writer pm after I voted on his story. I don't think that is the right thing to do. If I wanted to actually interact with the author, I would've have sent him/her a message.

I never send feedback, even to my favorite stories, because I don't think I have the right or the back ground to help them in any way.

I will however vote, they spent the time to submit the story, and it was for my benefit as well as theirs. I think votings just a polite thing to do.

 

[morninggirl5]

I read quite a few stories and like WH, it has to be really good or really bad for me to take the time to go back and find it and vote.

I don't vote on "first reactions," I wait and let it "simmer" in my brain before deciding what I particularly like or dislike.

 

[SweetBrat73]

I'll vote if I really liked a story or really hated it. Usually will send a comment too. Stories that are only ok I don't bother with...I'll just move onto the next one.


Brat

 

[Pan718]

I've voted and left comments...

It's cool to hear from the writers...

But I... Ummmm... also have this one friend... and ummm... he, I mean she, she says that she's like really distracted if the story is good... and doesn't vote because she's like catching her breath and looking for a towel...

So the lack of response may in fact be a high compliment... Sometimes voting after a good story may seem like a lover asking "Did you cum? Was I good?" Could blow the moment... ummm... for those people who... you know.

 

[lilminx]

I almost always vote on a story after I read it.

It's normal for there to be a much higher view total than vote total. My story has over 15,000 (!) views, but only 86 votes. Go figure...

 

[patient1]

I was wondering about the ratings. I love to vote on peoples stories, but that doesn't neccesarily mean that I want them to know I'm reading their stories.

I think I've had a writer pm after I voted on his story. I don't think that is the right thing to do. If I wanted to actually interact with the author, I would've have sent him/her a message.

This must have been a co-incidence, or psychic power. Writers do't know who reads their stuff, unless you e-mail them.

 

[b4idye2000]

There are a lot of us out here who have a hard time writing letters to say nothing of stories, so we think anyone who can write shouldn't be judged by someone who can't

 

[WhiteRose]

I do vote on stories I read, unless like someone mentioned, I get bored before the end or found it wasn't to my liking. But for those that I do enjoy, I vote then click on the link to read that author's other stories as well. There's an awful lot of stories to go through though, and I spend more time here on the bulletin board than I do reading.

 

[Chantal Marchon]

Comments

Oh- Well, I guess that explains it--

I guess I never really thought about people just reading them becuase they like porn--Does that sound naive? I know it sounds dumb. I am just so invovled in the technical aspects of the writing that the motivation of the reader sometimes escapes me.

 

[Purple Haze]

So many stories, so little time.....

Like Harold said, many stories are probably clicked on and not actually read. If I finish a story and really like it, I'll vote on it. If I don't care for it, I'm usually bored with it by the first couple of paragraphs and will go elsewhere without voting.