Why

[Cosmic Knight]

Hello
I am a fairly new writer here, I only started submitting in July of this year.
In early December I submitted a story called
Missymay`s Manhatten Day
in the BDSM category.
To my great pleasure it was well received, the voting going very well. It was # 1 on the list on Christmas Day, and again this weekend.
Earleir today, Sun 28 Dec, it had 21 votes, and a score of 4.86

this evening, it has 22 votes, and a score of 4.68, and has slipped approx 170 positions.

If the person who did this, voted a one because they did not like it, that I can understand, but, I wish they had sent feedback.

As yet I have no feedback from any person incidentally.

I am afraid that I suspect a possible ulterior motive, and whoever down voted me, did it for other reasons.

I wonder, have any other newish authors encountered this problem?

Cosmic Knight

 

[KillerMuffin]

EVERYONE <-- (Note emphasis) has this problem.


Some of it is jealousy voting. Some of it is authors who simply vote a one for every piece of competition. Some of it is the reader who thinks 1 = the best and 5 = the worst. Some of it is fraud. Some of it is earned.

I have this problem, though I'm convinced that all the bad voting comes from people who don't like me. It's just easier to deal with for me.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Just think karma.

What goes around comes around (that is, if they can actually read and write and submit stories to lit!)

BTW my new story conquered went from the 4.80s to zip too. KM does mean EVERYONE.

 

[Cosmic Knight]

Just think karma.

What goes around comes around (that is, if they can actually read and write and submit stories to lit!)

BTW my new story conquered went from the 4.80s to zip too. KM does mean EVERYONE.

Thank you Killermuffin, and wishfulthinking, at least I know now that it was not my wierd imagination
Thank you again
CK

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Live by the vote, die by the vote. You can't take them seriously but they're impossible to ignore.

Story ratings oftenly go up and down, especially when there've been only a few votes. One you get up into the 20's or so, they seem to kind of even out. I've found that, with a few exceptions, the ratings I finally end up with are not that different from my own opinions of my stories.

---dr.M.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The same kind of thing happened on two of my stories within a few days. Chapter 6 of a novella had nine votes, all 5's, and finally, it got the tenth vote, also a 5. After getting about two more 5's, it then got a 1. I can't believe the 14th person disagreed so much with the other 13. I think the vote of a 1 was just to be nasty. The other was in the Sci Fi category where a story had eight votes of 5 and one of 4. It finally got a tenth vote of 5, and then another, then a 1. When you have a story at the front of the listing, someone will try to shoot it down.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

That might be. There are a lot of factors. For one thing, the early readers are often those who already know and like your work, so there's the friendship factor

I also wonder if people begin reading a top-rated story with a kind of chip on their shoulder, a kind of "okay, amuse me" attitude, and then when the story doesn't absolutely blow them away, they give you the back of their hand...

I only know that I've never had a story start out low and then get higher in the ratings as the votes came in. They're always highest with <10 votes, then they dip. Usually then they come back up and generally stay around a final value.

Watch for your ratings to change after you publish a new story too. If people like it, they'll often have a look at some of your other stuff. That's one of the best reasons to keep on publishing.

---dr.M.

 

[niyah2]

Tis sad

I find it sad that in an adult world Some are still so filled with pettiness that they would actually down vote someone just to get their story ahead. To me the voting system is second to the comments received. I would much rather receive some feed back than any rating at all. At least then i would know what was truthful and what was fake. It is sad to hear your story got a 1 for apparently no reason. Don't let it spoil Your enthusiasm just keep typing away and creating. We don't want to miss anymore of your writing due to jealousy.

niyah2

 

[PAUL C]

'1' votes

I have had four parts of my current story hit the top of the Novellas and Novels toplist. One got there yesterday morning. Within four hours in had dropped from 5.0 to 4.43. Two votes was all it took.

I long ago ceased to worry about the position or scores of my stories. They can be manipulated in so many ways.

The one good thing about being near the top of a list is that it will generate more new readers for your work.

As for the '1' voter try to ignore him. It is only a cry for help after all.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Paul C: As for the '1' voter try to ignore him. It is only a cry for help after all.

Opps, accidently pressed the '1' button instead of visiting pyschosinneedofalife.com!

I should get some help for that nervous twitch.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Re: Tis sad

I find it sad that in an adult world Some are still so filled with pettiness that they would actually down vote someone just to get their story ahead. To me the voting system is second to the comments received. I would much rather receive some feed back than any rating at all. At least then i would know what was truthful and what was fake. It is sad to hear your story got a 1 for apparently no reason. Don't let it spoil Your enthusiasm just keep typing away and creating. We don't want to miss anymore of your writing due to jealousy.

niyah2

I agree, 100% but I don't get many comments either. A vote is either spiteful or expresses an opinion, whether it is in the form of feedback or not.