But it goes to eleven...

[ElectricBlue]

I vote on less than 5% of the stories I read. Most are merely stories, they neither excite or irritate me. They're just there.
If a story does hold my attention and it's clear and understandable. it gets a 5...
It has to be pretty awful to earn a 1. I'm not that discerning....

Fair enough - that's not what I read from your earlier post, which I took to mean you always vote, either a five or a one but nothing in between. But you're actually saying you don't often vote, which means something entirely different to your approach to voting. I suspect there are many like you, who basically vote thumbs up, thumbs down.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Inflation" of scores, of course, is relative, and not necessarily a problem by itself. If voting is consistent, then it doesn't really matter whether the mean is 3 or the mean is 4.5. It becomes questionable because the attachment of the red H to a 4.5 has led people to think that 4.5 is a mark of distinction, whereas in many categories it signifies nothing other than the story being in the middle. That wrong perception in turns further fuels tactical voting, either to drive a disliked author's or story's score under 4.5 or to ensure that the score does NOT drop below 4.5. If you tied a raw score to a percentile score, it wouldn't matter what the raw score was. Any scale would work equally well.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

1) I have no clear understanding of Lit's policy. I have heard of them sweeping stories to get rid off the pesky ones.
2) As above... Why I don't know....
3)As number one. I have no idea how they manage it.

Then how can you claim that your 1-vote will be swept out, which you have claimed twice in this thread?

4) Yes...

Then why do you not just use 2-votes instead of 1s?

5) Yes... If the story isn't good enough to hold my attention. Then it isn't good enough (For my tastes) I am no literary expert. My grammar is poor, so I can only judge the quality of the story telling. If it's a good story, then I'll read it through. If I get to the end. It gets a 5.
6) I have no guilt over my vote.

Then why do you qualify your 1-votes as you have - twice! in this thread? If you have no guilt over your (non-legit - your own words) 1-votes, then why do you add that 'because the site will sweep them out anyways' bit? If you truly had no guilt then you would not need that qualifier.

Sorry if you don't like my method... Feel free to complain to management.

I don't care about your method. I'm just trying to understand your voting philosophy. It's quite perplexing and ironic - especially how you believe that a story can never receive a legit 1-vote, yet you give them out anyways. However you seem to be rather overly defensive about this. Why would you feel the need to villainize me when all that I'm doing is asking questions?

 

[intim8]

how you believe that a story can never receive a legit 1-vote,

I saw a story recently that had an avg rating of 1 after hundreds of views. It's new and probably won't stay there, and it is most likely the only vote, but I've never seen that before.

Just checked, it still has it, 3 days after publication. Poor guy. But it looks like the story deserves it.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Then how can you claim that your 1-vote will be swept out, which you have claimed twice in this thread?



Then why do you not just use 2-votes instead of 1s?



Then why do you qualify your 1-votes as you have - twice! in this thread? If you have no guilt over your (non-legit - your own words) 1-votes, then why do you add that 'because the site will sweep them out anyways' bit? If you truly had no guilt then you would not need that qualifier.



I don't care about your method. I'm just trying to understand your voting philosophy. It's quite perplexing and ironic - especially how you believe that a story can never receive a legit 1-vote, yet you give them out anyways. However you seem to be rather overly defensive about this. Why would you feel the need to villainize me when all that I'm doing is asking questions?

I explained why I vote...
A story gets 5 if it entertained me... I don't care about literary content, or grammar, spelling. None of that matters to me.
I read a story because it attracted me to open it. If I like it enough to read till the end. I give it 5.
On the other hand, if it bores me, and I can't get into it. I give it a 1...
Pretty simple really.
I don't often vote. Most stories are meh, I open them and find they're just blech... I don't vote...
I have voted on less then 5% of stories I read...
If I like it. I vote.
If it irritates me enough. I vote. Otherwise I can't be bothered...
Pretty simple aye....

Cagivagurl

 

[ElectricBlue]

I saw a story recently that had an avg rating of 1 after hundreds of views. It's new and probably won't stay there, and it is most likely the only vote, but I've never seen that before.

Just checked, it still has it, 3 days after publication. Poor guy. But it looks like the story deserves it.

Yes, a "genuine" 1 will stick. The sweeps look for dubious scoring, but a one vote can still be genuine and never be swept.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yes, a "genuine" 1 will stick. The sweeps look for dubious scoring, but a one vote can still be genuine and never be swept.

The sweeps remove dubious votes, regardless of the actual vote value.

Emily

 

[alohadave]

The sweeps remove dubious votes, regardless of the actual vote value.

Emily

Yep. I've had 1s and 5s removed, and I assume everything in between.

 

[desecration]

But it isn't that world, and it leaves no room to take it up a notch, to go to eleven, to acknowledge those stories that really stand out as something special even among the greats here.

I thought about this, and I think it's up to us to make lists and pass along the best of the best, sort of like it is in literary fiction out there in bookstores too.

 

[intim8]

I thought about this, and I think it's up to us to make lists and pass along the best of the best, sort of like it is in literary fiction out there in bookstores too.

Well, my favorites list contains only those stories. 9 of them total, dating back to 2006.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=6662876&page=favorites

 

[desecration]

Well, my favorites list contains only those stories. 9 of them dating back to 2006.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=6662876&page=favorites

We share at least two in this area. I should have done the same and favorited everything I liked, but generally it is more on the story-level than the author-level.

 

[intim8]

generally it is more on the story-level than the author-level.

Below the authors list is the stories list.

 

[desecration]

I see it now. For some reason, I figured it was boilerplate. I can work with this. I found a good list of LW stories elsewhere but have to build my own, although I'm going to steal from that list and your list if you don't mind.

 

[intim8]

if you don't mind.

The whole point of the list is to get others to read the stories, so why would I mind?

 

[intim8]

I put that link to my faves in my sig.

 

[THBGato]

Yes, I think it's really important for authors to favourite other writers. I mean, that's how I found other writers I love, by trawling through onehitwanda's favourites list. I'm trying to turn mine into a one-stop-shop for quality Lesbian Romance.

 

[intim8]

I think it's really important for authors to favourite other writers.

I put that link to my faves in my sig.

You're one of 9 stories on that list, TH.

 

[THBGato]

Thanks! (Blushes)

 

[Cagivagurl]

Yes, I think it's really important for authors to favourite other writers. I mean, that's how I found other writers I love, by trawling through onehitwanda's favourites list. I'm trying to turn mine into a one-stop-shop for quality Lesbian Romance.

I have never thought of doing that...
I guess my only problem would be... What I like and what others like might be incredibly different.

Cagivagurl

 

[intim8]

I found out you can make any number of reading lists, and mark them public. I just can't find a way to see them other than in my dashboard.

 

[THBGato]

I have never thought of doing that...
I guess my only problem would be... What I like and what others like might be incredibly different.

Cagivagurl

Um, probably not. I regularly get comments along the lines of "Your favourite writers are my favourite writers too" or "great that you mentioned story X - it's now one of my favourites".

Besides, if you favourite an author/story that one of your readers doesn't like, well, that's their problem, not yours.

 

[RejectReality]

Not every score of 1 is going to vanish. Something has to trip the radar of the sweeps other than the raw value of the vote. People who vote maliciously ( or cheerlead. Sometimes both ) tend to leave breadcrumbs, and once the Hoover finds those, that's when their votes start going bye-bye.

It can happen days, weeks, and even months later.

The reason there's a general belief that 1s get swept is most of them are going to be pure trolling. Most people are going to back-click before they get anywhere near the voting form if they hate the story that much. That only leaves a handful of people who will make the effort to score something they hated/people who hate-read, and trolls.

If someone truly hates your story, took the time to score it, and they're not running around the site acting the ass with their votes, you're probably stuck with that fucker. The sweeps aren't designed to remove low votes, they're designed to remove illegitimate votes.

 

[StillStunned]

The sweeps aren't designed to remove low votes, they're designed to remove illegitimate votes.

That's the problem, though, isn't it? As authors, we tend to view our stories as our babies: we love them, we think they're fantastic, and we can't understand why someone would hate them enough to drop the dreaded 1. So any score of 1 or 2 stars *has* to be trolling, surely?

And rationally we understand that this is wrong, but it can be hard to reconcile. Particularly if a story has an overwhelmingly positive response, a 1 that comes out of the blue feels like it has to be malicious.

What's worse, though, is around contest time, when certain readers - or writers - rate your entry a 3, and then systematically go through your other stories and drop 3s on them too, so they're not picked up as anomalies. I had that during the April Fool's contest, and none of those 3s were swept. Even though I'd watched them happening in real time: every single story in one of my series got a 3 at intervals of two hours.

And then there's the "story at the top of the most popular list", which draws an immediate 1 and/or 2.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So any score of 1 or 2 stars *has* to be trolling, surely?

Not really. It just means a reader genuinely scores on a 1 - 5 basis, just as they might on many grading schemes. It's one of the most common models used in all sorts of surveys and quizzes.

 

[StillStunned]

Not really. It just means a reader genuinely scores on a 1 - 5 basis, just as they might on many grading schemes. It's one of the most common models used in all sorts of surveys and quizzes.

I was talking about a knee-jerk reaction to a low score. My very next sentence is "rationally we understand that this is wrong".