Go ask Alice (What to do about the top list)

[daughter]

i have no where near that fanbase

pleasureu--

If you continue to hit the list, you'll likely get bumped off with the infamous '1' voter. I can't seem to stay on the list. lol Surprised that what's on there has been there that long. Of course, I am vocal so I'm sure I've pissed off folks to vote me off. lol

Perky's explanation works for me. I don't get hit with ones till I hit the list.

Peace,

daughter

 

[Blue Dolphin]

peace to you too dear lady

Thank you daughter.
is no problem if I never appear there agin for me,they can do what they like to me.
But, the other poetswho like me occasionally shed tears as they write,who give thier all.
Come on people,give them a chance
vote for them, lets see the cosmopolitan list it should be
Not the intellectual poets appreciation society that it is now

 

[perks]

heya pleasure,

Toplists will always be important. I suppose it matters how much it means to you. Is it about writing good poetry, or is it about other people thinking you write great poetry? Is it about the critics thinking you write great poetry or is it about the fans?

Do you want to win the academy award and the people's choice award? Personally I'd rather win the golden globe. One is critic, one is fan, one is peer. Ultimately, I'd rather just write.

For me, it is about writing, touching someone, meaning something to someone.

You have to take into consideration your subject matter, your style, your point, ultimately the fan base. Don't worry if you don't make the list. Do you really think it means you're the best poet? Do you think it means it is the best poem? It means it is the best poem to the people that voted, or it means they like the winner..alot. That is it.

Don't take the list personally, it has nothing to do with your poetry. If you think it does. If you think it is That important, reevaluate why you're writing.

Sour grapes about something that is so fallible seems to me to be a waste of energy and writing time.

perky

 

[Whispersecret]

I just can't see that many people being that dishonest. None of my friends or acquaintances would ever ask me to vote up their work, while voting down someone else's.

Are there really that many people out there willing to resort to vote manipulation on the basis of friendship? What kind of warped idea of friendship is that? God, it all sounds so juvenile.

I just have to believe that the majority of people are honest and that this voting problem is the work of a very few.

 

[Blue Dolphin]

am finished now

Thank you one and all who spoke to me.
This is my last post on this matter.
If one of mine getas on list,is a bonus, not bothered either
One person telling me they like what I wrote ias enough.
my thanks too to tigerjen, unsderstand from her she has stopped the voting on her poems as well.
BUT
I do think something needs to be done about unregistered ppl voting 30 tomes for the same poem, when we can only vote once.

Thanks to all for your time and patience

 

[Jaded1]

I apologize..........

I had absolutely no right to go off the way I did. I was upset about the fighting I saw. To me there is just so much incredible talent here. There has not been a day since I came here to Lit that I have not been in total awe. I wish to thank the truly great artists here. Each and every one of you offer your own special gift to the world. Each with your own signature style. Your great. It what make Literotica so incredible special. The people I have been given the opportunity to meet have been great. Each person very open and warm. Again I apologize and hope I did not offend any ones feelings........

Jaded1, CT

 

[Cyberguy]

I have seen previous threads on here about suspicious voting patterns, and knew that could happen when I started posting. I agree with WhisperSecret, that malicious attacks are probably the work of a few. I don't think unregistered users can easily vote multiple times since duplicate votes are detected based on IP address. Yes, there are ways around this, but they may leave some footprints too that can be tracked.

A certain degree of score drop is to be expected when a poem hits the top list. It seems it takes a bit of a fan base to make the top list to begin with. I've received 4 or 5 votes fairly quickly on the poems I've posted, presumably from regulars that read this board and/or the new poems list. Then my reads go up while my votes pretty much stall.

An established writer with a fan base probably gets an initial surge of votes when they release a new poem. This gets them enough votes to make the top list and the votes are probably high since the readers are predisposed to like the writer's work.

The readers of the top list are not necessarily fans, so it makes since that they will vote somewhat lower on average than the fans did, causing the score to fall a bit. The fewer initial (fan) votes the poem has, the faster it will fall, since each new vote will have a greater impact on the average. This is different, of course, from a sudden drop over a quick burst of votes that can only be accounted for by a malicious 1-vote attack.

 

[Blue Dolphin]

The top list IS a farce

During the last 24 hous, it has been made evident to myself, that there are a select band of peolple, who try to control the top poetry list.

yesterday, my poems held positions 1 to 3 on the top list.
the #1
Loving you is all I want to know
was savaged on the new #1 thread by unmasked poet.
I, and my fruend Mayi, had the asudacity to complain.
Altogether i had 5 poems in the top ten
#
24 hours later, they are not even in the top 100.
A hit squad has been sebt out, to sownvote all five poems.
Unfortunatel for them, while this was happening, someone voted abother of my works to #1
I rest my case

 

[Whispersecret]

Maybe it's just tough critics, like me.

When there's a fuss made on the poetry board, it often attracts my attention. I'll go and check out the poetry of that person, when I might not have otherwise. That can be a bad thing for the poets in question.

I don't hand out high votes willy nilly. I'm very exacting. I give out mostly threes, then twos, then fours, and rarely fives. I never vote one. In my opinion, perhaps 80% of the poems here are commendable. The rest are well-intentioned, but poorly crafted. I'm a teacher, so I know all about effort grades. But voting here on the poems and stories isn't about effort, it's about the end product.

Also, by all rights my poems should be off the list. Look at the poetry olympics. I was shooting my barbs of honesty right and left at everyone. If there's a conspiracy against naysayers, why haven't I been obliterated? I think it's because there's no conspiracy. But perhaps also it's because when U.P. calls me to the carpet about my rhythm or rhyme, which he did, I'm willing to discuss what's wrong. I know have loads of room for improvement. Everyone here does.

I know it's hell to accept, but sometimes we're just not as good as we think we are, or even as good as our friends think we are.

 

[REDWAVE]

Ditto

I wholeheartedly agree, Laurel. I follow my numbers, and of course I like good ones, but I take it with a grain of salt and see it for what it is. As someone who saw his new poem, "Wiggling Nina," shoot up to #2 and then fall off the toplist later the same day, I know what I'm speaking of. But I'm not complaining: I'm happy a poem of mine made it that high, even if only briefly.

Once you get a lot of votes (if you ever do) on a story or (harder still) poem, then your rating stabilizes at about its true level. But even then it's only an indication of popularity-- of what Lit. readers like-- not of true artistic merit. The story of mine on Lit. I consider the best has the lowest rating. But some people take the voting and toplist way too seriously.

 

[mskittykatt]

Although I agree that the possibility of others voting up, or down a poem or story, is disturbing. I don’t believe this is the majority of the problem. I think that if it’s being done, it is on a smaller scale then people think, and is not actually making as big a difference as people want to think.
I think main problem is that when most people submit a poem or story for feedback and voting, what they are looking for isn’t a stroke of their ego that they may, or may not get from the “cruising” reader. Most are looking to the feedback for perspective, help to improve their writing, to check in and see where they are at today on the way to getting where they want to be. Those answers are not going to come, in this system, by the majority of the people who read and vote.
As for the voting. it would serve those pointing the fingers at the system of monitoring of IP addresses, to remember that AOL for one, changes your IP address each time you log on and off. This isn’t an infallible system, and we as authors are putting to much stock in feedback and votes that come from people who could care less where our periods and punctuation are, or what meter or rhyming scheme we used. If they can read it easily, and it made them feel, something, they vote.
We should be responsible for finding the support we need and/or want among ourselves, and as a community. We have feedback sections that have few people asking their peers for feedback specifically. When I first got here, I was told read this, read that and offer feedback to get feedback, be a part of us. Good words if we could ever get past the bickering. And a scarce few people, hold up the feedback threads. That, is where our attention should be.

 

[Whispersecret]

Let's get rid of voting. No more squabbles, no more self-doubt or accusations, and Laurel gets way more time to do what she needs to do to improve the site.

 

[WriterDom]

Let's get rid of voting. No more squabbles, no more self-doubt or accusations, and Laurel gets way more time to do what she needs to do to improve the site.

I agree. Leave the voting to the stories. There isn't enough interest in voting on poetry anyway at this point.

 

[daughter]

works for me

List them by reads only. ((sigh))

Peace,

daughter

 

[Blue Dolphin]

the top 50

two writers dominate the top 50
writer Dom and Rissia Skye.
25 entries between them
and EVERY ONE with the voting TURNED OFF
there is your answer
if voting ie off, should nor be listed
they are keeping other ppl off, and maintaiuning top ten positions by what is almost fraud
their votes can never reduce, so they stay there.

 

[WriterDom]

Re: the top 50

two writers dominate the top 50
writer Dom and Rissia Skye.
25 entries between them
and EVERY ONE with the voting TURNED OFF
there is your answer
if voting ie off, should nor be listed
they are keeping other ppl off, and maintaiuning top ten positions by what is almost fraud
their votes can never reduce, so they stay there.

Yes, I joined RS in her passive protest of the vote-scrabbling fiasco. It will be temporary, but since your bitching began before the great exodus, and continued after the great exodus, I assume it will never stop till we all do the correct thing in your mind and give you a 6 on every poem.

And our voting isn't turned off. If you turn off the voting, they don't show at all on the list.

 

[Blue Dolphin]

assume what you like

WD, assume what yopu like, my bitching only started recently, after the exodus.
What is happening is wrong
the list is not a true reflection

 

[WriterDom]

Re: assume what you like

WD, assume what yopu like, my bitching only started recently, after the exodus.
What is happening is wrong
the list is not a true reflection

Whatever. You seem to have pretty strong fan base, and I like some of the things you write. And I agree that you probably should have a spot in the top 100. But you aren't helping yourself by ranting each time you get low votes on a poem.

The only way the vote would ever have any meaning would be to pick 10 educated well-read judges, have them sit down and discuss how a poem is to be judged, what a 'one' is, what a 'four' is, the criteria for judging and so on. And still it would be subjective.