Irrationally angry at losing the 'H'

[ShelbyDawn57]

It happens to all of us. I've had a contest winner that went from about 4.9x when it won the contest to 4.49. C'est la vie. I don't worry about it anymore, altho I did the first couple of years I was here. Now? I laugh about it and don't take it to seriously at all. It is what it is.

The writing a story that you're satisfied with yourself is the crux of the matter. Reader approbation is a delightful bonus, sort of like a cigarette after sex, or a glass of champagne after a blowjob where you've swallowed. LOL. I'm not quite sure of the simile I'd use for comments, but....you write your story, it's there, and the rest is up to fate and the readers.... go on and write the next one.

It can be comical to watch. I won a coveted W for a story, and the a Reader's Choice. Ever since all of my highest rated stories fluctuate. Laurel will run a sweep and they'll jump up a few points. Then the uno-bombers will crawl out of their holes and they'll drop again. I find it interesting that some of the other authors with stories in the top of the lists don't seem to be impacted by this odd fluctuation. the story that won dropped from a 4.92 to a 4.89 on five votes with over a thousand already recorded(math said they all had to be at most 2s). Yeah, somebody is playing games. Oh, well. I have more important things to do than worry about it. It's just amusing to watch.

 

[SimonDoom]

It happens to all of us. I've had a contest winner that went from about 4.9x when it won the contest to 4.49. C'est la vie. I don't worry about it anymore, altho I did the first couple of years I was here. Now? I laugh about it and don't take it to seriously at all. It is what it is.

The writing a story that you're satisfied with yourself is the crux of the matter. Reader approbation is a delightful bonus, sort of like a cigarette after sex, or a glass of champagne after a blowjob where you've swallowed. LOL. I'm not quite sure of the simile I'd use for comments, but....you write your story, it's there, and the rest is up to fate and the readers.... go on and write the next one.

This is all very familiar to me. I tied for first with my Halloween story last fall, with a score of 4.92, and as soon as it won, BANG, did it get hit with some bad scores. It's currently at 4.64. Not bad, but not 4.92.

My take is you should try to get 75% of your pleasure as a Literotica author just from writing and publishing, and get the rest of your pleasure from picking, cafeteria style, at whatever positive feedback you can. Ignore the negative stuff. Be amused, not disgusted.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I don't think I've seen anything in this thread concerning what HOT actually means.

Honestly, it can't relate to content, which was my first interpretation of it when I found LitE. that's too subjective. We all have different ideas of what 'HOT' content is. That's why there are so many different categories, and within those categories the stories range from simple quick hit strokers to longer character and story driven novellas. Both can have HOT content, but again, it's subjective.

Hot can also mean, in a general marketing sense, that the object it is attached to is popular, in demand, attracting a lot of attention. This one makes more sense and perhaps that's why it matters to us. With that definition or interpretation, there is an inherent value implied by being HOT.
If, as writers, we want people to read our works, if we didn't, we wouldn't post them, then it makes sense for them to fall into the HOT classification would matter.

Right?

 

[Duleigh]

A couple months ago, I submitted a story. I thought it was good, although not necessarily my best, so I was pleasantly surprised when its rating shot up to 4.51, and I was finally awarded with my first red 'H'. Well, I logged in today, and its rating had dropped to 4.49, depriving me of the H. Damn! No real punchline here, just needed to vent.

Sounds like you met my "Fan Club"
I have one story that I absolutely love, it's a sweet love letter from a lonely airman to his Vietnamese/American wife at home waiting to join him in Germany. The score bounces back and forth between 4.49 and 4.51 constantly. I think it's because the title has a unique phrase in it that confuses people My Very Dear Cô Dâu. Cô Dâu is Vietnamese for "Bride"

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sounds like you met my "Fan Club"
I have one story that I absolutely love, it's a sweet love letter from a lonely airman to his Vietnamese/American wife at home waiting to join him in Germany. The score bounces back and forth between 4.49 and 4.51 constantly. I think it's because the title has a unique phrase in it that confuses people My Very Dear Cô Dâu. Cô Dâu is Vietnamese for "Bride"

There you go again, trying to pretend you understand the ways of the natives.

 

[Duleigh]

There you go again, trying to pretend you understand the ways of the natives.

Sorry. It won't happen again.

 

[lovecraft68]

I can assure everyone here that if the red H went away, people would find something else to cry about.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

This is all very familiar to me. I tied for first with my Halloween story last fall, with a score of 4.92, and as soon as it won, BANG, did it get hit with some bad scores. It's currently at 4.64. Not bad, but not 4.92.

My take is you should try to get 75% of your pleasure as a Literotica author just from writing and publishing, and get the rest of your pleasure from picking, cafeteria style, at whatever positive feedback you can. Ignore the negative stuff. Be amused, not disgusted.

It's still a red h. Anything over 4.50 is trivial, the only significance is the higher it is, the harder it is to get knocked down.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I'd be fine if there was a Green G signaling anything 3.50-4.49 was Great

 

[rthnck]

You can't please all the people all the time. I have stories with comments that say "hottest story ever" followed by another comment that says "what a piece of shit". The poster that said write just for yourself is spot on.

 

[lc69hunter]

Yesterday my latest 750 word story was at 4.69 with 14 views (it was posted in essays). Today it is at 4.17 with 24 views, no new comments, and one more saved as a favorite. How does this happen without a bunch of 1 or 2 bombs?

 

[EmilyMiller]

As time goes on and you realize how many reasons there are for a story to not perform as well as you want it to(and conversely ones that do far better than you thought) you stop caring as much. Only thing consistent when it comes to readers/scores/etc is inconsistency.

If you let it upset you, you're losing the fun of writing stories, and you don't want to do that.

I have struggled with this area at times, but you are totally right about that.

Emily

 

[DrPope]

Ratings, H's, Votes are not representative of the quality of the story... I honestly could not give a fuck if my rating was zero

 

[EmilyMiller]

Irrationally angry at losing the 'H'​

Look at it this way (and this is in the grand tradition of do as I say, not as I do)…

One reason for publishing, as opposed to writing solely for your own pleasure, is that you get to impact other people. You form a connection with strangers. Now if that connection is positive, we are all happy.

But, even if it’s negative, you have still connected with another human being and made them feel something they didn’t feel before. Even if it’s that they loathe your story, even if it’s that they hate you, you have still made an emotional connection with someone. Touched someone enough to change their behavior.

Isn’t that the purpose of publishing?

Isn’t that what art does?

Emily

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yesterday my latest 750 word story was at 4.69 with 14 views (it was posted in essays). Today it is at 4.17 with 24 views, no new comments, and one more saved as a favorite. How does this happen without a bunch of 1 or 2 bombs?

five x 4 and five x 3 will get you that score.
So will three x 5, four x 4, and a 3.

It happens easily. Do the maths, and you can see it's not always a one bomb.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I find watching the rating and fav count distracting.
I thought of disabling it.

 

[RejectReality]

People can say they don't care about the score, and they can even mean it. Doesn't change the fact that it has a massive impact on readership. The difference between a story that gets an early H on day one and maintains it vs. one that never reaches the threshold is orders of magnitude.

Beyond category, that arbitrary little bauble is the #1 selection criteria on the site — much to everyone's detriment IMO.

 

[lovecraft68]

Look at it this way (and this is in the grand tradition of do as I say, not as I do)…

One reason for publishing, as opposed to writing solely for your own pleasure, is that you get to impact other people. You form a connection with strangers. Now if that connection is positive, we are all happy.

But, even if it’s negative, you have still connected with another human being and made them feel something they didn’t feel before. Even if it’s that they loathe your story, even if it’s that they hate you, you have still made an emotional connection with someone. Touched someone enough to change their behavior.

Isn’t that the purpose of publishing?

Isn’t that what art does?

Emily

Negative reaction is still a reaction. You had to get someone immersed enough to be angry is how I see it.

Or...they could just be angry all the time, who knows?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Negative reaction is still a reaction. You had to get someone immersed enough to be angry is how I see it.

Or...they could just be angry all the time, who knows?

[insert Bruce Banner meme here]​

 

[malsagulo]

Can be inferred to mean that. All it really means is an average rating of 4.5 with, I believe, at least ten votes.

So THAT'S what it means. I've always wondered.

 

[ChloeTzang]

People can say they don't care about the score, and they can even mean it. Doesn't change the fact that it has a massive impact on readership. The difference between a story that gets an early H on day one and maintains it vs. one that never reaches the threshold is orders of magnitude.

Beyond category, that arbitrary little bauble is the #1 selection criteria on the site — much to everyone's detriment IMO.

Yep, category is all important for the # of views. You can have a really highly rated story but if its a category readers aren't interested in, it will just never get those big #'s. There's always the odd outlier, but it is what it is. The Hall of Fame does give you a slight edge, and the other is the # of followers you build. Readers who really enjoy one of your stories are going to at least take a look at some of your others and that increases views across the board too.

I've found in general, that if a reader really likes your stories, they'll follow you and read across categories they won't otherwise ever look at.

 

[DrPope]

People can say they don't care about the score, and they can even mean it. Doesn't change the fact that it has a massive impact on readership

I don't care how many people read it ...it's not like it's Kindle ...in fact I don't even care on Kindle.... I also never read comments not emailed through feedback ever.
Frankly what other people think of my stories are none of my business and likewise I sometimes comment on particularly irritating mistakes but I never vote .... who am I to vote on someone else's work? It could be the trashiest piece of shit ever written and somewhere there will still me some poor sob in a basement furiously jerking off to what is his favorite story of all time .... it's just none of my business

I honestly could not tell you what any of my vote scores were at anytime ever ...or how many books I sold on Kindle etc

It's not a job for me... I try to do the best I can do for me and me alone....when I was younger on the BBS services and Usenet sure I bathed in the glory but now I try to write decently ....I'm a far far harsher mark then anyone else.

 

[RejectReality]

If it was for you and you alone, it would still be in a folder on your computer, not posted to Lit. Even if you do chuck everything out there and never look at it again, you're aiming to be read, or it wouldn't be posted.

You're also an infinitesimal minority. Congrats, I guess.

 

[DrPope]

If it was for you and you alone, it would still be in a folder on your computer, not posted to Lit

Your quite correct and they are ...most of them. I wrote about 50 tales prior to the real web (late 80's to 90's BBS etc) Another 30 odd I posted to Usenet and one of them was considered a classic by all sorts of crazy people. And then I thought I would try and actually write a real longer format story.
I posted ONE to Lit, published another 8 as Kindles just because it gave me a kick (cheap ones) and I have another 130 odd in various stages of horrific assembly... not finished, stuck or worse ....

Basically since the turn of the century I have really only published ONE public story plus some crappy Kindles.

This is honestly because I see what other people and think I'm shit at it anyway.

I'd like to go back to the days of the 7500 word Usenet stroker ....I used to absolutely pump them out ..........but I just can't

So yeah most are stuck on a folder on my NAS drive waiting for attention that will never come.

 

[vagrantx]

I've found in general, that if a reader really likes your stories, they'll follow you and read across categories they won't otherwise ever look at.

I don't think there's anything that has felt better than having a reader tell me they've discovered something new about themselves Screw the H, we're out here changing peoples lives!