Scoring system rant

[BobbyBrandt]

A while back I turned voting back on for all my stories here after leaving it off for years because I decided I didn't care about popularity and avoiding one-bombers was more important. IMO, all my stories deserve a 4, maybe a 5. I hoped for that scoring level on my return to being an erotica writer after pausing the career to focus on my marriage which ended several years ago. Then I came back due to emotional needs.

Now, I find myself hating the scoring system here. It's got me in a tizzy. I hate when my stories dip below a 3. I smile when the H appears, I've earned my second one recently. Then the first one vanished due to a single 1 vote after 16 high ratings. My newer stories seem unable to attain the same success. Average scores rank in the 3s or 4s with decimals. At least none has dipped below a three. I find myself having to accept I will never be more than average in the minds of most, great only in my own mind and that of my most fervent fans, whom I do know exist.

I am honestly happier with Favorites and Comments. At least I can delete the bad comments and not let them get to me. It's fine if people don't need to say anything. Positive comments are of course welcome. Favorites are cool, whether just bookmarking for later reads or actual favorites. Scores are something else. I honestly do not want to lock out voting again on all my work, but if the uno-bombers keep hitting me and I get depressed enough...

Please, people, if you have time, rate and review my work.

I am not asking people to do anything they don't want to do. I am begging for good feedback, yes, but I also value honest feedback more. I know people have limited time and interests. However, as an author, I need validation for the high levels of work I put into my stories. I'm also at a low point on creative energy right now and...

Please, people, if you are interested in doing so, read my stories using the link in my signature. Pick whatever interests you, no matter the category or age. I hope you will give me proper praise. I feel this board has many honest reviewers and I value their opinions. Take all the time you need. I will be patient and hopeful.

And if you want to rant with me about the depression generated by Lit's scoring system, ease my angst with sympathy... feel free to do that too. Thanks.

For all of my stories combined, I average votes to views of just over 5%. For my stories in Celebrities/Fan Fiction that drops to 1%. In Novels/Novellas, the percentage is over 9%

I mention that to illustrate, as others have stated, that the category really does make a difference, both in vote numbers and in feedback. Let me also add that my average score on all my stories combined is around 4.65. In C/FF, the average is 4.62, while in N/N it is 4.84.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Its a shame so many people come here and are entertained by a story an author worked hard on and many can't be bothered to take a couple seconds to vote let alone comment.

This bugs me the most. 13000 views and only 135 votes? Are people really all that self centered that they can't scroll down an inch and pound a star? Or is it just not obvious enough for them?

 

[SimonDoom]

For all of my stories combined, I average votes to views of just over 5%. For my stories in Celebrities/Fan Fiction that drops to 1%. In Novels/Novellas, the percentage is over 9%

I mention that to illustrate, as others have stated, that the category really does make a difference, both in vote numbers and in feedback.

Yes. Your percentage is better than mine. Your view:vote ratio is 20:1. Mine across all categories is closer to 90:1.

 

[Bazzle]

When I first started writing on this site, I struggled with the scores and Anonymous really went to town with my writing.

They were right. My sentences rather than running long were like marathons. It was awful reading it.

So I took it on board, I listened to it.

I. Now. Have. Very. Short. Sentences. My scores on the whole have gone up.

So yes it can be a cesspit or depression, but listen to the supportive crowd, learn and improve and have fun!

B

 

[Euphony]

This bugs me the most. 13000 views and only 135 votes? Are people really all that self centered that they can't scroll down an inch and pound a star? Or is it just not obvious enough for them?

Views aren't reads, especially to end. Not sure of your personal math but do factor that in.

I'm unsure if it's not just familiarity blindness and not deliberate avoidance.

Things can fall into the background if you are exposed to them enough.

 

[MillieDynamite]

It isn't different on other sites. You can't force people to vote.

This bugs me the most. 13000 views and only 135 votes? Are people really all that self centered that they can't scroll down an inch and pound a star? Or is it just not obvious enough for them?

 

[AchtungNight]

Thx everyone. I think after further consideration, I am locking out voting on all my stories here and leaving it off. I do not wish to pander for high scores and low ones are just too depressing when no matter what, the majority of readers do not score at all. Positive comments will still be appreciated, negative ones still deleted. I don’t care if I ever get an H again.

I appreciate all my fans in all my years of writing. I will continue as my inspiration and schedule allow.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think you're a little too sensitive for voting. But that's okay, you get a five in my book.

Thx everyone. I think after further consideration, I am locking out voting on all my stories here and leaving it off. I do not wish to pander for high scores and low ones are just too depressing when no matter what, the majority of readers do not score at all. Positive comments will still be appreciated, negative ones still deleted. I don’t care if I ever get an H again.

I appreciate all my fans in all my years of writing. I will continue as my inspiration and schedule allow.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Yes. Your percentage is better than mine. Your view:vote ratio is 20:1. Mine across all categories is closer to 90:1.

Yeah, but if I excluded the one odd-ball story I have that has a 64% votes to views number, my overall would be much lower.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

@AchtungNight if you'd like, I can offer some diagnosis and some advice on what you can do to get the shiny red h. If there's anything I feel even remotely close to being able to give advice on, it's that. Privately of course.
Just write me a pm.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

@AchtungNight I have two with red Hs now, so I'd never got them if I turned off votes.

 

[EroticCupcake]

I feel your pain but also want to challenge it. I'm trying to become a good writer, but my confidence is low. I know I'm too attached to other people's opinions, and I need to work on it.

That being said. I've worked for some incredibly brilliant people who were also assholes. The only way I survived was finding the 2% of truth in their criticism and working on it. I had to search for the truth through the bullshit and it made me a better person.

I reached a point where I couldn't find even 2% truth and that's when I would change jobs.

As much as my ego can take it, I'm trying to do the same with writing here. If people don't like your stuff, you can disagree with 98% of it, but work on the 2% that feels true.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

This bugs me the most. 13000 views and only 135 votes? Are people really all that self centered that they can't scroll down an inch and pound a star? Or is it just not obvious enough for them?

I believe that is because most readers don't truly understand the dynamics of the website. Most of them come to read a quick story or two and they don't care that much about how and why all these new stories appear every day. Some would maybe feel ashamed to comment, even anonymously. I also believe that many of them don't realize how much their feedback means to us and they probably feel silly about writing something thoughtful while being just one reader among tens of thousands of readers on the website.
Ironically, the author/reader relationship suffers from the same problem as the admin/author relationship - a chronic lack of communication. That's Lit's key problem. Many people have suggested some interesting ways to improve communication, and some of those ways require minuscule changes to the website, but once again it all comes down to Lit's owners not believing in that whole paradigm.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

Pink can play me, but she'll need to die her hair red. I do, but only to hide blonde streaks. All the gingers out there will understand that.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

View attachment 2287568
Pink can play me, but she'll need to die her hair red. I do, but only to hide blonde streaks. All the gingers out there will understand that.

Wrong thread!

 

[MillieDynamite]

She's sick right now; one has to expect a few screwups when one has a 103 fever if she's telling the truth.

Wrong thread!

 

[AwkwardlySet]

She's sick right now; one has to expect a few screwups when one has a 103 fever if she's telling the truth.

Aww, damn. I prescribe a lot of sweating, then.

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

View attachment 2287568
Pink can play me, but she'll need to die her hair red. I do, but only to hide blonde streaks. All the gingers out there will understand that.

Stupid, stupid, you fucking Schmuck! Me not anyone else.

 

[AchtungNight]

Stupid, stupid, you fucking Schmuck! Me not anyone else.

It’s cool. I’m a fan of Pink. Not enough to write a full on erotic fanfic featuring her but I’m sure she’s performed at my ficverse polyamory resort Garin-Ruiz more than once. [checks text from his character who runs the resort] That is confirmed.

 

[AchtungNight]

@AchtungNight if you'd like, I can offer some diagnosis and some advice on what you can do to get the shiny red h. If there's anything I feel even remotely close to being able to give advice on, it's that. Privately of course.
Just write me a pm.

Thx, but I’ve made my decision. 5s and high numbers are cool, but I’d rather just turn off love-bombing altogether than deal with the slings and arrows of unobombers. That is what the person who best knows my psyche recommends.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Considering all of the sick minds we see in the real world, and knowing that they all have Internet access to these stories ... If I posted a story which achieved a perfect average of 5 with a significant number of votes, I'd have to wonder: WTF did I do wrong for my story to actually appeal to so many sick minds at all extremes of the spectrum?

I'd take a much closer look at what I wrote! ("Now where's that hint of cannibalism which THAT sicko loved?")

 

[mirafrida]

I feel the OP. That was one reason i thought that comparison i posted recently, between two stories rated ~3.75 and ~4.65, was interesting. If you squinted, the response was very similar, except 20 more 1-votes on the former, offset by 15 more favs.

So, compared to a solidly "hot" story, 15 more people loved the "clunker" enough to bookmark, and 20 more hated it (or plausibly 5 who despised it enough to dink it repeatedly from different browsers). Out of 20k+ views.

I know it's hard not to feel a low rating as pain, because the site elevates it so prominently. But objectively, these numbers help me see there's very little cause to let a sub-4 score get me down.

 

[AchtungNight]

Considering all of the sick minds we see in the real world, and knowing that they all have Internet access to these stories ... If I posted a story which achieved a perfect average of 5 with a significant number of votes, I'd have to wonder: WTF did I do wrong for my story to actually appeal to so many sick minds at all extremes of the spectrum?

I'd take a much closer look at what I wrote! ("Now where's that hint of cannibalism which THAT sicko loved?")

Lol.

If anyone’s curious, the cannibals in my ficverse are all seriously sick thx to prion disease and that limits their numbers and abilities. Just like in real life.

As far as other sick fetishes go-

The non-consent criminal gangs are mostly shut down, as they are pursued by an organization of superheroes whose executive board includes characters similar to the hero of the film Taken, Batman, and the X-Men.

The director of the above organization who is specifically tasked with responding to organized pedophiles is an adult version of a character made popular by Chloe Grace Moretz named Mindy McReady. She is not a professional country singer. Marisol Nichols, the hero of the film Sound of Freedom, and other prominent anti-pedophila celebrities are on Mindy’s staff. One of her prominent undercover operatives is named Kenny. And yes, I am a Highlander fan.

The anti bestiality division is headed by a werewolf. I find it unnecessary to say more.

Beings of godlike power have made snuff and vore impossible in my canon ficverse.

Illegal drug use is also deterred and punished by appropriate authorities.

In fact, in my canon ficverse, illegal and non consensual sexual activity of any kind is so dangerous it is increasingly uncommon and uncomfortable to those who would perpetrate it. Ever hear of an organization called the Enemy? The Friendship is in charge of my ficverse and they’re the opposite of that. Fair warning.

 

[lovecraft68]

popularity and quality are different, independent variables.

sometimes they group, often they don't.

You're not wrong, however the people bitter over score and views on their stories they perceive as being to low have taken to the accusation that no popular story is actually good.

The fact most things that are popular are due to a large amount of people liking them does seem to refute that.

I have a story that is 11 years old that is a 4.87 on 13,479 votes. Its hard to say a story that has been here for that long and open to any trolling or bombing the entire time still has a post 4.85 score on thousands of votes isn't a good story.

I'll be the first to say the grammar leaves something to be desired, I was fairly new to writing, but the story has gotten an overwhelmingly popular response to the point out of 621 comment I'd say at least 600 are positive.

So...I get the frustrations here and the why of them, but jealousy is an ugly emotion and it gets old hearing "well the story has loads of numbers, bet it really sucks."

 

[MelissaBaby]

You're not wrong, however the people bitter over score and views on their stories they perceive as being to low have taken to the accusation that no popular story is actually good.

The fact most things that are popular are due to a large amount of people liking them does seem to refute that.

I have a story that is 11 years old that is a 4.87 on 13,479 votes. Its hard to say a story that has been here for that long and open to any trolling or bombing the entire time still has a post 4.85 score on thousands of votes isn't a good story.

I'll be the first to say the grammar leaves something to be desired, I was fairly new to writing, but the story has gotten an overwhelmingly popular response to the point out of 621 comment I'd say at least 600 are positive.

So...I get the frustrations here and the why of them, but jealousy is an ugly emotion and it gets old hearing "well the story has loads of numbers, bet it really sucks."

Corollary:

"I could get high scores, but I am only writing for myself."

Uh, sure, sweetie.

If you just write for yourself, why do you publish?