Spurious Voting

[mangrove jack]

SApurious voting

I must be missing something..... do we really sit down and do our sums each time we look at the views and votes and calaculate that someone must have given a story a 1...
we invite readers to vote ....
isn`t it better to have someone take the time to vote than have 50,000 read a story and only a couple of hundred vote
Are those who view and don`t vote giving a story a ZERO.... at least they seem to say its not worth a vote....
Those who vote even if they give us a 1 at least have been stirred enough to vote
Rather than dusting off my calculator I`m happy if someone takes the time to vote


think about it

Mangrove jack

 

[sexual improv]

How can oyu tell you got a 1?

Okay, maybe I've been writing and should have been back here ont hebords. But how cna oyu tell? I can tell when my stuff goes up or down, but I can't tell what the votes are.

 

[CrownJoolz]

Re: How can oyu tell you got a 1?

Okay, maybe I've been writing and should have been back here ont hebords. But how cna oyu tell? I can tell when my stuff goes up or down, but I can't tell what the votes are.

Good question. I was wondering the same thing.

Joolz

 

[Jonathon_Swiftly]

You guys have all made a couple of really good points.

Joolz: Now that you mention it, I have read a couple of bad stories, and I have to admit, I usually stop reading the first time I see a paragraph end with three exclamation points. But, you're right, I also don't usually vote unless I like something.

Mangrove: You make a good point too, but I think that someone giving another author a "1" out of spite is rather petty--I guess it all comes down to whether the author cares what their rating is. If one doesn't care, then it won't matter how many bad votes are registered, tho, I submit that author will be getting less views as a result, no?

Sexual Improv: Just wanna say, dig your stuff. lol

 

[mangrove jack]

Spurious voting

Jonathon
My problem with your argument is that most readers if they are like myself log on go and to the new stories. I then read those that catch my eye.... ....either because of the author.. the title ....or the section ...mature ...first time... etc
I really don`t know how other authors rate as far as votes are concerned. I have never thought to check if I`m wrong and readers check out how many votes my stories have recieved before reading...... then the nasty give em 1 voter will become a nuisance..... But only a nuisance I will feel sorry for .....let them live with their sour sole ....don`t let them sour ours Jack

 

[openthighs_sarah]

If you ever start stressing about votes, do yourself a favor and read a whole bunch of highly rated stories on the site.

One or two of them may be excellent. Some of them will be fairly good. Most of them will be extremely graphic. And a few of them will just seem ridiculous. And the ridiculous ones might have the most votes and the highest scores of them all. Don't try to compete with them -- just write because you love it, and because of the feedback you get (even if it's infrequent) from those few readers who saw in your story exactly what you wanted them to see, and who appreciated the effort.

And have fun! Good luck and I hope your feedback is plentiful and wonderful...

 

[Evangeline]

Re: Spurious voting

Jonathon
My problem with your argument is that most readers if they are like myself log on go and to the new stories. I then read those that catch my eye.... ....either because of the author.. the title ....or the section ...mature ...first time... etc
I really don`t know how other authors rate as far as votes are concerned. I have never thought to check if I`m wrong and readers check out how many votes my stories have recieved before reading...... then the nasty give em 1 voter will become a nuisance..... But only a nuisance I will feel sorry for .....let them live with their sour sole ....don`t let them sour ours Jack

I usually check the new stories first, but when it's been a few days, I'll also go to the toplist to see if there are any well-rated stories I've missed. But I've noticed that there was a very well-written story I quite liked which was close to the top for quite a while, and now it's shot way down the list, yet there is a very long, quite amateurish story up near the top now. It makes me question the motives of some of our voters. And it's a bit sad to think that a really good story is being sabatoged (sp?) so someone else can bring up their own score.

E-

 

[Citadel]

A new author , so my 2 cents are on 50% reduction....

There will always be people who hate your work, for a lot of reasons other than merit, and then just folk who cannot create (so attempt to hurt those who can)

I am a long-time reader of the site (well, 9 months under another name) and I was always scared to feedback to authors. I loved a lot of their work but I did not consider myself qualified to offer an opinion.

I posted my first on here last week and the response has shamed me as a reader. 4 folk made direct, and positive, comments and others have taken the time to vote.

I guess I just wanted to say that maybe the read-count is the best vote of all....many of them will have enjoyed your work without responding, again for a whole range of reasons that have nothing to do with you as an author.

As an aside........hello to you all, it is nice to meet you

 

[redrider4u]

New writer here.......

so I have not had the courage to look at voting. However, I did get feedback about not using the word "nippy." The respondent felt the word was not appropriate. LOL......the woman I was thinking of loved the word. Oh well, whatever floats your boat......

 

[NaughtyBiFem]

I agree with you citadel. Its not always about the ratings. I posted my first story on literotica last week but I used to have a previous site where my stories were on. The first story was by far not my best, but I thought I would give it a whirl and see what happened.

Sure votes are great, but knowing that so many people have read my story is a much better feeling, not to mention all the feedback.

I too am new and I look forward to posting and reading and possibly getting to know some of you.

 

[Jack T. Ladd]

Proud to be a virgin in here...I know I will be looked after!
I have just posted four stories, (two non-erotic), with four more pending, and I really don't care about the votes or the reads, the thing is, people are actually reading what I write, and that for me is enough! Fantastic in fact!
And I was astounded that after only two days one story was read 11,000 times...and that to me is great!
remember, we write for our enjoyment, not to be vote catchers! And often what I consider good stories, invariably get poor votes! So, I just please myself and just love what I do, and trust someone, somewhwere, will enjoy them!!

 

[the cowboy]

I'm afraid that some of the ones come from other authors, but I seriously doubt it. Most ones come from people who have some kind of personal attachment to your stories, you will notice this mainly in the celeb section.

I lost a few good ratings because someone gave me a vindictive 1 vote. In the following chapter I posted a brief note to my readers ebfore the story, which I always do. I said something about the vote.

The following day my rating was back beacause the vote had been cancelled, no explanation. The moderators are understanding and compassionate, two traits oft left out of most peoples characters these days.

Ignore the ones and apprecite the feedback. If you want feedback address the readers before each story and get on a personal level with them, we all love that.

Good luck with all your future work.

The Cowboy

 

[Citadel]

The Cowboy - ty

And indeed thanks to all how have responded since I last posted.

This site is wonderful and I can only hope some of the moderators of this BB, some of the readers and some of the back-room staff who make it possible pass over this post....in that way I can say a personal thanks to them all.

I can post a story in here and in 24 hours receive over 1000 reads (!) , that amongst thousands of stories already present and all for FREE.......ye Gods, that is about as wonderful as an amateur reader or writer could hope to find!

I note the voting, of course I do, but to me the fact that I can write something in my little world and be read around the globe is the highest incentive possible. I have received feedback, people have actually taken the time to say "Liked it" or whatever, out of the goodness of their hearts.

Before I go all mushy and "group hug" here I just wanted to state the obvious (see above) because sometimes we take the obvious for granted.

 

[gauchecritic]

Don't want to burst any bubbles here but with regard to 'reads' v votes you will find that a read is clocked up every time your story is opened. This doesn't mean that your story has been read but has been opened. However, I'd guess that somewhere between 60 to 75% of those openings are actual reads, but there is absolutely no way to tell.

Gauche

 

[Citadel]

60% of a 1000 is 600........that'll do for me

But yes , I heed your point.

 

[patricia51]

More on Feedback

I do tend to check the ratings on my stories every now and then. I also have noticed that I seem to have very good ratings on some stories at the begiining and they go down. However I tend more to judge how well a story is received by the feedback letters I get. I do delete the "anonymous" ones after reading (including the really vicious one giving me a 1 apparently because he was offended the husband involved still loved his wife after her affair) but try to reply to everyone who gives me an address. I agree with Jonathan_Swifty that sometimes this gives you some really strange email. I've had to tell at least one very persistant admirier that although I write woman to woman stories I simply wasn't interested in dating her (giggle...evn though she offered to pay for the hotel room) ....maybe my husband wouldn't be as forgiving as my fictional one was. The nice thing about hotmail is you can always block someone who gets too silly about asking where you live. I have made a couple of wonderful penpal friendships with other authors though by commenting on THEIR stories.

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

 

[gauchecritic]

H for Hot is applied to a story after more than10 votes have been cast and their average is greater than 4.5

Gauche

 

[Guest]

 

[gorgeousgypsygirl]

Readers who don't read all the chapters



Could someone explain HOW on earth a person manages to truly 'vote' on something that he (or she) hasn't even read all of? I'm another new writer here and just got my first nasty-gram feedback today for the second chapter of a series I'm writing (called 20-Year Reunion, for the curious). How this person could gauge the tone of the writing by the second chapter, without reading the first, fills me with awe. Lots of psychics out there.

But I have gotten lots of positive feedback, too, so I can't complain. Just curious.

Gorgeousgypsygirl

 

[smilodonwriter]

I wouldn't worry too much about the votes. The knuckle-shufflers will give you a 1 if they don't get off quickly enough. The feedback is more valuable as (usually) it comes from people who have actually read your story.

smilodon

 

[Rainbow Skin]

It's all pretty meaningless. Read a few top-rating stories. Many of them are poor, no better than any other, as Sarah said. Many are Chapter nn of something, so only people who enjoyed earlier parts have bothered reading to the end.

Then you look at the ranking, and the top ones are, say, 4.87, and so are the next top 40, then they're 4.86 for another 50 places, and so on down. It's sheer fluke if a good story gets on the top list, because it's so minutely dependent on fluctuations.

I've got stories at 3.7, which must come in at about number 3000 in the ranking, and I don't think 'I wonder what I did wrong', I think 'the fools don't appreciate my subtlety'.

I'm trying to write good stories, not get votes.

On the New Stories list, I don't even look at 80% if not 90%. Of those I do click on, I immediately see from the first few paragraphs that 80% if not 90% are boring, and click Back. That's 1 view (or in fact about 10 views, as I've argued elsewhere) and no votes.

As I read I'm unlikely to persevere with a bad story, so voting is skewed to the 3 to 5 end. A boring one that I skim to the end of gets 3 if it's not illiterate. Boring and illiterate gets 2. Once in a while a kind of dumbfounded horror makes me get to the end of one I want to give a 1 to.

With all these biases, I think I'm probably average in reading and kind in voting. And my behaviour makes the end result meaningless, so I'd guess the aggregate of everyone else's does too.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I think ranking is strictly in the eye of the reader. What I write are called "stories" because they are not poems and those are the only two choices. I would refer to them as "narratives" A teacher of English Literature would look at them and say something like "This is just smut. There are no plots, no character development and hardly any dialog." He would be right. Someone else might read the same stories and say "These are great!. All dirty stuff, no junk to wade through", and get off on them. Who is right? Since my narratives are aimed more at readers of the second type, I would have to say that they are right. It is nice to be appreciated but I write for my own enjoyment and with the thought that I might make a few bucks out of it. I also like to get feedback so I can improve on what I am doing but I am not going to change anything basic.

 

[Jenny _S]

Spurious votes... Spurious Feedback

I've seen the same thing on every story. Someone votes a one when the story seems to be doing consistant fours and fives. That's just irritating. I can live with it.
What really bothers me is on my last story, for instance, I received 42 emails marked Feedback. Of the 42 one was an actual comment on the story while the other 41 were guys who just want to stick their tongue up my ass and had no comment about the story at all. Sheesh!