Stories I Suspect Have Been 1 Bombed

[magmaman]

el bommo uno

As I noted, anyone who is obsessed with the ratings of others . . . ratings that are easily manipulated by the obsessed.

(what a jackass)

Most of the time I don't bother to even vote unless the story is exceptional. Like nearly everyone, I don't read catagories that do not interest me, either.

Sometimes I get part way through and just can't read more, a few of my own stories I find I do not like after they posted and want to redo them.

I also seldom bother to enter any of the contests because without fail all of a sudden the fairly good score drops like a stone. That just happened in my own poor entry in the nude day story contest. I have no plans to win and know I won't, I was just having fun.

My suspicion is that the author with the most user ID's, and access to the largest number of computors will be the one to win the contests, I could be wrong about that of course but watching vote totals does bear that out.

So I write for me, and enjoy the comments of those who enjoy what I have to say. It can make a writer's day when someone says they enjoyed the piece.

The rest? Oh well.

MGM

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

People are wising up as to how the starz with all the mediocre stories stay on top.

 

[sr71plt]

Most of the time I don't bother to even vote unless the story is exceptional. Like nearly everyone, I don't read catagories that do not interest me, either.

Sometimes I get part way through and just can't read more, a few of my own stories I find I do not like after they posted and want to redo them.

I also seldom bother to enter any of the contests because without fail all of a sudden the fairly good score drops like a stone. That just happened in my own poor entry in the nude day story contest. I have no plans to win and know I won't, I was just having fun.

My suspicion is that the author with the most user ID's, and access to the largest number of computors will be the one to win the contests, I could be wrong about that of course but watching vote totals does bear that out.

So I write for me, and enjoy the comments of those who enjoy what I have to say. It can make a writer's day when someone says they enjoyed the piece.

The rest? Oh well.

MGM

Yep, the contests have value in addition to winning, though--greater exposure to readers, the personal challenge of writing to theme, stories highlighted and kept on current lists longer, the satisfaction of interacting with other authors in the contest. I've entered at least one in every contest for several years now. Didn't compromise on what I entered to get votes--and didn't get them. Still left the contests feeling satisfied.

 

[Derroreaper]

Oh come on now JBJ, you're one of LCs prized helpers, you know how the system works. He greases up your backside for a good romp, and you bump his scores.

Somebody should have bought that little 5'-8" weasel LC a bomber jacket years ago.

The guy that gets drunk and starts crying his pathetic eyes out about ho unfair Lit is, starts talking about other people drinking? What a piece of bloated worthless shit you are . . .

Oh, and don't worry about my "Cheating" anymore, you know, me turning off voting and comments, I deleted all my stories just for you. Now run along Douche bag, go tie your wife to the back porch so the neighbors can watch your tiny dick at work again, LOL.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh come on now JBJ, you're one of LCs prized helpers, you know how the system works. He greases up your backside for a good romp, and you bump his scores.

Somebody should have bought that little 5'-8" weasel LC a bomber jacket years ago.

The guy that gets drunk and starts crying his pathetic eyes out about ho unfair Lit is, starts talking about other people drinking? What a piece of bloated worthless shit you are . . .

Oh, and don't worry about my "Cheating" anymore, you know, me turning off voting and comments, I deleted all my stories just for you. Now run along Douche bag, go tie your wife to the back porch so the neighbors can watch your tiny dick at work again, LOL.

I see you joined PILOT for happy hour.

 

[sr71plt]

I see you joined PILOT for happy hour.

I couldn't be more pleased to have you teaming with LC on this.

As we all recently saw, an endorsement from you is the kiss of death.

(Note that JBJ had his own problems with this issue. He's turned the ratings off on his stories.)

 

[horrorotica]

I'm not getting into the arguments of other posters. But I think the solution is staring us in the face. We should en masse just commit to turning the voting off on stories we submit in the future. Take away the ability of these trolls to 1 bomb us. That would just leave the comments which we can at least delete ourselves if we don't accept them.

 

[sr71plt]

Are you taking into account that those posting to the forum are only a very small percentage of those posting stories? You have a way to organize a significant number of authors posting stories?

 

[Darkniciad]

I'm not getting into the arguments of other posters. But I think the solution is staring us in the face. We should en masse just commit to turning the voting off on stories we submit in the future. Take away the ability of these trolls to 1 bomb us. That would just leave the comments which we can at least delete ourselves if we don't accept them.

That removes you from ranking on the toplists, which is becoming a stronger stream of readership gain due to the 30 day and 1 year lists.

Half the people 1-bombing would probably consider that a victory, as a lot of it has historically had to do with manipulating the toplists.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'm not getting into the arguments of other posters. But I think the solution is staring us in the face. We should en masse just commit to turning the voting off on stories we submit in the future. Take away the ability of these trolls to 1 bomb us. That would just leave the comments which we can at least delete ourselves if we don't accept them.

Then you are giving the trolls exactly what they want.

If you would like to turn off your voting that's your right to do so, but most people will not.

hence the frustration of this thread. People do like the voting system just not the abuse of it.

The answer would be in the sites hands. Laurel mentioned the sweeps and that you can report a story if you feel unfair voting. They will help you out, they did it for me back when someone lit up all 60 or so of my stories overnight.

But the real solution is as simple as noting the ip/isp address of the repeat offenders and turning off THEIR ability to vote.

That along with some other options are within the capability of a site like this. The problem is getting them to care enough.

 

[horrorotica]

I understand the responses to my suggestion. I know there is no easy solution unless the webmasters of this site are committed to doing something about it. Maybe the problem is they can't really do anything about it.

I don't see how taking away the trolls ability vote is allowing them to win. It would frustrate them and if there was some way we could get a majority of authors to turn off the voting it would be a great way to let the site admin know we're not happy with the current set up. A protest.

There will be no solution that any of you will happy with for one reason or another. I guess that's why the status quo remains.

 

[sr71plt]

One solution might be for authors to stop bitching about it on the forum. The trolls enjoy seeing the frustration they have caused. The Web site has added the rating number to the author's public-view listings. Perhaps authors should start regarding a 4.0 as being what the Web site says it is and start acting like anything at and above a 4.0 is a good read. You can only go above a 4.0 with more 5 votes than anything else.

 

[lovecraft68]

One solution might be for authors to stop bitching about it on the forum. The trolls enjoy seeing the frustration they have caused. The Web site has added the rating number to the author's public-view listings. Perhaps authors should start regarding a 4.0 as being what the Web site says it is and start acting like anything at and above a 4.0 is a good read. You can only go above a 4.0 with more 5 votes than anything else.

I agree with the first part of your post, the bitching empowers them. I feel the same away about removing their comments, but I know our opinions differ on that.

As for the scores....I'm on the fence. I know the top lists will target an author and that is of course score related.

But as for the trolls that attack specific categories and authors I think they will bomb you regardless of if you're a 4.7 or a 4.10. They're just bombing to bomb and the tolls that attack a specific author won't say "well its only a 3.9" they will bomb away anyway.

As I said I think the site could block some of this (not all if people are determined a way can always be found) but as you have said in other posts about other matters they seem oblivious to what people want here.

hence a two year old thread about adding a bi-sexual category that Laurel told Stella to start to see how much support there was.

See a new category? Nope, but she's having plenty of fun in the GB posting links to stories and books she enjoys on other sites.

Lit is an every person for themselves deal. If Horrorotica" feels he should disable his voting, go for it. Each author has to do what they feel will work for them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Until management fixes the problems high scores are Plastic Trophies for LIT homophiles.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree with the first part of your post, the bitching empowers them. I feel the same away about removing their comments, but I know our opinions differ on that.

As for the scores....I'm on the fence. I know the top lists will target an author and that is of course score related.

But as for the trolls that attack specific categories and authors I think they will bomb you regardless of if you're a 4.7 or a 4.10. They're just bombing to bomb and the tolls that attack a specific author won't say "well its only a 3.9" they will bomb away anyway.

As I said I think the site could block some of this (not all if people are determined a way can always be found) but as you have said in other posts about other matters they seem oblivious to what people want here.

hence a two year old thread about adding a bi-sexual category that Laurel told Stella to start to see how much support there was.

See a new category? Nope, but she's having plenty of fun in the GB posting links to stories and books she enjoys on other sites.

Lit is an every person for themselves deal. If Horrorotica" feels he should disable his voting, go for it. Each author has to do what they feel will work for them.

Where is Dyslexica to complain about whiners about the Web site when we need her?

 

[lovecraft68]

Where is Dyslexica to complain about whiners about the Web site when we need her?

She only slips into that alt sometimes.

 

[ep703]

I would also add that, in my experience, a significant amount of 1 star ratings seem to come due to subject matter. The Loving Wives category is a testament to this. Regardless of how a story involving infidelity is resolved in that category, it will tick off one indignant sect or another, whose members will then viciously bomb the author for being some undesirable mutation of what their given gender should properly be, with no accounting of writing ability or skill. While this is of course a matter of prerogative and well within the individual's rights, it is the equivalent of trashing Dega because you think ballerinas encourage an unrealistic body image for young women.

While I'm sure a great deal of specified, malicious author assassination goes on, I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of ones are actually knee-jerk reactions to offensive subject material and unpopular moral decisions.

I agree. I sometimes write cockold stories and I always get anonymous critics who hate the subject and leave disparaging comments about the people in the story. They hate the subject but read it anyway in spite of a warning about the content.

 

[sr71plt]

She only slips into that alt sometimes.

Got that right. I think she should only use that alt, since she stole her main one off a dead person.

 

[lovecraft68]

Got that right. I think she should only use that alt, since she stole her main one off a dead person.

Yup, the Yoko Ono of Lit

 

[horrorotica]

Until management fixes the problems high scores are Plastic Trophies for LIT homophiles.

I have to agree although I wouldn't have put it quite like that. The elephant in the room here that nobody seems willing to address is the fact that some authors are using the same methods the trolls use to 5-bomb their stories to artificially inflate their scores. This is why you can't really trust the voting score whatsoever as a guide to how good a story is. Authors 5-bombing their stories so they can get on the Top Lists etc?

The whole voting algorithm in the sites software needs an overhaul to stop the abuse of it at either end of the spectrum.

 

[Darkniciad]

I have to agree although I wouldn't have put it quite like that. The elephant in the room here that nobody seems willing to address is the fact that some authors are using the same methods the trolls use to 5-bomb their stories to artificially inflate their scores. This is why you can't really trust the voting score whatsoever as a guide to how good a story is. Authors 5-bombing their stories so they can get on the Top Lists etc?

The whole voting algorithm in the sites software needs an overhaul to stop the abuse of it at either end of the spectrum.

It does. The sweeps remove 5s as well as 1s.

The simple truth is that it's an internet poll. There is absolutely nothing you can do to block people from multi-voting. You can make it a little more difficult, but even then, it's only going to stop the casual multi-voting.

If you want an example of what aggressive sweeping looks like, enter a themed contest in a high-read category like Incest. If you like losing 20-30% of your votes ( many of which are probably legitimate, but happen to be in the IP neighborhood of a manipulator ) every time the Hoover runs through, have fun with that

Not even forcing a sign-up and login can do more than mitigate it, and the degree to which you can do so is entirely dependent upon how much time, money, and server tics you're willing to invest in cross-checking accounts.

People who think IP blocks are the end-all of punishing bad actors on the internet are misinformed. You can change your IP faster than you can change your underwear, and most people probably have their IP changed on a regular basis by the provider without any action on their part.

When you start blocking IPs, you inevitably end up blocking users who aren't engaging in shady activity when they're assigned the IP you blocked because the original bad actor abandoned it for a new one.

The only thing IP bans are good for is short term blocking of robots hammering a server.

The scores have to be taken with a grain of salt, and that's true everywhere. As has been said before, even if people weren't trying to manipulate things, the curve of casual readers who vote tends to skew toward 5s, because people who don't like the story don't reach the end of it to even see the voting form.

 

[sr71plt]

It may not have been mentioned on this thread because we have had this thread twice a week for decades. Gets kind of old hat, you know. Just spinning wheels. Do you really need something to hyperventilate over that you're not going to get changed?

Again your voicing of frustration is just what the voting trolls eat up.

 

[horrorotica]

Again your voicing of frustration is just what the voting trolls eat up.

But I'm not frustrated though, I honestly don't care about what they do. I mean how sad do you have to be if that's how you get your kicks?

I'm just having a discussion with fellow authors about this curious modern day phenomena. Personally, I go more by comments/favourites than votes in my stories, because I know the votes are rigged.

 

[Darkniciad]

If you don't have a personal troll, aren't posting in LW with its competing camps of haters, and aren't posting in squickier categories where moral monitors down-vote stories simply because they exist ( Incest, Non-Con, Transexuals, Gay Male, etc. ) then the sweeps do a fair job of wiping out the bulk of the malicious down-voting.

Because of one of the things Laurel said in a post in the far-flung past, I suspect that the overbearing number of people down-voting in some categories causes them not to sweep low votes as often. She said that one sweep algorithm looks for votes inconsistent with the voting patterns of the story.

Therefore, because most people vote high or not at all, the low votes are the ones that are "out of sync" and get swept.

In categories where low voting is much more pervasive, those low votes aren't necessarily out of sync, and are more likely to stick when the Hoover comes around. It can actually become the high votes that are out of sync.

One thing that could possibly be done for everyday sweeps ( contest sweeps are so bone-cutting that I doubt it matters ) is for groups of categories to have differing criteria for the sweeps to account for this. Most categories are swept as they are now. A few squick categories examine low votes more carefully, regardless of the pattern. LW would have to treat every vote as suspect

You're never going to get much of a call for sweeping 5s beyond the way they're swept now, in an attempt to catch more cheerleader voting. If the system started sucking up more 5s, Egypt would look like a girl's tea party compared to the protest that would probably arise.

Nobody is ever going to believe that their 5s aren't legitimate. It's always the other guy

 

[horrorotica]

the curve of casual readers who vote tends to skew toward 5s, because people who don't like the story don't reach the end of it to even see the voting form.

There's truth in this statement.

Submitting stories here is just a bit of fun. Nobody should take anything that happens on this site seriously, unless of course you're getting some constructive criticism that actually helps you as a writer. That I like, but it is rare to even get that. The coolest thing I find is my visitor number and feel it's cool that thousands of people have had a go at reading one of my little stories.