The now fully official Author’s Hangout Halloween 2025 competition support thread

[WittyUserName]

Extruded titanium thread.

Do they usually announce the winners at the same time when one of these ends?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Do they usually announce the winners at the same time when one of these ends?

The winners get posted on the front page and the comp page around the same time.

 

[WittyUserName]

The winners get posted on the front page and the comp page around the same time.

I doubt I'll place, there's some great stories! But sometimes you can't help but get your hopes up!

 

[EmilyMiller]

I doubt I'll place, there's some great stories! But sometimes you can't help but get your hopes up!

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same

 

[WeShallUnclench]

This is sadly far from true.

Another thing that appears to be far from true is that only 1-bombs get removed, I only just experienced the tragic loss of one 5 star rating. I hope it's just a glitch (or someone retracting their vote - is that possible?) but if it's part of a sweep, dang.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Another thing that appears to be far from true is that only 1-bombs get removed, I only just experienced the tragic loss of one 5 star rating. I hope it's just a glitch (or someone retracting their vote - is that possible?) but if it's part of a sweep, dang.

People don’t always understand sweeps. The site has batch jobs that trawl through various files (I’m not going to say which, it’s already way too easy to evade the sweeps) and remove ANY suspicious votes - regardless of value - that they find. Authors fluffing their own scores is just as common as people downvoting stories - in fact the same authors who inflate their own grades are probably responsible for deflating other people’s.

The sweeps are better than nothing, but far from comprehensive. I could go and one bomb your story in a way that I’m pretty confident would never be swept (not that I would dream of trashing someone’s story). After all a one star rating may be a genuine opinion. People are allowed to dislike your work..

As far as I can tell, there is no statistical analysis of voting patterns. The sweeps appear to rely on more obvious markers of malicious voting. And no, I’m not going to say what. Though anyone with half a brain could figure out the basics.

It is wholly possible for your score to go down in a sweep as well as up. And it’s also possible that votes which are obviously malicious - based on other factors, which again I won’t mention - are left fully intact.

 

[old_prof]

Another thing that appears to be far from true is that only 1-bombs get removed, I only just experienced the tragic loss of one 5 star rating. I hope it's just a glitch (or someone retracting their vote - is that possible?) but if it's part of a sweep, dang.

It definitely does happen. I just lost a 5 on my most recent story. I have lost 2's and 3's for certain in past sweeps. The way of the sweep is mysterious (and not 100% accurate).

 

[WittyUserName]

People don’t always understand sweeps. The site has batch jobs that trawl through various files (I’m not going to say which, it’s already way too easy to evade the sweeps) and remove ANY suspicious votes - regardless of value - that they find. Authors fluffing their own scores is just as common as people downvoting stories - in fact the same authors who inflate their own grades are probably responsible for deflating other people’s.

The sweeps are better than nothing, but far from comprehensive. I could go and one bomb your story in a way that I’m pretty confident would never be swept (not that I would dream of trashing someone’s story). After all a one star rating may be a genuine opinion. People are allowed to dislike your work..

As far as I can tell, there is no statistical analysis of voting patterns. The sweeps appear to rely on more obvious markers of malicious voting. And no, I’m not going to say what. Though anyone with half a brain could figure out the basics.

It is wholly possible for your score to go down in a sweep as well as up. And it’s also possible that votes which are obviously malicious - based on other factors, which again I won’t mention - are left fully intact.

It should be easy to remove a vote someone made on their own story? I definitely think an author shouldn't rate their own story, I'm not even sure why the site allows it at all. That's odd. Granted, logging out isn't exactly difficult.

 

[old_prof]

It should be easy to remove a vote someone made on their own story? I definitely think an author shouldn't rate their own story, I'm not even sure why the site allows it at all. That's odd. Granted, logging out isn't exactly difficult.

I did not vote for any of my early stories because I felt the same way. My very first post on here was asking about my first 1-bombs. They would happen before I woke up, the day the story posted. Not every story back then. It made a notable difference in views. Even though the 1's did get swept eventually, I can still see in the views which ones got hit. People will avoid stories with low ratings. I know I always did as a reader. With the low readership I get, it takes a long time to offset a single 1.

One of the recommendations heere was to vote myself when the stories first posted to partially mitigate the problem. I was squeamish at first, but I do it by habit now for each of my stories as they post. For most of my stories, a single 5 is not a notable change in its rating. Often, literarily no change.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It should be easy to remove a vote someone made on their own story? I definitely think an author shouldn't rate their own story, I'm not even sure why the site allows it at all. That's odd. Granted, logging out isn't exactly difficult.

Nope. It’s just as easy to fluff your own story with no repercussions as it is to trash a competitor’s. It just takes a little guesswork and a willingness to spend a little time.

About the only defense is to publish in a category where the number of genuine votes overwhelms those from bad actors. But there are only a limited number of such categories and each has its own challenges.

The site is pretty much on the honor system and some people are clearly nefarious.

So… don’t worry, be happy. You can’t do anything about a tilted stage, but you can still say your lines with gusto. I’ve got way too caught up in ratings in the past, but they are pretty random and wide open to abuse (of both kinds). So don’t stress and enjoy the comments, those can’t be faked.

 

[StillStunned]

One of the recommendations heere was to vote myself when the stories first posted to partially mitigate the problem. I was squeamish at first, but I do it by habit now for each of my stories as they post. For most of my stories, a single 5 is not a notable change in its rating. Often, literarily no change.

I've advocated this. There's half an hour or so between when new stories go live and when the category "New Stories" lists are updated. If you vote on your own story during that time - and why shouldn't you, if you enjoy it? - that little yellow star draws eyes to your story.

 

[WittyUserName]

I did not vote for any of my early stories because I felt the same way. My very first post on here was asking about my first 1-bombs. They would happen before I woke up, the day the story posted. Not every story back then. It made a notable difference in views. Even though the 1's did get swept eventually, I can still see in the views which ones got hit. People will avoid stories with low ratings. I know I always did as a reader. With the low readership I get, it takes a long time to offset a single 1.

One of the recommendations heere was to vote myself when the stories first posted to partially mitigate the problem. I was squeamish at first, but I do it by habit now for each of my stories as they post. For most of my stories, a single 5 is not a notable change in its rating. Often, literarily no change.

I can see voting on your story if it often gets hit by 1s when it's published. The good news is that a lot of stories get enough votes that one or two nefarious votes probably don't make a huge difference.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

You can find stories by tags and sort the results by views, so I imagine it’s exactly such a search for the “halloween 2025” tag.

It may not catch everything, since the tag is not compulsory, but it’s a good enough approximation.

I'll say - I was just about to huff and puff that my story doesn't show up there except I just realized the tiny entertaining detail that I never used the tag.

Follow-up question, do you guys usually look for contest entries to read on the official contest page or do you tend to search by tags?

 

[WittyUserName]

Nope. It’s just as easy to fluff your own story with no repercussions as it is to trash a competitor’s. It just takes a little guesswork and a willingness to spend a little time.

About the only defense is to publish in a category where the number of genuine votes overwhelms those from bad actors. But there are only a limited number of such categories and each has its own challenges.

The site is pretty much on the honor system and some people are clearly nefarious.

So… don’t worry, be happy. You can’t do anything about a tilted stage, but you can still say your lines with gusto. I’ve got way too caught up in ratings in the past, but they are pretty random and wide open to abuse (of both kinds). So don’t stress and enjoy the comments, those can’t be faked.

You can fake comments. Log out and post as anonymous. "This is the best story I ever read! The author should win an Oscar or a Nobel Prize or whatever the literary thing is for best writer ever!" Must be true, right?

 

[MegaTank]

Well on one hand, the sweep pushed up my story onto the exact threshold for hot (I'll enjoy it while it lasts, seeing how I lost my only hot score while I was writing this one)

On the other, my story no longer has enough votes to qualify. Not like I was going to win anything regardless, but does feel a little weird...

 

[StillStunned]

You can fake comments. Log out and post as anonymous. "This is the best story I ever read! The author should win an Oscar or a Nobel Prize or whatever the literary thing is for best writer ever!" Must be true, right?

What would be a good name for an international prize for erotica? Maybe the "Roddies", if we say "erotica" with an American accent?

 

[EmilyMiller]

You can fake comments. Log out and post as anonymous. "This is the best story I ever read! The author should win an Oscar or a Nobel Prize or whatever the literary thing is for best writer ever!" Must be true, right?

Of course. I get many nice anon comments, but I place more store by those who identify themselves.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I always vote on my story as soon as it’s up. I want to hit the 10 vote threshold and get the red H as soon as possible, in order to attract more views. If it gets swept later, fine, it will have served its purpose.

So far today, I got 4 votes removed and bumped from 4.56 to 4.63. As has been noted, sweeps come in waves. There is usually one final one just before the deadline.

 

[caleb35]

What would be a good name for an international prize for erotica? Maybe the "Roddies", if we say "erotica" with an American accent?

Nope -- I hear Roddie, I think of Roddy Ho from Slow Horses and I do NOT want to think of Roddy Ho in any erotic fashion. What about Fanny (or Fannies), as an homage to Fanny Hill?

 

[TheLobster]

Follow-up question, do you guys usually look for contest entries to read on the official contest page or do you tend to search by tags?

I search by the tag because the results will include more pertinent information such as the category.

 

[WittyUserName]

Of course. I get many nice anon comments, but I place more store by those who identify themselves.

Yeah, I agree. Although, I don't get a lot of anonymous comments lately.

 

[dreams_in_words]

Well on one hand, the sweep pushed up my story onto the exact threshold for hot (I'll enjoy it while it lasts, seeing how I lost my only hot score while I was writing this one)

On the other, my story no longer has enough votes to qualify. Not like I was going to win anything regardless, but does feel a little weird...

Thats way too many hands. The average Lit reader/author already has one hand occupied...

 

[WittyUserName]

Thats way too many hands. The average Lit reader/author already has one hand occupied...

Why do I feel like this comment applies to me personally? Hm...

 

[Jamie6977]

So far today, I got 4 votes removed and bumped from 4.56 to 4.63. As has been noted, sweeps come in waves. There is usually one final one just before the deadline.

I just did a review of my ratings, and 7 of my 11 published stories (only 1 in the contest) lost votes and every one of them went up in score. A couple pretty significantly. I lost 5 votes on my contest entry (Haunted Brothel of Mound City), but my score only increased by .04 to 4.77. On another of my stories, I lost 3 votes and went up .16 (4.57). So, the sweeps obviously don't just hit contest stories. Will be interesting to see where things stand tomorrow night

 

[WittyUserName]

I just did a review of my ratings, and 7 of my 11 published stories (only 1 in the contest) lost votes and every one of them went up in score. A couple pretty significantly. I lost 5 votes on my contest entry (Haunted Brothel of Mound City), but my score only increased by .04 to 4.77. On another of my stories, I lost 3 votes and went up .16 (4.57). So, the sweeps obviously don't just hit contest stories. Will be interesting to see where things stand tomorrow night

I noticed that about sweeps as well. They hit all stories, not just contest entries. Congrats on 4.77! That's a nice score.