Time, satisfaction and vote sabotage

[PrincessArianrhod]

She didn't like the truth so she started pissing on the messenger.

I'd like you to find examples to support this assessment of my reaction to anything said anywhere in this thread, by you or anyone else.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

[No personal attacks or trolling - including creating accounts for this specific purpose. Heated discussions are fine, even welcome. However, personally attacking / kink-shaming a fellow author or reader is not allowed within the Author's Hangout. Threads which devolve into the exchanging of insults will be closed and repeat offenders will be given a timeout, per the AH rules.]

 

[Winter_Fare]

[No personal attacks or trolling - including creating accounts for this specific purpose. Heated discussions are fine, even welcome. However, personally attacking / kink-shaming a fellow author or reader is not allowed within the Author's Hangout. Threads which devolve into the exchanging of insults will be closed and repeat offenders will be given a timeout, per the AH rules.]

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

Back at ya.

That isn't an example of either me not liking the truth or pissing on the messenger.

[No personal attacks or trolling - including creating accounts for this specific purpose. Heated discussions are fine, even welcome. However, personally attacking / kink-shaming a fellow author or reader is not allowed within the Author's Hangout. Threads which devolve into the exchanging of insults will be closed and repeat offenders will be given a timeout, per the AH rules.]

 

[darkride]

Your sentiment about how we are doing this all for no fiscal reward, just the reward of positive feedback, rings so very true to my ears. (We're not terribly likely, I expect, to direct people to our Literotica writing for any kind of professional references, either! Oh yes I've been writing long-form erotica for years, feel free to check it out if it would help me get the job. Not!) I currently check in several times a day - are there any new comments? Have I grown some more followers? How are my ratings going? Do people really enjoy reading the words that I've crafted, or should I just give up?

I'm new here, but have read posts about the elusive "H" and how much it can boost your story. I've had it pop up briefly on a few of my stories now and then, but for the most part after a week or so my stories all sit at around 4.1 - 4.3. And, the way I look at that is - that means 80% of the people who have read it, liked it. 4 in every 5! How amazing is that!

A "H" may be the icing on the cake, but it sure sounds like there's enough poison in the well to make it even more elusive than it should be to attain, so - as frustrating as I am sure it must feel knowing that your story could and should have that hot red mark - at least you know people are enjoying your work.
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After a moment's introspection... I'll add that I've had a vocal minority flaming me in the comments on the main story that brought me to Literotica to post. I've uploaded 8 chapters so far, close to 40k words, and I don't think I've hidden at all where the story is heading, with plenty of foreshadowing... and yet people keep complaining about it. I am sure they are not giving me high marks lol. I took on board the suggestion to use "manipulation" tags, because it involves a Dominant who is manipulative. I offered a few comments early on to try to placate those who were not happy about the story's direction, being very diplomatic, not wanting to put off readers who were enjoying the story by flaming the fires.

Eventually I just made it clear - if you don't like the way the story is going - find something else to read. But they continue... I even had one anon commenter state "It's ok - the writer is listening to us and not going down that path..." !? And, a feedback comment to my email, from someone saying I was making a mistake, and offering to give me suggestions for how to continue the story. Well, the story is already written in my head, and whilst the words are not written down (actually taking a break now from writing a double-blowjob scene), I am not changing the direction just because people who (may) downvote me aren't happy.

Ultimately... The internet sucks, because whilst it enables you to find groups of people who are interested in what you are interested in, it also allows people to anonymously voice their opinions without normal social conventions that would otherwise stop most of them from speaking out. I can't say I'm immune to that either - I've been downright nasty to Republicans online... But I guess human nature is lain bare by Net...

The take away is... your stories are obviously well written, and well received if you're getting over 4.0/5. Be proud of that, and know that what you are doing, you are doing well.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm new here, but have read posts about the elusive "H" and how much it can boost your story. I've had it pop up briefly on a few of my stories now and then, but for the most part after a week or so my stories all sit at around 4.1 - 4.3. And, the way I look at that is - that means 80% of the people who have read it, liked it. 4 in every 5! How amazing is that!

That doesn't follow. A View is someone who has clicked into your story, but you can't assume they've read it.

With a standalone story, there's no way of knowing how many people actually read to the end. You can get a clue from chaptered stories, by looking at the View count on the later chapters - which one can assume are readers sticking with the story. Usually, that's a flatish line, but even so, there's typically a 5% - 10% drop between chapter three and the last chapter.

Votes don't give an indicator either, since the Vote:View ratio is typically 1:100. My rule of thumb for Comments use 1:1000 Views, unless you write really well or really badly.

 

[AchtungNight]

Damn it. I was getting ready to post in this thread again and enjoy chatting with people. Now I see a flame war and I feel more comfortable elsewhere. Shoot.

 

[PrincessArianrhod]

[No personal attacks or trolling - including creating accounts for this specific purpose. Heated discussions are fine, even welcome. However, personally attacking / kink-shaming a fellow author or reader is not allowed within the Author's Hangout. Threads which devolve into the exchanging of insults will be closed and repeat offenders will be given a timeout, per the AH rules.]

 

[StillStunned]

When I first started posting stories (all of two months ago!), I didn't know what the H meant. Then one story got the accolade, and I figured it out. It was nice, but no big deal.

Then one day there was a sweep, and suddenly all ten of the stories I'd published were marked "Hot". And then that was all that mattered to me: getting the required ten votes with a 4.5 average or better. It became an obsession.

I'm trying to ween myself off it, but it's very flattering when people express a liking for a product of your brain, and can be hurtful when they dislike it.

 

[TheSpleen]

The system's okay. It's the people using it that are the problem .

People are people are people. In any collection of them, there are going to be jerks. No way around that. That's why any decent system should have fairly effective ways of mitigating the damage that jerks will do. So...yeah, they're right. It's the system that's faulty.

 

[TheSpleen]

Sooo, if I didn't name you, flower, how can you be certain I meant you?

You probably think this post is about you, don't you? Don't youuuu?!

 

[alohadave]

A View is someone who has clicked into your story, but you can't assume they've read it.

More accurately, a view is a page load. Every time the story page loads in a web browser, it counts as a view. If you refreshed the story page 100 times, your view count will go up by 100.

View = page load is the only thing you get from that stat.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, I guess people can game the views then. Why? Why would anyone do that?

More accurately, a view is a page load. Every time the story page loads in a web browser, it counts as a view. If you refreshed the story page 100 times, your view count will go up by 100.

View = page load is the only thing you get from that stat.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This thread has become a blood bath .

Em

 

[alohadave]

Well, I guess people can game the views then. Why? Why would anyone do that?

I'm not saying that you would, or that it's serve any purpose.

I keep a lot of stories open in tabs and when I need to update my browser, reloading those pages registers as a new view.

If you wanted to 'fix' that, there are technical ways to do it. But I doubt that it matters to anyone but the authors.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I think we need to put electrodes on readers’ nipples and shock them each time they don’t complete a story, or fail to leave a comment.

Having said that, maybe that would actually depress reading and comments. Lit has some strange people.

Em

 

[Mastered_again]

I think we need to put electrodes on readers’ nipples and shock them each time they don’t complete a story, or fail to leave a comment.

Having said that, maybe that would actually depress reading and comments. Lit has some strange people.

Em

Maybe there's a story in there. Or a contest. Volunteers?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Maybe there's a story in there. Or a contest. Volunteers?

You could be right .

Em

 

[alohadave]

I think we need to put electrodes on readers’ nipples and shock them each time they don’t complete a story, or fail to leave a comment.

Some people pay extra for that.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Some people pay extra for that.

Yeah. I might myself .

Em

 

[Bamagan]

I'm not saying that you would, or that it's serve any purpose.

I keep a lot of stories open in tabs and when I need to update my browser, reloading those pages registers as a new view.

If you wanted to 'fix' that, there are technical ways to do it. But I doubt that it matters to anyone but the authors.

You've confirmed this to be true? It suggests that a single read of a three page story would count as three views, unless only the first page counts. I had assumed refreshing worked as you mentioned, but also had assumed that bookmarks and internal navigation of page numbers did not tick the view counter, but hadn't really thought about what it would do when refreshing page 3, for example.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You've confirmed this to be true? It suggests that a single read of a three page story would count as three views, unless only the first page counts. I had assumed refreshing worked as you mentioned, but also had assumed that bookmarks and internal navigation of page numbers did not tick the view counter, but hadn't really thought about what it would do when refreshing page 3, for example.

From experiment, only a landing on page one kicks over the counter. Landings on later pages don't register.

It never occurred to me that someone would leave pages open in separate tabs - a slow reader, maybe?

 

[alohadave]

You've confirmed this to be true? It suggests that a single read of a three page story would count as three views, unless only the first page counts. I had assumed refreshing worked as you mentioned, but also had assumed that bookmarks and internal navigation of page numbers did not tick the view counter, but hadn't really thought about what it would do when refreshing page 3, for example.

I have confirmed it.

 

[Mastered_again]

I have confirmed it.

That's disturbing, but I'm a naive neophyte

 

[alohadave]

That's disturbing, but I'm a naive neophyte

It's just a result of the method of counting views. It's a late 90s/early 2000s way of doing things. Nowadays, sites would likely use a cookie or token to tie page views to an IP address or user.

Like I said, the view count really doesn't affect anything. The only people who can see it are each individual author for their own story, and the site admins.