Voting and Comments

[SimonDoom]

Actually Simon, you disagreed with Awkwardly too.

And lobster, pedantic is the sexy word that folks like to throw around too liberally this year. Insult me all you want but be fair about it.

Not only did Simon disagree with Awk, so did EB.

Go back an re-read these.

I don't need to re-read them. I've been disagreeing with AwkwardlySet about different things for years. My view, generally, about his posts is that, while I agree with some of the particulars of what he says, he overgeneralizes on the basis of insufficient evidence. I would say the same thing about some of your posts. Doesn't mean you're wrong, or he's wrong. I just think we all have a tendency to overgeneralize from our particular experiences. I've done that on the issue of Lit rejecting stories on AI grounds, which I minimized, probably wrongly, because it wasn't an issue for me and I wasn't seeing the problem others were seeing.

 

[Lifestyle66]

But you see, all those bombs get taken care of, because there are regular sweeps that make everything right!

If I asked for a sweep, I'm sure my scores would improve.

But I noticed over a year ago, that the usual Tuesday-Wednesday vote numbers weren't changing as they used to, and the average rating didn't either. I just assumed that they weren't doing sweeps anymore, maybe I had reached threshold of stories or votes or views to remove me from an automated sweep, or possibly the sweeps are manually started and they realized Lifestyle66 doesn't give a fuck anymore.

I realized that we're all here to have fun, in our own way. And if that means someone's fun is tracking, 1-bombing and leaving shitty comments on my stories, then I'll happily oblige and make their day. If I stopped writing and provoking them, their lives would be meaningless.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I realized that we're all here to have fun, in our own way. And if that means someone's fun is tracking, 1-bombing and leaving shitty comments on my stories, then I'll happily oblige and make their day. If I stopped writing and provoking them, their lives would be meaningless.

Indeed, what would our haters do without us?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I don't need to re-read them. I've been disagreeing with AwkwardlySet about different things for years. My view, generally, about his posts is that, while I agree with some of the particulars of what he says, he overgeneralizes on the basis of insufficient evidence.

The reason why I've always liked engaging in discussions with you is because you always try to present a balanced opinion, and also because you mostly have no problem saying things openly. I hope you will do that once again in your reply.

There is truth in what you are saying here. A lot of truth, possibly. I'll now explain why I go too far in some of my posts, usually by painting some Lit-related things in an overly negative light. For the record though, I have complimented some Lit policies and Laurel's actions more than once. But more often than not, I have been a voice of criticism towards Lit.
Well, the answer is remarkably - Balance.

This overgeneralizing on the basis of insufficient evidence is all over the AH. You can find it in literally any thread where we discuss Lit-related issues. But you see, in many of those posts, people overgeneralize and project positivism about Lit, about Laurel and Manu, all based on much less evidence than me, most of the time if not always. Yet no one calls those people out ( well, except for the very few of us); no one really tells them they are pulling positivism out of their ass; no one is asking them for proof, even if I am sure that many experienced AH-ers know better.

Well, I'll just admit that all of that pisses me off. So while I do believe that I have reasonable justification for many of my claims, I also admit that I sometimes tend to push them too far, that I paint them a bit more negatively than they objectively are. And of course, that kind of "overgeneralizing negativism" gets attacked by many, while some other use it just to roll their eyes saying "Ah here we go again, AwkwardlySet is doing his usual rant again."

I am 99% sure that if it were the other way around, you would have seen me overgeneralizing positivism with the same persistence. It's just how I am.

Your move

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

That’s very touching! I feel a bromance coming on

 

[Gamblnluck]

Really? I've been publishing since Feb and I've not noticed.
I have one story that was 4.97 after 105 votes. By 120 votes it had 4.81. Seems an obvious case of 1 bombing. I would have thought that if there had been any sweeps it would have rebounded. To be clear, I don't care: it still has a perfectly respectable score and I never expected it to stay that high. Getting trolled like that is kind of a badge of honour. But I'm just surprised at the faith some posters here express in these fabled sweeps.

Not really. I may be many of those were 3's (without doing the math). Remember college. It is easy to drop your GPA and seemingly damn near impossible to raise it.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Not really. I may be many of those were 3's (without doing the math). Remember college. It is easy to drop your GPA and seemingly damn near impossible to raise it.

Nah, that's targeted downvoting for sure.

105 x 4.97 = 521.85 rounded to 522 points
120 x 4.81 = 577.2 rounded to 577 points

The difference is 15 votes totalling 55 points.

55 / 15 = 3.67

first 105 votes average a staggering 4.97
next 55 votes average 3.67

Public opinion did not suddenly wake up and change its mind from 5 to 3.5. Someone gave this five or ten 1s or 2s. Probably because 4.97 is the top of the list and they wanted to knock it down. Since it happened all at once, it's probably just one jealous person on multiple accounts but who knows for sure?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Nah, that's targeted downvoting for sure.

105 x 4.97 = 521.85 rounded to 522 points
120 x 4.81 = 577.2 rounded to 577 points

The difference is 15 votes totalling 55 points.

55 / 15 = 3.67

first 105 votes average a staggering 4.97
next 55 votes average 3.67

Public opinion did not suddenly wake up and change its mind from 5 to 3.5. Someone gave this five or ten 1s or 2s. Probably because 4.97 is the top of the list and they wanted to knock it down. Since it happened all at once, it's probably just one jealous person on multiple accounts but who knows for sure?

Your analysis is sound, although I think it's worth pointing out a few things. In general, it's the author's followers who most often vote first and usually make the score soar so high early. To me, the drop in score looks like a combination of non-followers giving a lower average score to the story, and of course, the top list sniping that is so common on Lit. As I have pointed out many times, the fact that just one person with an agenda or grudge can vote many times and bring the score down considerably is a serious deficiency of the system.

 

[Gamblnluck]

Public opinion did not suddenly wake up and change its mind from 5 to 3.5. Someone gave this five or ten 1s or 2s. Probably because 4.97 is the top of the list and they wanted to knock it down. Since it happened all at once, it's probably just one jealous person on multiple accounts but who knows for sure?

A single person perhaps. But look at how much influence that person has. He has two named accounts. Perhaps on that device he might do an anonymous rating. Then he has to switch devices, so he uses his phone. Next? his wife's phone? And like one author said, initial acceptance vs later. Several of my recent endeavors get close to 5's because I have a relative small following for the particular story. And they follow. Many of those give me a four so within a few hours it begins to settle in the mid 4's . A 4.97 over a 100 voters? That is hard to swallow. That is almost all 5's with one or two 4's. It is certain to drop with even one or two 'non completely devoted fan"

 

[pink_silk_glove]

A single person perhaps. But look at how much influence that person has. He has two named accounts. Perhaps on that device he might do an anonymous rating. Then he has to switch devices, so he uses his phone. Next? his wife's phone? And like one author said, initial acceptance vs later. Several of my recent endeavors get close to 5's because I have a relative small following for the particular story. And they follow. Many of those give me a four so within a few hours it begins to settle in the mid 4's . A 4.97 over a 100 voters? That is hard to swallow. That is almost all 5's with one or two 4's. It is certain to drop with even one or two 'non completely devoted fan"

I've never tried multi-accounting on lit, but I currently have two separate email accounts open from the same provider on the same computer, just on different browsers. It's not difficult at all. Could someone log into lit on multiple accounts from different tabs of the same browser even? Dunno, never tried. Also, there is one notorious member in the chat who logs in from 3 or 4 accounts pretending to be different people and carrying on convos with himself. He thinks that we don't know but most of the regulars can tell by his speech patterns. In fact I outed him one day by calling him by one of his alt names and without thinking, he responded. (busted ) If someone wants to do it bad enough, it's not difficult at all. And finally, I have been bombed by one person on not just two accounts but twenty or thirty probably all done in just 20 minutes, since they spammed me in chat on these accounts in that short of time. Some people have alts, but people who have one alt often have more than one alt. It is quite common for someone to have 4 5 6 alts. 1! 1! 1! 1! 1! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! If someone is that vindictive and cunty and they already have the alts, they might as well. It's all too easy.

Certainly a 4.97 will drop, but that quickly? No. If public opinion was 4.8, then some of those 3s would have been mixed into the first 105 votes. Instead, they all came at once in a block. That's a deliberately targeted downvote. No question.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I have access to multiple computers, each of which has multiple different web browsers (Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc each with their own cache) within my house. This is not bragging and unusual today, because my wife and I each have our own computers and cellphones. And the others are my techie hobby which cost anywhere from $800 and less to as little as $5.00 (a Raspberry Pi Zero). (Note this doesn't include the other obsolete ones I have stacked up for disposal, ... when I get around to it.)

I sit in my easy chair and remotely access any of them which are powered on, via apps like "Remote Utilities" or "VLC" so I can use them as if sitting at their terminals (Some are "headless" without monitors or keyboards.) And with my VPN software subscription, ... I can come in to any web site from 20 different VPN server IPs from around the world. And that doesn't count the remote access I have to my kids and grandkids computers in their homes (it came in handy helping the grandkids with their remote learning schoolwork during COVID lockdowns.)

I'm a geek (note that's not a "nerd", because they are geek wannabees!)

Do the math!

If I wanted to inundate my stories with 100 fives, it would take me an hour with untraceable anonymous ratings. And if I wanted to hit any other story with 100 ONES, ... well, ... then I'd just be a MAJOR turd like those others. But where's the fun in that? (And that would entail WORK!)

Get over the obsession with ratings! Fucking them over is child's play (yes, I'm teaching the grandkids all of this!)

EDIT:
I realize that many of you are far better writers than I am. I'm a geek, and an admittedly shitty writer. But I could fuck up your world!

Let's all play nice together!

 

[RejectReality]

There's a very simple reason the sweeps aren't happening as often. The monthly awards are behind. Those sweeps are equivalent to themed contest sweeps, so when they're happening, it's extremely noticeable across the entire story file — but particularly for every story that came out in that calendar month.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There's a very simple reason the sweeps aren't happening as often. The monthly awards are behind. Those sweeps are equivalent to themed contest sweeps, so when they're happening, it's extremely noticeable across the entire story file — but particularly for every story that came out in that calendar month.

That makes sense. I'd forgotten about the monthly awards, because they are so far behind - has there even been one this year?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

That makes sense. I'd forgotten about the monthly awards, because they are so far behind - has there even been one this year?

Did they even do any for last year? Last year they were still trying to catch up on 2022, no?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

There are algorithmic tricks you could play to decrease the impact of vote-fakers. As one example, weight the scores of regular raters higher than accounts that only exist to vote on one particular account, or one particular story (which might be the author trying to inflate their own score, or a hater trying to ruin one author or story). It's hard to know if they're actually doing it, but I don't think so.

-Rocco

 

[RejectReality]

Did they even do any for last year? Last year they were still trying to catch up on 2022, no?

January and February got posted for 2023. You have to view Lit's member profile to keep track of that now, as it's accessible to a much wider audience than here on the forum. They're posted as stories in various categories as well as being announced on the front page.

https://www.literotica.com/authors/Literotica/works/stories

 

[Djmac1031]

I posted a new story last week, long, 9 pages. It received a One Bomb within minutes of being published, so I know whoever did it didn’t even read it.

Yep. It happens. People are assholes. It's what we deal with.

 

[SpecterNecter]

I posted a new story last week, long, 9 pages. It received a One Bomb within minutes of being published, so I know whoever did it didn’t even read it.

Yep. It happens. People are assholes. It's what we deal with.

I can't even figure out how you people know how many 1 votes you get. All I see is the average

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I can't even figure out how you people know how many 1 votes you get. All I see is the average

There’s no way to know for sure, but if you follow your score over time, you get a feel for things. Plus which, some basic maths helps. If you have, simple example, a score of 5.0 with nine votes and a tenth vote drops you to 4.6, that’s a clear 1*.

 

[Djmac1031]

I can't even figure out how you people know how many 1 votes you get. All I see is the average

I honestly don't even pay that much attention to it. The only reason it stood out in this case was because I'd just published the story, and the 1 Bomb was the first vote it received.

The story is 9 pages long, and the vote came in within minutes, so whoever did it sure didn't read it. At least not all of it.

 

[Bamagan]

I honestly don't even pay that much attention to it. The only reason it stood out in this case was because I'd just published the story, and the 1 Bomb was the first vote it received.

The story is 9 pages long, and the vote came in within minutes, so whoever did it sure didn't read it. At least not all of it.

I'm betting it was one of those really pedantic types who get offended by including a foreword. That you called it a 'forward' probably enraged them even further.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'm betting it was one of those really pedantic types who get offended by including a foreword. That you called it a 'forward' probably enraged them even further.

Maybe.

Or maybe it was the "anal" tag. I had one guy comment on a story thanking me for putting "anal" in the tags so he could "avoid reading several pages of that crap."

Maybe it was my same anti-anal guy.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I honestly don't even pay that much attention to it. The only reason it stood out in this case was because I'd just published the story, and the 1 Bomb was the first vote it received.

The story is 9 pages long, and the vote came in within minutes, so whoever did it sure didn't read it. At least not all of it.

You lucky, lucky bastard! Proper little gaoler’s pet, aren’t we? Slipped them a few shekels…?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I can't even figure out how you people know how many 1 votes you get. All I see is the average

If you post in a category like I/T or LW, I bet that it's impossible to follow the votes as they come in such large numbers. Likewise with writers who have large followings. They just get too many votes to be able to track them.

However, for a writer like me whose stories often go WEEKS, sometimes two or three months between votes, I don't have to pay close attention to catch a bombing.

 

[SpecterNecter]

If you post in a category like I/T or LW, I bet that it's impossible to follow the votes as they come in such large numbers. Likewise with writers who have large followings. They just get too many votes to be able to track them.

However, for a writer like me whose stories often go WEEKS, sometimes two or three months between votes, I don't have to pay close attention to catch a bombing.

The smallest category I post in is celebrity and that definitely gets the least amount of views and votes.