Voting on Stories

[ElectricBlue]

But I like what I wrote so I'm publishing it anyway.

Exactly. Something, once written, needs to be read .

 

[QuantumTruth11]

Maybe I am missing something, but the whole point of keeping the voting is to inform readers whether they'd like to read a story or not. There are so many stories on Lit and we all love people who read first posts. But without the ratings, I can't judge whether to read a story or not. Just my opinion though.
Just believe in your story and hope the ratings go up in time.
I saw one of the stories I read nosedive to 4.4 from 4.8, but it went right back up once more people voted.

 

[Madelyne13]

Maybe I am missing something, but the whole point of keeping the voting is to inform readers whether they'd like to read a story or not. There are so many stories on Lit and we all love people who read first posts. But without the ratings, I can't judge whether to read a story or not. Just my opinion though.
Just believe in your story and hope the ratings go up in time.
I saw one of the stories I read nosedive to 4.4 from 4.8, but it went right back up once more people voted.

Personally I intend to keep the voting. I have experienced trolls on every site poetry and others that I have been involved with. Care about them and you feed them. I have Parkinson's and I guess the worst trolls I have seen were ones pretending to have Parkinson's to join chatrooms on a Parkinson's charity site. Best way to deal with these sort of issues is to not pay it attention.

 

[gunhilltrain]

JeffJared: since you disabled comments, I couldn't post a comment to your reply to my first comment. (There are some advantages to keeping these things turned on!)

Here it is:

"I admit I don't know much about the historical and cultural significance of anime. I thought it emerged in the last seventy years or so but that is just a guess. I don't remember noticing it much in the United States until the start of the Internet age, say in the last two decades."

 

[gordo12]

I won't pretend I'm happy with the voting system, but it's a hell of an indicator of what people are thinking.

The 1 bombs hurt. It takes a lot of 5 votes to offset one of them once you get over 4. But sweeps do happen and that tends to correct the situation.

I've also notice that stories tend to drop when you post here. It's happened to me too. Oh well.

If you turn off comments and voting you're writing into a vacuum. You might think your story is great, but the audience is going boo and throwing tomatoes! If you're genuinely out to improve you need that feedback and don't worry about the idiots.

Some of the worst (never improving) authors here shut off comments and voting.

 

[KeithD]

I won't pretend I'm happy with the voting system, but it's a hell of an indicator of what people are thinking.

It's not necessarily an indicator of what people are thinking about the story, though. A lot of both 1s and 5s are just indications of what the voter thinks about the author or jockeying in comparison with their own stories at a Web site like this. The place is a sieve. Authors would be best just to accept that and not put a lot of stock in the voting system.

 

[gordo12]

. Authors would be best just to accept that and not put a lot of stock in the voting system.

Amen

 

[Emirus]

I used the report button at the beginning of December to ask Laurel for a sweep of one of my stories. The particular story had seventy eight votes and was on 4.46 at the time. There had been eight 1-bombs and without those the story would have been 4.87.

I’m still waiting for the sweep

 

[Emirus]

JeffJared: since you disabled comments, I couldn't post a comment to your reply to my first comment. (There are some advantages to keeping these things turned on!)
"

Turn off voting by all means (I’ve turned it off on some of my stories at the moment because I’m p****d *ff) but never turn off comments. I want to read the comments, good or bad, particularly if they are constructive.

 

[Emirus]

Ratings aren’t everything and sometimes they mean nothing. I’ve read stories with a 4.8 that have been crap and some with a 3.8 that have been marvellous.

 

[gordo12]

Ratings aren’t everything and sometimes they mean nothing. I’ve read stories with a 4.8 that have been crap and some with a 3.8 that have been marvellous.

A story with a string of 1 votes and a single 5 (exaggerated) will shine at the end of a sweep. Again that's the system. Not always accurate.

I've tried to envision a system that would be more responsive and eliminate the crap voting, but the sad truth is so many stories don't get enough votes to be statistically accurate.

Then stories that receive thousands of votes and have so many, nothing anyone votes makes a difference. These kind of stories need a system that is sensitive to the voter trends and lock off the 1 or 2 votes. Or lock off the 4's & 5's if everyone is flaming and one voting it.

Maybe a system that every IP gets X number of 1 or 2 votes and once they're used they're locked out for the month.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Maybe a system that every IP gets X number of 1 or 2 votes and once they're used they're locked out for the month.

I suspect dedicated one-bombers are doing whatever it is these folk do to move their IP addresses around, so an IP ban won't work.

Besides, there might be some readers out there who genuinely use the five scale system for their scoring - trolling behaviour has different patterns of behaviour, I think (which the sweeps spot, as best they can).

 

[gordo12]

I suspect dedicated one-bombers are doing whatever it is these folk do to move their IP addresses around, so an IP ban won't work.

Besides, there might be some readers out there who genuinely use the five scale system for their scoring - trolling behaviour has different patterns of behaviour, I think (which the sweeps spot, as best they can).

I'd be surprised if any of them were going to those lengths. With the IP identifying any accounts associated with it a script could keep track of negative voting and cut them off for a period after so many. It might make them think more about their voting.

I don't see anything here that makes it worth spending a lot of effort gaming the system. Maybe I'm missing something.

And yes, I do genuinely use the voting system. Except 1* I know those get swept so I use the 2's if I think there's hope for them. Otherwise I just walk by with no vote.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't see anything here that makes it worth spending a lot of effort gaming the system. Maybe I'm missing something.

And yes, I do genuinely use the voting system. Except 1* I know those get swept so I use the 2's if I think there's hope for them. Otherwise I just walk by with no vote.

I know several writers who have set up trackers to demonstrate dedicated and intensive attacks on their story file - with half a dozen one-bombs on several stories all within thirty seconds of each other, that kind of thing. Never underestimate the lengths the truly dedicated troll will go to. The site has a long history of demonstrable scores gaming, as any number of threads will reveal - especially when it comes to Top Lists and Contest times - which is what the sweeps were put in to address.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I know several writers who have set up trackers to demonstrate dedicated and intensive attacks on their story file - with half a dozen one-bombs on several stories all within thirty seconds of each other, that kind of thing. Never underestimate the lengths the truly dedicated troll will go to. The site has a long history of demonstrable scores gaming, as any number of threads will reveal - especially when it comes to Top Lists and Contest times - which is what the sweeps were put in to address.

A digression, but it shows something of human nature. When I was on a college newspaper more than forty years ago I saw these hip counter-cultural types play some nasty office politics. And there were no salaries at stake and only a handful of post-graduation jobs based on it. They seemed to do it for its own sake.

So if you see what goes on with this site, imagine what happens in the real world where money and power are at stake. Some of us see it firsthand and some of it gets into the news but a lot of it - I shudder to imagine - remains hidden.

By the way, I'm not trying to knock the site - my experiences here have mostly been positive.

 

[Bramblethorn]

A digression, but it shows something of human nature. When I was on a college newspaper more than forty years ago I saw these hip counter-cultural types play some nasty office politics. And there were no salaries at stake and only a handful of post-graduation jobs based on it. They seemed to do it for its own sake.

Sayre's Law: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low."

 

[ElectricBlue]

Sayre's Law: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low."

Every year here in Oz there's a scandal or two in university politics, at one uni or another. Along with the unions, it's the training ground for branch stacking and electorate parachuting, once they get into main-stream politics. As for local government, Judas Iscariot would be a good guy, compared to what some of those jokers get up to. Organised ass-hattery amongst some writer groups (or their fans) - yup, I'd believe it.

 

[Hypoxia]

Easy fix: Five-star votes are free. Lesser votes cost money (hey, PayPal!) and one-bombs are expensive. Will fucktards pay for the privilege of trolling?

 

[Emirus]

I'd be surprised if any of them were going to those lengths. With the IP identifying any accounts associated with it a script could keep track of negative voting and cut them off for a period after so many. It might make them think more about their voting.

I don't see anything here that makes it worth spending a lot of effort gaming the system. Maybe I'm missing something.

And yes, I do genuinely use the voting system. Except 1* I know those get swept so I use the 2's if I think there's hope for them. Otherwise I just walk by with no vote.

As EB66 says “I suspect 1-bombers are doing whatever it is these folk do to move their IP addresses around, so an IP ban won’t work.”

As you can see I don’t know how to quote two people in the same comment which demonstrates my expertise with this technology. But wouldn’t desicated 1-bombers surely find a way around an IP ban? With free wi-fi available in so many places does that not move your IP address?

If I think a story is only worth a 1 or 2 I don’t vote but will leave a comment and say why I haven’t voted.

 

[DreamingOfMyEx]

Welcome to Literotica, where everything's made up and the points don't matter.

​

 

[Hypoxia]

Welcome to Literotica, where everything's made up and the points don't matter.

Except to the obsessives. One needs pain to disassociate from lousy numbers. Many have not yet suffered enough, hey? Oh shit, I dropped from 4.78 to 4.72! Disaster!

 

[gordo12]

I have to admit I'm believing in the organized one bombing now.

While all the entertainment was happening on another thread here yesterday I watched a sci-fi story that has been HOT since publishing last May for the Geek event move down 10 points in several hours despite attracting comments that praised it.

That's the frustration of categories like that. With few voters stories never achieve the kind of vote mass that resists bombing.

Very frustrating to have a story highly praised and scored take a hit like that.

 

[txboyalone]

Rating.

I use my own rating system, based n how many times I get hard while reading a story.