What is a good rating?

[KeithD]

I consider a balance. Above all, I think of the traditional definition of a short story (being able to read it in a single setting) when I think of how big a chunk to do in one take here--so not over two Lit. pages (not over 7,500 words, which is long of a "single setting" in today's frenetic world). Working against that is the continuous advice on the discussion board that longer is better., given so often that it seems to have effect on some readers. But, unless it's for a contest, which requires just one, consolidated entry, I try not to go over three Lit. pages in one entry (not much over 11,000 words). What really determines in how I break up a longer work (for other than a contest) is how the chapters naturally fall by content. I'll occasionally have a chapter that's only one Lit. page, because that's how the work splits. Yes, I might get objections, but I don't give much regard for such readers.

 

[lovecraft68]

How do people even find eight year old threads?

 

[Jaxon16]

Leave a comment if not clear with your rating

All writers and likely most readers appreciate the comments.

I am guilty of not leaving many comments and not many ratings for that matter. However, I can differentiate the writing quality as a 3.5, but the story is more of a 5. This way both the writer and the reader get some context. And I can elaborate as much as I want.

 

[FactorySlave]

As far as I can see, there’s no criteria for the voter to use. My Slavery 2050 story is slightly left field so mightn’t get the best scores. That’s fair enough. I’d much prefer people left comments than vote.

 

[yukonnights]

Comments are nice, some are helpful, some are neutral and some are negative. IMO, the overall averaged rating of all individual ratings is a much larger 'collective comment'. Much like a politician running for some political position — he/she gets a lot of handshakes and positive feedback, but then looses the election (or wins). I think the average Literotica reader views the HOT symbol as a "winner", opens the story, reads and then adds his/her vote in the ongoing, and never ending, saga of the election results.
***

lovecraft68 —How do people even find eight year old threads?
***
I don't know, but often feel a bit foolish when I finally do notice the date. This resurrection resulted in some interesting contributions and discussions IMO.

 

[Nylonian]

All my stories but one have rated over 4.25. Is this good? The prize winners tend to be over 4.50. Being a perfectionist, I want my stories to be rated 5, but no one gets a 5. But also being realistic, I know my stories are not prize winners. I am just wondering where "tolerable" leaves off and "decent" begins.

And what does "H" mean?

I would say anything over 4.75 is good. 4.3 to 4.5 is a very decent effort. I've seen a couple of 4.9s but they're rare.

 

[LongDraw]

I've been reading the responses in this thread and I seem to be a little on both sides of the fence. I've published two short stories, one in EC, the other Fantasy. I also published, albeit prematurely before submitting a heavily EDITED copy, a much lengthier story in LW.

All 3 generally have my same level of talent, yet the EC story was approaching 4.x, whereas my LW story started with 4.6 with several votes before all of a sudden an hour in it tanked to low 3.x

Working with VE Phil Anderer has of course significantly improved the story, even from my amateur perspective. At this point we are giving the published version with existing views, favorites, and votes a chance to show if it is being received better.

If any of you care to provide your opinion, I'll be here to listen and learn. Thank you.

 

[SimonDoom]

I

If any of you care to provide your opinion, I'll be here to listen and learn. Thank you.

There are a lot of factors that determine the score. Longer stories tend to score higher. Late chapters in long series tend to score higher (because of reader attrition). Stories in some categories, like Loving Wives, especially, tend to score lower.

So, it's useful to keep in mind that sometimes it's comparing apples and oranges.

It probably helps somewhat to have a score over 4.5, because you get a red "H" next to the story, and that may attract more readers.

It helps if your score is high enough that it appears high on a list, like an all-time list for a particular category, which attracts some extra readers.

But aside from that, I don't think scores matter much. I see no difference between having a 4.6 and a 4.8, unless the 4.8 story is near the top of a list.

 

[LongDraw]

There are a lot of factors that determine the score. Longer stories tend to score higher. Late chapters in long series tend to score higher (because of reader attrition). Stories in some categories, like Loving Wives, especially, tend to score lower.

So, it's useful to keep in mind that sometimes it's comparing apples and oranges.

It probably helps somewhat to have a score over 4.5, because you get a red "H" next to the story, and that may attract more readers.

It helps if your score is high enough that it appears high on a list, like an all-time list for a particular category, which attracts some extra readers.

But aside from that, I don't think scores matter much. I see no difference between having a 4.6 and a 4.8, unless the 4.8 story is near the top of a list.

I do find it humorous at least when I see comments from Anonymous saying that they didn't read past the first page, which literally is just the Introduction and a couple paragraphs of Chapter 1. It would be like if I read the first page of The Lord Of The Rings book and said, nah, this whole book is garbage.

 

[Agiel]

There are two things to avoid doing because they will result in your stories getting 1-bombed.

Don’t come on a forum complaining one or more of your stories has been bombed. It will result in more 1-bombs from those who read these threads, but aren’t necessarily writers, and who don’t comment.

There are also contributors to comments who, if they take a dislike to you for whatever reason, will register as one of your followers so they can bomb every story you submit.

I write all my stories using another pseudonym now (lowest rated story 4.67) and stopped making comments using my original name nearly two years ago because I’d made the mistake of making forthright comments and being blunt when responding to comments I didn’t agree with.

 

[LongDraw]

There are also contributors to comments who, if they take a dislike to you for whatever reason, will register as one of your followers so they can bomb every story you submit.

I write all my stories using another pseudonym now (lowest rated story 4.67) and stopped making comments using my original name nearly two years ago because I’d made the mistake of making forthright comments and being blunt when responding to comments I didn’t agree with.

You make really good point here that hadn't initially occurred to me, but switching my brain to Internet Troll mode for a minute, it makes perfect sense!

 

[Mei5ter]

There are a lot of factors that determine the score. Longer stories tend to score higher. Late chapters in long series tend to score higher (because of reader attrition). Stories in some categories, like Loving Wives, especially, tend to score lower.

So, it's useful to keep in mind that sometimes it's comparing apples and oranges.

It probably helps somewhat to have a score over 4.5, because you get a red "H" next to the story, and that may attract more readers.

It helps if your score is high enough that it appears high on a list, like an all-time list for a particular category, which attracts some extra readers.

But aside from that, I don't think scores matter much. I see no difference between having a 4.6 and a 4.8, unless the 4.8 story is near the top of a list.

Please can I ask what may be a very stupid question?

Today, I looked at my one and only published story for the first time in ages. Last time I looked, the rating was around 4.5 or 4.6, and it was on the Hot list at one point. It now seems to be down to 2.03, and I'm at a loss to understand why.

Is there any way to see if I've suddenly had lots and lots of 1 ratings? I can't find how to get this information on the dashboard.

It doesn't particularly matter in the scheme of things, but it doesn't exactly encourage me to post any more...

 

[KeithD]

Please can I ask what may be a very stupid question?

Today, I looked at my one and only published story for the first time in ages. Last time I looked, the rating was around 4.5 or 4.6, and it was on the Hot list at one point. It now seems to be down to 2.03, and I'm at a loss to understand why.

Is there any way to see if I've suddenly had lots and lots of 1 ratings? I can't find how to get this information on the dashboard.

It doesn't particularly matter in the scheme of things, but it doesn't exactly encourage me to post any more...

Literotica suffers from a zapper infestation--because they can. It's happening to others here too. You can turn voting off and just go with the joy of sharing if it gets too much for you, but it's a reality at Literotica that probably isn't going to change. Sorry you are being subjected to that.

 

[yukonnights]

Please can I ask what may be a very stupid question?

Today, I looked at my one and only published story for the first time in ages. Last time I looked, the rating was around 4.5 or 4.6, and it was on the Hot list at one point. It now seems to be down to 2.03, and I'm at a loss to understand why.

Is there any way to see if I've suddenly had lots and lots of 1 ratings? I can't find how to get this information on the dashboard.

It doesn't particularly matter in the scheme of things, but it doesn't exactly encourage me to post any more...

This sounds like a pretty severe attack to take a story down that much. If you want, you can send a PM to Laurel explaining what's happened and ask for a sweep of the votes. Can't promise she'll do it, but it has been done.

 

[dmallord]

Figuring out your vote totals

This sounds like a pretty severe attack to take a story down that much. If you want, you can send a PM to Laurel explaining what's happened and ask for a sweep of the votes. Can't promise she'll do it, but it has been done.

Please can I ask what may be a very stupid question?

Today, I looked at my one and only published story for the first time in ages. Last time I looked, the rating was around 4.5 or 4.6, and it was on the Hot list at one point. It now seems to be down to 2.03, and I'm at a loss to understand why.

Is there any way to see if I've suddenly had lots and lots of 1 ratings? I can't find how to get this information on the dashboard.

It doesn't particularly matter in the scheme of things, but it doesn't exactly encourage me to post any more...

+++

Finding such info seems a mythological quest. It would be nice if Lit provided a breakout of those scores for the writer, however that doesn't appear to be in the design for further notifications to writers. I've read a few of these threads where the desire to have scores for the writer available. Either no one in the hierarchy reads those requests, or the work load is so heavy the backend coders ignore the requests.

I keep a 'homemade' Excel spreadsheet that allows me to 'calculate' to some degree of accuracy how many scores, from 1 to 5, each of my stories receives. Its a fair approximation of the 'vote score' Lit assigns. By down loading the stats and plugging them into my 'calculator' I can come close to the voter breakdown numbers; I believe.

If you have Excel and are interested, PM me. I would be willing to share that spreadsheet with you. Not saying it's the best model, just one that I find useful to try and figure out what my votes are per story.

On another note, between Feb 14 and Feb 15, I downloaded the Lit stats and found that I lost 10 votes overall. [due to some behind the scenes corrective action by Lit?] I lost 4 votes in one story alone; it raised my score! The other 6 votes were one vote per story and didn't made a difference in the scores. No clue as to why the drops in votes occurred.

Anyone know how to 'petition' Lit to make the raw data available?

Dmallord

 

[KeithD]

On another note, between Feb 14 and Feb 15, I downloaded the Lit stats and found that I lost 10 votes overall. [due to some behind the scenes corrective action by Lit?] I lost 4 votes in one story alone; it raised my score! The other 6 votes were one vote per story and didn't made a difference in the scores. No clue as to why the drops in votes occurred.

Literotica does a correctional sweep of votes (by its own formula, which it doesn't reveal to the users) as its themed contests close voting. They did one for the February 14th announcement of the winners of the Valentine's Day contest. That's what you saw. It was done across the story file.

 

[ElectricBlue]

On another note, between Feb 14 and Feb 15, I downloaded the Lit stats and found that I lost 10 votes overall. [due to some behind the scenes corrective action by Lit?] I lost 4 votes in one story alone; it raised my score! The other 6 votes were one vote per story and didn't made a difference in the scores. No clue as to why the drops in votes occurred.

That would have been a sweep associated with the Valentine's Day Contest.

The site runs a software program through the data files on a regular basis, more often during contests, and removes suspect votes. The purge generally removes trolling one-bombs, so your vote count drops but your score generally goes up.

 

[LongDraw]

... Anyone know how to 'petition' Lit to make the raw data available?

Dmallord

I too would be interested in being able to at least have an option to download a file with at least the value of each vote in chronological order. With timestamps would be even more awesome, but not required.

 

[bigsidd]

Out of 20 stories, I would say three quarters have scores of 4 or more. For me though it's how many people favourite one of my stories or receiving a good comment means more. I received a lovely comment about one of my stories from a lady. It made my day.

 

[JackoK]

As a new author on Lit, I read this thread with great interest. I didn't know most of the stuff mentioned here, so thanks to all who provided insight into the voting/favorite process. It never occurred to me that people would "1-bomb" a story! Or that authors would create fake accounts to send their ratings up ... but I guess that's a pretty obvious ploy. My first story (published a couple of days ago) is sitting at only 3.79 after 28 votes and 5 favorites (none of them from me or any fake account of which I'm aware), so if you're above 4.25 I think you're doing quite fine. I'll keep writing and see if I can hit the magic 4.

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

As a new writer here, I’m watching my second story hover just under 4.5. I’d love to get the red H just because I’m still trying to build a following, and the visibility would help. That being said, I know my work is a bit difficult. I’m not trying to color inside the lines. Both of my stories so far have content that crosses categories, there’s complex emotional content, and I’m not writing HEA stories. By Lit standards, I’m asking a great deal of the readers, so I’m pretty damn happy with how they’re performing.

In a perfect world, I’d make two improvements to the scoring system. Firstly, I’d make the rating a median instead of a mean, to reduce the impact of one votes on stories with a low overall number of votes. And I’d require anyone voting a one to leave a comment before their vote could register.

 

[ElectricBlue]

And I’d require anyone voting a one to leave a comment before their vote could register.

Why? You'd only be deleting the comment, most of the time. Don't assume intelligence or any wisdom behind a one vote.

 

[HectorBidon]

Firstly, I’d make the rating a median instead of a mean, to reduce the impact of one votes on stories with a low overall number of votes.

The median wouldn't work so well in practice. If you still allowed people to vote 1-5 stars, then the median score would almost always be a whole number. For example, all the stories that currently have a red H (and many lower-scoring stories as well) would get a median score of 5, and there wouldn't be any way to distinguish between them.

A better option might be to use the "trimmed mean" like they do in the olympics, where you would leave out a certain percentage of the highest and lowest scores and take the average of the rest.

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

Why? You'd only be deleting the comment, most of the time. Don't assume intelligence or any wisdom behind a one vote.

Just to make them work for it. I never said it wasn’t a petty idea…

 

[mirafrida]

There's no panacea for malicious people, etc. But it seems to me that the ideal (which of course will never happen) would be to try to drive the system further toward helping people find stuff they like, and away from the "artificial stack-ranking of goodness" model.

Like, a really basic issue is that a story can end up "3.8" rated for all kinds of reasons - it could have sloppy writing, it could have a boring/unoriginal premise, it could have a kink that turns off a good number of people, it could have some idiosyncratic quirk that makes a few people mad enough to drop 1' on it, etc. etc. It's all glommed together. But for readers, the details here may matter a lot. Some people don't care about writing mechanics if the characters are great. Some people don't care if it's unoriginal as long as it's a good stroke. So, as far as helping decide whether a story is worth reading for YOU, "3.8" appears to me to be pretty close to meaningless. Yet, I believe a great many readers tend to think of it as determinative.

(A compounding quibble for me personally, as a reader and writer, is the bundling together of complete-stories and chapters. To the extent that one DOES place any merit in high-rated stories, they can be tedious to find in complete-story form, because they are simply awash in a sea of high-rated chapters. One might like for the 4.6 story you wrote to be a gateway for people who might enjoy your other stories to try them. But pretty soon that 4.6 story is lost to all but dedicated searchers, because there are 230 chapters rated "4.89" that monopolize the top-lists.)

I think the truth is that ANY story on Literotica would turn off more people than it turned on, if everyone read it. So I suspect that in addition to writing well, the key for "quantitatively successful" authors is to (a) have tastes-and-predilections that among the more popular to begin with, and (b) succeed in attracting an audience that is well-matched to those tastes-and-predilections. As an author, I'd love more tools to help me find an appropriate audience - but also to exclude people who will just be bummed out by what I write. Not easy to do in practice, of course. But the primacy of numerical ratings feels like a positive impediment.