Winter Holiday 2024 Contest Support and Seasonal Story Discussion Thread

[Erozetta]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the final winners and the scores the stories have don't always match up. I usually don't think to check until something reminds me (and It's usually a day or two past the contest end), but not only can the final sweep make a dramatic difference, but the fact that some entries are disqualified can change the winning three. I've seen (I think) two that are part of a series (not allowed). And perhaps someone with one of the top three highest rated stories has already won one of the previous two contests (their story/stories would be out of the running). Also, if someone had multiple stories in the top three, only the top-rated would be considered (the others would be out).

The point is, a lot can change all of the sudden!

Within minutes of the Halloween contest being announced all of my stories took a hit with 1s straight down the list. If you don't see the results as they are announced, you might not see the final scores as they were tallied.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

That is true, although the leading stories sometimes attract a flurry of late one bombs and do get significant boosts when those are swept out.

But, yes, lower scoring stories can not be counted out until the final results come in. I once had a story bounce fro around 4.55 to

Yeah, I had someone message me after the Halloween contest that they were confused why my story wasn’t ahead of one of the winners, and it was clearly that someone had bombed the winners. I kinda wish the scores at the time of winning were included just so people could see that, no, those stories really earned their titles, but I’m sure Laurel has a good reason not to.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the final winners and the scores the stories have don't always match up. I usually don't think to check until something reminds me (and It's usually a day or two past the contest end), but not only can the final sweep make a dramatic difference, but the fact that some entries are disqualified can change the winning three. I've seen (I think) two that are part of a series (not allowed). And perhaps someone with one of the top three highest rated stories has already won one of the previous two contests (their story/stories would be out of the running). Also, if someone had multiple stories in the top three, only the top-rated would be considered (the others would be out).

The point is, a lot can change all of the sudden!

That's all true, but also keep in mind that voting continues after the contest deadline, and in fact, the winning story will almost certainly take some one bombs after the announcement, so the results you see later may very well not match the results at the finish line.

Last year I won this contest with a score around 4.92. By the end of the next day, it was something like 4.85.

 

[StillStunned]

Last year I won this contest with a score around 4.92. By the end of the next day, it was something like 4.85.

Last night when I went to bed, my new story was 4.77. When I woke up this morning it was 4.57.

Sorry, not related to any contest. I just wanted to have a moan.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

Last night when I went to bed, my new story was 4.77. When I woke up this morning it was 4.57.

Sorry, not related to any contest. I just wanted to have a moan.

That sucks!

 

[AlexFourways]

On the 'past the deadline' 1 bombers (though I think I have detected sneaky 2 bombers), I think some who have had their 1s swept, putting them back to justify their way of thinking, so they can say - "Huh, the site admins changed to scores to suit their views, but look what the 'real' score is!" Even if that is just in the empty space between their ears!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Within minutes of the Halloween contest being announced all of my stories took a hit with 1s straight down the list. If you don't see the results as they are announced, you might not see the final scores as they were tallied.

That's all true, but also keep in mind that voting continues after the contest deadline, and in fact, the winning story will almost certainly take some one bombs after the announcement, so the results you see later may very well not match the results at the finish line.

Yes. But my point wasn't so much that I'm slow to the draw, it's that unless you have the scores of everyone with everything in consideration at the exact moment the contest closes, it's pretty difficult to predict the winners.

With that being said, a story in the mid 4.8 range and up has a decent chance. It seems that most contest winners are in that area.

 

[Actingup]

Last night when I went to bed, my new story was 4.77. When I woke up this morning it was 4.57.

Sorry, not related to any contest. I just wanted to have a moan.

Moaning is good on this site, right?

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I was curious where I stood in the ratings, so searched by story tag. There are only 38 stories listed!! One of the rules is that you must use the tag given. So are the other stories disqualified? And before you think this is pre-emptive sour grapes, I'm 11th down the list (of 38) and 0.10 behind the highest rated story. In addition to that, my highest rated story ever was 4.83 and it took over eight months to climb to that. I have absolutely no delusions that I will win. But nonetheless, are the other stories "in" the contest (on the contest page) but not qualified to win? Or are the rules outdated/incorrect?

 

[MelissaBaby]

Yes. But my point wasn't so much that I'm slow to the draw, it's that unless you have the scores of everyone with everything in consideration at the exact moment the contest closes, it's pretty difficult to predict the winners.

With that being said, a story in the mid 4.8 range and up has a decent chance. It seems that most contest winners are in that area.

That's right, there are too many moving pieces.

For an example of what you were saying, because I won the Holiday contest I was ineligible to win the Valentine's Day contest. I submitted a story, The Broke Stem Rose, anyway, because contests bring in more views, and anyway, I'm a girl who likes to be at the party. It scored very well, (still at 4.85 nearly a year later) and anyone trying to handicap the race, who did not know that rule, or that I had won the previous contest, would consider it one of the top contenders.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I was curious where I stood in the ratings, so searched by story tag. There are only 38 stories listed!! One of the rules is that you must use the tag given. So are the other stories disqualified? And before you think this is pre-emptive sour grapes, I'm 11th down the list (of 38) and 0.10 behind the highest rated story. In addition to that, my highest rated story ever was 4.83 and it took over eight months to climb to that. I have absolutely no delusions that I will win. But nonetheless, are the other stories "in" the contest (on the contest page) but not qualified to win? Or are the rules outdated/incorrect?

It is not a rule that you tag the story. The rule is that you include the story tag as a note when you submit the story, so Laurel knows it is meant to be a contest entrant.

Unless you go down th full list of entries and check the scores on each, you have no real means to predict the winner. Just about every year someone that didn't tag and that no one on the AH is familiar with, places in the top three and surprises everyone.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

For an example of what you were saying, because I won the Holiday contest I was ineligible to win the Valentine's Day contest. I submitted a story, The Broke Stem Rose, anyway, because contests bring in more views, and anyway, I'm a girl who likes to be at the party. It scored very well, (still at 4.85 nearly a year later) and anyone trying to handicap the race, who did not know that rule, or that I had won the previous contest, would consider it one of the top contenders.

I would even argue that there are others just like you -- great writers with consistently highly-rated stories that have won recent contests. So looking at the ratings, a few of the highest-rated stories could actually be out of the running. As you stated: too many moving parts. I just kick back and enjoy the ride! I wrote (what I think is) a cute, wacky, fun story that is closing in to be my third-highest viewed story on Literotica. I'm happy!!

 

[AlexFourways]

It is not a rule that you tag the story. The rule is that you include the story tag as a note when you submit the story, so Laurel knows it is meant to be a contest entrant.

Unless you go down th full list of entries and check the scores on each, you have no real means to predict the winner. Just about every year someone that didn't tag and that no one on the AH is familiar with, places in the top three and surprises everyone.

Yes, it appears that tagging your story with the 'Notes to Admin' required text (and as they say 'cut and paste' I think something automatic finds the stories for Admin) is falling out of favour, which is why I didn't bother with doing a tag search and link for this one. Pity, but possibly authors know/think 1 bombers find stories to hit by the fact thay have a nice flag attached!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

It is not a rule that you tag the story. The rule is that you include the story tag as a note when you submit the story, so Laurel knows it is meant to be a contest entrant.

Yup! I misunderstood the rule! If anyone remembers Roseanne Roseannadanna... Imagine me with a stupid confused look on my face, then saying, "Nevermind."

 

[Wineandcheese]

I’ve gone back to look at my old stories and numbers. I never figured Literotica would delve so deeply into statistical data analysis.

 

[AlexFourways]

I’ve gone back to look at my old stories and numbers. I never figured Literotica would delve so deeply into statistical data analysis.

That's because (I reckon) LitErotica authors come from the whole spectrum of society's rich panoply! (cor posh words from a Civil (and that does not mean polite) Engineer.) I bet there is a full range from left school asap to Professor and 18 to 118 (or feeling like it ) so if I as an engineer (ie a scientist with poor maths) can do a simple spreadsheet, it is not surprising that Actingup can do wonderful graphs and historic analysis.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

It honestly didn’t occur to me to add it as a tag. Brain dead much? Yes.

 

[Wineandcheese]

That's because (I reckon) LitErotica authors come from the whole spectrum of society's rich panoply! (cor posh words from a Civil (and that does not mean polite) Engineer.) I bet there is a full range from left school asap to Professor and 18 to 118 (or feeling like it ) so if I as an engineer (ie a scientist with poor maths) can do a simple spreadsheet, it is not surprising that Actingup can do wonderful graphs and historic analysis.

I’m glad that engineers are welcome here. I wonder how many of us there are.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Speaking of graphs and historic analysis... Has anyone come up with a series of charts and graphs showing various metrics for all of the winning stories? Not just ratings (which could be impossible to ascertain, though I would imagine that a story's current rating would be somewhat close), but story length, category, maybe even number of followers the winners have (again, near impossible to figure out, but I do think everyone would agree that having more dedicated followers would be a huge contest boon). I don't know. Again, unless we had all of the pertinent information at the exact time of contest winner declaration, most of the information may be useless. But there may be some interesting information in there anyway...

 

[NotWise]

I’m glad that engineers are welcome here. I wonder how many of us there are.

Never worked as an engineer (despite having the degree), so I'm an applied scientist. Some of my characters are engineers, and the readers are OK with that.

 

[WriterPerson314159]

In my old life, I wasn’t an engineer, but I was a physicist. Now I entertain myself by doing my son’s precalc homework without the answer key. Oh, and writing sexy stories.

 

[Wineandcheese]

In my old life, I wasn’t an engineer, but I was a physicist. Now I entertain myself by doing my son’s precalc homework without the answer key. Oh, and writing sexy stories.

I’m getting ready to retire in a few months. One of the projects I have in mind for afterward is to learn calculus. I have a BS degree, but it wasn’t required for my area. I’ve gotten a few strange looks when asked what my retirement plans are, and I say, “Calculus.”

And of course, increasing my erotic story count.

 

[Actingup]

Never worked as an engineer (despite having the degree), so I'm an applied scientist. Some of my characters are engineers, and the readers are OK with that.

Digression: I just looked at what my MCs do, and the associated story ratings. I've only done nine stories, so it's an easy exercise

Rated top to bottom:
Engineer & Analytical Chemist (rated 4.86)
Diplomat(s)
Botanist, economist (plus four others)
Crisis manager, nurse
Accountant, logistics consultant
Artist, trophy wife turned crime boss
Mixed disciplines (two stories)
Something in finance, sociology, human resources manager (rated below 4 - many readers hated it)

Assuming that there are no other important variables involved ( ), the engineer and chemist are the hottest couple in my pantheon.

 

[AlexFourways]

Never worked as an engineer (despite having the degree), so I'm an applied scientist. Some of my characters are engineers, and the readers are OK with that.

My first story set had a town planner (F) computer programmer (Mx4) civil engineer(M) structural engineer (F) and nobody commented.

In my old life, I wasn’t an engineer, but I was a physicist. Now I entertain myself by doing my son’s precalc homework without the answer key. Oh, and writing sexy stories.

I'll comment later...

I’m getting ready to retire in a few months. One of the projects I have in mind for afterward is to learn calculus. I have a BS degree, but it wasn’t required for my area. I’ve gotten a few strange looks when asked what my retirement plans are, and I say, “Calculus.”

And of course, increasing my erotic story count.

Enjoy your retirement, mine is 18 months old.

My comment is that an engineer is an (applied) scientist with poor maths. A scientist, (including chemists) are mathematicians with poor maths. The redeeming factor is that engineers need to be ingenious. YMMV as ever!

My writing is not helped by a semi-dyslexia (and not having a spell check on this browser). I came here to improve my writing for a couple of novels (Sci-Fi and a Sci-Fi - Fantasy). Seems to be working, but now I am doing a Sci-Fi (down as NonHuman as it is Androids and Gynoids) here! <Plug Part 0 of 'Do Androids Dream of Electic Love?' 0 Droid (Android and Gynoid Handbook -HLF) goes live tomorrow (Thursday 12) followed by Part 1 (1 An Android and Gynoid Find Love) on Friday. Four 13k story parts already! The handbook sort of sets the rules about Droid tech.>

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Yup! I misunderstood the rule! If anyone remembers Roseanne Roseannadanna... Imagine me with a stupid confused look on my face, then saying, "Nevermind."

Ah, an opportunity to show how old I am, and that my memory only hangs on to things that are useless. "Nevermind" was the tagline of a different Gilda Radner character on SNL's Weekend Update, Emily Litella.

Hope you all get good results from the contest.