Discussion Thread - 8th Annual Literotica Reader's Choice Awards

[RedHairedandFriendly]

For all of you reading this post and contemplating voting for in one or more categories a few questions:
Did you vote for any stories yet? Are you prepared to announce and defend your vote on this thread? Say why you picked one story over the others? Go ahead.

I have read and voted for some stories, not all. I will eventually get to all the categories I find appealing. You didn't announce what you voted for and defended it. . . you attacked writers and their work. This wasn't professional of you, it was malice and uncalled for. If someone asks me why I voted for Ronnie W's story "The Couple" for the romance category. . . I'll tell them why. I LOVED THAT STORY! It is heart wrenching, romantic and just plan wonderful in my opinion. I read the others. I liked them, but I loved that one. If someone asked my why I picked Selena's over another's then I'll tell them. I don't have to come here and bash another's work to make mine look better. I'm just happy to be nominated in the first place.

Did you vote in any categories in which you didn’t read all the stories? Of course you did. You voted for friends, you traded votes…the same old story.

I won't read all the categories, nor will I vote in those categories which I don't read. I have not traded votes nor would I.

Do you ever wonder why there’s so little interest in Literotica contests? Why with tens of thousands of members and hundreds of thousands of readers so few people vote.

I don't wonder why there's little interest. . . there seems to be quite a bit of interests especially with the writers that write in the contests.

Why so many authors don’t even want to be nominated.

You sure wanted to be. *shrugs*

I am glad to be nominated. I am touched that others thought enough of my work to have my name beside those that in my opinion outshine me. I am thrilled that two of my chain story ideas have 4 different writers up in the Chain Story Category and nope, I'm not one of them, but I don't care. The thrill is there for them and for those stories. *shrugs*

I'm not running around bashing all the other poets in the poetry category or dissecting their work and then beautifying my own to make it look better. I am allowing it to stand on its own.

 

[cloudy]

scouries, how I vote is absolutely none of your fucking business. Nor are anyone else's votes.

Did I read the stories/poems before I voted? Absolutely. If I hadn't, I didn't vote in that category.

You might be taken more seriously if someone else had nominated one of your stories, or if one actually made it into the category nominations on it's own merits, but we both know that's just not going to happen.

ps: I've not left a comment on anything you've written because I haven't read them, and I won't. Incest just doesn't interest me, and even if it did, your self-congratulatory attitude is repulsive.

 

[Athena_e19]

Its funny that someone would go through the effort of publicizing themselves... I wasn't aware that one of my stories had been nominated and was pleasantly surprised. I don't really look for the contests or awards. I like seeing a "H" next to them and hearing back from the readers.

I was a bit surprised by the story chosen to be nominated and I assume it has something to do with the means by which they select them.

Anyways, good luck to all.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for that... um... whatever.

I'm thankful that you had never heard of me. Please don't feel obligated to read anymore of my stories, Dear. It really isn't necessary.

SW

Molly, that was the classiest thing I've ever seen.

But I know you are secretly dishing him up some kind of curse...

Scouries, rudeness begets rudeness.

 

[SweetWitch]

Shucks--now the secret's out. I've been stirring that cauldron for two days. Does anyone have a strand of his hair or a drop of his blood?.... Mwaaahaaahaaahaaa....

Molly, that was the classiest thing I've ever seen.

But I know you are secretly dishing him up some kind of curse...

Scouries, rudeness begets rudeness.

 

[wanderlustress]

This is how Miss Laurel introduced this thread on April 1st:

Discussion Thread - 8th Annual Literotica Reader's Choice Awards
________________________________________
Hello, and welcome to the 8th Annual Literotica Reader's Choice Awards. Please use this thread to discuss the nominees and the contest itself…

I just looked and there are 49 different categories to vote in. Approximately 170 stories and some 130 authors represented. And yet strangely no one except yours truly has made a post that actually compared the nominees in any category.
jrs

Maybe I'm missing something here. I'm fairly new and I don't participate much in the forums but it seems to me that the comparison of any nominees is something done by anyone BUT the nominees themselves. That's just plain old tacky and very dirty pool which is how your post reads. Also, trashing the others point-by-point to raise your rank? Really bad form. VOTE FOR ME! I AM THE BEST! Jesus Fucking Christ. My first thought was of slimy election day "ads." Get a life, indeed. Or go into politics.

 

[slyc_willie]

For all of you reading this post and contemplating voting for in one or more categories a few questions:

Did you vote for any stories yet? Are you prepared to announce and defend your vote on this thread? Say why you picked one story over the others? Go ahead.

Did you vote in any categories in which you didn’t read all the stories? Of course you did. You voted for friends, you traded votes…the same old story.

Do you ever wonder why there’s so little interest in Literotica contests? Why with tens of thousands of members and hundreds of thousands of readers so few people vote. Why so many authors don’t even want to be nominated.

jrs

For an author who hasn't had a single story nominated, you have an awful lot of shit spewing out of your mouth, Jim. But that's nothing new.

I decided to take you off ignore for tonight, just to see what self-serving crap you have spooned up. I can honestly say I wasn't disappointed, scouries. You're like a bad drive-in movie that takes itself seriously, yet we can't help but laugh at. The dancing bear that thinks, in its own limited way, that people admire it.

Don't go blasting others for blasting you when you brought this on yourself. You're a half-assed writer and an ignorant one, at that. Instead of endearing yourself by making friends, you thought you could prance into the AH like some pompous pansy on a purple horse and proclaim yourself prince. Lordy be! You didn't get the welcome you expected.

What is a weak, fragile ego to do? Oh, I know -- lash out at those with talent, those whom REAL readers and voters have praised. Then fall back behind the false shield of numbers and proclaim yourself somehow better.

I hope you enjoy your fantasy world, scouries, because that seems to be the only place you receive any real praise. If you really were as good as you claim, you would have been recognized by your own merits, NOT by your self-promotion.

Personally, I find it funny that you tout a story that, amongst all you have written, has one of the lowest scores. But then, that 'AH conspiracy' is to blame, isn't it?

Perhaps, instead of attacking others, and defending your mediocre writing, you should rather make the effort to be a bit more humble . . . and a bit more skilled. You must be well aware that the only reason you get high views and votes is because you cater to one of the largest audiences on Lit. It's not skill you have. That's pretty obvious from your style of writing. It's patronization.

Try writing something other than Incest. Maybe Erotic Couplings? Romance? Group Sex? Are you afraid to venture out of your little box, scouries?

Of course you are.

Go back in your little hole . . . you know, the one from which you were born.

----

LOL . . . that was fun.

Regarding the politics of voting:

Not many readers make it to this part of the website. The majority who do are not actually readers, but authors. So it is understandable why the voting for stories of the year are numerically low. That really should not surprise anyone.

Instead, it should be stressed that those who DO vote are the more serious-minded amongst the authors, the more mature. Those who vote based upon the strengths of the story. Save any arguments of 'scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.' If there is any forum, any thread, where that sentiment does not apply, it is here.

Any arguments to the contrary are fueled by nothing more than jealousy and self-loathing.

I've said my bit.

And just for you, my dear little jrs, I'll keep you off ignore for the next day or so . . . just because your rants are so amusing

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

Any arguments to the contrary are fueled by nothing more than jealousy and self-loathing.

I've said my bit.

And just for you, my dear little jrs, I'll keep you off ignore for the next day or so . . . just because your rants are so amusing

I lust you. . . *stalk*

 

[Sherry Hawk]

For an author who hasn't had a single story nominated, you have an awful lot of shit spewing out of your mouth, Jim.

Oh, but he does!

He just had to nominate it himself, that's all.

Try writing something other than Incest. Maybe Erotic Couplings? Romance? Group Sex?

Or even Non-Erotic, where it takes real skill to gather an audience on a site like this. But I think you're completely correct - he's afraid to.

 

[4glory6]

Overboarding

I think the best response to Scouries on this is just not to respond (with voting) to the maneuvering that is blatant, yes, but at least honest--it's quite evident from the voting across Literotica that Scouries is just being honest about what is rampant here (but probably unavoidable). The piling on of this thread is starting to get mob mentality screechy and looks like it's hiding some nervous twitching of Scouries hitting pretty close to the truth about the vote clubbing here and the various "shining stars" of the voting clubs.

From what I read of the various contests going on, the winners aren't remotely related to the best stories by content, relevance to the contest theme, richness of writing, and/or story telling--and not even by virtue of the "heat" they generate. Anything short of a blind, independent judges contest on the Internet is a cross between a clubbing popularity contest and that of having access to a whole lot of separate computers/ISPs and thumb-strumming time on your hands. It can get nasty on sites like this one when money becomes involved--and than all consideration of the quality of the story itself seems to fly out of the window.

At least Scouries is being honest. (But I disagree with a couple of points Scouries made: If a character weaves through more than one story posted here, I certainly think they should all be taken into account on the character-driven contest categories. These particular categories are based on the character, not an individual story. And, also, Scourie wasn't, as was claimed, either the only one here or even the first one here who proposed a comparison between entries. Way back there, I suggested that a comparison be made based on the closest this Web site has to a non-clubbing identification of intrinsically good stories--the awarding of Es by the site editors. I invited comparison in one of the cateogories based on this nearly objective criteria. But of course the voting hasn't gone that way at all. I'd bet my favorite purse the preponderance of voters don't even read the stories. That's not remotely what contests on this site are all about, the nervous posturing of the "in crowd" on this thread notwithstanding)

 

[Darkniciad]

I'd bet my favorite purse the preponderance of voters don't even read the stories. That's not remotely what contests on this site are all about, the nervous posturing of the "in crowd" on this thread notwithstanding)

Considering the category in question requires nomination of a character within a story, your theory doesn't really fly. Someone has to have read the story to nominate them. The same holds true for all the special categories. Once the voting starts it may well be a different story, but somebody has to have been struck by the element of the category in the story to make a nomination.

Nobody generates a fan base for their work on the forum. Their work has to stand up to get votes. There are far more readers than posters.

The reaction in this thread is entirely based upon Scouries' arrogance. He sees the system as broken for one reason only -- it doesn't venerate him as a god amongst mere mortals. His posts show that with little room for doubt.

 

[TxRad]

All I can say on this is that Scouries has done his usual job of making himself the main topic of conversation....

As for the AH being a voting block... there are to many smart and opinionated people there for that. Since the year end is in the forum section only registered members of Lit vote as was pointed out earlier. Other than my bias against chapters being in the contest (I think it should be the whole story and not just a chapter) I read everything in a cat before I vote, the majority of us do. Anyone who thinks differently doesn't know the members of the AH.

4glory6... for someone who has been here for six or seven months with only 6 posts, you sure have have a good grasp on this situation. Scouries does this infomercial crap all the time. He also didn't make any friends when he took it on himself to critic all the entries in a contest not to long ago....

Now lets forget this crap and get back to something productive.

 

[4glory6]

Naivete or Blowing Smoke?

"Considering the category in question requires nomination of a character within a story, your theory doesn't really fly."

It's not a theory, it's a logical practice. Sure you can show up to art class with a coloring book, put your book up on an easle, and color inside the lines, if you like. But on a literary website (and this one seems more literary than most of the erotica websites), someone who is actually literary will consider the development of the character wherever she/he is found--not just in one story if the character is found in more than one. (And note that I was disagreeing here with what Scourie said I "had" to do).

"Someone has to have read the story to nominate them."

Of course they don't. Are you just being naive or are you blowing smoke here?

"The same holds true for all the special categories."

Of course it doesn't.

"Once the voting starts it may well be a different story, but somebody has to have been struck by the element of the category in the story to make a nomination."

Of course they don't. And as Scourie seems to admit, you can nominate your own story in the special categories (and can manipulate the votes leading to nomination in other categories if something as juvenile as that lights your engine.)

"Nobody generates a fan base for their work on the forum. Their work has to stand up to get votes. There are far more readers than posters."

Did you have on a straight face when you wrote this? Utter rubbish, of course. Of course writers are busy here generating their own fan base--and on much more than their expertise as a writer/storytelling. And of course their work doesn't have to "stand up" to get votes. All it has to do is get votes--however they are got, and there are so, so many ways of manufacturing votes on this (as other) websites. What a horse laugh. This was one of Scourie's points and is my essential point here. It only matters, though, in the contests--and only there in the extent to which people (and their buddies) will vote up their own stuff (and vote down everyone else's) just to get a few bucks and a false sense of accomplishment.

"The reaction in this thread is entirely based upon Scouries' arrogance."

No it's not. Of course it's not. It's partly based on Scourie's arrogance--and probably his playfulness too. It's at least as much based on the clubbers circling the wagons for their own. And it looks like Scourie has done a great job of flushing you all out again.

I'm not defending Scourie's baldly bad manners here or his poking of the lion on the contesting myths here, but if you weren't just circling the wagons around your girlfriends, you'd just ignore him--and not bother to vote for work he's admitted was self-nominated.

"4glory6... for someone who has been here for six or seven months with only 6 posts, you sure have have a good grasp on this situation."

Thanks. I'm happy you've noticed. The good grasp, of course, comes from spending my time actually reading the stories (and ignoring the social forums with all the buddy work that entails) and looking for the good ones on the basis of the individual stories themselves rather than on joining the various circles of friends and voting up anything they post (and negative voting anything that might threaten their work's ratings by actually being far better stories.) It's called objectivity and focusing on the stories rather than the writers' social skills.

 

[Sherry Hawk]

4glory6: your arrogance does you a disservice. I'm quite willing to listen to what you say until you start denigrating me, or anyone else, as someone's "girlfriend" or a "clubber," or whatever.

If you'd like to speak civilly without calling names, I'd be glad to discuss anything you like. Until then, I'll place you squarely in the "too arrogant by half" category, along with your buddy scouries.

You, at least, seem to have intelligence. Too bad you ruin it with your ill-disguised attitude towards women, and a superiority complex to rival that of scouries.

 

[starrkers]

"Someone has to have read the story to nominate them."

Of course they don't. Are you just being naive or are you blowing smoke here?

"The same holds true for all the special categories."

Of course it doesn't.

"Once the voting starts it may well be a different story, but somebody has to have been struck by the element of the category in the story to make a nomination."

Of course they don't. And as Scourie seems to admit, you can nominate your own story in the special categories (and can manipulate the votes leading to nomination in other categories if something as juvenile as that lights your engine.)

I think you missed TxRad's point - to nominate a character in a story, you have to know at least the name of the character, therefore you must have read the story.

I've been hanging around here for a few months now, and I find the concept of an AH "club" a tad amusing. If you spend any time in the Author's Hangout you know how much that group of people loves to disagree. It's not a club, it's several clubs and they're all pretty damn small. Too small, I hazard a guess, to actually make a difference in the voting scheme of things, particularly if, as scouries says, he gets hundreds of votes for each story he writes (I'm jealous of your ability to attract an audience, mate).
The AH crowd does stand out, because its members tend to leave comments on things they read, rather than reading and moving on, or (far less often) reading and voting and moving on. But they are by no means a big enough group (even if they were to band together to block vote - and I seriously don't believe they do) to manipulate the scores of stories with hundreds of votes.
They may be able to get a story its 10 votes for an H, but they don't have the numbers to get a story over the hump for the monthly contests.

 

[Sherry Hawk]

I've been hanging around here for a few months now, and I find the concept of an AH "club" a tad amusing. If you spend any time in the Author's Hangout you know how much that group of people loves to disagree.

It IS funny. Everytime I've heard people complain about the AH, it's always someone who never posts there.

 

[Darkniciad]

"The reaction in this thread is entirely based upon Scouries' arrogance."

No it's not. Of course it's not. It's partly based on Scourie's arrogance--and probably his playfulness too. It's at least as much based on the clubbers circling the wagons for their own. And it looks like Scourie has done a great job of flushing you all out again.

https://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=22094182&postcount=4

Your post contains the same sort of advertisement for your nomination. You posted without the arrogant tone and denigration of other nominated stories, however.

Nobody jumped on you.

Scouries does it, with an arrogant tone and long dissertation of how the other stories aren't worthy to stand next to his.

People get ticked off.

You come back in with a series of smug accusations

https://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=22287011&postcount=35

People are ticked off.

See a pattern developing?

As to the conspiracy theory: It doesn't work too well. I see five or six authors with 0-2 posts in the top three spots of the last few themed contests. What happened there?

There are a lot of damn good authors on the forum. Forum posters also are more involved in the voting process. If Joe Reader took the time to click the vote button more often, the miniscule number of forum posters would have zero effect on anything. That's where the skew comes in.

 

[4glory6]

Right . . . to a Point

"I think you missed TxRad's point."

Yes, I think I didn't give that point a full helping of probability. My bad on that. On two of the fistful of categories, it's probable (but not physically "had to" as either you or SH posted) that the story was read. That, of course, is a micro point in the macro "discussion" and seems more smoke blowing. There really wasn't a question that the clubbers read each other's stories--there's just little probability they read anyone else's before giving their friends (because they are their friends) a "5" and anyone else a "1." (Or make their friends' stories hot within ten minutes of being posted.)

As for the rest, I'm hardly surprised when my point is that the clubbers circle the wagons and turn the attack on anyone pointing a flashlight at the realities of contesting here that the clubbers are circling the wagons and turning the attack on me here.

SH's we/them (which would qualify her for a cabinet post in the Bush administration's "ya ain't with us, you're with the terrorists" mind-set) statement that I am a buddy of Scouries based on what I have posted about Scouries pretty much evidences the point, doesn't it? (insert grin here.) Enough said. Gang bang on. As I said, it's highly likely you are exhibiting your ways just as Scourie intended that you do on this thread.

 

[4glory6]

Huh?

"I see five or six authors with 0-2 posts in the top three spots of the last few themed contests. What happened there?"

Where did I post that vote clubbing here was necessarily AH based? (It took me the longest time to figure out even what AH stood for.)

 

[Sherry Hawk]

"I think you missed TxRad's point."

Yes, I think I didn't give that point a full helping of probability. My bad on that. On two of the fistful of categories, it's probable (but not physically "had to" as either you or SH posted) that the story was read. That, of course, is a micro point in the macro "discussion" and seems more smoke blowing. There really wasn't a question that the clubbers read each other's stories--there's just little probability they read anyone else's before giving their friends (because they are their friends) a "5" and anyone else a "1." (Or make their friends' stories hot within ten minutes of being posted.)

As for the rest, I'm hardly surprised when my point is that the clubbers circle the wagons and turn the attack on anyone pointing a flashlight at the realities of contesting here that the clubbers are circling the wagons and turning the attack on me here.

SH's we/them (which would qualify her for a cabinet post in the Bush administration's "ya ain't with us, you're with the terrorists" mind-set) statement that I am a buddy of Scouries based on what I have posted about Scouries pretty much evidences the point, doesn't it? (insert grin here.) Enough said. Gang bang on. As I said, it's highly likely you are exhibiting your ways just as Scourie intended that you do on this thread.

Hello, Sarahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

(if you're not her, I certainly apologize, but your writing style is strikingly similar, as if you/she has done some growing up, but is still as arrogant as always)

 

[4glory6]

Accepted

Apology certainly accepted, as I'm not "Sarahhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

But I can see the pattern here. You seem to be a seriously we/them person. If someone isn't totally "we," they must have some growing to do and they must be arrogant and a buddy of Scouries. I know, life is so easy when you keep it simple.

I can also see why I was only coming to Literotica in search of good stories (which are certainly not indexed well for me by the way the rating system is played here). Play on.

 

[Sherry Hawk]

Apology certainly accepted, as I'm not "Sarahhhhhhhhhhhhhh."

But I can see the pattern here. You seem to be a seriously we/them person. If someone isn't totally "we," they must have some growing to do and they must be arrogant and a buddy of Scouries. I know, life is so easy when you keep it simple.

I can also see why I was only coming to Literotica in search of good stories (which are certainly not indexed well for me by the way the rating system is played here). Play on.

Why do you assume so much when you obviously know me so little?

Doesn't that imply arrogance to you? Because it does to me.

Play on, yourself.

 

[TxRad]

I've been here a while and I read very little of anyones work... why? because I don't want to worry that anything from someone else will show up in my writing. The times I have voted I have given what i thought was a fair vote for the story, period, whether i knew the person or not... The only one vote I ever gave was for a piece of crap with very little if any story and more errors than i make typing in a hurry and that's a fucking lot.

Quit making wholesale assumptions about people you don't know....

 

[FatDino]

"Considering the category in question requires nomination of a character within a story, your theory doesn't really fly."

It's not a theory, it's a logical practice. Sure you can show up to art class with a coloring book, put your book up on an easle, and color inside the lines, if you like. But on a literary website (and this one seems more literary than most of the erotica websites), someone who is actually literary will consider the development of the character wherever she/he is found--not just in one story if the character is found in more than one. (And note that I was disagreeing here with what Scourie said I "had" to do).

"Someone has to have read the story to nominate them."

Of course they don't. Are you just being naive or are you blowing smoke here?

"The same holds true for all the special categories."

Of course it doesn't.

"Once the voting starts it may well be a different story, but somebody has to have been struck by the element of the category in the story to make a nomination."

Of course they don't. And as Scourie seems to admit, you can nominate your own story in the special categories (and can manipulate the votes leading to nomination in other categories if something as juvenile as that lights your engine.)

"Nobody generates a fan base for their work on the forum. Their work has to stand up to get votes. There are far more readers than posters."

Did you have on a straight face when you wrote this? Utter rubbish, of course. Of course writers are busy here generating their own fan base--and on much more than their expertise as a writer/storytelling. And of course their work doesn't have to "stand up" to get votes. All it has to do is get votes--however they are got, and there are so, so many ways of manufacturing votes on this (as other) websites. What a horse laugh. This was one of Scourie's points and is my essential point here. It only matters, though, in the contests--and only there in the extent to which people (and their buddies) will vote up their own stuff (and vote down everyone else's) just to get a few bucks and a false sense of accomplishment.

"The reaction in this thread is entirely based upon Scouries' arrogance."

No it's not. Of course it's not. It's partly based on Scourie's arrogance--and probably his playfulness too. It's at least as much based on the clubbers circling the wagons for their own. And it looks like Scourie has done a great job of flushing you all out again.

I'm not defending Scourie's baldly bad manners here or his poking of the lion on the contesting myths here, but if you weren't just circling the wagons around your girlfriends, you'd just ignore him--and not bother to vote for work he's admitted was self-nominated.

"4glory6... for someone who has been here for six or seven months with only 6 posts, you sure have have a good grasp on this situation."

Thanks. I'm happy you've noticed. The good grasp, of course, comes from spending my time actually reading the stories (and ignoring the social forums with all the buddy work that entails) and looking for the good ones on the basis of the individual stories themselves rather than on joining the various circles of friends and voting up anything they post (and negative voting anything that might threaten their work's ratings by actually being far better stories.) It's called objectivity and focusing on the stories rather than the writers' social skills.

Just for the record, there's something called a Quote button on Lit, you know? Kinda like...oh say, what I just used.

eta: For such a short post (since I don't count what you "quoted" from the others), you've used the word "of course" 8 times. So here's a thought, if you're so confident about your words, why don't you become a scientist? You know, cuz science is about truths and certain facts anyway. Just a suggestion, it may be helpful in future.

 

[slyc_willie]

Yes, I think I didn't give that point a full helping of probability. My bad on that. On two of the fistful of categories, it's probable (but not physically "had to" as either you or SH posted) that the story was read. That, of course, is a micro point in the macro "discussion" and seems more smoke blowing. There really wasn't a question that the clubbers read each other's stories--there's just little probability they read anyone else's before giving their friends (because they are their friends) a "5" and anyone else a "1." (Or make their friends' stories hot within ten minutes of being posted.)

As for the rest, I'm hardly surprised when my point is that the clubbers circle the wagons and turn the attack on anyone pointing a flashlight at the realities of contesting here that the clubbers are circling the wagons and turning the attack on me here.

SH's we/them (which would qualify her for a cabinet post in the Bush administration's "ya ain't with us, you're with the terrorists" mind-set) statement that I am a buddy of Scouries based on what I have posted about Scouries pretty much evidences the point, doesn't it? (insert grin here.) Enough said. Gang bang on. As I said, it's highly likely you are exhibiting your ways just as Scourie intended that you do on this thread.

Before you start talking out of your ass again, try writing a story and having it posted on lit. Until then, you're just a big-mouthed tourist with the wrong guide book for the country you're in.