Do you vote on your own stories?

[CalBishForNow]

I wouldn't be too surprised by answers of either "no, that's cheating" or "yes, 5s all the way," but I'd be interested if anyone has any other answers.

I generally rate myself 5 stars. If I don't like my own work, who would? Posting mostly in LW, every little bit of positivity helps. I figure it doesn’t matter too much either way. New stories seem to post at midnight EST and I have a 9-to-5 job, so almost every one of my stories has had multiple votes before I get up, so whatever I do doesn't change things too much. My story with the lowest number of votes has 27, not counting two less than a week old, so at best/worst it's just a nudge in a positive direction to counteract the trolls everyone complains about. But if consensus is that you/we don't/shouldn't vote on your own stories on principle, I'll stop.

It doesn’t matter except for today, that is, when I posted my first entry in the Reviews & Essays category, with pitiful viewership compared to the actual stories. I'm having a heady feeling of godlike power! I could see a perfect 5 stars by my name for probably the first time ever, or one single star if I want to watch the world burn without hurting anyone's feelings!

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't but don't think its a big deal if people do.

There's an author who wrote in an old how to that seeing you need 10 votes to get an H and an H drives votes to do it and right away to get there faster.

But seeing you post in LW the H is probably out the window anyway

 

[SimonDoom]

Not usually, but I've done it a few times. I think I've done it in a few cases where my story was right on the verge of a 4.5 and I thought my vote could push it over the line. But this is the exception.

I don't see it as a big deal if authors do this. My feeling is if the site makes features available you are free to use them.

 

[StillStunned]

I do - my opinion of my story is as valid as anyone's, after all - and I try to get my vote in during the 30 minutes or so between the story being published and the New Stories lists for the categories being updated. The theory is that readers' eyes are more likely to be drawn to a story that already has a yellow star.

But my latest story has taken three and a half weeks to get to 1k views, so that theory might be total nonsense.

 

[onehitwanda]

No. My vote is that I published it.

 

[StrentWriter]

No.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Yes, guilty as charged and not sorry at all! If I didn't think my stories were worth five stars, I'd do another round of proofreading before publishing it.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

1*

 

[CalBishForNow]

But seeing you post in LW the H is probably out the window anyway

Just to be clear, my stories are like 50 percent LW right now, and I've got some Hs on the other stories, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the good scores. I'm just saying it feels even more justified in LW than other categories.

 

[TheLobster]

 

[BellaBestia]

lol I didn’t even know I had an option to vote for myself but I echo Wanda’s statement

 

[Dnthmn_19]

Of course I vote 5s for myself.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I do vote, and can honestly say that I don't always give myself five stars.

I consider the reception of the readers before grading myself.

 

[TheLobster]

Like Wanda et al., I don’t. Since I mostly write in T/I or other high traffic categories (or for contests / events), my single vote wouldn’t matter much anyway.

I was admittedly quite tempted when my VD entry copped a 3.5 rating in two votes immediately after publication (it’s 4.68 after sweeps), but figured I’m not in the running anyway, so…

 

[CalBishForNow]

I do vote, and can honestly say that I don't always give myself five stars.

I consider the reception of the readers before grading myself.

That's interesting. Like, you wait for comments to see if people took the characters or plot points the way you wanted?

 

[Djmac1031]

Yes, I vote on my own stories. But generally I wait and see where it's going first. I always wait until ten legitimate votes come in. That way I know whether or not it earned the Red H on its own.

If it hasn't, my 5 star isn't necessarily gonna push it over the top anyway. But I feel it at least slightly counter balances that One Bomb you know some troll who didn't even finish reading it left.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I don't but don't think its a big deal if people do.

There's an author who wrote in an old how to that seeing you need 10 votes to get an H and an H drives votes to do it and right away to get there faster.

That's always been my practice. It's purely tactical. You're only going to be on the new stories list for a limited time. The sooner you get that H, the more eyes you should draw to your story.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

That's interesting. Like, you wait for comments to see if people took the characters or plot points the way you wanted?

I gauge all the feedback: votes, comments, views, e-mails, favorites.

These vary with the story, its length, and of course, the category.

I gave myself five stars for this story

Out of 1,600 views, it received 686 votes, 43 favorites, 20 comments, and 14 e-mails.

But I only gave myself three stars for these


No matter how well written I might have considered them, they didn't resonate with the readers as expected. That is on me.

 

[THBGato]

Yes, I do. And why not? I enjoy them after all!

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I vote 5 for my stories, poetry and audios

 

[lovecraft68]

That's always been my practice. It's purely tactical. You're only going to be on the new stories list for a limited time. The sooner you get that H, the more eyes you should draw to your story.

The one that was published today was a 3.09 after 9 votes, it was already hopeless even if I wanted to.

Funny how within a half hour a 14 page story received a half dozen votes. People sure do read fast.

 

[TheLobster]

I gauge all the feedback: votes, comments, views, e-mails, favorites.

These vary with the story, its length, and of course, the category.

I gave myself five stars for this story
View attachment 2596510
Out of 1,600 views, it received 686 votes, 43 favorites, 20 comments, and 14 e-mails.

But I only gave myself three stars for these
View attachment 2596511
View attachment 2596512
No matter how well written I might have considered them, they didn't resonate with the readers as expected. That is on me.

Why, though? I don't see the point.

If you only cast your vote after there is already a significant enough number of other votes to create a reasonable average, and your vote is equal to said average, then you're not influencing the score pretty much at all and you could simply refrain from voting altogether.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Why, though? I don't see the point.

If you only cast your vote after there is already a significant enough number of other votes to create a reasonable average, and your vote is equal to said average, then you're not influencing the score pretty much at all and you could simply refrain from voting altogether.

I don't vote to influence the score.

I vote to personally acknowledge reader reception to the story as I perceive it from the feedback.

 

[SimonDoom]

One way to look at it is that if I didn't vote on my story, potential readers would lack the benefit of my judgment, which is excellent.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I once knew a site where you had to vote before commenting, so on the rare occasions when I needed to comment on myself, I voted 3, believing this was best for preserving the average of other people's genuine votes.

However, the 'average' here is more like 4.5, so if I had to vote now (I can't imagine any reason why I'd want to, and I don't think the option should be there) I might consider 4 - I did like my story, that's why I decided it was polished enough to post. This wouldn't shift it very far away from its existing value.