Do you vote on your own stories?

[TheLobster]

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.

Unfortunately, your excellent judgment needs several hours to even surface in the publicly visible score, at which point it will probably get drowned in the sea of inferior opinions from those philistine creatures we call "readers".

 

[SimonDoom]

Unfortunately, your excellent judgment needs several hours to even surface in the publicly visible score, at which point it will probably get drowned in the sea of inferior opinions from those philistine creatures we call "readers".

All true. We just have to do the best we can.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Absolutely and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I write what I like, and I don't post it until it's written decently. So, if I like it and it's written well, why wouldn't I give it a five?

 

[ChuckWolf]

Nope.

But to be honest, a few of my stories are on the fringe of getting an H, which kinda temps me for the purpose of perhaps pushing it over, but no.

 

[old_prof]

I didnt' for my first dozen stories or so, until I started picking up 1's out of the gate. If your rating is low in those early days (and you write in a low vote category), your views get permanently whacked. It's kind pf a catch-22. I asked about what to do on a thread about 10 months ago (I think that may have been my first post). The recommendation at the time was to offset it with my own 5. I generally do that now as soon as I see the first 1. In other words, early the first day.

 

[SmilingLez]

Absolutely and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I write what I like, and I don't post it until it's written decently. So, if I like it and it's written well, why wouldn't I give it a five?

100% agree.

If I don't feel my work is worthy of five stars, why should I expect anyone else to feel that way.

 

[Writer61]

Have never done so.

Tempted to when I get a malicious 1-vote in the first ten.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

Hell yes. I also voted for myself when I ran for "chief lightbulb changer" back in fourth grade. Can't remember if I won, though.

 

[crookedletter]

I don't vote on my own stories. As much as I want my ratings to be as high as possible, I only find that rating instructive insofar as it reflects readers' reactions. My own vote feels like a finger on the scale, however small its influence.

That's not to judge others for doing it, I can see the reasons for it and they're perfectly valid. Just doesn't fit with my conception of my ratings.

 

[boo56]

I don't believe I ever have.

 

[IWroteThis]

I have not rated any of my own stories, but I don't have any problem with those that do.

I started publishing here to get feedback from other people to improve my writing. I already gave myself my own feedback throughout the editing process.

Hell yes. I also voted for myself when I ran for "chief lightbulb changer" back in fourth grade. Can't remember if I won, though.

I also voted for myself when I ran for office in school and 4-H, but that's a completely different type of voting.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

No. Never. I think that should cause the story's removal.

Very easy to vote on a long story in a few minutes. The first half dozen paragraphs are often the decider.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

No.

 

[lovecraft68]

No. Never. I think that should cause the story's removal.

Very easy to vote on a long story in a few minutes. The first half dozen paragraphs are often the decider.

If that's the case-which I don't think it should be, but I'll play along- I'd lobby to remove any story where half the comments are the author replying to every single comment.

Still not as bad as people creating an alt and commenting on their own story as if they're a different person. There was an epic example of that a few years ago.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Because of time zone differences, most of the first votes come in overnight for me. I might give a story a nudge if it makes a difference, to offset a one-bomb that's obvious, or to be the tenth vote. Depends how long the story is, too.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sure. Why not. I'm proud of what I wrote. Why not vote for it. Just like I'll put links to my stories in forum posts if I'm talking about something specific to that story. I don't post here so my stories sit in a vacuum. Of course I'm going to do things to get them noticed. It's not Like I'm voting seventeen times, or have a dozen alts to leave bogus comments as @lovecraft68 noted.
I also have links in my signature(see below VV) as a lot of other authors do. I don't see anything wrong with those either.

 

[Voboy]

Not as a rule.

I don't condemn people who do it, and I've tried it myself once or twice, but generally I think it's sort of a desperate thing to do (desperate isn't quite the right word; maybe needy is better?). Whenever I've done it, I've felt weird about it; I've not done it in years, usually as the tenth vote. I think my story is good, which is why I post it; that's my "vote." I feel like the starred votes are there for the readers. I usually prefer to let them figure things out.

If it "needs" my vote, I feel like that means I've messed up somehow: I put it in the wrong category perhaps, or I missed the mark with my title or my description. That's on me. I figure I deserve whatever it gets.

 

[lovecraft68]

Sure. Why not. I'm proud of what I wrote. Why not vote for it. Just like I'll put links to my stories in forum posts if I'm talking about something specific to that story. I don't post here so my stories sit in a vacuum. Of course I'm going to do things to get them noticed. It's not Like I'm voting seventeen times, or have a dozen alts to leave bogus comments as @lovecraft68 noted.
I also have links in my signature(see below VV) as a lot of other authors do. I don't see anything wrong with those either.

The only thing about links-and it sucks-is that it makes it easy for the trolls.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Yes, I certainly do.

Every election, one sees photos of the mayor or the president or the prime minister k ceremoniously casting their ballot. Are they voting for their opponent? Of course not. As a second analogy, does anybody bet against themself when playing poker? If I didn’t think my story was good, I wouldn’t have submitted it.

 

[TheLobster]

I don't condemn people who do it, and I've tried it myself once or twice, but generally I think it's sort of a desperate thing to do (desperate isn't quite the right word; maybe needy is better?).

It’s not quite the same, for one because the author’s vote won’t be publicly visible, but to me it’s reminiscent of liking your own Facebook posts. I get the strategic aspect of early voting on Lit, but it still feels just a tiny bit — how do dem kids say it? — cringe.

(And to further interrogate this feeling, I am of course throwing my own like on this very post). Wait, you can’t! Damn you, forum software!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Yes, I certainly do.

Every election, one sees photos of the mayor or the president or the prime minister k ceremoniously casting their ballot. Are they voting for their opponent? Of course not.

Ballots almost always have candidates for other offices, so they may be voting for those and not themself. (Yes, I know ...)

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

(And to further interrogate this feeling, I am of course throwing my own like on this very post). Wait, you can’t! Damn you, forum software!

Which could/should be implemented on stories. Just as easy to remove the vote options there as here.

 

[Voboy]

Just as easy to remove the vote options there as here.

Maybe not. One of the things that's been pretty obvious here for many years is that the story side and the forum side seem to operate in two completely separate universes.

A simple fix in here might be something that crashes the whole story side, lol.

 

[IWroteThis]

Yes, I certainly do.

Every election, one sees photos of the mayor or the president or the prime minister k ceremoniously casting their ballot. Are they voting for their opponent? Of course not. As a second analogy, does anybody bet against themself when playing poker? If I didn’t think my story was good, I wouldn’t have submitted it.

I hope that was sarcasm!

 

[designatedvictim]

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

I haven't yet voted on any of mine.

My first multipart story has under 25 votes for all but the first part, after about 17 months. Any vote I added would be excessively affecting the score.

My two T/I stories are both over 150 votes, so they don't really need any help from me.

I do have to think that the early, strategic self-vote has its place, now that it's been mentioned.

My most recent, three weeks ago, had as it's first vote a 1* in about 90 minutes. Pretty good reading speed, there, as it weighs in at 49k-words.

The fact the I got three 1* votes in the first 25 votes suppressed it's rating for the first day and a half.

I know the red H is a poor metric, but many people use it as a low-cost filter.

I'll admit that I usually do so.

My earlier T/I story got more views, faster, which I attribute to its lower initial scoring.