Every story I post gets 1 star’d

[pink_silk_glove]

... way to many people here think their work is so amazing anything less than 5 is obviously due to a troll because how could anyone give a 2 or 4 to such an incredible writer.

...

Meanwhile how many threads do we see here of people crying their story got bumped or their 4.89 is now a 4.87 and oh, the injustice!

Imagine if people cared more about their stories than the after effect of the voting? if they did this forum might actually be about writing and less of a running butthurt report.

Yup. Pretty much. But if you call them out on it, you're a rotten insensitive bitch queen of the universe, and sometimes they even go bomb your stories over it. ; )

 

[SimonDoom]

The extraordinary quantity of handwringing over 1-bombs and negative voting generally never ceases to amaze me, and if I'm not mistaken, the amount of handwringing has increased over time. One might think that after 27 years, people would accept "this is the way the site does things, even if I think it's daft," but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I've experienced lots and lots of 1-bombing of my stories. At first, when I experienced it 9 years ago, I was a bit shocked. Then I got used to it, and now I don't care, even though it still happens.

The site's owners have expressly said that they're not going to change the unregistered/anonymous voting/comment policy, because the majority of votes and comments are anonymous, so such restrictions would more than cut in half total reader interaction with stories here. I personally think that's a sound policy. All an author has to do is adjust expectations concerning scores. It seems like a sensible trade-off to me. One can go to other sites if one doesn't like it, but I don't understand the concept of wanting to go somewhere where your readership will be dramatically reduced just so your story feedback is limited to kudos and pats on the back. As Lovecraft has pointed out, the system already is set up so it's skewed very heavily toward favorable votes, so, objectively speaking, most of us are getting higher scores than we deserve, if a 1-5 point scale is supposed to be a meaningful scoring system. One is free to feel that way, but I don't get it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Yup. Pretty much. But if you call them out on it, you're a rotten insensitive bitch queen of the universe, and sometimes they even go bomb your stories over it. ; )

Bitch King in my case, thank you very much.

 

[Writer61]

As Lovecraft has pointed out, the system already is set up so it's skewed very heavily toward favorable votes, so, objectively speaking, most of us are getting higher scores than we deserve, if a 1-5 point scale is supposed to be a meaningful scoring system.

Exactly.

The system is what it is. The only sensible way to see the rating of your story is as a relative measure.

 

[lovecraft68]

The extraordinary quantity of handwringing over 1-bombs and negative voting generally never ceases to amaze me, and if I'm not mistaken, the amount of handwringing has increased over time. One might think that after 27 years, people would accept "this is the way the site does things, even if I think it's daft," but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I've experienced lots and lots of 1-bombing of my stories. At first, when I experienced it 9 years ago, I was a bit shocked. Then I got used to it, and now I don't care, even though it still happens.

The site's owners have expressly said that they're not going to change the unregistered/anonymous voting/comment policy, because the majority of votes and comments are anonymous, so such restrictions would more than cut in half total reader interaction with stories here. I personally think that's a sound policy. All an author has to do is adjust expectations concerning scores. It seems like a sensible trade-off to me. One can go to other sites if one doesn't like it, but I don't understand the concept of wanting to go somewhere where your readership will be dramatically reduced just so your story feedback is limited to kudos and pats on the back. As Lovecraft has pointed out, the system already is set up so it's skewed very heavily toward favorable votes, so, objectively speaking, most of us are getting higher scores than we deserve, if a 1-5 point scale is supposed to be a meaningful scoring system. One is free to feel that way, but I don't get it.

The only thing I'd say differently in your post is when you say the system is skewed heavily toward good votes. The system itself isn't skewed one way or another; here are your options 1-5. It's the readership that has pushed it to a highly favorable curve. Which to me is great because taking away the constant spin of 'well it looks that way, but... it shows that these people are inclined to appreciate and reward our efforts and what more can we ask for? Here's my story, hope you like it and we get a good score which is them saying "we like it! Thank you!"

Its a positive thing that people just can't accept. My wife uses that "some people aren't happy unless they're not happy" expression a lot, and I think it fits here. Lit has a very basic system because its not set up to be this detailed critique site some seem to want and the reality is they want that because they want to think they're better than 'author X' as in his 5 was just handed to him, but theirs? Oh, better believe that's real.

I feel narcissism and inflated ego is a big part of what's behind the complaining here.

But like you said at the start a bomb or especially a nasty comment can get your attention but a lot of us quickly realize those are outliers and we deal with them.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The extraordinary quantity of handwringing over 1-bombs and negative voting generally never ceases to amaze me, and if I'm not mistaken, the amount of handwringing has increased over time. One might think that after 27 years, people would accept "this is the way the site does things, even if I think it's daft," but that doesn't seem to be the case.

It's the Fakebooker, InStaCrapper, TikkY Tikky generation of 'I gotta have ALL 5 stars NOW!!!!'

I see it on places where employees discuss the reviews customers are enticed to fill out after each store transaction (the ones at the bottom of receipts). They say Managers threaten their jobs if they get anything less than a 10.

 

[SimonDoom]

The only thing I'd say differently in your post is when you say the system is skewed heavily toward good votes. The system itself isn't skewed one way or another; here are your options 1-5. It's the readership that has pushed it to a highly favorable curve. Which to me is great because taking away the constant spin of 'well it looks that way, but... it shows that these people are inclined to appreciate and reward our efforts and what more can we ask for? Here's my story, hope you like it and we get a good score which is them saying "we like it! Thank you!"

Its a positive thing that people just can't accept. My wife uses that "some people aren't happy unless they're not happy" expression a lot, and I think it fits here. Lit has a very basic system because its not set up to be this detailed critique site some seem to want and the reality is they want that because they want to think they're better than 'author X' as in his 5 was just handed to him, but theirs? Oh, better believe that's real.

I feel narcissism and inflated ego is a big part of what's behind the complaining here.

But like you said at the start a bomb or especially a nasty comment can get your attention but a lot of us quickly realize those are outliers and we deal with them.

I agree, but I think the "system" creates the skew in one way: the red H, which requires a mean score of 4.5 or more. Since the reader can only vote 1-5, any vote under 5 will hurt the chances of a story getting a red H. This appears to skew scores high. Authors have obviously gotten deeply attached to their red Hs, because any suggestion of getting rid of or changing the system seems to ruffle their feathers. But at the same time, it doesn't mean anything when a 4.5 is little more than mean score. The red H literally conveys no useful information to a reader that the numerical score does not. It's become a mischievous talisman at Literotica.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The red H literally conveys no useful information to a reader that the numerical score does not. It's become a mischievous talisman at Literotica.

And those stories aren't always worthy of it.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

But .. here we are on yet another of the multitudes of voting/scoring/rating threads rehashing all the same stuff we always do. We could almost have a multiple choice drop down of responses so we didn't have to type them each time.

 

[lovecraft68]

I agree, but I think the "system" creates the skew in one way: the red H, which requires a mean score of 4.5 or more. Since the reader can only vote 1-5, any vote under 5 will hurt the chances of a story getting a red H. This appears to skew scores high. Authors have obviously gotten deeply attached to their red Hs, because any suggestion of getting rid of or changing the system seems to ruffle their feathers. But at the same time, it doesn't mean anything when a 4.5 is little more than mean score. The red H literally conveys no useful information to a reader that the numerical score does not. It's become a mischievous talisman at Literotica.

That's a good point, I wasn't considering the H, just the scores, so yeah, now I see what you mean.

The H seems to be a love/hate thing. People here will trash it as being "unfair" because the hot story gets more views, but say you'll ditch it and that's a source of contention as well.

But going back to my other point as just proven by @Five_Inch_Heels it's more of the double standard of "that H is underserved but mine always is"

 

[SimonDoom]

But .. here we are on yet another of the multitudes of voting/scoring/rating threads rehashing all the same stuff we always do. We could almost have a multiple choice drop down of responses so we didn't have to type them each time.

One could say this about many conversations we have in this forum: the AI problem, underage stories, nonconsent, approval delays. Maybe we should be given a menu of emojis to make our views known and dispense with all the words.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

One of my browsers used to be able to support an Add On called BBCodeEXtra where you could create and save a number of custom text strings. I literally could and did use a number of selectable phrases for commonly asked questions on some forums.

 

[Writer61]

The red H literally conveys no useful information to a reader that the numerical score does not. It's become a mischievous talisman at Literotica.

True, but it is easier to see than having to scan through every entry in a story list.

And those stories aren't always worthy of it.

Perhaps, but a) that's in your opinion, and b) the more ratings a story receives, the lower the risk of that.

 

[YmaOHyd]

One might think that after 27 years, people would accept "this is the way the site does things, even if I think it's daft," but that doesn't seem to be the case.

What's going on with toplists is new in the last year or two. There's been a massive deflation of scores site-wide, and that's bizarre.

 

[old_prof]

What's going on with toplists is new in the last year or two. There's been a massive deflation of scores site-wide, and that's bizarre.

More precisely, I think it's a compression. The top 10-20% of the stories have been squashed together but unchecked one-bombing. Like many others here, I have had multiple stories make the all time top-ten lists. I think I only have one still in a top ten. I'm not sure any of mine should actually in the top ten for a category, even by the flawed ratings (minus the 1-bombs). I'd be curious what the top ten or hundred highest rated stories are, but there is no way to know because the top scores are so distorted by the bombs. Part of the problem is how shewed the ratings are, with me being disappointed with each 4. (To comment on @lovecraft68's comment, I hated every B I got just as much and that was before nearly iso much grade inflation as we see now.)

I have said this before. The rating system works reasonably (but certainly not perfectly) for the intended audience, the readers. The authors are an afterthought in the ecosystem here, but that's because we don't pay the bills, the readers do. Yes, there would eventually be no readers with no authors, but there are always new one to replace us. That's the reality. The readers want to know if a story is good enough to be worth reading. The difference between a "true" 4.8 story and a "true" 4.9 story is probably swamped by individual differences in taste for any given reader. So they don't care and shouldn't.

Our egos do care. Maybe we shouldn't let it, but that's human nature. And it's not just the ratings. If you have a hundred thousand followers or write in one of the handful of categories that generates large numbers of votes, regardless of your story, you probably don't care. But if you're just a joe schmo writer, like most of us, and not writing in a special category, it makes a real difference. An early 1-bomb on a low volume category can halve its already meager views. That's painful. Despite anyone's protests to the contrary, I have to believe virtually everyone is here to have their stories read. Otherwise why post them. And it makes me angry that some maladjusted asshole can only get their rocks off by harming other authors' views posses me off, yes.

 

[YmaOHyd]

More precisely, I think it's a compression. The top 10-20% of the stories have been squashed together but unchecked one-bombing.

Yes, that's what I meant. The average is still very high, but the average of the top 1% has dropped. Not counting the stories that've just broken 100 ratings and therefore snuck onto the toplist (they'll drop soon enough), there is one story on the current all-time toplist with a high enough score to make the top 250 in June 2022.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

... but there is no way to know because the top scores are so distorted by ...

... being on those lists.

'Oh hey, this is on a special list, it must be special, I guess I should rate it special like the others did.'

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Bitch King in my case, thank you very much.

Suck it up, princess. ; )

 

[pink_silk_glove]

The only sensible way to see the rating of your story is as a relative measure.

And the way to do that is through percentiles, but every time that someone suggests this, it gets shit on big time, either because people don't understand (nor want to understand) basic math, they don't want all of their average scoring stories to lose their Red H, or they just hate any change for the sake of tradition or consistency or some nonsense like that.

 

[SimonDoom]

And the way to do that is through percentiles, but every time that someone suggests this, it gets shit on big time, either because people don't understand (nor want to understand) basic math, they don't want all of their average scoring stories to lose their Red H, or they just hate any change for the sake of tradition or consistency or some nonsense like that.

If you were to adopt a sensible red H system, where a red H means that a story is "exceptional," whether that means top 25% or top 10%, as opposed to being merely slightly above the mean, a lot of authors would lose their red Hs, and they don't want that. The attachment means nothing to me, and it means nothing to the readers, and I suspect it doesn't mean much to the great majority of authors who don't comment in this forum and don't pay attention to these things, but it means something to the small minority in this forum who do care.

 

[Writer61]

And the way to do that is through percentiles, but every time that someone suggests this, it gets shit on big time, either because people don't understand (nor want to understand) basic math, they don't want all of their average scoring stories to lose their Red H, or they just hate any change for the sake of tradition or consistency or some nonsense like that.

No, you can do that with the scores as presented. A story with a rating of 4.6 is better than one with 4.5, and so on.

One problem with switching to an H based on percentiles is whether it is based on a story's position within the category or on overall rank.

 

[alohadave]

I see it on places where employees discuss the reviews customers are enticed to fill out after each store transaction (the ones at the bottom of receipts). They say Managers threaten their jobs if they get anything less than a 10.

That's more of an indictment of that scoring system. In those, if you are rated lower than 8 or 9, you are penalized for not providing outstanding customer service. Customers who think that doing the job adequately and scoring a 5 or 6 are actually telling the company that the worker is bad at their job.

Since that score affects their pay, it should be understandable that they worry about scoring high enough.

 

[SimonDoom]

No, you can do that with the scores as presented. A story with a rating of 4.6 is better than one with 4.5, and so on.

One problem with switching to an H based on percentiles is whether it is based on a story's position within the category or on overall rank.

I think you'd have to do it within categories, and let readers know that's what you're doing. Then the red H would provide useful information and add value beyond the number itself. The reader would know that a story is in the top 25%, or whatever, of Lesbian Sex stories, and could use that information if they choose.

 

[Writer61]

I think you'd have to do it within categories, and let readers know that's what you're doing. Then the red H would provide useful information and add value beyond the number itself. The reader would know that a story is in the top 25%, or whatever, of Lesbian Sex stories, and could use that information if they choose.

I agree.

Where that wouldn't work as well is when a contest has stories from different categories.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

Maybe we should be given a menu of emojis to make our views known and dispense with all the words.

We have one, but it only has six options. You know, the one that appears when you hover over "like" at the bottom of each comment?