Every story I post gets 1 star’d

[lovecraft68]

If they're there to discourage the author by voting their squicks, then they shouldn't have clicked on the story in the first place, or clicked out. Hanging on to the end just to bomb is still vandalism.

Determination can be made by requiring registration to vote, and tracking (internally) how a registrant votes. An account with a consistent history of bombing can then be excluded from affecting scores. Even just not showing the voting frame on the last page for non-members would go a long way.

Before you carp at me about, "That will drive off readers!", no it won't. You don't have to sign-up to read. Real-world, big-boy sites with 5-star rating systems require registration. "Multiple accounts!" More trouble than it's worth.

I'm in the process of slowly moving my stuff to a site which does in fact require membership to vote, so for me personally, I have a solution.

I totally agree with having to have a handle to vote. I just mentioned that in the anon feedback thread, but for all the gripes of anon and trolling when you say ditching them is the answer, people get crazy.

Change it or continue to deal with the system we have.

People need to keep in mind that a recent thread showed the median score of a story here is around 4.4 meaning a Red H is almost the average unless you're in LW, so we need to ask, how big of a deal is the trolling if the site wide score is that high?

 

[old_prof]

Overall, I think the legitimate 1s outweigh the troll 1s by a considerable factor.

For most of my stories, the total number of 1's exceeds the numbers of 2's and 3's combined by a factor of ten or more. I have only a handful of stories that have any 3's Almost all the 2's I have were awarded after a discussion of sweeps here, so I presumed they were an effort to avoid the sweep and still do harm.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Determination can be made by requiring registration to vote, and tracking (internally) how a registrant votes. An account with a consistent history of bombing can then be excluded from affecting scores. Even just not showing the voting frame on the last page for non-members would go a long way.

Before you carp at me about, "That will drive off readers!", no it won't. You don't have to sign-up to read. Real-world, big-boy sites with 5-star rating systems require registration. "Multiple accounts!" More trouble than it's worth.

It's not going to drive off readers. It will drive off voters, which then makes scores far more vulnerable to trolling and makes trolls harder to identify. Any kind of troll detection relies on spotting patterns in voting and the fewer votes there are, the harder it is to distinguish patterns from noise.

Currently, Literotica doesn't publicly show scores for stories with fewer than 10 votes because those scores are too noisy to be meaningful. Realistically, that cutoff should probably be more like 30. Requiring registration would mean many stories would take months to reach enough votes to get a vaguely meaningful score, and a single troll vote would be far more effective than it is now.

If trolling is that bad a problem, might as well just get rid of scoring altogether, instead of expending resources on collecting a statistic that's too noisy to be meaningful. There are other ways for readers to find stories they like, ways which are less susceptible to abuse.

I'm in the process of slowly moving my stuff to a site which does in fact require membership to vote, so for me personally, I have a solution.

How many votes do your stories get there, compared to votes here?

 

[SmilingLez]

It's a shame literotica doesn't have a mechanism to separate anonymous comments from people who have accounts on literotica from those who do not. They wouldn't have to reveal the member's handle just something like "anonymous Literotica member"

 

[Erozetta]

The only issue I've ever had with low votes has been 3s and 2s when they come in small groups in a short span of time across multiple stories after the story hasn't had any new votes in like a month or so.

I mostly find them amusing.

I also think it's weird that people actually bother Laurel to try to get personal sweeps on their stories.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

We all assume that 1-stars are malicious, and I expect most of them are, but it is possible that they are justified.

Early in my Lit reading career, before I got better at selecting stories I liked, I gave one a single star because it was written absolutely terribly: a poor story with terrible spelling and punctuation. If it were not so short, I would have abandoned it before completing it.

Well, my brain (what’s left of it) admittedly marches to its own dram, but I don’t think I’ve ever given a 1* or 2* and would have to work very hard to remember the last time I gave a 3*..

I have too few minutes left on my extended journey around Sol and am not going to waste any of them plodding through a story which is abysmally bad. It gets dropped like a plucked poison ivy plant, without bothering to finish. I’m not scorning those who do, but that’s me and (admittedly without proof) I find it hard to believe that most people do.

 

[Writer61]

Well, my brain (what’s left of it) admittedly marches to its own dram, but I don’t think I’ve ever given a 1* or 2*. I have too few minutes left on my extended journey around Sol and am not going to waste finishing a story which is abysmally bad. It gets dropped like a plucked poison ivy plant, without bothering

As I said, it was short. Less than one page, IIRC.

These days, I am better at picking stories that I enjoy, and I bail out if I don't.

 

[YmaOHyd]

It's a shame literotica doesn't have a mechanism to separate anonymous comments from people who have accounts on literotica from those who do not. They wouldn't have to reveal the member's handle just something like "anonymous Literotica member"

I'd be interested to see the breakdown on my stories between anonymous and verified ratings.

 

[Erozetta]

I will admit I've given exactly one 1 star vote. It pissed me off, it still pisses me off when I think about having wasted my time reading it, and I only read it because I was told to read it for a podcast review. I think Grim has regrets with giving me that one to read. That review will likely never see the light of day.

I got so heated when we started talking about it. Like, I give stories a pass on most things, but when it came to reviewing this one I was bitching about it from the moment he said the title and author.

 

[Writer61]

I'd be interested to see the breakdown on my stories between anonymous and verified ratings.

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

 

[old_prof]

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

I've had feedback comments and a handful of story comments that seemed to include a real name. Of course, no idea if it is real or not.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

I mean people who are not logged in versus people who are.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

I know of one, but only one.

 

[StillStunned]

Currently, Literotica doesn't publicly show scores for stories with fewer than 10 votes because those scores are too noisy to be meaningful. Realistically, that cutoff should probably be more like 30. Requiring registration would mean many stories would take months to reach enough votes to get a vaguely meaningful score, and a single troll vote would be far more effective than it is now.

All votes are visible in Classic view, no matter how few there are. It only updates every couple of hours, so it might seem as if votes don't appear if there are fewer than 10, but they do show up. Check out one of the low-traffic categories in Classic view, hover over the score with your mouse, and you'll see.

 

[StillStunned]

I will admit I've given exactly one 1 star vote. It pissed me off, it still pisses me off when I think about having wasted my time reading it, and I only read it because I was told to read it for a podcast review. I think Grim has regrets with giving me that one to read. That review will likely never see the light of day.

I got so heated when we started talking about it. Like, I give stories a pass on most things, but when it came to reviewing this one I was bitching about it from the moment he said the title and author.

A dozen writers suddenly all wonder if it was their story...

 

[ElectricBlue]

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

By account name, yes.

 

[MrPixel]

Realistically, that cutoff should probably be more like 30.

That's a no-go. Some categories are very stingy with voting, which is why malicious 1-bombs are such an issue - they don't get lost in the noise, and have undue statistical influence. Over half of my 100+ catalog would not make the 30 threshold.

How many votes do your stories get there, compared to votes here?

New site. Not enough traffic to determine anything at this point.

 

[emma_tv]

Hi Emma,
I had a glance, and your stories are mostly H-rated?
As someone who reads as much as writes, I find it egotistical when the majority of responses are to say that anyone giving a one star rating must be insincere
Having a glance at the opening to your most recent story - I could note it’s intelligently written, self-aware and reflective slow-burn; or I could equally find it self-indulgent, discursive and lacking in sexual content
Just enjoy and be proud of the high ratings you’re consistently getting; but don’t believe what people tell themselves here that only positive ratings should be allowed

I understand what you are saying, and I’m learning a lot from this thread.

Sure, a story may not be a readers cup of tea, and rate a story 1 star.

But when it’s consistently the first rating to every story, that’s when I thought it may be an issue. And I have since become aware of this phenomenon across the site thanks to everyone in here.

I’m not going to take it personally, I’m just going to get in with it and not worry.

 

[SmilingLez]

Does anybody post/comment using their real name?

I always post/comment using my Literotica handle. My real name, hell no, there's too many loonies trolling the internet

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I always post/comment using my Literotica handle. My real name, hell no, there's too many loonies trolling the internet

Wait, what??? SmilingLez isn't your real name? I'm devastated...

 

[Bramblethorn]

That's a no-go. Some categories are very stingy with voting, which is why malicious 1-bombs are such an issue - they don't get lost in the noise, and have undue statistical influence. Over half of my 100+ catalog would not make the 30 threshold.

Yup, this is why further reducing the number who vote would be a bad idea.

That it's hard to get 30+ votes in some categories doesn't change the fact that scores based on < 30 votes are very unreliable, even on days when the trolls don't show up.

New site. Not enough traffic to determine anything at this point.

How long do you reckon it'll take to attract enough readers (and voters) to produce meaningful scores?

 

[emma_tv]

Wait, what??? SmilingLez isn't your real name? I'm devastated...

Em tv has been my nickname since school for obvious reasons

 

[Writer61]

Wait, what??? SmilingLez isn't your real name? I'm devastated...

It's not much of a disguise: his real name is GrumpyLez.

 

[Bramblethorn]

It's not much of a disguise: his real name is GrumpyLez.

So, about the "lez" part of the user name...

 

[Writer61]

So, about the "lez" part of the user name...

I think you will have to take that up with his parents.