Halloween Contest Support Thread

[hmmnmm]

Sorry about that, Starr.

But I had the misfortune to be victimized by an idea and then another, and they did it relatively late.
But I'll grab this one more L and then try to remember not to do any more of these contests, since I'm apparently one of the primary protocol violators. It's all fine.

I did get turned to some wonderful writers though.

 

[loganforester]

There are people here with almost as many votes as I've got views!

Views 812; votes 22 (lost one in the sweep); score 4.45 - just enough votes and high enough score to wipe my hopes of Last Place Glory .

Hey you got almost as many votes as I do (24) with alot less views, I'm impressed. lol. I must say the response has been underwhelming to say the least.

 

[starrkers]

Sorry about that, Starr.

But I had the misfortune to be victimized by an idea and then another, and they did it relatively late.
But I'll grab this one more L and then try to remember not to do any more of these contests, since I'm apparently one of the primary protocol violators. It's all fine.

I did get turned to some wonderful writers though.

Excuse me, but WTF did I do to deserve that spray?

 

[hmmnmm]

oh nothing! no no no!
sorry!
just a general feeling

sorry!

sorry!

 

[starrkers]

I don't even know what you're talking about.

 

[hmmnmm]

I don't even know what you're talking about.

Inadvertently wandered into the fast lane which destination was a paranoid episode. I saw it, but almost too late. Pulled over just in time. Went to bed. Back in the slower shadier lane now. Everything's okay. Now.

 

[Munachi]

hm so is today the last day?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

hm so is today the last day?

Yeah, I think the winner should be announced tomorrow.

Then it's the battle for last place.

 

[loganforester]

Yeah, I think the winner should be announced tomorrow.

Then it's the battle for last place.

Hey if i keep losing votes I may just win that one. There is a penalty for every vote below 25 isn't there?

 

[oggbashan]

Contrast

Jeanne D'Artois submitted a Laundry Tale story in September, and one stand-alone contest entry out of the Laundry Tale series in October.

The figures for the September story:

Rating 3.75, Votes 4, Views 3172, PCs 1

The figures for the October contest story:

Rating 3.90, Votes 10, Views 2989, PCs 3

Only one of my contest entries as Og, the one submitted at the start, has reached more than the 25 vote minimum.

Jeanne's figures seem to show that there is now a little benefit, but not much, in submitting a story as a contest entry for Halloween. A couple of years ago the contrast between the attention given to normal submissions and contest entries was far more obvious.

Why? I don't know.

Og

 

[loganforester]

Jeanne D'Artois submitted a Laundry Tale story in September, and one stand-alone contest entry out of the Laundry Tale series in October.

The figures for the September story:

Rating 3.75, Votes 4, Views 3172, PCs 1

The figures for the October contest story:

Rating 3.90, Votes 10, Views 2989, PCs 3

Only one of my contest entries as Og, the one submitted at the start, has reached more than the 25 vote minimum.

Jeanne's figures seem to show that there is now a little benefit, but not much, in submitting a story as a contest entry for Halloween. A couple of years ago the contrast between the attention given to normal submissions and contest entries was far more obvious.

Why? I don't know.

Og

Might it have something to with 178 entries? I admit I have a tough time finding my own story on the contest page and I'm looking for it.

 

[oggbashan]

Hey if i keep losing votes I may just win that one. There is a penalty for every vote below 25 isn't there?

For the Last Place (tm) Contest, the rating of the story, if it has less than 25 votes, is multiplied by number of votes actually received divided by 25.

As an example: Jeanne's September story not in the contest:

3.75 x 4/25 = 0.60

Og

 

[past_perfect]

Am being swept out of the contest so to speak - both 6 page stories have incredibly high scores now, but have both dropped to 20 votes now, after being swept yesterday already that is...

I don't understand this, how there could have been that many illegal votes, that one could lose like 30-40% of the votes on each and every story...

I think that was it for me and contests for a while, this is just too frustrating.

 

[loganforester]

Am being swept out of the contest so to speak - both 6 page stories have incredibly high scores now, but have both dropped to 20 votes now, after being swept yesterday already that is...

I don't understand this, how there could have been that many illegal votes, that one could lose like 30-40% of the votes on each and every story...

I think that was it for me and contests for a while, this is just too frustrating.

Don't worry mine is in the exact same boat. Lost 4 votes today and no real chance at qualifying either. Score goes up, but no chance to win. Was already planning one for christmas, but after this not so sure I'll bother.

 

[starrkers]

I've lost 5 votes, and the score dropped too.
The last contest I entered, I turned off PCs. Didn't lose many votes and ended up winning the contest.
This time I left PCs on, and have lost 1/4 of all votes lodged.
Coincidence?

 

[loganforester]

I've lost 5 votes, and the score dropped too.
The last contest I entered, I turned off PCs. Didn't lose many votes and ended up winning the contest.
This time I left PCs on, and have lost 1/4 of all votes lodged.
Coincidence?

lol. no i don't think it is. People have theorized for a while that all people who vote and leave comments get their votes swept away. Kinda ridiculous really. Only 5 votes swept? Who do you know? have 24 votes currently, lost 4 today alone and over a dozen total. Still praying for one last minute vote.

 

[starrkers]

I meant I lost 5 overnight (tis morning here). I've lost 7 overall, still under 1000 views.

 

[Munachi]

ah shame, i had hoped i could read at least one story by everyone - but i am still far from that, and i should go to bed now...

do you really think they sweep all votes that come with a comment? why would they do that, it's a bit weird?

 

[starrkers]

ah shame, i had hoped i could read at least one story by everyone - but i am still far from that, and i should go to bed now...

do you really think they sweep all votes that come with a comment? why would they do that, it's a bit weird?

I don't think it's deliberate.
I think it's an unexpected (and unacknowledged) side effect of tweaking the voting system a while back. I first noticed it around the time the stars came in - figured there was a change to the sweep algorithm at the same time and this is the result.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I don't think it's deliberate.
I think it's an unexpected (and unacknowledged) side effect of tweaking the voting system a while back. I first noticed it around the time the stars came in - figured there was a change to the sweep algorithm at the same time and this is the result.

This is a bad idea, if it is an idea. Anybody can vote, but few care enough to vote AND comment, and their votes are apparently not counted.

On the upside, thoase who say something like: "What a piece of shit" don't have their votes counted either.

 

[WRJames]

I've been watching the sweeps in action -- and yes, they have pushed some of my scores up -- but one chapter went up, and then back down again.

I don't know -- I'm glad to get rid of troll votes, but on the other hand, once you start throwing votes out, the contest results really are in the hands of the sweepers, aren't they?

 

[DG Hear]

I meant I lost 5 overnight (tis morning here). I've lost 7 overall, still under 1000 views.

I should have named my story "The Born Loser" It loses votes every day Here's the latest. Gained one vote yesterday and lost 11 more this morning. The score stayed the same. Rather low.

The Santa Claus Suit Ross wears his Santa suit to the Halloween Party.
4.38 416 39378 Loving Wives (English) 10/16/08 approved
Public Comments: 34

Honestly, just don't understand how each day I lose votes. No good explaination that I can think of. Score has only changed by one point since the loss of the 128 votes a few days ago.

Well, it's all over tonight. I wonder if I will continue to lose votes?

 

[starrkers]

What I find most interesting about the sweeps is watching entries from previous contests. I have several that have not gained any votes since their respective contests closed, yet they continue to lose votes in subsequent sweeps. That really makes no sense to me at all.

 

[_Lynn_]

What I find most interesting about the sweeps is watching entries from previous contests. I have several that have not gained any votes since their respective contests closed, yet they continue to lose votes in subsequent sweeps. That really makes no sense to me at all.

Same with many of my stories and I've said the same thing. It makes no sense at all.

 

[Darkniciad]

Finally had a sweep hit mine. Lost around 24 votes to put me at 76.

Pretty good run for a Sci-Fi/Fantasy story, and with just shy of 3500 views, I have a decent view/vote ratio. If you count the swept votes, 1 in 35 clicks of my story resulted in a vote.

Three pager + a couple of paragraphs, too. Showing 4 pages probably turned a lot of people away, even though I put a disclaimer at the beginning saying "Hey! There aren't four full pages - don't panic!" *laugh* Three is enough to make most Lit readers run for the hills in my experience.

10 PCs - far more than I ever expected from such a niche story. Lots of emails, too.

I'm still slowly working my way through what stories I can. I'm not leaving PCs, because I spent too much time contemplating them *laugh* As little time as I have to read, I'm trying not to waste it.