Have you ever been tempted...?

[impressive]

If I did that i would be a troll. They lead such stunted lives I don't want to become one.

And they have to live under bridges and wear funny hats.

 

[Boota]

I never cast a vote below a four. If I don't think a story is at least a four I don't vote at all. I've been one bombed, but I check my standing so infrequently that I really couldn't say when it happened or who might have done it. In all honesty, I would have to say that a high vote doesn't really mean that much to me. It's a tangible indication of how many people are enjoying my story, but all in all, it doesn't change anything. I mean, I'm not getting paid for this one, so one bombs don't actually hurt me.

Plus, I have a very healthy sense of my own worth and skill. Validation is nice, but either way I still like what I do, and that's what really matters to me.

 

[carsonshepherd]

And they have to live under bridges and wear funny hats.

And don't they eat billy goats?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I never cast a vote below a four.

Do you realise that when you do that, you're penalising the good stories that you vote with 4, in favour of the bad ones that deserved less?

 

[carsonshepherd]

Do you realise that when you do that, you're penalising the good stories that you vote with 4, in favour of the bad ones that deserved less?

Let her show you her charts to prove it.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Let her show you her charts to prove it.

Bitch

 

[carsonshepherd]

Bitch

 

[BlackShanglan]

Do you realise that when you do that, you're penalising the good stories that you vote with 4, in favour of the bad ones that deserved less?

I agree with Lauren. I vote the whole spectrum. I don't often see anything that strikes me as below a three, but if I see it, I vote it. Otherwise ratings don't really mean anything, and only the number of votes is any guage.

Shanglan

 

[Evil Alpaca]

I agree with Lauren. I vote the whole spectrum. I don't often see anything that strikes me as below a three, but if I see it, I vote it. Otherwise ratings don't really mean anything, and only the number of votes is any guage.

Shanglan

I actually see a reasonable amount of 2's . . . stories that looked like they were thrown together in about 10 minutes, but it has to be pretty atrocious (sp?) to get a 1. But it also has to really capture my attention to get a 5, so it all balances out.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I give that AV a six.

Shanglan

 

[Lisa Denton]

To troll? God knows I have. My new story is currently leading its category and is in the top 10 stories of this month so far. I actually stand an outside chance of winning something for the first time ever.

Then I look at the stories ahead of me - they're mostly Big Long Novella Chapter 25, or Chapter 13. They've had a chance to build up followers. The onyl reason they've got voting averages as high as 4.97 is that the only people who have been bothered to read that far into the story are diehard fans, who'll always vote a 5. It seems so drastically unfair - my story stands or fails on it's own merits, as a single entity. Their's is only voted on by fanboys who loved the other 24 chapters.

Just for a minute I was so tempted to 1-bomb them. How dare they use that unfair advantage to get in front of my best ever story? And in that brief moment I had a scary insight into the mentality of a one-bomber. It all seems justified when it's in the cause of promoting your story.

Worryingly tempting, but I'm glad to say that I ended up on the light side of the force and didn't vote at all.

I'm sure I had a point to this thread when I started, but it kinda ran away halfway through. Vote 5 for my story anyway. It's quite blatantly not gonna win, but it is the best I've done and I'm so glad that I didn't sully it with cheating.

The Earl

Earl you had me all worried and mad but you redeemed yourself with the last sentence. You would have felt bad if you did that and it would've muddied up any good feelings you had about your story with dirty guilt.

I don't report the ones no more and I think they get removed, prolly cause there is hundreds of good votes so when the site does a sweep they know its a troll vote. A nice PC from someone whose work I respect means more to me than votes.

Sometimes I go look at where mine are on the top list, and I always click on a couple above mine, and I always give them a good vote. Not to be nice or to feel good and noble, I do it cause they are good stories, thats why they are above mine.



You gave yourself the best vote and I second it, not on a story but on yourself as a person, with your last sentence.
The Earl Rules!!!

 

[Bridget69]

I usually vote if I've really enjoyed a story. If I didn't like it, I won't vote on it at all.

 

[Amy Sweet]

I've never had the urge to give anyone a 1 vote out of pure spite. Of course, there are plenty of stories out there that do fall into the 1 category in my eyes. But if that's the case, I just don't vote for them.

Saying that, I'm no angel when it comes to my own stories being trolled. Before I knew there was such a thing as Laurel, I'd respond to rogue 1 votes by visiting as many friends as I could and using their computers to 5-vote it back up to its previous score.

As you can imagine, it took quite a bit of time and energy - and unfortunately I don't have those things anymore. So if I'm trolled and I don't feel like going running to Laurel, I just take it like a woman. At the end of the day, literature's such a personal and highly-subjective thing that I'm still not sure how one story can be ruled as being 'better' than any other.

I don't know. I think there must be a logical rational objective criteria to determine these things. And it should be used. If two or more disagree on what story is better than another, one of them is obviously wrong. We can't just let everyone run around saying that good writing is subjective. Chaos will rule.

 

[TheEarl]

Re: Re: Have you ever been tempted...?

Sometimes I go look at where mine are on the top list, and I always click on a couple above mine, and I always give them a good vote. Not to be nice or to feel good and noble, I do it cause they are good stories, thats why they are above mine.


You gave yourself the best vote and I second it, not on a story but on yourself as a person, with your last sentence.
The Earl Rules!!!

Thanks Lisa and everyone.

I have to say that I disagree with the first quoted paragraph. I've checked out some of the stories above mine on the top lists and, even though I'll freely admit my writing isn't perfect, some of the ones on the top-list are appalling.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

Why did the Dambusters music suddenly strike up in my mind, then?

Good luck, Earl!

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I usually vote if I've really enjoyed a story. If I didn't like it, I won't vote on it at all.

Does that mean you only vote 5s, or sometimes also 4s or 3s?

 

[CharleyH]

Oh, I do. I've voted on many a horrible story here and given them the ones they earned. I'm sorry to hear that their well-deserved one votes might have been removed by Laurel. I hope that when a story shows no sign that the person was attempting to communicate with others in English, she leaves ones up.

But how can you possibly GET THROUGH THE FIRST PARAGRAPH? Are you a masochist?

And if you give it a 1, then surely you did read the whole thing. No?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

But how can you possibly GET THROUGH THE FIRST PARAGRAPH? Are you a masochist?

And if you give it a 1, then surely you did read the whole thing. No?

When reading poetry, for example, submissions are short enough for you to read, regardless of quality; The same way, in short stories, reading some first paragraphs can give you a pretty good idea of what's coming, and you don't need more than skimming the few paragraphs that make the rest of the story to confirm it.

 

[CharleyH]

When reading poetry, for example, submissions are short enough for you to read, regardless of quality; The same way, in short stories, reading some first paragraphs can give you a pretty good idea of what's coming, and you don't need more than skimming the few paragraphs that make the rest of the story to confirm it.

Not very responsible of you. Should I write a film review based on my assessment of the first five minutes? Or perhaps a restaurant review based on the cleanliness of its washroom.

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Not very responsible of you. Should I write a film review based on my assessment of the first five minutes? Or perhaps a restaurant review based on the cleanliness of it's washroom.

A short story isn't a movie, though, is it? The way you read a story is completely different from the way you watch a movie.

There are many short stories out there with little more than 750 words, and after you read the first paragraph, you don't need more than a few seconds of skimming them to know.

 

[carsonshepherd]

A short story isn't a movie, though, is it? The way you read a story is completely different from the way you watch a movie.

There are many short stories out there with little more than 750 words, and after you read the first paragraph, you don't need more than a few seconds of skimming them to know.

At least enough to know they suck!

 

[yui]

And don't they eat billy goats?

We don't have any goats, do we? But, wait, alpacas do look sort of goat-ish in the right light...

I've been tempted, especially after my stuff gets, well, bitch-slapped out of the blue. But, I firmly believe in voting (and in life) that what you send out comes back to you (three times at the very least), so I try not to screw it all up by sending out meannastybad stuff.

Though the temptation is there, I don't want to be reincarnated as a llama-eating troll or anything.

Luck to all,

Yui

 

[CharleyH]

A short story isn't a movie, though, is it? The way you read a story is completely different from the way you watch a movie.

There are many short stories out there with little more than 750 words, and after you read the first paragraph, you don't need more than a few seconds of skimming them to know.

So I take it you do not vote on those stories then?

The principle is the same.

In voting, you are judging something, and the only way to fairly judge something is to explore the whole thing. If you cannot do that, then you should not vote at all. If you feel, after reading a whole story, that it deserves a one, then fine, I understand.

But to skim? Well, that's what every troll does, isn't it?

 

[Boota]

Do you realise that when you do that, you're penalising the good stories that you vote with 4, in favour of the bad ones that deserved less?

If I don't think it's worth at least a four I probably won't even finish reading it. If I don't finish it I don't feel that I should vote on it at all. I'm not giving fours to stories that deserve less, I'm just not casting a vote in that case.

 

[scheherazade_79]

I don't know. I think there must be a logical rational objective criteria to determine these things. And it should be used. If two or more disagree on what story is better than another, one of them is obviously wrong. We can't just let everyone run around saying that good writing is subjective. Chaos will rule.

Wouldn't that be turning an art into a science? You might say, for example, that the best stories are the most descriptive ones. How do you measure a story's descriptiveness without descending into mathematical or scientific formula? Is it a case of counting up the adjectives and the adverbs? Different things work for different people.

Let's imagine you have a painting by Van Gogh and a painting by Rembrandt - how do you decide which is the 'best'? The one that's the most lifelike? The one that uses the nicest colours? The one that's the most pioneering in its technique? And then that leads us on to the next problem - how do we define and measure all these things? If someone were to ask you which was the better composer out of Beethoven and Mozart, how would you answer? I'll hedge my bets that you'd just choose the one that you personally liked the most. So we're back to subjectivity.

Obviously there are some circumstances when it becomes easy - like when you come across a story that is riddled with spelling mistakes and has an extremely lame and unbelievable plot. But if you have two stories that are similar in the quality of their craftsmanship, how do you place one above the other?

Incidentally, there are plenty of people out there who loathe Mozart, Beethoven, Van Gogh and Rembrandt - does this condemn them to the category of substandard artists and composers, or is it just the result of subjectivity?

This might be a scary thought, but like it or not, we do live in a chaotic world where absolutely anything could happen. Writing, along with our perception of it, is a reflection of that.