Not voting

[LargoKitt]

This is quite similar to me. I don't like leaving lower scores that might hurt a story's rating if I think it may be a matter of my personal likes or preferences, so I'll skip in such cases, thought I'll occasionally leave a hopefully helpful comment about some point without voting. However, as far as I remember, I've never favorited without leaving a vote.

Regarding the all-time lists, 100 votes is the published minimum to be included, but it can be less than this in less-frequented categories such as Letters & Transcripts.

This raises an interesting scenario: That a few people, early on, love a story enough to tip it into 'hot', but then dozens of other readers say, "What? Not so much." And don't vote at all because they don't care to trash the existing enthusiasts' ratings. I know, don't bother your brain with speculating. Just write good stuff.

 

[LargoKitt]

Personally, I'll only leave a vote on a story if I  really enjoyed it. If I get to the end and go "that was alright," I'll usually just move on to the next thing. If I reach the end and go "fuck me, that was good," then I'll give a vote and usually leave a comment.

Some stories start as the latter, and falter on some key elements and end up just not getting my vote. I don't wanna give a bad rating unless something is just God awful, and I'm so picky about what I read here that that never really happens. That or I get so frustrated by thr story I bail before getting to the end and just want to move on with my life.

So I'm envisioning that. Imagining 1700 people all clicking on my new story, as tallied, and of those a mere eight say, "That was a good read." or "That was terrific." A bit of a puzzle is seeing those rare few give it raves and the rest of the crowd so 'meh' they just click off.

 

[LargoKitt]

And then there are Writerannabelle's Horny Monsters with stories that go chapter after chapter, most chapters at least four pages. And every chapter is voted north of 4.8. Total of millions of views. Now I tip my had to Writerannabelle's imagination, and cleverness in having lots of fascinating critters, homey, real situations, a a 'personalizing' approach to her readers, kind of like Taylor or Dolly and their fans. The sex? Pretty generic. The plot lines? Sometimes clever but often involving so many characters it is dizzying. The energy is much like a Pokemon cartoon and I guess that is its charm and detriment. Seems like lots of folks want: "Look out! There's a ...! And there's another...! Fuck that! Kill that! Quick! Quick! But...can't argue with the numbers.

 

[feel_the_beast]

So I'm envisioning that. Imagining 1700 people all clicking on my new story, as tallied, and of those a mere eight say, "That was a good read." or "That was terrific." A bit of a puzzle is seeing those rare few give it raves and the rest of the crowd so 'meh' they just click off.

Lots of views, but not many votes: I credit this to the way popular media encourages people to expect almost instant engagement, quick gratification. Pop in, check the story tags, read a synopsis or intro, maybe the first two or three paragraphs. If the narrative hasn't grabbed you by the cojones in the first 60 seconds, it's 'Sayonara' and off to the next one, to see if that one will give you the quick erotic fix you came here for.
Character development, set the scene, explain the backstory in a seamless fashion...who needs that stuff? What is this, a high school English lit class? Give us action, titanic tits, sex, simultaneous multiple orgasms, now now now NOW....
Slow burn? Who has the time for something like that? Two pages before the first sex scene? Yaaaawn......

 

[LargoKitt]

Lots of views, but not many votes: I credit this to the way popular media encourages people to expect almost instant engagement, quick gratification. Pop in, check the story tags, read a synopsis or intro, maybe the first two or three paragraphs. If the narrative hasn't grabbed you by the cojones in the first 60 seconds, it's 'Sayonara' and off to the next one, to see if that one will give you the quick erotic fix you came here for.
Character development, set the scene, explain the backstory in a seamless fashion...who needs that stuff? What is this, a high school English lit class? Give us action, titanic tits, sex, simultaneous multiple orgasms, now now now NOW....
Slow burn? Who has the time for something like that? Two pages before the first sex scene? Yaaaawn......

The audacity of creating erotic literature for an erotic literature site. Puzzle for me is there ain't much place else. For folks who like a well-told tale and imaginative spice. Darn.