The most reliable indicator of story quality

[TheWritingGroup]

For me it's a two-step process. I read the title and description, and toss out about 75% of stories right there. It's not fair, but if there's a typo in the description I'm likely to think "Skip!" Typos in the story are going to happen, but letting one through in the description bugs me. Like I say, I know it's not fair, but it's how I react.

I don't use "Hot" as a criterion, but I only rarely click on anything scoring below 4. I have that much confidence in my fellow readers.

If I can figure out the premise of a story, I can eliminate another big chunk because some concepts don't interest me. I'm not going to tell someone else what to like, but (for instance) I don't enjoy scat or furry stuff, so I skip any stories that emphasize those things.

Then it's intuition, meaning I can't actually tell you why I choose to click through on only some of the remaining stories.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Above anything else, I avoid reading any story that is obviously not finished, regardless of who wrote it or how enticing it might be. Incomplete works are a showstopper for me every time. That being said, I have favored the first part of a story before reading it and then gone back to track its progress until completion.

While I am patient when writing and submitting my own stories, I have little patience waiting for someone to post all of theirs. So, if the submissions linger more than a few weeks before the completed story is posted, I move on.

 

[Wifetheif]

While I have a nice proportion of red H stories, some of my highest rated stories have no comments. Lots of views, pleased readers, but little actual engagement. On the other hand, my stories that hang around the 4.4 mark (Which seems to be the majority) get lots of comments and engagement. I'm not sure why. My recently published https://www.literotica.com/s/hanahs-mannikin-adventure has over 2K reads and is near the very top of my high scoring stories but not a single comment. It may be that a well-told tale is satisfaction itself. Whatever the reason, it's odd. What a TON of engagement? Post in Loving Wives! There scores literally do not matter.

 

[PapaRomantic]

How do you pick what to read?

How do you decide to stop reading it, if it turns out it sucks?

I use the 'H' as a first qualifier for whether I will read a story or not. Then I will look at the title and description second. However, this would mean I would never read what I think is one of my best stories, which has a 3.53 rating in the Loving Wives category because the wife got away with it. That point is not even close to the main point in the story, but it's what voters there consider when they vote. So I'm being a bit of a hypocrite to myself with my standards for reading a story or not.

I detest poor grammar (drilled into my head in school) and even reading a highly rated story with grammar issues, I'll stop reading it. And then sometimes things are put in that just don't belong. I was reading an I/T story last night where two cats were killed, and that was a big 'nope.' It had the magic 'H' qualifier.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

How do you pick what to read?

How do you decide to stop reading it, if it turns out it sucks?

Here, the summary, sometimes the tags. It's rare that I stop reading something, but if it really sucks, I'll stop when I see it sucking.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Perfect grammar comes off as strange in dialog, as very few people use perfect grammar when speaking. And some folks have atrocious grammar when they talk. Therefore, some characters should use copious amounts of slang and a sprinkling of their speech idiosyncrasies, such as yestideay.

I use the 'H' as a first qualifier for whether I will read a story or not. Then I will look at the title and description second. However, this would mean I would never read what I think is one of my best stories, which has a 3.53 rating in the Loving Wives category because the wife got away with it. That point is not even close to the main point in the story, but it's what voters there consider when they vote. So I'm being a bit of a hypocrite to myself with my standards for reading a story or not.

I detest poor grammar (drilled into my head in school) and even reading a highly rated story with grammar issues, I'll stop reading it. And then sometimes things are put in that just don't belong. I was reading an I/T story last night where two cats were killed, and that was a big 'nope.' It had the magic 'H' qualifier.