The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[TurinTurambar]

They also get brought to by making the all-time leader board (the one that requires 100 votes). I'm realizing, that for me at least who does not have thousands of votes, my stories will do better rating if the are at 4.82 at 99 votes than 4.92. It'r frustrating. The 4.80-4.84 stories slide under the radar and never get hit that hard. But the ones that have the audacity to have a 4.88 or something get bombed back into the 4.7's.

I have the exact same experience. As soon as my stories hit that 100 vote mark they drop very noticeably in score. 4.85-9's go down to low 4.8's, or even into the 4.7's. Its made me want to only submit my contest entries at the last minute so they don't get enough votes to risk that.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I don't know if it is the tag itself or everyone in the contest, but the contests definitely bring it out.

I swore during the Nude Day event that I would never enter another contest because of the one-bombers.

They also get brought to by making the all-time leader board (the one that requires 100 votes). I'm realizing, that for me at least who does not have thousands of votes, my stories will do better rating if the are at 4.82 at 99 votes than 4.92. It'r frustrating. The 4.80-4.84 stories slide under the radar and never get hit that hard. But the ones that have the audacity to have a 4.88 or something get bombed back into the 4.7's. I assume they will eventually recover, but the votes come so slowly and it literally a hundred votes (all 5's) to balance out three 1's at that rating.

One mustn't fly to close to the sun, unfortunately.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

One mustn't fly to close to the sun, unfortunately.

Are you saying I suffer from the anti-heroic trait of hubris?

 

[MegaTank]

Story is submitted. Not quite a week before the deadline like my most optimistic projections or my Halloween story, but I think I did pretty well given how dependent on last minute panic I've been in prior years, and just how long this one is compared to my other stories (I don't know how everyone else does it).

 

[WittyUserName]

I just outlined my story. Hoping for a short one. I don't expect to place at all, but I want to have something entered. I just hope I finish in time!

 

[taytay4eva]

And some of it is my fault - I don't have enough reach to get hundreds of ratings, so my average is far more affected by even 3's and 4's than it otherwise would be. And if it just seemed like people legitimately enjoying but not LOVING my work, that would be one thing. I'm used to that. I don't have a lot of red H's and my poetry is barely read by anyone (I just love writing it). But it's just the timing that seems too much to be coincidental. Like, did the ones who like but not love (or those who hate) just happen to only start coming out now and all at once/all in a row? And all overnight (for me) like clockwork? I stopped having a mix of ratings and that just seems odd. I don't expect to win anything, but I'd love my score to stay real.

Word. And it's not enough to ping something as OBVIOUSLY fake, just enough to bring our scores down. Like, maybe my story really isn't that great, but knowing that there are people who review bomb stories is disheartening. Like, I don't even have that good of a score, nor was I expecting one, but it seems like they target anyone who isn't their favorite author.

I've also noticed that *everyone* who has "Winter Contest 2025" as a tag seems to follow the same pattern. All of our relative positions are the same, but the scores are all dropping at the same general rate. But just "Christmas"? Not seeing the same effect. Flying under the radar, perhaps, or maybe just not being found by people who dislike contests so much.

I'd not noticed that, so I'll have to make sure that I tag it as such in the future. I know that some people like for stories that are part of contests to be tagged with that contest, but if that makes it easier for review bombers to target it, I'm not gonna tag it that way.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Very nice to have someone ask that I continue Plugged In as a series, because annoyingly it works better as a series than a standalone.

 

[taytay4eva]

Very nice to have someone ask that I continue Plugged In as a series, because annoyingly it works better as a series than a standalone.

Congrats!

I've just submitted a sequel to the story I submitted last year, so I'm pretty pumped. Haven't done this much writing in such a short amount of time in a while, so it's nice to know that the creative juices are still flowing! Fingers crossed that I get more forgiveness for my writing with smut scenes than my writing without them.

 

[Soixenta]

I have written stories for the past three contests, but I do not think I have time to write one for the Winter Holidays.

 

[redgarters]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys tracking the ratings, watching your story move up and down the list as the days progress... or just waiting patiently for December 12th? No reason for asking *cough*

p.s. I have absolutely no delusions of winning anything here, just a bit of a nerd.

 

[Lord_Libido]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys tracking the ratings, watching your story move up and down the list as the days progress... or just waiting patiently for December 12th? No reason for asking *cough*

p.s. I have absolutely no delusions of winning anything here, just a bit of a nerd.

I'm not watching anything. Out of curiosity, how do you get that footer in your posts? The one that lists your stories. I can't figure it out.

 

[old_prof]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys tracking the ratings, watching your story move up and down the list as the days progress... or just waiting patiently for December 12th? No reason for asking *cough*

p.s. I have absolutely no delusions of winning anything here, just a bit of a nerd.

I have not been nearly as bad this time as I was in my other contest I entered, back in June. That time, I had to promise to my wife I wouldn't check more than every fifteen minutes. And unlike my other vow to her, I did not completely uphold this one. I did realize I was conceivably competitive for a prize that time. Eventually, the 1-bombs drove my score down enough I gave up and stopped tracking regularly. It hurt too much. That story was the one I'm emotionally most tied to.

This time I realize I'm not competitive. I really like this story, but I made my FMC too bitchy and my MMC too wussy. I'm overall happy with the reaction, but it's not going to get me another W. I would be watching another story closely, because it does have a chance and I feel very vested in that story. It's be a close friend and I helped. But you can't watch vote by vote on someone else's story. My fingers are still crossed for her.

Out of curiosity, how do you get that footer in your posts? The one that lists your stories. I can't figure it out

Go to your forum preferences (one of your choices if you click on your name in the upper right hand corner of this page)

There is a signature choice to the left. Just type it in there. You also need Show People's Signatures with their Messages clicked in the first page you went to, but if you can see others, I guess you have that clicked.

 

[redgarters]

I'm not watching anything. Out of curiosity, how do you get that footer in your posts? The one that lists your stories. I can't figure it out.

Fill out your Signature in the account drop down menu up in the right corner.

 

[redgarters]

This time I realize I'm not competitive. I really like this story, but I made my FMC too bitchy and my MMC too wussy. I'm overall happy with the reaction, but it's not going to get me another W

That kind of sums up my attitude as well. I wrote the story mostly because being in comps seems to be a good way to get some views on an author's work, to have something published in between larger stories that need a lot of work and won't be published until the new year, and because I thought the premise and plot were challenging to write. So, I'm happy to see someone else get a deserved win, but am having fun watching the ratings move around and maybe learning something about how comps behave in the process.

 

[BryanRichardson]

I would be watching another story closely, because it does have a chance and I feel very vested in that story. It's be a close friend and I helped. But you can't watch vote by vote on someone else's story. My fingers are still crossed for her.

Yeah, I have hopes for that one, too. This is the only time I’ve ever been bothered to check up on someone else’s score.

 

[GemmaGemmaGemma]

I haven't paid any attention to my score since posting. It's my first contest and it looks to have gone pretty well. I guess I haven't got a long history of being targeted by the one bombers but maybe that's something which will sting me in the future. It's always nice to prepare yourself for future pain.

 

[BryanRichardson]

I’ve been watching my I/T story wiggle between 4.68 and 4.69. Given that there are 1.2k votes I’m surprised that the average score can move at all.
I’m also fairly certain that removing 1-bombs won’t affect the score much either because there just can’t be that many of them compared to the total.

 

[Lord_Libido]

Fill out your Signature in the account drop down menu up in the right corner.

View attachment 2580735

Thank you

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I just outlined my story. Hoping for a short one. I don't expect to place at all, but I want to have something entered. I just hope I finish in time!

You got this!

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Word. And it's not enough to ping something as OBVIOUSLY fake, just enough to bring our scores down. Like, maybe my story really isn't that great, but knowing that there are people who review bomb stories is disheartening. Like, I don't even have that good of a score, nor was I expecting one, but it seems like they target anyone who isn't their favorite author.

That's the thing - I would never have thought of review bombing if I wasn't on the forums, I'd just have wondered why all of a sudden it was dropping. Then again, without the forums, my 6th story wouldn't have ever been a contest entry. I would have assumed I was not good enough to even participate and would just make a fool of myself. I'd have stuck to my "lane" instead of playing more outside of my comfort zone. And I'd never have written my poem that I *thought* was a contest entry that reminded me of my love of poetry. So either way - it's a personal win.

I'd not noticed that, so I'll have to make sure that I tag it as such in the future. I know that some people like for stories that are part of contests to be tagged with that contest, but if that makes it easier for review bombers to target it, I'm not gonna tag it that way.

I noticed as I checked it just for the science of it for lack of a better word. I was curious if it was happening across the board or if there was some sort of pattern. It's the only one I found, though I admit I wasn't doing any systematic analysis, more just wondering. That pattern does seem to have changed recently, though, so it might have been coincidence. Curiosity can easily get the better of me and without more systematic data, I wonder if I was seeing a pattern that wasn't really there.

Just out of curiosity, are you guys tracking the ratings, watching your story move up and down the list as the days progress... or just waiting patiently for December 12th? No reason for asking *cough*

p.s. I have absolutely no delusions of winning anything here, just a bit of a nerd.

I have an existing problem with checking ratings on things, not just stories here on lit. I'm working on it, but I still suck at it. But mostly, I started watching when I realized that it was well received and started getting positive comments on it and seeing people favoriting it in my "My Home" feed where I was going to see if my followed authors were posting things. I have no expectation of winning - there are far better authors in the running. I just think it's really cool to a) find such a kind group of fetish/kink folks that seemed to like my work and b) have a general sense of how much they like it so I can decide where to go next. Now...I just need to figure out a sequel because I've had multiple requests for one but can't decide where to take it. Can you write letters to plot bunnies the way you can letters to Santa?

 

[WittyUserName]

You got this!

I hope you're right!

 

[taytay4eva]

Personally, I'm not looking at the ratings or the contest list at all. I check my control panel every few days to see if someone left a comment on one of my stories, and I see the rating then.

In my head, this contest ended when my story went live because at that point I had taken my best shot and it was up to the rest of the stories to determine where mine ranked. That's a mindset I learned from competing in Taekwondo kata tournaments.

I'll check my daily rating on my control panel, but that's as much as I'm going to check on it for the contest. The only person I'm trying to impress and improve on is myself.

Well, and the people who rate my stories. I do like when number go up.

 

[taytay4eva]

My second contest submission was rejected for being a follow-up to last year's piece, so I'm resubmitting it to be its own thing. Probably for the best. Who knows, maybe I'll rake in a good score with it, since it won't be a competition piece!

Probably not, since I didn't write the smutty bits while I was edging myself, but maybe!

 

[Voboy]

Just out of curiosity, are you guys tracking the ratings, watching your story move up and down the list as the days progress... or just waiting patiently for December 12th? No reason for asking *cough*

p.s. I have absolutely no delusions of winning anything here, just a bit of a nerd.

I check it whenever I log in here, about twice a day. That's frequently enough that I can tell what's going on.

I've entered enough contests that I don't really worry about it much because I know how meaningless the scores are until the last minute.

 

[TurinTurambar]

I'll check my score maybe twice a day, while I'm checking for any new comments. I realize that I have absolutely no chance at winning anything, but its mildly interesting to see how my score shifts up and down until it settles. I know it will always take a big hit once I reach 100 votes, so I have to prepare myself for that.