The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[Ian_Snow]

Good luck, folks. Fell way behind on my reading but I loved what I did read.

 

[TexasLark]

Can yu send me link and name of story and I will flag to Laurel - it had the winter holidays text in the Notes to Admin? right?

I'll send you a pm..

 

[TheLobster]

I'm getting several low votes a day, every day. There's no way what's happening to people's stories is legitimate. We can only hope the the sweep ends up being being handled with more effectiveness than some other things lately.

Yeah, not great here either. Mine started at 4.7 with a handful of votes in; and since it's a story that's waaay outside of my usual porn-heavy fare (have I mentioned it has no sex?), I doubt it has been propped up much by my ardent followers.

But after that, it's been all downhill, and right now it doesn't even break above the H waterline anymore.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Yeah, not great here either. Mine started at 4.7 with a handful of votes in; and since it's a story that's waaay outside of my usual porn-heavy fare (have I mentioned it has no sex?), I doubt it has been propped up much by my ardent followers.

But after that, it's been all downhill, and right now it doesn't even break above the H waterline anymore.

I know asking for changes is a waste of breath, but it would be interesting if they displayed scores like Rotten Tomatoes does movies.
They have an Audience Score and a Critics Score.
If Lit showed Registered User scores and Anonymous scores it would be really obvious if a story was getting malicious votes because there would be a huge gap between the scores.

 

[old_prof]

I know asking for changes is a waste of breath, but it would be interesting if they displayed scores like Rotten Tomatoes does movies.
They have an Audience Score and a Critics Score.
If Lit showed Registered User scores and Anonymous scores it would be really obvious if a story was getting malicious votes because there would be a huge gap between the scores.

I oppose suggestions to block anonymous voting. (It makes no sense for the site). But I like this idea. Maybe use only the registered votes for prizes.

 

[cw5523729]

I oppose suggestions to block anonymous voting. (It makes no sense for the site). But I like this idea. Maybe use only the registered votes for prizes.

I love her idea but I'd personally be fine with blocking anonymous voting as well. If you want to 1-bomb me, you should have to do the work to at least make a bullshit account so that I know that you really, really wanted to 1-bomb me. Then I'd feel better about it. Anonymous 1-bombing is just plain lazy.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I oppose suggestions to block anonymous voting. (It makes no sense for the site). But I like this idea. Maybe use only the registered votes for prizes.

I agree, I wouldn't want to get rid of anonymous voting, because I totally get people not wanting to register.

And we know there are people pathetic enough to have alts here, so it isn't perfect. But it makes more sense to me than trying to use a secret formula to adjust the numbers.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I'm getting several low votes a day, every day. There's no way what's happening to people's stories is legitimate. We can only hope the the sweep ends up being being handled with more effectiveness than some other things lately.

Edit: I'm not complaining, just reporting ... this contest has been amazing for me and I'm glad we're getting to have it, and I'm hopeful that the sweep will be thorough while tempering my expectations against the reality that the site has a lot of its hands right now.

Likewise, they come in like clockwork. I...didn't think I was any sort of anything enough to be on someone's radar in this way.

If Lit showed Registered User scores and Anonymous scores it would be really obvious if a story was getting malicious votes because there would be a huge gap between the scores.

This is a fascinating solution to the problem. Is there a delay between when you create an account and when you can start rating or would this just result in people creating fake email addresses and accounts to give malicious votes? I don't actually know how this mechanic works, but I'm interesting in thinking of ways that it could just no longer even be a potential issue like you suggest.

 

[cw5523729]

Likewise, they come in like clockwork

Same. I had 28 parts of a story posted and I could set my watch to when the 1-bomb would come in after each part was released. So at least I know someone cared enough to be very consistent about their hatred. Thanks, buddy!

 

[cw5523729]

And we know there are people pathetic enough to have alts here

No way!!

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Same. I had 28 parts of a story posted and I could set my watch to when the 1-bomb would come in after each part was released. So at least I know someone cared enough to be very consistent about their hatred. Thanks, buddy!

Is it weird that I kinda wish it was individually targeted instead of seeming to be a set of stories with the same tag just because....yea, it would kinda be nice to have hit someone's radar so hard that they'd take the time out to clockwork bomb, lol

 

[YmaOHyd]

Is it weird that I kinda wish it was individually targeted instead of seeming to be a set of stories with the same tag just because....yea, it would kinda be nice to have hit someone's radar so hard that they'd take the time out to clockwork bomb, lol

Argue with enough people and it'll happen!

 

[WittyUserName]

Well, I did it. Less than eight hours left, but I managed to submit an entry in time. I don't expect to do well, but it was fun to write.

 

[Dodola]

No way!!

What is alts?

 

[Voboy]

What is alts?

Separate accounts under a different username.

There are many legitimate reasons to have one, and "because I want to cast multiple votes" is not one of them.

 

[Dodola]

Separate accounts under a different username.

There are many legitimate reasons to have one, and "because I want to cast multiple votes" is not one of them.

That's kinda creepy.
Now I'm looking around wondering if everyone is also someone else?

 

[TheLobster]

That's kinda creepy.
Now I'm looking around wondering if everyone is also someone else?

We're all just in your head anyway

 

[cw5523729]

That's kinda creepy.
Now I'm looking around wondering if everyone is also someone else?

One of me is already too much, so no worries there

 

[Dodola]

We're all just in your head anyway

I mean, who wants to get yelled at under multiple names?

Or are people arguing with themselves?

Yikes!

 

[TheLobster]

Or are people arguing with themselves?

Nah.

 

[TheLobster]

Nah.

What do you mean? Of course they do!

 

[Voboy]

That's kinda creepy.
Now I'm looking around wondering if everyone is also someone else?

Yeah, like I said, there are illegitimate uses sometimes.

Lots of writers use them as a way to post "experimental" or unusual work without it reflecting on what they see as the norm for their fanbase. Like, say I wanted to start delving into BDSM pieces without the usual BDSM audience being aware of who I am, or having the baggage of my more "vanilla" offerings to make them unsure I'm taking their kink seriously? I might set up a separate account for those stories.

 

[Dodola]

Yeah, like I said, there are illegitimate uses sometimes.

Lots of writers use them as a way to post "experimental" or unusual work without it reflecting on what they see as the norm for their fanbase. Like, say I wanted to start delving into BDSM pieces without the usual BDSM audience being aware of who I am, or having the baggage of my more "vanilla" offerings to make them unsure I'm taking their kink seriously? I might set up a separate account for those stories.

Understood.
It's a bit of a plot twist for me.
I think I'm pretty naive about lit and AH.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Understood.
It's a bit of a plot twist for me.
I think I'm pretty naive about lit and AH.

An alt is a different thing from a sockpuppet. Someone sockpuppeting has created an alt to hide their identity for basically negative reasons. They're gonna rate stories multiple times (downrating people they don't like, maybe) or jump into threads to support themselves from a fake ID. People have done it before, it's a common problem online, but it's pretty rare in the AH.

Alts generally aren't that different from a writer writing under a pen name. @EmilyMiller has an essay about why she created an alt account that's worth reading. Other people write in categories that don't overlap -- @Voboy's example of BDSM is a good one. I personally mostly write romance; if I were to start doing heavy fetish content, I don't think the people who follow me because they like my style would enjoy it. I don't want the romance people getting mad because there's giantess-versus-tentacle-monster stuff being shoved into their feed or vice versa. So I might create an alt to keep those audiences separate.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Alts generally aren't that different from a writer writing under a pen name. @EmilyMiller has an essay about why she created an alt account that's worth reading. Other people write in categories that don't overlap -- @Voboy's example of BDSM is a good one. I personally mostly write romance; if I were to start doing heavy fetish content, I don't think the people who follow me because they like my style would enjoy it. I don't want the romance people getting mad because there's giantess-versus-tentacle-monster stuff being shoved into their feed or vice versa. So I might create an alt to keep those audiences separate.

People get confused by the nomenclature. You laid it out pretty clearly. The late KeithD had writing alts for gay male and non-gay male stories. It’s a common thing to do. We’ve even had alt X posting here that their alt Y won a comp. There is no malign intent. I’d mention altissimus (get it?) at this point, who I first interacted with under another name.

Sockpuppets are different as you say, they are either fluffing your own work, or attacking other people’s. Then you can create a lot of mayhem - if you know what you are doing and have a bad enough psychological problem - without any account and just a basic understanding of how this place works (which doesn’t take long to formulate).

It’s the internet, let he who among us is using their full real life name cast the first stone.