The Official Valentine’s Day Contest Support Thread 2026

[EmilyMiller]

Sorry is thiis sounds a silly question! How do the votes work for competitions?

- Is it the number of people that vote positivity ie 5 stars at the end of the story + 20k reading it
- The average score of the story (scores from 1-5 averaged and doesnt matter if you have 2k or 20k reading)
- or there a totally seperate voting system which is controlled in another way? ie scores, number of readers + number of days live´since published is also factored in?

thank you in advance!

Comps work on the same rating as any other story, the average of all the votes cast. I believe, that if they can’t separate two stories to three decimal places, then they might look at either number of views or votes, but that’s just based on me having read others taking about it.

The only qualification is you have to have at least 25 votes by the time the prizes are decided,

So a story with 2,000 views and a rating of 4.87 will beat a story with 200,000 views and a rating of 4.86.

 

[EmilyMiller]

at least 25(or maybe 50? I can't remember)

50 was for the monthly comp when it was still running. It’s 25 for comps.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Sorry is thiis sounds a silly question! How do the votes work for competitions?

- Is it the number of people that vote positivity ie 5 stars at the end of the story + 20k reading it
- The average score of the story (scores from 1-5 averaged and doesnt matter if you have 2k or 20k reading)
- or there a totally seperate voting system which is controlled in another way? ie scores, number of readers + number of days live´since published is also factored in?

thank you in advance!

You have to have 25 people vote, any value to be in the running for a contest.
Then, at some point after the submission date passes, and the system scrubs for potentially fraudulent votes, the winners are the ones with the highest scores.

 

[EmilyMiller]

system scrubs for potentially fraudulent votes

Some potentially fraudulent votes, it’s well established that you can avoid sweeps if you have a little basic knowledge.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Some potentially fraudulent votes, it’s well established that you can avoid sweeps if you have a little basic knowledge.

And the people with that knowledge tend to hit me right out of the gate during every contest lol. I'd be annoyed if I wasn't sure they were hitting everyone.

 

[EmilyMiller]

And the people with that knowledge tend to hit me right out of the gate during every contest lol. I'd be annoyed if I wasn't sure they were hitting everyone.

It’s driven by insecurity. The knowledge that their work is inferior.

 

[StrentWriter]

I’ve got 15 votes so realistically 10 to get in? Still got a few weeks

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

I’ve got 15 votes so realistically 10 to get in? Still got a few weeks

ìʼll read and vote for you as soon as I get a chance!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

You have to have 25 people vote, any value to be in the running for a contest.
Then, at some point after the submission date passes, and the system scrubs for potentially fraudulent votes, the winners are the ones with the highest scores.

Do you think people own multiple accounts and vote for themselves? Strange thing to do for a hobby. Seems that would be like going to my local trophey shop and buying my own Cup!

 

[StrentWriter]

ìʼll read and vote for you as soon as I get a chance!

Right back at you!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

And the people with that knowledge tend to hit me right out of the gate during every contest lol. I'd be annoyed if I wasn't sure they were hitting everyone.

I definitely dont have the knowledge lol. Or much of a clue what you guys are chatting about! who is sweeping who and hitting what?!

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Right back at you!

Might copy your footer idea too when my story gets published!

 

[StrentWriter]

Might copy your footer idea too when my story gets published!

Please do!

 

[RoyalAuthor]

I definitely dont have the knowledge lol. Or much of a clue what you guys are chatting about! who is sweeping who and hitting what?!

People deliberately attempt to manipulate scores with 1-star votes (1-bombing, it's usually called around here). The site occasionally sweeps for fraudulent voting and removes some-to-most of these votes, which will cause scores to change occasionally (you can see it happen if you're obsessive about scores, like a lot of people on here are, including myself. Not saying it's healthy.). You can tell it's happening when you see a significant drop in your score after only one additional vote, and you can confirm it with basic math. Sweeps can occur randomly, but will always happen prior to the end of a contest.

For example, I had a chapter last month that topped the last 30 days popular list for the Group Sex category with a 4.89 with around 100 votes. The next day, I was hit with a string of three votes that pushed me down about 0.1 and kicked me down the list significantly. Yesterday, that story was swept and popped back up to a 4.86, near the top of the last 12 months page, and it's already been hit by 2 1-star votes to push it back down, so by tomorrow it'll be out of the top stories in that category when the list updates. It's annoying, harmful, and just plain bad behavior, and the site does its best, but honestly, you just get used to it after a while. I've found that the moment one of my stories creeps above 4.85, it immediately gets hit by the trolls, and I've talked to other authors who have seen similar trends.

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

Oh I see. Well yes, it would be upsetting if you are close to the Hall of Fame and then someone kept elbowing you out of the queue! Darn tooting trolls and people who leave rude comments - there is enough light from the sun for us all to feel the rays.

I figured you are never going to please everyone though. Iʼve only published twice (submitted as couples stories) but turns out Iʼm a BDSM girl. Now when I read BDSM stories I feel my stuff is super tame so....lower heat rates, lower scores?!

 

[EmilyMiller]

20th January

Have you not yet submitted a story?
It could bring you fortune and glory
It could possibly
Place in the top three
And go down in site history

 

[TheAlphabetGirl]

20th January

Have you not yet submitted a story?
It could bring you fortune and glory
It could possibly
Place in the top three
And go down in site history

Oh Dear Emily, we have done
And hold crossed fingers in our bum
The hall of fame awaits
For all authors…
Who choose not to procrastinate!


Second line could have also been

Oh Dear Emily, we have done
As competitions are so much fun
The hall of fame awaits....
For any authors, who choose
Not to procrastinate!

....but less funny for our naughty little group of scribes! Haha

 

[RetroFan]

Finally submitted mine this morning 'Emily in Perth'.

It's one of those 'development hell' stories, and over the past 18 months or so has been intended to be a Geek Pride, a Nude Day, a Summer Loving story or even just submitted on its own, finally its going in for Valentines Day.

Strangely it was very difficult to write, although the premise isn't overly complex and is about an American family visiting their relatives in Perth Western Australia one summer in the early 1990s, the two 18-year-old female cousins Emily from America and Jenny (the narrator) from Australia developing feelings for each other. It's a nice natured story, and I've written stories about lesbians, cousins, lesbian incest, vacations, definitely the 1990s and I really like Perth, so one would have thought that such a story would have come easily to me, but in a bit of a paradox it wasn't the case.

You hear about movies and TV shows being stuck in development hell for years and then being absolute disasters when finally going into production and being released. Hopefully the IT readers won't tear 'Emily in Perth' to pieces when it goes up for publication.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Finally submitted mine this morning 'Emily in Perth'.

It's one of those 'development hell' stories, and over the past 18 months or so has been intended to be a Geek Pride, a Nude Day, a Summer Loving story or even just submitted on its own, finally its going in for Valentines Day.

Strangely it was very difficult to write, although the premise isn't overly complex and is about an American family visiting their relatives in Perth Western Australia one summer in the early 1990s, the two 18-year-old female cousins Emily from America and Jenny (the narrator) from Australia developing feelings for each other. It's a nice natured story, and I've written stories about lesbians, cousins, lesbian incest, vacations, definitely the 1990s and I really like Perth, so one would have thought that such a story would have come easily to me, but in a bit of a paradox it wasn't the case.

You hear about movies and TV shows being stuck in development hell for years and then being absolute disasters when finally going into production and being released. Hopefully the IT readers won't tear 'Emily in Perth' to pieces when it goes up for publication.

Good luck

 

[RetroFan]

Good luck

Thanks Emily.

 

[redgarters]

I've found that the moment one of my stories creeps above 4.85, it immediately gets hit by the trolls, and I've talked to other authors who have seen similar trends.

This seems to happen eerily regularly in some categories. It's certainly the case with the LS top list.

 

[Voboy]

You hear about movies and TV shows being stuck in development hell for years and then being absolute disasters when finally going into production and being released. Hopefully the IT readers won't tear 'Emily in Perth' to pieces when it goes up for publication.

My current VDay entry was in development hell, too. It even went "into turnaround" at one point, lying around for a year with about 3,000 words done and me not thinking about it in the slightest. I later happened on it in my folder, scanned it, and thought, "Wow. This was a pretty good idea..."

That almost never happens to me. I'm glad it did this time. I'm proud of the ending.

 

[redgarters]

On a different note, I love that one of the V-Day stories is written entirely in Finnish: Amorin tähtäimessä

 

[FrancesScott]

This seems to happen eerily regularly in some categories. It's certainly the case with the LS top list.

Happened to me when I hit the all-time top ten for LS. A rating of 4.86 became 4.80 in just minutes. I didn’t know what was happening at the time. Now I do.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Happened to me when I hit the all-time top ten for LS. A rating of 4.86 became 4.80 in just minutes. I didn’t know what was happening at the time. Now I do.

Happened to me in Romance and Anal both.