Weird rating goings-on

[StillStunned]

People post about 'sweeps'. What are they? Who does them? Every story on Lit? How do you know about them?

Just before the contest winners are announced, the site "sweeps" any votes that it considers to be made in bad faith. This covers all the stories, not just the contest entries or even the writers who entered the contest.

What you might see is that the number of votes on a story will go down. The average score generally also changed: either up or down, depending on whether the site thought it was low or high votes that were illegitimate.

The sweeps don't catch all the bad votes, but they make a difference, and quite often a story will come out of nowhere to win the contest.

As for who votes in bad faith? Well, some say it's other authors who are desperate to harm the competition in what's essentially a popularity contest, and boost their own chances. Others say it's readers trying to help out their favourite author. Which makes total sense, of course, seeing as how we're always waxing lyrical about reader engagement on Lit. Clearly they truly care.

 

[caleb35]

Just before the contest winners are announced, the site "sweeps" any votes that it considers to be made in bad faith. This covers all the stories, not just the contest entries or even the writers who entered the contest.

What you might see is that the number of votes on a story will go down. The average score generally also changed: either up or down, depending on whether the site thought it was low or high votes that were illegitimate.

The sweeps don't catch all the bad votes, but they make a difference, and quite often a story will come out of nowhere to win the contest.

As for who votes in bad faith? Well, some say it's other authors who are desperate to harm the competition in what's essentially a popularity contest, and boost their own chances. Others say it's readers trying to help out their favourite author. Which makes total sense, of course, seeing as how we're always waxing lyrical about reader engagement on Lit. Clearly they truly care.

Well, I'm currently catching some of those "bad votes" now. Just posted my latest story today -- one of the first votes on it was a 1-star and I just got a second 1-star. I'm not saying that everyone has to like it but I am saying it's not 1-star bad

 

[alohadave]

Well, I'm currently catching some of those "bad votes" now. Just posted my latest story today -- one of the first votes on it was a 1-star and I just got a second 1-star. I'm not saying that everyone has to like it but I am saying it's not 1-star bad

Those are normal. Everyone gets them. They'll get drowned out as more readers find your stories. Some people troll through the New list just to give them 1 stars.

 

[caleb35]

Those are normal. Everyone gets them. They'll get drowned out as more readers find your stories. Some people troll through the New list just to give them 1 stars.

Thanks for the response, @alohadave; I didn’t think I was alone in it, but I thank you for reminding me that I’m not

 

[IWroteThis]

Well, I'm currently catching some of those "bad votes" now. Just posted my latest story today -- one of the first votes on it was a 1-star and I just got a second 1-star. I'm not saying that everyone has to like it but I am saying it's not 1-star bad

Reality is that every story will be hated by some people, whether you're a rank amateur or a New York Time's best selling author. It's simply a matter of whether or not those particular people rate your story.

To say "it's not 1-star bad" is to say that you don't understand the rating system.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Some people troll through the New list just to give them 1 stars.

Tell me about it. Took 5 weeks plus altogether to get my latest story out, and then got torpedoed there.
You know, if you think about it, there's almost no legit reason to give a story a '1' rating. If a story was really that bad, trying to even finish reading it would be torture. I know there are a few here that deserve no better, but when I encounter them, I just walk away. A story would have to seriously piss me off somehow, to induce me to leave anything worse than a '3'.

 

[SimonDoom]

Well, I'm currently catching some of those "bad votes" now. Just posted my latest story today -- one of the first votes on it was a 1-star and I just got a second 1-star. I'm not saying that everyone has to like it but I am saying it's not 1-star bad

I don't think that any of my stories deserve one star. But I've received many, many one stars. It happens to all of us.

 

[caleb35]

I don't think that any of my stories deserve one star. But I've received many, many one stars. It happens to all of us.

Agreed, @SimonDoom. Thanks.

 

[StrangeLife]

We don't know how it works, and the site doesn't want us speculating publicly about how it works.

Which is how it should be. That way I can always blame the algorithm instead of facing the sad possibility that I simply suck.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Which is how it should be. That way I can always blame the algorithm instead of facing the sad possibility that I simply suck.

Amen. Plausible deniability is paramount.

 

[IWroteThis]

You know, if you think about it, there's almost no legit reason to give a story a '1' rating.

Sure there is. It's spelled out right under the star with the 1 in it. If you hate the story, the appropriate ratings is 1*.

Think about it. If a 1* rating is never legit, then why is it an option?

Also, look at the words under the stars. 1 and 5 are opposites. 2 and 4 are opposites. If you take away the 1, the ratings are unbalanced until you also take away the 5. Granted, the 5 is misused about as much as the 1, so maybe we do need to remove them both.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Sure there is. It's spelled out right under the star with the 1 in it. If you hate the story, the appropriate ratings is 1*.

Think about it. If a 1* rating is never legit, then why is it an option?

Also, look at the words under the stars. 1 and 5 are opposites. 2 and 4 are opposites. If you take away the 1, the ratings are unbalanced until you also take away the 5. Granted, the 5 is misused about as much as the 1, so maybe we do need to remove them both.

If you do that, you end up with the same problem as you do with 1 and 5, only now it happens with 2 and 4. It turns out that if you are going to use a Likert Scale, a rating scale of 1-5 with descriptive labels actually leads to the greatest validity and reliability that you can hope to get. Is it going to be perfect? Nah, never is (especially on the internet with trolls present). But it is going to be optimized as best as it can be given the options.

 

[EdwardsOtherSide]

I have noticed the scores of my more polarizing stories jumping up and down and I assumed it was the "Yay, 3 5-stars! Boo, a 1-star from a butthurt incel and/or Bible thumper".
(I knew what I was leaving myself open for and considered the 1-stars as much a mark of success as the 5-stars.)

The sweeps thing makes a lot of sense. Thank you for explaining it.

 

[IWroteThis]

If you do that, you end up with the same problem as you do with 1 and 5, only now it happens with 2 and 4. It turns out that if you are going to use a Likert Scale, a rating scale of 1-5 with descriptive labels actually leads to the greatest validity and reliability that you can hope to get. Is it going to be perfect? Nah, never is (especially on the internet with trolls present). But it is going to be optimized as best as it can be given the options.

Oh, I agree with you. I was not actually advocating for removing the 1 and 5 stars.
Well, maybe Devil's advocating, but I actually like the current rating system and wish more people used it correctly.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

Oh, I agree with you. I was not actually advocating for removing the 1 and 5 stars.
Well, maybe Devil's advocating, but I actually like the current rating system and wish more people used it correctly.

Sorry, my inner dork was on full display between this thread and the one on finding the right word for emotions. I try to rein it as best I can but sometimes...well....you saw what happens.

 

[IWroteThis]

Sorry, my inner dork was on full display between this thread and the one on finding the right word for emotions. I try to rein it as best I can but sometimes...well....you saw what happens.

As a high-functioning Autistic, I've had to learn to hop really well, as I'm always putting my foot in my mouth.

Trying to write neurotypical dialogue for my stories is always my biggest struggle.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Looks like another ratings sweep went through overnight, my latest story lost a couple of atypical low scores. Thanks, Lit, good work. I was kind of expecting this, but wasn't sure if the algorithm would see it my way, since there weren't a lot of ratings offered on it to begin with.

 

[feel_the_beast]

OK, here's a weird one. Got a story published this week, it's getting very nice ratings, thank you everyone...or most everyone. Checking, I saw someone gave it a lousy rating, dropping the average noticeably. Shortly after, looking again... that rating was deleted; the number of ratings decreased by one, and the previous score reinstated.
Before, I thought Lit was dealing with this kind of troll by 'sweeping' periodically through and dropping obviously outlier ratings, but this was almost a 'real-time' adjustment. Has anyone else seen something like this?

 

[StillStunned]

OK, here's a weird one. Got a story published this week, it's getting very nice ratings, thank you everyone...or most everyone. Checking, I saw someone gave it a lousy rating, dropping the average noticeably. Shortly after, looking again... that rating was deleted; the number of ratings decreased by one, and the previous score reinstated.
Before, I thought Lit was dealing with this kind of troll by 'sweeping' periodically through and dropping obviously outlier ratings, but this was almost a 'real-time' adjustment. Has anyone else seen something like this?

One theory is that sometimes "dodgy" accounts get deleted, and all their activity with it.

 

[feel_the_beast]

One theory is that sometimes "dodgy" accounts get deleted, and all their activity with it.

Well, he's a zombie, if that was it. The lousy rating was reinstated.

 

[IWroteThis]

OK, here's a weird one. Got a story published this week, it's getting very nice ratings, thank you everyone...or most everyone. Checking, I saw someone gave it a lousy rating, dropping the average noticeably. Shortly after, looking again... that rating was deleted; the number of ratings decreased by one, and the previous score reinstated.
Before, I thought Lit was dealing with this kind of troll by 'sweeping' periodically through and dropping obviously outlier ratings, but this was almost a 'real-time' adjustment. Has anyone else seen something like this?

One thing I've noticed is that what I see in my Control Panel and what I see on the actual story refresh at different intervals. I haven't tested it, but I would guess the same is true for your profile page and the New Story list.

That wouldn't explain it if you looked in the same place both times, but it might if you looked in two different places.

 

[RocketGrunt]

The control panel updates the ratings much more frequently than the story category page or the author stories page.

So if you're looking in different places, you could see the results of a rating, then not see it, then see it again.

 

[feel_the_beast]

The control panel updates the ratings much more frequently than the story category page or the author stories page.

So if you're looking in different places, you could see the results of a rating, then not see it, then see it again.

Noted. But this was all in the control panel.

 

[RejectReality]

If that reversal of the 1-bomb put it on the upper half of page 1 of the score toplist for the category, get used to it. Page 1 of any score toplist is a hotbed of trolling. Somebody else will come along and bomb it again every time one is removed and it reappears on the toplist, because you're threatening their favorite story/author. Don't be surprised if it's multiple bombs, because they can't see that your score has already dropped until it updates on one of the public pages, which can take as much as 24 hours depending upon where they're looking. If DouchebagA bombs you, and DouchebagB can't tell, they're probably going to bomb you too.

There's no way around it. Bask in whatever time you do spend on the toplist, picking up new readers. It's the votes from steadily accumulating readership that are the one and only defense against malicious voting.

 

[Satsumabook123]

Can anyone help me understand? Not long ago I had two consecutive stories receive a total of 1,000 rates. My next 30 plus stories, my last, have not received 1,000 in total. I realize some story titles, tags etc appeal more than others but this is a huge difference. Do authors get promoted at times?
Also some 25 consecutive stories received very generous ratings but suddenly the next 15 or so were much less generally received. I am aware of trolling etc. I also know my stories vary in quality and appeal but again the change is dramatic.
Is there anything that I might be doing to cause these fluctuations?
Thanks Satsumabook123