What makes a favorite story?

[TheWritingGroup]

This morning my control panel shows that one person favorited 10 of the Writing Group's stories in one night. And this person has almost 12,000 favorite stories listed.

I read a lot, but I haven't read 12,000 stories in the past, what, 20 years(?) that Literotica has existed. (I haven't checked, that number is pure guesswork.) Certainly, I haven't read 12,000 Literotica stories.

What does this Literotica user mean by a "favorite" story? Did he* really read 10 of our stories overnight? Only one of them is very long, but still.

I'm not complaining, I'm sincerely puzzled.

-Annie

 

[StillStunned]

I think it's commonly understood that "favourite" is just a quick way for readers to bookmark a story because it sounds interesting, or it's part of a series that sounds interesting, or they like the genre, or another story by the author. And then they might read it later, and they might not.

 

[TheLobster]

Favoriting a story can mean anything between “OMG this is absolutely best story ever, I came three time just by reading the title alone!!!” and “Meh, I guess I might have a look at it at some point? idk.”

The fewer favorites a user does have, the more likely it is that the real reason was closer to the former rather than the latter.

 

[Bazzle]

Also if they add it to a list?

Don't we see it as a favourite?

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I'm just boggled by the 12,000 number. Say it takes 10 seconds to glance at a story and decide to click the "Add Story to Favorites" link. That's 120,000 seconds, over 30 hours, just spent flicking through stories, scrolling down to the bottom, and clicking. I'm pretty sure that's a conservative estimate.

The account has only existed for 4 years. 12,000 favorites?

I'm not mocking the person who likes my stuff (even if it's only a little bit). I'm just trying to picture how that happens. Find one story you like and Favorite all their works? But he didn't do that, he favorited just under half.

I'm confused.

-Annie

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Also if they add it to a list?

Don't we see it as a favourite?

Yes, but I checked, and he doesn't have lists.

-Annie

 

[NotWise]

When I see a reader with extremely long lists of favorite stories or favorite authors, I think they may not use their home page and may not realize they're building a list. I like to think they're using "favorites" simply as a compliment.

Why they would then favorite half a catalogue at the same time, I don't know. But it happens.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I get this at least once a week. Someone favorites all my stories in Novels/Novellas in one day, or they favorite all of my stories in a different category. Typically, either scenario happens immediately after they start "following" me, which actually would provide them with a broader "bookmark" for all of my stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think the most plausible explanation, as others have indicated, is that some readers use "favorites" as a kind of bookmark/to be read list, despite the fact that a few years ago the site added the ability to add stories to a reading list without favoriting them. I think you have to assume that many, many readers have only the most cursory understanding of how to use the site's features.

I've had cases where I opened my home page and noticed that somebody "favorited" 10 of my stories, almost all at once, so obviously they didn't actually read them all. I imagine this is fairly common.

In addition to that, think there are some voracious readers here who probably favorite everything they like.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I think we get a "favorite" flag when someone adds the story to a reading list. Simple as that.

 

[THBGato]

I think the most plausible explanation, as others have indicated, is that some readers use "favorites" as a kind of bookmark/to be read list, despite the fact that a few years ago the site added the ability to add stories to a reading list without favoriting them.

I agree.

I think we get a "favorite" flag when someone adds the story to a reading list. Simple as that.

Yes you do, with the exception of the "read later" list. I know that when I add a story to a list it tells me I have added them to favourites, e.g:


Actually, I didn't hit the heart button. Instead I added @Jackie.Hikaru 's story to my Christmas Lesbian's list and @Cagivagurl 's story to my Police, Thieves and Lesbians list.

But one assumes that if it comes up as a favourite for the reader, it'll count as a favourite for the writer too. Jackie, Cagivagurl can you confirm? Did you get a note saying THBGato has added your story to Favourites?

 

[ElectricBlue]

This morning my control panel shows that one person favorited 10 of the Writing Group's stories in one night. And this person has almost 12,000 favorite stories listed.

I read a lot, but I haven't read 12,000 stories in the past, what, 20 years(?) that Literotica has existed. (I haven't checked, that number is pure guesswork.) Certainly, I haven't read 12,000 Literotica stories.

What does this Literotica user mean by a "favorite" story? Did he* really read 10 of our stories overnight? Only one of them is very long, but still.

I'm not complaining, I'm sincerely puzzled.

-Annie

Some readers use Faves as a reading bookmark, others use Faves as a genuine recognition of a story, others don't seem to have much of a clue. Faves are so far down in the stats (1:1000 maybe?) as to be meaningless.

Being faved by someone with an endless scroll is almost an insult - what, you're lumping me in with all those other jokers? On the other hand, if their Faves list is much shorter, and I'm now on it - that's mostly how I find writers of stories I like.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

I agree.

Yes you do, with the exception of the "read later" list. I know that when I add a story to a list it tells me I have added them to favourites, e.g:

View attachment 2440078
Actually, I didn't hit the heart button. Instead I added @Jackie.Hikaru 's story to my Christmas Lesbian's list and @Cagivagurl 's story to my Police, Thieves and Lesbians list.

But one assumes that if it comes up as a favourite for the reader, it'll count as a favourite for the writer too. Jackie, Cagivagurl can you confirm? Did you get a note saying THBGato has added your story to Favourites?

Yes I saw that you added my story to favorites. Thank you ❤

 

[AwkwardMD]

IrishSexStoryLover strikes again

 

[Cagivagurl]

I agree.

Yes you do, with the exception of the "read later" list. I know that when I add a story to a list it tells me I have added them to favourites, e.g:

View attachment 2440078
Actually, I didn't hit the heart button. Instead I added @Jackie.Hikaru 's story to my Christmas Lesbian's list and @Cagivagurl 's story to my Police, Thieves and Lesbians list.

But one assumes that if it comes up as a favourite for the reader, it'll count as a favourite for the writer too. Jackie, Cagivagurl can you confirm? Did you get a note saying THBGato has added your story to Favourites?

Hi @THBGato I did receive a notification. Thank you for the wonderful comment. It gave me a warm giggle of appreciation. Slowly converting the world to Kiwi speak...
LOL...

Cagivagurl

 

[lovecraft68]

I have very few stories faved....here.

Long time ago I found out that if you have personal trolls from the forum and story file, they will not only troll you, but stories you comment on and ones that you fav.

I have around forty stories bookmarked on my PC in a 'lit story' folder.

My qualifiers to be faved are based on a complex forrmula, which I'll now share.

I really liked the story.

 

[NTR_senpai]

I’ve been looking as some people who have like hundreds of favorite authors and stories. I can’t only imagine being on Lit is either their full time job or that they just regard the lists as bookmarks.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Also if they add it to a list?

Don't we see it as a favourite?

Actually, we see it as Favorite. This is merica... spell it rite... come on...

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

merica

* ‘murica

 

[bumpercars]

Broadly I agree that it's hard to tell how significant it is when someone favorites one of your stories.

However, I did once have someone favorite each of the stories in a series of mine, with a roughly refractory-period-length gap between each one they favorited. I took that as a positive sign.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

* ‘murica

Gall dang it. I knowed shoulda finished third grade...

 

[Bazzle]

Gall dang it. I knowed shoulda finished third grade...

We should have fought harder. Pesky tea tax.

 

[PapaRomantic]

Actually, we see it as Favorite. This is merica... spell it rite... come on...

We in Kansas accept your spelling.

 

[Orcwords]

One possibility could be that they just figured out how to use the function recently. I've been reading the site daily for over 15 years, signed up for an account over a decade ago, and only started using things like favorites in the last month--in fact there's at least one author in this thread many of whose works I've read and enjoyed for a decade that I still don't follow and haven't favorited because the first time I remember seeing the function I thought I could only follow/favorite a handful of authors so I just started remembering things.

 

[RockHerWorld]

I use the favorite list to hold stories that I intend to read more than once. I have noticed one reader that uses favorites to build a list, but he is very organized and really likes stories in a very specific order. He will keep un favoriting and re favoriting until he gets my stories in just the right order in his list. It took a while to figure out what he was doing, he favorited all my stories multiple times in a period of three hours, and he does this every few months. Yes I am aware that I used fictional spelling for expanded versions of "Favorite"