What's with "Favorites" anyway?

[ElectricBlue]

and I'm a writer unfamiliar with the tags page...

They're not easy to get to.

Go to Stories down the bottom, click in to that page, scroll down about half way. The tags portal is in the right hand column.

 

[IWroteThis]

and I'm a writer unfamiliar with the tags page...

The easiest way to get there is to simply click on a tag in a story, which will pull up the search page for that tag. At the top, you'll find a link to the Story Tags Portal. You can also click the "X" to remove the active tag from the search, which will automatically take you there.

 

[SkyBubble]

He "favorited" most or all of my catalog several times, possibly adding the whole thing to different lists.

How does he favorite the same story more than once?

 

[NotWise]

How does he favorite the same story more than once?

He's hardly the only one. I see it all the time. There must be nothing to stop a reader from favoriting a story over and over. It's a behavior that makes me think some readers use the "favorite" button to compliment the story or author, rather than for whatever we think its purpose is.

 

[IWroteThis]

How does he favorite the same story more than once?

As has been mentioned before, that is generated for adding to any list, including favorites, so they may have added them to multiple lists.

Also, there is no notice about unfavoriting and sometimes the little icon doesn't change properly, so they may have clicked multiple times before it showed that it displayed as favorited.

 

[CandaulistScribe]

When I finish a story I enjoy, after I've given it five stars, of course, I look below at the recommended stories to see if any of those catch my eye. I also click on user names of people who have favorited my stories, or who are following me (in my activity page), and look at what and who they've added to their favorites, and what's on their other lists. Because they're enjoying what I write, in theory the other stuff that they like will have similar elements. I use it as a way to find things I like.

I use those lists to mark things I need/want to read, things I have read, enjoyed, and might read again, and things that I might use as inspiration for future stories of my own.

 

[OddLove]

I always discover new stories through people's favorites/list because I find stories I like more consistently than if I were to just go looking at titles and ratings.

If I see someone comment on a story I just read and enjoyed I like to go see what other stories they also enjoyed.

I never thought that was common, but if favorites are a common 'recommendation' form for others too then I might start favoriting stories I like.

 

[SkyBubble]

Also, there is no notice about unfavoriting and sometimes the little icon doesn't change properly

I know that. My latest story is listed on my Works page as having 5 Favorites (on Day 18) but on my "My Home" page, eight people are listed as having made it favorite.

 

[CandaulistScribe]

I know that. My latest story is listed on my Works page as having 5 Favorites (on Day 18) but on my "My Home" page, eight people are listed as having made it favorite.

I am pretty sure that the algorythm to notify you that someone added it to their favorites is a little wonky - if someone adds it to ANY of thir lists it will tell you that USER has added your story to their favorites, but only when your story is in someone's actual favorites will it show that way on the story stats.

 

[WittyUserName]

which leads to the question "how do you know what tags are popular?"
and the followup "What if my kinks are pretty specific, rather than very popular?"

https://tags.literotica.com/erotic-couplings-category-tags/ Most used tags are in bigger font. You say later that you're unfamiliar because you're a writer. Maybe you should get familiar. I sometimes look at the most popular tags in a category for suggestions on what to use on my story. No one is searching for the category "Jake's Huge Dick" but maybe there's popular wording that can fit better and help more people find you.

 

[ElectricBlue]

He's hardly the only one. I see it all the time. There must be nothing to stop a reader from favoriting a story over and over. It's a behavior that makes me think some readers use the "favorite" button to compliment the story or author, rather than for whatever we think its purpose is.

Some readers curate stories into multiple lists. Each time they do so, you get a new Fave notice.

 

[metropolinational]

I use my follower's favorites as a way to find new stories to read. It works like a charm.

However, I have noticed that some of them have lists titled things like "Terrible" or "Don't Read," so I definitely take list additions with a grain of salt. It's not always a compliment!

 

[Imstillfun]

When I check out my activity page over on the story side, i find very few fresh comments (understandable given how rarely I've been posting new work), but every day there seem to be a string of notificationsthat readers have favorited various random works from my back catalogue.
It might be because I don't understand (or care) how favoriyes work, but am curious what those readers gain by favoriting stories from a writer who is relatively inactive.

Has anybody got a theory?

I hadn’t posted in2 years. I still read the comments. I don’t think there’s a connection between the people who favorite and the author. I think they are commenting or favoriting for other readers.

I will go back and I can tell someone has 1* bombed a story I wrote 10 years ago. A story that was in the 4.6s, Anshan’s been there for years, suddenly becomes a 4.49 or 4.48. And it takes effort to do this with a story with thousands of votes.