Why readers don't vote

[BellaBestia]

If comments and votes are important to you maybe say so at the beginning before your piece? Much like YouTube videos where creators ask viewers to like comment and subscribe. Many won’t (I’ve watched hundreds of YouTube’s without so much as a thumbs up) but some might. They may just need reminding.

Specific to poetry I don’t think many readers here seek out or read poetry let alone vote or comment on it, any who do tend to be other poets and they will only comment/rate if you’ve specifically asked in the poets forum or have a poem suggested to them by someone else.

 

[Voboy]

I read stories for over 10 years here before becoming an author. It never occurred to me that I "should" do anything, other than read the stories I wanted. It's been a long time since those days and I don't specifically recall, but I'm sure I voted much less than half the time. Most of the time I didn't even think about it.

This was my experience also; in addition, for at least the first three years here, I assumed you had to be logged in to do anything but read, and I had zero interest in joining any kind of "sex site." It was the early 2000s and I had a job that I thought would look dimly on my membership on this site, if it became apparent.

In hindsight, that was a silly concern. But I didn't know that at the time. So I had even less motivation to vote. I really didn't see myself as any kind of "a community," with any degree of buy-in. I also think that those of us who came to the internet when it was less than fully-formed never developed an automatic concept of rating or evaluating things online.

 

[SimonDoom]

This was my experience also; in addition, for at least the first three years here, I assumed you had to be logged in to do anything but read, and I had zero interest in joining any kind of "sex site." It was the early 2000s and I had a job that I thought would look dimly on my membership on this site, if it became apparent.

In hindsight, that was a silly concern. But I didn't know that at the time. So I had even less motivation to vote. I really didn't see myself as any kind of "a community," with any degree of buy-in. I also think that those of us who came to the internet when it was less than fully-formed never developed an automatic concept of rating or evaluating things online.

You've touched on something that can't be underestimated. Many people, when exploring erotica online, want to leave as tiny a footprint as possible. Leaving an anonymous comment or vote may not seem like a "footprint" to us, but it probably does to some readers.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

As an author of a chaptered piece, you can see how well each chapter works by how many people stay to read the next chapter. I think subsequent chapter views are much more realistic than views on single pieces here. People mostly know what they're getting in chapter x, so are much less likely to click out after looking at the length or the pages or the author's note or the seventeen typos in the first paragraph.

Pranked: Barbie, my novel published in five parts (as of April 5, 2026):

Part Readers Votes Rating
1 14.2 41 4.51
2 8.0 23 4.61
3 4.6 19 4.79
4 13.7 14 4.71
5 2.8 16 4.50

This doesn't make sense according to what any other author seems to experience with chaptered stories. The reader number drops off a cliff, then shoots up, then almost disappears. (It's annoying, I'm proud of the ending.) The few who stuck it out then ... don't like it as much as the previous chapters?

Complicated by what sure looked like one-bombing, of course.

 

[MountainLakes]

I am too busy to give up a day for jury duty.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sure. It's the number of votes that tapers off (for most people, not for my last chaptered posting). The people still reading for Part 6 are there because they like the story, after all.

This is vote numbers for the six parts of my novel (replaced the exhibit with one labelled with current ratings):

 

[LargoKitt]

If I can't give five stars, I do not rate. YMMV

Me too. OTOH, if the story has a 4.5+ rating from the few who voted, it is interesting that, say, the 4000 people who didn't vote all mentally rated it at a 4 or less. Maybe the trope of "Hmm, this story got a 4.6, it must be pretty good. Let's see. Mmm, nah." must be fairly common.

 

[LargoKitt]

To this point, when you eat out, do you base your tip amount on the beverage served before the meal?

I think most people would base their tip on the total experience, including the soup/salad appetizer, the entree, and possibly the dessert. This should be something for writers to consider when they publish their works in pieces rather than as a whole completed work. Don't expect a 20% tip on each course of the "meal".

On the rare occasion when I do read a story here that is published in parts, I always vote only at the end, after completing the whole story.

As I noted elsewhere, most of my series are episodic, so each chapter stands alone and many get pretty good ratings. I'll have to check, but I don't seem to get significantly more votes on the last episode that one could attribute to liking the whole series. And there's a whole nother mystery. If someone reads through the whole series one might really expect a comment.

 

[LargoKitt]

Sure. It's the number of votes that tapers off (for most people, not for my last chaptered posting). The people still reading for Part 6 are there because they like the story, after all.

Since lots of readers seem to start with the 'new' list I have always assumed that lots of readers may see Chapter 3 first and double back. Maybe I'm selfish but my usual method of finding stories I might like is to first look at the authors who have liked a story of mine. If it a reader who made a comment I look at their favorites list. If I like their categories I'll sample some of the stories they chose.

 

[LargoKitt]

To this point, when you eat out, do you base your tip amount on the beverage served before the meal?

I think most people would base their tip on the total experience, including the soup/salad appetizer, the entree, and possibly the dessert. This should be something for writers to consider when they publish their works in pieces rather than as a whole completed work. Don't expect a 20% tip on each course of the "meal".

On the rare occasion when I do read a story here that is published in parts, I always vote only at the end, after completing the whole story.

Maybe my metaphor is not that apt since I tip based on the service more than anything else. Maybe the only way that translates is seeing a stories that goes to the trouble to have heartfelt dialog, interesting premises or plot twists, and sex scenes that feel unique to that set of characters. And some stories are 'takeout'. Formula, generic, telling not showing and like fast food they don't get a 'tip.'

 

[LargoKitt]

If comments and votes are important to you maybe say so at the beginning before your piece? Much like YouTube videos where creators ask viewers to like comment and subscribe. Many won’t (I’ve watched hundreds of YouTube’s without so much as a thumbs up) but some might. They may just need reminding.

Specific to poetry I don’t think many readers here seek out or read poetry let alone vote or comment on it, any who do tend to be other poets and they will only comment/rate if you’ve specifically asked in the poets forum or have a poem suggested to them by someone else.

Not a site dedicated to poetry, right. But I have many poems with several thousand views. For a poem I assume that means 'actually read'. Doesn't mean 'liked'.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Pranked: Barbie, my novel published in five parts (as of April 5, 2026):

Part Readers Votes Rating
1 14.2 41 4.51
2 8.0 23 4.61
3 4.6 19 4.79
4 13.7 14 4.71
5 2.8 16 4.50

This doesn't make sense according to what any other author seems to experience with chaptered stories. The reader number drops off a cliff, then shoots up, then almost disappears. (It's annoying, I'm proud of the ending.) The few who stuck it out then ... don't like it as much as the previous chapters?

Complicated by what sure looked like one-bombing, of course.

Chapter 4 is very odd - the 13k7 Views is definitely an anomaly. Makes no sense, given that the Vote count is consistent with Chapters 3 and 5.

If a bunch of people were reading it multiple times, I'd expect the Vote # to be higher.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If a bunch of people were reading it multiple times, I'd expect the Vote # to be higher.

People can vote more than once?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Pranked: Barbie, my novel published in five parts (as of April 5, 2026):

Part Readers Votes Rating
1 14.2 41 4.51
2 8.0 23 4.61
3 4.6 19 4.79
4 13.7 14 4.71
5 2.8 16 4.50

This doesn't make sense according to what any other author seems to experience with chaptered stories. The reader number drops off a cliff, then shoots up, then almost disappears. (It's annoying, I'm proud of the ending.) The few who stuck it out then ... don't like it as much as the previous chapters?

I'm guessing that there was something odd about chapter 4. It's not in a different category and it's title and tag don't seem much more provocative than the other four entries. Perhaps it just happened to publish right at the top of the new list that day?

 

[Voboy]

Specific to poetry I don’t think many readers here seek out or read poetry let alone vote or comment on it, any who do tend to be other poets and they will only comment/rate if you’ve specifically asked in the poets forum or have a poem suggested to them by someone else.

This post caused me to go look at my poems. I've got eight. Most have been viewed, voted, and commented a microscopic number of times... but there's one outlier with 10,300 views and 57 votes. I have no idea why that one took off and none of the rest did, though it's a poem I enjoyed writing and I think it's very good.

But then, I think the rest are good, too.

Sometimes, you just never know.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I'm guessing that there was something odd about chapter 4. It's not in a different category and it's title and tag don't seem much more provocative than the other four entries. Perhaps it just happened to publish right at the top of the new list that day?

If I remember right, it was at the top of the category popularity list for a while, but so was another segment. Then the one-bombers attacked.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Chapter 4 is very odd - the 13k7 Views is definitely an anomaly. Makes no sense, given that the Vote count is consistent with Chapters 3 and 5.

If a bunch of people were reading it multiple times, I'd expect the Vote # to be higher.

I've found the description of a chapter can make a lot of difference. In this case. ch.4 is "A few days in the life of a pleasure slave' - the other chapters mention slavery and a psychiatrist, decisions, etc. I bet that word 'pleasure' is attracting a lot of resders, especially as it's in the NC/R category.

I've had some series where a later chapter has higher views than earlier, and it's definitely down to the tagline - e.g. ch.5 of Smoking Hot has "Adrian finally gets fucked again", which clearly is what the GM audience wants - "Ade gives two blow jobs to distract from smoking" or "Ade and Dan meet and have a meal" just aren't in that ballpark.

Switching categories also changes views - ch.11 of anything will get more views in EC (or obviously, IT or LW) than the niche categories like GM, BDSM, EV, Group.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I've found the description of a chapter can make a lot of difference. In this case. ch.4 is "A few days in the life of a pleasure slave' - the other chapters mention slavery and a psychiatrist, decisions, etc. I bet that word 'pleasure' is attracting a lot of resders, especially as it's in the NC/R category.

I would think that the word slave would draw a lot more attention than pleasure, and slave is used in several chapter descriptions.

 

[ElectricBlue]

People can vote more than once?

No, I meant if a bunch of people were reading it several times, I'd expect the Vote/View ratio to be much higher, with more people voting. That view count for chapter 4 is way out of wack. My suspicion would be a swarm of web-crawlers, not potential readers dropping in.

As an aside, you can easily vote twice, once in your account name, once as anon, from the same computer.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

As an aside, you can easily vote twice, once in your account name, once as anon, from the same computer.

I have too much integrity to do so myself, but I could see others doing so.

However, I thought that there was some IP address tracking on the site, which is why people would resort to using VPNs to vote more frequently.

I know that when I have gone back and re-read a story, the option to vote is disabled whether I am logged in under my user name or anonymous. This is how I know that I have read and voted on the story previously.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

Any reasonably tech-literate person could vote many times from the same computer, anonymously, or so I assume. I rarely even vote from this account.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have too much integrity to do so myself, but I could see others doing so.

I experimented on my own stories back when I joined Lit in 2014, curious to know how views and votes worked.

However, I thought that there was some IP address tracking on the site, which is why people would resort to using VPNs to vote more frequently.

There is, which is an obvious thing for the site to do.

I know that when I have gone back and re-read a story, the option to vote is disabled whether I am logged in under my user name or anonymous. This is how I know that I have read and voted on the story previously.

Correct.

I'll occasionally read something, thinking this sounds familiar, to get to the last page and discover I've already voted.

I can't remember the last time I logged out. Other than those tests back when I started, I've never voted as anon.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'll occasionally read something, thinking this sounds familiar, to get to the last page and discover I've already voted.

You can change your vote tho, can't you?

 

[ElectricBlue]

You can change your vote tho, can't you?

Yes.

 

[Luci_nerdy_kink]

I was just looking over my poems noticing that most don't have enough votes to tip into the hot category. Now I'm not saying they deserve to be called hot. I'm puzzling why the vast majority of Lit readers don't vote. I was figuring that for stories it was because they skim, see it isn't their favorite, and move on before getting to the last page. But poems are one-pagers. So I'm looking at a poem that got more than 6500 views and 8 votes. The voters pretty much liked it. Okay. But why did 6500 people say 'Can't be bothered' and why is that the norm?

I’ve done a lot of work in marketing and looked at a ridiculous amount of analytics…

When you’re targeting an audience like this… it’s very very important to understand their mindset at the time of reading.

More so than a lot of other industries, because of the changes that happen in our brain when we’re reading erotic material.

I’m trying not to get into the weeds so I don’t accidentally confuse you…

So if you want to discuss your strategy for reach, we should probably just do it privately… and don’t worry I’m not somebody who charges for that kind of thing… I’m retired, but I love studying business because it’s a lifelong passion of mine…

We don’t need to do that weird course stuff lol.

Sharing is caring

But this isn’t really a hard problem… super basic stuff, otherwise I wouldn’t want to be involved lol.