Join the best erotica focused adult social network now
Login

Only vote 5?

last reply
42 replies
4.4k views
0 watchers
0 likes
Spleen_Muse
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Hey, I've just joined the Lush community two days ago. So I'm new. smile

Looking around the site, reading some stories, I noticed how most 'decent' stories received almost exclusively 5-votes. There are of course some stories that do not fall into this category, because they are either badly written or not as likeable to most people.

I also searched the forum a bit and found that some people complain about how they got a 3-vote on their story. While having had nothing but 5-votes still. To me this is kind of strange, since a 3-vote stands for 'average' so the majority of votes should be 3-votes right?

When I tried to vote on some stories myself, I then found myself unwilling to vote so far off the other voters. If I really like a story I will favorite it and vote 5. But if the story is merely an average story in my opinion, while it had received only 5-votes until then. I could not bring myself to voting and just left the page.

As some of u might remember YouTube used to work with 5-stars. But after a while people just voted either 5-stars or 1-star. So the site changed the voting system to a like/dislike voting system similar to facebook.

I'm not saying this site should simplify to something similar. But the verbal descriptions associated with the voting (poor-fair-average-good-excellent), barely have a difference. The only reason to give a 2-vote (fair), is because you feel even worse giving a 1-vote.

Personally I think 5-votes should be used to separate the really good stories from the good stories.

So what if the votes would say this:

1 = Bad story
2 = Average story
3 = Good story
4 = Excellent story
5 = One of the best stories ever read. + voting 5, would force you to favorite the story.

If you really like the story, why would you not want to favorite it? If you don't think it's worthy to stand in your profile under your favorites, is it still worth the 5-vote?

Anyways this post is just some random thought that crossed my mind this morning. Again I'm pretty new here, so I don't really have a clue how things go on around here at Lush. But I figured it wouldn't hurt anyone, just sharing my thoughts.


EDIT: this is probably the wrong forum section, my apologies.
clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
This subject gets discussed a lot and there have been a few threads before but I can only find one:

http://www.lushstories.com/forum/yaf_postst22526_How-Do-You-Score-Stories.aspx

You are free to use the scoring system however you see fit (except maliciously) but I don't think you're ever going to change how people generally vote here. Fours and fives are the norm, threes are not so good, ones and twos are awful; that's just the way people see it.

Don't let yourself be swayed by everyone else, though; as long as you have a valid reason for giving a certain score, no one can do anything about it.

Of course, you don't have to score at all and you can have the scoring turned off on your own stories (if you have any).

The fact of the matter is, people score high on this site. You can still distinguish the REALLY good writers from the average ones so what harm is done?

It's an adult site; just enjoy it.
Spleen_Muse
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by clum
This subject gets discussed a lot and there have been a few threads before but I can only find one:



You are free to use the scoring system however you see fit (except maliciously) but I don't think you're ever going to change how people generally vote here. Fours and fives are the norm, threes are not so good, ones and twos are awful; that's just the way people see it.

Don't let yourself be swayed by everyone else, though; as long as you have a valid reason for giving a certain score, no one can do anything about it.

Of course, you don't have to score at all and you can have the scoring turned off on your own stories (if you have any).

The fact of the matter is, people score high on this site. You can still distinguish the REALLY good writers from the average ones so what harm is done?

It's an adult site; just enjoy it.


I agree that scoring isn't the most important aspect of the site.

But often, when I'm looking to read a story. I find myself having to read a big part of it before deciding that the story isn't actually as good as the score says it is. There are so many stories available, sometimes it's frustrating to spend a lot of time trying to find a good one.

Can you tell me how u distinguish a really good story from an average one without reading through a part of it? I noticed the sorting by popularity isn't just a sorting by rating, as it shows stories that do not have the perfect average-5-rating. And I found these stories noticeably better than some other ones that I read on this site. I'm gonne assume the popularity is a mix of views/ratings/favorites, which is really good I think.
Lisa
Moderator
0 likes
Quote by Spleen_Muse


I agree that scoring isn't the most important aspect of the site.

But often, when I'm looking to read a story. I find myself having to read a big part of it before deciding that the story isn't actually as good as the score says it is. There are so many stories available, sometimes it's frustrating to spend a lot of time trying to find a good one.

Can you tell me how u distinguish a really good story from an average one without reading through a part of it? I noticed the sorting by popularity isn't just a sorting by rating, as it shows stories that do not have the perfect average-5-rating. And I found these stories noticeably better than some other ones that I read on this site. I'm gonne assume the popularity is a mix of views/ratings/favorites, which is really good I think.




A good way to search for quality stories is to find an author you like and check the favourites list on their profile. If they have high standards when it comes to their own writing, they'll more than likely have well-written stories on their favourites list. There are lots of great authors here. When you find one you like, you can "follow" them and receive notifications whenever they publish a new story.

And welcome to Lush!

Milik_the_Red
Internet Philosopher
0 likes
When I vote on a story I look at the overall score it has already received and then I have to decide if it was as good has its current score. If not, was it bad enough to deserve the drop it's likely going to get by my lower vote? One should consider that even a four vote will have a strong affect on a story that has only received say 10 votes. My single 4 could take the author of the top author of the month list on the front page. This will cost the author potential reads and that does hurt.
Perhaps it's because I do write, but I have to vote on a curve. I'll give a four if my vote doesn't have a huge negative impact but if it has 8 5 votes and I don't like it, I will withhold my vote. I see no reason to be the one to pop the authors bubble.
There are many who will, it doesn't have to be me.
Milik_the_Red
Internet Philosopher
0 likes
Quote by Lisa


A good way to search for quality stories is to find an author you like and check the favourites list on their profile. If they have high standards when it comes to their own writing, they'll more than likely have well-written stories on their favourites list. There are lots of great authors here. When you find one you like, you can "follow" them and receive notifications whenever they publish a new story.

And welcome to Lush!



Another idea is to go through the Editors Choice section. The stories there have been chosen because they stand out from the rest. Not all great stories make it there, but you won't find poorly written or poorly thought out stories there.
Guest
Lurker
0 likes
I think the voting system is pretty good already, why tamper with something that works? I find it gives me something to shoot for. I always endeavour to get a 5 but in reality any vote is good. It gives writers who are just starting out a (vague, at a glance) idea of the quality of their work. And that's where comments come in handy, if you find that something was only deserving of a 3 for example, you can say why you voted that way and can be much more succinct with a comment. When I vote, I don't look at the other votes, I go with my heart and I'd advise others to do the same. If you're looking for quality stories, have a clear idea of what *you* consider quality and vote according to your standards.
clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
Quote by Spleen_Muse
I agree that scoring isn't the most important aspect of the site.

But often, when I'm looking to read a story. I find myself having to read a big part of it before deciding that the story isn't actually as good as the score says it is. There are so many stories available, sometimes it's frustrating to spend a lot of time trying to find a good one.

Can you tell me how u distinguish a really good story from an average one without reading through a part of it? I noticed the sorting by popularity isn't just a sorting by rating, as it shows stories that do not have the perfect average-5-rating. And I found these stories noticeably better than some other ones that I read on this site. I'm gonne assume the popularity is a mix of views/ratings/favorites, which is really good I think.


The Most Popular feature recently got updated because of a similar discussion. It used to be based purely on average score but I believe it's now calculated using the truncated mean or some nonsense like that. In general, you will find the cream of the crop in the first two pages of each category's Most Popular.

Even looking at scores alone, I can often tell if a story's going to be good or not. Although it might not seem it, there can a big difference between a story with a rating of 4.88 based on 13 votes and a story with a rating of 4.95 based on 32 votes.

Lisa and Milik have made wonderful suggestions.

Once you get in the swing of Lush, you'll find what works best for you as a reader.
Dancing_Doll
Alpha Blonde
0 likes
I'd actually like to see a tab that list and sorts "Most Favourited" stories on the site.

I think that's a great measure of story popularity. If a reader wants to actually mention/list your story on their profile page, that's truly the highest compliment.
Magical_felix
Wild at Heart
0 likes
Quote by Milik_The_Red
When I vote on a story I look at the overall score it has already received and then I have to decide if it was as good has its current score. If not, was it bad enough to deserve the drop it's likely going to get by my lower vote? One should consider that even a four vote will have a strong affect on a story that has only received say 10 votes. My single 4 could take the author of the top author of the month list on the front page. This will cost the author potential reads and that does hurt.
Perhaps it's because I do write, but I have to vote on a curve. I'll give a four if my vote doesn't have a huge negative impact but if it has 8 5 votes and I don't like it, I will withhold my vote. I see no reason to be the one to pop the authors bubble.
There are many who will, it doesn't have to be me.


To the original poster: The problem with any scoring system is that every author thinks their story is one of the best yarns of the 21st century... I compare it to parents and their babies. Have you ever been shown a picture of someone's baby after the go off on how cute it is then you see the picture and the baby looks like rodney dangerfield? It's kind of like that. No matter what system people are going to believe they should have perfect scores.

Milk the Red: so you're saying that the same story could either get a score of 5, 4 or other based on the current score? Like, you could read a story and consider it a 4 but then if you see the score is at a 3 you will give it a 5 because you think it deserves higher than a 3 even though you considered the story a 4? Am I understanding correctly?
clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll
I'd actually like to see a tab that list and sorts "Most Favourited" stories on the site.

I think that's a great measure of story popularity. If a reader wants to actually mention/list your story on their profile page, that's truly the highest compliment.



Nicola put out a list two years ago (HERE) but I totally agree that this should be a dynamic feature of the site.

I'm scared to ask them to put something else on Gav's to-do list though...
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll
I'd actually like to see a tab that list and sorts "Most Favourited" stories on the site.

I think that's a great measure of story popularity. If a reader wants to actually mention/list your story on their profile page, that's truly the highest compliment.



this gets my vote as well. smile

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

Dancing_Doll
Alpha Blonde
0 likes
Quote by clum


Nicola put out a list two years ago (HERE) but I totally agree that this should be a dynamic feature of the site.

I'm scared to ask them to put something else on Gav's to-do list though...


Oh yeah, I remember that thread.

Occasionally I've wondered if there was a way to search favourited-stories or followed-authors in a real time way on the site.
There might be, and I'm not figuring it out because I'm blonde. But then just think of all the other blonde readers on this site who can't figure out how to get those stats either! It would be a great search-function as maybe a front-page tab.


Edit: I added this to the 'site improvement wish-list thread'
clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll
Oh yeah, I remember that thread.

Occasionally I've wondered if there was a way to search favourited-stories or followed-authors in a real time way on the site.
There might be, and I'm not figuring it out because I'm blonde. But then just think of all the other blonde readers on this site who can't figure out how to get those stats either! It would be a great search-function as maybe a front-page tab.


Yeah, that's what I meant by dynamic; it could be done in much the same way that Most Popular and Most Viewed are done. I'm pretty sure there's no way to do that at present (I usually stumble across these things when I go exploring Lush).

Nicola had mentioned wanting to include a 'Favourited' count beside the average score on the story page but I don't know if she remembers.
clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
Quote by sprite
this gets my vote as well. smile


Is that a 5, or...?
Spleen_Muse
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by Magical_felix


To the original poster: The problem with any scoring system is that every author thinks their story is one of the best yarns of the 21st century... I compare it to parents and their babies. Have you ever been shown a picture of someone's baby after the go off on how cute it is then you see the picture and the baby looks like rodney dangerfield? It's kind of like that. No matter what system people are going to believe they should have perfect scores.


You are right. I'dd like to say I would prefer people rate my stories lower, so I could actually see if I'm improving or not. But that might be a lie I tell myself to feel better silly


Quote by Magical_felix

Milk the Red: so you're saying that the same story could either get a score of 5, 4 or other based on the current score? Like, you could read a story and consider it a 4 but then if you see the score is at a 3 you will give it a 5 because you think it deserves higher than a 3 even though you considered the story a 4? Am I understanding correctly?



I think hiding the exact voting result would "solve" this. If it is considered a problem that is.
And now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I don't wanne be able see the individual votes anyways.

They don't show the result of the people who voted before you, when you vote for the elections do they? They only show some estimates on television before the actual elections.



Being able to sort stories by 'times favorited' would indeed be a nice option.
sprite
Her Royal Spriteness
0 likes
Quote by clum


Is that a 5, or...?


remind me to have you beaten. in fact, i'm putting it on my to-do list smile

You can’t truly call yourself peaceful unless you are capable of violence. If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful. You’re harmless.

clum
Clumeleon
0 likes
Quote by sprite
remind me to have you beaten. in fact, i'm putting it on my to-do list smile


How convenient that it's National Beat Clum Day. :)
Coco
Cocolicious
0 likes
I like to give 5s but often I do not; so unless it is very well written, grabs my attention and holds me to the end and makes me wanna... it may get a 5. However, that doesn't happen a lot. So my scores are mainly 4s and I've been known to give a few 3s. If a story deserves a 2 or 1, it probably won't come from me because I wouldn't even come close to finishing it.

I agree that one should use the favorites list for recommended stories. I had to make room on mine to update it, so I've decided that I will feature only one story per author, although several authors have more than one story that is a fave.

But please don't assume that every story that averages a 5 is of the highest quality or even a decent read. You'd be wrong and often left feeling a bit flat after reading it.

Reviewing favorite lists is how I find some of the stories that I enjoy.
Michael
Author
0 likes
Quote by Lisa


A good way to search for quality stories is to find an author you like and check the favourites list on their profile. If they have high standards when it comes to their own writing, they'll more than likely have well-written stories on their favourites list. There are lots of great authors here. When you find one you like, you can "follow" them and receive notifications whenever they publish a new story.

And welcome to Lush!



Lisa, Great Idea !!!

But please don't get paranoid that I am following you...
Milik_the_Red
Internet Philosopher
0 likes
Quote by Magical_felix


To the original poster: The problem with any scoring system is that every author thinks their story is one of the best yarns of the 21st century... I compare it to parents and their babies. Have you ever been shown a picture of someone's baby after the go off on how cute it is then you see the picture and the baby looks like rodney dangerfield? It's kind of like that. No matter what system people are going to believe they should have perfect scores.

Milk the Red: so you're saying that the same story could either get a score of 5, 4 or other based on the current score? Like, you could read a story and consider it a 4 but then if you see the score is at a 3 you will give it a 5 because you think it deserves higher than a 3 even though you considered the story a 4? Am I understanding correctly?



Essentially yes. Why shouldn't the affect of my vote be considered before I cast it? After all isn't that the entire point of casting a vote? The trap would be if I used this same system on stories I did not like. If it had a score of 5 and I thought it less than perfect. At that point I do not vote at all. It is not my place to bring the score down. Others may decide to do so, but I will not.
As with my philosophy on all things. I will not succumb to the arrogance of negativity.
Fugly
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll
I'd actually like to see a tab that list and sorts "Most Favourited" stories on the site.

I think that's a great measure of story popularity. If a reader wants to actually mention/list your story on their profile page, that's truly the highest compliment.



I would vote nay on this idea only because it could cause negativity and be seen as favoritism. These most 'Favorited Authors' would have a permanent position on the front page - as well as more or less a permanent position in the most popular, most viewed, featured members and more often than not, they are Editors' picks, story verifiers/mods (because they are great writers) and some are featured in the wonderful new Lush e-book. I would rather see 'favorited' replaced with 'random story of the month' to give other stories more exposure as most stories are only on the front page for a very limited time.
Dancing_Doll
Alpha Blonde
0 likes
Quote by Latexìa


I would vote nay on this idea only because it could cause negativity and be seen as favoritism. These most 'Favorited Authors' would have a permanent position on the front page - as well as more or less a permanent position in the most popular, most viewed, featured members and more often than not, they are Editors' picks, story verifiers/mods (because they are great writers) and some are featured in the wonderful new Lush e-book. I would rather see 'favorited' replaced with 'random story of the month' to give other stories more exposure as most stories are only on the front page for a very limited time.


How is it favouritism if a story is 'favourited' by Lush members? That's like striking down the New York Bestsellers list and saying that all books should be seen as equal so there's no 'negativity'. It's no different a concept than the "Most Popular" or "Most Viewed" tabs except that it's not based on a skewed voting system by friends or by people who don't like to vote less than '5' for everything or story-views based on more popular genres. To me it's one of the more 'pure' ways of seeing what kind of stories are popular among readers on the site.

There's already a 'random story' button.

If not a permanent tab, then it would be interesting to see a list put out a few times a year and posted in a sticky-tab in the forums.
Buz
The Linebacker
0 likes
If a story has more "Favoured Story" votes or chooses, whatever you call it, then I'd see nothing wrong at all with that story at least having a badge or graphic on it stating its status as the Most Favored Story in that category. So what if it seems like a popularity contest — it is! And there ain't nothing wrong with that! It's a superlative for a reason.

I'd be okay with a Most Views graphic too. (Is there one already, I don't know?)

Actually both of those seem like really awesome ideas.

I like Ashleigh's idea. Most Favoured button to click on and the stories in that category come up in order of which has the most favoured picks, right? Seems real good.

PS. the current voting system is fine. Leave it alone.
Fugly
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll


How is it favouritism if a story is 'favourited' by Lush members? That's like striking down the New York Bestsellers list and saying that all books should be seen as equal so there's no 'negativity'. It's no different a concept than the "Most Popular" or "Most Viewed" tabs except that it's not based on a skewed voting system by friends or by people who don't like to vote less than '5' for everything or story-views based on more popular genres. To me it's one of the more 'pure' ways of seeing what kind of stories are popular among readers on the site.

There's already a 'random story' button.

If not a permanent tab, then it would be interesting to see a list put out a few times a year and posted in a sticky-tab in the forums.


I am saying favouritism and negativity because when I was a member on a lush writers facebook account, many did not believe that an Editors' Pick was given based on its merit, but only for the popularity of the member and I am afraid that many will feel the same about a 'favourited story' tab.

I am also saying this as to some, favorite story, favorite author is another way of just promoting your friends. I admit that I do it myself.

There's already a 'random story' button.


There is already a favorite this and that too lol.
LadyX
Artistic Tart
0 likes
right, but the favorite story feature isn't tabulated site-wide.
Milik_the_Red
Internet Philosopher
0 likes
Quote by Buz
If a story has more "Favoured Story" votes or chooses, whatever you call it, then I'd see nothing wrong at all with that story at least having a badge or graphic on it stating its status as the Most Favored Story in that category. So what if it seems like a popularity contest — it is! And there ain't nothing wrong with that! It's a superlative for a reason.




My initial reaction is that this would become a haven of established writers, the domain of the entrenched. But then I realized that what makes these writers so special are those qualities. If a new writer joins who has such talent they will rise to the top as quickly as their talent allows. How often a story is made a favorite doesn't matter if they are forum Giants like Dancing Doll or someone who almost never posts at all as is the case with Jaymal. Talent is talent and they deserve to be recognized.
Dancing_Doll
Alpha Blonde
0 likes
Quote by Latexìa


I am saying favouritism and negativity because when I was a member on a lush writers facebook account, many did not believe that an Editors' Pick was given based on its merit, but only for the popularity of the member and I am afraid that many will feel the same about a 'favourited story' tab.

I am also saying this as to some, favorite story, favorite author is another way of just promoting your friends. I admit that I do it myself.



Granted everyone probably has one or two friends they may favourite stories from in efforts to promote their work (yes, I do it as well), but you'd have to have a helluva lot of close friends and probably actively be begging them to favourite all your stories to make much of an impact on a favourite-story count. I really don't believe the numbers would be that skewed based on friends. There is a limit on how many stories you can favourite too, which makes the list space more valuable.

I post a lot in the forums, but I don't use chatrooms or actually talk to very many people here. I would never dream of asking anyone to favourite a story or vote or even read anything I've written - it's all up to personal choice, in my opinion. Even when I look at my own list of who has favourited stories, the majority are members that I don't really recognize, and there is a lot of variability even within my own portfolio of what stories are more popular and what stories bombed. I sometimes use it as a way to figure out trends and what works and what doesn't with readers. I think it would be valuable to be able to do that with all stories on the site. I'm genuinely curious.

It's not so much the authors that I'm interested in - it's the stories themselves. What do readers value on the site? Do they prefer longer or shorter stories? More graphic/explicit or more sensual/subdued, character/plot driven stories or clever angles or quick hot bites of prose. It's not about "wow, look how popular that writer is" - it's about "wow, look how popular that story is... and about what about it makes it so popular... For people who might be more serious about writing, those can be valuable stats to have access to.
Fugly
Active Ink Slinger
0 likes
Quote by Dancing_Doll


Granted everyone probably has one or two friends they may favourite stories from in efforts to promote their work (yes, I do it as well), but you'd have to have a helluva lot of close friends and probably actively be begging them to favourite all your stories to make much of an impact on a favourite-story count. I really don't believe the numbers would be that skewed based on friends. There is a limit on how many stories you can favourite too, which makes the list space more valuable.

I post a lot in the forums, but I don't use chatrooms or actually talk to very many people here. I would never dream of asking anyone to favourite a story or vote or even read anything I've written - it's all up to personal choice, in my opinion. Even when I look at my own list of who has favourited stories, the majority are members that I don't really recognize, and there is a lot of variability even within my own portfolio of what stories are more popular and what stories bombed. I sometimes use it as a way to figure out trends and what works and what doesn't with readers. I think it would be valuable to be able to do that with all stories on the site. I'm genuinely curious.

It's not so much the authors that I'm interested in - it's the stories themselves. What do readers value on the site? Do they prefer longer or shorter stories? More graphic/explicit or more sensual/subdued, character/plot driven stories or clever angles or quick hot bites of prose. It's not about "wow, look how popular that writer is" - it's about "wow, look how popular that story is... and about what about it makes it so popular... For people who might be more serious about writing, those can be valuable stats to have access to.


I understand fully about the curiosity etc. I'm not trying to be difficult - What I would like to see is perhaps nic makes a sticky topic in the writers resource thread listing the top ten Favorited Stories rather than permanently on the front page with an almost unchangeable list - that is all I am trying to say.

Quote by Milik_The_Red


My initial reaction is that this would become a haven of established writers, the domain of the entrenched. But then I realized that what makes these writers so special are those qualities. If a new writer joins who has such talent they will rise to the top as quickly as their talent allows. How often a story is made a favorite doesn't matter if they are forum Giants like Dancing Doll or someone who almost never posts at all as is the case with Jaymal. Talent is talent and they deserve to be recognized.


This is very true and they are fully recognized by awards, badges, listed in the favorite this and that, but I'm just wondering how the other 4309 registered authors get their recognition??? My opinion is that this site should not be based on favorites but all members