Trending List: Microfiction?

Quote by wxt55uk

Good morning Kimmi, I experimented with doing this earlier in the week with an old micro... It got 5 or 6 likes, 1 comment, hit number one on the trending banner for a few hours and then dropped completely off... 🙄

I’m guessing because the others passed you in that time period. Kat and Annie have huge followings! I don’t doubt their suggested stories get nice renewed interest. So, should Lush have date parameters on what can be a Trending story? I don’t think so. I think it just starts down a rabbit hole… just my opinion.

I just look at it differently. If I want more attention, I’ll publish more, read others more, stuff like that. Take it on myself to control my destiny here.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I’m guessing because the others passed you in that time period. Kat and Annie have huge followings! I don’t doubt when their suggested stories get nice renewed interest. So, should Lush have date parameters on what can be a Trending story? I don’t think so. I think it just starts down a rabbit hole… just my opinion.

Honestly, I have no opinion on how the story trending banner should work both now and in the future...

At the moment, I would suggest the only thing that needs to be established is how the current story trending banner works and ask the following: Is it broken? If yes, can we live with it, or is it worth investing to make the changes?

Only those in authority (LS shareholders) can answer those questions. Whether they make them public, well, that's another question.

Quote by wxt55uk
LS shareholders

🤣

Lush plc. Next stop: the FTSE 100.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

🤣

Lush plc. Next stop: the FTSE 100.

You never know. 🤣🤣 Though maybe the FTSE 500 first. 😊

Quote by wxt55uk

Honestly, I have no opinion on how the story trending banner should work both now and in the future...

At the moment, I would suggest the only thing that needs to be established is how the current story trending banner works and ask the following: Is it broken? If yes, can we live with it, or is it worth investing to make the changes?

I think Obsolete_Fox answered the question.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

I think Obsolete_Fox answered the question.

I wish Fox did, Kimmi, but unfortunately, quite literally, the numbers don't add up.

Look at, for example, Moason's story, published 2 days ago, 32 likes.

While, for example, Pawn to Queen Four, published in Jan 2023, has 22 likes.

Guess which one is currently on the trending banner? 😜😊

"Treated?", a Halloweenie competition entry from 2 years ago, popped up at #3 on the trending list. I read it, gave it a Like, and it promptly disappeared from the trending list, replaced by one of the eight oldies that have been hanging around for the past week. 🤨

I just liked and favorited Kee's "Sowing and Reaping" and it's now trending. (Again, another great micro; you should read it.) This is the second time I've managed to do this. There is no evidence the algorithm is giving preference to "plump" authors. If it means a lot to you to see a story of yours on the trending banner, then promote it on your profile. Interact with readers and other authors. As Kimmi said, control your destiny.

And for what it's worth, my most recent micro was published less than 2 weeks ago, and it has 82 likes and 1,000+ views. But it's no longer on the trending banner. Why? Because other micros have received more, or at least more recent, attention. If I really want to appear on that banner again, then the best way for me to do that is to write another micro.

I have promoted and interacted all along. I think it is more my limitations as a writer. The narrowness of creative vision doesn't do much good either. Dill pickles do help, but in the end, I give what I can give and get what I get.

I just spent some time giving Likes, Favorites, and Comments to some Micro stories, as an experiment, but also because I enjoyed those stories. I had previously thought that Comments were key, but it might be Favorites that tips the scale. What's intriguing, though, is that a handful of the stories I did this for didn't make the Trending Stories list. I don't usually Favorite a story unless I really love it, but it appears to be a key factor in the trending algorithm.

Those 6-8 oldies but goodies are now off the list, and we can watch and see what happens from here.

Update: There is definitely something weird going on. This is not just authors of recent stories whining about not getting attention. There is a block of at least 8 stories that will march up the trending stories list, in unchanged order, as other stories drop off the list.

Three days ago, I recorded the Score and Comment numbers for these eight stories, many of which are from 2023, that were dominating the list last week. The story Amy Gets an "A" is consistently the first of these to reappear, currently in spot #9, with 258 flames & 69 (ha) comments, numbers that are unchanged from three days ago. Next is the story Trick or Treat in spot #10, with 27 flames & 10 comments, also unchanged from three days ago. And whenever anything from spots #1-8 drops off the list, those two stories will move up, and then we'll see the same stories in the same order that @kistinspencil mentioned earlier in this thread: Dirty Whore... (29 & 14), You're Home Early (26 & 9), On My Tongue (53 & 31), and Using the Husband (36 & 11), with occasional appearances in spots #9 & #10 by Pawn to Queen's Four (22 & 13) and/or Husband something something Roleplay (I didn't record the full title, 43 & 17).

Stories that get bumped from the trending stories list aren't being replaced by stories that have received recent votes; they are being replaced by a fixed list of stories from two years ago.

This is what originally caught my eye. It was doing this, with slight variations in order, for a good while before I started this thread. With more than 2000 published micros to choose from, you would think the joy could be spread a little wider.

Here is another observation. It seems to me that the same issue is happening in the exhibitionism genre trending banner. My latest story, there is a link to it in my signature, has been up 17 hours, has had 26 likes, but is not trending. Currently, with the exception of one story, all the stories that are trending are old, some with just a few likes.

Could it be that the trending banners have become too sensitive? One click on a like and you pop onto it, only to disappear when it refreshes...

Update: Someone just liked and commented on my story, and now I am number one on the trending banner. I wasn't even on it 40 mins ago! 😕😳😊

Yes, a newly published story that receives some attention may appear in spot #1, but then vanish from the list 7 hours later.

There's probably an element of views and interactions built in too, as there is with most things on the site. So someone with a popular profile probably generates more views on their work etc. I don't know the exact metrics, but it won't just just be based on likes, I wouldn't imagine.

Quote by Jen

There's probably an element of views and interactions built in too, as there is with most things on the site. So someone with a popular profile probably generates more views on their work etc. I don't know the exact metrics, but it won't just just be based on likes, I wouldn't imagine.

But that doesn't really explain why a very small group of older works continue to take the last 5 or 6 spots on the banner, week after week after week. As was pointed out, they show no new likes or comments over that time. Are they truly getting so many new reads a day to justify it? Or does having your profile visited count, too? And why should it?
There are around 2000 Micro stories to choose from. I can't imagine they are the only ones still getting read like that.

I submitted a support ticket outlining the situation, because I figured that would be the best way to get the attention of someone who can look at the algorithm or hit reset if there's been a hiccup making the algorithm think it's currently October 2023.

Quote by Chet_Morton

I submitted a support ticket outlining the situation, because I figured that would be the best way to get the attention of someone who can look at the algorithm or hit reset if there's been a hiccup making the algorithm think it's currently October 2023.

Good idea, at the very least, Chet, there will be a record of the issue.😀

However, I don't think the issues are restricted to the Microfiction genre... I believe it's a wider banner issue (Friday, it was nice to see my gay male story trending after one like and one comment. I wrote it 16 months ago.).

I guess that it will come down to four questions. What is a trending banner meant to achieve? Is there a real problem? Is it a priority? Can we afford the time/money to fix it?

Quote by wxt55uk

However, I don't think the issues are restricted to the Microfiction genre... I believe it's a wider banner issue.

I see similar patterns in the other two categories I frequent, Historical and Watersports, but those categories have less action, making it more difficult to detect movement (or lack of movement) in the banner.

This is now trending while so many recent stories languish.
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/microfiction/will

No offence to the author at all, but I am well and truly baffled.

Quote by kistinspencil

This is now trending while so many recent stories languish.
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/microfiction/will

No offence to the author at all, but I am well and truly baffled.

I just checked it out. It’s 5 years old. Again not a slight on the author, but it's not what you call a recent publication which is usually the case in a trending story????

And now the top trender is a story from February 2024, with all the rest marching back in time to 2020.

I guess they're telling us we just aren't writing them like they used to.

Quote by kistinspencil

And now the top trender is a story from February 2024, with all the rest marching back in time to 2020.

I guess they're telling us we just aren't writing them like they used to.

It's not just the microfiction category, Kis. There seems to be something wonky with the trending algorithms in general. It's unlikely to be fixed any time soon, if at all. My advice is not to worry about trending. It's fleeting even on the best of days.

I tell authors all the time, focus on writing what makes you happy. The rest is just noise.

You would think that my latest microfiction story, which has been up for only 24 hrs and has gained 26 likes and 11 comments, might be on the trending list... It isn't.

It doesn't personally worry me, but I know it does affect some members. However, (personal opinion here) I suspect this won't be fixed quickly, if at all, just like the story comment likes and how they disappear after a period of time.

I used to wonder whether the five most popular categories on the home page (MILF, Cheating, Cuckold, Spanking, Wife Lovers) are so far and away popular that they just shuffle among themselves and a sixth category can never crack the top five, but I'm not wondering anymore. 🙃

Don't worry microfiction writers.. stop complaining..you are just too young to be trendy. There isn't one story on the top ten younger than Naughty Annie's 2024 opus . It now selects back as far as Jen's 2020 offering. Trending is just a state of mind... As some people say, "Tiocfaidh ár lá".. your time in the trending top 10 of your chosen category will come.. just be patient ❤️

GODDAMNIT

I'm reliably informed that the trending calculation has been tweaked. See how it fares now, please.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

I'm reliably informed that the trending calculation has been tweaked. See how it fares now, please.

Thank you, WW. 😊