I don't know. I don't give a vote unless it's a 5, but that's not because of Lush "culture", that's just me. And I know that I've said this before elsewhere, but I don't generally comment unless forced to--even then, it's usually a milquetoast "excellent story, thank you" comment. Again, that's not because of Lush "culture", that's just me. A story either intrigues me and keeps me reading (earning a 5) or it doesn't (earning nothing).
Want to spend some time wallowing in a Recommended Read? Pick one! Or two! Or seven!
I'm not participating in chat rooms or private conversations or seeking friends or anything like that. I just want to write and share my thoughts and ideas. And hopefully, entertain.
I saw this comment of yours and wanted to let you know how bang-on you are.
I find I'm being seduced by, and have become addicted to, the pursuit of scoring and comments. Sure, we can see viewing numbers, but when someone shares an insightful comment, I'm absolutely thrilled. To me, it means my effort has reached someone enough for them to share their thoughts with me and others.
Maybe many have taken the position of not saying anything if they don't have anything nice to say. I don't know.
Some of my stuff I feel is better than the voting reflects. And some I'm sure just misses the boat for some. I don't have a lot of followers or friends, so I'm sure the feedback on my stories suffers from that. I'm going to test a theory later this week about target audiences. If you write to it, they will...well...you know. Just a silly Field of Dreams play on words.
I don't want to write just for sake of submitting an 'effort' as you defined some. I truly do want my works to be enjoyable, and hopefully, memorable.
I'm not a real writer, just someone trying to creatively express himself.
If you haven't read any of my stuff, please give it a chance. There will be much more to follow representing a variety of topics.
And I would love for you to comment. Remember, I'm a junkie now and need my next fix.
Receiving a less than positive comment or a score lower than 5 seems to be the feedback system flaw. But that's OK. You've found a way around it as I suspect many others have too.
I still don't know how I want to handle my feedback on others stories and poems.
If you prefer, you can private message me with your thoughts.
If you prefer not to respond at all, I'll respect that too.
But again, your comments resonated with me.
Thanks!
I think any rating system will have its flaws. Personally I rarely rate less than a 5 but I often don't rate or comment if I read a story I don't enjoy. If the grammar or spelling is poor I just stop reading. I do try to support other writers and mainly want to be positive. Yeah, its a cop out but who needs more drama.
As for my own writing I always appreciate anyone who takes the time to view, score, vote and/or comment. I think its important to view feedback as a whole. If my story is crap I'd rather see a 1 with a constructive suggestion than a friendly 5. I make a point of reading stories in genres that are not to my personal taste but still reflect strong writing. Overall I find the Lush environment is very supportive and filled with excellent writing resources whether by links or the various posts of other writers. There are many excellent writers here who are extraordinarily generous with there support and advice!
Revenge scoring? WTF?
I can't imagine any writer submitting anything that would truly deserve a 1 or 2 rating, or the moderators even allowing it to be posted. I have heard how they try to maintain a high standard. When I post my first story, which will be soon, I will be happy for any feedback.
Hi - Admin,
a) warum werde ich so oft aufgefordert meine Bewertung zu begründen,wenn Sie eine Scala eingeführt haben?
b) wer bestimmt hier eigentlich wie schnell oder langsam ich lesen muss???? Immer wieder erscheint der Button "Sie können nicht in dieser Zeit die Story
gelesen haben!" - Ich halte diese Bemerkung für eine überhebliche Beurteilung!
Ich bin sehr gespannt auf Ihre Antwort - viele Grüße - catcher044
I've read plenty on here that would warrant a 1 or 2 score. I think the lowest I've scored is a 3 and that's with some trepidation about offending the author. If anybody wanted reasoning behind my scores I'd be happy to elaborate
i rate every story I read. It encourages the authors.
Fascinating thread! Oh sorry, is that a meaningless comment? (joke)
I offer several "newbie" comments...
- I agree with others above that anonymous voting is the way to go. I must say I'm a little surprised at the number of childish people in Lush that whine about critical comments or low scores! Sadly, I admit to being privately disappointed when I don't get a 5, but in truth, my stories probably rate no more than a 2 or 3 at best. I'm loathe to give a 4, certainly never give a lower number, preferring to simply avoid voting. Yes, I know it's wrong and I'm part of the problem, but it looks like a lot of us are in the same boat. Having said that, my votes are an equal combination of the quality of grammar/spelling/construction and the "arousal quotient". I have a fairly accurate arousal meter upon which I rely extensively.
- The majority of my comments are short and sweet. I strongly disagree with the poster above that says that "Nice story!" is a meaningless comment.
Lastly, please translate the following Lushspeak for me: streak-voting? RR?
Hypnosis - You will read this and desperately want to read my first story - There's Something About.......
RR is "recommended read," the designation that mods can give when they approve a story, or sometimes bestow after the fact, when they run into a story that they particularly like.
Streak voting: I'm not sure, though I suspect it refers to a member voting on stories and poems as fast the system allows them to. I further imagine that it would usually refer to something close to automated voting. Perhaps a fake account used to vote a particular author's stories either up or down. [I have had a couple of members vote on a large number of my stories more or less all at once, and it would seem as fast as possible. Watching my timeline was interesting, because it did not seem possible that anyone could be reading some of my stories as fast as the timeline suggested that they were. Maybe they were binge reading with many tabs open, and then voting as quickly as allowed. I thought of them as "netflix" voters, in that they seemed to be binging.]
Thanks, ocean. No wonder I didn't recognize RR!
Rather than bother you, I shall enquire of my favourite mod where it appears, and bank-wire her $500 to make sure she adds it to my next story!
I have this delightful image of someone with 20 tabs open on your stories, madly clicking away at "5", "exit", "5", "exit", "5", "exit", ........you think they were reading your stories rather than just voting haphazardly? perhaps they were desperate to get another badge?
thanks again for the education.
Hypnosis - You will read this and desperately want to read my first story - There's Something About.......
hmm. That makes sense. Hadn't thought of the fact that someone might have been trying to get the voting badge.
I see a lot of the same people rate my stuff. I know it is because I write usually four areas,--mature, milf, wife lovers and flash erotica. I have ventured into the other genres but feel most comfortable in certain categories. Some people are very picky what they read, I am.
My experience has been that for the most part people rate my stories with a 4 or 5, with a short comment about how 'hot' they are or how much that person enjoyed reading them. There are, however, some people who vote my stories down, with a rating of 3 (it's almost always a 3) and very little explanation as to why they didn't enjoy the story as much as everyone else.
Here is the typical profile of the 3-giver:
1) They rarely have an avatar, preferring to use the default male/female white shape on a red background.
2) They either joined Lush 3-5 years ago and haven't read / voted on any previous stories, or they joined Lush recently and haven't voted on any previous stories.
3) They have no friends or only a very few friends.
4) They have not written any stories, or have written just a couple of stories for which they have an average score of 4 or below.
5) They have not participated or have rarely participated in the forums.
6) Their profile is barely completed, with no images, no galleries...
7) They often pop up to cast their vote when a story is garnering too much attention and getting too many good scores.
8) They cast a vote of 3 with a comment of "undefined" (very often) or a vague comment like "it deserves a solid 3".
I can't say that I have a complete profile of the 3-giver, but I can say that I know for a fact that some people (often authors themselves) have created multiple fake accounts for the sole purpose of voting down other author's stories. Whatever the case, whenever I receive a score of 3 or less, I look firstly at the comment the voter has left and then at their profile. Thus far, in 100% of cases, I can trace it back to one or a combination of the 8 scenarios outlined above. Not all of them are other authors, of course. Sometimes they are simply people who have no clue how to rate a story or who just didn't appreciate what they read. We can't force people to make meaningful comments, although it would be interesting to try.
After having been active for 5 years on Lush, I'm pretty confident I can tell when there's a rat on the loose, and despite having to take the hit for their often spur-of-the-moment voting down of a story that is doing really well, blocking the rogues one by one will eventually lead to more accurate scores and hopefully more insightful comments.
P.S. I don't systematically block people who score my story a 3 or less, but I do evaluate their comments and look at their profile to determine my level of confidence with their feedback.
Wouldn't you rather have a nice cup of tea?
Far more people read my stories than rate them. I assume that those who don't give me a rating have become incapacitated by erotic overload, or passed out from sexual exhaustion, which I interpret as a 10 on the 5 point scale. I've never been much of a 'numbers' guy anyway. I do like receiving comments on stories, but the scoring means little to me, especially when it's mostly 5s (unless I really am the consistently excellent author I believe myself to be in my own mind). I'd be just as happy, or maybe happier with a 'thumbs up/thumbs down' system. Either you enjoy my stories or you don't - simple as that.
Don't believe everything that you read.
