The scoring system is going to be changed

Until now, Lush has operated on a 1-5 rating system for stories, however this causes issues when trying to order stories by score alone, as a story with 1 vote and a rating of 5, would be placed higher than a story with 100 votes and a rating of 4.99 in searches unless we manually manipulated this.

We could build some intelligence to sit behind the scores and adjust the ratings accordingly, but this wouldn’t compensate for someone deliberately down-voting a story in order to either make theirs more attractive, or just for trolling purposes. In addition, scoring stories is very subjective and, more often than not, people will vote with a 5 anyway, just to be polite.

With that in mind, we have decided to move to a simple like-based approach for stories. Shortly, you will see the following options at the bottom of each story:

❤️ This will give the story a like, equivalent to 1 point

⭐ This will favourite the story, equivalent to 1 point, and also add the story to your favourite list.

So if you like and favourite a story, you will be increasing its score by 2.

If you like it, or favourite it, but not both, you will increase its score by 1.

You will be able to access the list of stories you have read and liked, as well as see which you have favourited, all from your profile menu.

If you dislike the story, you will not be able to negatively affect the score. You can still comment, however we ask you to be respectful of our authors and keep your comments constructive and civil.

As much as I’m sure all authors appreciate you indicating you like their work, the comments and feedback are really what helps authors know what works, what doesn’t, what has resonated with readers, etc, so we would encourage you to take a moment and comment on something you like.

For all stories posted on site until the change, the current score will be added to the number of times it’s previously been favourited in order to arrive at the new score. This is regardless of what rating the story was given when it was scored.

These changes will hopefully be made live over the next week or two.

Thank you.

If this was a story, I'd give it a heart and a star Me likey and thank you!

Looks good to me.

Ok.

Amen!

....so simple it's genius. Nobody could possibly object to this.

Quote by CallmeJayne

....so simple it's genius. Nobody could possibly object to this.

Famous last words, Jayne.

It's a smart and sensible change. I'll miss bitching about 1-bombs in the scores, but that's the only downside I see.

I am logged in.

Three times I have tried to comment on this.

All disappeared at the push of Submit and I ended up back on the Forum main page.

I give up.

Quote by kistinspencil

I am logged in.

Three times I have tried to comment on this.

All disappeared at the push of Submit and I ended up back on the Forum main page.

I give up.

we're censoring you - working as intended.

I have never been fond of the numeric rating system so I am down with this. I have basically been using 5 as Like for years and only kept it up instead of just using Like because of comp requirements. Really, I am happy to just start using Like.

So I like Like and favourite Favourite.

Quote by Jen
As much as I’m sure all authors appreciate you indicating you like their work, the comments and feedback are really what helps authors know what works, what doesn’t, what has resonated with readers, etc, so we would encourage you to take a moment and comment on something you like.

Going to loudly second this. I love comments. I crave comments. I thrive on comments. So please, please give me comments. Like and favourite, too, but more comments please. Else ape might ... well, go ape.

Oh, and are we getting this over on blue (say yes, say yes)?

Quote by Seeker4

I have basically been using 5 as Like for years ....

I have never found anything to like about a 5...except when it's a starter for 10. 🙊

So a story with 100+ votes but only 38 likes has 60% of its original reader interaction just tossed in the fire.

::sigh::

Quote by RejectReality

So a story with 100+ votes but only 38 likes has 60% of its original reader interaction just tossed in the fire.

Actually, no. Before it's implemented, votes for stories will be converted to likes, so your 100 votes will translate into likes in some fashion.

Quote by RejectReality

So a story with 100+ votes but only 38 likes has 60% of its original reader interaction just tossed in the fire.

::sigh::

The new score will be 138

For all stories posted on site until the change, the current score will be added to

It's using the word score here that makes this unclear. It should be changed to vote total.

With that clarified, I'm ambivalent about the change in the scoring process. I'm more interested in whether we're going to regain real access to our views after the change, or whether we're going to continue being stuck with rounded off numbers. That's one of three things that's put me off posting any new work. The need to click through to each individual story page from an unsortable, unsearchable list to access our full statistics is frustrating enough, but not even having useful view numbers once you do is a deal breaker.

I know this will be a work in progress, but from what has been said so far, there might be some interesting results. I have two stories that have nearly three times the votes my stuff averages. They both also have the lowest rating by far of anything I've posted. If its a straight conversion, they will become my most successful pieces by the new measure. I find that pretty ironic and amusing. I would also be inclined to eliminate them, so they don't represent my writing at its "best."

I have no idea what any of my stories are at vote, like, or score-wise without looking, even my current comp entry. I'll just see how things convert, shrug, and move on.

I do like the idea that someone who gave me a 1 for whatever reason will soon be liking the story the same as if they had given it a 5. 😈

Quote by kistinspencil

I do like the idea that someone who gave me a 1 for whatever reason will soon be liking the story the same as if they had given it a 5. 😈

I imagine the trolls who exist just to downvote will just stop voting, but it is kind of a cool thought, eh

Quote by kistinspencil

I do like the idea that someone who gave me a 1 for whatever reason will soon be liking the story the same as if they had given it a 5. 😈

I am still very confused as to why you of all people got a 1. You brought life to the Micro section.

Quote by IMPURETHOUGHTS
I am still very confused as to why you of all people got a 1. You brought life to the Micro section.

edited to delete the rest of my blather and just say thank you, most kind.

Quote by kistinspencil

edited to delete the rest of my blather and just say thank you, most kind.

I don't know why you edited your previous thoughts but glad I got to read them before you deleted ❤️

we have scores and shit here? when did this start? as usual no one ever sent me the freaking memo. good help is so hard to find these days. and who the fuck is this Jen person making up new rules and shit and where the fuck did my PA go??

I can't believe no one has asked this yet, but --

How will the new system work with competitions? Will the stories with the most "Likes" (which is going to correlate closely with the most reads) become the finalists?

This would seem to give a major advantage to the most popular authors.

Quote by Lunafalls

I can't believe no one has asked this yet, but --

How will the new system work with competitions? Will the stories with the most "Likes" (which is going to correlate closely with the most reads) become the finalists?

This would seem to give a major advantage to the most popular authors.

As opposed to the most unpopular authors you mean?

Isn't it likely that the shortlist will be drawn from those stories that meet the qualifying level of votes, favourites, likes et al?

In other words, no change.

Quote by CallmeJayne

As opposed to the most unpopular authors you mean?

Isn't it likely that the shortlist will be drawn from those stories that meet the qualifying level of votes, favourites, likes et al?

In other words, no change.

This.

Quote by CallmeJayne

As opposed to the most unpopular authors you mean?

Isn't it likely that the shortlist will be drawn from those stories that meet the qualifying level of votes, favourites, likes et al?

In other words, no change.

I'd say it's quite a change, Jayne.

Previously, assuming a comp entry received the required minimum of 10 votes, it was the average score that determined the finalists. Total number of views and votes factored into it less, if at all.

Naturally, the more people who read a story, the more "Likes" that story will receive. And the more friends and followers an author has, the more people are going to read their story.

Now we'll be able to see how many readers "Liked" a story; but with no subjective scoring, there's no indication of how many other readers may have found the story less than a "5", by comparison.

And instead of a writing challenge, the competition becomes little more than a popularity contest among the most well-known Lush authors to accumulate "Likes".

This is going to discourage new and lesser-known authors from entering comps.

I didn't think comps were ever a popularity contest. I assumed the same method of shortlisting, judging would be used. I thought there were minimum votes required, but otherwise, everyone has the same shot despite number of friends and followers.

From the comp rules, just so we are discussing the actual rules, not a strawman based on how someone things comps work:

"Stories will be judged based on a number of factors. These include the average score received from members (stories need to have a minimum of 5 votes to qualify for the competition), but primarily, from the input of a selected panel of judges. The decisions on the winners are final, and no correspondence concerning any aspect of our choices will be entered into."

First off, I note that the minimum has dropped to 5. That's going to get most stories through to judging regardless of anything else. Had not realized that (or is this a typo in the current rules).

However, it states that it "includes the average score" but that it is "primarily, from the input of a selected panel of judges." So the final awards are based on judging, not scores. And that's been the case as long as I have been on here (2012).

So the only question is whether any criteria, such as average score, are used to winnow down the list that goes to the judges or do they read all stories that have 5 or more votes. If the latter, then there is no problem here. If the former, then it should be spelled out as to how it works and how it will work with the new system just for clarity and transparency when someone raises the argument above.

Because he is right. Moving from using average score to get a short list to a point total based on favorites and likes is going to tend to favour popular authors regardless of quality. Using average levelled that out a bit since an author with 20 votes and an author with 60 could still have the same average.

I love this change (I have wanted something like this for years), but a clear statement from Jen or someone else involved as to how it affects the comp rules would be nice and would settle any arguments like the one above me.