#45128 - 02/22/10 12:15 AM
Re: some of the reader votes.
[Re: Ratfink]
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Anonymous
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One thing that always occurs to me during discussions of votes is: who or what are the votes for? Are they a way of showing appreciation to an author? or are they a way of rating stories so other readers will know which are the "good" ones?
Of course it's both but I feel like the balance has shifted. When I first joined ES ~10 years ago I used to check the votes and look for stories with a decent amount of reads and average vote of 8+, which meant a good story - over 9 was usually an excellent story. These days I check the category and description but ignore the votes - I've gotten used to a high vote not meaning much.
Also something that's happened to me a couple of times is that I've given a story say 8 and left a positive remark as feedback only to get an ESmail asking why, if I like it so much am I voting so "low". I'll be honest, that makes me not want to vote - I seem to be out of step in my scoring than most other readers, and I don't want my genuine appreciation to be seen as, in effect, an insult. But neither do I want to give a "perfect" 10 for something that for me is "just" very good.
While I can appreciate how you feel, try to think how you may have just set up the author. You gave an 8 but built up the story as one you liked. The author thinks if you liked it so much why only an 8.
my point, if it is an 8, its not a ten right! So why not tell the author why it's an 8 rather than a 9 or 10. If you only tell an author what you liked and give him/her an 8, they are left wondering why? So give another minute or two to provide an honest critique, and ignore the come backs that complain.
As an author myself I have challenged voters scores. Not because I think my work was worth more, but because I know I have a lot to learn, and anything my fans can offer for suggestions, critique, or even criticism is greatly appreciated.
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#45189 - 02/26/10 09:43 AM
Re: some of the reader votes.
[Re: Girlie1980]
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Hunterguy
member
Registered: 01/21/09
Posts: 166
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Perhaps there should be some kind of extra points that we can give to really spectacular stories.
If I'm supposed to vote 10 on everything, what do I do when one story outshines the others? We should get five 11s per month that we can hold in reserve for when we encounter the ones that deserve more than the standard 10.
Good day Girlie,
Realistically the standard voting format should work, 10 representing the absolute best story. Normally that would mean that he story would have to have an interesting and captivating plot, and the characters would be believable, the situations should be fairly believable, the structure of sentences would be correct and there would be minimal grammatical errors.
I believe that there is a requirement to comment on votes below 5, which often discourages such low votes. Perhaps there should be the same requirement when casting the top vote.
The stories that achieve all of the criteria mentioned are not always wrote for the general audience, sadly such well-written stories usually achieve a much lower than deserved average.
To add the opportunity to cast five 11's per month to those truly excellent stories would soon translate into needing a 12 to do justice to the best, and then a 13 and so on. So to me, there is no point in adjusting the format.
Remember the majority of the audience only read a small fraction of the stories posted, so you will get numbers skewed towards what a certain group of fans like.
I have not posted a new story for quite a while, but looking at the top 100 standings, I noticed that the average vote to belong to that group is now a minimum of 9.18... The low end of the top 25 is 9.40...
The first time I really paid attention to that list the lowest average of the 100 was 9.03, and to belong to the top 25 the lowest average was 9.31...
Standards are a changing. Or authors are improving. Maybe both.
Nonethelss, 10's are and will continue to be doled out quite freely.
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