Well, I see that my story "I Was My Sister's Sex Slave" has fallen to 6.99. I'm not surprised at that, what surprises me is that it took so long to happen. Generally, my scores take a small tumble after the stories are finished. Does that happen to everybody?
I had hoped that I would get more comments on a story if I did not allow voting. That seems to be wrong, and I am surprised at that.
Oh, well...
I had hoped that I would get more comments on a story if I did not allow voting.
It's easier for a reader to write a note directly to you if you allow voting. Comments are public. Might or might not be the reason you received fewer comments than you expected.
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Yeah, you are probably correct. It is easier to be insulting in private than in public! LOL
It is easier to be insulting in private than in public
Hmm. Let's hope it's not that. I've wondered if it discourages a reader to know when he or she makes a public comment the author's response, if any, will also be public.
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I had hoped that I would get more comments on a story if I did not allow voting. That seems to be wrong, and I am surprised at that.
Did you assume, without the option to express their evaluation by voting your readers would feel inclined to leave a comment to do so? Sounds reasonable at first sight but you didn't consider human nature. People are lazy. I guess most of your readers felt grateful you relieved them of the laborious work to cast a vote and didn't even think about commenting instead.
Generally, my scores take a small tumble after the stories are finished. Does that happen to everybody?
When you mark a story as complete a large number of new readers start reading it. I noticed the first votes coming in are always the worst scores. People who dislike your story can faster vote on it; they spare the time it would cost to read the (complete) story. I think that's the main reason for the temporary score decline you observed.
I've observed, and noted before, that my scores generally rise briefly just after a story completes (as all the fans who've been reading all along post their final score for the entire story, rather than just the latest chapter, but the scores quickly fall after that, as you get an influx of readers who hadn't found the story compelling enough to read while it was posting, and who find the entire premise not to their taste.
It generally isn't until about a month or more later that you see the real scores, whether it rises for tumbles. When one story, "Zombie Leza", was getting little attention, I mentioned feeling disinclined to continue posting in the current political environment, and ended up with my highest score on the site (I think it was FS). However, those scores finally normalized and now they're again new the bottom of my scores.
I've observed, and noted before, that my scores generally rise briefly just after a story completes
I'd guess that's all the readers who don't vote until it's over having their say.
readers who don't vote until it's over
Some readers, and I am often among them, don't read a story until the final chapter is posted. That way we can read the whole thing at once and have the comfort of knowing the story will have an ending as intended by the author. And at that point, they probably will vote. They tend not to be "fan-boys" who love certain authors and vote everything that author writes as a ten. That behavior and voting after every chapter is posted tends to raise the score. Once the more casual readers weigh in with votes in the 6-7-8 range, the score average may fall.
Some readers, and I am often among them, don't read a story until the final chapter is posted. That way we can read the whole thing at once and have the comfort of knowing the story will have an ending as intended by the author. And at that point, they probably will vote. They tend not to be "fan-boys" who love certain authors and vote everything that author writes as a ten. That behavior and voting after every chapter is posted tends to raise the score. Once the more casual readers weigh in with votes in the 6-7-8 range, the score average may fall.
I made that differentiation, indirectly, when I stated that the score initially drops after the story completes, but eventually tends to rise to it's 'true' score. The initial drop is mostly the few initial readers who only read a couple chapters and then immediately score it low as "a story I'm not interested in reading". It's only later that those who enjoy the entire story will bring the score back up again.
Then again, often, if the story description is intriguing enough, most of the "I only read completed stories" will still take a risk—especially if they know the reader only posts completed stories. By extension, many of those who come later are those 'not entirely convinced by the basic story premise', and thus are the stories intended audience.
