Many of you wait until a complete story is posted to cast what would seem to be a judicious vote. But could you inadvertently be casting a less influential vote?
Other readers vote early and often. (The latest vote counts, but it cancels out the previous one.) Do these early voters have more impact on a story's readership than the wait-until-it's-finished voters?
Perhaps. Anyway, here's my thinking:
Someone who votes when Chapter One is posted will cast, say, one vote out of one hundred. A late voter may be one out of a thousand. The former will have, to some degree, more impact - his vote represents a higher percentage of the total at the time he marks his ballot.
So what? In the end, one vote is one vote. An early vote is one of a thousand by the time the story is complete. Right?
Maybe, maybe not.
Think back to that Chapter One and its 100 votes. A reader score will then be posted; a score which can affect who decides to read the story. And who decides not to.
Each subsequent chapter plays out in a similar manner. But by the time votes are cast after the final chapter is posted, the reader score is more or less settled. Those last votes have less impact. At least in affecting new readers.
So while it's true that the Chapter One vote has shifted from one in one hundred to one in one thousand, that early vote carried more weight - it encouraged readers to dip into the story. Or discouraged them from doing so.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Maybe.
Paige
PS Of course when a vote for one story is measured against all votes for all stories ... well, a grain of sand and all that.