While I'm sure this was news for some at the beginning of this year, I was unaware of the fact that there were voting changes made for book writers on Storiesonline. One of the biggest issues that struck writers posting stories was the concept of early voting. Many times readers that see a few chapters would vote to their hearts' content. However, by committing to such an action, voters would blatantly vote on a story and make their summary judgment of a story even though the story was still in the process of being uploaded. At times, voters would, later on, regret what they voted for because it later turned out to be a good story.
Because of this, writers on Storiesonline had the simple option to disable voting. I had committed to such actions and always remembered to allow voting once the story was nearly completed. Instead, that option has been removed. Even in the Manage Story settings, I still have no means to disable voting. As a result, all stories are now free to have troll voting. Was this an issue before the changes? Yes, but the writers at least had some option to control and stem the tides of it.
I want to make it clear that, as a writer, the voting system on Storiesonline has been haphazard at best. Sometimes it turns the site into a vanity fair where veteran expert writers can put two chapters, and immediately, the audience gives a score of 9 before the story has been fully uploaded, while other new writers receive 2s or 3s. Because of this, it can punish new potential writers. Having horrible low scores is a way of telling new readers that the writer is horrible. It's also a lazy form of feedback that I have ever seen as well because it reduces your story to a number. I would open commenting on my stories, but often trollers would say a few sentences in a derogatory manner. Not just here, but on other sites, I've received statements such as "You write as if English is your 2nd Language" when I was born in the US and spoke English my whole life. I use Grammarly to help me write because hiring a professional editor is horribly expensive, and finding editors that would work for free is exceedingly rare.
While I leave the comments disabled, you are free to message me, and I welcome it. Keep aware that there are three types of feedback: Positive, Constructive, and Negative. Positive feedback is saying that you like the story. It's nice, but nothing more can be said about it. Negative feedback is where you condemn the story, or as trollers would commit to, condemn the author and waste everyone's time. Then there is Constructive feedback. The very reason that I put my stories on Storiesonline is for readers to find mistakes and let me know. Despite my rereading and editing a story, mistakes are going to be made. We are all human, after all. In other words, your feedback matters to me. From there, the stories can be improved before it hits the bookshelves.
But, with the system the way it is, I'm left to see it continue to operate in a format where I have to take the voting score with a grain of salt. I would ask for my fans or newcomers to combat troll voting by voting early, but I hate having to even say that, and it can make me look hypocritical. For those that have preconceptions about a story that they might not like, wait till it's fully uploaded before voting. We live in an age right now where a "sensitive reader" will say, "Oh, I didn't like those two sentences," or "There's no sex in this chapter, downvote!" Even my books with the lowest scores on them on Storiesonline, such as the Garden of New Olympia short stories, have the highest views on places such as Wattpad and Furaffinity. The moral of the story is that voting scores don't make up everything. I also understand that my stories fit into a niche crowd (Human/Anthro love stories aren't exactly that commonplace in the romance genre), so it might not be everyone. But all I ask is that you try to keep Storiesonline a positive place for writers and keep things in an open mind. Thank you.