I have no wish to raise any controversy over the scoring system, so please refrain from that topic!
This is just a question out of curiosity.
Do authors with stories on both SOL and FS have similar scores on both sites, or is one site consistently higher?
If there is a variation, any guesses why?
I have a lot of stories on both sites, and the scores are a little different, but not by much. Most variations are between 0.1 and 0.5 for example Always a Marine SOL 9.25 - FS 9.34; Flames of Life SOL 8.10 - FS 7.57; and the rest are similar variations. From what I know of the scoring system the variations can be due to the amount and quality of the other works at the time of posting.
Edit to add: When compared relative to the other stories of mine on each site the relative scores and positions are very close. In short, the score variation between my stories on one site are about the same as that on the other.
Part of the difference may be that for a considerable period the choices were between one and five stars. I don't know how much of the old scores carry over, but there could be some effect of scores adjusted from the old system to the new one. I suspect there were people scoring stories who, given the choice between 3 stars (a six now) and 4 stars (an eight) picked higher or lower than they would if given a chance to vote three and a half (equivalent of seven.)
I went back and checked before answering, and was surprised by the results. Previously, I'd found that my FS scores (after adjusting to a 10 point score) were about a full point under SOL's. However now, they're almost identical (for my two stories posted to FS). I'm not sure whether that's the response of later readers (who normally score harder than the initial readers) or some other effect. However, the majority of readers on FS will also read your stories on SOL, and will score similarly (depending on which you release first).
However, the majority of readers on FS will also read your stories on SOL, and will score similarly (depending on which you release first).
And that's another point. My experience has been the readers who access both sites will score the story only on the site they're reading the last post / chapter on. I've few who use SOL at home and FS at work and when they finish the story at work they score it on FS, when they finish it at home they score it on SOL. However, in the majority of cases the people scoring your story on FS are a different group to those who score it on SOL. I don't know if they use a different criteria, but I do know I've quite a few FS readers who aren't eligible for a SOL account due to age, and that is likely to affect how they rate a story too.
The comment about FS being a different group is partly why I raised the question. I am a rare visitor to FS and since it is a newer site I wouldn't be surprised if habit keeps a lot of the older (in age and/or membership) readers here, even though FS has stories on there not available on SOL.
The demographic there may be markedly different - I have no idea - but it is interesting to see from the comments that the scoring seems consistent across both sites.
I am a rare visitor to FS and since it is a newer site I wouldn't be surprised if habit keeps a lot of the older (in age and/or membership) readers here, even though FS has stories on there not available on SOL.
I wouldn't assume the readers are that much different, other than the kids too young to access an 'Adult' site. I suspect a lot of regular SOL readers visit FS because they don't have to wade through the stroke and "much sex" stories to find the more literary stories (that explains how so many of my readers read my stories there).
I typically, if I can, produce separate versions of my stories for SOL and FS, with any sex and much of the language removed, although I still rate the story for high school and above. However, I leave much of the four-letter words intact. FS cleans them up, but does so in such a way you can tell what was intended without displaying the word, which I like. You can tell when someone is upset, shocked or outraged.
Possibly the scoring is consistent because each audience can tell good writing, or at least entertaining writing when they read it.
Possibly the scoring is consistent because each audience can tell good writing, or at least entertaining writing when they read it.
That's how I see it, and there is a very minor variance due to the experience levels of some of the voters.
