Forum: Site Announcements

Vote distribution graph to be turned off for all

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Multiple times in the past I said that I would be turning off the distribution graph for all authors because it's the source of great discontent in the author community on the site(s). I often refer to the creation of the distribution graph to begin with as the great mistake. The distribution graph is turned off for any authors that started posting after 2019 and that proved to be a very good thing. None of those authors ever expressed any issue with the voting system.

I've been procrastinating about the issue for years, but in the last couple of days, an issue cropped up that firmed my decision to go ahead with the move.

So as of today, the distribution graph is turned off for everybody.

However, authors can request access to the data. To regain access to the vote distribution graph, an author must agree to the following rules:

Voting Details Access agreement:

To have access to the voting details on the site —vote distribution graph and raw average (un-weighted) score— in the story stats you must agree to ALL of the following:

1 - Never, ever discuss or comment on the voting system on the site
2 - Never, ever complain publicly or to the webmaster about the voting system
3 - You cannot turn off voting for any of your stories
4 - You can't ask for the removal of your stories within one year of agreeing to these conditions.

The above conditions may get amended at any point.

Replies: StarFleet Carl awnlee jawking Ernest Bywater CB Pixy Pixy Pixy Jack Green rustyken Argon richardshagrin shutterbug DiscipleN DJ of the Hudson elevated_subways

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Agreed.

Also, thank you for your efforts in keeping this the best site on the internet for us, both as readers and authors.

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@StarFleet Carl

Agreed.

Is this you requesting access? If so, please send me an email about it. or use the webmaster link.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Is this you requesting access?

No, but in rereading this, I could see how you could take it that way. I liked having it, but I'm also opinionated enough that I might tell someone to take his 1-bomb and stick it.

Replies: CB REP

CB 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

do you mean that if you had access to the votes you knew who was voting? Wow.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@CB

do you mean that if you had access to the votes you knew who was voting? Wow.

No, it just gave you access to how many of the votes were at each value.

REP 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

That sounds like discussing the vote, not the voting system to me.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Much as I enjoying poking fun at the 1-bombers, those conditions are way too draconian for me. I'll live without.

AJ

Replies: Argon

Argon 🚫

@awnlee jawking

With the high and low 5% of scores not showing, do you even see 1-bombs?

Replies: Dominions Son awnlee jawking Uther_Pendragon DerAndy

Dominions Son 🚫

@Argon

With 20 votes and two 1 bombs, yes, you would see one of them.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Argon

Yes, I think so. As I said elsewhere, my recent Halloween Party 666 word sequel was shown as having one vote and a score of 1.0. I can't imagine the reader actually had time to read it.

Since 1-bombs are relatively rare and are usually malicious, perhaps management should keep a surreptitious eye on them and the bombers by sending themselves a notification when one is issued.

AJ

Replies: Dinsdale Keet joyR

Dinsdale 🚫

@awnlee jawking

In 15-20 years I have given out one, or possibly two 1-bombs. If it was two then both were to the same writer, someone whose output was pretty much "drugged stream of consciousness" and who has not been seen for just over 15 years.

Keet 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

Since 1-bombs are relatively rare and are usually malicious, perhaps management should keep a surreptitious eye on them and the bombers by sending themselves a notification when one is issued.

Good idea, although I'm not sure how rare the 1-bombs are. Following this forum they are mentioned fairly frequent. A message to management is a good idea because a true 1-score is probably a story that must be removed. Management can easily recognize if a 1-score is malicious or not and act accordingly.
EAT: "act" can be remove the story or remove the 1-score. Without mentioning it, it might be a long time before the 1-bombers find out about it :)

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Keet

A message to management is a good idea because a true 1-score is probably a story that must be removed.

I'm not so sure of that. My first Halloween Party 666 word story got 1-bombed and that could well have been my fault for not being clear about the reason for the brevity. I've written a couple of other stories where the 1-bombs seemed reasonable because they were part of a complete spectrum of votes.

But as you say, management should be able to discern whether a 1-bomb is malicious or not.

AJ

joyR 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Since 1-bombs are relatively rare and are usually malicious, perhaps management should keep a surreptitious eye on them and the bombers by sending themselves a notification when one is issued.

Are 1 votes relatively rare? If so, relative to what?

Why suggest that mods add to their duties to view every 1 vote? After all, 1 votes are perfectly acceptable, otherwise they wouldn't be available.

Either you desire everyone being able to vote as they choose, or you reject that freedom utterly. You can't cry foul because someone's vote isn't what you consider correct.

Since Lazeez has chosen a ten scale voting system, any vote on that scale is valid. Since voting is subjective, how could he really judge what is a valid 1 vote and what is a malicious 1 vote?

As you (AJ) know, I dislike malicious 1 votes, but I will defend anyone's right to vote as they choose, because the alternative is far, far worse than idiots throwing 1 bomb tantrums.

Replies: Ernest Bywater awnlee jawking

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@joyR

The problem may not be as bad as it used to be, but for many years from soon after SoL started there were two small groups who abused the scoring system, one group by giving stories a 1 vote if they didn't like the author or any of the codes in the story or the subject of the story without actually reading the story, and another group by giving every story of their favoured authors a 10 before they finished reading the story.

While few were concerned with the fanbois a lot of authors were concerned with the '1 Bombers.' So the scoring algorithm was adjusted to remove some of the outliers in the scores and the easiest way to do that was to pick a percentage and cut them out. Thus everyone was effected in the same way. This has, I believe, resulted in fewer 1 Bombers attacking stories.

The other aspect of the scoring system is that it did change over the years and part of the algorithm is to bring the different scoring period into a similar alignment. As someone who has stories affected by this due to having them on the site for most, if not all, of these periods I can say I do not feel disadvantaged in any way by the process as the scores maintain the same relative position to the other stories.

The result of this is when a story legitimately deserves a 1 vote in gets enough of them that most of them will count despite the 5% cut out. Also, the relative position of all stories stays the same to the other stories, so what the displayed score is shouldn't matter at all.

Replies: joyR pj Uther Pendragon

joyR 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

I've been around long enough to know the voting history. Personally I dislike the vote manipulation, not that I expect things to change.

Most of us would like more readers to vote, but that requires us to accept that people vote as they choose, not how anyone else thinks they should vote. Personally I'd rather have honest results, even with idiot votes.

pj 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

Well, yeah ... From personal experience, I once was in a writers group.and had a disagreement. From that point on, every story I posted was hit with a 1.
Shit happens. Shrug.
Tens from my pov were over the top and I certainly was nowhere near that deserving. just figured those people liked the story idea. Always accepted i was mid 6 to mid 7 at the most.
It is what it is...

Uther Pendragon 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

There is a difference between a 1-vote and a 1-bomb.
I have a story that got at least one vote at each level from 1 to 10. Almost certainly, each of those votes was the reader's honest opinion of that story.
OTOH, I have stories with votes from 5 to 10 and a single 1 vote. I have to believe that vote is a response to something else I have done. He thought it was that bad when nobody else thought it was bad?

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Uther Pendragon

OTOH, I have stories with votes from 5 to 10 and a single 1 vote. I have to believe that vote is a response to something else I have done. He thought it was that bad when nobody else thought it was bad?

that is what I call a 1-bomb as it's never a real evaluation of the story but is a 'hate you' vote.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@joyR

Since voting is subjective, how could he really judge what is a valid 1 vote and what is a malicious 1 vote?

You could argue that a valid 1 vote indicates a story should never have passed the submission process.

I was thinking that if a pattern of targeting a particular author or story type could be established, the reader could be made to reinvent themselves with a different nym ;-)

AJ

Replies: joyR

joyR 🚫

@awnlee jawking

You could argue that a valid 1 vote indicates a story should never have passed the submission process.

You could, but it would be pointless.

For example, a reader gives every story they read a vote. That's great, right? But they award each story either a 1 or a 10, should that reader be praised for consistently voting? Or condemned for they way they choose to exercise their vote?

If in a specific reader's opinion the story deserves a 1, but you consider it worth a 3, or an 8, who is right?

The answer is you both are, because your vote is yours, you alone decide what a story deserves, just as they alone decide, which is why votes are subjective.

Uther_Pendragon 🚫

@Argon

With the high and low 5% of scores not showing, do you even see 1-bombs?

My understanding of the old score reports was that those reports showed all votes.

DerAndy 🚫

@Argon

Sure, depending on your story type / tags. Just post a story that's not mainstream (for this site) and watch them come in before anyone really had time to read it. Also some people just don't read or understand the tags and vote accordingly when the story is about things they don't like. It's an issue with the voting system, but so far nobody had any better idea on how to fix it. Lazeez has made changes in the past to minimize the issue, but that mostly helps "mainstream" stories which are read and voted on more often.

So far, I was able to have a look at vote distribution and mainly looked at the higher vote for an indication on what people (those People I wrote the story for) thought. So let's say a stroy has a distribution of 5 1-votes, 1 2-vote, 5 7-votes, 5 8-votes and 5 9-votes I can ignore the 1-votes. That's how the distribution for most of my stories looked like the last time I looked.

There are other stories where more votes are somewhere in the 4-6 range, which tells me they are something people don't enjoy. I tend to experiment with story formats / concepts so that is valuable feedback. If I'm lucky enough to not get 1-bombed then those will end up having a similar score.

So for me and my type of story that takes away a valuable tool. I won't sign a gag order to get it back, though, it's not THAT valuable :D

Ernest Bywater 🚫
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

While I've liked having that information I rarely referred to it.

I've never complained about the scoring system, but I do like to have some words with people who do, so I'll live without the information to be able to continue to tell complainers how to perform the origami needed to turn their complaints on the scoring system into a sharp cornered multi corner items to be inserted where it will do them the most good.

It's a shame it's got to this point, but I fully understand why, as some people will complain about everything.

Thanks for keeping the site going. I worry about what will happen when you reach 101 and can't stay awake long enough to continue with maintaining the site.

CB 🚫
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Ironic. I was about to put in a feature request to add a vote distribution graph to my account just last week. I wanted to know if each time I posted a chapter if the dropping scores were from a bunch of middle range votes or just one bottom vote. I can ignore the rare (1) vote as an outlier but if its 5 (6) votes then I need to write differently. Not having the table means i have to guess.

For you other authors who will feel this impact. Here is a trick I've found (its a pain in the ass) to help determined what votes you've been getting. Keep track of votes and when you get a new one, vote your own story a (1) and see how far it moves the bubble. This give you a hint on what the hidden vote was. Then, revote your own story back to a (10) to see the max range for increase. Now you have a range and you can reset your own vote to the middle. Its a pain but the only way to get the feedback the vote scores would give. Note this only works if your story gets votes slowly. You popular authors who see vote floods would not be able to track them quickly anough.

Sucks to be us.

Pixy 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

I have to agree with awnlee jawking as to the draconian nature of it, but if that's what we have to weather, then so be it.

I have been a writer (and I use the term lightly) here nineteen years as of two days ago and would not like next year to be my last.

I would also like my voting back on. I think I said I would not mention voting again the last time this was brought up in order to keep my access and I do believe in a rare move for me, that I have even kept the promise.

I am now torn. Feedback is scant at the best of times so to remove even a little of what we have, is painful to me and does make me question what the future holds.

I'm too lazy to find another site, and whether you (Lazeez) are banking on that... :shrugs:

Pixy 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

4 - You can't ask for the removal of your stories within one year of agreeing to these conditions.

The above conditions may get amended at any point.

Is that even legal? I know nothing (John Snow) of copyright law but I thought (rightly or wrongly) that the writer/author still retains ownership unless they specifically sign the rights away, so refusing to take down stories at a creators request would be legally problematic?

And then to further throw salt on any potential wound, you state that "conditions may get amended at any point." Hardly fair to have any potential goalposts moved in the future... So we might agree to something now, only to be forced into something we don't agree with in the future, yet have no recourse against?

Replies: Ernest Bywater Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Pixy

Is that even legal? I know nothing (John Snow) of copyright law but I thought (rightly or wrongly) that the writer/author still retains ownership unless they specifically sign the rights away, so refusing to take down stories at a creators request would be legally problematic?

Submitting copyrighted material to a website is a proforma partial assignment of copyright use as per the copyright laws of most countries. Also, websites have use rules and the right to amend them as they see fit.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@Ernest Bywater

Submitting copyrighted material to a website is a proforma partial assignment of copyright use as per the copyright laws of most countries.

Under US law it's only a non-exclusive license to distribute the work, not a partial copyright assignment. And I would bet more countries are closer to that than to the partial assignment you describe.

And a lot of photo sharing sites explicitly state in their TOS that said license is perpetual and non-revocable.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Dominions Son

non-exclusive license to distribute the work

according to the law courts a 'non-exclusive license to distribute the work' IS a partial copyright assignment as without the partial copyright assignment you have no rights to copy or distribute at all. This is a restricted rights assignment, but it is not any ownership of the copyright.

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@Ernest Bywater

according to the law courts

Which courts where? And what make you think courts anywhere else would agree?

Under US law, there are explicit statutorily imposed requirements for a valid copyright assignment and such a license formed by site TOS that "You grant us a license to anything you post here" can not meet those requirements so it legally can not be even a partial copyright assignment.

Replies: Ernest Bywater Michael Loucks

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Dominions Son

Which courts where? And what make you think courts anywhere else would agree?

UK, USA, Canda, Berne, Australia, NZ, anywhere except DSland.

Unless you assign someone a right, be it limited or unlimited, they have no rights to do anything with the copyrighted material at all. There are many types of limited assignment and there is full assignment. I gather, from what you've said that you regard assignment as only dealing with the full rights entitlements and ownership while excluding the partial rights. Allowing someone to use, copy, and distribute a copyrighted work requires you to assign them limited rights to do so, otherwise they can not legally do that.

However, feel free to continue using your own dictionary that ignores the rest of the world.

Michael Loucks 🚫
Updated:

@Dominions Son

Under US law, there are explicit statutorily imposed requirements for a valid copyright assignment and such a license formed by site TOS that "You grant us a license to anything you post here" can not meet those requirements so it legally can not be even a partial copyright assignment.

From the US Copyright Office:

Any or all of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, or parts of those rights, can be transferred. The transfer, however, generally must be made in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or the owner's authorized agent. Transferring a right on a nonexclusive basis does not require a written agreement.

So, per US law, a non-exclusive transfer of rights does not require a written, signed agreement. Lazeez doesn't have an exclusive right, so the terms he proposes are agreed to if you make the request, and no written agreement is necessary.

Ref: Transfer of Copyright

Edited to add - you CAN terminate, but you have to provide notice at least two years, and not more than ten years, before the termination:

Grants may only be terminated during a specific statutory window of time and must specify the date that the termination goes into effect. The effective date must fall within a five-year "termination period," which is based on factors set forth in sections 203, 304(c), or 304(d), as applicable. The notice must be served no less than two years and no more than ten years before the effective date and must be recorded with the Office before the effective date.

Ref: Notices of Termination

So, yes, Lazeez is in the clear for any authors in the US.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Pixy

Is that even legal? I know nothing (John Snow) of copyright law but I thought (rightly or wrongly) that the writer/author still retains ownership unless they specifically sign the rights away, so refusing to take down stories at a creators request would be legally problematic?

There is no force and no coercion, no guns to anybody's head, so yes it is legal. You can agree and you can not agree. It's up to you.

By agreeing, you're giving permission according to the agreement.

That last clause in the conditions is because of a lesson learned few years ago. An author requested the extra access (shows raw average score and each column's count) and he couldn't take it for more than two weeks and then tried reneging on the agreement by trashing the scoring system on the forum and when I blocked him, he asked for his stories' removal. It was dangerous knowledge.

As for the draconian bit, I don't agree. Draconian would be for example taking away the graph AND taking away the possibility of turning off the voting system at the same time and making neither optional.

I haven't posted stories on any other site's myself, so I don't know firsthand, but, does any other site allow you to turn off voting?

I'll tell why I made that decision today.

Few days ago, a long time author (over 10 years on the site) discovered the graph, and got upset at the voting system, and requested the removal of his stories. Before he became aware of the graph he accepted the voting system as it was. It wasn't a problem. It only became a problem due to the knowledge gleaned from the graph.

I've always thought that the graph was a mistake. But, you can't easily take away something that so many take for granted. So I could never make that decision. But with this author it was the last straw and I pulled the trigger. The code had been ready for years.

Replies: Quasirandom awnlee jawking

Quasirandom 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

got upset at the voting system

I admit: I am puzzled. Are you able to expand a little on what this, and apparently other writers, find upsetting about what's discovered in the details that wasn't apparent from the average and how it moves with votes?

FWI, while I'm interested in the raw data for its own sake, I'm not going to request access to the graph: I already obsess too much over ratings, and I'm unwilling to commit to a year, in case this handle gets connected to my wallet name in a way that affects my employment.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

As for the draconian bit, I don't agree.

I would have thought most authors with access to the graph, albeit with the outliers removed, don't make a fuss about it. Removing the facility and imposing a year's notice for removal of stories seems rather extreme.

I proposed a week's notice for all stories requested to be deleted and got considerable push-back from other authors. I can't imagine the changes will be popular :-(

AJ

Pixy 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

I find the individual tallies for each numerical score extremely helpful as a gauge to popularity. I can no longer do this with the one score as it's based partly on the average of stories submitted at the same time. If I post a piece at the same time as some of the rather obnoxiously good writers here, then that score is artificially lowered, and vice versa.

Looking at the old graph, allowed me to see what the general favoured consensus to the piece was. I submitted one chapter addition and one story over the last week and a bit, and at face value, the new story posted to my Lilith account isn't that spectacular, and the rest of the stories there do not- by their public score- instil much confidence as to the quality of the work contained. The graph on the other hand tells a different story and gives me impetus to keep the overall story idea going and indeed, that account.

I have mentioned over the years (in the forums) the sparseness to reader comments that I have received, though this has increased slightly with the ability for readers to comment directly on a story. I would like there to be more content to those replies (don't we all), other than 'nice story' or 'Good so far, interested to see where it goes...' (Glad you like it, but WHY do you like it!!!). But beggars can't be choosers and all that malarkey. That is why the removal of something you (Lazeez) see as being problematic and more hassle than it's worth, is actual highly detrimental to my impetus to write.

Like I said, I've been here 19 years and would like to be here 19 years more (I'm under 50) and scoring aside, I DO actually really like the site, and over the last few years my content submission has increased with my stories (slowly) increasing in length and complexity in what I would like to think as an improvement to my ability.

Anyway, we shall see.

Replies: Pixy Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Pixy 🚫

@Pixy

I meant to say, but forgot. That I actually take screenshots of the voting graph before posting a new chapter and check it a few days later to see how the voting has changed (ie, more 4's, or more 8's) as this actually (ironically) helps me circumvent the overall score mechanic to see if the direction I am taking the story in, is one my readership (all 6 of them.. LOL) like/dislike. I then save these screenshots in the story's folder on my computer so that I have an indication (long term) as to whether I'm going down the right/wrong path.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)
Updated:

@Pixy

I can no longer do this with the one score as it's based partly on the average of stories submitted at the same time. If I post a piece at the same time as some of the rather obnoxiously good writers here, then that score is artificially lowered, and vice versa.

No matter how many times it seems that I explain this, somebody, (too many?) still misunderstand it.

Just for reference, the 'current period' is '2013-12-31 -> 2032-01-01 (17399 stories)'.

So no one author or even a bunch of authors posting at the same time as your post will affect your score. Your score is being compared to over 17,000 other stories.

Replies: Pixy

Pixy 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

I miss-understood. The fault is all mine.

Jack Green 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

So as of today, the distribution graph is turned off for everybody.

Suits me. What the eye don't see the heart don't grieve over.

Replies: Ernest Bywater

Ernest Bywater 🚫

@Jack Green

Suits me. What the eye don't see the heart don't grieve over.

which is the aim of the action.

rustyken 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

While I haven't posted many stories (4), I found the graph informative with regard to the vote distribution. But it is what it is....

Argon 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

So as of today, the distribution graph is turned off for everybody.

If it creates constant aggravation for you, switch it off. No sweat.

richardshagrin 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

If isn't a story, it deserves a one. It can also be used if the reader wants to discourage the author from posting any more of the same type. Although a two or three might be more helpful in getting your vote counted.

Replies: awnlee jawking Dinsdale

awnlee jawking 🚫

@richardshagrin

If isn't a story, it deserves a one.

I don't like poetry either ;-)

AJ

Replies: madnige

madnige 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I don't like poetry either ;-)

Especially that of Paul Neil Milne Johnstone. Nor Vogons.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@madnige

Especially that of Paul Neil Milne Johnstone. Nor Vogons.

Or Michael Morpurgo :-(

I watched the 'Carnival of the Animals' Prom. I pity the kids who had to endure it. The first piece of music was the most depressing depiction of a Caribbean Carnival imaginable - the composer had clearly never been to somewhere like Notting Hill.

AJ

Dinsdale 🚫

@richardshagrin

A 1 is supposed to be for "A bunch of jumbled words" and should be reserved for such.

Replies: Pixy

Pixy 🚫

@Dinsdale

I can imagine someone posting a jumble of words, purely with the aim of scoring ones, only for the readership to vote it ten. Because no one does irony like humans.

Replies: Dinsdale

Dinsdale 🚫

@Pixy

Unless or until Lazeez gets in on the act. Look at the list of deleted stories, tags include

Deleted because incomplete and Irrelevant
Deleted as no redeeming value
Deleted because it's some pointless text

Replies: Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster) Pixy

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Dinsdale

Deleted because incomplete and Irrelevant
Deleted as no redeeming value
Deleted because it's some pointless text

Whenever I have some time and no mind for programming, I go through the archived stories that contain stuff that is disallowed now. The ones that have merit, I keep, otherwise I delete them.

But I only do that to those stories as they're undesirable on the site in general. Any author that is still around, I don't mess with their stories, no matter how bad they may be.

Pixy 🚫

@Dinsdale

I didn't know that. I didn't even know there was a list of deleted stories! LOL. I think I might just have failed the storiesonline observation test...

Replies: Dinsdale

Dinsdale 🚫

@Pixy

I think you only get to see it if you have Premier Membership. Look for "My Library" at the top of the Home page, then look for "Removed" on the left of that page.
Somebody (I think it was Ernest Bywater) had to tell me about it as well.

Replies: Switch Blayde Pixy

Switch Blayde 🚫
Updated:

@Dinsdale

Look for "My Library" at the top of the Home page, then look for "Removed" on the left of that page.

I never saw that. But if I can't read the story, I guess I don't care if it was removed.

The one kind of "reason" that stumped me, though, is "incomplete and Irrelevant." It can't be the incomplete part because there are many incomplete stories, so what is irrelevant?

Replies: Dominions Son Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster) madnige

Dominions Son 🚫

@Switch Blayde

"incomplete and Irrelevant." It can't be the incomplete part because there are many incomplete stories, so what is irrelevant?

My guess:

Incomplete and inactive, author hasn't logged in for a long time, and not enough got posted to be worth keeping.

There are a not insignificant number of stories out there that were set up as multi chapter stories and never had more than the first chapter posted.

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Switch Blayde

so what is irrelevant?

You'd be surprised, but many of these stories that I've double checking now, are nothing more than a story idea.

I started with anything under 5 KB or less than a thousand words.

So a chapter 1 of a story that is under 5 KB that doesn't have any meat to the story, that to me is an irrelevant piece of text that has no merit after the author disappeared and is not work preserving.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Do any stories go, say, a year with no readers?

AJ

madnige 🚫

@Switch Blayde

I've seen this applied to a story which had blurb claiming it was part of a larger work, and was later? merged into a larger story as a chapter of the larger work. So, incomplete (because there's obviously more story) and irrelevant (because it exists elsewhere on the site). If Ms Wylie had still been posting to this site, her Jako Nighthawk would qualify for this as it appears as the latter half of chapter 2 of The Price of Vengeance

Pixy 🚫

@Dinsdale

Look for "My Library" at the top of the Home page, then look for "Removed" on the left of that page.

Oh yeah! So it is! Never noticed before...LOL

All those tabs with information never seen before, like the one telling me that I have read 20 stories (that aren't mine) so far this year and only voted 5 times (4x5, 1x6)... Ooops.... I can hardly complain about the lack of people voting when I am just as guilty.... Naughty step for me it is then...

shutterbug 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

As more of a reader, I rarely give less then a 4 vote and I always explain why and that generally has to do with "Run a Spell Check". Personally I don't care if the spell check chose the wrong word as long as it's spelled correctly but when I see gibberish, I tend to be thrown out of the tale. Yes I've read some that had many misspelled word but was still interesting enough to actually get more then a 5 from me.

DiscipleN 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

Agreed

DJ of the Hudson 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

As a reader this has caused an impact. Not sure of the interconnect, but since this occured two things have happened
1. All my previously voted on stories I an re-reading now show my previous votes, but the vote button is active.

2. Stories I am attempting to vote on may take several tries an an extended hold of choice to get the vote submitted

This has been experienced on a Lenovo P11 plus, a Lenovo Yoga 13, and a Kindle Fire 10(new model). A friend on iOS has no issue. Another on a Samsung does.

Replies: awnlee jawking Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

awnlee jawking 🚫

@DJ of the Hudson

1. All my previously voted on stories I an re-reading now show my previous votes, but the vote button is active.

Why wouldn't it be? You're allowed to change your vote.

AJ

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@DJ of the Hudson

As a reader this has caused an impact. Not sure of the interconnect, but since this occured two things have happened
1. All my previously voted on stories I an re-reading now show my previous votes, but the vote button is active.

That's not new. You can change your vote any time. It's been that way since at least 2012.

2. Stories I am attempting to vote on may take several tries an an extended hold of choice to get the vote submitted

That may be an issue with the browser or internet connection. Nothing to do with the site really.

elevated_subways 🚫

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

So I assume we can reach you through the "Contact Storiesonline" message box available from the Home page? Or would you prefer another method of contact?

Forum: Site Announcements

Vote distribution graph to be turned off for all

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...