I finished a story that was labeled "stroke." If it had been labeled anything else, the best score I would have given it was a 5. But I gave it an 8.
Why? Because with the understanding of what a stroke story is, it was well done. I didn't expect a plot. Or strong characters. I don't believe I am wrong for that score since up front the author stated it was stroke.
The problem is you can't compare that 8 to a non-stroke story with an 8. The criteria is different. Am I wrong?
I agree that readers should expect story development and content to be different and ratings should be different.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, ratings are assigned by the reader based on their feelings. Grammar, plot, content, and other factors have a bearing on how a reader feels about a story. As readers, we each have our own criteria for rating a story, and we have had numerous discussions on that subject, and there will never be a consolidated set of criteria that is acceptable to all readers.
Grammar, plot, content, and other factors have a bearing on how a reader feels about a story.
As well as in many cases the kinks included.
I have noticed that many in various kinks get higher scores than they really deserve. But probably rank high simply because they satisfy the kinks of the readers.
Absolutely which codes you use affect your score. I actually wrote a short story on it called 9.7 way back in 2005 (gawd I'm old) that parodied this fact. The scoring system was a different then, but the fact remains.
It's one of the reasons I ignore scores on my own stories.
It's one of the reasons I ignore scores on my own stories.
But do potential readers ignore the scores?
AJ
But do potential readers ignore the scores?
I for one don't pay much attention to scores when selecting stories to read.
Neither do I. If the blurb is good and there's nothing personally squicky in the codes, I'll give the first page a read. That's usually enough to know if I should keep going or move on.
If the blurb is good and there's nothing personally squicky in the codes, I'll give the first page a read. That's usually enough to know if I should keep going or move on.
Great advice. I do that too. Occasionally, I flip the search criteria and search from the Bottom Scores up. I skip quite a few, but sometimes I find a story that was voted down, but seems quite decent to me.
sometimes I find a story that was voted down, but seems quite decent to me.
This thread has changed to general scoring. I had a specific thing in mind.
My point was that I took into account the fact that the author labeled the story a "stroke" story when I rated it. That set certain expectations that I based my scoring on (or lack of expectations). My expectations would have been different if it wasn't identified as "stroke" and therefore would have gotten a lower score.
Your thread has been hijacked, which is normal for this forum.
I can't recall any thread that has more than ten posts that has not been hijacked.
Your thread has been hijacked
I actually didn't see it as hijacked. It just took a different turn on voting than I originally meant.
My point was that I took into account the fact that the author labeled the story a "stroke" story when I rated it.
A quick perusal shows you've written plenty of stories with 'Erotica' as the genre and containing 'Much Sex', but only one you've classed as 'Stroke Story', and that is your second-lowest rated story. It seems other readers may not score the same way you did.
AJ
My point was that I took into account the fact that the author labeled the story a "stroke" story when I rated it.
To be honest, that is something I rarely look at. Primarily, I look at the length (at least 15k at a minimum), codes I am interested in, no codes that I am not interested in, and if the description seems to be something that appeals to me.
And the number of codes. I just looked at one of mine, and it is a long form story with 30 codes. And that is about right, it is a long form story of almost 1.9 megs. But if I see a story that is 20k that has 30 codes, that tells me it is almost entirely non-stop sex, so will likely be of no interest to me.
But do potential readers ignore the scores?
I do. To me, the score is almost meaningless. I tend to look at the synopsis, the codes used, and what I know of the author.
In fact, a great many codes will cause me to avoid a story, and "too many codes" will also. If I see 20 codes in a story that is say 25k or so, I will just pass it by. Because odds are there is no actual "story" there, just a "greatest hits" of the author's kinks.
And I know from watching that a lot of times the codes are not related to how well the story was written, but if it satisfied the kinks of the readers. For example, some of my lowest ranked ones are what I call "dark tales", which should be obvious most times do not have "happy endings". And I suspect get downvoted a lot because of that. I have seen some that are absolute crap, but include a lot of codes that probably brings in readers who are into those kinks (*cough* incest *cough*).
Absolutely which codes you use affect your score. I actually wrote a short story on it called 9.7 way back in 2005 (gawd I'm old) that parodied this fact. The scoring system was a different then, but the fact remains.
It's one of the reasons I ignore scores on my own stories.
I did one similar in 2019, including every code that I could think of. I threw in all of them, only to find when I posted it there was a limit to how many codes you could post.
However, I also wrote "Stories Online Heaven" entirely as a joke, and it was not to be taken seriously at all. Mostly trying to run with a great many of the tropes I have seen in here over the years.
I did one similar in 2019, including every code that I could think of. I threw in all of them, only to find when I posted it there was a limit to how many codes you could post.
In 2016 there was a change to the site that limited the number of codes that could be used in a story.