Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

Whereas i don't understand how you can rate a story, if you haven't read all of it.

I rate the story based on what I have read up to that point. As additional chapters are posted, I will adjust my rating based on the additional content, if appropriate.

The rest of your post makes no sense to me. The rating is for the story not a chapter.

Whereas i don't understand how you can rate a story, if you haven't read all of it.

I used to feel that way. Then I realized I was only rating stories I liked or at least was able to read to the end. That skews the scoring. I'm not talking about 1-bombing. I'm talking about giving up on a story where the score reflects why I gave up on it.

But there have been stories where i considered bailing out early on, but stuck with it and things improved considerably.

I think that's why many authors would prefer voting to be switched off for the first few chapters. Still, that didn't hurt 'Arlene and Jeff' too much, despite its unpopular start.

AJ

if you were able to read through it, things might have improved.

Not likely. I don't rate a story on content. I rate a story on its readability. How it flows. Does it keep my interest, keep me reading? Are the characters real? Likable and hatable to the point I want them to win or lose? Is the dialogue real? And so on.

It's rare (if ever) that that would change as you keep reading.

All of those things are part of telling a story. That quality is part of the author, and doesn't change. Although, I have read stories by good story tellers that didn't meet their normal standard of storytelling. I contribute that to them attempting to tell a story that they were uncomfortable with, but felt it needed to be told.

didn't meet their normal standard of storytelling. I contribute that to them attempting to tell a story that they were uncomfortable with

From personal experience, it's when I'm asked to write a particular story, like a sequel. I stopped doing that for that reason.

Sounds like similar feelings. I have been asked to write sequels and was uncomfortable with writing it at that point in time. I later wrote the sequel when I was ready to write it.

I later wrote the sequel when I was ready to write it.

I've never been happy with any of the sequels I wrote. I believe in the literary construct of a story and when the story is done, it's done. A sequel could be a new story, but I wasn't inspired to write a new story so what I wrote was more of the same of the first story.

My worst case wasn't a sequel. It goes back to the ASSTR days when I first wrote "The Preacher's Wife." People begged for more (not a sequel), even offering suggestions of what sexual situations to put the wife through. Not knowing back then what I now know about crafting a story, I relented and wrote 5 more chapters, but was never happy with them. The original story ended when the preacher's wife was sexually liberated. The new 5 chapters were simply sex scenes that didn't have anything to do with the original story (the plot's conflict was already resolved).

Years later when I posted "The Preacher's Wife" on SOL, I deleted those 5 extra chapters and ended the story where it was supposed to end. The theme of sexual repression in that story did inspire me to write my first novel. I added a 2nd theme (revenge) and wrote an erotic murder mystery called "Sexual Awakening." This time the sexual liberation didn't end the story since the revenge was the overarching theme and conflict.

After writing the novel "Sexual Awakening" and getting feedback from a traditional publisher, I studied the craft of writing fiction and actually rewrote the novel multiple times as I learned new things. So by the time I posted "The Preacher's Wife" on SOL, I was a different writer.

With the old voting system i would have put them down as 10s for Plot & Quality, but a 2 for appeal,
Not being able to do that, i choose not to vote at all if i bail out before the end.

But the current system corresponds to the 'appeal' category of the old system, so you've changed your voting policy and deny would-be readers your verdict of a story's appeal.

AJ

So what do you consider content then?

"Content" was in response to the 1-bombing someone stated. I may have a squick (content), but I won't rate it poorly simply because the story contains that squick. If the story's content (subject matter?) is not to my liking, I stop reading the story and DON'T vote on it. I won't vote poorly on a story because of (what I called) the content.

The formatting, spelling, etc. to me is not content. If it's real bad, it gets in the way of readability and I would stop reading and rate the story. So the spelling, etc. would cause me to score it lower. But my expectation with SOL stories for grammar and spelling is low, so the bar is low. For a lot of people here, English isn't even their primary language.

But when I think of the technical aspects of a story that could cause me to stop reading, it's more than typos. If I get bored, I'll stop reading. If it's all sex and not story, I'll stop reading (and this is from someone who writes plenty of sex in his stories). If the author tells, tells, tells, I get bored and stop reading. I want to be engaged/engrossed in the story. If not, why bother reading it to the end?

things might have improved.

... and they may have gotten worse!

But that can skew the scoring the other way- if you were able to read through it, things might have improved.

Is there a case for the voting box to display the reader's current score for the story?

AJ

Thanks, I didn't know that.

I don't score stories because I'd rate them against the dead tree novels of the past, so I'd almost invariably give any story I scored a lower rating than most other readers. Which would be a cruel way of 'rewarding' the authors of stories that are interesting enough to attract my attention.

AJ

Perhaps I should have said that I compare SOL stories with the standards of dead tree stories of the past.

I believe dead tree stories of the past were professionally edited, and that means axes were taken to plotlines that led nowhere, for example.

AJ

I don't score stories because I'd rate them against the dead tree novels of the past

Simply score them by what you expect from an SOL story, not a traditionally published one. Lower the bar. We're talking about amateur authors without the help of professional editors whose primary language might not even be English. You have to take that into account.

Simply score them by what you expect from an SOL story, not a traditionally published one.

Very, very occasionally I encounter a SOL story which I'd class as print-ready.

If I dole out 10s to stories which were enjoyable but only met my expectation of SOL stories, that leaves no way of rewarding the print-ready stories appropriately with scores of 15, say. But if I didn't award the SOL-expectation stories with 10s, the stories' scores would go down.

AJ

My memory is not what it used to be. If I recall correctly, the Voting box, Remove it button, and Edit bookmark button used to appear at the end of each chapter. I liked it that way for two main reasons: 1) I could easily rate the story and change the rating at any point in the story without having to go to the last posted chapter. 2) It was easy to remove the story.

I don't have a problem the placement of the next chapter link, although it may be better to have it before the box.

I hope this is a permanent change.

1) I could easily rate the story and change the rating at any point in the story without having to go to the last posted chapter.

I've never been able to do that. If I wanted to abandon a story because it wasn't good and still wanted to rate it, I had to go to the story's index page, scroll to the last chapter name, click on it, and then scroll to the end of the chapter to cast my vote.

I think this new change is great, except it should be after the next chapter link.

If making it permanent is up for vote, I would vote yes for the reasons I stated in this thread.

I'm the opposite and would vote no, preferring the the previous layout/format

As a reader, I don't have an opinion. But as an author I'd prefer whichever format persuades the most readers to vote. I suspect, with a very narrow margin that might be with the vote option on every chapter.

I guess there might be quirky situations where eg a reader reads up to chapter 9 and casts a vote, then sometime later re-reads the story and changes their vote when only as far as chapter 6.

AJ

Assume you are in the middle of reading Chapter 9 and the last posted chapter is Chapter 30. You decide to go to Chapter 30 to vote. When you go to Chapter 30 to vote, the pointer to where you stopped reading gets set to Chapter 30. Since you are finished reading for the day, you exit Chapter 30.

The next time you select the story to continue reading it, you will be directed to Chapter 30. You will then have to manually locate the point in Chapter 9 where you stopped reading. That assumes that you know where you stopped reading. If you are like me, you will have to page down until you find new text.

You may not consider that to be "not a big deal". I consider it to be a major irritant.

With the voting box in every chapter, I can vote and easily reposition the pointer to where I stopped reading. If I tried to do that from Chapter 30 before I exited the story, there is additional effort required.

Bottom line is, the decision is Lazeez's to make. You, I, and other readers have made our preferences known.

I know what you mean. I would prefer Switch Blayde's suggestion to move the next chapter link to above the voting box.

I requested Lazeez move the Next Chapter link to above the voting box.

It's done.

And much better. :)