Forum: Bug Report and Feature Requests

If you didn't like it, it surely isn't in the higher numbers. If you didn't dislike it, it surely isn't in the lower numbers. So it's somewhere in the middle — a 5?

Of course that's if you only rate a story by how much you like it. I take a lot more into account. But that's me.

I second this emotion. However, if the story is poorly written or has a lot of word misuse, I find that affects how much I enjoy the story and it brings the score down due to the lowered enjoyment of it.

edit to add: There have been times when a story has had a badly written section or two that is overwhelmed by the good writing in the rest of it, and thus I ignore the bad sections.

If you didn't like it, it surely isn't in the higher numbers. If you didn't dislike it, it surely isn't in the lower numbers. So it's somewhere in the middle — a 5?

Of course that's if you only rate a story by how much you like it. I take a lot more into account. But that's me.

It sounds like he's suggesting a "Worth considering" option, which doesn't say he personally likes it, but that it offers a 'unique perspective'. I can think of many stories like that, say one you like the premise of, but can't stand how it was written or some of the story elements (i.e. a WS story with a decent story premise).

So how should you score a story that you dislike because of a squick (WS, say) that was not covered by the codes? (I avoid stories that say codes will be added later.)

I'm not sure. As Lezeez says, the score reflects how the story appealed to you personally, but if you think the story is worthy of attention by those curious, I'd rank it slightly higher, so it's not summarily ignored. In that case, a score of 5 or 6 seems appropriate, as you're not saying it's wonderful, but you're not panning it as being unreadable either.

Likewise, if the story was well-written, and featured an unexpected WS scene, then I'd score it for what the writing deserved (say an 8), but demote it slightly because of it's personal appeal to you, rather than trashing it altogether.

The new "comments" section by readers gives an opportunity to tell the world what you think about the story,

Only if they have it activated.

As Lezeez says, the score reflects how the story appealed to you personally,

That's all anyone can do when scoring a story - apart from refusing to score the story. My brother put me onto a story at SoL he was reading, I read the first two chapters and gave up on it. The story line is good, but damn, I do wish someone had taken the time to teach the guy writing it how to write properly. A typical paragraph will include actions and dialogue for a number of characters, even multiple dialogues by people all in one paragraph. Good story, good descriptions, but I spent more time working out who was supposed to be doing or saying what than I did following the story because it was so messed up. I doubt I'll eve go back to it.

If I had to give it a score, I'd give it a low one, because the very bad writing ruined my enjoyment of the story, so it has low appeal.

That's all anyone can do when scoring a story - apart from refusing to score the story. My brother put me onto a story at SoL he was reading, I read the first two chapters and gave up on it. The story line is good, but damn, I do wish someone had taken the time to teach the guy writing it how to write properly. A typical paragraph will include actions and dialogue for a number of characters, even multiple dialogues by people all in one paragraph. Good story, good descriptions, but I spent more time working out who was supposed to be doing or saying what than I did following the story because it was so messed up. I doubt I'll eve go back to it.

Hey Ernest, thanks for reading my story (since that describes ALL of my stories!)

The point was that someone in another thread (I can't remember who while I'm in this thread) commented that everyone should score exclusively on the 'quality of writing', where I countered that the site specifies "how it appeals to you". In other words, I was responding to someone who disagreed with us both.

Personally, I like the idea of taking the quality of writing into account when scoring a story, but it's almost impossible to enforce. What's more, there wouldn't be many qualified to vote in that case, which defeats the purpose of the popular vote.

Hey Ernest, thanks for reading my story (since that describes ALL of my stories!)

CW,

When compared to this guy, your stories are perfectly written. You write well, and you do good stories, but most of them a bit over complicated and drawn out for my simple mind to fully appreciate.

I generally don't care about the quality of another's writing when reading a story, except when it seriously detracts from my ability to enjoy the story being told - which is the case I mention. I shouldn't have to read a paragraph of 200 words ten times to work out who said what, but that's common with this twit.

typo edit

When compared to this guy, your stories are perfectly written. You write well, and you do good stories, but most of them a bit over complicated and drawn out for my simple mind to fully appreciate.

Hee-hee! Yeah, I like complicated plots, with LOTS of characters, as well as preferring complex sentences (though I like to think I'm getting better keeping them all in check).

There are natural storytellers, though experience is a strong component. There are also natural wordsmiths/poets, though an extensive vocabulary and English education is a major component (I don't know many poets without majors in language of some sort). There are also those who in desperate need of editors (multiples), and finally there are those without a clue.