New Spot Online
As you can see, I have a new blog online.
I know it sounds and looks a little strange for somebody with a site like storiesonline to have a blog on another service. I have good reasons to have this little blog here.
So, hopefully, this blog becomes more useful with time and a spot for interaction with me, something that is not really possible on storiesonline the way it is now (and which I don't really want to put in the effort to change).
I know it sounds and looks a little strange for somebody with a site like storiesonline to have a blog on another service. I have good reasons to have this little blog here.
- I don't want to add more load onto the site's line, it's already loaded enough.
- What I will be posting here may or may not have anything to do with going ons on the site.
- I don't feel like creating a full blogging system with comments and everything that goes with it, the services that I want to use are all ready available here, and I do want a comments section for you to post replies and discuss things.
So, hopefully, this blog becomes more useful with time and a spot for interaction with me, something that is not really possible on storiesonline the way it is now (and which I don't really want to put in the effort to change).
Comments
As for this blog, you might float ideas for changes and improvements on stories online here in the future? I don't have a big wishlist of upgrades for that site, but I appreciated your recent post in response to the steady drift of grade inflation on the top stories. Any other ideas how to maybe get people to think before they just throw another 10 on whatever story they most recently read? I remember a few years ago when Al Steiner's Aftermath (still the best story I've read online for free) was the top score ever, and it was in the 9.5 range.
These days it seems like every new chapter of every decent story gets a 9.6 or higher, and the fans of every popular author automatically slap 10s on their guy's new work, until the top scoring tales are all 9.7 or higher. Plus it seems like authors who update more often, even if they chapters are very short, get more votes and thus rise in average. Bowling for Hearts is a perfect example; it's not a bad story, but it's pushing 100 chapters, the sex is unimaginative, there is no plot, the story is a formulaic middle aged man's fantasy, and there's not one believable character in the entire saga... but there's a new chapter almost every week, and it's leading all stories with a 9.74 at last check. Then again, who am I to say what people should value with their votes?
I appreciate the effort to make scoring entirely democratic, but I just wish there were some way for higher quality stories to win the "steak once a week vs. spam every day" battle with the fast food style tales. I'd suggest a double scoring option, something like "story quality" and "sexiness factor" or something like that, but harbor no illusions that a double vote wouldn't be double-stuffed just as badly as the current single vote system.
I don't have a perfect solution, which is why I'm suggesting this as a possible blog topic, since some other readers might have better ideas than me.
Flux
fluxypoo@yahoo.com
(I didn't post anonymously to hide; I just don't have a blogger account since my blog has its own domain name.)
Cheers,
Homer Vargas (but I just don't feel like registering for anouther site.)
I hope that all ends up well and that you have a speedy recovery. I wish you and yours only the best. Take care and rest. I'm certain that we can hang on while you recover....
Merlin
davidrw99@hotmail.com
Alcimedes
It is great to hear that you are getting better, Lazeez! As I have said before: "We Care About You!!!"
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Lazeez!!!
Your Friendly TeNderLoin (JIM7)
:)))
Actually I've got a different way of calculating scores.
(Number of dowloads/chapters) * Score = DCS points
My reasoning is that certain stories have self-correcting scores; in other words, only 'fans' will read them.
For instance, my own stories fall into this category... readers run fairly quickly if I don't write their kind of stuff.
I think my system is slightly more indicative... of what I don't know but since I'm taking a statistics class, this is a lot of fun.
Therefore the story you point out scores
(101725/96) * 9.74 = 10320 DCS points
SC: Kendall
(43731/12) * 9.73 = 35459 DCS points
AMR:
(114875/55)* 9.72 = 202860 DCS points
Of course... there is some humor to doing it this way...
Aftermath
(183650/22) * 9.6 = 80138 DCS points
----
So I guess at the end of the day except for 'money' and the big prizes (Pulitzer and Nobel) all of this is just for fun.
80138... now THAT'S humbling.
ElSol
------
> I appreciate the effort to make scoring entirely
> democratic, but I just wish there were some way for
> higher quality stories to win the "steak once a week > vs. spam every day" battle with the fast food style
> tales. I'd suggest a double scoring option, something > like "story quality" and "sexiness factor" or
> something like that, but harbor no illusions that a
> double vote wouldn't be double-stuffed just as badly > as the current single vote system.
For instance, I have read every chapter of Night Hawk's 'Once More With Feelings' at least once. That should count not for 48 or so downloads (2 views each of 24 chapters) but for 1 user reading 100% of the chapters. I know from Night Hawk's yahoogroup that there are many fans who all read everything several times.
A consistency score might be worked out something like:
100 users reading 24 of the chapters, 80 users reading 23, 55 users reading 20, 30 users reading 15 and 200 users reading just 1. 100×24 + 80×23 + 55×20 + 30×15 + 200×1 = 5990 divide that by the number of chapters gives a consistency score of 249.58
Whether this is a meanigful stat or not I leave to others to judge!
Chris 'Awkward' McKenna
If there is IP# sorting possible, that would certainly help, though I'm not sure that *just* one vote per person is really fair -- after all, some of the stories are dozens and dozens of chapters, and reader opinions may change over the course of a long tale. Quite a few stories start off rather slowly, and get better as they go along.
Another possible solution would be a sortable "most popular" listing, where you could elect to view stories ranked by score, most downloads, most votes, stories updated within the last week/2 weeks/month, etc. The problem is that I doubt the database script supports that, and that it would add a lot of RAM load to the servers to implement those sorts of sorting options. (I'm not a statistician but I have worked on several very busy websites and I know how quickly server RAM and expensive bandwidth can be eaten up by seemingly-minor changes.)
Anyway, I didn't mean to start the whole debate here or hijack this thread; I just wanted to suggest it as something lazeez might ask for feedback about in the future.
Flux
fluxypoo@yahoo.com
me. I don't know that any rating system you can come up with is worth it, if the number of downloads is high people must enjoy it or they would ignore it
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
On score inflation.
Aftermath got me hooked on SOL. Score inflation has certainly occurred since then. I think the median score is now about 8.8 (unweighted for number of scores). I think that scores are useful for readers.
Comments from regular readers are the most rewarding to me as an author. Fav, now Lib, count is really an interesting measure.
I don't find a positive corelation between lib count or download/chapters with scores of my stories. I find that strange. Most read and most kept are not the highest rated?
I really hate to lose Steiner, Downey or authors of that quality from SOL. Losing high quality authors is of more concern than score inflation.
I admit, I read some continuing stories because I really like a character, i.e. Summer Camp or Spitfire and Messerschmitt, even if the chapters are unevenly written. I tend to wait up Sunday night for Spitfire. I guess that about as high praise as I can give.
Thanks Lazeez's for providing a place for amateur expression and for reader enjoyment. Get well soon.
Rougher63
I'm preparing a long article addressing the voting issue, so I won't waste space here and my time addressing each post. But I will be addressing interesting posts once I post my scores article.
Of the stories that I have read too recently to have reread, I think that "Dance of a Lifetime" by Frank Downey, "Thoughts, Sensations and Emotions" by Ms Friday, "Once More With Feelings" by The Night Hawk, and Sacwriter's "Becka The Beast" (and sequel) are the most likely. Although I am sure there will be others that I will try, but whether knowing in advance what will happen reduces the impact of the story for me I don't know.
The other stories that I bookmark are ones that are being updated only very infrequently (so I don't miss an update) and ones that I am reading primarily on occasion that there is nothing new that I want to read - Al Steiner's "Aftermath" fits into this category.
Chris 'Awkward' McKenna
Just a note to tell you to get well soon.
As an author the notes about score inflation are interesting. Any single scoring method will automatically be inaccurate for a myriad of reasons.
Evaluation and feedback are still best method to track progress as an author.
Perhaps at some point other writers could be able to provide peer evaluations following some agreed standard format for multiple category scoring and comments.
Thanx for a great site that is a terrific venue for my stories
Take care
Warlord
I know frames are frowned upon these days (I've never understood why), but to my mind having the voting in a separate frame to the comments would be a good idea. If this isn't possible, then a comments form on the results of the voting page, or a link back to the comments from that page would be advantageous.
Chris 'Awkward' McKenna
I have not one clue why you "went under the knife", but I wish you a speedy recovery. I very much appreciate StoriesOnline.net and now the only erotica I read, is from this site. I had been reading from several others, but my computer became infected with more than one virus and spyware that had to come from one of those other sites. Therefore, I feel safe reading SOL and have even persuaded a few of my favorite authors of erotica to move their work to SOL.
I like your new BLOG very much. It is classy!
Get well soon and remember ... "Getting old, is NOT for sissies!"
A loyal SOL fan
I'm praying to ALL the Gods, Goddesses, and other Supreme Beings and Entities that your recovery continues apace to a grand conclusion.
Your site has provided many hours of pleasure and has even helped, at times, to aleviate mypain.
Due to some physical issues, I must download and reformat a story before I can read it. Therefore, I cannot participate in your rating procedure. What you have is the fairest, IMHO, that can be achieved with what you have to work with.
Keep up the good work and get well
Popeski
My sugesstion for a quick fix on the scoring issue. Remove the numerical values on the scoring index. Just have values like Excellent, Great, Average, Boorish, Needs Work..... And randomize the order.
Maybe the scorer will then actually think before they submit the score.
Fawks
PS (2) What kind of surgery did you have?
How much does it cost to keep SOL up?