stingy on my voting as well - though not so stingy, in that I vote on chapters that affect me. For me to vote for a post, it has to be something I find worth my time to read, and it also has to have a little something extra. I can't quantify what that is, but it's something that pulls me in more than I'm normally pulled into a story. I don't believe I've ever voted for EVERY post in a serial... Though, if I've read an entire serial from beginning to end, it's likely that I've voted at least once for one of the posts.

I actually comment at least twice as often as I vote. I prefer to receive comments, authors take time to write and post... So, unless I just give up part way in, I'm likely to eventually comment on a story/serial. I try to make my comments actually mean something but, fear I fall short regularly.

As to the votes, I like to get them, but I'm not willing to do some of the things that I'm aware will be likely to increase the likelihood of receiving votes. The numbers are not large, but I like to pretend to myself that now that I'm getting about twice as many votes as I did when I started writing here that I've gotten better. But, I know the vote increase probably has more to do with the larger audience than it does any improvement in my writing. As Jill points out, the number of voters (even if you assume most are not other authors) is insignificant compared to the number of hits.

Annette

Angela and I have spoken about this before, and I find myself agreeing with her premise in many ways. I think that our reasons and our approach to the question are simply a little different. Doubtless we are looking at the same phenomenon, but like all statistics and other forms of art, beauty is in the eye - - the meaning is wholly individual.

As I’ve said this all before, I’ll summarize briefly: People don’t come here to make us better writers. Their needs are as varied as their personalities, but mostly they are just looking for a specific type of entertainment. Some due to curiosity, but most with a deeper need for ratification, or at least corroboration. More plainly a desire to live vicariously the emotions and situations in our story plots. We need to be mindful that, a reader contributes as much to a story as an author any appreciable caliber; and although many are quite literate, typically they do not come to this particular place for literary brilliance…alone.

I do not think that the question of voting has been done to death, because it is an ongoing phenomenon that we can see every day. What Angela called ‘sweet spot’ stories, seem to me, to be simply those that corroborate the emotional validity that most reasonably well balanced people look for: A chance to change what we dislike or are uncomfortable with. A desire to change fix the one little thing about ourselves that’s hardest to explain or understand. The questions: Would I then find love and happiness? Could I ever be ‘Pretty’, and would mere physical appearance lead the dramatic changes I’ve imagined it would?

There is no doubt we have wise and literate people here. Many are voracious readers who appreciate the subtleties that must be taken into account to draft a water-tight, if not air-tight storyline, but how often do people comment on this aspect of what we do here? In my experience, we are nothing like some other writing sites, where the brutality of the critique might be something reminiscent of the grinding teeth of a garbage disposal. I believe, that the most telling point of the comments we see here, is in the quantity that don’t speak so much to the story itself, or it’s craft. Rather, I see the important number as addressing how the story effected the readers themselves.

I think Longevity of an author here is important too. Since I’ve been hanging around, I’ve chatted with most of the regulars, and I can’t say that I’ve been able to form a real dislike for any of them. Almost universally, they are damned fine people whose company I’m sure I would enjoy very much enjoy. Thus it follows, that if I post something here, and if I’ve worked hard enough, I may reach my own goal of making the story mechanics invisible to the reader, but I’m almost sure to attract some attention from the users.. I’m just thankful that on occasion, many of the nice people here who recognize my name will at least open and look at it simply because they know who I am. Hopefully, it will be a much smaller number who will avoid it for the very same, and equally valid, reason.

For me, the fascination of this subject was, that given the numbers of reads, so few people do vote. I’ve discovered some who were convinced I’d get a prize that they were not sure if I’d truly earned, and no argument there. Others felt to do so was somehow a greater exposure, or worse, and admission on their part. Thus I observe, that to this day, the numbers on this site seem mostly to indicate the sizes of the various groups who like a particular story type, or an author, and that these unique groups seem to act as entities based on the time they have available and the types of stories they gravitate toward. This, along with the smaller core of folk who seem to be able to read most stories, god bless them. What is remarkable is, that on a well written story, with eight thousand reads, that we only seem to have the same fifty to seventy five people voting. .

I agree, there are tons of very well written stories here, indeed, very well written stories which simply do not garner that attention and that ratification, that we all take so much pleasure in seeing, either for our own works or in recognition of a favored story. It’s just that, I agree that the votes don’t rationally relate as easily to writing quality, as they do to the humanity people are seeking. I think the numbers of votes are only about the people who are reading the stories, and about their lives, and that they only have the loosest possible relationship to literacy, scholarship , or erudition. I think, it’s about their humanity.

Thus, the more interesting question might be, what is it our friends need from us, and do we always understand what it is they are asking for? No compulsion to produce a popular piece, when we might need to create another goal for our effluent, but ‘The Best’ authors here, do seem to understand at least some of that, in a subconscious way if nothing else. Likely, due to commonality of vision and need.

Stories like Angela’s, whose talents are obvious and fine, are simple tailored to a different subset of the readers here – to needs that are merely congruent, and not identical. Thankfully, the paradigm we all concede is that each subset just as valid as the next, and in some genera, adult-fantasy-science-fiction say, sixty votes can mean a much greater response/impact, than a real-life, or sweet-spot story at One-hundred, because of the respective sizes of those target audiences. I just find it more fulfilling to look upon every vote, and every comment as amazing. Each is a gift.

I know. A shocker coming from me…the humanist view; but I have to say that I’m equally amazed by how often these discussions degenerate into something resembling -penis envy. I pray, I’m not the only one who sees the humorous side of that.

Sarah Lynn

I don't recall ever seeing any guidelines for voting or commenting on the site, and if they do exist people are ignoring them. People vote for their own reasons. Mostly I think they vote for a story if they liked it. That's what I do. But sometimes I like a story because of the storyline, or the mood, or the humor, or in fewer cases, because it is so well constructed.

Comments fall into seveal categories, but most seem to be either to encourage the author, to discuss the characters or plots in a story (these seem mostly directed to serials), or to encourage an author to write future episodes of a story to fit their individual taste.

As for me, I am a neophyte writer, a fledgling with few skills and not enough time or motivation to really become much better. I write mostly for personal reasons. Rarely does an idea of mine reach the stage of a storyline, so it's rare I can complete something presentable. Then, it usually takes me several more days, and a couple complete rewrites before I'll post it. I have this annoying dread that people are going to be comparing me to individuals like Angela or Angharad, as if I consider myself anywhere near as qualified or talented as they.

As a writer, I have a terrible fear that readers are clicking on my story, reading the first few line, and giving up on it before it has a chance to get started. The only thing close to assurance I have that someone has actually read something is when they leave a comment. I would love to know what it is about my writing that someone liked, but especially I'd like to know what it is they didn't like too because I'm pretty dense and I need that knock in the head kind of thing to show me where I can improve. Alas, most readers here are too polite to be honest, and some of the few who tried have have been misunderstood.

In my case, I prove my own point. As a writer I'd like comments to be open honest critique of my stories, which would also prove readers are actually reading them in their entirety. I'd like votes to be based on the story's quality. But I vote for stories I like for whatever reason I feel like at the time, and I comment mostly to encourage the author.

Does that make me epileptic? Dunno. But I'm not going to worry about it.

Hugs
Carla Ann