A Case for Provisional Up-Votes for Incomplete Multi-chapter Stories · 12:33am Jun 13th, 2018
Did you know that the Thumb-up and Thumb-down buttons (đź‘Ťđź‘Ž) are toggles?
The first time you click a Thumb button, it turns on, incrementing the number of votes for the story. The Thumb-up turns green. The Thumb-down turns red. Click either a second time, it decrements the count and changes to black1.
I'm telling you this so you understand that whatever vote you give to a story, you can always change it.
Why does this matter? A multi-chapter story is published serially over weeks or months, yet many readers wait until the very last chapter to vote. That's my experience over 31 published stories. Voting2 has a immediate effect on the front-page visibility of a story and also on how many readers will eventually read it.
I'm convinced that readers rate only short stories the same day they're published, having found them on the FimFiction main page. This behavior boosts the popularity of any reasonably good short story, which garners more readers who in-turn rate the story, which fosters a benevolent cycle that can eventually push a story high in the Popular Stories column, which makes it more visible and attractive, attracting even more readers all the more quickly. Good stories, even by unknown authors, can thus make it to the Featured (top 10) box.
An incomplete multi-chapter story that doesn't get some up-votes3 on publication day looks unattractive. A story that doesn't get rated suffers on the first day of publication in the New Stories category and subsequently in the Latest Update category until the author marks it complete, and then it may be too late if it takes many days for those who are tracking it to finally read that last chapter. A novel or novella may never appear in the Popular column or ever get featured!
I would like to make a case for the Provisional Up-vote. If you plan to read an incomplete story and decide to track it—and you like it enough that you're excited to read more, why not click the Thumb-up? Since you can always toggle your vote off, you can always take back your vote. Clicking the Thumb-up will not only tip off other readers that the story may actually be good4, it will also give the author an ego boost. And, keep in mind, we FimFiction authors are not paid (Patreon accounts notwithstanding). Do you want to convince an author to write all twenty to thirty chapters? You probably do. Up-votes (and encouraging comments) make a difference.
A real difference.
Have I convinced you? If not, let's discuss it in the comments below.
1Clicking the Thumb-down button when the Thumb-up button is showing green turns on the Thumb-down button and turns off the Thumb-up button—thus allowing you to detest a story you previously liked in one click. Nevertheless, I think ever clicking the Thumb-down button is just plain unfriendly, and may be fodder for a subsequent blog post.
2The popularity of a story is a combination of votes and page views and how quickly they come (FAQ article). Voting is nevertheless of huge importance.
3A story needs a total of ten of up- and/or down-votes for you to even see the count.
4I always rate on the first chapter if I possibly can. I rarely find II was mistaken.
I've had one person down vote what I write shortly after I post it. Personally, I doubt they are even reading it. If someone truly dislikes something I'd kind of like to know why? Maybe there's a problem I can fix. I would hope people aren't down voting because a favored character doesn't have the spotlight, or I'm being mean to the characters. I wonder how many people would click that button if they had to say why? My first book did get some love. As for my follow up projects, well, lets just say they are still a work in progress, which they are.
Your book, "To Bring Light To Eternal Darkness" was very good. I'm surprised it has so few likes, and I'm wondering if there will be a sequel?
It's mostly irrational, but I very rarely vote in either direction. I have been here years and I'm here a lot, but I've maybe voted on a dozen stories and even fewer comments.
I attribute it to a dislike of being tracked more than necessary by 'big data' technologies.
I do the same on Facebook; not liking any posts, and liking/following pages and groups only if I want to be kept fully up to date at all times.
4881883
Both your comments raise good points. Reading around the site, I am surprised at the low number of likes on a good number of long fiction pieces, thus my argument.
I suspect you could also blame investment engagement (do you trust the author to complete a story) and reader stamina (will the tracking reader of the first chapter read the last chapter). There is a dramatic drop off in page views over chapters and I've been told a loss of only 50% is good. Still, all the more reason to provisionally vote. It would boost initial readership and the total number who finish—and as writers we want our ideas and messages to be read—but might not increase up votes over time as provisionals are revoked. Yet, if you were to look at the stat graphs, the ratings could better correlate to the content of certain chapters. Instructive for next time.
Down votes are another issue. It is a rare story that gets no down votes, and even rarer that it doesn't get at least one almost immediately. Your theory about absolute canon and MLP show tone adherence is the one I favor most. I refuse to believe this site has trolls, but there may be some who haven't really thought out how devastating a down vote, especially if it is the first for a story or even for an author, can be.
There is a silver lining. Very few stories get more than a few own votes, and they actually help overall ratings by adding to your count of 10 required for visibility of your ratings to the community and adding to the frequency rating needed for feature boxing. Last, if you have written some truely controversial (and by that I don't mean just mean or trolling), it is a badge of honor—you got readers to think.
My Fours a Crowd magnified Fluttershy's demands that Discord not be jealous of her friendship with another pony, making for Discord's discomfort. A hard-nosed Fluttershy got 10 down votes to 18 up. I like to write gritty stories, and the ones that portrayed characters like Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer as troubled and dealing with flaws and moral dilemmas got the next highest down votes. Not everyone is going to like my take on characters dealing with tough problems. It's okay; I'd be surprised by no down votes!
I would encourage readers to comment so we know what we did wrong, so long as they aren't trolling. When I comment, I always try to point out the good in stories I've read. Things that might affect popularity, I address in a PM if I think it could help the author to be aware of it, and if I sense the author is receptive. Alas, I am a professional writer and have been trained to do this, so I don't expect it from a general reader-only population. I'd like to see more of it!
However, remember, what readers think of your story and characters should not override your ideas and message. If you aren't getting comments, ask for them in the author note or post to a want-a-comment group. And thank you for commenting!
4881911
Good point. And it is very rational. I also don't vote on every story I read. In an ideal world, everyone would rate each story either up or down, but no one does. If a story doesn't move me, I don't vote. I certainly feel as you do about Facebook, and I use the like button only if I have a good reason, and never on anything advertiser-oriented. While FimFiction does use tracking technologies for ad serving, I'd be surprised if any would care about the Thumb buttons because unless they trying to figure out what to sell to you based on your opinion of a Fluttershy or Nightmare Moon story, it would be meaningless to anyone.
Notwithstanding, I would propose even to you that if the first chapter of a story moves you to track it, you should consider provisionally up voting it. More so if it is the type of story you've actually voted on before. Please consider it, anyway.
4881881
This is my experience with almost every story. Referring to my statement, "In an ideal world, everyone would rate each story either up or down, but no one does," this plays into KittrinnAiko's observations about down-votes and why at least one shows up so early. Could there actually be a few FimFiction readers who do vote on every story, whether they've completely read it or not? Could it be that if they don't immediately like the story and decide not to continue, they feel compelled to down-vote? This is the antithesis of our voting habits, but it would explain much...
Some interesting points, and highlights an observation I'd been unaware of. My first story/book was mostly Twilight and others dealing with a filly dropped in their laps with little explanation other then the filly is from the future, and identifies Twilight as mother. Plenty of cute. My second story highlights Discord as being the manipulative scoundrel he is, not one bit reformed just covering his tracks, and it gets rather gritty in places, such as Sunset Shimmer returning to Equestria because she's undocumented, and fears being rounded up, and deported to Celestia knows where. Some gritty stuff no one wants to see in an MLP story apparently. The first book got more up votes then down, and the second more down votes then up. The second is incomplete, and I've realized I need to do some serious rewrites. However... Apparently if a person wants up votes, the way to do it is to write short fluff pieces.
As for myself, I only click the up vote if I really like it, and won't touch the down vote unless something is truly beyond redemption.
I used to start reading uncomplete stories but too many of the authors stopped writing in the middle of the story, usually at a very interesting / suspenseful point which made me sad.
Now I have less time to read and I mostly read short happy stories.
When I read a long story I usually either upvote it after the first chapter if I think it's fun and I plan on reading all of it or I stop reading if it's not my cup of tea, in this case I don't vote at all.
One more thing: I don't read stories because they are on the front page, I read them because a) they appear on ED and I think the summary is interesting or b) they are written by an author I follow or c) they are recommended by an author I follow.
Perhaps I'm part of a minority, perhaps not, I have no idea.
4907411
You describe me to a T. All the things.
Equestria Daily is a good spot to find something to read that may be worth the trouble. One of my Celestia novellas has appeared in an EqD Story Post (To Bring Light to Eternal Darkness) and a short story is currently in review (Certainty - Songbird Serenade Knight of Equestria).
I also usually wait to read a story until it’s complete, but every so often I can’t wait and I upvote as soon as I know I think it is good. You are not the only one.
Thanks for the comment!