Best Story of All Time? · 12:38pm Nov 18th, 2014
I don't really understand the hierarchy of FIMFiction's rating system. I just checked the statistics, and much to my surprise, The Guard Dog Paradox is rated the best story of all time on this site. With a mere 481 likes (which compared to other great works is not that much). Why? Sure, I feel like it's a good story, and getting the animalistic first-person perspective right alone took a lot of hard work. But can anyone really call a simple one-shot about a guard dog's conflicted loyalty the best MLP story FIMFiction has to offer? Maybe it's because I'm usually a very humble guy, but I'm sure there are other stories that deserve that title more.
I'm guessing it has to do with the hierarchy of the likes/dislikes ratio, which again, I don't fully understand. And again, I didn't write this story with the intention of becoming famous. But if it's really earned this place in FIMFiction history, I'm not complaining.
I think it has to do with the like/dislike ratio. Out of all the stories on FiMFiction, this story has the largest amount of likes to dislikes, that being almost 160 likes for every dislike.
I frankly don't get it either but...hey. Congrats.
(But Reformation Buddies is far superior IMHO)
I wrote a reply, but fimfiction killed it when I hit the post button.
Let's try this again.
First of all, congratulations. While "The Guard Dog Paradox" is a good story, I don't really think it's the best story on the site either. But still, this is an accomplishment that you should be proud of.
Now as for how it happened, horizon has an excellent blog post explaining how the rankings work that you can see here. What it basically comes down to is that your story got a lot of upvotes while having few enough downvotes to keep the confidence interval small. Just for the sake of science, I just downvoted "Guard Dog," and it dropped to 163rd. Then I switched to an upvote, and it shot back to number one. The fewer upvotes you have, the more each downvote is worth. Because math.
Congrats! I've been watching that story climb the charts for several months now. I saw that it was number two yesterday, but I didn't want to jinx it. I'm happy to see it get that number one spot!
Is it the actual best story of all time? No. It's entertaining, but not a masterwork. However, very few of the things at the top really are. What the top usually represents is either a momentarily hot idea, or a story that is emotionally safe. I think this fall firmly into the latter category. There isn't a lot to challenge the reader's overall view of Equestria, so you're not going to get a lot of reactionary "Well, that doesn't fit my headcanon" downvotes. The story is well-written with few grammar errors, so it's done very well.
But it's no small feat making something that has that kind up upvote/downvote ratio. Pleasing that many people is an accomplishment, and I hope you're proud of that story. I liked it, and I can't say that about most things that I read. Could it be more ambitious? Sure, but not everything we write needs to be the flat-out bestest thing we can possibly produce at the time. Some stories are just fun to write, and most readers just want an interesting idea that is competently delivered. In fact, I'd say they prefer it.
But I've watched you work hard here for years, and you totally deserve to have this spot for a bit. I'm happy for you, as I know what it meant for me to have that spot for the day that it lasted. Great job!
There used to be a statistic list for this, but then everything changed when knighty updated.
Dude. In my opinion, ROBCakeran53's "My Little Dashie" and Pen Stroke's "Past Sins" are the best.
Don't get me wrong, your Guard Dog Paradox was a good story too, but like you said, compared to other works, 483 likes ain't much.
It's still a feat, and I congratulate you. My best story only has 13 likes (and 1 dislike). xD My worst is 7 and 7. My first story and my newest story are both 7-7.
Titanium Dragon explains the maths behind the ranking here: fimfiction rating system explained. A story is ranked based on the 95% confidence level for the lower limit of it's "true" rating. So stories with fewer views, need to get a higher up vote/down vote ratio to achieve the same ranking.
That's the theory. In practice, people game the system, and will down vote quality stories if they consider they are over ranked.
Anyway enjoy your well-deserved time in the top slot. I had a few hours there with Breaking News and Weather before it was shot down by some especially discerning critics (or possibly just random trolls). I hope yours stays there a bit longer.
My personal favorites are: "Diaries of a Madman" by whatmustido and "The Keepers of Discord" by Hoopy McGee.
The first one is an HiE that is also the longest singular story on the FIMFiction.
The second story is one of the four stories that have made me cry, and is ,in my opinion, the greatest story ever.
2602453
Interesting experiment. Thanks for sharing the result.
I wonder if the view count factors into it, too.