System of How I Rate Things

I know how a single upvote or downvote can affect the state of story, so in order to be fair in giving my "thumbs" I'm going to follow a systematic pattern when I like or dislike.

Basically, here's a set of rules that I usually follow:

I. I can only upvote or downvote a fic once I have read enough content that allows me to give proper judgement.
A. For long stories, a single chapter will do
B. For one-shots, I should have read all of the content before judging.

II. If Rule I. is achieved, I'll begin to process the content based on a set criteria.
A. Did I enjoy it or did I not? (over 90% of my decision to upvote/downvote rests here)
B. Was the grammar/sentence structure/plot good or bad?
C. Other things I unconsciously judge without myself knowing.

III. Decide to give a thumbs up or thumbs down if I've completed the story
A. If I liked it more than I hated it, upvote.
B. If I didn't like it more than I did, downvote.
C. Being neutral is not an option, if I half like/dislike it, downvote.

IV. Exceptions.
A. If a fic is just so downright horrible that I really can't read past the first paragraph, downvote.
B. If a fic is so bland and the plot just didn't fit right with me, neutral, but leave a comment.

All of this processing happens in 2-4 seconds.
TL;DR I upvote and downvote stories if I like them or not, but either way, i have to give a vote to at least show the author how 1 person feels about the fic.

Comments

[Blackdust]

Odd. That's similar to how I vote. But I try not to downvote anything. Helps when I'm selecting based on short/long description plus characters...

[TimesX]

3829719

But I try not to downvote anything.

What a good soul. I'm glad you're not a super critic, you seem like the type of guy who just wants to relax, and enjoy things as it is and not try to force others into doing what they want.

[Blackdust]

3830254 ...HOW DO YOU KNOW THESE THINGS ABOUT ME!!!