the porn problem · 3:21am Jun 2nd, 2020
precariously prevaricated, oh pony-provacateur
no, but, what we mean to say is, let's talk about the supposed 'auto-downvote' that comes with writing porn on fimfiction, and what the heck is up with that. because we have nothing better to do.
firstly, is that still a thing? we can't see behind the curtain at the numbers anymore, but that definitely was a thing back in the day, and we didn't really deal with it so much as... not deal with it. unless someone made multiple accounts for downvoting, they were free to instaclick every story they didn't like based on content alone, and that kind of doesn't seem fair. then again, i suppose it could just be that all of us pony-porn-writers are immoral charlatans who deserve to be punished by having our content struggle against an initial surge of negative votes... but i'd be more interested in engaging a dialogue here than in making a decision about it one way or the other. i don't know why it's even a thing. is the idea of MLP pornography still inherently offensive to some people? if so, why? if any of those people are reading this, could you chime in? we would be very eager to hear your thoughts and feelings.
it also seems like there is a simple solution to the whole matter, in terms of adding a 'don't see porn' button in addition to the 'view NSFW' button that already exists. it is theoretically possible there is a delineation of readers who wants gore and sometimes sex in their pony fanfiction, but doesn't want to read smut. theoretically a filter based on tags would clear all of this up and more, but i have no idea how much of a tall order that might or might not be implementation wise. that's why i don't imagine it's really a very easy solution.
uh, other stuff... do votes really matter? well, yes and no. from a personal, egotistical standpoint, i get sad when i see people have expressed a dislike for my writing. from a feedback standpoint, it's confusing, because most comments are positive, but the people downvoting and yeeting away aren't leaving any kind of response to let me know what i could do to improve my writing in the future. arbitrarily, votes are the primary factor in 'heat' rating, which is the semi-hidden stat responsible for how long a story languishes in the feature box or the 'popular stories' bar. i imagine this is difficult to argue from an esoteric standpoint outside of 'it hurts my feewings', but... yeah, that's basically all i've got.
in conclusion, darf is a big bb and we should probably just go start our own pornographic horse site filled with even more lecherous occupants and more reprehensible content policies than ever before. and blackjack, and hookers, something something.
bye^ni~
Absolutely. One need only look at those stories not tagged porn and those that are to see the ratio skew slightly towards downvotes irrespective of quality. Happens even on the "classics". Perhaps not as bad as it was, but still beyond the typical margin of error.
I can say yes. I can't speak any more for them, but trust me, there's still tons of people (those outside the fandom notwithstanding) who hate it. As to why, you would indeed have to ask them.
It would ameliorate the problem but not solve it entirely. Some people enjoy being bitter and not using provided filters, and downvoting stuff they don't like. Derpibooru is a prime example of this. Some people are content to never update their filters, find stuff they don't like, and comment on it when they could have just moused over the tag and hidden it.
Only so far as the only real objective metric you have. It's a rather shaky one at that, though, so it's important to take into account the subject matter of what you write. Romantic married clop will still have some clop downvotes, but far fewer than a foalcon-rape-enslavement-gore fic. Shopping other fics in the same genre can help you get an idea of how well any given story you wrote has done among its peers. Just don't compare the apples of romantic stories to the oranges of darkest of dark fics. That's no bueno and doesn't really work for many of the reasons outlined above.
Should I bite your reflective metal posterior as well? ;)
Reminds me of when I was browsing /mlp/'s Fimfic threads and saw this one guy always posting about how he downvotes all clop regardless of content, because he's convinced all smut writers are pedos.
[original comment deleted because I literally made the same joke darf did at the end]
Honestly? There are always going to be haters. However, I personally think that disabling comments or like/dislike buttons is the absolute worst thing you can do. By doing that, you signal to everyone who clicks that you are scared of comments, or somehow know your content is shit and will be downvoted into oblivion. That's of course not true, but it's the common perception.
The sad fact is that these type of reactionary down voters have existed since the site's inception, and persist to this day. Gay romance/smut stories almost always get ratio'd into nothingness, because for all the fandom's supposed lurve of gay people, it only extends to women, because a lot of people operate on what I call the "Frat Boy Mentality" when it comes to homosexuality. That is, "Lesbians are hot, gay guys are gross."
And you know what? I'm man enough to admit I used to be guilty of it, too. For a good long while, anytime I saw a story about the whole "Fall of Equestria" AU, or the "Equestrian Trainers Society," I would immediately down vote, without even reading. Reason being I thought the very concepts were disgusting and horrible, and wanted to voice my displeasure in the only way I knew how. I don't do that anymore, because I've grown callous and cold to the fandom's extreme side.
TL:DR, Never let the bastards grind you down.
I’m never down for nearly any story and the only two I’ve ever done weren’t even porn I’d rather leave constructive criticism Then downvote
The like/dislike ratio is not just for the author, it's a product review for readers to determine what's worth their time. Unfortunately, downvotes absolutely matter beyond personal feelings because they will discourage new people from clicking on your story at all.
This is why I also publish my stories on Fur Affinity, where there's no voting feature. It's a much less stressful alternative since you don't have to worry about ratings.
Is it all of your stories, or just the erotica? Having only myself as a point of reference, all of my stories within the past few years get four or five immediate downvotes on the day of release or shortly thereafter, most often with no comment. Could be that there's someone out there with a grievance. Or it could be that I suck and have not improved (although as you mentioned, comments would help with that). In my uninformed opinion, downvotes without comment are a form of policing. The reader doesn't like the genre, or doesn't like what happens in the story regardless of the quality, and, assuming other readers have tastes similar to their own, downvote as a warning.