Is it just me or do other people get bothered when someone scores some of your work really low without having read it?  I know that the first question is going to be "Well how do you know if they read it or not?"  And I know it's possible that someone simply didnt like what I wrote, but speicificly I can tell if someone has just randomly went through posting poor numbers for my story when I have later chapters with more votes then earlier chapters.

Do people really expect us to believe that they are reading the end before the begining?

The other really annoying one, is when certain chapters get to the top, and suddenly they take a hit from someone who arbitrairly ranks all the chapters the same, but does'nt vote on the chapters before or after.

I think that people doing that are being really petty.  Further I believe that a few simple adjustments to the site could help remedy all these problems.  

First of all, people should be allowed to vote one and only once for each story.  It should be possible to change the votes but other then that, one vote one time.  This would prevent the jerkoffs who go around torching everyone else's scores to elevate their own.

Second, people should not be allowed to vote for their own stories.  This would prevent artificial inflation of scores.  It would also prevent the need for people to burn other people's work because they can't elevate their own story even if other people's works do have low scores.

Third, I have mentioned this before, but I think that a forum section for story advertisement would help.  Nobody scrolls through picking stories at the bottom of the list.  Since there are no descrïptions to stories giving clues to genre or content, people will usually still just read what is at the top of the list.  If we have a section to advertise stories, this prevents the need to artificially inflate ranks to get a story read.

Finally, I feel that if people continue to do such childish things like fool with people's rankings, it will ultimately drive people away from posting their work.

I hope others can either jump on the bandwagon to make this site as great as it can be and prevent weiners from ruining it for everybody.

it isn't just you...there seem to be a number of petty individuals giving low scores to elevate themselves...this has been an ongoing  problem since i first posted here...and looking at some of the work showing up in the top 50 in the short story section it becomes obvious people are voting others down and themselves up for whatever reason...what they don't understand is that merely having exposure is not enough...there has to be quality, which is sorely lacking in several of the top 50 short stories...if the trend continues and is not adequately addressed i will be one of those removing my work and not returning to this site...

I guess it is obvious what is going on when someone has four or five stories in the top ten, suddenly over night. One thing I must point out, some of my stories have not been looked at or voted on for awhile, and they pretty much stay in the same spot all the time. The only ones that get any action is the ones that get up in the top ten.    

I don't think it is right to say someones work is no good. It is not for one individual to judge and try and make people feel guilty for having stories highly ranked. I have come to accept that some of my stories are liked, and some are not. Nothing wrong with that. Every story can't be a best seller. I look at how many votes a story has had and if it stays up toward the top, I figure the people must like it.

It is starting to look like maybe the name of the site should be changed to BIG EGO GAMES

 Walkker, don't take out your stories. You have a couple that I really enjoyed reading. One I have read several times. You just have to go with the flow of things. Some people are only looking for trouble. Yesterday someone commented this on one of my stories.


Comments by roadrunner submitted on 25-06-2007 16:48
Looks like your going for the record of most veiwed story on this site, you must have a lot of fans. Sorry, but i'm not one of them.

Now suddenly, it is wrong to have the most views. I simply replied that I think this was the first story posted on StoryWAR.

Sad to say you are going to pick up enemies as you go along, and that is why I write with a pen name also. With the other name I have not taking any kind of abuse on StoryWAR. Funny how things work sometimes.

i appreciate the compliment robert...you, too, have some good work posted here...i don't have many (if any) negative comments...if anything, i would like more just to get some feedback...i do have to disagree on one point though...a few of the stories in the top 50 are simply terrible...rife with spelling mistakes, confusing to read and written with absolutely no style nor any qualities that would make them 'good' to anyone...i won't point any of them out but they are easy enough to spot...it is the persistence of these pieces being artificially inflated by the authors that makes me want to pull my work...i simply do not want to be on a page where such incredibly poor writing is rated equal to, or better than, the many good works here...

Maybe I am being over sensitive a bit here but I do hope you are not referring to me having 4 stories in the top few.  They have got there on their own merit, also they were all in the original few stories published when the site opened,  indeed I have just logged in here for the first time in about 4 weeks and was very shocked to see my stories still up there.  I agree that some of the work published in here is dire, but as  Robert I think said who are we to be judgemental.  I pride myself in writing interesting well written stories. Each one I have published here has been published in some journal, newspaper or other.  I hope I don't have an ego as such I just enjoy writing and reading other people's work.  I am proud and glad that other people are enjoying mine too.  There seems to be a huge amount of sour grapes in here and bitterness all round, this is suppposed to be a fun and creative environment.  My only disappointment is that people do not leave feedback, maybe the way to get around the petty scoring is to only be allowed to vote once on a particular story in conjunction with leaving feedback.  This would deter people from just randomly sticking ones in. If it takes a bit of effort to actually write something my bet is people won't bother!  

perhaps you are Penny...in fact, your stories would be included in the latter group mentioned..."the many good works here"...the fundamental base concept of this is site requires us to be judgmental...without that we would not be able to vote...to problem falls in the honesty attached to the votes cast...which seems to be sorely lacking...giving authors a vote of one simply because their story is higher on the list than yours (not you in particular Penny, i am speaking generally here) is the issue...i agree that it is disappointing not receiving feedback...especially when it seems most people like the work you have posted but the score is 5.whatever...

I have no complaints how things are run on StoryWAR. I love going to bed and my story is at number 4, and when I wake up, it is at number 1. Or just the opposite. Penny and Walkker, I don't think none of us have anything to complain about for our stories are doing very well. I think if too many rules are set, it will wreck the concept of the war games. Like Penny said it is all for fun and creativity. I am having a blast, reading all the stories. Some are great, some are not that good, and that includes some of my own stories. I like using StoryWAR as a battleground for showcasing different ideas to find out what people enjoy reading. I myself don't leave many feedbacks for a lot of the stories are good, but just not my cup of tea, but I do not give a low mark just because I don't like the subject. I give high marks for good writing. Stomach Pains was written in about 10 minutes for fun. I don't consider it as great piece of work, but look where it is in the standings. Go figure what people like or dislike, and if you figure it out, please let me know. lol

It's as simple as- the newer stories are read and will drop as time goes bye bye

Brand new here, so fresh to the debate! Was surprised to see that a story makes the top of the list based on one vote only.

Would it not make more sense to have new stories only appearing on the rankings after, say, 10 votes? They'll still be top of the new stories list during this time, but will appear on the top stories chart only after an average is achieved...

This may not be in the best place - let me know if there is somewhere else this should go.