What's your own choice?
Sun, 2001-09-30 12:26
#1
What's your own choice?
Forgive me if this topic has been aired before, but I wonder if other contributors are constantly amazed at which of their efforts get the most attention?
Not having been on the site from the beginning, I've not got anything even vaguely near the top hundred most read - but those which have attracted the most readers are always the most lightweight stories. Okay, I can understand why something with "Erotica" in the title might attract attention, but not the others. If I had to choose my own favourites, they'd mostly be among the least-read - including one pathetic tale struggling to make it into double figures!
So.. do your own favourites get read the most? If not, what makes readers go for certain ones? Are we all, perhaps, better at some genres of story than others? BUT.. if we are, how do readers discover this fact? Beats me.
Barn owl
Oooh, that's clever, that is...
d'oh....
Amazin' stuff
Announce a thread Carpe, where you say you are no more, and then just post away under millions of suedy-names on every other thread!
Ooooh, that's clever THAT is......
pseudocarp
Dear reader,
"We know that the tail must wag the dog,
for the horse is drawn by the cart;
But the Devil whoops, as he whooped of old:
(click name to reveal final line)
Ta Chucks...grist for millstone round my writer's nack.
tup tup
server ntl dot com
but who is bill and who is ben?
which of these server men?
Weed
plobalop
ben
drunk again weed?
Fecky
Yeah, Roy, I find the same thing. My personal favourite has only been read 11 times. Other works that I've hesitated over even putting my name to have been far more popular.
I suppose, when you think about it, how does anybody know what's good and what's bad until they've elected to read it and put another notch on it?.. I suppose the title must be the initial attraction... but I'm beginning to wonder if there's any logic to anything anymore.
Emily Dubberley
If you see something you love, mention it in the forums and it could well get picked up for a link from the front page (we link to at least 5 stories every day now so that's a lot of opportunity for good work to get profiled.)
Cheers
Em
Mimi Eye
please miss, please miss, I, please, I.........
really can't......... please miss....I....cant hold it...
please miss.......any longer........please miss......
damn.
I just pissed myself.
gasp.
stormy
dunno roy but fecky's answer seems to sum it up nicely.
timing and luck have a lot to do with it i.e. it depends who is about when your piece enters the last ten. I think it also depends on the filter. if you get 'snaffled' and a large amount of items is posted in the meantime (correct grammar there I fink) your story may not appear until number 40 or so. In which case forget it mate.
Andrea
Yep, Stormy, that's happened a lot with me - my stories invariably activate the poo-bum-willy thing and end up coming in, as you say, at 40 or 50. I really should learn to clean up my language...
Something else I've mentioned before, too. Stories (which are in the minority) tend to get swamped by the poetry submissions.
Not a bad thing, just the way it is...
And yes, again (going back to Roy's point), stuff of mine that I consider 'reasonably' good, lags way behind (in the cherry stakes as well) pieces that I think are not so...er...illuminating.
stormy
just to illustrate a point...........
stop groaning you lot.......
I've just discovered a gem at no 75 on the list.
times read = 0.
other, newer, items by same author read much more.
this was the best though.
and no one knows it is there.
except me.
times read = 1
Roy
Aha! So there are others who see their personal favourites languishing unread. Thought so. Wouldn't it be nice if.. (and I don't suppose that this is even remotely possible) each and every contributor could be granted some little mark - an asterisk, exclamation mark, etc. - to place beside their own favourite self-penned piece? Something that indicates "this is the best I can do.. I think!" It would then be very interesting to see how frequently - or infrequently - we readers agreed with the writer's own personal choice. It would certainly stimulate debate.
Of course, a different symbol to award to your favourite by another writer would be ideal too. If only..
marina_henshaw
I'm new to this whole site but am loving it so far. My gripe is that when I view the last top ten entries - in the three or so minutes I have before work calls my attention again - I can't tell what's poetry and what's not. This may be a basic point, but having waded through bits and pieces I then don't have time to sit down and read a story. If the front page stated length and type, it would make it a hell of a lot easier for quick browsers like me to gain access to what we're really after.
Any thoughts?
ja_simpson
I don't think I could pinpoint something that I consider my "best" stuff, as I think it changes all the time. Like barenib says in the interview this week, it's usually the thing I've written last.
I did have a story on that was quite vehemently ignored and only clocked up times read votes when I went on to check if it had been read.
So, totally disheartened I took it off, but am planning to stick it on again at some point in the hope that the language filter doesn't condemn it to obscurity as I think could well have been the problem in the first place.
Rhombus
It can't be any coincience that 14 of the top twenty most read (including all of the top 6) have titles beginning with the letter A!
Maybe it would be better if the default sort order was last posted rather than alphabetic within all other sorts. That would bring up newest cherry picked as well as newest submitted.
It wouldn't get over the problem of mistiming your entries though.
Andrea
I think that's an excellent point, Marina, and have often thought the same thing...
(why, then, you may ask, have I never mentiond it before... answer: dunno)
Would be great, though, if there was a separate 'last top ten entries' for poetry and stories. Would be especially beneficial to those of us that don't...um...'do' poetry and would rather...er...peruse fiction.
How about it, Em?
Does it make life too complicated?
Don't be disheartened, Ja, bung the bloody thing back on...it happens to me all the time.
C'est la vie.
robert
andrea, last time i tried, it was possible to click Story Gallery and then sort by date entered. is that the same thing?
marina_henshaw
Andrea
Love your point too . . . makes huge sense and would open up a lot more entries to people who can only log in now and then.
I'd also like to be able to comment directly on author's work in a more private (?) forum, maybe a discussion page linked to each author? Sometimes I have questions to ask about pieces but feel that their content (the questions) might be a tad inane for general reading. Must get over my pernickety nature. Also, would quite like to see a spell checker right about now to check up on pernickety. Oh where, oh where has my dictionary gone?
Rhombus10
I agree Andrea. Another site I used before its sad demise, allowed one to add comments linked to an individual poem. That was good as you tended to get better feedback than just a number of stars by the occasional passer by.
Even better would be an indicator of the level of critique an author would like.
Personally I would like any critical comments anyone has. I always reserve the right to ignore my critics!
I know there is a critiquing group, but simple comments are also useful.
RubricQ
M,
0042 here!
I think the ultimate solution to the hangup id is to substansively link the semiotic demarkation threshold upon point of site entry to the cyberneutering facitity placed within easy reach of the dust-shrouded quill that neatly sits next to the antique collected Coleridge on the small Queen Anne side table in the hall. No not the one next to the pram!
Well that's my JOURNEY and I'm sticking to it!
Happy NPD all you tonsured versifyers!!
plop plop
Andrea
Oh, edifying stuff, Rub!
angel dust
Videl !
your back!
so soon
rubber rickeeeee
moon bills are made for cheese tasters,
what i like best about this lovely abcoiety is the part when you click on the author's that are in red you get little secret messages. That is the beauty of electronic communication.
about anythink else i just no need concern
twit twit
wrynal lycheese
ter woo