Initial story rating

[HelloHound]

So I recently mustered the courage to finally throw my story out onto this website and within a few hours I was given a five star on my story, which is nice but it's mostly unearned, as there is only 4 chapters. The review that isn't really a review brings a few questions to mind, such as:
Who or what brings the initial reviews?
Why are there occasionally 4 or fewer stars on the initial reviews?
What do reading stats bottom parts actually mean? (I don't understand the bottom couple of stats, like how does this website figure if someone dropped a story?)

 

[AnonUnlimited]

There is a member who tries to rate every story 5 stars when it first comes out. So almost all stories start that way. All I can tell you is this, ratings are pretty meaningless. Reviews on the other hand... most aren't professional but it's still interesting to read what someone thought of your story no matter the rating.

All it tells you is whether your work suits the preferences of SH readers. Just make sure it's readable and don't put in NTR like I did and you should be fine.

 

[Vnator]

There is a member who tries to rate every story 5 stars when it first comes out. So almost all stories start that way. All I can tell you is this, ratings are pretty meaningless. Reviews on the other hand... most aren't professional but it's still interesting to read what someone thought of your story no matter the rating.

All it tells you is whether your work suits the preferences of SH readers. Just make sure it's readable and don't put in NTR like I did and you should be fine.

Or at least properly label the NTR. The only thing people hate more than NTR tags are stories that feature it without the tag. You'll still probably get rating bombed either way by people who won't even read the story, but ratings don't matter, do they?

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Would it be an epic troll moment if I put a title with NTR in it and even having a genre with NTR but the story actually doesn't contain NTR at all?

Like the title smells of NTR, the synopsis as well, but reading the story, it doesn't contain NTR at all which they basically an epic move which at the end, the Meaning of NTR is 'Non-Toxic Relationship'.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Higher rated stories are closer to the top/front page, so getting a good rating will attract more attention. The story doesn't have to be good to get a high rating, it just has to make readers want other people to see it.

As for the bottom stats, they're relatively new. When someone makes a reading list, they can say whether the stories on the list are being actively read, waiting for some reason, finished reading, paused for updates, or dropped. When they bookmark your story, they have to put it on one of their reading lists, and the type of list determines which of those stats gets raised. So it's user feedback, in a way.

@WelcomeToSH

 

[AnonUnlimited]

Or at least properly label the NTR. The only thing people hate more than NTR tags are stories that feature it without the tag. You'll still probably get rating bombed either way by people who won't even read the story, but ratings don't matter, do they?

They really don't. I think readership and interaction matters more. Besides.. my story actually doesn't have NTR, it just reads like one for the first 30 chapters. However I'm going to put NTR in the next arc, it just won't happen to the main character.

 

[georgelee5786]

There is a member who tries to rate every story 5 stars when it first comes out. So almost all stories start that way. All I can tell you is this, ratings are pretty meaningless. Reviews on the other hand... most aren't professional but it's still interesting to read what someone thought of your story no matter the rating.

All it tells you is whether your work suits the preferences of SH readers. Just make sure it's readable and don't put in NTR like I did and you should be fine.

I thought it automatically started out with 5 stars to encourage writers.

 

[Deleted member 57675]

I thought it automatically started out with 5 stars to encourage writers.

me too...

So I recently mustered the courage to finally throw my story out onto this website and within a few hours I was given a five star on my story, which is nice but it's mostly unearned, as there is only 4 chapters. The review that isn't really a review brings a few questions to mind, such as:
Who or what brings the initial reviews?
Why are there occasionally 4 or fewer stars on the initial reviews?
What do reading stats bottom parts actually mean? (I don't understand the bottom couple of stats, like how does this website figure if someone dropped a story?)

Erhmm...would you rather have an instant 5 star or a instant 1 star?
Thu sometimes neither of them give any explanation as to why for the rating...

 

[Gryphon]

Let me tell you this right now, don't look at a rating to judge a story's quality. Go to the reviews cause people will explain what worked and didn't work for them. Now there are still, what I would call, review lites, where they don't really review it. Instead they either praise the story to high heaven or bash it, misunderstanding everything about the story. But usually those won't be liked the most, so you'd have to sift through reviews to find them.

On another note, why don't reviews affect the public rating that everyone will see upon first seeing the story on the homepage?

 

[Cipiteca396]

On another note, why don't reviews affect the public rating that everyone will see upon first seeing the story on the homepage?

If a review has a star rating, it does affect the rating under each story on the homepage, as far as I know.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

There is a member who tries to rate every story 5 stars when it first comes out. So almost all stories start that way. All I can tell you is this, ratings are pretty meaningless. Reviews on the other hand... most aren't professional but it's still interesting to read what someone thought of your story no matter the rating.

All it tells you is whether your work suits the preferences of SH readers. Just make sure it's readable and don't put in NTR like I did and you should be fine.

I’ve got it skimmed down to two people K5rakitan or reader_of_books . It’s probably reader_of_books since K5R is busy with mothering. But can’t definitively be sure due to them have a private reading list

Let me tell you this right now, don't look at a rating to judge a story's quality. Go to the reviews cause people will explain what worked and didn't work for them. Now there are still, what I would call, review lites, where they don't really review it. Instead they either praise the story to high heaven or bash it, misunderstanding everything about the story. But usually those won't be liked the most, so you'd have to sift through reviews to find them.

On another note, why don't reviews affect the public rating that everyone will see upon first seeing the story on the homepage?

If there aren’t reviews judge by the summary

 

[AnonUnlimited]

I’ve got it skimmed down to two people K5rakitan or reader_of_books . It’s probably reader_of_books since K5R is busy with mothering. But can’t definitively be sure due to them have a private reading list

I think they both do it.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

I think they both do it.

Maybe

 

[Kigol]

Would it be an epic troll moment if I put a title with NTR in it and even having a genre with NTR but the story actually doesn't contain NTR at all?

Like the title smells of NTR, the synopsis as well, but reading the story, it doesn't contain NTR at all which they basically an epic move which at the end, the Meaning of NTR is 'Non-Toxic Relationship'.

Finally someone cuckolding the ntr tag

 

[MisterSyafiq]

They really don't. I think readership and interaction matters more. Besides.. my story actually doesn't have NTR, it just reads like one for the first 30 chapters. However I'm going to put NTR in the next arc, it just won't happen to the main character.

It still NTR z.z