#of hits/reviews/content

[shinigamiinochi]

I updated The Definition of Love today. It's a story about incest and on other sites I've gotten a ton of nasty flames about it, yet on this site, there seem to be a few people that really like it. It's very young (I wrote it in high school five years ago, but just uploaded it to this site less than two months ago) and because of the content matter and people's aversion to the subject, I figured that it probably had very little hits, like around a hundred. The actual number of hits is 927... this confuses me. I put this fic on a personal site five years ago and got so many horrible flames, I took it off, so why are so many people reading it? Is it the car crash syndrome where it's so horrible, you have to look at it? Or do people just complain about the content because it's what they're expected to do but they really don't mind it. I have a theory that the more controversial, dark, or disturbing a story is, the more people that read it. They might not even like it, they just keep on reading it. So, I did a little experiment with my own fics. I specialize in the disturbing, the weird sex acts, the violence, rape, ect, but I also have quite a few fluff fics to even things out. Gundam Wing Hentai is an anthology that deals with the concepts of Japanese hentai; violence, rape, sex in weird places, sex with people you probably shouldn't have sex with, ect. The hit for that fic along is 5,463. I am just a little fanfic writer and compared to the huge gundam wing fanfic writers like Shenlong and Sunhawk, I feel damn insignificant, so when I see that something weird and strangely written is getting more than one of theirs, I have a mix of fucked up pride and a WTF reaction. Is it merely because I write a ton of smut and sex seems to overdominate good writing in the American culture? So, I looked at my other fics. I have sweet, WAFF fics like 'Prologue' that only average about a hundred hits. I have poetry that averages fifty hits (why do we hate poetry so much?). Then I have incredibly disturbing fics like Gundam Wing Fairy Tales that are averaging 700-1000 hits. I don't understand stuff like this. Or maybe I do and just don't havet he data to back it up. I mean, is it usual with other authors that your more extreme fics have more hits than your romantic/cute ones? If the information and my theory is correct, then I'm actually proud to say that an old friend of mine was wrong, the world is not made of bunnies and fluffy clouds and Stephen king was right when he wrote in the Mist: human are fundamentally insane. That's not a bad thing, in fact, I'm sort of proud that humans are so fucked up, but I'm the sort of person that loves studying this stuff and knowing things are. Or maybe its not the violence, it's the sex, either way I think that this is an interesting way to prove that people are really just animals deep down capable of expressing themselves in ways that animals can't.

[Guest Rosemarius]

I thought I had already replied but apparently it didn't work for some reason.

I'll repost it tomorrow though, because now I'm going to sleep. Sorry

[Guest Savaial]

I think there may be a certain truth that we all like to read darkness. Don't we all rubber-neck at a crime scene or car wreck? Humans seem to be geared toward wallowing in the negative anyway. Good gossip about someone never goes as fast as bad gossip.

On other sites I've written stories for Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Carribean, and Harry Potter. The stories with strong themes of sex and murder seem to be much more popular than the fluff.

Of course, some of this could be the fact that I write such long stories that people need the murder and sex to stay interested... B)

[greenwizard]

I posted the first chapter of my Snarry story last night. It's a very dark and twisted story, or at least it will be. The codes on it are torture, violence, S&M, rape, and humiliation among other things.

It hasn't even been 24 hrs and already 682 hits and 7 reviews. I think that speaks for itself.

[Guest Savaial]

It hasn't even been 24 hrs and already 682 hits and 7 reviews. I think that speaks for itself.

That's just sick. 682 hits and 7 reviews. I'm starting to think that the ratio is one reviewer out of a hundred views.

Despite whether or not our story content has something to do with the amount of our reviews, what do people think we get paid with? Good vibes? Yes, we do it for free, but throw us a damn bone!

[Guest Zyx]

I review about 1/2 stories I read, which seems pretty reasonable to me

[MidnightBliss]

Well let me say this I LOVE YOUR DISTURBING STUFF and I also enjoy cutesy stuff, well I don't find it disturbing. Does that make me disturbed? Frankly I am just never signed in on the actual site so I don't usually review. But sense I found this I will start because I am beginning to post stories and I'd like the benefit of feedback. So I'll just post here and maybe leave you a comment, to keep writing I love your stuff.

Post Script: Stephen King and The Mist rock. I am thigh deep in his new book too.

[shinigamiinochi]

hey, I love disturbed people, for I am one myself. And one day, my people shall rise and take over this world *evil laughter* *cough cough* yeah. Thanks for reading ^^ I like the light with the dark, mostly the dark, though. I think that goes with my love of psychology and horror movies. Also, glad to see another Stephen King fan! As an aspiring writer, he's my role model. I really don't think that liking horror and darkness makes you clinically 'disturbed', while I think people who only read fluffy, happy fics must be either in a realm of denial or have a very small spectrum. I think you need to emerse yourself in both.

[SmartyPantsChick]

I think for me, whenever I read something that I normally wouldn't, (ie, work categorised as "disturbing") it's out of curiosity. Mostly, I want to see if the person can pull it off.

There're a ton of stories out there with warning tags that are longer than the description, and my first reaction is always a raised eyebrow. Sure, they can write it, but can they write it well, or is it just an "UNF UNF UNF HE CUM ON HER FACE N STRANGLED HER" sort of fic?

Case in point, the story I joined this site to post has been up less than a week and it has over 300 hits and one review. I'm not complaining, since I'm writing primarily for myself here, but I can't help but wonder how many of those hits are a result of someone looking for, say, the BDSM that's promised in further chapters as opposed to an actual story. I guess we'll see.

As far as reviewing goes, I also see a lot of stories out there with an immense number of hits vs reviews. It's true that the more controversial the subject matter, the more likely it is to spark a reaction of any sort. I've even seen reviews where people review it specifically to say "I don't normally read this. It's not the sort of thing I'm into", as if they're worried someone is going to think they're a horrible, horrible deviant. In general, I think if you take the time to read something, you should drop some sort of review. Even if it's just a few words.

Also, Stephen King? I keep buying his books no matter what people say. I actually bought Duma Key the other day at the bookstore, and the lady at the cash register sort of raised an eyebrow and curled her lip a little at it. I went, "That's right, I read it! He has more of my hard-earned cash!" I guess it's popular these days to hate on the guy because he's talented, has a ton of money, and, admittedly, has written a few stinkers. (From a Buick 8 springs to mind . . . )

[shinigamiinochi]

*glomps Stephen King* I luuuuvs you! (despite the fact that I'm a lesbian. Let's call it a man crush) I just updated my very dark, BDSM ridden fic, The Dark Side of the Heart and in less than 24 hours I got over 100 more hits. ^^ Gotta love the fans. It makes me wonder if they're there for the angsty, abusive sex or because they actually care about Duo's fate. =3 What can I say, I like both. Dear reviewers, please do not start with: I do not usually read this sort of thing. On the plus side, it makes me feel special that they liked something that they usually don't. On the bad side, this makes me feel paranoid. If you don't usually read it, what made you read my fic? The other bad point is that it makes me feel like I did something wrong, like the content I'm writing about is sick but because it's written well, it's ok. How about 'this fic is better than the other fics I've read like this' or something along that vein?

[Guest Tuftiperkys]

I'm starting to think that the ratio is one reviewer out of a hundred views.

I've noticed that ever since I've started writing, it's almost exact. Freaky to say the last. My story hits 100 views, I get a review, 200 and I get 2. This happens mostly for my oneshots or a story that's just one or two chapters in. Once they get sucked in the numbers become more porportional but it's eerie that it almost always starts out the way. I'm glad this happens to other people, too. It makes it seem like less of a commentary on my own personal writing style.

SmartyPantsChick: "It's true that the more controversial the subject matter, the more likely it is to spark a reaction of any sort."

That's what I would have said, too! But I have tons of open stories and the one that's doing the best, judging by reviews per chap, only has these warnings: Angst, M/M, WIP, not even a kiss between the main pairing, or any one else for that matter, 8 chapters, 95 reviews, and 7,246 hits.

While I have another fic with these warnings: Abuse, Angst, BDSM, Bond, B-Mod, D/s, Gore, M/M, N/C, Tort, Violence, WIP, 8 chapters, 44 reviews, and 3,716 hits, filled with smut and graphic violence. I don't get it! I have no idea what draws people in! Because while I would have made the same assumption as shinigamiinochi it doesn't seem to be the case in relation to the people who read my stuff. Weird.

Edited April 9, 2008 by Tuftiperkys

[Guest Savaial]

I've noticed that ever since I've started writing, it's almost exact. Freaky to say the last. My story hits 100 views, I get a review, 200 and I get 2. This happens mostly for my oneshots or a story that's just one or two chapters in. Once they get sucked in the numbers become more porportional but it's eerie that it almost always starts out the way. I'm glad this happens to other people, too. It makes it seem like less of a commentary on my own personal writing style.

SmartyPantsChick: "It's true that the more controversial the subject matter, the more likely it is to spark a reaction of any sort."

That's what I would have said, too! But I have tons of open stories and the one that's doing the best, judging by reviews per chap, only has these warnings: Angst, M/M, WIP, not even a kiss between the main pairing, or any one else for that matter, 8 chapters, 95 reviews, and 7,246 hits.

While I have another fic with these warnings: Abuse, Angst, BDSM, Bond, B-Mod, D/s, Gore, M/M, N/C, Tort, Violence, WIP, 8 chapters, 44 reviews, and 3,716 hits, filled with smut and graphic violence. I don't get it! I have no idea what draws people in! Because while I would have made the same assumption as shinigamiinochi it doesn't seem to be the case in relation to the people who read my stuff. Weird.

I wonder if it has anything to do with genre? I looked at your author page and saw you mainly do Harry Potter/Draco. I intend to go back and read, btw. I've noticed in the Snape/Hermione pairings that BDSM, Angst and Smut generates a lot of hits too. Maybe Harry attracts that sort of reader because it's such a deviance from JKR's novels?

But I found more evidence for the car-crash syndrome. I got 40 hits on my Cloud/Sephiroth D/s, Slave, M/M fic in twenty minutes while traffic is low for my other F/M fic.

[Guest Tuftiperkys]

I wonder if it has anything to do with genre? I looked at your author page and saw you mainly do Harry Potter/Draco. I intend to go back and read, btw. I've noticed in the Snape/Hermione pairings that BDSM, Angst and Smut generates a lot of hits too. Maybe Harry attracts that sort of reader because it's such a deviance from JKR's novels?

But I found more evidence for the car-crash syndrome. I got 40 hits on my Cloud/Sephiroth D/s, Slave, M/M fic in twenty minutes while traffic is low for my other F/M fic.

That's got to be it. It's still a little surprising, to me anyway, but it makes sense that the genre would dictate what draws people in.

Thanks by the way, for checking out my page and for your reviews! They were ridiculously nice, gave me butterflies in my stomach. It's always nice to know someone else thinks you can hack it as an author. I saw your reviews but I hadn't been back to the forum yet and I was like, 'Savaial, I recognize that name. I wonder why.' Guess this explains it, eh? Thanks again. You are brilliantly sweet!

[Guest Savaial]

That's got to be it. It's still a little surprising, to me anyway, but it makes sense that the genre would dictate what draws people in.

Thanks by the way, for checking out my page and for your reviews! They were ridiculously nice, gave me butterflies in my stomach. It's always nice to know someone else thinks you can hack it as an author. I saw your reviews but I hadn't been back to the forum yet and I was like, 'Savaial, I recognize that name. I wonder why.' Guess this explains it, eh? Thanks again. You are brilliantly sweet!

You're very welcome. I try to review everything I read and I would like it if everybody did. (or tried to) And it's too cool to get reviews- it takes the reader two minutes and makes the author feel good to know SOMEONE read their stuff. I consider it nearly a free gift... ;-)

[Shinju]

I review about 1/2 stories I read, which seems pretty reasonable to me

I'm horrible. I hardly ever review. Me shy.

[Shinju]

It's a story about incest and on other sites I've gotten a ton of nasty flames about it, yet on this site, there seem to be a few people that really like it.

Most of the people here are here because they are willing to admit things about themselves. I kind of like flames myself, the more I get flamed the more it causes me to write worse stuff in the next chapter just to piss people off. I like people to think about a giant middle finger when they think about me, it makes me happy.

[shinigamiinochi]

half the people that flame me assume that I write the stuff that I write just to piss people off or shock them, when it was never my intention to do so! >.< my reaction is always: you were shocked by that?! I mean, incest doesn't shock me, yet a lot of people review like this : I don't normally read incest and your story was really gross/disgusting/shocking or Heero and Duo aren't brothers, get a life. Do people actually READ warnings anymore??? I know I do. I wouldn't mind getting flamed if the person had something intelligent to say. I mean, is it a requirement for flamers to have the IQ of a fifth grader? And yet, I posted my incest story on ff.net, and shock, though I have gotten very few positive reviews, a ton of people have signed up for updates or put it on their favorite stories lists. Makes me wish we had that on this site. There are people like me that have a hard time writing a decent review, but if I saw that my fic was put on favorites lists, I'd assume that was because the person liked it. I think that is a better system for some people than reviews. Hits are great, but they don't tell you much. Someone could have hit the link for a look see, then found they hated it. Just because you have a thousand hits doesn't mean that a thousand people liked your story, especially since the hits aren't designated by members. What I mean is, the same person can look at a fic a bunch of times, even though they're signed into the site, so that number is pretty misleading. I could hit a link for one of my fics twenty thousand times and people would assume that the hits meant that I was popular. I think the favorite author/fic/fic update are the only things I like about ff.net. I mean, seriously, the people that run it must be super uptight with the rules they lay out. It would help me out a lot if their rules weren't so opinionated. I mean, what exactly counts as a 'mature' theme? Just sex or rape or what? Also doesn't help that their formatting sucks. Here I am looking for just yaoi fics and I don't even know what I'm reading cause nothing is categoried like it is here. And some chapters are blank or links don't work/illegible. Yet, even on such a censored site, a large amount of people seem interested in an incest fic. I guess that's a pretty big 'fuck you' to the establishment, especially since they can't ban me for it as there is no sex yet. If I really wanted to say 'fuck you' I'd post my fic Violence+sex=love or Gundam Wing hentai. 'Course, I'd be banned and that would make me cry as some really good authors rec on that site, but damn, it would be funny. It would be even funnier if I didn't get caught >.> but alas, I am a coward. That, and I like certain authors too much.

[Kettle]

Meh. The hit counter goes up every time the page is loaded, so someone could click your story, read a few lines and decide it's not for them, and just hit the back button. On the flip side, if someone really likes your story, perhaps they come back to read it a few times.

Whoever mentioned the 1:100 ratio for reviews:hits is about right. The most reviews any of my stories have are two, and while they all have robot sex none of them have anything hugely squicky (even the non-con aspect isn't especially violent - the "subs" are basically under orders/too drunk to resist). All of them have hits in their hundreds. The reviews are in single digits too.

Edited April 16, 2008 by Kettle

[Guest Savaial]

Kettle: Whoever mentioned the 1:100 ratio for reviews:hits is about right.

That was me. (waves) And I'm really, really starting to think its about correct. Apparently there are a lot of people that don't belong to this site that just cruise around and read then fritter off to parts unknown to get more fanfiction fixes elsewhere without contributing in any way.

The PC side of me says that's okay and that people aren't obligated to review. The 1970's part of me says "Hey! You got something for free! Whydontcha leave a contribution in the little box?" (courtesy Labyrinth)

shinigamiinochi, you know what?

People are ashamed to admit they read/write fanfiction. I have no clue why, but they apparently are. They are perfectly willing to read it on the sly and then slink off. They get their "sicko" fix and move on.

And no, no one reads warnings. We are too accustomed to the dumbing down to pay any attention to them. When was the last time you got a coffee at McDonalds and heeded the CAUTION CUIDADO HOT CALIENTE printed all over the cup?

I blame the instant gratification mindset.

Do not pay any attention to the flames you get. At risk of repetition, it's the car crash syndrome. There are always plenty of people to say you're a twisted fuck for writing or posting something. On the other hand there are lots of silent, guilty-indulgence people who read your stuff who never say a word.

What is the middle ground??

And BTW, you have my respect for trying to publish anything on ff.net. If I even thought about putting my stuff there I'd either get booted off instantaneously or get the following-

"Hey, plz writ moar!"

Oh, no better impetus than that. That gets my fingers just a-flying over the keys.

Forgive me. I'm sensitive tonight. I think its the cold weather.

And another btw, shinigamiinochi, humor vs horror is a great debate. And your song about the end of the world was classic. Good stuff.

[shinigamiinochi]

thanks ^^ I do remember that you've reviewed by stuff and I'm eternally grateful *bow* my friend and I have started to call horror movies 'comedies' which confuses people, but it makes sense to me. I have a very weird sense of humor and so I don't write a lot of comedy, but then again, Sweeney Todd made me laugh, so I think it's just that people don't get my sense of humor. Though, I have somehow managed to freak myself out with my last few additions of 'Solstice'. Well, if one day I disappear from this site, it's because I'm probably locked up in a mental institution somewhere, but hopefully in writing the really dark, disturbing stuff, that won't happen anytime soon (unless my mother suddenly finds this site *shudder*) But, a panel of my peers can't be wrong, right? I mean 'Rats' just got published in my college's literary journal, so that means that I haven't gotten to that point where strangers are trying to stay off the same sidewalk as me, and that is my accomplishment of the week. I used to wonder how Stephen King comes up with his ideas, after the writing and dreams I've gone through these last few days, I now know.

[Kettle]

shinigamiinochi, you know what?

People are ashamed to admit they read/write fanfiction. I have no clue why, but they apparently are.

I don't think it's that they're ashamed to admit they read/write fanfiction so much as they feel kinda funny/embarrassed to admit that they read porn. Maybe we should compare number of reviews on fics that have plot or are rated for non-sexual adult stuff to the number of reviews on fics that are just PWP (like mine are).

[shinigamiinochi]

actually, I've gotten more reviews on my PWPs than my 'normal' fics, so I don't think that theory has merit where my fics stand. Maybe it's the fandom.

[Kettle]

actually, I've gotten more reviews on my PWPs than my 'normal' fics, so I don't think that theory has merit where my fics stand. Maybe it's the fandom.

Hehe, could be. I do write pretty steamy Transformer porn, after all.

[FairyNiamh]

My co-authors and I were talking about this the other night. We only write male/male and where I am the one most likely to break off into another fandom, the other two are (thus far) pure Naruto writers. (We write separately and together)

So for that section (at least)

Dark: Many hits Many reviews

Crack: Many Hits Many reviews (I was floored when our Giant Penis crack!fic got so many hits and reviews)

Angst: Very few hits and even less reviews (Reviews usual center on how well or how poorly written the story is)

PWP: (Depending on the pairing) Decent amount of Hits and an ok amount of reviews

Fluff: just above angst, a few hits and a few reviews.

I think that the WTF factor in the crack fics compel people to say something, if nothing more than 'You seriously need sleep and meds.'

As per the dark... well we all have a bit of inner darkness...

And PWP... well who doesn't like smut?

[Gnome]

There's something in it. My original piece does ok for itself. 19 reviews, five chapters, been up for about a month. It is not sexually explicit. It will have slash elements but I'm not sure how far it will go.

I posted a very bizarre, slashy Inuyasha story yesterday (Sess/Inu) and got 15 reviews in about 24hours within about 400 hits. I was rather surprised by that one to be honest.

My slash oneshot on the other hand sucks up hits, probably from people looking for smut, but it's actually an experimental piece into plant and nature metaphor. Only the one review.