Highest Rated on Front Page?

[Neviance]

I feel like there should be more fictions showcased on the front page instead of just latest updates, new fictions and trending. Putting it at the very bottom seems like a good place that wouldn't disturb the front page's setup as it is. Is there a reason why this isn't already a thing?

Furthermore, there'd probably be a lot more reviews if reviews got showcased too. I don't think that's nearly important as having a prominent highest rating section though.

 

[Yorth]

I feel like the whole home page needs a rework, but yes, I feel like the highest rated novels should receive more love.

 

[AliceShiki]

I dunno, the series with the highest rating are usually the ones with the most views anyways, do you really need a specific place to promote your most popular series? Like... They're already popular and stuff.

I feel like the trending page is much more relevant.

 

[binarysoap]

I dunno, the series with the highest rating are usually the ones with the most views anyways, do you really need a specific place to promote your most popular series? Like... They're already popular and stuff.

I feel like the trending page is much more relevant.

I agree that the trending page is more relevant, but the OP did mention sticking the highest rated/most popular section on the bottom, which definitely will get viewed at lot less, since there will be scrolling needed to get there.

The OP's suggestion of having a highest rated section on the bottom and a review showcase will make SH's frontpage look ridiculously similar to RoyalRoad's since RR has both elements, and while a highest rated section is rather standard and wouldn't be an issue, I have not seen another site with a review showcase.

That being said, highest rated is honestly not a very good metric on SH, highest rating doesn't mean much. It just means that there is a story that just happened to get a 5 star rating by a few people. It'd work better if you had a rating threshold, so a story has to have at least X number of ratings, but if you sort by the most popular series, the first 3 out of 4 series there have ratings below 4.5.

 

[Neviance]

I figured having the 'highest rated' on the bottom wouldn't detract from anything else like trending, but still give you more to look at on the frontpage. I think having a rating threshold would be a very good idea.

I wasn't sure what else would encourage more reviews to be honest.

It is similar to RoyalRoad, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I suppose it could be different if say, there were sections for highest rated per category or even trending per category. That might get a bit complicated, though it could expose readers to more than just the harem-stuff that usually dominates trending and make people feel at a glance that there's more than just that to read on Scribblehub.

 

[Ace_Arriande]

Disclaimer: yes, this would benefit me, but I've said before I'd be perfectly happy having my stories excluded to show SH-originals on the list. I'm also going to approach this purely from a business perspective. In my own little perfect world, ratings for any creative works wouldn't even be a thing and there would be equal exposure to every single fiction without any best-rated lists or trending lists or anything.

That being said, from a strictly business perspective, I'm 100% behind having best-rated stories on the front page.

1. It's not really for people who are already here rather than it is here for newcomers to "hook" them with the "best" of what the site has to offer. When people are looking for new things, whether it's books, movies, games, or Amazon products, there's a very strong tendency to sort by best rated. Having that right on the front page introduces new visitors to SH who might not know how to use the search features yet straight to the best rated. The more readers who get hooked, the more readers stay around, the more readers who go on to read other stories, the larger the site grows.

2. It can motivate people to try and make it onto the list for the sake of prestige, thus encouraging "higher quality" works and stronger effort.

 

[Cold_Sun]

This does look like an appealing idea. Especially the points Ace made about having the best in the site drawing in more new readers to the site.
But I don't think there exists a best-rated listing anyway.
Instead why not stick to the most popular on the front page?
That should be easier to implement as well?