The adventum competition got 1 star spammed

[Darkwood]

So I was looking at my novel's page to check the views, I do this compulsively. And I found that in the 20 minutes since I had refreshed the page, I had gotten 11 one star ratings out of nowhere. There was no massive jump in page views or chapters read and for the past 2 or 3 weeks since my novel has gone up I have had a total of 10 ratings (9 five star and 1 four star). And by the looks of it it has happened to every novel in the top 14 of the adventum competition (I am taking part and currently ranked 11 by popularity, with my novel Viscount's Rise). Though it might not affect those with enough ratings for the change to be unnoticeable.
I was wondering if there is any thing that can be done about it as I am worried that it will affect the competition and our novel's growth in particular, regardless of the competition. Does SH even have a mechanism in place to stop such spamming in the first place?

 

[Darkwood]

And as if by the magic of the gods, one star ratings got removed. Guess my post was a bit behind the ball

 

[A.P.R.L.]

I don't know if there's something that can be done about it. My novel has been published for a while and a few months ago I also got around 3-4 one star ratings at the same time out of nowhere that dramatically dropped the rating of my novel. I'm pretty sure it was someone who didn't like what I wrote and decided to massive drop the one star ratings somehow though I never understood how it happened or was done in the first place.

 

[Tony]

So I was looking at my novel's page to check the views, I do this compulsively. And I found that in the 20 minutes since I had refreshed the page, I had gotten 11 one star ratings out of nowhere. There was no massive jump in page views or chapters read and for the past 2 or 3 weeks since my novel has gone up I have had a total of 10 ratings (9 five star and 1 four star). And by the looks of it it has happened to every novel in the top 14 of the adventum competition (I am taking part and currently ranked 11 by popularity, with my novel Viscount's Rise). Though it might not affect those with enough ratings for the change to be unnoticeable.
I was wondering if there is any thing that can be done about it as I am worried that it will affect the competition and our novel's growth in particular, regardless of the competition. Does SH even have a mechanism in place to stop such spamming in the first place?
View attachment 2817View attachment 2818

And as if by the magic of the gods, one star ratings got removed. Guess my post was a bit behind the ball

All of those ratings has been removed and the spam accounts has been banned. I'll spend the rest of the day trying to implement better security but it's never perfect so please report it if it happens again.

I don't know if there's something that can be done about it. My novel has been published for a while and a few months ago I also got around 3-4 one star ratings at the same time out of nowhere that dramatically dropped the rating of my novel. I'm pretty sure it was someone who didn't like what I wrote and decided to massive drop the one star ratings somehow though I never understood how it happened or was done in the first place.

It seems like your novel did get rating bombed by one user with multiple accounts. It's been fixed and ratings removed. Sorry about that!

 

[OneSixSeven]

So I was looking at my novel's page to check the views, I do this compulsively. And I found that in the 20 minutes since I had refreshed the page, I had gotten 11 one star ratings out of nowhere. There was no massive jump in page views or chapters read and for the past 2 or 3 weeks since my novel has gone up I have had a total of 10 ratings (9 five star and 1 four star). And by the looks of it it has happened to every novel in the top 14 of the adventum competition (I am taking part and currently ranked 11 by popularity, with my novel Viscount's Rise). Though it might not affect those with enough ratings for the change to be unnoticeable.
I was wondering if there is any thing that can be done about it as I am worried that it will affect the competition and our novel's growth in particular, regardless of the competition. Does SH even have a mechanism in place to stop such spamming in the first place?
View attachment 2817View attachment 2818

Wow a massive drop of 11 1-star. I wonder who did that?

Anyways, I read the first two chapters. It looked fine to me.

I'll continue reading it later.

 

[A.P.R.L.]

All of those ratings has been removed and the spam accounts has been banned. I'll spend the rest of the day trying to implement better security but it's never perfect so please report it if it happens again.



It seems like your novel did get rating bombed by one user with multiple accounts. It's been fixed and ratings removed. Sorry about that!

Oh, thank you! I knew something was weird about it!

 

[binarysoap]

Now the better question is if the rating bomber is a participant of the contest or not...

 

[Darkwood]

All of those ratings has been removed and the spam accounts has been banned. I'll spend the rest of the day trying to implement better security but it's never perfect so please report it if it happens again.



It seems like your novel did get rating bombed by one user with multiple accounts. It's been fixed and ratings removed. Sorry about that!

I'm glad it got fixed, it looked like I wasnt the only one so I thought it was fishy

 

[D4isuke]

I wonder if mine got spammed one-star rating also

 

[K5Rakitan]

Personally, I'm enjoying my one-star ratings, but I wouldn't give a one-star rating lightly. The rating system here is flawed, but as long as things like this can get sorted out, I like it.

 

[ChronicleCrawler]

Now the better question is if the rating bomber is a participant of the contest or not...

Prolly dummies.

 

[BenJepheneT]

you know what i hate about these spammers? not the one star rating they're giving but how much they devalue one stars. it's gotten to the point where people's preconception of one-star are either "pesky hater" or "deliberate spammer". a one star means a lot to both a writer and a reader. it's a raised flag saying the story not only offended or broke through the reader's expectations, but that the writer also needs to consider the path he or she is taking in their art of writing.

now it's amount to fucking nothing. now a one star isn't a open window to introspection but a mere fucking annoyance and that pisses me off.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

you know what i hate about these spammers? not the one star rating they're giving but how much they devalue one stars. it's gotten to the point where people's preconception of one-star are either "pesky hater" or "deliberate spammer". a one star means a lot to both a writer and a reader. it's a raised flag saying the story not only offended or broke through the reader's expectations, but that the writer also needs to consider the path he or she is taking in their art of writing.

now it's amount to fucking nothing. now a one star isn't a open window to introspection but a mere fucking annoyance and that pisses me off.

They don't even give angry reviews you can report. How can you improve if they hide in the shadows of 1 stars and give no advice.

 

[BenJepheneT]

They don't even give angry reviews you can report. How can you improve if they hide in the shadows of 1 stars and give no advice.

same goes to 5 stars. just blindly praise the fucken thing, eh? at least when you see joke reviews like "5 stars because there's yuri cunnilingus" you get a better understanding of your demographic and what they want to see from you.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Personally, I'm enjoying my one-star ratings, but I wouldn't give a one-star rating lightly. The rating system here is flawed, but as long as things like this can get sorted out, I like it.

So to threaten you I must say. Behave, or I will you a 5 star?

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

same goes to 5 stars. just blindly praise the fucken thing, eh? at least when you see joke reviews like "5 stars because there's yuri cunnilingus" you get a better understanding of your demographic and what they want to see from you.

That is true. Reviews are useful and generally I only read the negative ones. Bad reviews are usually the most insightful.

 

[K5Rakitan]

So to threaten you I must say. Behave, or I will you a 5 star?

Yes, that's correct! Now you know my weakness.

 

[LostinMovement]

No one would mind 1-star ratings if those who rated it so actually gave a fuck and wrote down a review or a comment explaining why they thought your story was shit. At least then, we as writers would have something to work and improve on. What pisses me off is that they never tell you why they gave you a 1-star so you end going into the rabbit hole of "why? what did I do wrong? is my story that bad? Am I that terrible at writing....." and so on.
So in conclusion, 1-star ratings have become useless and irrelevant since they do anything for you as writer (no constructive criticism). Personally, I just treat them as if they don't exist.

 

[Lacy]

No one would mind 1-star ratings if those who rated it so actually gave a fuck and wrote down a review or a comment explaining why they thought your story was shit. At least then, we as writers would have something to work and improve on. What pisses me off is that they never tell you why they gave you a 1-star so you end going into the rabbit hole of "why? what did I do wrong? is my story that bad? Am I that terrible at writing....." and so on.
So in conclusion, 1-star ratings have become useless and irrelevant since they do anything for you as writer (no constructive criticism). Personally, I just treat them as if they don't exist.

This so much. Got two 1-star reviews out of nowhere soon after posting my first story, no clue why they happened, no feedback whatsoever, nearly gave me an anxiety attack.

 

[YuriDoggo]

At least for 5-stars, you know that for that reader, you just need to keep doing what you're doing (and even then its nice to know what exactly they liked). For lower rating, it's just kinda wtf.