1⭐ Rating Bombing

[Augustulus]

Though I don't think that is what happened in this recent incident, I have definitely seen this happen many times. While discussions have previously suggested what parties most benefit, I think this only leads to potential retribution if a finger is pointed on an open forum.

You're right about the potential retribution, but this was not exactly what I meant. Guess I was not clear enough. My main intention is to get to know the reason someone might be doing this, because in my opinion we won't develop a good new concept if we don't know the exact flaw in the old one.

[itslate]

It has been documented before that when certain teases hit the top 20, they suddenly get several 1 star ratings to knock them out. This happened today to a new author in the span of a few minutes in a very directed fashion.

Giving out 1 star ratings to perfectly fine (or better) teases is a really shitty thing to do. But I don't see an easy fix to this. If people are going to be dishonest, there's not that much you can do.

Unless - and this is my question - is there documentation of several people all voting 1 star in a "very directed fashion" on a tease? Because then it would seem like people use fake accounts. That in my opinion would need to be stopped.

[kerkersklave]

I'm assuming you're talking about me.

Ignore the guy, he is clearly trying to provoke you and most likely just a troll. If he just wouldn't like your writing, he just wouldn't read it, and not write a lot of bullshit about your use of language. I strongly suspect, he's the guy behind the bombing. Somehow, some of these people always turn up. They are usually miserable and try to make other people feel miserable as well.

Also, a 5 star rating is not maintainable. I don't think there is any tease with a 5 star rating. It sometimes happens for a short while but at some point there is somebody that will give a rating below 5. You really shouldn't care about ratings that much, your ratings clearly show, that you have a fan base and as long as ratings are above 4, the teases are highly popular, and even above 3 there is a huge number of people that like those teases.

[Shattered]

I have posted a link to this in the mod forum.

[anonymister]

Good to know you're mean, unfair and arbitrarily vindictive.

I'm giving a 1 star rating because I dislike his writing style. He's also using ellipses too often and wrongly and if he would make an effort and develop his writing skills further, I'd be able to read more than 3 pages. I've also blocked the author, but milovana is still showing his teases and he's just spamming them.
So my 1 star is both a bidding "less quantity, more quality please." and screaming "stop spamming me man!". As the thread owner said it would be mature if I'd unblock the author and telling him how he could improve. But I don't think this would help at all, because all it would take is for him to read something at all to notice that there is proper punctuation in sentences.
edit: I've written a PM with some friendly suggestions to the author.
And about the questions in other posts: Only registered user can vote once. The mentioned author doesn't have that much views and likes at all, so a 1 star rating is influencing his rating by 0.1 or 0.2 most of the time.

It would be a great feature for milovana if the "add foe" profile option would hide the authors teases. Completely, not just a "a blocked author posted something" spoiler tag.
I've added the feature request over there: viewtopic.php?t=24932

[fapnip]

Against my better judgment I guess I'm going to break my "last thing I publish here" promise this one time by posting this response, since this subject is a bit of a sore spot for me.

Everything over a 3 rating is usually a decent tease and I will consider opening it. Teases over 4 are usually really good in at least some aspects.
[...]
You really shouldn't care about ratings that much,
[and other thoughts of the like]

The problem isn't so much the end rating, but how and why it got there.

As a recent example, my animation demo was published as a way of getting as much feedback as possible to try to see what I can improve on the concept. When it rolled off the latest 10 tease list, hits per day dropped massively -- as did the feedback/testing rate. But, a touch later it gained enough stars to display on the top 10. Hits and testing jumped back for a moment -- but unfortunately, as is predictable here, as soon as it shows in the top 10 some asshole(s) that seem to feel they are the curators of Milovana teases immediately bombed it off that list. This of course dropped the hits/testing rate of the tease to a trickle -- a tease created to help other authors, and indirectly those that play teases.

(Once you're off the newest 10, top 10 or winning TOTM spot, your tease is basically invisible here. Sure it'll get some random hits, but hardly anything. In the case of my demo, I could have deleted/republished to put it back in visibility, but the malice it takes for another author to one-star a tease meant to help tease authors puts me off the whole thing.)

This top 10 curation is predictable and insulting. Without naming any names, I can say with certainty that there are members here with multiple accounts used to float/sink teases in the list as they see fit. What malfunction these individuals have that pushes them to do this kind of thing I can't say, but it is happening, has been happening for some time, and I'm tired of it.

I'm giving a 1 star rating because I dislike his writing style. He's also using ellipses too often and wrongly [...]

Rate however you want, but if you want better teases, give constructive feedback -- don't piss all over people. And don't pretend that you're helping anyone with your 1-star ratings. (Over ellipses? Really?! FFS! So much I want to say here but shouldn't... biting my lip...)

I do think 1 star ratings (and even potentially 5 star) requiring one line of explanation might be something...?

1. Allowing members to change their rating, 2. requiring a short review for all ratings and allowing all to see those reviews and the members that posted them, and 3. allowing members to report those ratings/reviews to moderators for possible removal would go a long way to fixing these issues.

On top of that, finding different ways to organize/display teases (trending, etc.) -- so exposure en masse isn't limited to just newest 10, top 10 and current TOTM winner -- may help keep some members/authors from feeling the need to bomb teases in the first place.

I have posted a link to this in the mod forum.

You'll forgive me if I don't hold my breath waiting for a resolution.

[VincentSagitta]

I'm giving a 1 star rating because I dislike his writing style. He's also using ellipses too often and wrongly and if he would make an effort and develop his writing skills further, I'd be able to read more than 3 pages. I've also blocked the author, but milovana is still showing his teases and he's just spamming them.
So my 1 star is both a bidding "less quantity, more quality please." and screaming "stop spamming me man!".

I'm assuming you're talking about me. Before you make jabs at anyone's proficiency with the English language, you ought to make sure you're demonstrating mastery. You've used poor sentence structure, with conflicting tenses multiple times. There are a few run on sentences. You appear scared to use commas, and you use the wrong word outright a few times ("many views" is correct, not "much views"). Also, if you don't notice ellipses being used for story pacing as opposed to perfect grammar, I don't know what to tell you.

I think it is easier to accept poor grammar in casual communication, e.g., a forum-post or chat, than in a book/article/game etc. Might be different for others, but I simply set the bar higher in some settings. Then again, if people have fun making a webtease but doesn't enjoy grammar-checking etc., I completely understand that the priority of posting a tease without putting effort into the "boring" part. I've seen people commenting about grammar mistakes (politely and without criticism) in the feedback threads of some teases. As long as it's done with good intentions as an attempt to help, and the author doesn't get offended by the feedback, that could be a good way to let the community help flushing out the grammar issues. I think that is a better solution than just dumping a 1star on the tease. Grammar is important, but it isn't everything.

The second point about "spamming" of teases, I noticed the same thing. Sorting by new content in the webtease page shows a heavy amount of teases from one series/author at the moment, and other content can easily get lost. For anyone enjoying that tease, it's great, but I imagine it gets annoying if you don't like that series. I've never made a tease myself, so I don't know what is possible. But is it possible to have one tease with several sub-teases? Opening the tease could show you a main-page, where the different "chapters" could be selected. Announcing new chapters could be done by adding to a forum post, or updating the title/"version number" of the tease without fully re-releasing it.

And finally: I think it's great that people make the effort to post teases in general, and for the "spammed" series these days, I haven't had time to play it myself yet, but it does seem to get high ratings for each release. Since tease seem to be very popular, it's also a lot easier to accept that there are many new releases of it. It would definitely be more annoying if a poorly rated series released that frequently.

[Truewilling]

as soon as it shows in the top 10 some asshole(s) that seem to feel they are the curators of Milovana teases immediately bombed it off that list

While I'm not denying that these tease bombers exist, I also think the different types of sorting get different kinds of attention. Over the years the amount of teases has grown massive so it's impossible to try them all. To find older work, users will have to sort and filter one way or another.

The 10 new teases will mostly have the attention of regular visitors. New teases will get more clicks and on average these regular users will be a bit more divided in their rating.

Once it's out of new 10 the clicks will drop and the users finding your tease are mostly those finding your tease by searching the specific genre or are a fan of your work and find you by username or trough forum recommendations, I found some of my favorite teases in these ways. As these users were already more interested in the genre of your tease to begin with, on average ratings will be a bit higher.

Then when the tease make it to top 10, it will be in view for those sorting for highest scoring. It will be next to other high scoring work. It will gain more attention and attract more users. There will be some trolls that think it does not compare to other works in the top 10 feel justified to give 1 star rating. Apart from trolls, users searching for teases by highest scores in general will have higher expectations and will be more critical with their votes. Even when voting 3 or 4 stars, when these come in high numbers (as the tease is now in top 10) the rating will also drop.

Without claiming 1 rating bombing isn't a problem, small variations in scores are natural in my opinion.

It's not easy to get rid of trolls, but I think the site will benefit from a better sorting system and clearer tagging system. Some suggestions:
1. Making the tags more distinctive: E.g. orgasm-denial can mean your denied once then you get to cum or your denied over and over and also in the end. There is also not a good way to find multi day teases trough tags now. And when tags are incorrectly applied an admin should be able to correct this.
2. Better presentation of the different genres so the user is more likely to use genre selection in their search for teases. Not like tags hidden in the search but in an easy (side) menu as also can be found on other adult sites.
3. Sorting by top scores of the week, month, year or all-time. This way teases will have a better chance of being in the spotlight for a longer period.

I know these suggestions will take some effort to implement and that Milovana has limited site development capacity. But if we can find some developers willing to contribute I think these are some good methods that help users to find better matching teases. And better matching teases will lead to fairer tease rating.

[grelgen]

OP is why i dont rate anything. There is no monetization on this site like theyoutubes, so impressions don't matter. everything posted here is copyright infringement anyways, so good luck selling your 'creation'. If you're so concerned about your 8 hour long slide show falling off the front page, do what other platforms do:
- make a subscription system
- create a proper tagging tool
- encourage chaptering within teases

there's no reason for 1 user to obliterate the front page with 10 copies of the same tease and then complain about how none of their teases are getting clicks. it's because you've saturated the market.

[kerkersklave]

Over the years the amount of teases has grown massive so it's impossible to try them all. To find older work, users will have to sort and filter one way or another.

Well, there 600 pages of teases. It might not be possible to try them all, or at least not much fun, but it is surely possible, to look through the whole list. Even if you just look at 10 pages a day, you are done in a month. Personally, I think I have looked at every interactive tease on this website and at least startet almost everyone above 4-3.5, except if title or description turned me away instantly. Yeah, if you only visit a few times, you will only see the first few pages of teases. But regular visitors will over a few months or years explore a lot of the site.

I always believed though, that the tagging system should be improved and that there should be more standard tags that are used by everyone. It is difficult to finde teases for a specific topic, especially interactive teases where the content is not searched for keywords afaik.

[Skip Towne]

1. Making the tags more distinctive: E.g. orgasm-denial can mean your denied once then you get to cum or your denied over and over and also in the end. There is also not a good way to find multi day teases trough tags now. And when tags are incorrectly applied an admin should be able to correct this.

Man, I second this so hard. For how diverse this "genre" can be, with dozens of different variations, there's not nearly enough tags here. Orgasm denial is just too general. Even chastity is too general. Are you being teased in chastity the entire time? Locked in chastity just at the end? Start in chastity and then get released for teasing or for a ruined orgasm? So many times it's hard for me to find exactly what I'm in the mood for because the tags are way too broad.

[Skip Towne]

OP is why i dont rate anything. There is no monetization on this site like theyoutubes, so impressions don't matter. everything posted here is copyright infringement anyways, so good luck selling your 'creation'. If you're so concerned about your 8 hour long slide show falling off the front page, do what other platforms do:
- make a subscription system
- create a proper tagging tool
- encourage chaptering within teases

there's no reason for 1 user to obliterate the front page with 10 copies of the same tease and then complain about how none of their teases are getting clicks. it's because you've saturated the market.

I totally agree with the proper tagging tool. There's not enough tags to classify all the different kinks on this site. I entirely disagree with your stance on what OP is saying though. Impressions do matter. If people genuinely don't like something, they have the right to rate it lowly, and it's up to the author to take it to heart and improve or not. When the reviews are low for silly or arbitrary reasons, however, it can discourage an author or force them to quit unnecessarily. I've seen quite a few great authors on this site leave because of that, and all I can think is how many great teases they could have given us if they hadn't been chased off.

[chual99]

@fenway

For what it's worth, I am a fan of your series, and hope you continue to publish webteases.

Unfortunately, there will always be a demographic that a tease doesn't particularly cater to, and some of those individuals will opt to rate it poorly rather than skip the tease itself. I wish authors would understand this and be able to ignore the simple rating schematic, rather than take it as a personal affront. But I also understand that it can be rather disheartening to see their work performing poorly.

It's a difficult problem to solve, because some sort of rating scheme needs to be maintained. From a viewer's perspective, being able to filter out 'trash' webteases from the 'good' ones is a useful tool. The problem, I guess, is that 'good' vs 'trash' is a very subjective metric.

[Vicissitudo]

Personally I'm very careful and also generous ratings teases.
However teases with missing tags / improper descriptions which lead to unwanted content really make me mad and I wish I could give less than 1 star to these ones.

I respect everybody's tastes but I have mines as well and I don't want to discover by surprise things that, for me, are really unpleasant to see.

[fenway]

OP is why i dont rate anything. There is no monetization on this site like theyoutubes, so impressions don't matter. everything posted here is copyright infringement anyways, so good luck selling your 'creation'. If you're so concerned about your 8 hour long slide show falling off the front page, do what other platforms do:
- make a subscription system
- create a proper tagging tool
- encourage chaptering within teases

there's no reason for 1 user to obliterate the front page with 10 copies of the same tease and then complain about how none of their teases are getting clicks. it's because you've saturated the market.

Firstly, you should try to create and publish something on this site before adopting such an unappreciative perspective on others work. You've published nothing so far. If you think it's really so easy to create an 8 hour "slideshow", make one and then comment on how people shouldn't have concerns or any care for their own creations. Also, where did you get the idea that anyone is concerned about monetary compensation through "selling" anything? Also, why so cynical? Why even be on this site if you think it's all infringement anyway and brainless slideshows? What is your angle? What is your point?

Secondly, I want to restate that nobody is saying people should be prevented from providing honest ratings and feedback. Nobody is saying everyone should give everything five stars regardless of quality. What people have said is that doxing someone's published work shouldn't happen, i.e. systematically and arbitrarily lowering their ratings by giving 1 star ratings without any accompanying feedback or reasoning to assist the author with improving. My initial response on this thread was to provide a clear example of this as it was so obviously a dox for many reasons, mainly that it involved almost all of my teases being lowered over the course of under an hours time. That doesn't mean I, or anyone else, is saying 1 star feedback has no place and is always uncalled for. This shouldn't need more explaining than that.

This brings up the main point I'd like to throw out into the community...

Holy hell some of you are entitled as fuck. You're complaining that you have to scroll through a few pages of webteases to find the tease you enjoy, and you're blaming content creators for burying your favorite teases? Or, you're purposely going into teases that cover subjects you aren't interested in, or are by authors you don't like specifically to downvote their work like your opinion is the be all and end all? I mean really, you see something other people are enjoying, and since it's not your cup of tea, you feel obligated to "show" everyone how shit it actually is? Are you kidding me? And then you try getting the site to hide peoples work from the webteases page so you can muscle the world into working your way instead of how it was intended?

Trying to control a public forum and then lashing out when things don't go your way is unbelievably childish. How unaware does someone have to be to actually do this and think it's a mature response to anything? Honestly, I get out of the hospital and see us still dancing around this subject? Well since being polite and reasonable doesn't seem to work, just know you're a total loser. How else to describe someone with nothing better to do than waste their own time on something they don't like just to ruin it for everyone else. Great job, really.

This website has so many features to facilitate finding things, or even bookmarking teases you really like. Everyone who can rate a tease, has the ability to favorite a tease. A search that literally takes three clicks if you start on the Milovana homepage easily finds them. It's so unbelievably simple and streamlined. Is it really so inconvenient to spend an extra 4.2 seconds accessing something you like? I mean, honestly. What the fuck you guys?

And for those of you who might be thinking "But Fenway, you're acting entitled by dominating Milovanas space publishing so often" I say, sure but not even remotely in the same way. The difference is, my "entitlement" to the space isn't such that it tries to control anything or anyone. It's just the presentation and provision of new works for anyone who is interested in enjoying.

For the majority of users, this isn't an issue. But Grelgen, Playsafe9 and others like them, you are just exceptional trolls, nothing more.