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On March 24 2009 08:57 Ivs wrote:
Some threads are so ironic. Now klaz has stuffed the numbers up for them, they come out one by one re-iterating again and again saying that the numbers don't matter, it's about making friends etc. Funny how the same people get so bitter and angry over something they claim not to matter. Denial much.
Denial? Perhaps. But, maybe not for all.
Many of the people I know on Authonomy say they spend too much time on the site. There's plenty to do there. Reading is a popular activity. In fact there are a number of people on Authonomy who's profiles say they are not writers and have joined Authonomy to read.
The forums are popular. There are many people who create new threads and post regularly. There are forums on writing, publishing, and even a shameless plug forum. The chat forum gets a lot of traffic. Because the forums aren't moderated (though they have a 'report abuse' button on all messages) things go crazy on them from time to time. I've seen threads hijacked for personal promotion or just to engage in off topic social banter. Some people enjoy this and spend a fair amount of time on the forums, I try to avoid it.
A major activity is a practice known as reciprocal reads (you read and critique my book and I'll reciprocate). These are generally agreed to ahead of time. There are a number of excellent critiquers at Authonomy and they are usually open to reciprocal reads. I generally read three chapters when I do a reciprocal read. Each read and critique takes me two hours. I have done as many as five critiques in a day, but rarely. I try to do at least one a day. What I generally get in return are helpful comments and suggestions regarding the excerpt I have posted. Because I can easily edit my posted excerpt I can keep it updated with the critiques I receive. Through this technique the books on Authonomy tend to improve the longer they're on Authonomy (I know mine has).
Then there are the ratings. There are two rating systems. One for books. One for members.
The book rating is based on how many votes your book gets (one person, one vote per book). As many have pointed out, this rating system is largely a popularity system, though some people's votes count more than others. Some people's votes counts more? Yep. That's the infamous 'talent spotter rating.'
The 'talent spotter rating' arises out of a moving thirty day average of a person's ability to spot rising books early. Some people value having a high TSR.
As you know, the book rating only matters if your book rating makes it to the monthly top five and stays there to the end of the month. As Mockingbird has explained, the battle for top five gets frenzied in the last five days. Number six wants to break into the top five, so they go out and get more votes, etc, etc. Believe me, it's not pretty. And for what? Not a single top five have landed a contract with HC. So, I can believe that many people have simply accepted that their book will never be top five because they won't play the game. I also believe that those people stay because they find much else at Authonomy that interests them.
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On March 24 2009 09:01 Kuja900 wrote:
How would it be a mistake? Mistakes would imply you have something to lose when really you dont. It seems the ultimate goal is getting critics for your book, while the ED seems more an unrealistic fantasy for most. Because you cite the ED as the main problem I dont see its faults a logical reason for your departure. Also you just got a whole army of new critics who are very intelligent that are willing to provide new insights on your works. This seems like one of the best things that could of happend to Authonomy. Even if the old guard leaves who needs them?
@Kuja900, there are many authors on Authonomy who are there to workshop their book excerpt, and Authonomy is an excellent place to do that. New members who critique are the life blood of Authonomy for those authors.
For example, there are any number of aspiring Science Fiction authors on Authonomy. Their book excerpts are easy to find. Just go to the 'books' tab at the top of your profile. When the 'books' home page comes up, select the genre drop down menu and highlight 'science fiction.' You'll get the top twenty science fiction books on Authonomy. Read and enjoy. And, if you leave the author some constructive comments, it's highly likely those suggestions will soon show up in the posted excerpt.
As you say, 'a whole new army of critics who are very intelligent that are willing to provide new insight on your works.' What's not to like about that?
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On March 24 2009 11:40 Kuja900 wrote:
Seriously and its not like he's destroying dreams the unlucky guy he'll bump out of the top 5 will just have to wait a month boohoo.
Exactly! At the begining of each month, the previous top five are removed from the competition and the previous number six become number one, until someone bumps them down. All month long, the top five battle for votes to stay there . . . and number six is working his butt off trying to get on the top five list. It's insane. Instead, many author just don't try and focus more on improving their books.
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As of 9:00 a.m. US EST, Authonomy is functioning and response time is much quicker than normal.
HC said they had plenty of server capacity and the weekend slow down was a fault in their hosting infrastructure. Well, it looks like they may have fixed that fault. If so, this is a major positive fallout of the weekend zergrush.
If you've registered at Authonomy, come back over and enjoy. If you've yet to register, this would be a good time to come over and see what all the noise is about. If you're an aspiring author with at least 10,000 words written, come join us and workshop your work.
If you get there and have questions, message me. I'm CarolinaAl on Authonomy.
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On March 24 2009 21:24 achap54 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 08:57 Ivs wrote:
Some threads are so ironic. Now klaz has stuffed the numbers up for them, they come out one by one re-iterating again and again saying that the numbers don't matter, it's about making friends etc. Funny how the same people get so bitter and angry over something they claim not to matter. Denial much. Denial? Perhaps. But, maybe not for all. Many of the people I know on Authonomy say they spend too much time on the site. There's plenty to do there. Reading is a popular activity. In fact there are a number of people on Authonomy who's profiles say they are not writers and have joined Authonomy to read. The forums are popular. There are many people who create new threads and post regularly. There are forums on writing, publishing, and even a shameless plug forum. The chat forum gets a lot of traffic. Because the forums aren't moderated (though they have a 'report abuse' button on all messages) things go crazy on them from time to time. I've seen threads hijacked for personal promotion or just to engage in off topic social banter. Some people enjoy this and spend a fair amount of time on the forums, I try to avoid it. A major activity is a practice known as reciprocal reads (you read and critique my book and I'll reciprocate). These are generally agreed to ahead of time. There are a number of excellent critiquers at Authonomy and they are usually open to reciprocal reads. I generally read three chapters when I do a reciprocal read. Each read and critique takes me two hours. I have done as many as five critiques in a day, but rarely. I try to do at least one a day. What I generally get in return are helpful comments and suggestions regarding the excerpt I have posted. Because I can easily edit my posted excerpt I can keep it updated with the critiques I receive. Through this technique the books on Authonomy tend to improve the longer they're on Authonomy (I know mine has). Then there are the ratings. There are two rating systems. One for books. One for members. The book rating is based on how many votes your book gets (one person, one vote per book). As many have pointed out, this rating system is largely a popularity system, though some people's votes count more than others. Some people's votes counts more? Yep. That's the infamous 'talent spotter rating.' The 'talent spotter rating' arises out of a moving thirty day average of a person's ability to spot rising books early. Some people value having a high TSR. As you know, the book rating only matters if your book rating makes it to the monthly top five and stays there to the end of the month. As Mockingbird has explained, the battle for top five gets frenzied in the last five days. Number six wants to break into the top five, so they go out and get more votes, etc, etc. Believe me, it's not pretty. And for what? Not a single top five have landed a contract with HC. So, I can believe that many people have simply accepted that their book will never be top five because they won't play the game. I also believe that those people stay because they find much else at Authonomy that interests them.
I am aware of the system, but in my opinion, those who care are about making the top 5, (or at least caring about a high TSR for the interest of recipricating reads so their book can do better) are just outplayed in the system. It is upsetting but they have no case in shouting cheats.
For those who are there for the community and improvement in writing, and agreeing that making the top 5 would not be a primary goal, the recent event shouldn't bother them. They can still talk to other writers, sharing crits etc, provided the technical faults are fixed (and they should be).
The only ones really have a right to be thiiis upset are the ones who thinks the stuffed up TSR ranks will be detrimental to their attractiveness to other writers, in terms of crit swaps. So their months of hard work is ruined. These people should realise that this is 1) a fault in the algorithm which also should be fixed sometimes and 2) rather irrelevant in reality because those who overtook them in TSR are mostly one off visitors anyway.
So yeah, those who are currently mourning over the "death" of authonomy in the forums, I don't think many of them actually belong in the last category I mentioned. And even then, the initial shocks/misunderstandings aside, a lot more maturity, than the ones shown, is expected.
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On March 24 2009 22:19 Ivs wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 21:24 achap54 wrote:On March 24 2009 08:57 Ivs wrote:
Some threads are so ironic. Now klaz has stuffed the numbers up for them, they come out one by one re-iterating again and again saying that the numbers don't matter, it's about making friends etc. Funny how the same people get so bitter and angry over something they claim not to matter. Denial much. Denial? Perhaps. But, maybe not for all. Many of the people I know on Authonomy say they spend too much time on the site. There's plenty to do there. Reading is a popular activity. In fact there are a number of people on Authonomy who's profiles say they are not writers and have joined Authonomy to read. The forums are popular. There are many people who create new threads and post regularly. There are forums on writing, publishing, and even a shameless plug forum. The chat forum gets a lot of traffic. Because the forums aren't moderated (though they have a 'report abuse' button on all messages) things go crazy on them from time to time. I've seen threads hijacked for personal promotion or just to engage in off topic social banter. Some people enjoy this and spend a fair amount of time on the forums, I try to avoid it. A major activity is a practice known as reciprocal reads (you read and critique my book and I'll reciprocate). These are generally agreed to ahead of time. There are a number of excellent critiquers at Authonomy and they are usually open to reciprocal reads. I generally read three chapters when I do a reciprocal read. Each read and critique takes me two hours. I have done as many as five critiques in a day, but rarely. I try to do at least one a day. What I generally get in return are helpful comments and suggestions regarding the excerpt I have posted. Because I can easily edit my posted excerpt I can keep it updated with the critiques I receive. Through this technique the books on Authonomy tend to improve the longer they're on Authonomy (I know mine has). Then there are the ratings. There are two rating systems. One for books. One for members. The book rating is based on how many votes your book gets (one person, one vote per book). As many have pointed out, this rating system is largely a popularity system, though some people's votes count more than others. Some people's votes counts more? Yep. That's the infamous 'talent spotter rating.' The 'talent spotter rating' arises out of a moving thirty day average of a person's ability to spot rising books early. Some people value having a high TSR. As you know, the book rating only matters if your book rating makes it to the monthly top five and stays there to the end of the month. As Mockingbird has explained, the battle for top five gets frenzied in the last five days. Number six wants to break into the top five, so they go out and get more votes, etc, etc. Believe me, it's not pretty. And for what? Not a single top five have landed a contract with HC. So, I can believe that many people have simply accepted that their book will never be top five because they won't play the game. I also believe that those people stay because they find much else at Authonomy that interests them. I am aware of the system, but in my opinion, those who care are about making the top 5, (or at least caring about a high TSR for the interest of recipricating reads so their book can do better) are just outplayed in the system. It is upsetting but they have no case in shouting cheats. For those who are there for the community and improvement in writing, and agreeing that making the top 5 would not be a primary goal, the recent event shouldn't bother them. They can still talk to other writers, sharing crits etc, provided the technical faults are fixed (and they should be). The only ones really have a right to be thiiis upset are the ones who thinks the stuffed up TSR ranks will be detrimental to their attractiveness to other writers, in terms of crit swaps. So their months of hard work is ruined. These people should realise that this is 1) a fault in the algorithm which also should be fixed sometimes and 2) rather irrelevant in reality because those who overtook them in TSR are mostly one off visitors anyway. So yeah, those who are currently mourning over the "death" of authonomy in the forums, I don't think many of them actually belong in the last category I mentioned. And even then, the initial shocks/misunderstandings aside, a lot more maturity, than the ones shown, is expected.
I agree. They were outplayed. There was/is no cheating. HC has clarified that.
There are probably less than three hundred active members (I could be wrong). I bet that less than twenty people will leave over the events of the weekend, maybe fewer. Most members will stay and it's clear by my Authonomy newsfeed that they are resuming their normal, calm activities. As Mockingbird said, she had been thinking about leaving before the weekend. Some of those leaving might have been close to leaving prior to the weekend as well. Hard to say.
Actually, HC has said (in a private message I've seen) that the TSR problem will right itself if the high TSR noobs don't continue to pick fast rising books, as the TSR formula has a moving thirty day average feature.
More maturity by some would be welcome, but Authonomy has far more thoughtful, mature people than immature ones. And it's still an excellent place to workshop a new book despite its flaws.
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well I might not make it in the top 5 after all, looks like the "regulars" are all making a push to defeat the "gamers". Back to #6 now. Should be fun to see what happens. Either way it's been a fun ride.
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In fact, the fresh injection of people has made me delay pulling out. I was going to pull out at the end of this week. I have decided to stay a bit longer, because I would like the opportunity to gauge some more opinion. My work is generally targetted in the 18-35 age bracket. (Some of it is unsuitable for under 18s).
I am also happy to share extracts of my various mss with anyone who would like to have a read.
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On March 24 2009 23:27 Klaz wrote:
well I might not make it in the top 5 after all, looks like the "regulars" are all making a push to defeat the "gamers". Back to #6 now. Should be fun to see what happens. Either way it's been a fun ride.
Klaz... seven days to go, and the thing fluctuates wildly.... don't assume that it's all over, because it isn't. But, at the end of the day... there is no desperate rush, you can make the ED next month. Stick around, savour it a bit, it is good fun... honest.
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On March 24 2009 23:27 Klaz wrote:
well I might not make it in the top 5 after all, looks like the "regulars" are all making a push to defeat the "gamers". Back to #6 now. Should be fun to see what happens. Either way it's been a fun ride.
@Klaz, if you're looking for critiques from Authonomy regulars it might be a good thing not to make it to top five this month. Reason: Once a book makes it to the top five and gets reviewed by HC it gets significantly fewer reviews by Authonomy members.
If you're not looking for critiques from Authonomy users, then the faster you get the HC critique the better. But, as Mockingbird has previously pointed out, the HC critiques range from exceptionally poor to excellent. That's the critiques, not the books being reviewed.
Some critiques have been brutally harsh. Some critques have been exceptionally supportive. You can read the HC critiques. Go to the 'books' home page. Select a book with a Gold Star (Gold Star books have had a HC critique). On the Gold Starred book's comment page, the HC critique will be labeled as such and is normally first in the sequence of comments. Remember, not all critiques are the same in detail, so it might be a good idea to read several. Your choice, of course.
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rank 6 (+2953) jus 1 moe rank =o
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Lol this guy is clever, he used my book's rise to keep his TSR at number 1. And now he's using it to keep me out of the top 5. REALLY CLEVER.
Basically spamming everyone on the site, promising to back their books if they keep me out of the top 5.
http://www.authonomy.com/Forum/Posts.aspx?threadId=19063
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Calgary25995 Posts
Awesome. I am a huge fan of playing to win within the ruleset. Good for him.
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motbob
United States12546 Posts
On March 25 2009 02:15 Klaz wrote:Lol this guy is clever, he used my book's rise to keep his TSR at number 1. And now he's using it to keep me out of the top 5. REALLY CLEVER. Basically spamming everyone on the site, promising to back their books if they keep me out of the top 5. http://www.authonomy.com/Forum/Posts.aspx?threadId=19063
Well if all this doesn't work out, and you have to go to other avenues of getting published, you can tell them about this site and say that your book was so controversial that it made it to the top 5, but a concerted effort of its detractors knocked it out. Maybe it's a lie of omission but it'll get them to take a good hard look at your book. 
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Seems like some undercover heists are going on around there on Authonomy... love it. Isn't the internet just great? 
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Well, TBH I didn't really expect to make it to the top 5 when I started, so it won't be a huge disappointment if I don't. Still kinda lame to get so close and just miss out. Still, I've gotten some good feedback, and not really invested THAT much time in the endeavour.
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Isn't there a week still of voting left? I think you'll get inside the top 5. Especially as more people watch that vid.
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Lol I voted for that book.
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On March 25 2009 02:15 Klaz wrote:Lol this guy is clever, he used my book's rise to keep his TSR at number 1. And now he's using it to keep me out of the top 5. REALLY CLEVER. Basically spamming everyone on the site, promising to back their books if they keep me out of the top 5. http://www.authonomy.com/Forum/Posts.aspx?threadId=19063
haha this thing gets better and better
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The whole thing is retarded. I'm pretty sure 99% of people who voted for Klazart have never had the intention if reading a bloody line of his book.
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EPT
