hi all,

i've been posting my writing on ywo for a while now, and thought i understood the 'system'...but something's happened with my latest novel extract which i just don't understand. i've emailed ted, but had no reply...so could any of you ywo experts help or explain?

i loaded 'the tracks... (revised)' on 25th October, and was fortunate to receive consistently excellent reviews. i received my 8th reviewthe sunday before last and, as a result, hit no.1 the next day. i'm familiar enough with YWO to know the process and rules for remaining in the top 10, plus 'my page' stated clearly that, to remain in the top 10, I should attach another credit by 25th November latest.

Though I didn't have as much time to spend on YWO last week as I'd have liked, I did ensure I submitted a review by the 25th and added a credit in time. A few hours later, I received another favourable review.

so i was really confused when, the following day, i dropped from no.2 in the YWO charts to no.21. not only that, despite 9 consistently positive reviews, my star average fell overnight from 4.6 to 4.1. apart from the fact that i suddenly fell from the top 10, it seemed unlikely that one additional review would send my work tumbling 19 places down.

i emailed ted as soon as this happened, but have heard nothing back. i've subsequently added another credit, and yesterday received another positive review. though i have consistently high marks, my star rating is still stuck where it was and i've only advanced a couple of spaces.

i've now got a couple of remove review credits so, if i thought it was one particular review making the difference, i'd remove it. however, not one review is negative or features low scores, so i don't see how that'll make a huge difference. i'm convinced there's been some kind of error, and am really hoping for some suggestions on what may have happened or even a solution.

oh, and i'm not doing this to bitch and moan, by the way - i'm just genuinely perplexed and, given that it's the penultimate day of the month, i'm looking for a quick solution which may help me salvage my original placing in time for the end of the month top ten results!

any help hugely appreciated.
dan

I've got no advice, Daaan but wanted to offer my support. It's ridiculous that you can get thrown out after receiving one positive review after another. Unless you have a few of those 'good comments/poor score' reviews. Do you know your average?

Makes no sense to me.

I think I would try taking off the two lowest markers in the hope hope it will kick start something stuck somewhere.

Other than that - bumscabs with fluff on to them. Their loss. This will be published, of that I have no doubt. I deleted my sig.

Hi Dan, I've been kicked out of the TT a few times, once when i forget to add a credit and another time when I added it too late. If you leave adding a credit until the eleventh hour the system sometimes thinks it has been added after midnight, though Ted would probably not agree.

Anyhow, if you've got a lot of fours mounting up then your rating will fall, you need mainly fives to stay at the top in my experience. So if I were you, I'd lose the two lowest scoring reviews and see what happens to your star rating.(You can copy and paste them into a doc if you want to keep the comments.) If the rating jumps back up and you still don't get back in the TT, then it's probably to do with a credit not being added in time.
I hope it works out for you, best wishes, Karen.

Dan, I don't know if this helps to clarify anything, but it seems that the scores in the Chart are currently all very close, with only decimal points of difference between them. Today, I have a story at no.8 and a story at no.18 but they are both rated at 4.3. Obviously this means a tiny alteration in your score can mean a big move up or down the Chart.

Of course, none of this explains why your scores shifted from 4.6 to 4.1 if you believe you've had mostly 5s, but it does perhaps explain why a story can shift so dramatically overnight. If stories beween 8 and 18 are all at the same apparent score, it means in effect a big difference between 4.1 and 4.6.

I hope your Remove Review option will improve the situation for you. I haven't read The tracks yet, but reading the comments it sounds like something special. I hope I get to read it soon.

Good luck!
Claire nil desperandum

thanks claire!
that's really helpful to know, maybe if things are that tight it could explain the drop...though it does seem odd to drop so much so suddenly.

dan