My Thoughts on Vocal’s Weekly Bonus Leaderboard
honesty doesn't equal hatred
Note: I finally learnt how to properly leave links. That and I finally remembered I needed to do that here.
Sometime after I showed up here again, in yet another new Vocal account (because I decided why not return?), I caught a glimpse of a leaderboard and thought, “huh, maybe I can make it onto that someday. It looks hella helpful.” Now, months later, I check out the leaderboards and there’s always someone saying something negative in the comment section, which makes me think, “maybe I don’t want to be on that leaderboard, after all.”
The comments are something on the lines of:
“The AI’s are winning. Get rid of AI.”
“I’m seeing the same people, over and over again.”
“The supportive commenters are just spamming the same thing, over and over again.”
Honestly? They have a point.
The Categories
Most Discussed Stories - stories that have the most comments on them, with honorable mentions included.
Most Liked Stories - stories that generated a lot of likes, making them popular and probably also a top story.
Most Read Stories (former category) - stories that had the highest number of reads.
Most Subscribed Creators - who gained the most subscribers within the week.
Most Supportive Commenters - creators who leave the most comments.
Emerging Creator (former category) - newcomers that have the highest combined likes and comments on their story
The Negatives
“The AI’s are winning. Get rid of AI.”
It does feel like, as time goes forward, more and more AI is showing up on the site, to a point that creators are second guessing if other creators are actually AI or not. This kind of thinking could get someone accidentally kicked off Vocal, just because someone thought they were AI.
Therefore, I think accepting AI on this site was a very bad idea.
“I’m seeing the same people, over and over again.”
Note: the statistics aren't to be mean or to call people out; it's because I was actually curious at the time to see if the above comment was true. And it was; sort of, I guess.
Dharrsheena Raja Segarran - 90 appearances [new note: my homie!]
Cathy Holmes - 77 appearances [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Paul Stewart - 70 appearances [new note: we talked a few times; he's cool]
Heather Hubler - 50 appearances [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Babs Iverson - 50 appearances [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Rachel Deeming - 48 appearances [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Donna Fox - 44 appearances [new note: we talked a few times and now, we're gonna read each other's books; she's cool]
L.C. Schäfer - 41 appearances - [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Hannah Moore - 40 appearances - [new note: I can't recall if we've spoken at some point or not... X.x]
Firstly, goddamn, the first three made some coin, holy shit.
Secondly, yes. Yes, I did go through every single leaderboard to come up with this information. No, I wasn’t about to keep up with which categories they showed up in, nor was I gonna list everyone who showed up more than twenty times. I did enough to get a decent group listed. You’ll just have to rely on your own memory for more. The data above is how many times they showed up in general.
Also, take into account that this also comes from when people would show up in several categories at once before that changed.
Now, I'm gonna ignore the story likes and related categories because that's just life. People will read what they want to read. It is what it is.
However, I get the frustration about some of them showing up a lot/almost always in the subscribers and commenters categories; that does seem a bit unfair, no ifs or buts about it. There should be limitations of some sort to prevent the same people from popping up so often.
Or those categories should just get removed altogether.
Hell, maybe the leaderboard should just be discontinued, by this point. It had a good run but the lack of a chance that the less popular are getting is just getting ridiculous at this point.
And honestly, I won’t be surprised when people start calling out Vocal for having favorites. I see a lot of this during the Wattys on Wattpad. It doesn’t matter if it’s an automatic thing, random, or someone actually picking people, there will be someone who will throw out the favoritism card.
“The supportive commenters are just spamming the same thing, over and over again.”
The comments should be limited by how many words you use. Say, it needs to be thirty words or more for it to count, and you can’t spam the exact same message over and over again on different stories; there should be a popup warning you about spamming when you do that (Quotev has one, or at least it did at some point because there was too many “follow for follow” comments on people’s profiles). And it has to actually be thoughtful, compelling, and supportive.
And all the links to people’s stories or websites being put in the comment section should just be banned from the site altogether; we see enough self promo in YouTube comments and, well, every other social media site, actually. We don’t need it here. If we want to see if you’ve written something, we’d click on your profile. Showing us those links makes us more likely to just report your ass.
The Positives
Exposure. You see someone’s name often enough, you’re bound to get curious about them, no?
Money. Everyone wants a bonus. Otherwise, it feels pointless to be on a website like this because for a lot of people, reads, likes, and getting top story doesn’t go very well. Which, you shouldn’t be money focused anyways; be happy you’re exposing your talents for writing, formatting, etc. Your reads will pick up with time. Just be consistent with your posting and what you generally post about.
Conclusion
I think it’s time to call it quits with the leaderboard. It’s only a matter of time before people start picking fights in the comment section and you can’t silence everyone. Just stick with the top stories; that’s already a bonus for people on here, and it’s not always the same people.
Five Months Later Update
The bonus leaderboard has since been changed, with a single category: Most Discussed Stories. Again, while it's changed for the better, I must say that some names are repeated sometimes on the listings because of popularity. That’s to be expected, however unfair it feels like it is.
About the Creator
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Comments (9)
I think you've got a point here Luna, regarding the Leaderboard. It makes the site feel like a high-school scramble for popularity, because you can potentially earn more money here than by actually writing and placing in a Challenge. Which for the most, is surely the purpose of Vocal- to get people writing. The Leaderboard has definitely changed (and for the better) since you published this, but I think just getting rid of it overall feels like the best move.
First off those are all great creators in the top categories, and makes me want to try harder to get up there on numbers. However I agree, I see how it can be defeating to see the same names. But practice and write until your name appears. My first story was a TS then I didn’t see another for two years. That was frustrating but it made me read the winners and practice. I also agree on certain categories, they are Ai spammed. Except Dharrsheena, she leave honest and in-depth comments. I commend you for you work and effort, plus you have honest concerns that should be addressed by Vocal. Well said Luna
Paul Stewart pointed me here and I'm glad he did! I'm writing a Vocalite Manifesto and Part 2 drops tomorrow all about the Vocal Leaderboard. Would you mind if I shared a link to this piece in mine? I'm wanting to get Vocal's attention and share perspectives on issues the platform has that I think need to be addressed!
Honestly... 44 is my lucky number so I like this stat. thanks for pulling these, makes me feel a little better about myself. I didn't think I had my name on the list as much as you pointed out, thanks for the boost! 😅 You should have linked us all in the post (ironically, all the individuals on this list are in my friend group on here). On another note, sorry to see you feeling discouraged about how Vocal chooses the winners of things. If it helps, it took me two years get my first TS and I only just recently got my first challenge badge... I still don't get how these things are chosen! 😅 Like Paul, I'm also feeling a little called out but am assuming this wasn't geared at the creators, more the operation of Vocal itself?
Whoa girl, this was such a refreshingly honest and funny take—Can’t believe you went through every leaderboard. That definitely deserves its own leaderboard spot, honestly. 💖✨
You stated quite a few well thought out facts in this article. We will just have to wait and see what happens. When I started here four almost five years ago. Bonuses were on how many different stories you read from the communities.
I honestly feel a little called out here. lol. But, this is a very good piece and I agree with so much of what you're saying. I despise the commenters and subscribers categories, because they seem to be where (along with the emerging creators one they scrapped) the AI fakers can succeed most. I did wonder how many times I had appeared, as I'm obviously not blind or oblivious but never sat and tried to count. So, I guess thank you for that? :) And yeah, I have definitely done alright out of the leaderboard setup, but I can honestly say I just approach my writing as I did before it was even a thing and would do the same if it was taken away. I do understand you weren't suggesting otherwise, but just making that point! I have a piece I am working on that's going to address many different things, like the leaderboard - would it be okay to refer back to this piece, please? Well done on a very honest and important piece, Luna!
A hell of a lot of valid points here. It can feel like being a mouse in some grand experiment. And AI is an enemy that we have allowed through the gates.
Firstly, hahahahahhahahahaha I can't believe you actually counted and made that list! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Secondly, I totally agree with you. The Most Subscribed Creators and Most Supportive Commenters should be removed. Those 2 categories are AI frauds favourite playground. The Most Discussed Stories and Most Popular Stories can remain because it would be difficult for AI frauds to get on those. But if the Leaderboard could be removed entirely, that'll be great! I'm sick of seeing AI frauds there! Always copy pasting the same generic AI-Generated comments!