What makes you give a story a 1-star rating?

[darkpikacha]

I think I give one stars when it's just a cash grab format story. Obviously not on this website, but on webnovel. I am not going say the "author's name". But more then half of their chapters were saying donate to patron and give powerstones. Yeah very obvious why I decided to give a 1 star.

 

[Azazel_E]

Oof

I think SH is a lot nicer than other communities tho

Definitely. Look at all the wonderful people in this thread

I think I give one stars when it's just a cash grab format story. Obviously not on this website, but on webnovel. I am not going say the "author's name". But more then half of their chapters were saying donate to patron and give powerstones. Yeah very obvious why I decided to give a 1 star.

I can respect this. I mean, I want my readers' money too, but the story comes first. Making sure as many people as possible enjoy my writing comes second. Cosmo comes third. Money is a distant consideration.

When he made NTR so i gave a 1

NTR is heresy!

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I got to thinking about this after seeing my second 1-star rating.

I don't think I have ever given a story a 1-star rating in my life. That means you absolutely hate it. As in, it's complete and utter garbage. I-am-offended-you-had-the-audacity-to-post-it level garbage. I've never come across a story that bad. 1-star means you have no plot, terrible writing, terrible formatting, a terrible cover, terrible grammar, AND you have to insult at least one ethnic minority.

If it's something I feel I won't like because of personal taste (I find a character annoying, angsty romance, cliché cultivation novels), I just move on, not insult the writing itself. And if I give a rating of less than 4.5, I'll write a review saying why.

How about you? What makes you give a story a bad rating? How do you feel about 1-star reviews and what deserves them?

I ONLY give 1-stars.
Because all stories are simply pale imitations of my own godly works, and such disrespect deserves naught but the harshest of critiques.

Anyway jokes aside I dont give 1 stars seriously. Only for petty ass reasons.

"Yeah man the story is great but the heroine fucked up those steaks 100 chapters ago so here is your 1 star. It's well earned"

 

[Azazel_E]

I ONLY give 1-stars.
Because all stories are simply pale imitations of my own godly works, and such disrespect deserves naught but the harshest of critiques.

Anyway jokes aside I dont give 1 stars seriously. Only for petty ass reasons.

"Yeah man the story is great but the heroine fucked up those steaks 100 chapters ago so here is your 1 star. It's well earned"

Your Grace! We are humbled you deigned to bless us with your divine presence!

I could live with someone doing that. Give everyone a good laugh

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Readers on sh are toxic and karens, so it's normal for even good stories to have many 1 star ratings and overall above 3.4 stars. If you write genderbend stuff you will have more than 4 overall stars for sure since SH is a community which is into genderbend, yaoi, yuri stuff. Pretty sure that you will get above 3.9 stars atleast in other communities.

Your personal experience isnt indicative of the overall toxicity of the community as a whole. We can be. It's just not FULL of it. Some people are just vocal assholes, but most of us dont even comment.

You wont even get views in most other sites unless you are both good at marketing your story and appeal their that site's most popular genre, anyway.

You dont go to Wattpad and expect a mystery crime novel to flourish. Know what I'm sayin'?

 

[owotrucked]

vocal assholes are everywhere. I'm sure it's proportional to the size of the community.

I don't rate 1-star either, unless I've been forced at gunpoint to leave a review for something I didn't like

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Ah, yes. I believe one man's trash is another man's treasure applies here.
Or perhaps one man's floor is another man's ceiling.

Yes, please!

vocal assholes are everywhere. I'm sure it's proportional to the size of the community.

I don't rate 1-star either, unless I've been forced at gunpoint to leave a review for something I didn't like

*holds gun to head* Cough up that 1-star rating!

"Yeah man the story is great but the heroine fucked up those steaks 100 chapters ago so here is your 1 star. It's well earned"

Did she use condom?

I think I give one stars when it's just a cash grab format story. Obviously not on this website, but on webnovel. I am not going say the "author's name". But more then half of their chapters were saying donate to patron and give powerstones. Yeah very obvious why I decided to give a 1 star.

Donate to My Patreon! Do it now! Do it so I can hire a wet nurse and get back to writing!

I gave 3 one star reviews in my whole life and all three were too bad. No plot and very very bad English, almost unreadable.
I still felt very guilty about when I was giving them.
Normally if I don't like a novel I try to judge it objectively and see some good points. I will give 2 or 3 stars.

Assuage your guilt by give me one star! Pleasepleaseplease!

I think I've only ever given one one-star rating in my life, and it was requested from me by the writer herself. She collect's one-star ratings.

Apart from that, I don't really see the point. If I don't like what I see in the first few paragraphs, I hit the back button.

? ? ? ????

Personally, the only times i have given out 1 star was because of grammar, NTR or somethin worse. The only time i have given out 1 star with that not being the cause is when i was so frustrated with the mc obviously knowing what will happen to them but not doing shit about it and letting it happen to them like a goody two shoes bruh, youre crying about it now but you let it happen to yourself wtf? If you know whats gonna come stop it? Fucking idiot mc

My MC knows she's going to get fucked, and she gets fucked. Can I have my 1 star now, please?

Ahh... If the author purposely creates wrong content, then those authors deserve it. Don't consider yourself in that category

I deserve it ?

Even so, for me personally, I would really have to be disgusted by the story to give it one star. Like if I read a story and am just absolutely horrified at the things it promotes or something along those lines. And even then, it would have to be some very particular stuff.

Are you disgusted by prostitution?

I would never leave a 1 star rating, because why even read it at that point?

You can give mine 1 star without reading it ?

It will have little to no redeeming qualities.

Like mine, right?

In my opinion 1-star rating is something that has terrible grammar. And you basically can't read the story due to how badly everything is phrased. Constant misusage of words, contradictions, and other similar stuff. In other words, when a technical aspect sucks a lot, I would give a story a 1-star or lower rating.

The problem with ratings and reviews is that everyone sees them differently. Except for haters, people might give one star simply because they don't like something. They don't look at how the said something is written the quality of it. If they don't like it, they put a 1 star or half a star. Some people don't give a low star rating no matter how badly something is written. Because they respect the author, who took his time to write and so on and so forth. Anyway, you can't think that everyone has the same thinking as yourself. That everyone uses ratings and reviews the same way you do. So don't think hard about them. Also, scribble hub notorious for the following thing. Almost all the novel that hit a trending or shows up in the latest series will get a fair share of one-star ratings. Even when you release a new novel with a single chapter, chances are high someone will give you a one star.
Edit. I also forgot to mention how I personally feel about this. It's not comfortable to get one-star ratings, so I try to ignore them as much as I can.

Wait . . . so do I have to fuck up the grammar in my story to get one star from you?

The only time I've ever given a 1 star rating was when I was personally at odds with its author and wanted to see him crash and burn, which he did and I regret absolutely nothing, regardless of the story itself being whatever it was. (wasn't that good in of itself but not deserving of a 1 star)

Watch me crash! Watch me burn!

 

[bigbear51]

Why does everyone take 1stars like it's supposed to be the worst thing ever? No one ever says, oh 5stars must mean the story is perfect and top tier writing. And yes, I have given 1stars because what's the point of rating anything if I'm not allowed to feel negative towards a story.

Of course there's the same old talk of toxicity as always when a discussion like this comes up. Might as well not even publish if that's how you're going to view readers.

 

[Snusmumriken]

Why does everyone take 1stars like it's supposed to be the worst thing ever? No one ever says, oh 5stars must mean the story is perfect and top tier writing. And yes, I have given 1stars because what's the point of rating anything if I'm not allowed to feel negative towards a story.

Of course there's the same old talk of toxicity as always when a discussion like this comes up. Might as well not even publish if that's how you're going to view readers.

what are you talking about? this thread was almost the opposite of toxicity. and no one is talking about readers - everyone is talking about themselves and the stories.

 

[bigbear51]

what are you talking about? this thread was almost the opposite of toxicity. and no one is talking about readers - everyone is talking about themselves and the stories.

Readers on sh are toxic and karens,

Well, this would be one example. Not to mention the discussion about people being trolls just for using the 1star like this one.

Yeah I mean I think there are a lot of trolls who will give 1 star ratings,

Funny that people are fine with throwing that out without evidence.

 

[Discount_Blade]

I give 1-stars so I can come here and see the children whine, piss and moan and make numerous threads doing said pissing, whining, and moaning here in the forums. That they actually get so upset and immediately insist it's unfair and not their shit stories are also part of the enjoyment.

Eh, but I've had this song and dance many times. No one complains about the absolutely absurdly astronomical amounts of 5 stars people get which are ALMOST ALWAYS undeserved since 5 stars literally mean "Amazing. Very hard to offer any criticism." In fact, I'd argue likely every 5 star anyone has ever received on this site wasn't deserved since this site's average writing skill level is already dwarfed even by it's most direct competition/neighbor RoyalRoad.

But nah, lets complain about that 1-star you likely deserved anyway and conveniently ignore all those good ratings I would guarantee you probably didn't earn with actual skill.

Lol, it's like handing out participation prizes!!!!

Funny that people are fine with throwing that out without evidence.

Gods yes THIS. Thats another of those annoying ass things. 1-star? Definitely a troll so lemme message Tony to correct this trolling act before my ego takes a plunge. Can't have that happening!!!

 

[War_and_Poetry]

I give 1-stars so I can come here and see the children whine, piss and moan and make numerous threads doing said pissing, whining, and moaning here in the forums. That they actually get so upset and immediately insist it's unfair and not their shit stories are also part of the enjoyment.

Eh, but I've had this song and dance many times. No one complains about the absolutely absurdly astronomical amounts of 5 stars people get which are ALMOST ALWAYS undeserved since 5 stars literally mean "Amazing. Very hard to offer any criticism." In fact, I'd argue likely every 5 star anyone has ever received on this site wasn't deserved since this site's average writing skill level is already dwarfed even by it's most direct competition/neighbor RoyalRoad.

But nah, lets complain about that 1-star you likely deserved anyway and conveniently ignore all those good ratings I would guarantee you probably didn't earn with actual skill.

Lol, it's like handing out participation prizes!!!!

Gods yes THIS. Thats another of those annoying ass things. 1-star? Definitely a troll so lemme message Tony to correct this trolling act before my ego takes a plunge. Can't have that happening!!!

Yeah it is pretty pathetic the number of people that automatically message Tony or make those egotistical arse posts complaining about how they got a 1-star XDDD

 

[DubstheDuke]

Funny that people are fine with throwing that out without evidence.

Well, with a single chapter out my new story has already received a one star rating. So either the first chapter was really bad or it was a troll. Personally, if you're going to rate 1 star on the first chapter then I can't help but assume you're a troll unless either the grammar is simply horrid or the story is just a trainwreck from the very start. Even then, it's the FIRST chapter. Who rates a story on a single chapter? Oh yeah. A troll would.

Not claiming necessarily that my story isn't a trainwreck, but if that isn't the case then this is one example of evidence - as I have had this go through an editor for grammar and such therefore I am confident that it isn't due to such a reason.

 

[Discount_Blade]

Well, with a single chapter out my new story has already received a one star rating. So either the first chapter was really bad or it was a troll. Personally, if you're going to rate 1 star on the first chapter then I can't help but assume you're a troll unless either the grammar is simply horrid or the story is just a trainwreck from the very start. Even then, it's the FIRST chapter. Who rates a story on a single chapter? Oh yeah. A troll would.

Not claiming necessarily that my story isn't a trainwreck, but if that isn't the case then this is one example of evidence - as I have had this go through an editor for grammar and such therefore I am confident that it isn't due to such a reason.

Don't know about SH, but I've read until Chapter 14 or so on your story on RR, and the early chapters are extremely rough. I gave it a 3.5 but then I knocked it down to 3 after I got to the combat and the dice-rolling thing is just an extremely awful way to decide combat. I'd consider re-reading it if it weren't for the dice thing.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Gods yes THIS. Thats another of those annoying ass things. 1-star? Definitely a troll so lemme message Tony to correct this trolling act before my ego takes a plunge. Can't have that happening!!!

Yeah it is pretty pathetic the number of people that automatically message Tony or make those egotistical arse posts complaining about how they got a 1-star XDDD

I'm considering asking him to remove the 5-star ratings on my story.

Why does everyone take 1stars like it's supposed to be the worst thing ever?

Good question!

Well, with a single chapter out my new story has already received a one star rating. So either the first chapter was really bad or it was a troll. Personally, if you're going to rate 1 star on the first chapter then I can't help but assume you're a troll unless either the grammar is simply horrid or the story is just a trainwreck from the very start. Even then, it's the FIRST chapter. Who rates a story on a single chapter? Oh yeah. A troll would.

Not claiming necessarily that my story isn't a trainwreck, but if that isn't the case then this is one example of evidence - as I have had this go through an editor for grammar and such therefore I am confident that it isn't due to such a reason.

Trolls are so cute! I'll take them off your hands if you don't want them!

 

[Azazel_E]

I give 1-stars so I can come here and see the children whine, piss and moan and make numerous threads doing said pissing, whining, and moaning here in the forums. That they actually get so upset and immediately insist it's unfair and not their shit stories are also part of the enjoyment.

Eh, but I've had this song and dance many times. No one complains about the absolutely absurdly astronomical amounts of 5 stars people get which are ALMOST ALWAYS undeserved since 5 stars literally mean "Amazing. Very hard to offer any criticism." In fact, I'd argue likely every 5 star anyone has ever received on this site wasn't deserved since this site's average writing skill level is already dwarfed even by it's most direct competition/neighbor RoyalRoad.

But nah, lets complain about that 1-star you likely deserved anyway and conveniently ignore all those good ratings I would guarantee you probably didn't earn with actual skill.

Lol, it's like handing out participation prizes!!!!

Gods yes THIS. Thats another of those annoying ass things. 1-star? Definitely a troll so lemme message Tony to correct this trolling act before my ego takes a plunge. Can't have that happening!!!

This is true.

For some reason, people feel guilty offering their honest opinions on a story. I mean, if my writing sucks, I'd like to know so I can improve. Feelings have to be hurt a little. At the same time, just because someone doesn't like your story, doesn't mean it's bad and you don't have to change a single thing if you don't want to. It's all a part of the experience. I just hate voiceless 1-star ratings because there's no exchange.

I agree with the 5-star ratings being overused. I have given very few 5-stars as well, but they exist. For example, Katalepsis. Friggin' amazing story but even it has a few problems. Sheer enjoyment made me ignore them though, highly recommend.

From the testimonies, I'm feeling that the SH community rates 'enjoyment' rather than 'writing' when I personally feel it should be both. Eh.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

Well, with a single chapter out my new story has already received a one star rating. So either the first chapter was really bad or it was a troll. Personally, if you're going to rate 1 star on the first chapter then I can't help but assume you're a troll unless either the grammar is simply horrid or the story is just a trainwreck from the very start. Even then, it's the FIRST chapter. Who rates a story on a single chapter? Oh yeah. A troll would.

Not claiming necessarily that my story isn't a trainwreck, but if that isn't the case then this is one example of evidence - as I have had this go through an editor for grammar and such therefore I am confident that it isn't due to such a reason.

No, just because they rate you a 1 star after the very first chapter does not mean they are a troll. Regardless if they rate you, readers will judge you by the first chapter to see if they should continue reading or not. Sometimes it depends on the content itself, if its downright bad (like there are some things that i have mentioned that would rather avoid bc of the things it promotes) then yeah, I could see maybe why they gave that person a one star. Ofc, readers can be very judgy and picky about what they read so that's that.

For some reason, people feel guilty offering their honest opinions on a story. I mean, if my writing sucks, I'd like to know so I can improve. Feelings have to be hurt a little. At the same time, just because someone doesn't like your story, doesn't mean it's bad and you don't have to change a single thing if you don't want to. It's all a part of the experience. I just hate voiceless 1-star ratings because there's no exchange.

Same too honestly. I think sometimes, some of us writers want that feedback so we can improve on our story, but the ones that could give us some good pointers are afraid to tell us bc they don't want to appear rude or make the author feel upset into thinking another reader telling them what to do. So it leaves with not much comment or feedback on how the story progresses so can't really tell where to improve or if story is good, etc. Criticisms may sting and it hurts for sure, but at the end of the day I'll take it, sort out the unhelpful ones, and see if there are any good ones I can use to improve and become better. Cause otherwise it would be a bit of being lost in dark trying to find how to make it good.

 

[TheTrinary]

Completely unreadable or morally offensive.

 

[peelsdeeni]

usually if the author makes a perfectly good story of wholesomeness into ntr, if its completely unreadable, or just very very morally offensive and questionable

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

No, just because they rate you a 1 star after the very first chapter does not mean they are a troll. Regardless if they rate you, readers will judge you by the first chapter to see if they should continue reading or not. Sometimes it depends on the content itself, if its downright bad (like there are some things that i have mentioned that would rather avoid bc of the things it promotes) then yeah, I could see maybe why they gave that person a one star. Ofc, readers can be very judgy and picky about what they read so that's that.

Same too honestly. I think sometimes, some of us writers want that feedback so we can improve on our story, but the ones that could give us some good pointers are afraid to tell us bc they don't want to appear rude or make the author feel upset into thinking another reader telling them what to do. So it leaves with not much comment or feedback on how the story progresses so can't really tell where to improve or if story is good, etc. Criticisms may sting and it hurts for sure, but at the end of the day I'll take it, sort out the unhelpful ones, and see if there are any good ones I can use to improve and become better. Cause otherwise it would be a bit of being lost in dark trying to find how to make it good.

The ruder the better make me cry for nights, Sensei!
In all honesty, I don't care if they give me any rating. Just give me the reason why as blunty as possible so it makes me think for the days to come on my errors.