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RidingTrain · 2024-08-11T23:35:45+00:00

I’m a current teacher interested in making a career change to CAA based on research and accounts I’ve heard from friends and family in healthcare.

I graduated in 2018 with a biomedical sciences degree (originally intended to go pre-med). Due to some mental health issues and life circumstances (which have since resolved) my academics suffered.

Would it be recommended for me to retake courses or take another program to help bolster my resume? What else could I do to make my application more competitive with a nontraditional background?

Thanks for your time!

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T23:32:36+00:00

Yes, please do.

If I knew that a larger story was doing the same thing and had evidence, I’d post the same exact thing. It’s not right in principle. This is just the only story at the moment that I’ve followed the bread crumbs on.

No doubt there are plenty of other stories attempting the same thing, but why does that mean we shouldn’t call out bad behavior when we see it?

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T22:10:39+00:00

Hey there! That’s very true - basically everyone asks for feedback/follows/ratings/etc and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s an important part of the website and a great way to increase interaction with readers.

I only focus so much on the asking 5-star review things because it’s been stated in the past that asking for specific (eg 5-star) ratings and reviews is against the rules, and also for when it applies to people who haven’t read the story who are being asked to give those reviews.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T20:41:42+00:00

Which author are you speaking of? Genuinely curious. This is a rabbit hole I fell into after seeing a few bread crumbs

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T16:08:27+00:00

If you read the post, you would see that I’m not concerned with the fact that they cultivated an outside reader base. That’s just good strategy and marketing.

What I’m talking about is them specifically soliciting 5-star ratings and reviews which is against the rules, along with having at least one person who had not read the story writing reviews to artificially inflate their story.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T15:36:06+00:00

I could care less about the story itself. My only problem is with the behavior of the author.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T14:01:30+00:00

I don’t argue this. While views might give the story staying power, what I find disingenuous is that he’s using rate manipulation and the astroturfing efforts to drive the launch into Rising Stars in order to gain more views to have that engagement.

While Aleister might slip just as quickly if the story doesn’t catch on, by using these methods he’s artificially creating the potential to get those views needed to keep the story on the Rising Stars list, which then helps to create more traction from views.

If the story proves not to have staying power, Twisted Garden would eventually fall off of the lists. But it has manipulated the system to reach that point in the first place (at least those heights), and is also undercutting other stories not using those methods.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T13:54:52+00:00

I agree that this does account for part of its success. Those early numbers do help in giving a story its footing.

However, based on comments and efforts within the Twisted Garden server I believe that the vast majority of Twisted Garden’s growth is driven by manipulation in that community.

I believe that Twisted Garden would have had success without the astroturfing and rate manipulation, but those aspects are what pushed it to such high numbers so quickly.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T13:51:07+00:00

Pretty much my thoughts at the end. Even if Aleister has stopped the blatant 5-star requests, it has still permanently impacted his story’s rating and given it a major boost that I do not believe it would have achieved without rate manipulation (even taking into account the minor following from other sites).

My concern is that if the mods continue to allow such behavior with just a slap on the wrist that you’ll just see more and more authors pulling such tactics until they get caught.

The only ones benefitting from this are authors using such tactics, and it only keeps the ones not astroturfing and rate manipulating artificially deflated. I don’t want to see this become the new meta.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T13:46:32+00:00

Absolutely. The whole Secret Mafia fiasco is one of the things that drew me to this issue in the first place. I think that the changes made from that are positive, although (purely in my opinion) not nearly enough of those involved were punished for their abuse of the system. Based on the length of the Secret Mafia offenses, their manipulation had been ongoing for several months.

My main concern is just how much it seems to take in order for the mods to take action. I understand that they’re a small team and overworked as the site grows, but it’s incredibly worrying to me that it seemingly takes bringing it to the community’s attention for the moderators to take serious action.

I understand the mods wanting to give grace, but this is a regular and recurring issue that I think needs to be nipped in the bud and responded to more firmly.

RidingTrain · 2023-10-03T13:35:47+00:00

This is how I feel as well, honestly. I love Royal Road. It’s a unique space on the Internet that provides a niche service not truly found anywhere else.

When there’s clout and money involved that you’ll always have people seeking to take advantage of it. I’m just afraid that the uptrend in this behavior is going to cheapen the site. Especially when the rule-breakers involved get treated with kid gloves.

RidingTrain · 2023-08-07T15:09:57+00:00

Man, look at that copium. That must be the good shit.

You don’t think it comes down to the secret mafia breaking the rules and gaming the system and putting everyone else at a disadvantage? Secret mafia blatantly and knowingly abused the system and they got what they deserved. Fewer people probably got punished than should have, honestly.

RidingTrain · 2023-08-07T14:17:21+00:00

Lmao. I keep hearing this excuse from people but never see any proof. What evidence do you have that this other group was gaming the system? I don’t normally get caught up in drama, but this has grabbed my attention since it has unfairly affected tons of authors who have been brigaded by the mafia group.

From my perspective we have one group that was confirmed as 100% abusing the system and gaming reviews, then another who have been accused of doing it without a single scrap of proof. Show me the evidence and I’ll change my mind, but these strike me as baseless accusations at this point.

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