What're Your Thoughts on Most Popular/What's Hot Lists?

Two blogs in 24 hours? I am on a roll! I hope that not like, not allowed or anything, ahaha. But I had another thought, and it was really cool seeing your guys' perspectives last time (usually my blogs don't get like any comments so, I'm sort of running on a high bahaha) so! Another think piece!

I've been lurking around on a lot of different writing sites for a while. For the most part it was Quizilla, Mibba, and Wattpad. I've kind of looked around on other ones (FictionPress, Scribd, Inkpop was a thing?) but those are the three main ones, and it's interesting the way they ran things!

Quizilla had just a general Most Popular list, and then a Top Rated list. I don't remember looking around the Top Rated list often, but the Most Popular list was definitely a big thing for both quizzes and stories back then! Especially because it was for the entire site. And it wasn't a super huge site, but still. Stories on there were getting 10-80k view on a chapter, mostly because it was so in your face.

Mibba used to have the star system, I remember it super briefly (in one of my chapters in Homophobe I talk about it- so crazy) and as soon as I got the 10 stars (the total amount you could get) then they disappeared. And that was kind of it? Stories here are definitely all on an equal playing ground, for sure.

And lastly, Wattpad. Wattpad is huge, and so it divides it's "most popular" lists by genre. Ranking in a genre depends, something like Adventure is way easier to rank in rather than Teen Fiction or Romance. Every story must fall under one genre (unlike Mibba, where you get multiple, which is understandable for the way Wattpad operates but I do admittedly like this option better. I wish they had sub-genres) and then you can rank in the genre.

Now, all of these rankings, including the Mibba one, are based solely on numbers and traffic. Quizilla had the option to rate something from 1-5, but it didn't really matter that much. And Mibba and Wattpad have recommendations and voting respectively, but that too isn't a super identifier of quality writing.

I guess that's where Most Popular lists kind of go awry, in that because it's based on quantity not quality, all kinds of stories can show up on them. I notice with Quizilla and Wattpad, a lot of people complain about how these stories lack quality (although, while I definitely agree in some cases, sometimes I wonder if it's just bitterness?) and that there are so many other, better, undiscovered works. I think that's a definite upside to Mibba- without this kind of list, there's way less people complaining about how you need to be cliche, or have poor writing, or so on to be popular. People are way less focused on tearing other people down and way more focused on bringing in a community.

On the other hand, if you do manage to get on, it's great exposure for a story. Stories can go from just a couple of readers to hundreds of thousands because they have that opportunity to be broadcasted to the entire site. And, well, honestly it's fun. Seeing yourself climb through the ranks to the top is kind of motivating too! It's rewarding to see some kind of pay-off to your hard work! Also, I do like going through them. I know a lot of people bag on them for only having the worst kind of writing, but honestly, sometimes there's a reason why so many people like them. That definitely doesn't hold true to a lot of things, but a broken clock is right twice a day!

I definitely see the pros and cons of having one, or any kind of rating system. I know a lot of people were upset when Mibba got rid of their star system, would you want that kind of thing implemented? Or a What's Hot list type of thing? How do you feel about them?