I always thought it was based on votes, but maybe has something to do with favs and views as well? Not totally sure. Might be worth asking Toumal, just for some clarification.
Unfortunately he can't do anything about bad writers and worse readers.

Also, you're not a snob, but even if you were, snobs can be vindicated sometimes.

I will have to ask him sometime... hopefully it isn't, like, an orca secret or something.

Some funny stuff makes it into the top list... *growls because I never seem to get mine up there*

Ahem. Just leave people like that be, is my advice. It's awful writing, if the readers want to follow that for fap value - so be it. The good readers will come to you in the end, so I wouldn't be so rankled over the idiot.

Personally, I have absolutely no idea how people WOULD fap to that.

I've often wondered how those popularity things work, heh...and how much of this is written by virgins. I mean, I was a virgin when I first started writing, but even I at least knew what I was talking about.

Sturgeon's Law, Activate!

Sturgeon's Law?

Sturgeon's Law, after American science-fiction author Theodore Sturgeon, commonly rendered as "90% of everything is crap".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_Law

Ah... well, diamonds in the rough and what not.

Yes, but there's another saying that connects with it, that you can't polish shit.