Why do some good guides fail and poor ones succeed?

Basically, I would like to know, from a statistical standpoint.

I think that it's because some heroes get far more exposure than others, and because if your guide doesn't do very well in the "newest" section, it never resurfaces.

Supply and demand, that's really it. Since I'm a guide guy, I can give some input.

Guide Quality, it's important, but it's not the most important thing. It's rare that a guide carries itself with it's writing quality alone. I think only E1Mar1ach1's Wraith King guide manages that, since I find it's the best hero guide on this site. Certain guides on ideas like Sando's various guides to drafting, or Hamster's guide to screwing pubstompers obviously have a high demand too.

People have specific types of guides they want to read, mostly of core (or coreish/unclear roles, like Sand King), and not of supports, and there's certain heroes that people just naturally gravitate to, like Dragon Knight. More important is that the guide has to stand out in some way to the other guides.

My youtube channel has a video with 4.3 million views, so this is something I noticed that draws people's attention. Make controversial statements, but not super controversial, just enough. I figured this out when I said that Sand King's Aghs is terrible (since 50% of SK's I saw still bought it back then, things have changed since then), when I said that Abaddon is a good Radiance carrier, or that a good core item for snowballing Necro is Bloodstone (which I have since withdrawn, the item is **** now and there's Octarine Core in this game now too). These kind of things make guides stand out and make people more likely to share the guides.

Timing is important too, especially since Dotafire as a website has very unstable traffic. People rush in only when new patches, new heroes, or giveaways happen. A lot of people visit, but no one wants to stay, that's why there's only like 20 people online at a time. Plus, high traffic guide writers can easily push down another guides (happens quite often with Safecyn and his awesome works), since from what I've seen, there are never 2 guide discussions at the same time.

Hamster's countering pubstompers guide is an effective demonstration of all of this. High demand, people hate pubstompers. It stands out for being long, detailed, and even is full of hamster's hyperbolic way of writing. When he first released it, it was when Dotafire was still popular before 6.83 made a significant number of people completely stop playing the game, and most of it is still relevant, since those heroes covered are low level pubstompers who never really change anyway.

I think Cuttleboss has it right in every thing he says. I would just add this other detail that he didn't mention, which is the "argument of authority". We all know that the resident people here tend to ignore or undervalue guides from new people - or at least be more aggressive when talking to them about what their opinion on it is, either for the build itself or for formatting, while looking automatically in a favourable way to those written by ancient or well known members. This is a mixed thing, because it has its upsides and downsides.

I actually felt this happen to myself, as when I first joined and did a guide I had mostly outside people commenting on it and less reaction from the residents, whereas the last guide I made had very nice comments from old members that know me now - and even if they don't know the hero or play him (her in this case) that much.

The lack of the favourite system also hurts a bit, as you whether have this really unique guide that you go and search by memory because you remember the title or the author - like the ones Cuttle mentioned - or you just loose it in the middle of all the noise. I noted that more when I started doing a bit of coaching and needed to find some guides here I thought were useful, and it was actually very difficult to find them again.

I havent done my homework over this one but It depends on the skill set you have and what role you are more suited to play with.

I play mostly support and if I ever start playing from a carry or tank or for that matter any other role... I always fail even if I am following a legit guide. I am just not suited to play as a carry that's all.