update post of updatey-ness

[dbskyler]

First off, I can't believe that the Age of Moffat is almost upon us! Just think, only 15 more days until I get to see the Eleventh Doctor's first episode!

(Okay, yes, I know that I just might be able to find it on the internet before then, but I prefer to wait for BBC America's broadcast. It will, however, be a difficult wait!)

In the meantime, I'm going to continue on with my "10 Favorite Tenth Doctor" episode countdown posts, which means I'll still be posting about Ten while all the rest of you are off raving or ranting about Eleven. Speaking of which, I'll be avoiding spoilers, so you might see me disappearing a bit from reading LJ until we've caught up over here in the backwaters of the U.S. Also, apologies in advance that my posts will be non-current, but truthfully I have no problem with being non-current -- in fact, if anyone wants to know my favorite Fourth Doctor episodes, I'm happy to oblige!

In other random news, I want to recommend that everyone go check out this marvelous new comm: dw_concrete. It's a place to put up your stories for honest, critical review, and I've already gotten some really useful feedback about one of my stories from an anonymous reviewer there.

Finally, I have an LJ-vs.-Teaspoon observation on my latest fic, "On the Benefits of Having an Attic." Here on LJ, it got a phenomenal response -- 18 people commented, which is about what I got for the initial posting of "Fallacy Somewhere," and that one went on to become arguably my most popular story. On Teaspoon, however, while I wouldn't say that "On the Benefits" has completely thumped, it has sort of thumped, especially relative to my other stories. So of course, me being me, I have to wonder: why the difference? The fic didn't get especially buried when it emerged from the Teaspoon queue. Of course, one simple explanation might be that a lot of people who would've reviewed it on Teaspoon had already reviewed it on LJ (it was posted here first), and people don't tend to review stories twice, nor should they. But I'm wondering if the real problem is the summary, which I think isn't that great. I barely notice the summaries on LJ, but on Teaspoon they're vital to drawing a reader to click on your story. I'm even wondering if I should go change the summary to something better, but I don't know if that would even make a difference this long after posting. Of course, the other alternative explanation is that Teaspoon readers don't like the story that much. I've been wondering if I should put it up for review on dw_concrete, but some of those comm members have already given me positive reviews for the fic and I'm worried it would come across as trolling for more. Of course, it would also be an opportunity for them to tell me what they really think . . . ;)

Comments

[pitry.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

First thing, I did think like dbskyler - for some people, anonymity is needed to give their honest opinion - you know, not out of intention to offend, but because these things are so sensitive (and let's admit it, out fanfics are our babies! Except for some of my fanfics which I disown...) and they're afraid to mess up friendships if their honest opinion is taken up too well.
OR, the other way round. Afraid people won't give their honest opinion because they would be afraid it would be taken the wrong way. Thing is, I get what you say about anonymity, and in a perfect world you'd be right, but internet fandom in general, not just Who, simply doesn't work that way.

Which leads us to the second part, which is, yes, these reviews are anonymous, but not exactly. I could have set this up with a sock puppet. I could also have let people post their reviews anonymously directly to the comm. It's not by accident all reviews are posted under my username - no, I didn't write all of them, but I, personally, am taking responsibility for any review that's posted through the comm. That's sort of my way of circumnavigating the biggest problem about anonymity (at least the bit I feel is the biggest problem) - the no responsibility bit.

But, of course, you're free to disagree, that's the beauty of the internet. ;)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said, I realise I'm in the minority, and I realise my reaction is biased owing to the nastiness I've previously encountered from anonymous "reviews". Obviously not everyone's going to agree with me - nor do I expect them to - despite the claims that I'm an Evil Oppressor who wants to sway everyone to my thinking.

[curuchamion.livejournal.com]

...I always wondered where the "evil oppressor Persiflage" joke came from! Many things now make a lot more sense. ;-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

You only had to ask and I'd have explained...