Feedback Frenzy Redux, dudes.

[cruiscin_lan]

First, why this came to mind in the first place: the beta sign-ups at heroes_exchange close at the end of the day, so if you need a beta or if you want to beta, here's one last reminder for me.

So yeah. Anyway.

The holiday exchange got me thinking of doing Feedback Frenzy again. Feedback Frenzy was an idea I came up with a while ago, and I made the feedback_frenzy comm shortly afterwards. And then I promptly forgot all about it, because I haven't done a thing about it since then. Now I'm thinking of getting it running for the upcoming year, I hope.

For those of you just tuning in, Feedback Frenzy works in a way similar to a prompt table. You claim a table with a theme (genre, character/pairing, length, etc.). As you read fic that fits into appropriate squares, you leave a comment on the fic and link to that comment in your table. Upon completion of a table, you get a congratulatory banner. Yay fun, right?

I thought this was a great idea for a few reasons. For starters, leaving reviews can be just as difficult as writing fic. I know personally that sometimes I can read something and even if it's perfect and I loved it, I have a hard time expressing why. Besides that, I know there are some people on my flist who are stellar reviewers, and they deserve to be recognized for it. For example, I can distinctly remember last year's heroes_exchange when cameroncrazed commented on like every fic. I was amazed. Seriously. I wanted to bake her a cake.

There's just not a lot of opportunities for good reviewers to get recognition. Besides that, every author I know loves getting comments, especially thoughtful ones. So Feedback Frenzy seemed like a win/win.

I'm just trying to figure out if it actually is and, if not, what I can do to make it better.

One successful trial-run of Feedback Frenzy was for the heroes_exchange Valentine's Day exchange. In this post, the rules are stated as thus:

1. Absolutely NO FLAMING. Anyone leaving a comment that could be even remotely considered a flame is ineligible for this game.
   
2. It's okay to leave concrit, but if you don't have anything nice to say, it's better to say nothing at all. In other words, make sure you balance any criticism by commenting what you enjoyed about the fic, too.
   
3. Comments must be at least five sentences long; while it's all right to leave feedback that simply says "I liked it! Thanks for posting!" for the purposes of this game it needs to be a little more substantial than that.

The first one I believe is self-explanatory, although it could be elaborated to include a definition of flaming. The second I think goes along with old adage "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Personally, I love getting concrit - whether it's pointing out a spelling error or arguing with an unlikely plot point - but I realize that some people don't like it as much. At the same time, though, I don't want to limit reviewers too much by dictating what kind of feedback they leave.

Of course, the next rule then automatically dictates the length of feedback that's acceptable. The reason for this is that reviews that simply state "I liked it!" or "LOL" or "Oh, character-in-fic, you crazy son of a gun!" don't necessarily indicate that one has actually read the fic.

So basically I'm struggling with how to explicate or revise these rules (or whether I should leave them as they are) when I start this comm business.

These are the questions that spring to mind right now, but this is by no means a comprehensive list:

What sort of themes can tables be sorted by? I mentioned a few earlier, namely genre, character/pairing, and length, but how many other ways can you think to sort fics for themed tables? Maybe... kinks?

Should fics written anonymously count? I'm thinking specifically about fics for kink memes or similar memes, as they tend to be short and sometimes hastily written.

Do there need to be stricter/looser guidelines dictating appropriate comments/reviews?

How do other authors feel about this? Does anyone have a problem being reviewed as part of a challenge/game? Does anyone have a problem having their fic linked this way, for example?

I would like this to be a panfandom type of challenge, but are there any fandoms out there for which this would be inappropriate or unwelcome?

Anyway, since my fandom experience is admittedly limited, if you know anyone on your flist or any other comms that would be interested in this sort of discussion, please feel free to invite them over.

Comments

[takhallus.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have a problem with my fic being used in this way, I might feel differently about the anon stuff because sometimes that isn't my best work - it's rushed out and unbetad because of the nature of kink memes etc.

Also, I am squeeing that you're using the icon I made lol

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have a problem with my fic being used this way since, you know, anything that gets people commenting. It doesn't feel like it's artificially driving people to read, merely to try to say something about something they probably would have read anyway. And even if it did get people to read something they wouldn't read, so what? There's nothing wrong with trying new things.

I suppose some people might have problems because they think the feedback generated is disingenuous... but most fandom fb is disingenuous anyway. People rarely give concrit or say anything that is not perfectly effusive.

As to other themes... maybe holidays? Or if the exchange is holiday specific, maybe holiday cliches? Gift giving, Christmas trees, cooking related disputes, Menorah accidents...

[perdiccas.livejournal.com]

It was fun (and the banners were hilarious) but in all honesty, I'm not sure how many people took part who wouldn't have commented anyway. Just looking at the people who completed the table last time, it's all (bar 1?) people whose names I recognise from seeing their comments out and about.

That said, I thought it was good for getting people to read stuff that they otherwise might not -- the way it was organised by posting day meant that, even though aurilly & I tried to get a good balance of het and slash and different ships on each day, people who predominantly read only het pretty much had to try reading and commenting on slash in order to complete the challenge, and vice versa.

It wasn't much of a stretch for me, because when I mod exchanges I try to comment on as much of the fic as I possibly can anyway. It'll be interesting to see how much FF affects my commenting habits when I don't have the be-a-good-mod-comment-on-everything expectation spurring me on.

I never felt the comments on the fic I wrote were artificial and I didn't mind my fic being used that way. I think it helps that the challenge runs while the fic is anonymous, so it doesn't have that circle jerk effect of people only commenting on their friends' fics to make up the quota.

[cruiscin-lan.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how many people took part who wouldn't have commented anyway. Just looking at the people who completed the table last time, it's all (bar 1?) people whose names I recognise from seeing their comments out and about.
Well, that's part of the point. Since it would be pretty impossible to make them all cake, the least I can do is making them banners. And having people sign up and keep track of the comments themselves makes it easier for me to do that. :P

It'll be interesting to see how much FF affects my commenting habits when I don't have the be-a-good-mod-comment-on-everything expectation spurring me on.
I wonder if the reverse will be true for me, because I haven't done much in terms of modly duties besides trying to beta-match thus far.

I never felt the comments on the fic I wrote were artificial and I didn't mind my fic being used that way. I think it helps that the challenge runs while the fic is anonymous, so it doesn't have that circle jerk effect of people only commenting on their friends' fics to make up the quota.
I think this is true, too. And while some people probably went straight for the characters/pairings they like best, I think to fill out the table completely some had to be forced a little out of their comfort zone, and many people were pleasantly surprised by what else was being offered.

On a somewhat related note, I loved everyone's comments, and the diversity of fics people ended up commenting on. I think I got more reviews on my Sylar/Daphne fic than I've gotten for just about any other Heroes fic I've ever written, and I really only know of one or two shippers, so that was unexpected and exciting.