I did think it might present me as pretentious, given that it's not fandom wide, or somehow obsessive and neurotic.
This is really what gets me. I'm really surprised that any comments about the polls themselves have been overwhelmingly positive, and I've never heard from anyone that they think they're a bad idea. I'm suspicious that nearly everyone really hates them, and they're simply a silent majority...
I also worried about the anonymity aspect... It also has the problem of only working for people who have log ins...
I know when I read something, I tend to check out the comments first to see what sort of response the fic has already gotten as a way of gauging whether or not I might like it; that's why I haven't set the polls so that only I can see them. I still have anon commenting turned on, though, so if someone ever felt they really needed to tell me how much my fic sucked, they can (this is not something I typically advertise, though. Maybe I should).
the other problem I keep hitting up against is knowledge of other fandoms
I would love to see what sort of comparisons we could get by doing this in other fandoms.
I think everyone wants to know if they are being read, particularly beyond the obligation of friendship.
This, very much this. Sometimes it's fun to trace how they found your fic, too - seeing if you share relevant comms, or have friends in common, etc.
These days, reviews alone are misleading and incomplete, IMO, when you get them at all. Recs and awards are similarly so, but with LJ polls I don't really think we'd get a solution.
I don't know that there is a solution, but here we are, throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall to see if any stick anyway.
Possibly exchanges? I think they may represent a limbo between an audience of friends and an authoritative audience. You can't be 100% sure it is a friend you are writing for (unless you cheat), and you are writing to fulfill criteria set by an external source.
I think exchange fics and feedback have their own tag at metafandom now. Now you've got me all interested in trying to make correlations and whatnot...
no subject
This is really what gets me. I'm really surprised that any comments about the polls themselves have been overwhelmingly positive, and I've never heard from anyone that they think they're a bad idea. I'm suspicious that nearly everyone really hates them, and they're simply a silent majority...
I also worried about the anonymity aspect... It also has the problem of only working for people who have log ins...
I know when I read something, I tend to check out the comments first to see what sort of response the fic has already gotten as a way of gauging whether or not I might like it; that's why I haven't set the polls so that only I can see them. I still have anon commenting turned on, though, so if someone ever felt they really needed to tell me how much my fic sucked, they can (this is not something I typically advertise, though. Maybe I should).
the other problem I keep hitting up against is knowledge of other fandoms
I would love to see what sort of comparisons we could get by doing this in other fandoms.
I think everyone wants to know if they are being read, particularly beyond the obligation of friendship.
This, very much this. Sometimes it's fun to trace how they found your fic, too - seeing if you share relevant comms, or have friends in common, etc.
These days, reviews alone are misleading and incomplete, IMO, when you get them at all. Recs and awards are similarly so, but with LJ polls I don't really think we'd get a solution.
I don't know that there is a solution, but here we are, throwing spaghetti noodles at the wall to see if any stick anyway.
Possibly exchanges? I think they may represent a limbo between an audience of friends and an authoritative audience. You can't be 100% sure it is a friend you are writing for (unless you cheat), and you are writing to fulfill criteria set by an external source.
I think exchange fics and feedback have their own tag at metafandom now. Now you've got me all interested in trying to make correlations and whatnot...
Archeopteryx is pretty badass.