I need a life, part 495,746

[sholio]

Pertaining to the previous SPN post, a couple of links to interesting discussions on race and gender issues in SPN:

Letter to Eric Kripke
On fannish objections to race/gender discussions of SPN

What I should be doing at the moment is working on my graphic novel script, which is soundly kicking my ass today. Obviously, I'm having some trouble maintaining proper focus. Also, I just realized it's already the 23rd and I still owe stargateficrec two recs each in the Sheppard and Sheppard/McKay friendship categories before the end of the month. Oops.

Hey, a question for everybody: When you rec stories, do you feel compelled to point out the flaws in your rec (making it more like a review, I suppose), or do you try to remain positive?

I find myself taking a different approach when I'm reccing things on my journal vs. at a public rec site like stargateficrec or stargategenrec. In my role as "public" reccer, I really do try to do all-positive recs -- which sometimes means finding things to rec that I really don't have any complaints about, or sometimes forcing myself to avoid mentioning the issues that I might have had with something I'm reccing. (Spelling/grammar mistakes, an ending I didn't like, etc.) I suppose that it seems unfair to bias a reader against something beforehand, when the item that bothered me might not bother them at all.

On my journal, though, I'm usually a lot more honest -- I still wouldn't rec something I didn't feel was worthy of it, obviously, but I do tend to mention things that bugged me about the story as well as things I thought were brilliant. The difference ... I guess that it's a matter of my journal being my own private space, and because it *does* make me a little uncomfortable to rec things I'm not 100% positive about without mentioning the flaws, I'd rather preserve my own comfort in my own journal. On public rec sites, I'm less concerned about my own comfort and more interested in pointing readers at a fic without predisposing them to look for the flaws in it.

As a reccer, what about you? Or is it even something you've thought about?

As a reader, do you prefer an honest, "warts and all" review, or would you rather go into a story with a more positive impression in mind? Or do you even read a rec beyond simply finding links to click on? (Which is actually the approach I take, more often than not. I'll skim the summary part of a rec to find out if the story sounds like my cup of tea, but I don't usually read beyond that because I'd rather be unspoiled.)

As a writer, do you object to having recs of your stories that aren't all-positive? Would you prefer not to be recced at all rather than have your story memorialized for all time as "Great characterization, terrible grammar"? (Me, I don't mind a bit, just for the record. Well, I might gripe in private about a review that I thought was really, truly unfair, but mostly I'm just interested to find out what people have to say about my stories.)

Comments

[amalthia]

I try to leave positive recs because if I do caveats for one story I feel like I have to do it for all stories. (I rarely use caveats and my last example funnily enough happened today. I'd read a story but I could not actually read the story at the author's LJ due to formatting issues with the font colors and etc..so I added that to my rec) Also I feel if I'm going to say a story has issues and take the time to point them out I feel like I should also have time to volunteer to beta read for the author's next story, otherwise I keep my mouth shut. I know this is probably weird and not at all how most people think but I think at one point in the past I sent an email to an author saying I liked the story but...and ended up beta reading the next story as a result.

So my recs I keep it short and simple and most people who actually use my recs on a regular basis probably know what my comments really means about a story.

As a writer, I don't mind people reccing my fics with caveats.

[sholio]

Your recs are actually just about ideal for me (and I do find them most helpful!) -- a couple of basic notes on pairing/genre/fandom, and then a sentence or so about the story. For me, personally, that's all I really *want* from a rec. So yours work great for me. I think I'd probably rec more stuff if I did shorter recs -- 4-5 recs a month is about all I can really manage at stargateficrec with the more in-depth format over there.

[amalthia]

I think I tried reccing at a stargate rec community once and it were too many requirements. I hate giving away the plot of the story through a rec. and with really short stories that problem is magnified because I have no idea what to say.

I'm glad the short rec format works so well for you because I'm not sure I can do a more in depth review while still reccing as many stories as I'm recommending. (plus the more i write the more likely I am to start nitpicking and give away spoilers)