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

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

Here via metafandom.

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 never point out flaws in a story be it in a review, comments or recs - it's just the way I am and my 'outlook' on fanfic. And I do rec stories that have got typos, layout issue, grammar stuff - nothing major and of the kind whereby the reader who go 'huh, what's the writer trying to say here', but stuff that isn't technically perfect. But I like it, I feel it worthy of being recc'd, so I rec it. When it comes to other 'negative' things: an ending I didn't like, off-characterisation, etc. etc. well I wouldn't considering reccing the story in the first place, because if it had those kinds of 'problems' then to me, no matter how 'good' it was in other respects, it wouldn't be worthy of being recc'd - by me. Maybe that's a weird way of looking at it, of doing recs, but that's me :-)

I do rec on crack_van from time to time and I make a point of saying that I rec stories that I personally enjoy, and that's how I do it. If I like a story then I'll rec it; it doesn't matter if it has a smattering of typos or other technical errors in it, those to me personally aren't important. And I know that whilst they are for some people, others, like myself, aren't bothered. I do tend to say if the author is a non-native English speaker, but I do that so that I can also be positive about how good they are. I'll also make a point of saying if the writer is new to writing and/or the pairing I'm reccing.

Or is it even something you've thought about?

When I first started to rec, I did think about whether I should say 'this story has a handful of technical errors', not for the reader so much as for how I might be perceived as a reccer if I didn't mention them. However, I thought about how I'd feel if I saw one of my stories recc'd and it included 'there are a few typos' and added to the fact that I know typos don't bother everyone, plus I'm off the view that if someone says 'not beta'd' or 'this probably contains errors' then people's minds get into that way of thinking and they go looking for the typos. Not consciously (well some do, I know) but sub-consciously. Thus, if a reccer says the story has a few typos, people might well look for them, but if nothing is said, they could well be caught up in the story and thus not bother. Also saying 'there are a handful of typos' will put some people off reading what is otherwise a great story.

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?

As a reader, I rarely read recs, because I know that one person's idea of a rec worthy story isn't someone else's. That's generalising of course. If the rec is by an author I love then of course I'll read it, ditto if it happens to be my main pairing in my main fandom, then I'll read that. But that aside I read recs, as in reading what people say, and I far prefer recs that are positive. I don't really want 'warts and all', I'd rather form my own impression, and it bothers me (on the author's behalf) if I see a rec that is critical - beyond maybe a 'there are a few minor technical errors, but they don't detract from the story' kind of comment.

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"?

I would definitely prefer not to be recc'd at all than to have 'great characterisation, terrible grammar'. I'd feel awful if that was said. It's not so much I'd 'object' to it, I'd just be upset by it and wonder why the person bothered to rec the story in the first place.

[sholio]

Thank you for the long response!

I think this is my big fear for doing recs -- if I rec something I want it to be a nice thing for the author; I'd hate to think that someone was hurt or upset by something that I said when I recced them.

[nakeisha.livejournal.com]

You're welcome (I enjoy talking about all things fandom related and tend to get verbose at times).

if I rec something I want it to be a nice thing for the author;

I think that hits the nail on the head. For me (again just me) if I rec it is as much for the author (maybe even more so) as for the reader. It's my way of saying another 'thank you for the great story', my way of giving some kind of semi-public recognition for the author's hard work.