Rules of Engagement - a poll for readers and writers

[leethet]

I've been reading, and trying to write, in a new-to-me fandom. This, and my archiving of my MFU stuff on AO3, has made me think about something.

One of the things I like about LJ is that it makes actual comments about as easy as it's possible to make them barring being face to face with an author after you've finished a story (well, easier than that - what if you hated it?). One of the things I've observed in my own reading behavior in this "new" fandom is my own commenting. Now, I don't finish about 90 percent of the stories I start to read (this is true of any fandom). Of the ones I finish, I find most to be just OK (keep in mind this includes my own [see earlier poll] so I hope I don't sound too awful). Because of this, that "kudos" button is the easiest thing in the world. It sends an accurately mild (in terms of my time investment) "this was OK" message to the author.

I like it and I don't like it.

I like it because it's the exact right level of involvement for a story I only sorta liked. If I really like something I leave a comment, because if I really like something, there's always something I have to say about it.

It echoes the "like" button on FB. This is why I don't like it (yes, I'm a hypocrite. Or just human). One of the things I don't like about FB is the pretense it allows of intimacy. Of engagement. It's an extension of those Christmas form letters - "Dear INSERT NAME HERE" followed by some boasting. It (FB) allows people to pretend to maintain relationships without any of the actual (to my old-fashioned mind) maintenance of those relationships.

In this way the "kudos" button is the same; it permits readers to feel like they've "done their part" (I don't, for the record, think readers are required to do squat for writers - just so that's clear) without having actually troubled to give real feedback. Then again, do people use it because they can't think of what to say, because they're lazy, because they're busy, because they're intimidated - or because, like me, they don't really like most stories enough to feel they merit more than a lazy, in-passing thumbs up (again, I'm not finding fault with any of these approaches, just wondering)?

So, a poll. And, as always, please elaborate in comments. The way writers and readers think about stories is endlessly fascinating to me.
[Poll #1974799]

Comments

[mayamaia.livejournal.com]

There is an extra element to kudos: it gives you a vague sense of how many people are reading the story. I have a story (under Lawrence of Arabia) which has gotten well over 5000 hits but only 5 kudos. This suggests that 5000 people have come to the story by accident for some reason, and I was puzzled over why... Turned out that one of its tags, new, showed up second on the Google search results for a story by E M Forster; another could be interpreted as relating to the Sandman series by Gaiman. The first one was ok, the second one I altered. Still getting a lot of hits on it, so it was probably the first one and the story isn't being read all the way through.

I definitely prefer getting comments, but they can be misleading indicators for readers who want to choose a fic by popularity. Same story has seven comments, but all by myself and kleenexwoman because we were tweaking it here and there.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Yes, the whole hit vs. read thing ... but there again, say there are 1000 hits. Five kudos. That means the number who actually read it is between there somewhere, but that's a huge difference. And the number that liked it but didn't even bother to leave kudos could be anything, too. You really get no solid sense of whether a story is being enjoyed by a lot of people, or just sampled by a lot of people, based on a high hit count.

Then again, a really low hit count might make a person go "Hm. Did I do something wrong here?" With a new story, it seems like a lot of fen would at least look at it.

It's all a mystery but it's a fascinating one to me because I'm fascinated by people's motivations and the way they think.

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Oh - I'd add that I agree with you about how to choose a fic based on popularity. Kudos is probably the best way because it at least indicates a lot of people liked it some. Comments are so few (and as you indicate, could be a conversation) in general that I don't think you can rely on them.