Dude!

[jedishampoo]

All right, someone has to go read and comment on these yuletide-smut fics, because none of them are getting enough love, especially the one for me, which is a GOOD 83 fic and you know how hard that pairing is to do? ;)

Really, though, the Saiyuki exchanges have run for a while not only on the work of the mod, but on having at least the participants trying to read and comment on most if not every fic, and that just hasn't been happening. It should be, though, because this fandom has the seriously best writers.

http://yuletide-smut.dreamwidth.org/

You just have to be 18 to read the fics. YAY!

Comments

[rroselavy]

I'm not sure what I can do to get more people to comment (and not just the participants). There's @200 subscribers to each of the comms and all they do is lurk. Whenever I have urged people to leave comments the most I've gotten were snarky PMs.

It is disheartening.

[despina_moon]

Seriously, they do that to you? Wow. That makes me even more discouraged, and kind of angry. Does make me wonder why we bother.

[rroselavy]

Well, you know, people get defensive when they're called out.

[despina_moon]

Yeah. I know.

But I appreciate your work, Rrose! You've kept us going and I really appreciate it.

[rroselavy]

Thanks. I really love putting these exchanges together :-)

[jedishampoo]

I was thinking the same thing - they send nasty PMs? Really? Jerks. Well screw them, I say, but I'm not nice and hardworking like you are. <3

[rroselavy]

They felt the need to defend why they don't comment. *shrugs*

[despina_moon]

Yet they can't be bothered to comment? Sounds...circular.

[jedishampoo]

Well, they probably have a valid medical reason like when they read 535 their tits fall off or something. I know mine have fallen off reading 393 several times but hell, I just screw 'em back on.

[rroselavy]

It doesn't bother me if people don't read all the stories as much as people who do read and then can't be assed just to say "good job," or "thank you." (And I've always tried to have a full range of pairings to spread out the pain :p)

[despina_moon]

Exactly! Throw people a bone every now and again.

[jedishampoo]

I know, I'm just being silly. It does take effort in these days of e-reading, too, to go back and comment. It's just a frustrating culture for writers in general, anymore.

But like Des said, we appreciate your work, year in and year out! I have tons of fun participating.

[despina_moon]

Bwahahaha! Well done with the re-screwing of tits!!

Yeah, that "it's not my pairing" excuse/whine bugs the crap out of me. NONE of them are "ours" they're only facsimiles. And dude, I love 585 but I've read plenty of 585 stories that the characters are unrecognizable. But so what? That's someone's take on the pairing.

Plus, I decided I would write parings I didn't like or get, just to see what it was all about. Some of those weird-ass pairings I wrote have made me fall in love with those characters. (Ukoku is ♥ now for me and I used to despise him.)

[jedishampoo]

Plus: Kanzeon/Sharak? Zakuro and Dougan? RAREPAIRS FTW.

[despina_moon]

OMG!! I'm saving the Kanzeon/Sharek one!!

[rroselavy]

I dunno. It seemed disingenuous to me. And defensive. Maybe they just wanted to avoid commenting on certain authors' works.

[despina_moon]

Oh, I didn't think about that. Huh.

[whymzycal]

Well, you do say in the introductions to the comms that people ought to be commenting, so if they aren't, I say kick 'em out.

[rroselavy]

I've thought about limiting the communities to participants; but there are a few non participants who regularly read and comment. I could make membership to the comms based on participation ... though it would probably just alienate more people from the fandom. Perhaps I should post a poll or open a comment thread asking the community what should be done about lurking.

[jedishampoo]

Yeah, I can definitely see how it's hard to make those rules when it's limited already. We just have to hope people can make some time to participate?

[whymzycal]

Most of us end up posting our fics to AO3 after the reveals, so it's not like anyone would ultimately be missing out if you decided to make membership participation-based (unless they flounce and decide not to read, but since they're often the ones who don't comment anyway, it's not like we'll know whether they read our fics or not). Regardless of what ends up happening, I really enjoy getting the chance to pairings and prompts I wouldn't think of on my own, and these exchanges are pretty much the only outlet for that. So thank you for that! ♥