Re: Mad Hamlet's complaint

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

(Say, Mad, could you label your OT posts as such? Some people want to
skip them, you know...)

[[Ducks large rock thrown at him from Hungary]]

(sorry, kidding, couldn't resist...)

(oh, and yes, while "Write more fics!" would be on-topic, "Write fewer
OT posts" is off-topic, to my mind.)

Per Mad Hamlet's request:

Weekly Fic Index for 6/16-6/22/2001. 

(Note: because I decided to cover the exact same days as the index I
just posted, this one covers from Saturday through Friday, rather than
Sunday to Saturday. It shouldn't really make a difference.)

Reposts are marked with an "(R)".
Snippets are marked with an "(S)".
All fics are B/W unless marked (although I didn't actually read them all
this time).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Williams
*******************
Slayer Forever 13/? #9951

Sam Stoltz
*************
Triad (B/W/T) 8/? (R) #9957
The Dinner (S) (R) #9958
The Amazing Buffybot: Duality (S) #10029
Blind Faith (B/F) 5/? #10075
Cheer Fever 1/1 (Sequel to When 
First We Met) #10081
Tears 1/1 #10095

Connor MacBeth
*******************
Chrono Slayer 1/1 (S) #9992

Will MaClay (current name)
**************
Thunderstorms 1/1 #10005
Moving On 1/1 #10017

Anne-Lise
************
In the Darkness (Darkness variation)
1/1 #10010

Carol A. Clarke
*****************
The Bronze (S) #10016

Christine
**********
And Then There Was Two 1/? #10044

Silent Spirit
*************
Every Scar Has A Story 1/1 #10067

Elaine Dalier'
***************
Firstborn 6/? #10094

Shyfox
********
To Be or Not To Be...The Slayer 1/1 #10110

Alex P.
********
RoL II: Revelations and Realizations
6a/? #10118
6b/? #10119
-------------------------------------------------------------

Total Stats and a comparison with the current week:

Total Authors: 11 (in 2002, 12)

Total Fics: 17, including 2 reposts (in 2002, 14, none entirely reposts)

Total Chapters: 18, including 2 reposts (in 2002, 25, including 4
reposts)

Number of one-shots: 11, including 4 snippets (1 repost) and 2 fics
that were part of larger series (in 2002, just one)

Number of multi-part fics concluded within the week: 0 (in 2002, 1)

Number of fics concluded from earlier chapters: 0 (in 2002, 1)

Number of new fics begun but not concluded: 1 (in 2002, 4)

Number of fics continued from before but not concluded: 5 (1 repost) (in
2002, 7)

Number of authors who posted during both weeks: 1 (Anne-Lise rocks!)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis of the fics and the list, generally:

Well, the ficcage has grown, slightly. Perhaps not as much as it
should, given the increase in membership. (We were about 750 strong
then, if I recall.) Or perhaps more than could be expected, given the
vast discontent with Season Sux.

There seems to be a shift from one-parters to multi-chapter stories,
even for short fics. Which I think is cool. Three or four parts are
better than one.

The ratio of fics to other posts is somewhat HIGHER this year (I
sincerely doubt we're going to reach last June's total of 900+ posts).
What seems to have changed is that the authors no longer have long
back-and-forth discussions with their feedbackers, but that the OT
threads have moved in instead. Both things are grist for the authorial
mill, to my mind; discussion of the show takes you deeper into the show
and stimulates the writer. Possibly the fics are more canon-based and
less far-out AU as a result; some won't like this, but I personally dig
it.

And I think OT ep discussion is needed, pending a message board. Where
else are B/W 'shippers going to be able to talk about the show in
general, without getting a lot of crap?

And the question I would put before the house is NOT "Well, if you don't
like it, Mad Hamlet, why don't you leave?", but rather, "Well, if you
don't like the OT posts, Mad Hamlet, why don't you skip them?" That's
why they're marked, you know.

(If I might venture a hypothesis here, it might also be that your
limited internet access has made parsing through a week's worth of OT
posts more stressful that combing through a day's worth of feedback
threads used to be. Divide by seven and I think you might find things
much as they once were.)

I grant you, skipping OT posts creates the danger of missing fics, as
Ivy did. That's one of the reasons why I decided to start making the
weekly lists. 

(Oh, and isn't it just such fun that I give myself a new weekly chore,
and then I find I have to go do it again **the very next day**? Grrr,
arrgh!)

And Ivy is entirely correct that you shouldn't reply to a fic with the
fic attached. Rod himself pointed that out (there is a Rod!). I
noticed this only happened with my one-parter, but I don't know why it
is. Possibly because the fic was in HTML? But then, so are all of my
fics...anyway, don't do that any more, okay?

In summary, fics are up, long feedback threads are down, OT chat is up
(but marked for easily skippability) and Mad Hamlet's opinion may,
perhaps, be colored by his circumstances. And I am entirely too fond of
numbers.

Happy reading!

Dan