Re: Re: IT: Prioritising

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

mudrat,

1. Actually, I'm not in a Nielsen household, so ME has absolutely no
idea whether I'm watching or not. I can't send any "negative feedback"
via the remote.

2. I still feel that your "if you don't like it, don't watch" concept
is logically flawed; why can't I dislike certain things about a show
and still watch it? Why can't I stay tuned out of fond memories and
hope that things will get better again? Most people enjoyed Season 5
more than Season 4; would you have had them quit and miss it? Or would
you have said then that because you're still watching you have no right
to say that Buffy and Riley have no chemistry, that the pace of the arc
was messed up, that Adam was an unconvincing villain (get a rocket
launcher, like with the Judge; Buffy should have solved that problem in
three seconds), that there's no reason the gang doesn't stake Spike, and
other generally-accepted criticisms of Season 4? 

3. At this time, I'm **not** planning on watching Season 7. Is it
therefore okay for me to criticize the show, since I am going all the
way on it, according to your paradigm? Or do you conceive of this list
as only being fanfiction by and for people who love the show? And in
that case, shouldn't we be writing Buffy/Spike pieces, because who are
we to say that ME has it wrong, that Buffy doesn't love Captain
Peroxide? Shouldn't, by your argument, our Patriotic Duty to ME mean
that we have to love and support everything they do and 'ship only canon
couples?

Harper Masterson writes damn good Faith/Cordelia fics for those 'shipper
lists. Harper never liked the character of Buffy and hasn't watched
"BtVS" since Season 3. Is she not allowed to write "Let That Lonesome
Whistle", then? Pity, it rocked.

4. As I discovered and previously posted in response to Mad Hamlet,
fics are up over this time last year, and in fact represent a higher
percentage of the posts. You don't like the things that are being said
in the OT posts, you don't have to read them, and, you say, you're NOT
reading them, so what's the problem? That's why FIC posts are labelled
"FIC" or "FF", so that those who wish to read only those posts can find
them and read them. That's why I've started the Weekly Indexes, so
people can find fics and read them. I fail to see the injury here.

5. "And people wonder why we lurk." Actually, I think the basic causes
of lurking are that people either don't feel they have anything to say
in the way of fics or fb, or are worried that what they say won't be
well received. (Which, btw, I believe is a mistake; we always welcome
new participants.) I'm not inclined to do another research project. but
I doubt there was a greater number of people posting this time last year
in general. And that's when darn near everyone on this list was
convinced that this was the greatest show in the history of television,
and that Joss was (literally) God.

When I looked up last year's postings, I seem to recall that in the
relevant week, aside from the authors, there were feedbacks from Panda
Mel, Eliza Lover, Kirayoshi, Bill Gopher (and Red), Kimber, and maybe a
dozen others, here and there. I did not get the impression that we once
had a vast army of posters, all of whom are now lost to lurkdom. But as
I said, I haven't statistically analyzed that, nor do I really wish to
do so.

6. Glad you liked the fics.

Dan