questions of fandom etiquette

[badbastion]

Under the cut is a poll on a few parts on fandom etiquette, regarding fandom fest art and comments. Also a poll because I'm wondering why the comment section has not been as robust as it used to be.



Feel free to click as many boxes as you want! Comments are welcome.

Edit: Please ignore the first question. In the spirit of the rule "Do not post anywhere before your assigned posting date," I won't be livestreaming, because it would feel like trying to get around that rule. It honestly kind of slipped my mind, oops!

I know already that reversebang art is meant to be absolutely private until reveals are up.

[Poll #1983141][Poll #1983141]

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

Comments

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I ticked two boxes on that last question, which I think is screwing up the poll, sorry! Because really I don't know why, but yeah, I've noticed a decline in general in responses to art (and fic!) posts when I do the rounds at challenges. (While I truely have been getting lovely attention myself, I'm not complaining at all!) I think because there is more than LJ out there at the moment and also because people are spreading their fandom love over more shows these days, possibly.

First two answers are very personal: I just love (and hate) keeping the process and art secret while the challenge is running 'cause I feel that's the rules and I love rules. I personally feel obligated to thank people for checking out my artwork. Whatever other artists (you;) do with that is not up to me (even if I wish I could direct everyone to do as I do *grins*)

[de-nugis.livejournal.com]

I feel I'd do better answering in words.

I think for the livestreaming thing, though it might be a nuisance, you'd probably have to ask the mods of each challenge you were thinking of doing it for -- I'm not sure there's a universal norm.

I'm terrible at replying to comments, so I feel you on it. I'd say that people will almost never react negatively to getting a comment reply, no matter how delayed, but that you shouldn't feel guilty or be kept away from present or future interactions by the sense that you have to answer comments first if it feels weird or like a chore to you. Basically, do what you want. The one thing I would probably avoid is answering selectively, actually, because if someone does happen to notice that you came back and answered half your comments on a post but not the other half it might make them feel bad. Maybe if there's some super-helpful feedback that you want to respond to without answering comments en masse you might PM the person who left it?

It's pretty universally agreed that commenting has fallen across LJ fandom. Fewer people are active here, even those who are often look at art on Tumblr and read fic on AO3 and think of LJ as more social than fanwork oriented. And of course a lot of people have drifted away from particular fandoms, even if they are still around in general. For me personally it's a combination of doing a lot more of my art consumption on Tumblr and being pretty iffy about Sam/Dean in the wake of the s9 consent issues (even when fanworks are past or future or AU or not set at any particular time, I find it hard not to be affected by whatever my feelings about current canon are).

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I ticked a couple of boxes, but they really didn't cover everything I feel, so here's me, blabbering!

I agree with de_nugis: ask the particular mods if they're cool with it. Personally, I wouldn't be bugged by a Livestream, because relatively few folks attend and it's not a surprise gift exchange. Then you can just sit on the art until master-posting. But that's just me. Ask first.

Re. responding to older comments, I can get stupid busy and not get around to all the comments. I wish I could, but no. I do try, though! Most of the time, I manage it, but not always. So I'd say, in your case, do a good skim and answer those that posed a question or you wish to expound upon. As a commenter, I don't always expect a reply. But again, de_nugis made a really good point about perhaps responding in a sort of 'group post', so that no one feels slighted. So maybe do that! In addition to covering questions, that'll get people peeking at the art again. I like that idea, actually!

In general, SPN LJ fandom activity is down on a daily basis. Some folks have wandered off to other platforms, some to other fandoms...it's just the evolution of the show and a fandom. LJ is still best for events, though, and I can tell you that sign-ups for both spn_summergen and spn_reversebang have not seriously dropped! They actually pull quite a few participants from other platforms. Tumblr is great for cruising art, but can be hateful and immature at the drop of a hat. I've had to unfollow a few BNF over there because of nastiness. A03 is fantastic for reading, but the kudos system means that sometimes people will just leave a kudo instead of an actual comment. I do try to comment when I can, regardless of where I read the fic.

So I think fandom is morphing, in general. It's not YOU, to be sure. It's just the natural evolution of a thing.

[glovered.livejournal.com]

I've talked to some people who don't like answering old comments. I definitely love hearing back from artists/authors on old comments I've left, even if it's just a "Thanks!!" so I'd say answer them? But don't feel bad about not answering some. People understand if you're busy.

[dolnmoon.livejournal.com]

With the first question... I don't think it mentions anything about it in the rules about the livestreaming but I would think that it would be courteous and withstanding to the community rules to not livestream the art while doing it for a challenge. Usually it is a secret between the artist, the author and betas until the big reveal. I know for a fact that I probably wouldn't enjoy having the art livestreamed to a fic I had yet to publicly publish.

As for your comments... LJ is dying a slow unceremonious death. tumblr has taken over fandom love and I hate it. Social media is really no place for fandom love. blogs are for fandom love. I maybe get one comment on my fics on lj but soar on AO3 with kudos... People don't want to express their love, they want to hit like or kudos and move on.. its sad, really.

[firesign10.livejournal.com]

First of all, your art has not declined. I LOVE your art, and I'm excited every time you post a new piece!

There is someting to be said that you were gone for a while, and people may take a bit to realize, oh hey! Bad bastion is really back! That may still be trickling in.

I have tumblr for pretty, and I am now posting a story on it too, but for me, I get very little story response there. Here, I get some comments, and AO3 it's kudos. I enjoy a nice kudos, but I way prefer comments. I try not to get too paranoid about it.

[stripytights.livejournal.com]

In response to the first one - whatever you feel comfortable with!

I like having comments replied to, especially on old things because then I generally go back and read/view them again and enjoy it all over again. That said, I don't generally notice if someone doesn't reply or think anything of it :) so I answered 'don't know' (helpful I know!)

Commenting as a whole all over lj is down, thanks to other platforms and also to people leaving for those platforms. Which I find sad because with all it's (many) faults, I love lj. I'm beginning a commenting challenge when I get my charger back in an effort to be the change and all that, and because my to-feedback pinboard is overflowing to an embarrassing extent.

[dephigravity.livejournal.com]

I have been horrible at having anything to do with fandom lately, and unfortunately LJ is just not that active of a platform. So I wouldn't take the lesser amount of comments too seriously, because we are all having that issue. It has nothing to do with the quality of your work, trust me.

As for livestreaming, I don't personally consider that posting unless you leave an archive of the video. I would avoid doing it for Reverse Bangs and other anonymous fests since those are supposed to be anonymous art, though. As for other BB's, I think it would be courteous to ask your author, but not necessarily required. One of the main reasons why RBB tweaked and reiterated that rule is because during the spn_masquerade meme, someone reposted art onto tumblr before the artist was even able to claim it as their own or post to their own blog. That type of thing should be an obvious case of DON'T DO IT, but apparently artists and comms now have to spell out common sense to some people.

[brightly-lit.livejournal.com]

Hope you don't mind a stranger stopping by, but one of the comms I mod was mentioned in a comment, so I got a notification. I saw your post and found it very interesting, and also reassuring, because I too have noticed a significant drop in comments and wondered what I was doing wrong (or if it was because I also kind of disappeared for a while!), but I guess based on comments others have left on this post that it's that way across the board. What a shame, because imo lj is the best place for fandom love. Why do I always wind up getting involved in something at its tail end?!? :-#

Anyway, we still have pretty good participation over at my comm spn_bunker, and it's a good place to make new friends, so you might try that. I hope people give up on Tumblr and come back to lj, because it's so fun when it's hopping around here!!

[ex1led-nyer.livejournal.com]

If I don't comment on people's work it's not always because I don't like it. I like your work (so please continue) and I still like LJ, but sometimes either (a) I'm too lazy to comment, (b) someone else has already said what I'd say, and better, or (c) I can't think of anything more meaningful to say than "Wow!". In the case of fiction, work with an AO3 link that's longer than, say, 5k words, I often download to my old Kindle that doesn't have Internet access. I'll read something, usually in bed, and then not make the extra effort to go back to the work the next day and comment.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi!

I've been pondering the lack of comments thing lately and most people have covered some really good reasons in this thread. Personally, I think the "like" button on tumblr (and even the "favourite" option on Twitter), has made us just that bit lazier. It's so easy to just reblog or "like" something on those platforms that when people see art on LJ, it just takes that little bit more thinking.

I think also (and man, I could be way off here) that when you first appeared in fandom you were doing something that no one else was really doing. It was SO different and refreshing (and porn!) that there was a huge amount of response and chatter etc. Of course it's NO LESS awesome or amazing (and porn!), it's just people are used to it now and might feel less of a new to respond. Maybe? I dunno. I wondered that about petite madam's work also. When she first splashed into the SPN fandom it went NUTS! I would bet that her works don't get nearly the comments it did when she first posted. Not because it isn't still amazing, it's just that people perhaps have less to say - or feel less compelled to say something as they are familiar with her work now. (not really expressing myself very well here. I think it's a mix of laziness and "It's great work, but I don't know what to say, so I'll say nothing"). Tumblr (and twitter and Facebook) has meant that the endless scroll is more the norm, rather than stopping by to say something.

It's similar with vids. Early on it was a new-ish medium and for SPN there wasn't a lot around (like, way back in 2005- 2007), so there was a lot more excitement around them. These days I feel that most people are just not that interested in them - unless they are doing something that's not been seen before. There also SO much more to look at on the internet these days. Fans time is divided with more fandom spaces - and I'd say LJ is one of the least popular (though, not for me. Still my fav hang out).

Aaaanway. It's an interesting topic. You can rest assured that it's not your work declining. It's still wonderful (and refreshing and pornilicious).