I don't think it applies to any of your stuff but what will stop me watching something online (assuming I've thought it interesting enough to land on the page) is a registration page. I have to have a lot more than a passing interest/curiosity to risk handing out my email address to some organisation that may then send me spam targeted emails until kingdom come - and even if they have no intention of emailing me the moment I'm faced with a registration page I wonder what they want the information for and that isn't often easy to figure out.
TBH, most stuff these days has to attract me with some specific reason to watch, because I have drastically less time than I did so word of mouth/online reviews play a big part in what I choose to watch. It's a long time since I willingly sat down and watched something just because it was on. But assuming I had some reason to watch a fantasy animated film then the things that might stop me doing so are suggestions of large amounts of gore or, to be honest, scantily clad women with large breasts - I mean, I know there are plenty of good animes etc., featuring scantily clad women with large breasts, but I do treat it as a warning sign.
Given that DKLS has a female protagonist but is a looooooong way away from the "scantily clad women with large breasts" genre, I shall make sure to point that out in big, clear language!
WRT "targeted emails" - I'll also be asking people to sign up to a mailing list at some point, because the name of the game in fiction is a sustainable, reachable fanbase. It'd be really useful to know what specifically worries you or annoys you about being on lists, so I can reassure people I won't be doing that!
I don't mind being on a list as long as its really clear its a list I'm signing up to and what the list is for etc., etc., - opt out boxes for additional mailings, or clear statements about data protection are big reassurances there. I think there are a number of nebulous concerns that arise when faced with a registration page which include * spam emails - will I be getting daily offers from these people in my inbox and, in particular, will these be large, image heavy spam emails? or even NSFW emails which isn't a big concern given I work in academia but its still embarrassing to get borderline porn in your inbox in an open office. Or even phone calls, I once had an internet site phone me up at work to do a follow up "did you enjoy our software" thing and I was not amused though they did at least go away when I said "I was checking it out, it wasn't what I wanted, I'm not using it". * a multi-page registration process that will spring some kind of deal breaker on me several pages in such as a request for payment; a nonsensical feedback questionnaire; or some kind of weird pyramid-like points and prizes scheme, meaning I've wasted my time in the sign-up process so far. * or, similarly, that five pages in to registration it'll suddenly turn out I'm ineligible because of operating system, place or residence or age, and I'll get bounced out. * or even that I won't be able to complete registration because the site assumes that everyone lives in the US and uses Windows and Internet Explorer so at some point the whole process will just break. * A general "why do they want this information" irritation which is probably specific to a particular sort of computer nerd, but I do get irritated when sites ask for information they don't need (e.g., passwords - in many cases "Oh noes! someone might pretend to be me in order to watch this film!"), or only need for data mining and market research (most demographics). The same is true of sites that attempt to get me to log in via Facebook and google because I'm cautious about how much I want those organisations to be able to track just on general principles and, in the case of Facebook, I'm suspicious of what a site may subsequently try to post to my Facebook account.
TBH, most stuff these days has to attract me with some specific reason to watch, because I have drastically less time than I did so word of mouth/online reviews play a big part in what I choose to watch. It's a long time since I willingly sat down and watched something just because it was on. But assuming I had some reason to watch a fantasy animated film then the things that might stop me doing so are suggestions of large amounts of gore or, to be honest, scantily clad women with large breasts - I mean, I know there are plenty of good animes etc., featuring scantily clad women with large breasts, but I do treat it as a warning sign.
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Given that DKLS has a female protagonist but is a looooooong way away from the "scantily clad women with large breasts" genre, I shall make sure to point that out in big, clear language!
WRT "targeted emails" - I'll also be asking people to sign up to a mailing list at some point, because the name of the game in fiction is a sustainable, reachable fanbase. It'd be really useful to know what specifically worries you or annoys you about being on lists, so I can reassure people I won't be doing that!
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* spam emails - will I be getting daily offers from these people in my inbox and, in particular, will these be large, image heavy spam emails? or even NSFW emails which isn't a big concern given I work in academia but its still embarrassing to get borderline porn in your inbox in an open office. Or even phone calls, I once had an internet site phone me up at work to do a follow up "did you enjoy our software" thing and I was not amused though they did at least go away when I said "I was checking it out, it wasn't what I wanted, I'm not using it".
* a multi-page registration process that will spring some kind of deal breaker on me several pages in such as a request for payment; a nonsensical feedback questionnaire; or some kind of weird pyramid-like points and prizes scheme, meaning I've wasted my time in the sign-up process so far.
* or, similarly, that five pages in to registration it'll suddenly turn out I'm ineligible because of operating system, place or residence or age, and I'll get bounced out.
* or even that I won't be able to complete registration because the site assumes that everyone lives in the US and uses Windows and Internet Explorer so at some point the whole process will just break.
* A general "why do they want this information" irritation which is probably specific to a particular sort of computer nerd, but I do get irritated when sites ask for information they don't need (e.g., passwords - in many cases "Oh noes! someone might pretend to be me in order to watch this film!"), or only need for data mining and market research (most demographics). The same is true of sites that attempt to get me to log in via Facebook and google because I'm cautious about how much I want those organisations to be able to track just on general principles and, in the case of Facebook, I'm suspicious of what a site may subsequently try to post to my Facebook account.
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This is absolute gold dust of a comment. If it was on a forum I was moderating I'd be including it in the next newsletter!
Much appreciated. I'll be crafting my opt-in carefully with all this in mind.
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