Feedback Drive. (mini challenge. with INCENTIVE + REWARD)

[mockturtletale]

Okay so I know we're already in the middle of prep for the Halloween Challenge (and you should absolutely continue to leave / talk to one another about your prompt ideas here) but something that's become quite topical lately is feedback in hockey rpf fandom and the relative lack of it. One idea to encourage a more proactive attitude toward feedback

Comments

[zortified]

What about leaving comments or feedback on places other than AO3, where leaving kudos isn't possible? I read lots of stuff on tumblr and LJ, so commenting to those wouldn't count?

Also, I'm unclear on how authors are able to respond to kudos, and thus get a 'meaningful point of interaction' between writers and readers. If you want to encourage conversation between writers and readers over the stories, then encouraging kudos doesn't seem like it would make that happen.

[mockturtletale]

Well, AO3 is more central to this fandom than any one place is to any other fandom I've ever come across, so it's pretty safe to use AO3 as a base to work from, but comments left on LJ absolutely count too, those can be copy and pasted or screenshot just the same as anything done on AO3 can!

This is an area we've been talking through on home_ice and in this fandom in general for a really long now, and through the body of those discussions it's become clear that a lot of people want to show an author that they've read and enjoyed their work but aren't comfortable writing comments. So for the sake of including every single kind of interaction (which leaving kudos absolutely is, since it says to an author 'hi I was here and I read this') kudos are something we decided should be a part of this challenge.

[zortified]

But your rules say you can only ask for an incentive if you leave kudos, which means the challenge is only for AO3?

I mean, fair enough, there is nothing wrong with a "kudos drive." But practically speaking, leaving kudos doesn't lead to "interaction" between the author and reader any further than the leaving of the kudos.

But if someone only leaves actual comments and no kudos... it seems like that should get rewarded as well. Writing comments takes more effort, so shouldn't that get rewarded, too?

(Also, I can safely say that in twenty years, this is a problem that has never really been solved. Writers have always wanted more feedback and readers have always been uncomfortable writing feedback and as a writer you just get used to the idea that only 10% of the readers will ever even acknowledge that you wrote something, even if they loved it.)

So anyhow, I'm going to leave another comment, because I am willing to write for incentives, I just wanted to get some clarification.

[mockturtletale]

To put it super simply - kudos are the smallest form of feedback it's possible to give in hockey rpf fandom, they're a form of feedback that almost everyone in hockey rpf fandom uses, so we chose to use those as something that will get you a similarly small reward in this challenge.

If you read the entry, you get far more reward for comments - you get 500 words of fic for only 500 characters of commented feedback.

(We're not trying to solve the problem. We're just doing our best to 1) make people in this fandom realize how valuable their feedback is to writers, because it's been said time and time again that readers don't think their comments make a difference when that's not the case at all, and it's a crappy way for readers to feel and 2) do SOMETHING. Maybe you're satisfied with a situation in which readers don't feel like their contribution is valued, and where as a writer you just get used to the idea that only 10% of the readers will ever even acknowledge that you wrote something, even if they loved it, but some people aren'

[mockturtletale]

I volunteer to write any Oilers ship, any Blackhawks ship, any Medicine Hat Tigers / OKC Barons / Binghamton Senators ship. I'll also happily write Sid/Geno, Geno/ANYONE, Beau Bennett/Anyone, Tyler Seguin/anyone and a whole bunch of other stuff.

The only things I won't tackle are LA Kings or Minnesota Wild or Philadelphia Flyers fic, or Bobby Ryan fic.

Tropes / theme-wise, I'll do anything except serious illness or career ending injury, character death, D/s or future/retired fic.

If you're not sure where something you'd like to ask for fits in amongst all of that, we can absolutely chat about it, but I'm super open to writing anything at all I can stretch to for you!

[earth_is_a_star]

Ah hah hah hah you probably knew I was coming for you? SORRY, YOU'RE GREAT. I left 1k in total (and 2 kudos) at People Against Us and Curveball and a third kudo on The Gentlest Chains: Battle Lines.

If it suits, I'd like to request 1k of Marcus Kruger getting what he needs. That can mean whatever you'd like, though I'd prefer emotions to straight up porn :).

[mockturtletale]

ON THIS. SO ON THIS I'M ALSO UNDER THIS. AND NEXT TO THIS. AND ALL UP ON THIS. BASICALLY ALL OVER IT. YOU GET THE PICTURE.

[earth_is_a_star]

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE.

[zortified]

I'm willing to write fic for Hawks, Pens, Canes, and Sharks involving any player except brand new rookies whom I might not have any clue about yet. I'm happy to write groups as well as gen, and any bog standard slash pairing

[joyfulseeker]

Yay! I present as evidence of my feedbacking: kudos on Curveball (this is a locked work), your hand in mine, and When I Say When.

I also have a 500-character comment on a real grind.

I would love a Hawks animal transformation story, maybe Sharpy gets turned into a cat? Who spends most of his time grooming himself? Whichever pairing you want, or just gen team fic, all things are fine!

[zortified]

Whoo! I should have something for you in the next couple of days. :o)

[zortified]

A Cat Don't Need

It's 1,000 words but I figured you wouldn't mind the extra. ;-)

[littlestclouds]

I volunteer to write: Detroit Red Wings (all Wings, past and present, are fair game (besides, like, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay)), Edmonton Oilers (Gagner/Tavares, Hall, Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Jeff Petry), Pittsburgh Penguins (mostly just Geno/Sid but I could be talked into Martin/Neal), and Chicago Blackhawks (Toews/Kane). I'lll tackle the other better known pairings if I can find enough background/research info. I'm also a huge baseball fan, so I'll tackle hockey/baseball crossovers/AUs/etc. I will write gen, slash, and/or het.

I'll write almost anything but, like... non-con and bestiality. I am willing to negotiate tropes/themes/pairings/etc..

[joyfulseeker]

I really like this idea! The only thing I'm wondering is if 500 characters is too high? Could it be a range? Like, 200 to 500 characters? I generally try to write pretty thoughtful, detailed comments about what I really liked in stories and how it made me feel, but those comments would still be unlikely to crack 500 characters (I just went and checked on a few, and my most common length appears to be 350 characters).

It would be an interesting challenge for me to try to get up to 500 characters (and if the criteria stays as is I'll certainly try!), but people might be more likely to participate if the threshold were a little lower?

Also, does quoting the text count for your character tally? (she says, pedantically.)

[mockturtletale]

Hahaha. Quoting the text definitely counts! Unless people abuse that rule and quote like entire paragraphs, in which case we will have to come down on them hard in our ... vague disapproval!? I can't see it being a problem, though, quoting lines and whatnot is tooooottally fine.

I guess we can lower the range, but the word count of the reward will have to be lowered according too, of course. I'll edit it into the post.