the calliope crashed to the ground

[musesfool]

There's been some talk lately about feedback ( here, here, and here), and I keep kicking this post around in my head, debating whether I really want to get into it again or not. Obviously I decided I did, mostly so I could stop thinking about it and go back to thinking about the stories I want to write

Comments

[marinarusalka]

It seems we need a word for "something you get for free" that doesn't have all the baggage that "gift" seems to have attached to it. Years ago, as a widdle newbie, I made the mistake of saying that fic was a gift, and then had to spend days explaining that no, I wasn't saying that I was a unique and delicate snowflake whose stories were were beautiful, precious things that everyone must adore, I was just saying that nobody has to pay for my stories. (Though how "gift" came to be defined throughout fandom as "beautiful, precious thing that everyone must adore" is a mystery to me. Am I the only person in the world who ever had a closet full of stupid tacky crap that various clueless people have given me as gifts?)

Overall, I think way too many things if fandom get framed as obligations, and that annoys me. Fandom is a voluntary activity. We may choose to take on some obligations, such as delivering a story for a fic exchange or following the rules of a community or an archive, but aside from that, I think people should be left to their own devices (and be willing to take the social consequences if acting according to their own devices pisses people off).

[musesfool]

Well, for me the problem with gift isn't the word necessary but the context in which I saw the argument used - i.e., since fic is a gift (to fandom? to the world?), feedback is thanks for the gift (and thus, on some unarticulated level, owed). (but this is in the context of replying to feedback - since feedback = thanks, authors don't hae to reply because the conversation is over. I think that's supremely dumb, personally, which is why the whole "fic is a gift" thing chaps my ass.)

Fandom is a voluntary activity. We may choose to take on some obligations, such as delivering a story for a fic exchange or following the rules of a community or an archive, but aside from that, I think people should be left to their own devices (and be willing to take the social consequences if acting according to their own devices pisses people off).

Absolutely - but sadly, I think it's your last parenthetical statement that most people wish to eschew - they want to do whatever the hell they want and not deal with any consequences whatsoever.

Possibly I am just cynical.

[marinarusalka]

this is in the context of replying to feedback - since feedback = thanks, authors don't hae to reply because the conversation is over

Hmm, I'd say that once I posted a story and somebody read it, the conversation is already over. Nothing further is owed to anyone. Readers don't owe feedback, writers don't owe responses to feedback. But the "be willing to take the social consequences" principle still applies. Readers who don't feedback have to accept the possibility that their favorite writers might get discouraged and stop writing. Authors who don't respond to feedback have to accept that many readers will consider it rude or alienating and stop commenting.

they want to do whatever the hell they want and not deal with any consequences whatsoever

Unfortunately, that's all too often true.