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Philosophy of feedback
May. 20th, 2006 06:39 pmI started reading naughty things on the internet long before I should have, legally speaking, though I don't think it did much permanent damage to my brain that wouldn't have been done had I started reading such things later in life. Back then, I didn't send anyone feedback because at first I didn't have an email address -- this was before hotmail. Then I refrained because I didn't want to sound stupid, which I now think of as a darn silly reason not to send feedback.
I am still not in the habit of sending feedback outside of my fandoms, mainly because I don't really know what to say. If something really grabs me, though, I'll leave a note even if it's SG:A and there are three pages of comments.
For stories in what I think of as "my fandoms," though, if I don't leave feedback, it's because I didn't finish reading the story, or because I didn't look at the fanart in question. The only exceptions to this happen if I lose the tab before I remember to say something.
I think of it like a Skinner box where I'm training fandom, little by little, to make me happy. I know how I respond to feedback. If someone does something I like, I want to give her that zing of pleasure that comes from peer validation. If I don't leave feedback, then how does the creator know that she's reaching her target audience? If no one feeds the author, why should he do something like what he just did again?
I feel particularly strongly about this with fanart, in part because I have no clear sense of how long it takes to make a given piece, and in part because it takes so little time to look at something that many people glance, smile, and click away. This leads to me doing things like haranguing my entire AIM buddy list to go look at art and leave feedback. I don't do such things very often with stories because I have the feeling that stories tend to get almost as much feedback as they deserve, including mine.
Sometimes, though, I'll talk to someone who tells me in glowing tones about a story, or with whom I can discuss a story at length, but that person has never told the author what she thinks of it. That confuses me, especially when it's someone within the fandom in question. Fandom runs on reader response. You are one fan, and you have one vote on each story you read or each picture you look at, plus the ability to canvas for it.
Make your voices heard.
If your fondnesses have their own niche, like Comica Obscura and its feedback post, then I feel it behooves you to make a particular effort to get out there and reward people who feed your brain. They don't call fandom a gift culture for nothing, so start writing those thank-you notes.
I am still not in the habit of sending feedback outside of my fandoms, mainly because I don't really know what to say. If something really grabs me, though, I'll leave a note even if it's SG:A and there are three pages of comments.
For stories in what I think of as "my fandoms," though, if I don't leave feedback, it's because I didn't finish reading the story, or because I didn't look at the fanart in question. The only exceptions to this happen if I lose the tab before I remember to say something.
I think of it like a Skinner box where I'm training fandom, little by little, to make me happy. I know how I respond to feedback. If someone does something I like, I want to give her that zing of pleasure that comes from peer validation. If I don't leave feedback, then how does the creator know that she's reaching her target audience? If no one feeds the author, why should he do something like what he just did again?
I feel particularly strongly about this with fanart, in part because I have no clear sense of how long it takes to make a given piece, and in part because it takes so little time to look at something that many people glance, smile, and click away. This leads to me doing things like haranguing my entire AIM buddy list to go look at art and leave feedback. I don't do such things very often with stories because I have the feeling that stories tend to get almost as much feedback as they deserve, including mine.
Sometimes, though, I'll talk to someone who tells me in glowing tones about a story, or with whom I can discuss a story at length, but that person has never told the author what she thinks of it. That confuses me, especially when it's someone within the fandom in question. Fandom runs on reader response. You are one fan, and you have one vote on each story you read or each picture you look at, plus the ability to canvas for it.
Make your voices heard.
If your fondnesses have their own niche, like Comica Obscura and its feedback post, then I feel it behooves you to make a particular effort to get out there and reward people who feed your brain. They don't call fandom a gift culture for nothing, so start writing those thank-you notes.