Poll: Ride the Recommendations

[thefourthvine]

isiscolo has an interesting post about the effect recommendations have on readership. (This is as judged by website statistics - part of her ongoing series on readership, feedback, and website stats, which I secretly suspect is a plot to make us all want websites. Or, for those of us who have websites, to make us want to put some actual content on them.)

This has been something of a theme with me recently. See, I do this whole recommendations thing so strangely that it is a constant delight to me that anyone reads or uses my LJ. So it never occurred to me that my recommendations might have effects on, say, readership or feedback. But first I had a vidder telling me my rec of her vid had a noticeable effect on downloading, and I swooned from joy. And then fairestcat and isiscolo pointed out to me that sometimes you can see actual feedback on stories that probably is the result of your rec! (Like, sometimes people say, "Here from thefourthvine," which is just the coolest thing ever OMG.) More joyous swooning followed. (If this keeps up, I'll need a fainting couch, and doesn't everyone want a good reason to buy a fainting couch?) And now isiscolo is saying - well, basically, that LJ recs have an effect, but only current recs; back recs on LJ aren't used as much. (Note: I am excessively over-simplifying her post. Please read it and ignore my summary.)

Me being me, my basic reaction to this was, yes, joyful swooning, and much burbling along the lines of: YAY! People sometimes read the things I recommend, and how neat is that? (Way neat, if you were wondering. Way, way neat.) But my secondary reaction to her conclusions was: hmmm. Perhaps I should update my memories or stop using tags or in some way make my LJ more, you know, useful to people.

And you are the people I want it to be useful to. Plus, I have a sick spouse at home and a bunch of work to do. You know what this means: it's time for yet another poll! (You can totally put "post fewer polls" in question five, by the way.)

[Poll #878107]

Comments

[zillah975]

* I read parts of the posts, but which parts depends on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I'll read just because you're such a fun writer, but if I don't have time, or I'm feeling distracted or fractured, I'll skim looking for my fandoms or my kinks.

* Whether I read the stories you rec also depends on the mood - if I have time, and am in a mood for newness, I'll read outside my fandom based only on your recs. If I don't, or want the familiar, I'll stick to my fandoms. If I don't have time, I'll bookmark the post and then fail to come back to it later until I'm going through your tags when I /do/ have time, looking for stuff to read.

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I'll read just because you're such a fun writer, but if I don't have time, or I'm feeling distracted or fractured, I'll skim looking for my fandoms or my kinks.

I like this, because it makes my summaries sound like foreplay - you know, sometimes you want that, and sometimes you want to get right to the orgasms. Recs = foreplay! I like this metaphor a lot.

I'll read outside my fandom based only on your recs.

I am insanely pleased to hear that. One of the things I've always wanted to put in a poll - and maybe I'll put it in the Christmas Eve poll, now that I know at least a couple people will say yes - is, "Have my recs ever persuaded you to read outside your usual fandom/pairing/interests?" It makes me so, so happy to know that they have.

*rejoices*