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

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay, the text is fine now! Thank you kindly. Doesn't need to be bigger, at least not on my account.

let me also thank you for recommending Home Is Where the Heart Is.

Eee! This totally works the other way round, too; I'm thrilled to know that you read it and were blown away. I love that story so much and keep rereading it myself. (And the sequels to it, which are excellent too, and complete stories in themselves. You could, um, start here (http://www.ltljverse.com/stories/hunter1.htm). If you wanted. *runs*)

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

And the sequels to it, which are excellent too, and complete stories in themselves. You could, um, start here. If you wanted. *runs*

So I did, of course, and it is keeping me very entertained in my Time of Illness (okay, it's really an allergic reaction to an antibiotic, but my Time of Being Entirely Covered in Hives just doesn't sound as noble and dramatic) now I have a question.

Um. Is Asclepius a real character from the show? And if so, is there more FF about him? Or, if there isn't any FF, do you happen to know what eps he's in? *hopeful look*

And, hey, as long as I'm asking you questions you may never even see, the LJ notification system being what it is - if you had to pick, say, five episodes of Hercules that a total Hercules newbie should see, what would they be? The newbie can only watch five (plus or minus one), but they can be from any season.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay, you're reading! I hope the stories help with the Time of Annoying Allergic Reaction.

Um. Is Asclepius a real character from the show?

You'd think he was, wouldn't you? But no, he never shows up in the show, though there are some references to him in dialogue, I think, along the lines of 'I learned this trick from Asclepius'. He could've been on Young Hercules or Xena, not sure - personally I'm considering him as more evidence of ltlj's scary genius. (And I do so love the bit where he's chiding Iolaus - "You used to be such a nice boy, what did Hercules do to you?" - HEE.) I don't know of more fanfic about him, either, alas.

if you had to pick, say, five episodes of Hercules that a total Hercules newbie should see

Oo! Hmm. Okay, if *I* got to pick, they'd be episodes with Iolaus in them. Something like:

- Pride Comes Before A Brawl, from season 1. Hercules/Iolaus bickering, Iolaus has an adventure of his own with Lisa Chappell (whom I adore) and Hercules goes rowing with his shirt off, yay. Plus I'd play the Hurst/Sorbo commentary afterwards.
- The Sword of Veracity, from season 2. Solid, fun episode, and Hercules gets so very jealous when Iolaus falls for a Hestian virgin. Also, the dialogue when they're testing the swords never fails to crack me up.
- The Apple, also season 2. I just love this one - completely over the top, eye candy for everybody, and there's the moment where Iolaus and Hercules are both touching the golden apple.
- Hero's Heart, from season 4. A more serious episode, to counter the last one. Iolaus and Hercules break up, ohnoes! This and Lost City are my two favorite Iolaus eps, and I'd have to show one or the other, at least. *g*
- if they were SGA fans, I'd show them Atlantis from season 3, just so they could write me crossovers. Otherwise, maybe the first Widow Twanky episode (And Fancy Free...) or another solid adventure ep like Once A Hero (which has really nice Jason bits, too) or the first of the Hind episodes so they can see Ares and Strife at work, or the Armageddon two-parter with the time-travel and Callisto and EvilEmpress!Xena and Hercules' evil double, and...um. Yeah. *stops self*

(Some people posted their own favorites in the comments here (http://marycrawford.livejournal.com/142100.html#cutid1), which started out as a 'which seasons should I buy' discussion.)