Meta on my feedback polls
Many months back, I posted an entry detailing my reasoning for implementing feedback polls at the end of my stories. Since it has been over a six months since that post and I am now active in several fandoms besides SPN (and have made many new f-list friends over that period) I thought I'd give a quick rehash of why I choose to use feedback polls. This post will be linked in my sticky master list of stories in the Fic Policies section.
I first read about the idea from a fascinating meta post here, so I cannot take credit for coming up with the idea myself. In fact, the author of the post was inspired to start using feedback polls by an entry here, where a reader/lurker expressed a wish that authors would use feedback polls so that she could show her appreciation of a story without having to comment because she found commenting difficult due to social anxiety issues. I encourage everyone to read the posts and the discussion that happens in the comments as they both contain food for thought.
So here are my main reasons for using feedback polls:
Reader-Oriented Reasons:
1. Some readers do not feel comfortable leaving comments on stories for a multitude of reasons ranging from social anxiety to discomfort with writing in English (for people whose second, third, etc language is English). A certain subset of those readers would still like to inform me (the author) in some manner that they have read my story and/or enjoyed it. The poll gives them the ability to do so without having to comment, PM, or otherwise engage me directly.
2. Sometimes a story is enjoyable but a reader doesn't have much to say about it or in response to it. The poll gives a reader the option to let me know that they read the story/enjoyed it similar to the way Facebook allows users to 'Like' something without needing to elaborate. A reader many give the story a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down (I do nearly always include a 'Disliked this story' option in my polls). I have never--nor would I ever--contacted a user who voted that they disliked my story (and there have been a few who were that honest) to follow up or ask them why, or to harass them.
3. Alternatively, a reader may simply select the 'I read this story' option without clicking the like/dislike boxes to leave a neutral review (or perhaps a mixed one).
4. Polling does not allow for anonymous voters, unfortunately, but I do have anonymous commenting enabled in this journal, so people are free to comment anonymously if they wish. I will turn on anonymous comment screening only if I get attacked by spam bots or trolled.
Me-Oriented Reasons:
1. I am interested in the number of readers who make it to the end of the story. Number of hits to an entry can be deceptive in terms of measuring the amount of people who actually read the story; some people open up stories in tabs to read later, and end up saving/reloading those tabs a hundred times before they get to actually read the story. Some people open the story and never get past the first paragraph. Some people read the beginning and quit halfway. Feedback polls eliminate those false hit counter positives because they're placed at the end of the story and therefore it stands to reason that the only people voting in the poll would be someone who has at least skimmed all the way to the end. Even if I factor in a large amount of people who may have read the story to completion but chose not to vote in the poll for whatever reason (they weren't logged in, didn't want to, etc), the poll gives me a much better idea of how many readers actually read the story as opposed to the number of potential readers (for example, a community like deancastiel has roughly 3000 members, but what number of those are still actively reading in fandom and, more to the point, read my story?).
2. Following from point 1, I am interested in the number of readers for several reasons: I am generally a curious person, I was a marketing major in college and things like polls and consumer preferences are of great interest to me, and I like to compare the relative popularity of my various stories to each other. I like spotting patterns, trends, and which stories seem to work for readers better than others. All of these things also provide me with valuable (and fascinating) information as a writer.
3. I have been very lucky in the past few years in terms of the amount of feedback I have received in all the fandoms I write in, and I continue to be happy and appreciative that there are readers who feel moved to comment on my stories. I do not feel entitled to comments on my stories, nor do I feel entitled to votes in my polls. Everyone is free to ignore the polls if they wish, and choose not to comment if they wish. The purpose of the polls is not to create an expectation or obligation that readers must vote; it is there to provide the option to readers who wish to take it.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
I first read about the idea from a fascinating meta post here, so I cannot take credit for coming up with the idea myself. In fact, the author of the post was inspired to start using feedback polls by an entry here, where a reader/lurker expressed a wish that authors would use feedback polls so that she could show her appreciation of a story without having to comment because she found commenting difficult due to social anxiety issues. I encourage everyone to read the posts and the discussion that happens in the comments as they both contain food for thought.
So here are my main reasons for using feedback polls:
Reader-Oriented Reasons:
1. Some readers do not feel comfortable leaving comments on stories for a multitude of reasons ranging from social anxiety to discomfort with writing in English (for people whose second, third, etc language is English). A certain subset of those readers would still like to inform me (the author) in some manner that they have read my story and/or enjoyed it. The poll gives them the ability to do so without having to comment, PM, or otherwise engage me directly.
2. Sometimes a story is enjoyable but a reader doesn't have much to say about it or in response to it. The poll gives a reader the option to let me know that they read the story/enjoyed it similar to the way Facebook allows users to 'Like' something without needing to elaborate. A reader many give the story a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down (I do nearly always include a 'Disliked this story' option in my polls). I have never--nor would I ever--contacted a user who voted that they disliked my story (and there have been a few who were that honest) to follow up or ask them why, or to harass them.
3. Alternatively, a reader may simply select the 'I read this story' option without clicking the like/dislike boxes to leave a neutral review (or perhaps a mixed one).
4. Polling does not allow for anonymous voters, unfortunately, but I do have anonymous commenting enabled in this journal, so people are free to comment anonymously if they wish. I will turn on anonymous comment screening only if I get attacked by spam bots or trolled.
Me-Oriented Reasons:
1. I am interested in the number of readers who make it to the end of the story. Number of hits to an entry can be deceptive in terms of measuring the amount of people who actually read the story; some people open up stories in tabs to read later, and end up saving/reloading those tabs a hundred times before they get to actually read the story. Some people open the story and never get past the first paragraph. Some people read the beginning and quit halfway. Feedback polls eliminate those false hit counter positives because they're placed at the end of the story and therefore it stands to reason that the only people voting in the poll would be someone who has at least skimmed all the way to the end. Even if I factor in a large amount of people who may have read the story to completion but chose not to vote in the poll for whatever reason (they weren't logged in, didn't want to, etc), the poll gives me a much better idea of how many readers actually read the story as opposed to the number of potential readers (for example, a community like deancastiel has roughly 3000 members, but what number of those are still actively reading in fandom and, more to the point, read my story?).
2. Following from point 1, I am interested in the number of readers for several reasons: I am generally a curious person, I was a marketing major in college and things like polls and consumer preferences are of great interest to me, and I like to compare the relative popularity of my various stories to each other. I like spotting patterns, trends, and which stories seem to work for readers better than others. All of these things also provide me with valuable (and fascinating) information as a writer.
3. I have been very lucky in the past few years in terms of the amount of feedback I have received in all the fandoms I write in, and I continue to be happy and appreciative that there are readers who feel moved to comment on my stories. I do not feel entitled to comments on my stories, nor do I feel entitled to votes in my polls. Everyone is free to ignore the polls if they wish, and choose not to comment if they wish. The purpose of the polls is not to create an expectation or obligation that readers must vote; it is there to provide the option to readers who wish to take it.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.