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In which we name the nameless horrors of the deep.

Terminology poll for you all. The context of these questions is "multi-author fanfic archive".

Poll #1895524 Because I apparently can't decide
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 44

What is the thing you're reading called?

View Answers
fic
35(79.5%)
story
8(18.2%)
the entertainment that shall remain nameless
1(2.3%)

When you write a brief note directly attached to the thing you just read, you are:

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leaving feedback
16(36.4%)
commenting
28(63.6%)
what? people do that?
0(0.0%)

You prefer to read text with this color scheme:

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light text on a dark background
6(13.6%)
dark text on a light background
38(86.4%)
blinking pale pink text on a light gray background
0(0.0%)

This poll has oppressed you!

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My journal layout is pale pink on gray, you insensitive clod.
0(0.0%)
You have left my favorite jargon out of your list, you illiterate clod.
1(3.8%)
I can't read, you insensitive clod.
2(7.7%)
I never leave commentfeedback, because wank wank wank wank wank, you [ELIDED] clod.
2(7.7%)
Your suggestion above that I am wanky has oppressed me, you insensitive clod.
5(19.2%)
I will detail my reasons in a very long comment or perhaps a passive-aggressive LJ post in which I name no names, dear.
2(7.7%)
Oh, come on, get with it, all the kids wank in unreadable Tumblr reblogs these days, you antediluvian clod.
14(53.8%)


So anyway, how the hell have you all been?
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    brutti_ma_buoni
    I don't have very strong views on fic vs story. I *do* strongly prefer comment to feedback, because some people really don't feed back as such, in that they aren't exactly discussing the fic at all ("I would never have thought of this pairing!" "I am also from Michigan!" "I'm also doing this ficathon and I'm late, omg, haven't dared to read this, your timeliness oppresses me!"). Comments seems to leave the whole thing a lot wider and more neutral.
    snickfic
    Whereas I, in a more general sense, prefer feedback to commenting because I feel like commenting is a sort of, hmm, platform-specific activity? Like, you don't comment on ff.net; you review. (Or maybe you leave a review; I'm not too savvy with the lingo there.) And comments and reviews both seem to come under the heading of 'feedback' to me. 'Commenting' implies to me that the person comes from LJ.

    Uh, which isn't to say your reasoning doesn't also make perfectly good sense. :)
    brutti_ma_buoni
    Ah, the definitive 'can't please everyone'!

    I tend to think of comments as a neutral thing, on other blogs and AO3, but perhaps that's because LJ is where I started.
    antennapedia
    So to muddy the waters further, I have a totally separate concept called "reviews". These are homed with the writer of the review, not with the fic being reviewed. No display with the fic itself, though you can choose to look at the tab listing reviews for the fic (with review titles).

    I am, at the moment, leaning toward comment because it's sort of more neutral (for the reasons BmB gives) and because the feedback concept is sort of partly in the review concept.

    I ought to have mentioned that.
    antennapedia
    However, to self-reply, I note that the responses so far are pretty epically on the side of "fic" and "feedback". My only objection to fic is that it's kinda weird to use in the plural. One fic, many fics, a collection of fic (not fics).
    gileswench
    I'm old school when it comes to terminology, but flexible when it comes to how others decide to use it. As long as there's plenty of characterization and a soupcon of smut, I'm a mostly happy camper. I prefer 'fic' and 'feedback', but if I know what's meant by it, I could be perfectly willing to accept 'aardvark' and 'laser canon.' I might think you're tremendously odd, but that's never stopped me liking anyone before.

    As to how I've been... well, ups and downs, my friend. Ups and downs. But I'm back. And ficcing to fight cancer. And writing a book. Oh, and without a steady paycheck. Like I said, ups and downs.

    Edited at 2013-02-09 05:47 pm (UTC)
    kaymickbee
    What she said :) I'm stuck in roughly 2004 when it comes to fandom. Fic, feedback, OTP, falalalala...

    And if any of my old school peeps are posting it, I'm reading, commenting, reviewing, squeeing....
    shapinglight
    I ticked that I call it fic. I suppose I do. Stories are things that aren't based on someone else's characters.

    And I comment, because it says 'post comment' on LJ and that's really the only place I read fic.

    I'm a bit of a stick in the mud really.
    stexgirl2000
    On the internet I call it fic, if it's on paper, it's a story. The plural of fic does give me a headache.

    Here in the Southbay things are busy. We seem to be done with being sick here at Chez Stex. :knocks on wood: Otherwise it seems to be a lot of normal life "wash, rinse, repeat" around here. Still have not seen The Hobbit.

    clavally
    I have no strong leanings either way between feedback and comment. In fact, I kept changing my answer and can't even tell you what I ultimately picked. As long as it's clear that's where I'm writing something to the author about what I just read it makes little difference what it's called.
    miranda_askher
    Pleased, on my own return from LJ hiatus, to see that you still make the best polls. :)
    the_emu

    I consider all of these terms 100% interchangeable.And I'm always weirded out when I see debates about it, because everyone seems to have developed such firm ideas of differences, which are unrelated to anyone else's ideas, which means our language is not common at all.

    8^-
    antennapedia
    I was using them all interchangeably in the code until I noticed this and had to crack down. While it's cool in casual speech to switch between terms, I think interface is more comforting & secure-feeling when it chooses one term and sticks to it. Which I totally couldn't do, because I could make a case for each of them. I decided eventually, though, by putting on my "how do I want to socially engineer this?" hat.
    willowgreen
    Nothing of interest to add to the terminology discussion -- but how does ANYBODY read those Tumblr blogs? My son now lives on Tumblr. I snoop on him there occasionally, but more often than not I can't tell what's going on anyway, so I might as well not bother.
    antennapedia
    I do not understand why people don't just hook up Disqus commenting. It's easy and it's readable and you get notifications and all that civilized stuff. I've had a Tumblr way longer than most of fandom has (perils of being an early adopter of everything I can adopt early) and I've had Disqus for ages.
    willowgreen
    But why doesn't Tumblr have its own comments? That seems like such a basic thing.

    I asked my son about it, and he said that if you want to reply to something you "just" reblog it and add your own comments. This explains why I find it so unreadable.
    rebcake
    ¡Yay! A reason to use this icon, which seemed so practical when I uploaded it, but then seemed really passive-aggressive whenever I tried to use it. *sigh* Anyway, whatever term you use will be fine with me. I adore pink, but please no pale on pale anything! I am old and my eyes are old...

    I do feel strongly about one other thing: the lack of a Drunk!Giles ficathon!

    Edited at 2013-02-12 06:06 am (UTC)
    sparrow2000
    Hmm, this is interesting. I would automatically say I read fic (both for singular and plural) to differentiate it from any hard copy books I'm reading off my bookshelves.

    I'd also say comment rather than feedback, mainly because I only started to actively leave comments when I got an LJ so that's where my head automatically goes to, even if I'm commenting on a different platform.

    As for Tumblr - shudder.... :)
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