Public rating systems on AO3

[vampthenewblack]

You know what it's like on Amazon and Goodreads. The rating system that makes me thankful that I don't write OF. It has a point there, despite the potential for abuse (I've heard of authors using socks to rate their own stuff up, of enlisting friends to do it, and of people who don't like the author one-starring out of malice). You check out the ratings and reviews before you shell out hard earned cash. All of the logic.

Thank god this built in rating system will never be a thing on AO3, those who decide these things having rejected that particular new feature proposal in part due to the potential for abuse.

No one has to pay to read fic, therefore there's no danger in flouncing after the first paragraph if a fic is not to your taste.

I occasionally look at bookmarks of my own stuff on AO3. I like to read the comments, I get all fluttery and excited when someone ticks the rec box, and I look for tags they've applied that I might like to add to the fic.

And I wander through other peoples bookmarks, looking for their recs and comments and often add things to my TBR from there.

From time to time I see readers using a rating system in their bookmarks. I'm not particularly precious about my work, I think I've been doing it long enough that I know my limitations and I know that most of what I post (especially lately) is seriously lacking in one way or another. So when I see a low rating on one of my own personal faves, and one of my highest kudos'd works, I can shrug it off without too much of a hit to my ego.

I realise that most of the time these rating systems have little to do with the quality of the work and more to do with the readers own tastes, and for many are likely only meant for the readers own reference. I keep a rating system of my own, but I keep it in Calibre, safely private on my own personal computer. There's no way in hell I'd let the authors of the works I read see those ratings, because they are for my own future re-reading reference, and have everything to do with my own personal tastes and almost nothing to do with quality.

I never see these ratings by a reader with any works of their own on AO3. It's only readers who make these ratings public. I won't say that before they criticise they should try writing themselves because IMO that's not what they're doing. I imagine that the majority of them simply have no concept of how hard it is to create something and share it.

To all those non-writers who use a rating system: Fic authors (and artists, and podficcers, and all the creators in all the media) put hours upon hours of their own time, and blood, and sweat, and tears, into creating fanworks and then share them for free, for love. It's a very vulnerable position, and particularly for those new to sharing, one knock is all it takes to make them not want to share again. Imagine if this happened to your favourite author way back when they began. If they simply gave up before they'd really started, before they had a chance to hone thier writing. Imagine how little fic we'd have to read now!

AO3 is not Amazon, and it's not Goodreads. Public ratings don't belong here.

If we got paid for this shit it might make public rating systems easier to take, but we don't. All we get in return is a few kudos or comments. Personally, I'm happy with that. I don't want to get paid for writing fic, because this way I get to write whatever the hell I want to write, I don't have to please anyone but myself, and I write to my tastes.

And for those readers who choose to rate to their tastes, that's fine, too, but you should keep it to yourselves. Don't put it where the author is highly likely to see it, in places like public AO3 bookmarks.

The ridiculous thing is that it's very easy to make ratings and comments in an AO3 bookmark private. All you need to do is tick the private bookmark box! Unless you're intentionally trying to make the writers feel bad, but that's kind of an asshole thing to do.

Comments

[venis_envy]

This. Yes. Ugh. And a lot of times, the bookmark comments read as book reviews the users don't necessarily intend the writers to ever see. I get that they want to remember key points as to why they did or didn't like the story, but it kind of makes me giggle. It's as if they think they are posting those privately for their eyes only. Do they not understand their bookmarks of our works show up on our dashboard?
My biggest problem lately, though, is the goodreads thing. I'm with you on the not-for-profit fic writing stance. We do this because it's a creative outlet that we enjoy. Not to be judged and rated or measured against professional, published authors. So why are people putting fics they've read on goodreads and rating them there? This irks me. I don't see a reason for it, and I'd prefer mine weren't on that site at all.

[vampthenewblack]

Oh god, the fic on goodreads thing. That's a whole 'nother rant, but I'll say for the record that I'm against it. My goodreads librarian friend says it's an accepted thing, totally within the goodreads rules, but I don't think we should be there. Fic is a whole different animal from OF, and I swear to god people one-star fic purely because *they* don't think it should be there. Which it shouldn't! Ranty rant rant. Stopping now LOL

[chemm80]

Huh. I hadn't really thought about this, but this is well said. And worth saying.

[vampthenewblack]

Thanks :)

[thraceadams]

Yes, I made the mistake of reading through bookmarks once...NEVER AGAIN /o\ Also, OMG WHY DO PPL PUT FIC ON GOODREADS? WHY? (ofc I never look over there either, another minefield of sucking the life out of my writing mojo so yeah...)

UGH that srsly Goodreads allows this...I mean...Idgi at all. That's not what I thought Goodreads was for, but whatever.

For me when I bookmark on AO3 - it's for categories...like "short fluff" "short Sterek" "medium sterek" (these are length categories LOL) "Sterek D/s" that type of stuff. I NEVER indicate whether I liked it or not. Because why would I bookmark something I didn't like? Plus, frankly, my bookmarks are an unholy mess, so I mostly just use my phone bookmarks LOL

*sigh* I really wish ppl would think of others when they do stuff like that.

[vampthenewblack]

I bookmark everything I read on AO3 :) Even if I wasn't that impressed, I still bookmark it, but anything less than flattering in the comments gets that private box ticked!

I pretty much always find the ones using the ratings don't write, so I get that they don't get it. Or they're not in the midst of fandom like we tend to be and don't really think of the authors as real people or something? I don't know. In most cases I don't think it's malicious, just clueless.

Sometimes I wish you could comment on bookmarks though, just to bring to their attention that there *is* a person behind the fic. It's so frustrating.

[thraceadams]

I don't bookmark things I don't intend to go back to. Mostly because I don't have time to just randomly read stuff, so I either read stuff that has been rec'd to me or stuff I've bookmarked myself. Otherwise, I read original stuff.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. I've found that myself. The ones that leave the mean comments are usually not writers themselves, so they really have no idea.

And YES OMG YES commenting on bookmarks - but then...that might get ugly as well so....

[vampthenewblack]

My OCD requires I keep a record of what I've read, but I don't have time for a spreadsheet, neither do I see the point in using a bookmarking service when AO3 bookmarks are right there :) I have tags and the rec ticky box for, well, recs and 'would read again' etc. I definitely read more fic than OF, but still not nearly as much as some people do.

Yeah,comments on bookmarks probably wouldn't be good LOL Even when the PM feature is implemented I might be hard pressed to bother saying anything, even though it would only be a friendly heads up (authors are people too!). You never know when someone's going to get defensive and turn into a dick :/

[thraceadams]

Ahhh okay. I get that. I was thinking about keeping a list of books I read this year...just to see how many I actually do read. I don't think I could ever keep track of all the fic I read. /o\

Yeah, nope comments on bookmarks wouldn't be good LOL. Oh they are implementing a PM feature? That's interesting, they've needed that for a while tbh.

[vampthenewblack]

PMs are, I believe, on the list of approved feature suggestions, but I figure have to wait until they've got the manpower to implement it. Or it might be waiting for other bits of code, because beta. Something :) I'm almost certain it's just a matter of time, anyway :)

[thraceadams]

Good to know!