hetalia_kink | Discussion Post

I can be patient and wait some more. ♥

After how long a period of time (one month, five months, etc.) do you think a fill has been abandoned? For me, I think three months or so without an update means the author probably isn't coming back.

I'm curious what you all think, though. I've gone a while without updating one of my fills and I don't want readers to think it's abandoned, but at the same time I can't write and post the update just yet.

So yeah, to summarize- How much time has to pass before you think a fill has been abandoned? After how long do you give up hope on that fill ever being revived?

Tough to say. Like you, I'm inclined to think of a fill as abandoned somewhere around the three-month mark, but I too have fills which I still plan to complete that I haven't updated for longer than that.

There've been rare cases where fills were picked up after many months neglected, but I would be very surprised if a fill left for more than, say, six months (without an official hiatus notice, which changes things) were resumed.

I like to hold out as long as possible, but if it's been a year since an update, I'm gonna assume the author ain't coming back. If it's been months, I'll still check in, until the part it was being posted in gets maxed, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for it showing up again on the Fills post.

I tend to think a fill is abandoned when it gets really few, harsh concrit or no comments in the newest part. Some fics take longer to update, but if a fic seems to draw in few readers, usually author anons will abandon it.

So, is it my impression or nobody goes around there lately? It feels like rec asking posts were more sucessful when they were included in the discussion post. Maybe more people saw them there or people hasn't realized the new rec post exists, I don't know. The pairings/kinks people is searching for aren't that complicated to not get any response at all. So, do you guys visit the rec post frequently?

Another question related to it. I always doubt if I should rec an unfinished fill (specially if it seems like it's abandoned). If it's a really weird kink/pairing and there's no a wider choice, I do. But when there are more options, would you rec a fill even if it's not finished? I admit I was surprised when I first saw that people posted on-going or abandoned fills in the pimp post (I know there is no rule against it). I just wouldn't be so sure about pimping something that has no end, I guess it'd have to be very peculiar or well written or have something perfectly done (a characterization, a particular scene, some historical event, etc.) so that I would want other people to discover a piece of writing that has no actual narrative conclusion or is only half-developed. What are your thoughts regarding this matter?

I think one reason there's less traffic in the rec thread is that people have to want to go there. When it was in the discussion post, you'd be browsing, see someone asking for a rec and if you happened to know a good one, you might stop and link them. Now, you have to actually be inclined to do the work of seeking out the rec post, reading through all of the comments, and trying to sift through any bookmarks or links to find something for that anon. (I think this is actually a major problem with splitting the discussion post into pieces - it really reduces traffic everywhere and makes keeping up with any of the non-fill threads a chore.)

Secondly, the attitude of many of the rec requests in the post may have turned people off in the beginning when it was created. For example, the first few posts there were things like "ALL OF THE USUK" or "ALL OF THE POLAND" and other such major pairings/characters that have indexes, some of which are very up-to-date. None of it was specific, and were all things you could easily search the indexes for. This probably gave the impression to a lot of people that the type of people posting requests for recs in the rec post were lazy and didn't bother to check the indexes.

The number of specific recs, ie. "America/historical figure", "Scar Kink", "Brokeback Mountain", or even the "Prostitutes" one, seem to be on the rare side. And it's probably only the specific rec requests that would be likely to get any other comment than "Check the indexes". If you started looking through a new thread and the only thing you were able to say to people was over and over again was "check the indexes" you'd probably get pretty tired of it right away. Thus, turned away from the thread, and hence, no traffic. Not to mention, keeping in mind my first point, it was a chore to even go there and tell anons to look at the indexes. And who wants to do a thankless, pointless, and frankly boring chore?

tl;dr: The rec post is more like a chore, and the anons who post there typically wasted comment space and people's time asking for broad pairings and/or characters when they could have just gone to the indexes, leaving a bad taste toward the rec thread.

Like the anon above me said, now we have to go to the Rec Post, which is an extra effort. Also, and this is my personal pet peeve, some anons ask for things that they can find if they only check the indexes. I can understand not finding a rarepair or something like that, but most of the stories with the main/most popular characters is readily available. Asking for recs of Canada/Prussia or US/UK or Fr/UK when several indexes cover those (Commonwealth, England, USUK and FRUK indexes, for example) is quite annoying and reduces the usefulness of the Rec Post.

I think you're right about the harsh concrit part. There was a fill that I used to read that would update so frequently it was crazy. Then there were a couple concrit-comments and updates stopped coming even though there were still a lot of other readers. *sigh*

Same with the few readers thing. I'm lucky that I get a couple of readers that are just so darned amazing that they always comment and always comment well, but they are my only readers. If they stopped coming I would probably end up losing the inspiration to continue writing that specific fic.

Index lists all fics about a certain pairing, recs are about the ones that stand out.

is quite annoying and reduces the usefulness of the Rec Post

Says who? You?

ayrt

If an anon is asking for "Everything with America in a skirt", they are asking for everything and that's most of the requests in the Rec Post.

And yes, I say so. And the anon above me. And the low traffic in the post itself.

From the first page of the new rec post, there's someone asking for all Greece/Japan, all Prussia/Canada, all France/Russia, and all Poland. They each specify they want everything, meaning they should've just used the indexes. I agree with the anon you replied to, that basically asking for someone to copy&paste an entire index is quite annoying.

For me, six months is when I consider things abandoned. But that's probably because I take months to update my own WIP. I think it really depends on how regular the updates were to start with, if the filler left a comment saying the next update was far off, plus the comments/concrit factors above anons mentioned.

I don't mind this actually, because hopefully if they read those fills, they will comment. And more comments = more motivation for anons to finish their fills. But I agree that I'd probably only rec a WIP if it had something remarkable about it or really hit the kink-buttons.

Any rec is a YMMV thing, so I don't think there's a "wrong" type. I've read lots of things in the rec post that I would never rec myself, but obviously someone enjoyed those fills.

I can't remember ever sitting down at my computer and thinking "today I'll just rec a ton of hetalia fic!". I'm not going to sift through posts on the off chance someone is asking for a rec I might have.

Depends on how frequently the author was posting. There's some fills that are updated around once a month or less, so long periods without don't worry me. Then there have been fills I've figured are abandoned after only one month of no update, because the author was updating daily for the whole thing before that.

If I come across something awesome that needs to be pimped, I'll pimp it. If I see a question asking for help finding a certain fic, I'll try to help the anon. Heck, I've been known to rec in the disco post before the new rule went in, when the anon was looking for specific things that didn't have an index.

But go to the rec post specifically to spend time digging up the links to A/B stories when the the OP can't be arsed to look at the indexes, and probably won't give a thank you? Yeah, not so much. >>

tl;dr: I second your tl;dr

I think it depends on how frequently the author is updating before. If they were updating weekly and stopped updating for over a month and didn't mention anything about a hiatus, then it's probably abandoned. If the fill has been updating monthly, and the author doesn't update for 2 months, they may still return. But I do agree that if comment count drop or if there were some harsh concrit, it would at the very least delay the next chapter a bit.

As a writer, I have fics I can finish in a few weeks, and others that are taking me over a year. I know of at least 2 fics that have returned after > 6 months and people were still interested to see it completed.

I agree. The fact that it takes work to go to the post, the fact that requesters on the first page could have just looked at the indexes to find the fills, the fact that it will most likely be a thankless chore (basing the assumption on the fact that a handful of the requesters didn't bother checking the indexes in the first place which implies a sort of laziness or carelessness)... all count against the recommendation post being ultimately successful. I don't even think it's anyone's fault, it was just poor timing and a bad combination.

Not that every one of those requests were bad, I actually thought some of them were good topics to discuss, but I agree that they probably would have gotten an answer if it were posted here in the main post, probably.

There was an EnglandxLatvia pedophilia request a while ago, and I was wondering if there was any continuation of it (link here: http://hetalia-kink.livejournal.com/17465.html?thread=53185081#t53185081 )
I would be forever indebted to whoever gave me the continuation. I love this fill like WOAH.

Is there one?

There's a Canada index (http://www.delicious.com/maple_kink) and someone is indexing America's requests/fills (http://www.delicious.com/America_Index) There's a pairing index but I don't think it's updated: http://community.livejournal.com/uscan_kindex/

You can also check the Commonwealth index for Canada: http://www.delicious.com/hetalia_commonwealth/Canada

Hi! There's no continuation posted yet. It's about 2/3 done on my computer ... ~~I'm just debating about how angsty the ending should be~~

Hi everyone.

I am doing my very best, and will work harder to get to the double digits by the end of this week. :D

Maybe I'll have a complete index for you all by the end of Part 18. Maybe. :/

I seem to have lost the link to this request. I want to fill it, but I don't know where it is. Help would be much appreciated. C:

Discussion Post

Re: A New York Yankee in Lord Arthur's Court

When is a fill considered abandoned?

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

About the rec post and reccomendations

Re: About the rec post and reccomendations

Re: About the rec post and reccomendations

+1

Re: About the rec post and reccomendations

Re: About the rec post and reccomendations

Re: About the rec post and reccomendations

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

re: unfinished fills

+1

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

+2

Re: When is a fill considered abandoned?

+3

Continuation of Rules...?

America/Canada Index?

Re: America/Canada Index?

Author Anon

Maintainer Of The US/Can Index.

Colbert Nation x America request