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In definite agreement here! I know that once I had reviewed the stories I'd
nominated, and all the drabbles, my first guide for reading and reviewing was
those stories that had no or only 1 review, so far as I could figure it out.
The reviews did not "steer" me towards any stories in particular. They just
motivated me, that if other people could write reviews of the stories they liked,
then there ought to be nothing stopping me from reviewing the stories I liked,
whether they were from authors who were new to me or whose works I'd read
before.

I realised in retrospect that I should have gone into the middle and worked
my way to the ends. I don't remember just why it was that some of the 0-1
stories weren't showing up when I was looking for them. It was a frustration.

I certainly bless Anthony for all the work he put into the database, and
implementing the suggestions that came in, especially that suggestion for finding
the stories with fewest reviews. What a wonderful tool!

But I must repeat that it was reading others' reviews that motivated me to
review. Not that the reviews sent me to the stories themselves... though it made
me put a few of the stories on my "want to read" list. I pretty much had a
plan, and once I'd completed that plan I looked for stories that were wanting a
few reviews. There were enough of these just in the hobbit category alone to
keep me busy.

I rather resent talk (and it wasn't the post quoted below, but a tone running
through some of the posts) about somehow *forcing* people to read outside
their genre. My reading time is limited. Reading helps me relax from the
pressures of... whatever. Reading something that I do not enjoy reading is not what I
have in mind. Frankly, there are genres I do not enjoy. I will not insult the
authors by naming them. To each his own.

Certainly I have been pleasantly surprised and have added new authors to my
list of names to look for. But don't try to make me feel guilty for sticking to
hobbit stories that are PG-13 or lower. It is not cliquishness, it is simple
preference and downright necessity due to time constraints.

Encouraging people to branch out is one thing, but don't accuse us of
narrow-mindedness or cliquishness or some other abusive term just because we tend to
stick to what we enjoy reading!

Am huffy, and I apologise. Why does chocolate taste so much better than
protein? It really does nothing for low blood sugar, nothing constructive, anyhow.

Lin

In a message dated 11/5/2005 12:31:50 PM Pacific Standard Time,
MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com writes:
I'm not sure about that. On the contrary, I discovered that I for the
longest time deliberately chose stories to read which had no or only 1
review. I went much more by summaries (characters or settings were more
important). At the end when I was really pressed for time I chose a few
stories based on reviews. But overall that was not the deciding factor to
read or review a story.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, BLJean@a... wrote:

>
> >>>(and it wasn't the post quoted below, but a tone running

through some of the posts) about somehow *forcing* people to read
outside their genre.

hope I didn't start another misunderstanding. I'm not sure if it's
what you're refering to, but I commented earlier that I set a personal
goal that forced me outside my usual reading bounds ...

offers Lin a cookie ... a ...uhhh... protien cookie .. yeah, eggs,
milk, ...let's call it a peanut-butter pecan cookie - lots of
protien.

...looks around at group of staring faces ... offers box of peanut
butter pecan cookies to group.

Sulriel

> offers Lin a cookie ... a ...uhhh... protien cookie .. yeah, eggs,
> milk, ...let's call it a peanut-butter pecan cookie - lots of
> protien.

Absolutely nothing useful to contribute, but Lin and Sulriel's protein
needs reminded me of this and since humor is always a good thing...

http://www.fatmouse.tk/

Caloric love,

Dwim

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "dwimmer_laik" <dwimmer_laik@y...>
wrote:

>> > offers Lin a cookie ... a ...uhhh... protien cookie .. yeah,

eggs, > > milk, ...let's call it a peanut-butter pecan cookie -
lots of > > protien.

>
> Absolutely nothing useful to contribute, but Lin and Sulriel's

protein > needs reminded me of this and since humor is always a good
thing...

>
> http://www.fatmouse.tk/
>
> Caloric love,> > Dwim>

Thanks Dwim,

I'm not sure if Horton can take fatmouse, but he might be to give him
a run for his shredded bedding ...

http://www.fal.net/html/horrton.html

Sulriel

> I rather resent talk (and it wasn't the post quoted below, but a tone
> running
> through some of the posts) about somehow *forcing* people to read
> outside
> their genre. My reading time is limited. Reading helps me relax from
> the
> pressures of... whatever. Reading something that I do not enjoy
> reading is not what I
> have in mind. Frankly, there are genres I do not enjoy. I will not
> insult the
> authors by naming them. To each his own.
>
> Certainly I have been pleasantly surprised and have added new authors
> to my
> list of names to look for. But don't try to make me feel guilty for
> sticking to
> hobbit stories that are PG-13 or lower. It is not cliquishness, it is
> simple
> preference and downright necessity due to time constraints.

> Encouraging people to branch out is one thing, but don't accuse us of
> narrow-mindedness or cliquishness or some other abusive term just
> because we tend to
> stick to what we enjoy reading!
>

That's a good point, Lin. And frankly, I think encouraging people to
join who normally read that category of stories will do as much good as
encouraging people to "branch out".

I'm sorry if you're being made to feel bad about that.

Cheers,
Marta

*****
"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness
that most frightens us. [...] As we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

(Nelson Mandela)