Go! Tell it on the mountain!

[zvi]

fandomfan asks what's so great about podfic?. I'm not sure that it's particularly useful to have that discussion with someone for whom the mere concept hits her embarrassment squick, but, in the more general case, why do you like podfic? Why do you like listening to it, why do you like making it, why do you like manipulating it (if you make covers or podbooks or work on one of the archives), why do you like teaching other people to do it, why do you like discussing it here?

And, even more so, what do you say when someone who doesn't already get it asks these questions?

Comments

[podcath]

Your question kinda caught me in a wrong place. It's like asking an mpreg fan (or substitute pretty much any kink here that has as many detractors as it has fans) why they like this really embarrassing and icky and offensive thing. And I guess at that point all we--the mpreg/podfic/name your poison fans --ust have to say is, because we do!

So, I'm not sure what you're looking for when you're asking this question. I can list you all the things that I love about mpreg, all the ways it plays with gender, all the things that bug and trouble me about it. And none of those will make you like it any more.

I love podfic because I love being able to listen to stories in the same way I love listening to audiobooks. It's not like reading. It is much slower--forces you to follow along, paces it for you. It interprets the story for you, and it doesn't work or all stories for me (just like there are mpregs that really bug me :). But when it works, your squick's my kink!!!

[fandomfan]

It's like asking an mpreg fan ... why they like this really embarrassing and icky and offensive thing.

Well, it *does* embarrass me.

At no point have I suggested podfic (or mpreg, for that matter) is icky or offensive.

Simply that it weirds me out, just as I'm sure there are things out there in the fannish world that weird you out. So here I am trying to figure out from the people who love podfic what they love about it instead of letting it rest unexplored. If my curiosity hits you in a wrong place, there's nothing I can do about that.

I really appreciate your (and everyone else's) answers here. That's a good point about podfic setting a story's pace for you. I like to think that when I read fic, I'm always slow and careful and attentive to detail, but that's not always true, and with podfic, the listener is definitely guided by the pacing of the reader.

Thanks for shedding light on this for me. :)

[zvi]

Protip from someone who writes a lot of meta

1) Don't use the construction "what's so great about X?" if you want people who like X to talk to you. That phrase implies that there is nothing great X.

2) If you want to find out why people like something, don't start out the conversation listing all of the reasons you don't like it. This makes it sound as if you've made up your mind about the something, and there's not much in it for people who like X to try to convince you otherwise.

I find that the best way to get people to explain the appeal of something I don't is to structure the discussion so the deficiency is placed on my lack of understanding, instead of the appeal of the thing I don't get. For example, "I don't really understand why people are into Supernatural. Can y'all tell me what you like about it?"

[fandomfan]

I find that the best way to get people to explain the appeal of something I don't is to structure the discussion so the deficiency is placed on my lack of understanding, instead of the appeal of the thing I don't get.
I agree. In some situations.

Not really in fannish ones.

I think topics can be opened for debate without worrying about every bit of language and its potential to offend someone reading it. For example, right here. Plenty of people have showed up to talk about the pros of podfic, and I'm not at all sure that would have happened in response to a post full of demure language and quiet solicitations for information.

I have run in fannish circles for quite some time, and watched many a meta discussion go down, and relatively few of the good and interesting and multifaceted ones that I've seen have begun with neutral wording.

I'm sure there are plenty of things out there that I like that other people are put off by, and I'd be much more likely to step in and defend my opinions if I saw evidence of someone else *really* not getting it. It gets the passion going, which is one of the best things about the fannish community, in my opinion.

So, being my blog and my opinions, I've expressed them. And it has indeed generated a fruitful discussion, and I've gotten a lot of interesting information from lots of fen that has helped me figure out what it is about podfic that works for people. Some things I'd have guessed to be true, and some things I'd never have thought of. Which is precisely what I was hoping for.

At no point have I stated that I think there's something inherently wrong with podfic or with people who like it and listen to it. I haven't stated that, because that's absolutely *not* what I think. But the whole point of the conversation for me is to find out what people do like, regardless of whether or not it convinces me to take up podfic listening on a regular basis, and that's what's happened here. No one's trolling, no one's attacking, no one's going after other fen personally. And me, I'm really interested to see all of these responses.

So thanks, again, for yours, and for getting the thread started in the first place.

[zvi]

You can do what you like on your blog, always. I will just point that the discussion took off here, where it's people who like podfic talking to each other, and not so much on your blog.

Also, the way you presented your dislike of podfic would be exactly the reason podcath was ticked by you.

Do with that as you will.

[fandomfan]

Yep, the discussion's happening on a journaling site, as do most of the best fannish discussions I've seen. Which is exactly why I'm so appreciative of you posting the topic in the first place.

The blog is, of course, a limited view of the fannish world, since it's just my own perspective and whatever (much appreciated) comments people decide to leave. But I also endeavor to make it something that provokes discussion and opinionated debate, as do the blogs/journals that I'm personally most interested in reading.

I'm getting very blah blah blah here, so I'll shut me up. But thanks again for all the spirited discourse. :)