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.
no subject
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.