I'm really genuinely interested to know what it is that people find so appealing about it.
Um... why?
I haven't listened to podfic. (Dialup internet. Not friendly to podcasts.) I have listened to audiobooks; I don't like them. Have listened to old-time radio shows; don't like those, either. Am pretty sure I wouldn't like the low end of amateur productions similar to either, and even the high-end is not going to go as smooth or as fast as I want words to enter my brain.
I get that lots of fans are squeeing like crazy over podfic, and the genre is full of new & exciting tech, and more stories, and more participants, and I'm kinda left out of that. Aw.
But I'm not confused that others like it and I don't. And I haven't bothered asking the f'list, "what do you like about podfic" any more than I've asked them "what do you like about SGA" (which I also don't) because I'm pretty sure that, whatever it is, it's *still* not going to appeal to me. And understanding it in the abstract (oh hey yeah, that would be a good character dynamic to play with/wow, hearing a voice for [character] would be cool), isn't going to drag me into the actual squee.
There is NO REASON to ask "why do you like X" unless it's either "I wanna share the squee" (which it doesn't sound like you're likely to do, any more than I am) or "... so I can tell you what's wrong with that because X is icky."
Which you say you weren't doing. And okay, I'm sure you didn't intend. But your post didn't read like "hmm, new fannish squeething everyone's doing; I don't get it; help me flist." It read like "there's this squicky thing people *all over* are doing; how can they *stand* it?" And of course, the answers are likely to be somewhat defensive; you insulted their squeeful hobby. Or you at least said, "I find it horribly ugly and uncomfortable and don't understand how anyone could like it."
there's got to be something I'm not seeing
There is. Different people like different stuff.
Some people like fluff. Some like non-con. Some like long, plotty novels; some like PWP drabbles. Some like comics. Some like fic archives with black backgrounds and gothish fonts and vampire artwork all over the place. Some like printed zines and don't read anything online. Some like meta. Some like detailed concrit. Some like writing to a deadline. Some like collaborations. And some like podfic.
Once you've figured out you *don't* like something, what does it matter why someone else does? It's not like we have squee rationing.
no subject
Um... why?
I haven't listened to podfic. (Dialup internet. Not friendly to podcasts.) I have listened to audiobooks; I don't like them. Have listened to old-time radio shows; don't like those, either. Am pretty sure I wouldn't like the low end of amateur productions similar to either, and even the high-end is not going to go as smooth or as fast as I want words to enter my brain.
I get that lots of fans are squeeing like crazy over podfic, and the genre is full of new & exciting tech, and more stories, and more participants, and I'm kinda left out of that. Aw.
But I'm not confused that others like it and I don't. And I haven't bothered asking the f'list, "what do you like about podfic" any more than I've asked them "what do you like about SGA" (which I also don't) because I'm pretty sure that, whatever it is, it's *still* not going to appeal to me. And understanding it in the abstract (oh hey yeah, that would be a good character dynamic to play with/wow, hearing a voice for [character] would be cool), isn't going to drag me into the actual squee.
There is NO REASON to ask "why do you like X" unless it's either "I wanna share the squee" (which it doesn't sound like you're likely to do, any more than I am) or "... so I can tell you what's wrong with that because X is icky."
Which you say you weren't doing. And okay, I'm sure you didn't intend. But your post didn't read like "hmm, new fannish squeething everyone's doing; I don't get it; help me flist." It read like "there's this squicky thing people *all over* are doing; how can they *stand* it?" And of course, the answers are likely to be somewhat defensive; you insulted their squeeful hobby. Or you at least said, "I find it horribly ugly and uncomfortable and don't understand how anyone could like it."
there's got to be something I'm not seeing
There is. Different people like different stuff.
Some people like fluff. Some like non-con. Some like long, plotty novels; some like PWP drabbles. Some like comics. Some like fic archives with black backgrounds and gothish fonts and vampire artwork all over the place. Some like printed zines and don't read anything online. Some like meta. Some like detailed concrit. Some like writing to a deadline. Some like collaborations. And some like podfic.
Once you've figured out you *don't* like something, what does it matter why someone else does? It's not like we have squee rationing.