[#0044:] tic-toc, we dance to the beat, the clock spins as you spin into me

One of the latest brouhaha's in fandom concerns a review on a popular fic. Naturally, metafandom is on top of things, and its latest discussion includes the topic: "What makes a fic popular?"

Lots of tasty, thinky things, lots of obvious answers (it's not that it's particularly good, it's that it's there first, nostalgia filter, etc. etc.) and it finally made me realize that I don't really put a lot of stock into widely-recced stories. Of course, considering that the fandoms close to my heart are either a) crappy (ahem, Dragonball) b) defunct (cough, Star Wars, cough) or you know, not easily accessible to me (RPF) it's really more a question if given the actual opportunity I'd search out the recced stuff first.

I remember during my Torchwood binge I read all the classics, though at the time I had no idea that that was what they were. copperbadge's Trying To Communicate, for instance. I remember thinking that it had an excessive amount of comments, but then it is copperbadge and he totally deserves it. So yeah.

Also, on the whole, I think it's mostly longer stuff that suffer from the whole nostalgia-filter, because let's face it, the longer stuff is way harder to find if you don't want to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. (And for me, harder to write as well. Hey there, NaNoWriMo.) I admit to having some long-fic in my favorites folder that aren't grammatically astounding and could stand some trimming around the corners, but which I just fell in love with because of the atmosphere/ideas and the sheer size of them. You can wallow in them. I love wallowing, haha.

Um, no conclusions on my part, though yeah, I totally know the feeling.