FST-related rant

[petronia]

(Because I can't let myself rant about what you and I are all thinking about. Ironically I feel much the same way as I did after 9/11: the cold satisfaction of seeing one's worst suspicions justified. Humanity really isn't worth the energy it would take to save it, so bring down the Flood.

...It's a temperamental thing. When I go through a carefree happy period in life, as I am now, I get attacks of doomed presentiment. Because I know for every up, there's a down. Jobs are lost, people die, shit happens. I had attacks of doomed presentiment reading the newspaper during the nineties as well, when there was Clinton and economic prosperity after recession and for a while it looked like Palestine might reconcile like Ireland and Germany, because the up was too much. In history as in human life, there has to be a down. Two steps forward means one step back; three steps forward means two back, and sometimes it means four. So this decade feels like something I've rehearsed for, but that doesn't make it happier.)

So yes! The FST question. To be honest, I'm with Squit on this one (with the caveat that one-line comments don't bother me, as they allow me to track that particular FST's popularity relative to the others I made - sort of like lj comments on my fic), and also with pornkings when she says "I'm actually more disconcerted by people who comment saying that they have downloaded a 'couple' of songs rather than by those who don't comment at all and yet take the entire mix." 'Disconcerted' is the mot juste for it; to me it's rather as if someone commented saying "Read the first and seventh paragraphs of your fic and enjoyed, thanks! :D" Er... you're welcome? o_O

That being said:

1) I do not, in a direct monthly-bill way, pay for Kekkai.org's bandwidth.
2) Kekkai has a lot of bandwidth.
3) I don't have access to webstats for Kekkai. This means comments are the only way I know anyone's downloaded at all.
4) I donate to Kekkai's fund, and in fact will be soon (I figure the money'd come in handiest before Christmas), but I have no real idea whether my donation was proportionate to my usage over the course of this year. I'm thinking it can't possibly be, because my usage is through the roof. LJ isn't half of it, I upload things for people privately.
5) Points 1 through 4 mean that when I post music, I'm probably using D's money to pay for my fandom cred. This is not the intent, but it's one of the consequences.
6) I could probably not acquire the equivalent in a hosting plan myself. Not because I couldn't afford it at this point, strictly speaking, but because Kekkai is on a better plan than I could get for Petronia.net, and also there would be a screaming knockdown fight in my family if I started getting a monthly bill for putting shiz up for internet strangers for free.
7) I perceive - emotionally - commenting after reading a fic or downloading an mp3 to be an extremely tiresome social obligation, apart from the infrequent occasions when I have something interesting to say. (Such occasions are obviously more frequent if I'm friends with the person in question.) Other people have told me in private conversation that they feel this way as well, but the pressure to be Nice is overwhelming.
8) Point 7 means I often conveniently forget about said tiresome social obligation. I'm terrible at things like thank-you notes in reality - would rather not receive the gift than have to write one - and after all I get on the Internet a lot because I'm an introvert working-up-from-misanthrope. No, really. In a certain sense, I can afford to be nice here (as opposed to sound nice) because I don't have to deal with you guys on a taking-up-my-real-life-time-and-space basis. I imagine a lot of you grok this.
9) I don't use file-sharing programs. Never have. I just leech as I find. A lot of times this means I download from directories that just happen to be unprotected from Google's spidering.
10) Points 5 through 9 signify that I'd be an irredeemable hypocrite if I were to get annoyed at people for downloading and not informing me. Not you, especially if you are watching webstats as people leech your personal bandwidth; just me.

...And I'm not annoyed. I keep thinking I would be annoyed if it were my own bandwidth, but really? I doubt I would. I'd still be the one (the idiot, my mother would say) who chooses to upload for the leeching hordes. As with fic, I have the choice to stop posting and walk away. It's because each of the FSTs I make is different. For something like the Prince of Tennis Fanon ST, where essentially each song is its own little character comedy, I could care less if you only download for the three charas/pairings you care about. For something like the Nana FST, where I put the tracks in "chronological" order not because it sequenced best but because it made the explanatory notes easier to write, feel free to listen to it in whichever order you feel is most aesthetically pleasing. For things like KamioMix or RanMix that I didn't even post to fst - heck, I'm just happy that Janni and Kristin liked them respectively. (Although once again, I like getting comments, because it tells me what you want to hear. XD)

For something like the Mirage of Blaze Naoe/Kagetora FST that I've come to realise is an inevitability come February - well. It's a "concept album" in my head, believe it or not. Not only will I be strongly suggesting that people listen to the whole thing in the right order from beginning to end, I'll be strongly suggesting that they listen to it in a certain way to achieve the intended effect. XD;; Except when you get down to it, what can one do but "strongly suggest" that people not read only the first and seventh paragraphs of one's fic? And is it worth getting annoyed over?

...

Now that I've ranted, a practical suggestion. I think we should put our downloading/commenting policy as a standard disclaimer in FST entries as a matter of course. It would cut down on the ambiguity, as there are obviously a range of opinions involved.

Comments

[applekid.livejournal.com]

the cold satisfaction of seeing one's worst suspicions justified.

thank you. i couldnt describe how i felt, i can now.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I quite understand why people do it. But as Tin and Jae and others have pointed out, when people dl just one or two songs because they're by bands they like (as opposed to because they already have the other mp3s), they're essentially mistaking the mission statement of the FST comm. I also understand why they mistake FST for being just another mp3 blog (so to speak); if you do not make them yourself, it's not obvious that from the creative perspective it's actually just another way of writing fanfiction. I didn't realise this until I started making them. In essence, FSTs should be treated as fic.

The "unpleasantness" (and it's not terribly unpleasant at this point, just an airing of opinions) is a measure of the comm's success, and I foresaw it from the beginning. XD Glad you liked the PoT FST anyh00.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

I would suspect that a lot of people don't really get it, because I don't understand the technical issues involved in ST creation either, even though I've seen a lot of people talking about making them.

No, I just am paranoid and always see wankery on the horizon, really. It can't be helped unless everyone disclaimers like such.

[pere-chan.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I thought! An FST is just like a fic: you research, you compile, you put something together for a fandom you love and hope it conveys what you wanted it to. I suppose you have many of the same issues to tackle when scoring as you do when writing...?

I expect you have soundtracks for your fics as well, and perhaps an original story or two. I was so inspired by you and fst that I'm currently redoing one of my most ancient stories purely in tracks-with-notes, because I've simply lost both the skill and patience to write it but desperately want it done and out there. Really, nowadays there are so many different ways to put out a story.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Argh, sorry I deleted. I wanted to edit.

I don't d/l many fsts because I haven't seen the series or know that I don't have the person's musical taste, but couldn't a lot of it be, behind the part about not d/ling all the mp3s just a statement that they already have the mp3 or don't like the group? I have to say that I have to leave one line comments "thanks for putting it up! ^_^" because
a) I am totally a lower life form when muzak is concerned and have little intelligent to say. I can say something about art, but often I can't say much about music. I try, believe me, but unlike a fic you can't tell until you listen, can you? see b)
b) I d/l, and then I listen. This might be days later. But if I don't comment now, I might forget. Of course, you can't eval the ST if you didn't listen. Of course, because I know from my flist that people are very sensitive about these issues, I always d/l all of the mp3s.
c) That said, I adored the TeniPuri Fanon ST.

(I am preemptively pitying Tin. I foresee unpleasantness over something like this. )

I don't feel any tiresomeness with commenting with d/ling an mp3, because after all, it is $, and because it encourages them to put up more. I feel less of a problem with fic, because it doesn't cost them anything. Also I am just not reading fic these days for various reasons. (Wow, it's actually working for you, the spider trick? I just wrestle with WinMX...) But then, you know my opinions on the feedback wars in fandom, though that might be because I don't do anything in fandom (well, I really don't do much at all other than the mindless consumption) that I expect feedback on.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

No prob. XD More comments: Tin is mild-mannered and a perfect admin, she will sort it. As for the spidering trick, what you have to do is Google something like "band name" + mp3 + "parent directory". ^^; I mostly only do it if I get curious about a band and want to hear some examples of what they sound like (obv as you have to know what you're looking for). I figure I discharge my share of obligation to the artists/industry with the number of CDs I buy and concerts I attend, but in the meantime I hit random people up for their bandwidth. ^^;

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

I think the way to solve the problems people have with the comm would be to have strong disclaimers with specifics and for people who want people to listen to the whole thing to zip it in one file. The social pressure thing works well, essentially, on enforcement grounds, but then you get those who say "I hate one liners" or "I don't care if you don't comment," and then it breaks down again.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't do zip files myself. It's really do unto others at this point - they annoy me, because typically I start listening from the first song as soon as it's finished downloading. Instant gratification, don't you know. XD

[serendip.livejournal.com]

zip files of the entire soundtrack actually increase bandwith suckage and do NOT increase the number of comments, re: what happened with the last soundtrack I had posted. Just in case someone was wondering. XD I suppose that means I'm popular, even if no one feels that they can/should comment XD

[angrybabble.livejournal.com]

most controlling way I've seen to do it, and something I might do if I ever make an FST again, is to make a custom playlist with the songs in winamp or whatever, zip up the songs and playlist in one big zipfile, and FORCE people to download the whole thing. Of course there's no making them actually listen to all of it, or keep all of it, or whatever, but it's the best effort you can make! On the minus side, it would probably shoot bandwidth use up even MORE because of all the people who only d/l wanting one song, now potentially downloading all of it, getting the song, and deleting the rest. >_>

[serendip.livejournal.com]

I only post my soundtracks online so that international folks can get my soundtracks. Otherwise, I would just mail them. I actually have no interest whatsoever in sharing my soundtracks. XD There, I've said it, I feel better, I will move on XD (And I really only joined fst cos I knew that was the only way I could share stuff with Tin. She'd forget to check my lj/miss the entry otherwise.)

On the flipside, I don't care if people read my fics or if they leave comments. I haven't figured out why STs are different for me XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know that, because you've said it before. XD In any case, how I feel about it is - you're the one who did the work, you're the one who gets to set the rules for the leechers. It's just that it's fairly obvious that not everyone favours the same rules, so instead of having the same policy for the whole comm everyone should post their own dl/comment policy in the disclaimer.

I think you just care more about the STs. XD

[serendip.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't expect everyone to feel the same way as me at all. I also understand that people don't care if someone says thank you or not because they think it's empty/meaningless/tiresome social interaction. However, I sort of value/require it with respect to my STs. As I get older, I think I am starting to appreciate social ritual, if not society. XD

I understand some people don't like it and think a token thank you is annoying, but hey, you have to respect that people may want to say thank you and/or may require such or seek it out. It's just as easy to delete a comment as it is to not comment, no?

But this discussion is getting pretty old, so I'll try not to talk for much more XD

[smurfmatic.livejournal.com]

Step forward, step back. That's like dancing eh. Or yin/yang philosophy. I see it this way too. Of course I'm a temperamental person, will exult when things go great, miserably depress when they aren't so great.

-Ced

[petronia.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. And do post the questionnaire, I'll be interested in seeing the answers as well. I get the feeling I'm on the exacting/anal end of the spectrum, but since when is that news. ^^;

[quixotic-sense.livejournal.com]

My own position on this is that of an interested moderate -- I like knowing what people think of my FSTs, especially when they also felt compelled to check out the source. I feel happy when I successfully pimped Gould's Book of Fish and Pieta. XD

In practical terms, knowing the number of people who downloaded my FSTs help me determine how long to keep the files up. I don't have my own webspace (my FSTs are dependent on the generosity of cugami and pastles) and I can't tell how much bandwidth has been used. I'm making two character FSTs, so comments will help decide whether to keep them up for a week each (as I planned) or whether it's okay to leave them up longer.

That said, I'm not ragingly unhappy when people don't comment. I don't actually expect most people to do so, given that a lot of commenters pick and choose which songs to download.