a possible side-effect of the HLH_Shortcuts author-guessing game

[brightknightie]

I love the annual hlh_shortcuts exchange, which brings us fresh new HL stories every winter. Read this year's works. I've been reading in the event for many more years than I've been writing in it.

I worry, though, that its author guessing game can sometimes discourage newer players who couldn't possibly guess its effects, and might feel hurt while relatively few comments and kudos come in through the posting period and guessing game. Newer players might interpret this as their stories being rejected by their fellow players. I hope and believe that's usually not what happens.

Here's what I think I understand about what happens in this exchange, which makes it different from most events:

Back before the A03, the writers emailed their stories to the moderator, who then posted them herself, one by one, on the HLH_Shortcuts LiveJournal community, anonymously. People read the stories and commented (and you could comment on your own story there). At the end of posting, the community made a game of guessing who wrote each story. Then the moderator edited each LJ post to add the author's name and announced the winner of the guessing game.

When the AO3 came along, and then DW, the exchange moved. When you post your own story on the AO3, you can't comment on it or kudo it [per comments below, we can comment on our own AO3 stories! I never knew]. So if you choose to comment or kudo on all the stories except the one you wrote, you've revealed which story you wrote, by process of elimination. So folks who want to play (or just support) the guessing game will deliberately not comment on all the stories -- indeed, they may particularly choose not to comment on stories that they hope others will think they wrote!

This should all come around to a happy ending with folks coming back to comment and kudos on more of the stories after reveals. Often they do! Sometimes, though, this approach can seem to encourage less total interaction than an otherwise similar event might earn during an equivalent play period. No momentum.

Anyway, that's just what I think, myself. Many of you may know more; I could be misguided. I just would like everyone to know, in this exchange, silence may actually mean folks hope to be mistaken for you!

Comments

[raine]

Yup, your summary of how the exchange used to happen is correct. I mean, the whole reason it's called "HL Shortcuts" was because Amand-r thought that running the exchange would be a shortcut to her getting the fic she wanted written, which was basically, "more HL".

[brightknightie]

I did not know that about the name! :-D I had imagined that "short" was from the 500 words minimum, back when most events set a 1,000 words minimum. This reason is much more fun.

Thank you!

[raine]

It is, isn't it? Amand-r is part of the reason I wrote as much HL fic as I did in the late '90's after I discovered the fandom. She, idyll, Jamwired, I, and a few other people had a private mailing list where we talked about fic, HL, writing, and life; it lasted for several years.

[jotribe2]

AH! I never knew why it is called shortcuts. Thanks for the info :)

[raine]

That's the "why" I remember anyway. ;-)

[argentum_ls]

There's definitely the potential for people to not comment immediately as part of the guessing.

I do think it's a mistake to go into the event expecting that everyone who participates will comment on everything, though. People have all kinds of reasons for what they read or don't that may not have anything to do with playing the guessing game.

And then there's people like me who get so slammed with things at the end of the year that the weeks that coincide with Shortcuts and Yuletide reveals are inevitably spent sick, making it hard to read anything -- nevermind expressing proper appreciation.

[brightknightie]

I'm sorry that you've been sick and slammed! I hope those are fading and retreating, and that things get much better, much faster for you.

Yes, expecting that every participant would read everything in any such event -- never mind commenting -- could lead only to sadness. I hope no one is burdening themselves with that!

I do feel that people expect what they're familiar with, and that HLH_Shortcuts is not wholly like what most people are familiar with. I personally feel anxious when I don't know what's going on, and I have leaped to sad conclusions from time to time when I was left to guess alone. So I thought I would explain. If no one needed any explanation... no harm done, just me looking little silly! :-)

[malinaldarose]

I haven't managed to read much yet because I've had a million other things to do, and when I steal a few minutes here and there at work to read on my phone, I don't comment because I hate typing on my phone. (Kudos to people who can compose epics on their phones.) But I do plan to go back later and reread and comment then, so....

[brightknightie]

Ack, sorry! I didn't mean to suggest that anyone needed to comment faster or more, or change any behaviors!

I wanted to explain something that I thought newer folks would not know or understand, because I would very much have wanted it explained to me, in their places.


(Two stories still don't have comments from the people for whom they were written. And the fabulous long piece written for my prompt still has only 2 commenters (3 total comments, because I left 2) and that surely has less to do with the guessing game than with my request; I feel bad for leading that author down to the wide, lonely tundra of things I absolutely adore that not a lot of others do.)

[malinaldarose]

Oh, no, I wasn't thinking that at all! I was just...er...moaning about not having enough time of late.

[hafital]

Hello there! I just wanted to come over here and thank you again for your kind comments on my story. And to assure you that my pleasure in writing it for you, and your reception of it, was all the gratification I needed. Also my ego is pretty healthy so my attitude tends to be more like 'Anyone who doesn't read this story is missing out! How sad for them' haha. *shrug*

So I am happy to be led down the wide tundra with you. Truly one of my favorite years doing hlh_shortcuts. I gushed a little more on writing this story on my DW. Thanks for making the request!

[brightknightie]

Hello! Welcome! And kudos to your healthy ego and wise attitude! ;-)

Your Randi story is amazing; indeed, anyone passing it by is foolishly missing out.

As you're here, you probably saw my original anon-period recommendation of your story, but in case not... link!

[hafital]

I did see your first post, thank you! It made me very happy. :D

[sholio]

To be fair, technically, you still *could* comment and kudos your own work (AO3 doesn't stop you from doing this); people just don't. I wonder if this is HL-shortcuts exchange etiquette (and that's fascinating to know where the name came from; I had no idea!) running into and being overtaken by general AO3 exchange etiquette, where fake-commenting on your fic to throw people off isn't a thing. Now that you mention it, I do actually remember that happening in the first couple of secret Santa exchanges that I did on LJ in the late 00s (in Stargate fandom, I think); I had completely forgotten about it! It really does seem to have been lost along the way with the move to a more standardized exchange format.

[raine]

I'm pretty sure the fake-commenting has happened at least once, but yeah, it's not a thing that's happened often.

[brightknightie]

Thank you for the info! I am astonished and laughing at myself to learn that we can leave comments on our own stories on the AO3. I will amend the post.

I had no idea. I was sure it wasn't possible. Why? Because I'd never seen it? I've never tried, and I've never needed to, I just thought... 8-D

[jotribe2]

I didn't know that you can't comment on your own work, even if it's posted anonymously. This is interesting. Then of course people will hold off commenting. I like to get my comments in before I know who wrote it. And since I am hopeless in guessing, I try to read and comment quickly. Some years I make it, some i don't.

[brightknightie]

Above in this thread, sholio let me know that I've been mistaken all these years, and you can comment on your own work on the AO3! I am amazed and laughing at myself.

(This year, I deliberately didn't comment on a couple of stories, so that guessing my work would be ever so slightly more difficult, but I feel guilt! guilt! for leaving those authors without comments yet when I didn't have to.)