Forum / OH, COVETED FAVE, HOW TROUBLESOME THOU ART!

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Feb 26, 07:11pm

  The original sin was installing a democratic process to approximate an appearance of meritocracy in an unsupervised literary community. It is our good fortune that Common Sense hath shown us the way to absolve ourselves of this sin of good intentions by assuring us that our greater society is as mendacious in its conceit that the good ultimately rises, as does cream in the unhomogenized bottle of milk, to the top. We've learned to withhold rolling our eyes at this promise until the cameras and voice recorders have been switched off. Then, in the eerie oblivion of electronic disinterest, verily we say unto one other what we really see.

  Here on Fictionaut we see a three-way segregation among the Artistic Idealists, the Pragmatic Realists, and the Unmitigated Indifferencists. Not to worry, I shan't reveal peronalities! (Altho I shall willy nilly employ the forbidden exclamation mark to tease the eyebrows of those unconsciously struggling to freeze their facial muscles whilst pretending to ignore the notions contained herein.)

  Of the three archetypes, I most admire—envy, even—the Unmitigated Indifferencists, that tiny segment of artists beholden only to themselves and, in certain rare instances, to sensibilities frighteningly similar to their own. Emily would be proud.
  
  The other two types are not so pure, corrupted as we are by the currency of...well, currency. A fave is, after all, a proxy of exchange. The more experienced 'nauters award faves to assert or sustain their superior judgment, certifying merit they see in those with equal experience or who show promise. Those of us lower in the hierarchy are more apt to distribute faves as favors amongst ourselves in the interest of gaining higher visibility with promotion to the “recommended reading” feed, which is arbitrated by an anonymous, hidden administrator. This is not to suggest we see on Fictionaut the kind of vicious competitiveness barely hidden in government or its corporate sponsors. Nor is this a suggestion that we suppress our own, less distinguished, perceptions of quality to avoid derision as hypocrites or “fave whores.”
  
  Nor should the fave brouhaha overshadow the true communal value of Fictionaut, which is the comment aspect. I and I'm sure most of us learn and appreciate, more than simply a fave, the thoughtful comment on a piece whether or not it's accompanied by an advancing number in the fave column.
  
  Don't get me wrong. I have yet to refuse a fave from anyone, nor can imagine a scenario in which I would even wish to, nor, in fact, have I any idea if refusal is even possible. And make no mistake, call me a whore or a mercenary or anything else you may wish, this is a promise: you fave one of mine, and, unless I find you or your post signally repugnant, I will reciprocate!

  One last notion, one that's been nagging me from some subconscious chamber to the extent it now must be released to the light of open thought: The fourth archetype. The Literalist. You know the type. The Literalist takes rules at face value, something rather odd to find in a community that celebrates creativity.
  Nonetheless we have Literalists among us. These poor souls take the word “favorite” at its primary definition, the superlative, the most preferred or best. What terrible heart-wrenching decisions they must make. How to pick more than one “best” without some qualification, some grading criteria to keep from resembling one of the other, impure practitioners of meritization. Oh, the horror, the horror...

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Feb 28, 05:44pm

  Life is too short and a dying medium is already depressing enough. What really matters any more is finding a decent cheeseburger.

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Feb 28, 06:06pm

  **burp** I make my own, JLD. The secret is raw onion, dill pickles, and A-1 sauce, the thick version.

• 
  Darryl Price

  Mar 01, 03:38pm

  I read and like more than I fave, but that doesn't mean I don't admire these pieces. I just don't want to overwhelm the privilege with monotony.You can't put your personal seal of approval on everything, that would immediately diminish its purpose here. Cheeseburgers aside, but only for the moment, they are too delicious to ignore, it's always been an honor to me to simply be among such an amazing group of creative souls. Most of the time I'm just in awe.I always only hope to catch a few of them reading something of mine. I don't despair if they don't or wish them any ill will. They are probably just enjoying the blooming garden just as much as me. I wouldn't dare to tell them which flowers to stop and smell. That's as much their freedom of expression as anything else. I'm just glad we're all in it together and alone. I like that whole experience.

• 
  Tim G. Young

  Mar 09, 06:39pm

  I love faves. I love to get 'em and I love to give 'em. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right and when I give 'em it means I can always find the piece again if I want.
  But however you feel about faves, this is an awfully interesting community, I would say, wouldn't you?
  For instance, in this fave discussion, so unexpectedly come to light through group leader, Mathew, we also have the opportunity to discuss the ubiquitous cheeseburger, which I'm sensing is nothing less than a culinary delight for our present comment committee, if you will. In closing, I feel I must say thanks to Mathew, James and Darryl, as we do and quote the inimitable Wimpy: "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." Thank you very much.

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Mar 10, 02:03pm

  Forever young, Tim. Yea, verily!

• 
  Tim G. Young

  Mar 13, 05:22pm

  It's so cool you would say, Forever young. I'll be playing that tune at a Bob Dylan birtday bash on May 20th! Thanks Mathew!

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Mar 13, 05:32pm

  My favorite version, Tim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1fSVbBwVX8

• 
  Tim G. Young

  Mar 15, 07:06am

  yeah, I really dig this version and lots of cool pix, some I hadn't seen before.

• Samuel Derrick Rosen

  Mar 21, 06:30pm

  The favs are more to do with not just how many friends you have but who they are, the quality of the poem/story has little bearing.

  Fictionaut is no different from any other site, be it a site about horticulture, stamp collecting, Games of Thrones, the films of Stanley Kubrick, kittens and bows or how to manage your finances. It has its little hierarchy and then the centurions who follow the orders of the hierarchy and then you have the sheep. Underneath it all lies the illusion.

  It's a circle jerk.

• Samuel Derrick Rosen

  Mar 21, 06:40pm

  This is why I intentionally throw a spanner in the works, you find out who is sincere and who is not, the ones who are sincere will still private message you but will ignore you on the boards for fear of retribution from the hierarchy and it's sheep. New members will automatically gravitate towards those who receive the most favs regardless of the quality of the work, this is because they want acceptance and acceptance alone.

  Any member whose profile says they are also a publisher or have connections to university presses and/or commercial publishers will tend to recieve a lot of favs, no matter the fact their work is often dull. This is why toxic lefties/feminists/cultural marxists have infiltrated the publishing industry, but I ask myself the question, does it really matter? Because no one reads poetry anymore, they just write or attempt to write it, so what these types are really doing is they are preaching to the converted, they are masturbating, they are giving each other handjobs.

• Samuel Derrick Rosen

  Mar 21, 07:22pm

  And at the risk of sounding like I am defending myself, I haven't really personally insulted anyone on this site, Ackley did that by telling me to go fuck myself on my Trump thread, Hardaway (long before I became a pariah on this site) publicly wished for my death, he received no criticism for that. Once those 2 things happened I just thought the gloves are off, so I no longer fear expressing myself fully about what I really think. I'm anti-politics and I am also not in fact a misogynist, I grieve the fact that so little women writers are not driven by the collective, that they are seemingly incapable of not writing from their gender viewpoint, great writers transcend such things as gender and politics and so they should.

• Samuel Derrick Rosen

  Mar 21, 07:30pm

  I feel like this guy here:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS5wi65-h2o

• Samuel Derrick Rosen

  Mar 21, 07:58pm

  I'm on a rant. Feminists say they want a genderless society but they constantly go on about their gender, they go on marches supporting uncontrolled mass immigration even though those migrants often come from cultures that actually do disrespect women/homosexuals/minorites, cultures that actually condone the rape of women (and the execution of women for proven/unproven adultery) and the hanging of homosexuals from bridges.

  The reason that modern feminism/cultural marxism has gained such a prominent hold on western society is because those who are really in power has allowed it to, in order to create divisions and to reduce the population, to make more and more people subservient to the state and to bring in more totalitarian laws.

  Feminists hate white heterosexual males under the guise of wanting equality when in actual fact equality already exists. I have experiened the hate from feminists whenever I have managed to bring myself to attend poetry readings, I find they are actually not poetry readings at all, they are in fact cultural marxist/feminist gatherings whose audience/performers primarily consist of women, it's the preaching to the converted thing again. It saddens me there is no real outlet for genuine lovers of poetry and artistic expression, I pray that this won't always be.

  Rant over.

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