This is only my personal opinion. If you don't agree that's perfectly fine but don't pitch fork me in the eye for my own preference lol I also am writing this at like 7 in the morning without rest and I'm a bit looney for days?? So.. don't take it personally. It's also not as organized as it could be, but hell, it isn't an essay and I'm not trying to prove anything wrong or persuade anyone. It's just an opinionated rant, so excuse me and any thoughts that may not exactly flow or connect as smoothly.. ignore punctuation while you're at it lol at this point of my delirium, I'm just slapping them in haha

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Being featured is nice and all, to some it's a goal or trophy to place on some imaginary shelf. When I first started out, I was like that, too. I wasn't an attention by any means but I thought it was neat to be featured, but as time went on, the more I began to feel nothing for it. I likened it to a popularity contest.

Why?

Because it goes by numbers not quite by quality. Obviously, there's not much better methods of seeing who has the best stories than having a voting system, however I'm sure we're all guilty of upvoting stories simply because:

a. Someone asked/begged

b. It's out of habit right after you subscribe

c. It's an advertised/featured story that caught your attention and you simply like the idea of the story

d. It's part of a shop's offered package/service

Or

e. It's your friend's story

Just to name a few reasons.

To be more blunt, it seems that people are being more lazy to read and judge the actual content. It's as if we are wired by the new gen to click away at easy buttons to share our opinions without taking the time to really give an effort to verbally express opinions because we're used to it. We become "silent readers" without realizing it sometimes on social media, such as liking things on Tumblr and scrolling on, pinning on Pinterest without sharing a few words, liking on Facebook, mindlessly watching snapchats, retweeting on Twitter, etc. Just to name a few.

In addition, people also have this major fear or anxiety of being perceived as incorrect, judged themselves, politically incorrect, argued with, etc. We worry so much about what others think that we stop ourselves from sharing what we actually think.

So it begs me to question whenever I, myself, receive an upvote.

Is it only because I'm a friend? Is it pity? Is it only for the plot idea? Is it because you'll follow me to the ends of the earth from reading a single story by me that related to you? Do you have a thing for even numbers and you just wanted to make it a solid number by the tens? What?

How many of those upvotes you get or give are really for or about the story itself - its content, characters, development, writing style?

There are some people that even outright beg/buy for comments or upvotes. Everyone is allowed their own methods of getting more readers and responses to their story, of course, I have no issue with that, clearly from me owning a shop that advertises stories to gain more attention for them as well as supporting shops.

But that also adds to the questionable amount of upvotes received.

How many are truly deserved? How many upvotes are you left with when you take out obligatory upvotes, upvotes out of kindness, upvotes from shops, traded upvotes among friends or shops or whatever? How many are really for your hard work?

I never was someone who cared for popularity contests or whatever so the typical ideal of getting featured died quickly. Instead, I personally prefer reccomendations. It's more personal. Someone is actually giving effort to put your story out there. They tend to give comments, reasons, spazz excitedly about your work, etc. There's...a sense of life and personality to it more so than a number of clicks. It serves more proof that someone took the time to read your work.

I'm not saying it completely proves someone read your work. It's just as easy to rec a story without even skimming the synopsis or even remember the title.

Even so, in my opinion, I prefer to be reccomended. I rather see why one person liked my story than have 500 "like" my story. I feel it's more rewarding to have a reaction or effort of some sort to what you worked on than something that takes a mindless millisecond to accomplish.

So as gratifying as it is to be on the front page and have idk gloating rights? and be in the spotlight for a day to a week at best lol, I feel it's more rewarding to be a part of someone's personal collection; to have a person say, hey, this story is "the /hella good" and more people should see this and connect than hey look at me, my mom put my art on the fridge for everyone to see because I got 300 votes after 1000 years lol

I mean you're on the front page not that long, like yeah you forever are on that list but let's be real... how many people really take the time to open the Featured list and scroll all day through it? Like lol yay you get a sticker...? Or would you rather have a yay someone treasures the way I string words together, enough to be memorable to them and be on their list?

I choose the latter tbh. So until I see that, that's when I feel I've made it - I've done something right, made something good and worthy.

Otherwise, yeah, totally - gold, shiny, star stickers are cool, too. (No sarcasm lol let's be real, at some point in our life and even til today, stickers are the bomb and we're all victims to them and shiny things xD)

...Yeah idk. It's just a thought yo. Fight me. Or not. Your choice. Freedom of speech and right to opinions and all that jazz *throws streamers*

Sorry. Shutting up now. Goodnight. Good day. Me love u l0ng tim3 ok? Ok. Good.

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After thought:

Should writers just make a poll now for their stories with basic comments?? lol

Like is that the only way we'll get relatively personal opinions??

Like just make a whole list of general things to say to know how we're doing?

Example poll:

How was this story/chapter?

a. I liked it

b. Good job/Good story/Nice chapter

c. I loved this

d. Your writing is always good

e. This was funny/sad

You get the point.

Idk. That's so depressing if that's the only way some people get feedback other than hiring a bunch of reviewers to actually get helpful criticism or opinions.. ._. Have we really stooped so low and gotten that lazy/scared to share thoughts?

Might just do this as an experiment and see how that goes then compare the ratios of actual comments to poll/voted comments. If anyone tries it out or have already, I'm curious - do let me know how that goes. Honestly don't even want to accept how bad this is going to be.