Rectober Wrap-Up

[birdsofshore]

Rectober is definitely done for this year! Please let me know what you thought. Did it work for you? Should we do it again next year? Should we change anything?

A quick poll below, plus banners made by the delightful capitu as a gift for all you Rectober Reccers. Please grab one, and display it on your journal or wherever. I think I might have mine tattooed on my backside, because they are SO PRETTY!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO OUR DEDICATED RECCERS:

abyss_valkyrie, akatnamedeaster, all_not_well, arjd, ashindk, bauble, birdsofshore, calrissian18, capitu, celestlyn, deslea, dragontara, gamma_x_orionis, gracerene, hamimifk, hds_beltane, hollys_tree, icmezzo, indyonblue, isinuyasha, kedavranox, kitty_fic, lijahlover, likebangbang, lokifan, lovethisfic, marianna_merlo, mayexist, meglw0228, mewthmeow, motetus, my_drarry_recs, nathalieweasley, nathaniel_hp, nerak_rose, nevrafire, osprey_archer, pavlablack, queenie_mab, raitala, read_whatilove, sara_lakali, sassy_cat, slashedsilver, slytheringurrl, stephaniejo84, stereolightning, susannah_wilde, traintracks, vaysh11, verdande_mi, vix_spes, who_la_hoop, writcraft, xonceinadream, 0idontknow0


and anyone I have left out; so sorry if that has happened and please let me know asap!



(I screwed up the wording for Q1, I know... it won't let me change it...)

[Poll #1941933][Poll #1941933]



PLEASE COME AND TAKE A PRETTY BANNER! THEY ARE TOO PRETTY TO JUST LEAVE SITTING HERE ♥ Just copy and paste the html from the box onto your journal ♥

banner by capitu

<img alt="" border="0" src="http://i39.tinypic.com/vzkhw4.jpg" title="" /><div>banner by <user site="livejournal.com" user="capitu""></lj>



banner by capitu
<img alt="" border="0" src="http://i40.tinypic.com/2i7ml2u.jpg" title="" /> banner by <user site="livejournal.com" user="capitu""></lj>



banner by capitu

<img alt="" border="0" src="http://i44.tinypic.com/23uu5no.jpg" title="" /> banner by <user site="livejournal.com" user="capitu""></lj>

That's it for 2013! Yay Rectober! \O/ \o/ \O/ \o/ \O/

Comments

[mab.livejournal.com]

strangely enough I seemed to have not recced as much as I usually do, because with all the recs, I felt like it was overkill. But my rec tumblr is still gaining followers, so I'm doing something right.

I like Rectober. It was fun.

[birdsofshore]

You felt with all the recs flying around, that to rec your normal amount would have been too much? That's interesting! I wanted to ask a question about whether people found there were TOO MANY recs clogging their flist - I am sure some people did, as everyone has different views on such things - but decided to keep it positive. If we want to do it again next year we could ask about people's preferences nearer the time, perhaps organise it somehow so that it didn't spam people if they didn't want it to? Maybe use the tagging system more?

[eidheann_writes]

Yes! Do it next year! Maybe I can participate- I miss reccing...

[birdsofshore]

It seems wildly ambitious to me that anyone will still be speaking to me next year, but if they are, I am more than happy to set it running again... :D

[traintracks.livejournal.com]

I had a blast! Especially once I figured out where people were getting the pretty banners. :-D These, too, are simply gorgeous, capitu!!! <3

I'll definitely participate again. :-D Thanks for putting it together, Birds!! (And you alphabetized the participants. Wow.)

[birdsofshore]

Ha! All you had to do to get a banner, was click on a banner. It was strangely cannibalistic that way.

Please use the new ones! Everyone should have one glowing on their journal.

I added each participant onto the original post as I got a notification or comment, or I knew I'd lose track. I tried to, anyway - I bet I missed a few. Anyway, it was easy to alphabeticise as I went along.

[capitu]

♥♥♥

Thank you! *hugs* I'm glad you like them. Birds and I had a wonderful time deciding on the text. XD

[nathalieweasley.livejournal.com]

I have screwed up your poll. -_-

Because I rec very, very infrequently, so in response to During an average month, I usually rec fanworks on LJ: I put never, but a few times a year was an option!! *headdesk* I need to fill out polls more slowly.

[birdsofshore]

No, that was me screwing up the poll! You were quite correct. I worded it wrongly. Don't worry about it.

[isinuyasha.livejournal.com]

It was awesome, 'nuff said :D

EDIT: I also found some great stuff not only because of recs but also while I was compiling my own rec list, hehe :D

[birdsofshore]

Yay! I tried some new pairings, new writers and even new fandoms this month. Yeah, thanks for that, who_la_hoop O_o

I am glad you found some great art and fic, too!

[capitu]

Rectober was amazing, I had a lot of fun and this month was easy, because there've been so much to rec, but it was fun looking back to old stories/art that I hadn't recced and doing it so to celebrate the month. :) Plus, the pretty banners that went with each post. Lol!

But I think people recced more, obviously, but also said so to the reccer, and commented a bit more on the stories/art they followed through a rec, you know? If that makes sense? O.o

YAY For using one of each. :D:D:D:D Good call that one. <3

[birdsofshore]

Oh ahaha. I just commented about one of each upthread. I liked them all :D

I agree that people were commenting more to the reccers, from what I experienced. Or maybe people were just commenting more to ME because they were scared, heh. It definitely made a difference to my motivation. It's not much fun to rec into a vacuum.

The banners were a lovely thing to see each day scrolling down my flist! I adore Autumn and it was so nice to have that theme with the banners, plus the very colourful one as well.

[writcraft]

Pst, hds_beltane did rectober too <3

Thanks so much for organising this, Birds. It was awesome!!!! Lovely banners too, thanks Capitu <3

[birdsofshore]

Thanks, writ, I did see those, sorry for the omission! I've added the comm now!

[nerakrose]

The banners are lovely! I'll grab one next I get to my computer.

I found it quite difficult to fill out the "what did you do more of" poll, because half the things on it were things that I already do (like read recs or leave comments for writers/artists) so I only ended up ticking "post more recs". xD

Last year around the same time I made a kind of New Years resolution (even if I started this well before NYE) which was "a) leave a comment on everything you read/look at, and b) if you rec something the least you can do is comment on it first" which I've been diligently doing all year. :) I can count on less than two hands the times I didn't leave a comment and that was only if I couldn't stomach the fic and stopped reading it. Anyway, my point is, I think im going to also make it a habit to rec more in addition to commenting and not just hit the "save bookmark as rec" button on ao3.

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I really try to comment on everything, but sometimes it just doesn't work (on the phone, just about to fall asleep or go out, etc).

It's nice that you already did the things on the poll! And thanks so much for your recs.

[meglw0228.livejournal.com]

Rectober has been amazing fun! And those banners are gorgeous! Thank you capitu!

Thank you so much for this fun idea; I've definitely started reccing more regularly, even if I'm not doing it everyday! And I'm content after finishing something I loved to recc it now, when before I wasn't so much! I really hope we see this again next year!

And, I have updated the list of reccs, but I'm only up to the M's on the list of people...it should be done tomorrow.

[birdsofshore]

Thank you for all your recs! And your dedication to the masterlist is awesome :DDD Come back and tell me when you've done it, please, I'd like to link to it! Getting up to M is rather impressive.

[kitty_fic]

I had all these plans and hopes and dreams and I failed spectacularly with only one post that was maybe more Rectover than Rectober XD... but I loved seeing all the recs and I read a few 'new to me' fics because of it! It was a great idea and you should definitely do it again!

[birdsofshore]

LOL at "Rectover". If it got us thinking about reccing more, then it's not a failure. Thanks for supporting the idea, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[firethesound]

I hope Rectober happens again next year! I had a great time reading everyone's recs and found some lovely new fics that way. If it happens again, I think I'll try to participate, even though I never rec anything because I'm so completely terrible at summarizing, so all my recs would basically be "I love this so you should love it too!!" with me being completely unable to articulate why I love it so much.

[birdsofshore]

capitu has a guide to reccing that is really helpful. Hey, capitu, can we have a link to that post, please? I can't find it :(((

I'm really glad you enjoyed it and that you'd like to join in if we do it again <3

[0idontknow0]

W00t! Rectober was fuh-un.

[birdsofshore]

*\o/*

Yay!

[all-not-well.livejournal.com]

I would definitely do it again - but perhaps I would not be quite so ambitious in my next attempt. I started out trying to do one per day and then got burned out halfway through the month. Maybe twice a week would have been better. :\

[birdsofshore]

I did twice a week and personally, I found that a big commitment. I think even attempting one a day was awesome! Thank you for your contributions <333

[who_la_hoop]

I found people did reply much more to my couple of Rectober posts than my usual rec posts - but then I recced in, uh, a rather different way to usual, so I think it inspired more discussion :D

I don't think I'll rec more in the traditional way in future - I still find summing up the fic, and then trying to review it in a way that's polite and won't spoil anyone, a rather tedious exercise. But I might try and do some more of the informal recs - although maybe a tiny bit politer if I'm reccing people actually on my flist :D

We don't appear to be doing Nicvember, this pains me. Oh well, I'm sure December is made for celebrating Nic, right?

[birdsofshore]

Yes, sometimes it's a pain to do a formal kind of rec, but somehow it feels like not doing it properly unless you use one of those formats with Title: Author: Word Count: and all that. But I liked your, erm, less traditional recs :DD

[vix-spes.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting this together (and to capitu for the beautiful banners. I've had a blast reccing things and it's been so interesting to read other people's recs.

[birdsofshore]

You're very welcome; it was easy to get it started and then it just ran under its own steam! Thank you for your contribution and I am very glad you enjoyed it.