fandom newbies today! in my day we just had to websurf with bamboo rafts!

[cimorene]

it seems like i've seen a big rash of people joining communities, and posting little apologies blah blah blah but they're new and want recs. 

that's what recs pages are for.

this isn't even on a par with people who can't be arsed to lurk for a while and watch the community dynamic (which, on an lj community, can be accomplished in less than an hour, probably, by skimming back posts). 

this is on a par with people who post to communities asking how to do things on programs they own that they ought to find in the help file. 

even if a newbie doesn't know about crack_van, those fandom/pairing manifesto comms, or recsrainbow (an update journal that includes a lot of people's recs pages and recs blogs), they can't possibly be on the internet, can they, without knowing how to use a search engine?

i often respond to these people by linking my and other people's recs pages, hoping this will be a subtle reminder of where one should maybe start to go when one is looking for recs.  but on consideration, can i really hold out much hope that this gets the message across?

Comments

[swear-jar.livejournal.com]

Well. I sometimes, in small fandoms, ask for recs in friendly communities when I'm still a n00b to that fandom. The good thing that comes out of it, is that sometimes people will tell you about obscure things that haven't been found by many people, or by big rec pages.

With small fandoms, it's far, far harder to find recs and generally (in my experience), I have trouble finding anything using google.com.

[mirabella]

I see that on the Harry/Draco groups all the damn time. Sometimes they're looking for strange, really specific stuff, too, like "Someone rec me a fic where Draco tops and Harry is wearing a skirt but is not a sub in any way and Hermione is wearing Harry's invisibility cloak and secretly watching them from a position no less than two feet away from the foot of Harry's bed." It's really bizarre, and also annoying.

Then again, I get hits from weirdly specific search terms too, like "Hermione straddling Harry with her legs across his waist cock," and I'm like "Wow, you're gonna be mighty disappointed with that fic you just clicked on."

[cimness.livejournal.com]

heee, i love seeing requests like that in communities. frequently the summaries are probably more entertaining than the stories themselves.

and also, hahahahahahhaha. you get the best search terms!

[norah.livejournal.com]

It's one thing to ask on your own journal - I frequently do, because what are minions for, if not to filter things for me? - and another to spam a comm. I reminded that girl that Google exists and she responded, essentially, "it's not as easy as just asking." Which, okay, we all laugh at men for not stopping and asking for directions, but I get really tired of doing other people's work. I mean, on an individual basis, I'm happy to read and rec.

Then again, it took me a while as a n00b using Google to find your search engine (I think I was searching in fandoms you weren't as active in at first? dunno, but it's on the first google page I pull up for "due-south recs"), and mine's not indexable, and I'm not sure thefourthvine's is either - and, oddly, Bifictional Bedlam doesn't show up in the first two pages of a google either. STILL.

[cimness.livejournal.com]

yeah, exactly. it's different if an acquaintance or someone on your friendslist asks. it's another matter when they post to the community first when they admit they haven't even done any exploring yet. i just cannot believe she couldn't find all the *major* sources of f/v recs with ten or fifteen minutes of surfing from google and livejournal.

and of course, yes, that would be less easy than just asking, just like it's less easy for a kid to get off the couch and get a drink than to yell down the hall, "moooooooom, can i have a drink?" and for good reason, most moms say "you know where the glasses are."

[norah.livejournal.com]

*dumps water over all the stupid lazy kids' heads*

[cimness.livejournal.com]

even my mother would never go so far...