General
thepouncer - New Media and Me - The way I interact with media has changed too, thanks to the internet. When I started posting on the Buffy Cross & Stake boards in the summer of 2000, I was an engaged viewer, one who did more than passively absorb developments in serial dramas. But I was out of practice at verbalizing my feelings or examining a work critically.

kispexi2 - Leaving Feedback - A couple of days ago, a post by executrix considered whether the number of comments a story amassed was any indication of quality. I think the answer to that is probably Yes and No. Or perhaps I mean Sometimes.

bitterfic - On Incest - Why the fascination? I certainly don’t view incest as a good or positive thing and I try not to romanticize and eroticism it in my stories. It actually frightens me and that may be part of the appeal. I seek out the things that make me uncomfortable. I believe that part of my work as a writer is to go into the woods so to speak, to venture into the shadowy places of my consciousness and try to offer some illumination.

cupidsbow - The Return of the Mid-List? - I have really fond memories of finding great mid-list genre books in bargain bins in the 80s, and those kinds of books have all but disappeared. That makes me sadder than I can say. It was through those mid-list books that I fell in love with SF, and it was also where I found a lot of great authors for the first time--I was ready to give new people a go because the books were cheap to buy. I can only imagine how exciting it must have been in the 30s and 50s when the pulp magazines were thriving, and you could have found a new author every week. Probably something quite a lot like LJ and fanfiction!

atti_br - Förderung des nicht-englischsprachigen Fandoms / promotion of the non-English fandom - Still there are German authors who claim that they could write better in English. Sorry but I seriously doubt that.

On Creating and Criticism
deelaundry in fanficrants - Children and virgins, gather 'round. - If two people have brought each other to orgasm, through such means as kissing, fondling, rubbing, and, oh, I don't know, fellatio, then THEY HAVE HAD SEX.

Polls, Questions, Other
thelana - Learning a Language: Through Porn - So I wondered, have you ever tried or been tempted to read a fic in a secondary language you are learning? Do you think it might be a useful tool for learning languages?