Not many...

I think it is very sporadic, Flash, since I said the very same to someone on IM a few months ago, just before the reads picked up again! Having a cherry helps, as does a mention in the forum but, sometimes, even this seems to have little effect. Please excuse me for using myself as an example, but I haven't studied the reads of others. A while ago I had several pieces cherried and flagged in the forum. Yet, by the time these pieces had slipped out of the last 100, the number of reads varied between 25 and over 100. If that was in descending order it would be understandable ... "christ, I'm not reading that kind of shite again" but it wasn't. I suspect it depends upon reader's habits and upon whom, with which habit, is online at the time. Some may only read the recommended; some the last 100; some will find where they left off and work their way up (unless a shed-load has been posted in the meantime). Britgrrl makes a good point: if the uploading is slow, you get more reads, if you happen to post in between two people uploading for their lifetime's achievement award you are stuffed. As Emma says, Fish has pretty much described my own (and no doubt many other's) reading habits. I'll often stick with a poem but will quickly lose interest in prose if it does not engage me ... and this is perhaps a problem with reading online - the constant scrolling buggers the eyes unless you are captivated - whereas I will persist with a real book beyond a few paragraphs (bear in mind money has changed hands) Anyway, when I read this thread last night it pricked my conscience ... I have read so little lately and have rarely (or not) joined in any of the recent excellent discussions ... so I did some reading and may or may not comment soon. I *do* have a slight problem when making a crit. I find it very hard to be spontaneous and type my thoughts there and then. I find it hard to be gushing without sounding sychophantic. I need to think about what I have read in order to make a reasoned response and usually end up putting it to one side so as to have fun in the Gen Diss. And never get back to it. There is very little prose here that doesn't contain spelling mistakes (mine included: useless author forgetting to spellcheck last minute alterations), grammatical errors, tense shifts, weak characters ... the list is endless...and the Virgo in me always has to find fault, somewhere (try being me as a writer ... gawd it is so difficult at times) Poetry is as hard. But I'm going to give it a go. So, forgive me if my first response is to start a poetry thread, but I have just checked and in the last 200 there are 6 cherried pieces, only one of which is a poem, Spack at no 107 with his superb 3 Sided Coin. But that isn't the piece I shall comment on (unless he is desparate for a 'superb' comment?). Mind you, it has taken me so long to formulate my thoughts and type this post you may not see me fo a long time. (one-liner piss-takes are so much easier)

Spacks poem is fantastic and i know eff all about poetry. Sorry to be thick Storms but is a sledgehammer wit a good or a bad thing?

sorry flash, got distracted (and I still haven't posted on the wrting forum!) sledgehammer is a good thing on erm U, no, other sites. On here, it is considered a BAD thing when you spell out the punchline the previous poster left hanging ... aww who cares anyway, jolly good jape ... Liana and her beard, whatever next

Yeah, i must admit i'd noticed. Perhaps all the readers need new spectacle prescriptions.

I'm back to reading. What I notice most is that stories used to disappear very quickly from the top 100. Like within 30 minutes or so - even less, sometimes! Fewer people posting?

hmmm ... i hardly read any in the top 100 these days and i think there are a few different factors ... mainly i have less time ... there was a time when i think i read almost everything that was posted in a day ... true i wasn't working at the time and it was when less got posted so it was possible ... but these days i only have the odd spare 10 mins for reading so here is the process ... i open the last 100 and i scan through ... i discount unknowns who have posted twenty or so pieces all at once ... i discount anything that has a spelling error in the title or the description or has an appalling title or description ... this isn't snobbery it's just that i have learnt over the last three years that if a piece has spelling mistakes or a dreadful description it will more than likely be something i won't enjoy reading ... the same goes for names which are scary or sickly such as mooniebabyfaerydust or bigbeefynob ... so i will mainly look for familiar names and things with interesting titles ... then as i have really no time at all to give prose pieces the respect they deserve if i click a title and it turns out to be prose i will give the first para a look and if its wickedly good i will keep reading ... if it isn't i will click back and try something else ... if it is a poem i will generally read it through just because it is quicker to read than prose ... there are certain people who i will always read and i love it when i see a new thing from say hitch or stormy or someone ...

Bigbeefynob is that one of Rachel's pseudonyms?

oh and i forgot to say .... there aren't many cherries these days and much as i malign them i DO use them as a guide ...

I think fish's post above deserves a cherry. But my process is a similar one, though I probably read a bit more than her and favour prose over poetry. My guide is generally the discuss writing forum or the cherries. True, the titles make a big difference somehow, but then again, sometimes a really canny title proves to be for less than canny bit of writing. So I try not to be too judgemental in the first instance.

I stopped reading because they actually started making me work at work (disgusting) - but now we've finally made the ADSL work I may start reading at home.

Author Dean Koontz wrote once of how none of his books have ever kept the title he gave them when he wrote them. Editors change the titles when they are published. It's funny, a creative mind like that can't seem to come up with a suitable title. A catchy title is a good thing, it gets the readers interest.

Perhaps people are fed up waiting for the upgrade to the site...is it going to happen?