It's not a reverential thing; there is a fundamental difference between creating content for search engine optimization, clickbait, etc. and writing stories or making art. But I suspect we're getting off topic. :)
I generally use the exclusion filters, but not much else. If I switch the sort-by mechanism, it's usually for wordcount. I read fast, so longer fics are my preference.
Tolkien fandom has always been a bit splintered, but there used to be more of a sense of community. I am thinking post-LotR trilogy and pre-Tumblr here, because events like Back to Middle-earth Month and the Middle Earth Fanfiction Awards were things that brought disparate groups of Tolkien fandom together. There isn't that kind of all-encompassing event now, even though B2MeM still exists. TRSB in some ways has succeeded in that niche, but it is Silm-heavy in a way B2MeM and the MEFAs weren't. Maybe Tolkien Secret Santa/Gates of Summer is in that niche, too, but I know a lot less about that event than I do TRSB.
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rosecarmine
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Date: 2022-10-10 10:05 pm (UTC)I generally use the exclusion filters, but not much else. If I switch the sort-by mechanism, it's usually for wordcount. I read fast, so longer fics are my preference.
Tolkien fandom has always been a bit splintered, but there used to be more of a sense of community. I am thinking post-LotR trilogy and pre-Tumblr here, because events like Back to Middle-earth Month and the Middle Earth Fanfiction Awards were things that brought disparate groups of Tolkien fandom together. There isn't that kind of all-encompassing event now, even though B2MeM still exists. TRSB in some ways has succeeded in that niche, but it is Silm-heavy in a way B2MeM and the MEFAs weren't. Maybe Tolkien Secret Santa/Gates of Summer is in that niche, too, but I know a lot less about that event than I do TRSB.