I read this much of the fic in question: He heard it, barely noticeable, a near decibel almost out of hearing, but it was there . The sound of laughter. Now, this wasn't the ordinary kind of laughter, because, otherwise House wouldn't have cared. But oh no , god forbid , it was flirtatious laughter . The weird italics and bolding got to me. Different issue altogether, but I think if you can't show emotion through your word choice, then please don't attempt it with italics and bolding. Dee, you should definitely be proud of Locked Up And Set Free. I *still* hate that story. It was *that good*. And I hope that everyone feels that way if I rec 'em, because, you know, when I rec or do a Hall of Fame nom, I *mean* it.

Zulu: I agree with your comment on bolding. However, I think italics have their place, if they're used properly and sparingly in the prose.

Part of the reason that we've allowed our rec thread to be so open is that we trust our members to be great, wonderful, and highly intelligent people. And if one of these great, wonderful, and highly intelligent people think something is amusing or demands the attention of another person, then why not recommend it to someone else? As for the use of formatting in fics, I usually prefer none, or a few sparse words in italics for affect. But if a fic is over 25% formatting, then it can interfere with the ease of reading. I always think of it this way: keep it simple.

Just because something is rec'd doesn't mean we have to click the link. I don't read everything that I see on the Rec thread, just like I don't watch everything I see on the program guide on tv. For me who it was that rec'd it plays an important part. If I like what they write, its a good bet I will like what they rec. If they rec an author I know I like, even if its in a pairing that I might not normally read, I will probably try it (like a Wilson/Cuddy that I read last night). If we are going to be turned off by minor grammatical or punctuation errors, where do we draw the line? Will we read anything with Brit spellings? (Alternately, if you are Brit, do you nix anything with American spellings?) I think if a story makes you laugh out loud (not because its MSTable bad) or makes you tear up, or makes you catch your breath, or makes you think, and you think "I know other people who would enjoy this for the same reason," you should rec it. And let people draw their own conclusions. The back button was invented for a reason.

I rec stories I enjoyed reading. I think, especially in smaller sub-genres, if you will, that it's hard enough to find great fic, even good fic, let alone The Great House Fic Novel - so if I find something that's good, I'll rec it, with the necessary disclaimers (e.g. "This is a House swim team AU where people are not dweebs."). If I think something's extraordinarily good, I'll gush over it so much that you will know. And yeah, I tend to trust certain people whose tastes are similar to mine. I trust most the people who aren't afraid to say, "The first two chapters are kind of slow, but it's more than worth it for what comes up later." Also, except for two distinct instances I can remember, I absolutely never rec something or second a rec without having left the author with feedback first. I think if you've enjoyed a story to a degree you're willing to rec it publically, the least you can do is spare the same amount of time to give the author the only thing they get for their efforts. And while many authors who get recced on this thread might be members of HHoW and know they were recced (which might seem like enough), well, a significant portion aren't, and won't even know you thought it was good.

I too enjoyed Boy Licker and thought Dee was pretty clear that it was an exception on a number of levels. I can see where it could be annoying to a number of people, but I found the story delightful and the House voice spot on. I've got a "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone" attitude on such things. There's not alot of perfect fic out there. Heck, not alot of perfect anything. One of my pet peeves is the music thing. If I feel something is musically off, it takes me right out of the story quicker than a "Stacey." That comes from too many years working in the field and having a record collection that is probably too big for its own good. Example: House weepily playing and singing "My Immortal" by Evanescence? Ugh. House being ironically offed by a James Taylor cd? Hilarious. But it's not really fair of me to totally expect everyone to have that same level of knowledge/standard as I do on this. There are some fics I read where I might find the musical choice something I might not consider appropriate for the character, but it is plausible, so I can live with it. Now, obviously, grammar is not as subjective, but for the sake of the plot or characterization, I can let some things slide. Boy Licker worked for me on that level. As always, YMMV. I'm not in favor of any sort of "standards policy," that's for sure. I think as long as someone makes a proper warning clear in their rec, it's fine with me. (For instance, "craptastic grammar/formatting ahead," "not Poeia safe" or "House/Cameron" are all fair warnings, IMHO. ;-)

I certainly don't read everything that's been recced here or other places. Usually anything that's a WIP will be skipped over. Though, of course, I make exceptions sometimes because I'm fickle. I do expect to have a better success rate finding things I like when I read people's rec lists than, say, trawling through fanfiction.net, and that's never been a problem in this fandom :) As for what makes a fic 'quality', I have no idea. To paraphrase one of the Supreme Court justices (I think) when he was referring to defining what constitutes 'obscenity': 'I can't tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it.' I tend to use different standards for recs depending on where I'm reccing them: here or the other place, I might just rec something I enjoyed, and include the bare minimum of information. If I'm posting a rec over at housefic_meta, I'll usually put a little more thought into why someone else might want to read this particular story, rather than post every time something strikes my fancy.

My general standard for reading, recc'ing (and hopefully writing) is that the character voices and emotions be true to what we see on screen, even the situation in the story is quite different than we've ever seen on House. If I can't hear House's (especially his) voice in my head, I generally will scroll through to see if the author finds it or drop the story because he/sh has written a character that is not House (or Cuddy, etc). In writing, I try to capture the rhythm of the characters' speech patterns as well as their actual language. I'll re-read a bit of dialogue two or three times and if I can't hear House saying it, I'll delete it and try something else. A lot of my earlier stories took place in silence (they were reflective moments after the closing credits or moody moments in between scenes where House is thinking or reflecting). Even though those do not have dialogue they have to (in my mind) suggest House's inner voice and thoughts in a true way for the character. Right now, writing the finish two chapters of Sons and Lovers, I'm grappling with House's reactions to being in a situation we've never seen him in, but only have references to through his relationship with Stacy (yes, House can be a romantic) and his way of deflecting his emotions by humor or sarcasm. House is so layered and complex that anything he says or feels is always wrapped in layers of other agendas, so what is true to some readers (and to me) might not be for someone else. I don't read everything that's recc'd either, in general or on a thread here, twop or anywhere else. Mostly that's due to my relationship preferences (I'm not into slash; don't care about chase, cameron or foreman or MPREG) being quite specific. Thre are some authors I'll read apriori, just because I know their writing is good (yes, even if it's slash). I especially like to rec stories by authors that are either newish or not well-recc'd if they've come out with something that I like. Bad grammar, consistently bad spelling, and "ducklings" "the oncologist" and "the younger doctor/older doctor" thing are immediate red flags for me. Will I keep reading? As far as my own fic, I like to go back months later and re-read. If I still like the story and keep reading past the first chapter, I'd say I've done my job--because I generally write for myself. If I cringe, I get embarassed that the fic is out there in the ether of the web (heck some of my old XF fanfic is still rambling around out there), but generally don't obliterate it completely. (I'm too lazy to do that)

So after reading(and loving) the House/Dead like Me crossover, I ran into a marathon of the show on SciFi today and decided to watch it. I wasn't familiar with Dead Like Me, knew it excisted, but I can't for the life of me remember if it ever aired back in Holland. So anyway, that fic made me discover this wonderful show. Does anyone else have similar experiences?

There's a House/Dead like Me crossover fic? And I'm watching it right now too! Hehehehe, clean undies.

Thanks a lot, dear. You still watching the marathon? Back on topic! Soo....about them fics.

http://community.livejournal.com/finally_tuesday/986.html New community. New challenge: Get Chase Hugged.

ohhhhhh, I'm jumping over there right now.