DISCLAIMER: This article solely consists of my opinions. I don’t think that it’s the only one which matters. I also don’t think that everyone has to agree. Just take it as a different perspective and feel free to share your perspective here. I don’t think that we’ll come to a consent about the matter I intend to address, but this might help all of us to understand where the other is coming from.

In the last week, there has been more than one discussion about the use of the pick page here. I try to summarize some of them up: There are too many countdowns, this or that pick is stupid, there are too many picks of a certain kind at once. Weather those complains are valid or not, all those complains can be summoned up this way: HELP! The pick section is so cluttered up that I can’t find what I’m interested in anymore.

Is that a valid complain? Hell yes! Since I’m living in a different time zone from most of the users here, I’m normally asleep when the main activity is going on. Last week I checked the pick section at the morning and had to go seven pages back to find the last pick which got added before I logged out the night before. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be for someone, who posts a pick with a lot of options and pictures, just to realize that it got buried more or less immediately. And it surely is frustrating for someone who participates in a countdown too, when he misses a round because of this. So perhaps it is time to look for solutions. Here some thoughts about the kind of picks which normally can be found here. Again, keep in mind, it’s my opinion, I’m well aware that everybody has a different preference and some might dislike exactly what I like.

Countdowns

It’s no secret that I like those and I love to participate in them. That doesn’t necessarily mean that every countdown is automatically a good idea and should be done no matter. I remember some weeks ago a “best shoe” countdown was considered, and I was initially intrigued by the idea. But the user who considered the idea decided against it, which disappointed me at first, until I saw the screencaps of the shoes and realized that this was the right decisions, since most of the shoes looked similar (if they were visible at all). A Countdown only works if it’s about something which really can be judged somehow. I also think that a countdown without an article as result of it is very senseless.

Do you agree with…

I don’t get those. I really don’t see what’s so interesting about knowing that 50% of the users agree with a special ranking. Perhaps someone can explain to me what those picks are supposed to reflect?

Confessions

Or other picks which are about thoughts and opinions, like “what happened if”. I really don’t mind those, I see the appeal. I myself would participate in them more often, but I often feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. Doing some of them, I very fast got the impression that the same ideas and questions are popping up again and again. And I’m wondering: Isn’t that what the forum is for? To discuss ideas and concepts? But the forum is only used for contests and games, I next to never see any serious discussion there. How about opening a treat with the “discussion of the week” or something like that? It might result in a more engaging conversation than what we get in a pick, in which everyone basically posts his own opinion and then moves on.

Will you read my article/join my spot/participate in my competition

There is no polite way to say it: Those are spam. In 9 of 10 cases it’s about posting a link and advertising. I get the urge, I really do. I suspect that less people will read this article because I refuse to misuse the pick-section in that way. And yes, everyone else is doing it. But that doesn’t make it right. Fanpop has rules, and those picks are against those rules. And if all the users would stop doing this, people might perhaps start to seek out the article section themselves - it’s not that difficult to find.

How compares character XY to the DP

I think those are the kind of questions I hate the most, because they skirting around the rules. They are not obviously off-topic, but more often than not they truly are. They are more designed to spotlight some non-DP characters or a favorite actress/singer than about exploring the princesses.

Well, that’s my opinion, but at the end of the day, everyone can post whatever pick he wants as long as it is an opinion-based question (and no “can you help me” doesn’t qualify). But the question is: Should we? Shouldn’t we consider the other members? Those nearly 70 picks I talked about at the beginning of the article? Most of them were posted by only four users (and for the record, there were only two countdown-picks between them). And shouldn’t we consider ourselves? When I post a pick, I want the best participation possible – so posting a bunch of picks at once, wouldn’t that automatically result in some of them getting less attention, because someone might answer one or two, let’s say art-picks, but might get tired of them soon after. How can the regular members who visit the spot all the time expect newbies not to post a pick just to post a pick and get some attention, when the pick-section is so obviously misused either way? The pick-section looks the way it does, because we don’t really take care of it. We made it the meeting point of the spot, but that’s not what it should be. There is a forum, a wall, an answer section, a art section, an article-section – more than enough room for all of us. So why don’t we use all those features for what they are made for? Why don’t we discuss in the forum, ask our questions in the answer section and use the wall for announcements? It would make the pick-section a little bit more manageable.