Suggestion - Showing the usernames of those viewing/following your RPs.

[Haibane]

This is something I have thought about a lot over many years here on E. In my bookmarks list the number of replies and views of a thread is shown. I see that in a few of my RPs the views number is far in excess of that needed for the 2 players to write in it, even if one includes going back there now and again to check on something, so I'm struck by the possibility that other E members may be enjoying people's work.

I thought this could be a useful resource to bring like-minded writers together. If there were a feature to be able to click on that "views" number and it would bring up a list of usernames and the number of times they had viewed the thread, you might see a user who is viewing a thread a lot (and they are not one of the writers, obviously) a person could then take a look at their profile, O/Os and story requests and see if there's a potential writing partner there.

It strikes me a nice way to find new writers who may be of the same mindset as you or into the same kinks as you.

or... could there be a "X is following your RP" flag come up if that user bookmarks a thread in the RP section of the site you are writing in?

[RedRose]

I've been curious too. I'd love to thank my readers.  I do hope people will eventually contact if they want to RP.

[BlueOrange]

I imagine this would be difficult to implement. Maybe a workaround would be to create a feedback/recognition thread somewhere for yourself, and link to it from your signature.

[Kara Danvers]

I love this idea. I think a like button at the very least, or even comments could be awesome.

[Kakihara]

I severely doubt the current software could handle this.  And two, this seems to fly in the face of E's lurker policy.  Just like with streaming, some people just wanna read other's works but feel weird about other's knowing it.  It seems a good way to discourage the lurkers who are shy about such matters.  Considering how hyperfocused many are on privacy that are joining E, I feel this is probably not a good idea.  You may be better off having a little blurb at the front of your post saying you are ok with people PMing you if they liked or follow your post, make it voluntary. 

[Oniya]

I know that everyone wants to see the positive side of this kind of notification, but it can also be highly stressful.

1) A person who is shy might be okay with a small or unknown number of readers, but uncomfortable if they know they have a large number of readers.
2) Conversely, someone might feel hurt if their RP doesn't have as many readers as another RP.
3) If the 'follower list' was able to be viewed, it could impact either the in or out-of-character interactions between people.

• Example:  Person A and Person B are writing an RP in the N/C section.  Person C - friend of A, who is okay with N/C - shows up on the follower list.  Person A knows that Person C has a certain 'off', but had planned on incorporating that off because Person B has it as an 'on'.  Person A is neutral on the plot/kink element, but now has to decide if they want to continue as planned, knowing that Person C is viewing the RP.  Will it make C unfollow?  Will C treat A differently if the 'off' is kept in?
  
• Example 2: Same RP as before - only this time, Person D has joined the list.  Person D makes one or more of the other viewers (not A or B) uncomfortable, maybe to the point of being blocked by them.  If C and D have a do-not-contact, does this upset either of them enough to unfollow?
  
  By all means, feel free to put up invitations for 'fans' to PM comments, but I doubt this kind of public feature would be implemented.

[RedPhoenix]

Yeah, not having a 'like' system keeps things from devolving into popularity contests, which I think is a good thing.

And in my experience people who read something and want to write something similar have no issues PMing the author, especially if they make it known such things are welcome.

However, and I have no idea if this is feasible or not, a system where giving someone who starts a thread a notice that you've bookmarked it would be pretty harmless I think, especially if was optional on both the author and follower's side.

p.s. This Thread is a great place to post if you read a really cool line someplace and want the whole world to see! :)