Feb
10th
2014
Poll: So why are you watching me, anyway? · 2:07am Feb 10th, 2014
Usually I get about 1 new watcher for every 20 favorites of any story of mine. In-between new stories I get 1 watch on a good day.
Yesterday (Saturday), I got 7 favorites (not very high) and 11 new watchers (more than I get from having a new story on EQD), without having a new story or interview out. I'm curious what happened.
So now's a good time to ask: Why did you start watching me?
A horse writing words about horse words. What else is there to say?
I got a bunch the other day as well. I have no idea why.
Anyway, I watch you for the blog posts. You're one of the more analytic writers around here, and you do more to dissect the art of writing than anyone else I know.
I watch you for the sole purpose of reading your blog posts, so I guess I saw a chunk of Bad Horse posts and decided "you know, I'd like to see more of this."
I don't regret it.
Sooo...this is aimed to the 11 new people, and not everyone in general?
Well, the reason I follow you is this: I read one of your stories (don't ask me which one, I forgot) and decided to read a few more. I liked what I saw, so I gave a follow so that I could read more amazing things. My favorite one is The Magician and the Detective. I really like how Trixie and the Detective interacted. Then the ending, that was a good ending.
Like cold, your blogs. They're insightful - you are insightful I should say - and approach things from an angle that most people don't seem to even consider.
Unfortunately I don't remember anymore. It could have been something you said in a comment, for all I know.
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I think I may be responsible for that. I recently made a "Top Ten Bloggers" blog to point out good places to check for interesting blogs. Sorry if this caused any confusion, but I really do enjoy when you guys blog and wanted to spread the word out.
I heard about you from Cold in Gardez and I really like your blog posts. They really help with the whole writing biz and I find your thoughts to be really interesting.
You're a bad horse, mate. What's not to like?
I've favorited a lot of your stories, but after 'Alicorn Cider' I followed in the slim hope there would be more of it, a sequel or companion piece or something along those lines
Ghost, I think. And writing blogs. And you're, if not smart, than at least meticulous and precise and you act smarter than a lot of people.
It was definitely not Behind The Scenes. I don't remember if I commented on that.
Jordanis recommended you when I asked who I should be watching. I read through a few of your stories and agreed that you do good stuff. (I am kind of insanely jealous of you though. You have literally more than ten times the watchers I have, and every time you mention the number, I get these Nightmare Moon-like urges...)
Your blogs, mostly, though in general they seem to be growing more cynical, anti-establishment, ascriptive and long-winded depressed tirades as opposed to instructional advice on writing alternatives.
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RainbowBob made this blog late-ish Friday. So that could have helped to contribute to both of you getting new followers.
And my memory is shit, so I have no idea what I originally followed you for, Bad Horse..
Same reason as almost everyone I follow: I enjoyed two of your stories enough that I wanted to be alerted to new ones as they were published.
I think I have around half your stories on my favorites list, The Magician and the Detective is one of my top favorites on this site, but I mainly started following you because of your blogs.
Because I had no idea what the hell you'd roll out next:
I'll tell ya one thing: he's not building a playhouse for the children...
I followed because I liked a couple of your more light-hearted stories.
I stayed because you write about writing a lot, and some of the advice you've given about writing is some of the best advice that I've ever ignored (after reading it, thinking about it, internalizing it, turning it over and over in my head, and then tossing it out and doing whatever I was going to do anyway).
Your blogs have helped me better my work and start to understand more of the finer details of writing, and while I haven't read too many of your stories, I've loved the ones I did. Plus you just seem like a nice, respectable guy. So yeah.
I have a policy of only following people who have a story I like enough to fave.
Interior Design Alicorn was one, but I have actually dropped it during one of my occasional faves cleanups.
Technically I should not be following you anymore if I no longer have one of your stories faved, but I feel that if I can unfollow The Parasprite for spammy annoying blogs even though I have one of his stories faved, I can keep folowing you for occasional interesting blogs even though I have none of your stories faved.
Pretty much on the strength of Mortality Report.
For the same reason you follow your drunk as hell friend, either to help in case he hurts himself or to laugh when he does something funny.
In my case, one of your blog posts was linked in the Fimfiction Editorial: Issue #2. I liked it enough to follow you.
IIRC, due to reading and liking Fluttershy's Night Out, Long Distance, and Big Mac Reads Something Purple--more the first one than the last two. I don't think I noticed the blog posts until later.
I follow you for the blog posts about literature (and in case you ever update The Saga of Ravenblood Nightblade).
You're willing to have evil things happen to likeable characters in a realistic manner, what TV Tropes calls "Reality Ensues." Your plots make logical sense based on the characters. You think about what you're doing rather than merely throwing either undeserved success or undeserved failure at your protagonists.
Saw your stories.
I liked.
It's been a while, but I first heard of you because of The Magician and the Detective being featured on ED. Can't remember exactly when or why the line was crossed from "I'm enjoying this story" to "I'd like to see more from this author", but I strongly suspect that it was when I realized that it would be addressing the earth pony class issue.
Good blog posts are icing on the delicious good story cake.
I think in my case it's the blog posts. Even when I've disagreed with you, I felt entertained and invigorated in doing so, in trying to articulate why, rather than angry or irritated. I'm not sure why this is.
Uh... Nightblade and Sisters, apparently.
I was told you wrote good blog posts. I was not disappointed.
As I recall, I followed you to give my first story a boost in views by riding your esteemed coattails.
I hope you know I read your every word. I don't respond very often, but that's because your blogs require a little thought to respond, and by the time I've given it enough thought quite a lot of time has passed.
June of last year saw my one-year anniversary on fimfiction. I had 87 favorited fics the week before, and I decided to go for the 100. Amit had pushed a blog post recently, which led to me looking through his stories. His Motionless reminded me of your Mortality Report (because of the story image), which I remembered liking and which led to me looking through your stories. I ended up watching you after reading Magician, Something Purple, and Pony Tales.
EDIT:
We had a conversation where I found I respected your views and enjoyed talking to you, so I followed you for that. I tend to pick and choose at your fics, since many of them are not really my taste, but I assume you do the same with mine. And the ones that have been in my range of interests, I've enjoyed a lot.
You seem to genuinely care about producing a consistently good product while also instructing others on how they can do the same. Your blog posts are insightful and educational.
I'm always looking for ways to better my writing, and reading your thoughts helps me considerably.
Mostly because bookplayer thinks highly of you, and I hang on her every word as a matter of policy.
Your blog posts and stories are interesting and often spark intelligent discussion in the comments.
Fluttershy's Night Out was the first of your stories I favorited and got me reading your blog posts. That was when I started following you.
I started following you a few days back. I followed the interview to your Sherlock story, marked that for later reading, and finally got around to it. Since I enjoyed it, I'm checking out what else you have done.
Pretty sure I became acquainted with you because of Ghost. That got me looking at your blog posts, and I think you were the first person I followed for non-story reasons.
Of course, then I did read some of your stories—not as many as I should have, yet, and not the ones a lot of people see as your best[1]. And I've generally enjoyed your work that I've read.
Also, I like you as a person, inasmuch as I'm able to discern said person through the interwebs.
[1] That's true of Skywriter too, actually; I've never read "Princess Celestia Hates Tea".
Gotta keep up my super-secret disguise as an evil+mad+derpy genius out to conquer everything else and all the other places too. Plus, being a double agent in the Evil League of Evil means the extra dental plan covers my clone.Same as most everyone else I guess. I watched you (about a gazillion years ago) because of your excellent stories, and I think your blogs are alone worth a watch even if you didn't author some of the best fics on the site. (Burning Man Brony, Trixie X Sherlock One True Tragedy Pairing, Moving On from this listing because three examples is mini-list convention.)
If ya want ego-inflation, here's a free compliment: Bad Horse is his own kind of mad genius, and that's the type of fun that I'd have to be dead to pass up.
Whatever the reason may be for others, I pay you some of my attention in due to your stellar work; as it is, and should, to be rewarded by the attention of strangers. Your hard work is admirable, at least to me. And something in my mind, sedulously concerning and pestering me as to why your work is so captivating, tied ropes around my feet and dragged me back. Smiling all the way.
(like the stamp labourer; I myself carry furnitures): undisciplined. Therefore, by this, when I found your writings, your apprehensive blogs, that pronounced what I could not, I where unwillingly hooked. It is embarrassing to share a personal fact about me, stranger and all, that some of my pride 
did shoo me back; as if to prove a point about my nature.
Whenever I read one of your posts, or novels (those who use the word ‘novellas’ should be shot), it is the feeling of a great, invigorating surge when I do. In honest truth my ken is too much fashioned the way to Applejack's
Concerning that most of your work always carries a dark tint, sometimes implacably depressing, for me it makes the reading interesting. Even though an light-hearted piece wouldn't hurt at times. After I've ended reading one of your stories I always feel as if I missed something, due to the structure of the prose and narrative told as to, I assume, hold many layers of meanings. ‘Chthonian’ is the word I think of. Dark, deep and enthralling; but the temper of its soil deters me from digging.
Because you take pride in your stories the effort put into them is obvious. That and I enjoy being beat over the head with culture every once in a while, makes me feel smarter.
I apparently started following you on July 19, 2012, which doesn't appear to coincide with one of your blogs, but this blog post has >300 views, so I imagine that blog post was the catalyst, even if I'm not quite sure what led me there. The first story I read of yours was "Twenty Minutes" on August 4, so I didn't follow you at all for your stories.
I do remember, however, that you wrote a lot of blogs involving statistics--stuff like this--which was what really made me decide to press that Watch button.
...Am I seriously your 29th watcher? That doesn't sound like it could possibly be correct.
Put simply?
It's Ghost's fault.
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Source?
Because you are Bad Horse.
No, seriously, this was the entire process.
1. notice comment by 'Bad Horse'
2. berate self for not stealing username first
3. Follow Bad Horse
4. Profit immensely
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You used to be able to mouse over people's profiles on your watch list and it would tell you the date they followed you on. I used archive.org and looked at my profile and Bad Horse's, both say I started following him on 19/07/12. The watch list also shows followers in chronological order, of which I am in the 29th slot. It's not quite correct; I used to be in the 30th slot on October 14, 2012, so I guess some people just unfollowed him.
I use the follow function to track people who write blog posts I'm interested in. While I've actually yet to read one of your stories, if memory serves, I greatly enjoy reading your musings and opinions on the art of prose.
If memory serves, I was first referred to your blog from Mr. Bradel, if that helps. I also recall seeing your mentioned on Bookplayer's blog.
Read fluttershy's night out, liked the thematic elements in that (and the whole literary quality of the thing really), noticed the interesting name, so figured I'd give you a watch.
And then I stuck around for the literary discussion-ish blog posts. The end!