Rare Pairings vs. Non-Rare Pairings, Round Two

[chimbomba.livejournal.com]

I've been noticing in some wishlists some pairings that are not rare, things such as Draco/Hermione. I'm not really sure how this is happening since we are called Rare Pair Shorts. I didn't think I needed to stress that your wishlists must consist of RARE PAIRS ONLY.

If your wishlist contains a non-rare pairing, I will tell you, and you will need to edit your wishlist accordingly.

However, all this did get me thinking. We have a list of things we consider non-rare and therefore not acceptable at this community, and over time we've been getting some questions about a few pairings. We the mods are starting to get iffy about a few of them ourselves, so we figured it might be best to put it to vote.

If you consider any of the following pairings RARE, mark YES. If you think they are NOT RARE, mark NO.

If there are any pairings you feel need to be ADDED to our list, write those in the text entry box. [ETA: THAT MEANS DON'T PUT DOWN PAIRINGS THAT ARE ALREADY ON OUR LIST.] If there are any pairings you feel need to be REMOVED from our list and have not been discussed in this post, please LEAVE A COMMENT.

Thanks for your help! :)



[Poll #1415120]



ETA: The poll has been fixed. ;)

Comments

[ex-absolute.livejournal.com]

That's what I am saying though. You can't compare it to the rest of the community. You can't say that jsut because Draco/Ginny is oh so very active and according to LJ, Hermione/Ginny isn't, that Hermione/Ginny is a rare pair.

You have to base it on femmeslash alone because femmeslash isn't very popular in comparison to het or slash, and all of femmeslash can NOT be rare.

So based off the demographics of the femmeslash community alone, Hermione/Ginny is definitely not a rare pair.

[ex-absolute.livejournal.com]

Ugh because if all of femmeslash is rare, then it isn't fair to slashers and those who like het, okay?

Plus, okay, think of it this way, it isn't exactly what is popular, right? It is what is common seeing as common is the opposite of rare.

So what are the common femmeslash pairings? Well, Hermione/Ginny and Ginny/Luna are common. They are what most people would list/write if femmeslash was brought up.

And that's not what this community is for. It is so people can write things that aren't common, that aren't the first thing people think of when you say femmeslash/slash/het.

Luna/Pansy would be a rare femmeslash paring as far as I know. Bellatrix/Lily, Molly/Hermione, Umbridge/Minerva, etc.

[ex-absolute.livejournal.com]

Honey, I'm not being rude with you, okay? And I'm not sure where you got that from. If you've felt I've been rude, I'm sorry, but it was never my intention.

Femmeslash isn't as popular as het and slash, and that's what I am saying here. You can't lump it in with both of them because of that. Obviously no femmeslash pairing is going to be as big as Draco/Harry or James/Lily. It just isn't possible.

However, there are plenty of femmeslash pairings that are common within the femmeslash community.

That's what I've been saying all along.

You clearly have your opinions, I have mine and you obviously aren't interested in hearing any dissent.

And, I'm sorry, but pot meet kettle. :-/ I don't appreciate being called rude only to get this impolite phrase thrown into my face, okay? If you don't want to debate something with someone, don't start up a debate. D: I'm just responding to your claims that my claims are wrong. There's nothing rude or pig-headed about that.

[ex-absolute.livejournal.com]

On a post where people are discussing, it is. Especially when you are replying to someone else's opinion saying you disagree.

As to my turn of phrase, it was not meant to be rude, as I have stated. And, again, I'm sorry you took it that way. There's nothing I can do about it now.

[terravayne.livejournal.com]

It all comes down to the definition of rarepair. Are we talking about pairings that aren't common period? Or are we talking about pairings that aren't common within femslash (or het or slash)? If the former, then yeah, all femslash pairings, no matter what they are, would count because by volume, they're least represented in HP fandom as a whole. If the latter, then no, only the most uncommon femslash pairings (so Luna/Gabrielle but not Ginny/Hermione) would be "rare." It's up to the mods to decide which definition to go by.

[terravayne.livejournal.com]

I think it might be easier to define rarepair as a "pairing that is rare in proportion to the other fics in that category, e.g. gen, het, slash or femslash." It's a matter of percentages, not absolute numbers. That might cut down on the confusion.

[ex-absolute.livejournal.com]

YES! This exactly. ♥