OTP pairing poll results

[turps]

Last week I posted a poll about popslash OTPs. I also said I'd post the results, which I'm doing now.

Obviously this isn't comprehensive of the whole fandom, but 71 people took the poll, so it's a nice chunk.



(1) Do you consider yourself to have a OTP?

Yes: 70.4%
No: 22.5%
Depends: 7%

People who replied depends answered in comments. I'd encourage anyone to read the comments because there are so fascinating answers in there.

(2) If yes, will you only read that OTP?

YES: 3.1%
No: 73.4%
Depends and I'll explain in comments: 23.4%

Reading comments, a lot of people would read outside their OTP in certain circumstances. The writer, a lack of other stories to read, another pairing in the same story as their OTP. There were very few people who read their OTP only, which is understandable in a fandom this size, because waiting for new stories that only feature your OTP could be a long and boring wait.

(4) What is that OTP?

Trickc took the lead here, closely followed by trickyfish and JuC

Trickc - 15
Trickynicky - 1
Lambs - 3
Trickyfish - 11
Trickyfishc - 1
Kevin/AJ - 1
Joec - 1
Bassez - 4
AJ/Joey - 1
JuC - 12
Choey - 2
Chowie - 1
GSF - 1
AJ/Brian - 2
Justin/Kevin - 1
timbertrick - 1
Howie/Nick - 1

And one Dean/Sam who surely loved being with all the sparklyboys ;)

(5) Is there a reason why you'll only read that OTP?

Answers ranged from It just clicks and makes sense in my head. to JC! which surely says it all.

(6)If you don't have a OTP do you think, I'll read anything as long as *insert man of choice here* is involved?

Yes: 27.9%
No: 53.5%
Depends and I'll answer in comments: 18.6%

There were a lot of interesting comments about this question. I think daisydust summed it up best when she said Lambs is my "emotional" OTP. It's the pairing I most want to read, most often reread I can totally understand that emotional OTP, just in my case it's trickc.

(7) Or will you read anything, regardless of who's involved?

Yes: 39.7%
No: 60.3%

(8) Is there a pairing/pairings that you won't read?

Yes: 49.3%
No: 50.7%

Pretty much half and half there.

(9) If so, why?

The answers here ranged from, if I can't see it I won't read it, to certain popboys making people unwilling to read a story if they were involved with it. Also, that certain pairings just didn't work for people, which is a totally understandable reason not to read a story. I mean, why read it if you won't enjoy?

(10) Is there someone out of the groups that would stop you reading. eg, Wade, Lynn, Britney.

Lynn
Lamp
Jesus statues
Wade
Britney
Lou
Trace
Carlos
Jesse
Kelly
Timbaland

Lou got the most mentions. It seems Lou sex is something the fandom isn't ready for.

(11) Have your reading habits changed since joining the fandom? eg, you'll read more or less pairings now than at first.

Yes: 74.6%
No: 25.4%

(12) If yes, why did you change them?

There were a variety of answers here, but most were along the lines of needing more fic, or widening the pairings or kinds of stories people would read due to time or exhausting the kind that they liked to read.

(13) If a writer you admire wrote a pairing you dislike, would you read the story?

Yes: 58%
No: 11.6%
Depends, I'll explain in comments. 30.4%

In comments a lot of people said they follow favourite writers from pairing to pairing, even to new fandoms at times.

I wish I could have made this poll more extensive, but I still think it gives interesting results, and I especially enjoyed reading the comments people left. People discussed what they liked and disliked in calm rational ways, and everyone that did that, thank you.

One thing I did notice was a lot of mentioning of trends in terms of pairings written. I know JoLa was mentioned as once being a very popular pairing, in contrast to now where it doesn't seem to be written often at all.

Thinking about my own years in fandom, JuC seemed to be the main pairing when I first arrived, then there was an explosion of trickyfish and trickc. Now, that's just my perspective and it could be influenced by the fact I've surrounded myself by people who love those pairings, but I know at the last SeSa the Chris based pairings were out in front in terms of most requested and written.

It makes me wonder why that happens. I imagine the Justin v JC thing from a few years back won't have helped, with some fans taking sides, but why Chris and not Joey? Is it because some of the more vocal fans like him? Therefore more stories and more mentioning of him. That he's just easy to slash with anyone? That people like h/c and his admission of emotional problems means we want to fix him?

I'm not sure, and again, this is just my view which is admittedly biased towards the Chris based stuff. There could be huge amounts of other stories out there about the others and I'm just not seeing them. If so, tell me where they are.

Also, do trends happen on the BSB side? I only tend to read Kevin/Nick, so would love it if the BSB fans could let me know. Did Kevin leaving affect the stories written at all, or have you seen anyone change their OTP because he's not an official boy?

Thank you to everyone that took the poll and left comments. I really do recommend reading through them, there's some interesting stuff there.