The Dandelion Report ([info]dandelionreport) wrote,
@ 2004-10-17 09:36:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
"What is a "filkhog?" and how can I avoid being one?"
"What is a "filkhog?" and how can I avoid being one?"

Please do post your suggestions by using the form at the bottom of:
http://www.electricpenguin.com/filking/columns/filkfaq/archives/002484.html
or post below.

Thanks for your help in making the Dandelion Report FilkFAQ a useful resource for the filking community! You can find the full list of FilkFAQ questions here.

Advertisement

(Post a new comment)

some thoughts
[info]tigertoy
2004-10-17 09:24 pm UTC (link)
A filkhog is someone who is perceived by the other filkers as taking more than his fair share of turns at the filksing and making other people unhappy thereby. I don't think it's at all possible to produce a useful objective definition, because behavior that everyone was happy with by performer A on night X might make lots of people unhappy if performer B on night Y did exactly the same thing.

If you're a brash, confident performer who doesn't have any trouble getting songs in in a busy chaos circle, you could be a filkhog if you don't watch yourself. If you have enough of a repertoire that you're never at a loss for something to sing, and you're not restraining yourself from jumping in every time you have something that fits, there's a good chance you are a filkhog. The tricky part is figuring out how often you need to restrain yourself. Steve Macdonald's rule of thumb is a good place to start: If there are N active performers in the circle, and you last did a song less than N-2 songs back, you should probably wait unless there's some really special reason why your life will be ruined if you don't chime in right then. If you do do two songs closer than N-2 apart, you really need to wait some extra time. This rule is based on the assumption that you only are really wanting to jump in some of the time; if you are always ready to follow any song, you would be doing a song every N-2 turns, and you're probably filkhogging if you keep that up.

If it's hard to find the line where one starts being a filkhog on one's own, it's really hard to find the line where one starts being a filkhog by taking too many requests. My own feeling is that you can take a couple of requests without counting them as your own turns for deciding if you're a filkhog, but if you do more than a couple of requests in the evening, you have to count the rest of them as your own turns. If you get more requests than you can do without either being a filkhog or not doing the songs that you yourself want to do, it is better to not do all of the requests than to either frustrate yourself because you didn't sing the songs you wanted or to make everybody hate you (a little bit at lesat) by being a filkhog.

(Reply to this)(Thread)
Re: some thoughts
[info]hrrunka
2004-10-18 07:29 am UTC (link)
Yep, that makes a lot of sense. I'd be inclined to add something about balancing out length of songs too. Even if you're only taking 1 turn in N you'll quite possibly be seen as a bit of a hog if every turn you perform "all 47 verses" of one of your epic ose ballads... ;)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)
Re: some thoughts
[info]tigertoy
2004-10-18 02:14 pm UTC (link)
Quite so. I was actually thinking about saying something about really long songs, and somehow finished and posted without ever actually saying it. Even if it's the only thing you're going to do all evening, a 20 minute performance is probably out of place in a busy circle where everyone is frustrated at how long it is between turns. It's a tough call, though, because if the performance is really good and fits the mood, people will be glad to have it anyway. Long and boring generates much more resentment than long and wonderful.

By the same token, an occasional really short song ("show stopper") needn't be counted as a turn.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…