I suppose the main conclusion I can take from the results of The YYH fandom: a new wave poll is that my readers didn't find it too interesting... ^__^

The Solitude of a Falling Star receives about 300 hundred visitors every week. The poll was up for eight weeks, and still we got no more than 117 votes, and I can't tell how many of those votes came from visitors that voted more than once.

I heard a few suggestions about why the poll wasn't really successful: A) lack of interest in the subject, B) not enough patience to read through all the ten long options, C) not finding a suitable option among the ones I suggested, D) not being interested in the YYH fandom at all.

Well...
A) if you're not interested, you're not interested; there was nothing I could do about it.
B) I realize it takes quite a while to read the whole thing. But I was after my visitors' opinion, and simple answers like "happy", "unhappy" and "kind of happy" wouldn't tell me much about how you think, minna-sama. And I did my best to have all possible options listed there, so everyone could vote.
C) my best would never be good enough and I know it. Bravenet vote caster only allows me to list 10 options, and I know there's more inside a fan's heart than the 10 bits I could enumerate. I was hoping the service would allow voters to choose more than an option, but it doesn't. Visitors had to come back on another day to vote again.
D) hey, that's not an excuse! I had two options for that, ne? ^_~

If you ask me which option I'd vote for... I'd have a hard time picking one myself ^^;;;

So how does Morgan D. feel about a new wave of fans joining the YYH fandom after so long? Let's analyze the options one by one.

1.) Happy because there will be lots of new fanfics and sites popping up, not to mention the merchandising hitting the shops. 41 votes - 35%

Although these are all good things for the YYH fandom, I couldn't honestly vote for that, for very selfish reasons. It's been ages since I last hunted the web for unread YYH fics; nowadays I just wait for YYH fics come to me (through Mailing Lists, submissions to my archive or friends' recommendation), and I can't even find the time to read all of those. It's not that I don't like YYH fics anymore, on the contrary. Only I realized that I can't spend nearly as much time reading fics as I used to if I want to keep myself writing my own stories and managing the site's weekly updates. And I do have to hunt for Card Captor Sakura fics, because those don't come to me on their own. *sad sigh*

New sites? Big confession: I'm ridiculously jealous. I want new sites to visit, but I don't want new sites taking away my dear visitors. I'm particularly afraid that some kid with more free time than I have and more fluent English than mine will get to quickly build a better site than Solitude of a Falling Star and that I'll be doomed to the lonely land of the forgotten URLs. Competition means I'd have to work harder and faster to keep up with it, and I just can't give anymore of myself to this than I already do. And yes, I know I'm being ridiculous. But the poll was supposed to verify the fans' feelings, as ridiculous as they can get sometimes.

Merchandising? That would be so good! I always wanted a Hiei plush doll. But the merchandising would be hitting US shops, which means importing them and paying in dollars, with appalling taxes attached to the products. It would only do me any good if Cartoon Network decided to show YYH for Latin America as well, and so far... I guess most countries of Latin America had their share of YYH re-runs already, so CN will probably save the time for anime never shown here.

2.)Happy, because there will be a lot of new people in the Mailing Lists! We've been talking to the same people about the same topics for so long... 2 votes - 2%

I want new people in the MLs. I have been talking to the same people about the same topics for years (it's been great, I made some lovely friends through MLs, but it's getting hard to find the mood to keep on talking about stuff we've already discussed a hundred times). But I'm also afraid that the newbies might only bring the same old topics back. There is quite a list of YYH topics I really don't feel like going into again (Hiei's age, the best pair for Botan, the class youkai ranking system, Kuwabara and Hiei's relationship, Koto's species, etc.) They're all interesting topics, and I had some very interesting debates/discussions/arguments about them. But every time those topics are brought forward nowadays, I glance at the other ML members and feel guilty for emitting the same opinions and concepts over and over.

Furthermore, new people in MLs mean more emails. *glances at crowded mail boxes* Oh dear... I need twenty hours more everyday, and four days more every week. Only then I'd get to do all I want to do plus all I have to do...

3.) Happy but worried, because there will also be a new wave of intolerant homophobic anti-yaoists showing up and flaming yaoi ficwriters and fans. 12 votes - 10%

I am worried about that, yes. But I'm just as worried about fanatical yaoists flaming non-yaoi ficwriters and fans. I can't stand the conflict between fanatical yaoists and anti-yaoists. And I just hate seeing ficwriters being flamed by whatever reason.

I honestly can't see why a Hiei+Mukuro fan must hate a Kurama+Hiei fan and vice-versa. And I can't see why I'm forbidden to like both pairings (and I do). Being a non-yaoi fan doesn't mean you have to be an anti-yaoi fan. Being a yaoi fan doesn't mean you have to loathe every single female character in the story. Intolerance comes from both sides and is awfully ugly and unforgivable in both sides.

4.) Happy but disgusted, because there will also be a new wave of sick yaoi lovers showing up and suggesting creepy stuff like Kurama and Hiei as a couple. 6 votes - 5%

Thankfully I don't get many flames for the yaoi contents in my site, even if I'm mostly a shounen ai ficwriter. I love YYH as a whole, not only the yaoi possibilities, and I hopefully make that clear by posting both yaoi and non-yaoi material in Solitude of a Falling Star.

There are many things in this world I find disgusting. But I don't own the monopoly of Truth, I can't tell people how to live their lives, I can't tell what is the real path to happiness and heaven. I have my beliefs, and in order to have them respected I understand that I have to respects others' too. So you have the right to feel disgusted about yaoi and I have the right to suggest yaoi couples; you won't disdain me and I won't disdain you. We will still be YYH fans with lots in common and with a fair chance of becoming friends.

5.) Happy but annoyed, because new fics would be welcome, but the new generations of ficwriters aren't familiar with the particularities of anime fanfiction and are therefore very likely to misstate the fandom's original values. 16 votes - 14%

I added this option thinking I'd be the only one to be feeling like that, I confess.

Don't get me wrong, all fic ideas are valuable, even the weirdest plot, the weirdest pairing, the weirdest concepts. I think it's absurd to dictate what can and what can't be written; I feel sorry whenever I find some "guideline" about how fanfiction should be written. It's all a matter of personal background and taste. I do select the fics that go to my archive, but it's just my personal judgment on what's interesting for my site to have and what isn't; I don't have (no one has) the authority to say, "this is a good fic, that is a bad fic".

All I'm saying is that anime usually holds values I'm very fond of, and I'm happy when I read fanfics that search for those values, and not so happy to read "westernized" fics. I love reading fics that feel like anime, and I can see that it's getting harder and harder to find such pleasure, especially when reading the works of the newest ficwriters.

Call me a bitter fossil if you want, but that's how I feel.

6.) Unhappy, because we don't need newbies bothering us. 4 votes - 3%

I added that option when I realized how skeptical I was about the good things a new wave of fans could bring into my life. I wasn't expecting anyone to vote for it...

I think we desperately need newbies, despite all my bitterness, jealousy and ill disposition. The fandom will die otherwise, and I don't wanna be a lonely ficwriter of a dead fandom. Yes, they'll bother us a bit ^__^ but it's a necessary evil, isn't it? (Just kidding...)

7.) Annoyed, because Funimation will surely butcher the series to make it "proper for American audiences", creating a wall between the dub fans and the original fans, just like it happened in the CCS fandom. 18 votes - 15%

I don't have means to watch the dub myself, but I'm getting weekly reports from lots of friends and ML fellow members. Apparently Funimation IS butchering the series to make it "proper for American audiences" (I confess that whenever I hear that, I think, "You mean kids in US are dumber than in the rest of the world?"), but it's nothing compared to the abominable massacre Nelvana played on CCS. I'm not sure if I should be thankful or not.

It's still too early to tell what consequences Funimation's re-editing might bring to the fandom. Sometimes I wonder if this is just a matter of cultural attitude or something of the sort. Philippines also got a butchered dub of YYH, and I never sensed any wall between the Filipino fans and the rest of the world -- we can read their fics, they can read ours, we have great conversations in MLs... In other words, if you have a Brazilian, a Filipino, a Chinese and an Englishman talking about YYH, you'll have four people talking about the same thing (different opinions for sure, but same topic). Get those four, ask them to talk about Card Captor Sakura, it'll still work. Now add a fan from US talking about Cardcaptors (as CCS was named in US), and they'll not only be talking about different things, but also fighting to decide which thing they should talk about. *sweatdrops* It's a generalization, of course, but I've gone through several similar experiences in the CCS fandom. Definitely not something I wanna see happening with YYH.

8.) Indifferent, because I'm falling out of the YYH fandom anyway. 0 votes - 0%

I was SO glad that no one voted for that!!!

9.) There won't be a new wave. The Americans won't appreciate YYH. 2 votes - 2%

Judging by the reports I'm getting, I don't think Funimation is doing such a horrible job that might repel US viewers (Nelvana DID such a horrible job with CCS and still got to form a popular fandom). I'm more worried about the slot: only weekly, Saturday nights, on Adult Swim. Kids should be in bed, older teens have better things to do on Saturday nights... Adult anime fans will watch and appreciate it, I'm sure, but those are the folks that never have much free time to join MLs, write fics and build sites.

So maybe there won't be a new wave after all. A loss for everyone -- US and the fandom.

10.) Who cares? I'm here for the CCS fics. 16 votes - 14%

*smiles* Thanks, I'm happy that my intruding in the CCS timeline has found interested readers. But you know what? Yu Yu Hakusho is a wonderful anime, very different from CCS, but really fascinating when it comes to characters development and exciting plots. Are you sure you don't wanna give it a try? *mega hint*

I say the same goes to YYH fans that disdained Card Captor Sakura at first sight, taking it by a childish shoujo manga story. Yes, the main character is a ten/eleven year-old girl. Yes, it's fluffy. No, it doesn't have many action scenes. But it also has very cute bishounen, very obvious shounen ai hints (if you can call that "hints"), lovely subtlety in the building of all relationships between the characters and delicate art and music. Come on, watch a few episodes (of the original version, please) before giving it up. You might be pleasantly surprised.

I wish to thank everyone that voted in the poll. Feedback is very important to me and for this site's growth.