bkdelong

I would particularly appreciate the pointing out of any stray typos you might catch. Letting this steep for a few before posting to communities.

Title: Involuntary Commitment
Author: Ignaz Wisdom (ignaz)
Fandom: House
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: Explicit/NC-17
Length: 42,000 words
Summary: House heads to rehab. Things go pretty much as well as you'd expect.
Notes: This story is the sequel to my (rather old) A Modest Proposal. Both are set in season three—they actually make up a sort of alternative season—and contain no spoilers for anything past then. You don't need to be familiar with A Modest Proposal in order to follow Involuntary Commitment (although I think it's a fun read, and it might help explain how we got to this improbable place).

About the medicine: a lot of research went into this thing ... and then a lot of research went right back out again. I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, and I hope you'll bear with me and understand that some sacrifices had to be made for the sake of telling a story.

Pulling this thing together redefined the word "grueling." I very much hope you find it worth the effort.

Involuntary Commitment
at the AO3 | at Dreamwidth

Comments are welcome at the AO3, on Dreamwidth, on LiveJournal, and/or via carrier pigeon.

( Involuntary Commitment )

My usual Idol-watching buddy is away, so I decided to hang out and get a drink with a friend tonight instead of watching Idol live ... ( oops forgotten cut tag )

1. The number of hits on your story measures just the number of hits. That's the number of times your story was clicked on. (Depending on the counter, it may be the number of unique IP numbers that clicked. Still don't know what the AO3 uses.) That number is going to be several times higher than the number of actual human beings who start reading your story (never mind the number who finish it, etc., for which see TFV's post).

I typically click on a story multiple times. I open it in a new window. I usually don't find time to read it right then, so I'll bookmark it for later. Often I'll open it up at a later time--sometimes from a different location, because I have a laptop--and then find that I STILL don't have time to read it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I also click on a story several more times if I'm reccing it, so as to make sure my link is correct, that I've got all the author/story info right, etc.

In other words, the more I like a story, the more I drive up its hit count!

What I'm saying, basically, is that hit counters are worthless. :)

Also, anecdotally--and I've told this story before--I posted a fairly popular story a few years ago, and guessing that it would probably be popular (some themes just are), I decided to take the opportunity to use it experimentally, and so I put a hit counter on it. Today, that story has 52,303 hits. Total number of comments, divided by two to exclude my replies to comments: 342. That's a ratio of 153 hits:1 comment, for whatever it's worth ... which, as we've just discovered, is nothing.

2. Personally, I really don't care how or in what way you comment on my stories, posts, etc. ... I mean, I have received some TRULY bizarre comments, but when that happens, I just raise an eyebrow and move on and forget about it. So if you're wondering if you should comment on something I've posted, the answer is yes, and don't worry about it. Worst case scenario, I go "wtf" in my head and then forget about it by the next day. (Exceptions obviously apply for spam and shit that's just plain Wrong.)

Also, for the record, "I don't like this sort of thing but I did like your story" is a totally welcome type of comment here. I love those. Bring 'em on.

ETA: Also, I'm really lazy, and I understand laziness, so if you don't comment on a story at all, I will not hold it against you. But definitely feel free to make noise at me anytime, if that's what you want to do.