Am I the only one who does this?

[krait]

One of the most influential factors in whether I read an unfinished work is the presence of a defined number of parts. I'm far more likely to read a story that's at "Chapter 3/18" than one that's at "Chapter 3/?" ...and I often 'save' or 'subscribe' to fics but hold off on reading them until that finish-point estimate goes up!

Comments

[soc_puppet]

Honestly, I've just been keeping "Complete only" checked on AO3. I rarely venture out of it, except for specific authors or kinks or, occasionally, ridiculously high "kudos" counts. If I didn't keep it checked, though, that is totally what my strategy would be. Having left unfinished more than a few fics in my day, I like even the suggestion that there's an end in sight.

[krait]

Heh, the "Complete Only" is tempting, yep. Unfortunately, attempting to use it in my current main fandom would result in me finding very little to read; new/ongoing fandom means lots and lots of incomplete fic. D:

Plus, I do (or did; it's slowing down) a fair amount of reading on the kink meme, where there is no "Complete Only" tickybox or kudos counts, so the numbering is often all I have to work from. :D AND, incidentally, where authors are anonymous and quality (and practice) varies widely, so I find that little indicator of "this author has some reasonable notion of where this story's going" to be very reassuring!