What does it mean for people to be looking for bad stories? Isn’t the most obvious metric for quality how much it satisfies people’s desires? Does your metric depend on the author’s state of mind (e.g. if people enjoy a book, but for reasons other than what the author intended, that makes it a “bad” book)? Are you appealing to some abstract Form of what literature Should Be?
You are implying that PhilGoetz is saying that people seek out stories they won’t enjoy. How does he know that? If people are seeking stories out, and finishing them, that doesn’t definitely mean that they are enjoying it, but it certainly does strongly imply it.
What does it mean for people to be looking for bad stories? Isn’t the most obvious metric for quality how much it satisfies people’s desires? Does your metric depend on the author’s state of mind (e.g. if people enjoy a book, but for reasons other than what the author intended, that makes it a “bad” book)? Are you appealing to some abstract Form of what literature Should Be?
Whether or not someone enjoys a book and whether he finishes the book are two separate things.
You are implying that PhilGoetz is saying that people seek out stories they won’t enjoy. How does he know that? If people are seeking stories out, and finishing them, that doesn’t definitely mean that they are enjoying it, but it certainly does strongly imply it.