Talk:Seddie/@comment-3180503-20141207192837/@comment-3247345-20141208011320

I've been saying this for years but the problem with using changes in ratings in either direction as an argument either for or against either ship is that there are so many factors that determine how well an episode will do that it's simply impossible to isolate the effect something happening with a ship will have on ratings. It's probably tiny in any case. You also have to keep in mind that to the extent the quality/direction of the plot do influence ratings, it's the perception of how good an episode will be that's controlling, not how good it actually turns out to be, which is mostly a function of previous episodes, how well it was promoted, etc. It's easy to say X happening in episode Y is what caused the ratings to do Z but no one knew what would happen when they chose to watch it. Besides, even if shipping did have the massive effect on ratings some seem to be convinced it does it wouldn't matter since Dan does whatever the hell he wants anyway.