I never take a peek. I love suspense novels and I always hope I'll be pleasantly surprised at the end. I love it when I think the butler's the one 'whodunit' and it turns out to be the vicar!
I've been around in this fandom for a few years so I now have a pretty good idea whose fics I can read in installments.
Like Kmar, I don't want to spend time reading fics that are never finished. So I only read short stories in the fanfic folder or fics by authors I know will be completed as promised. I know - the fanfic folder isn't just for posting completed stories. These are often WIPs. Authors can leave them dangling on their hard disk till their Muses decides to help them finish them, or they can post the parts they have and risk geting stuck - permanently.
Maybe it doesn't bother other fanfic authors, but if it happened to me I'd be horrified and so embarrassed!
Hey, maybe that's something for another poll!
Oh, and by the way - fics by unknown authors I check out in the Archive. And yes, then I do take a peek at the end first! Just to check if our heroes are happy and safe and sound - and together. Just the way I want them to be.
