Comment on Curing the Comment Drought

  1. A_Friendly_Irin on Chapter 1 Sun 19 Apr 2020 01:55PM UTC

    Also, for real, the issue of “nobody will give me concrit even when I ask” is a distinct issue from “no one leaves comments at all.”

    No, it isn't. While positive comments are the only ones you can reliably get, authors still bemoan that they don't get enough. As I've said elsewhere, I don't think it's too much of a leap to connect the two -- you can't express a real opinion, even a positive one, without risking an author blowup.

    I also don’t know how “I really liked X!” could be interpreted in any other possible way.

    There was an account in one of the Reddit threads by someone who said exactly this, and the author blew up at them for only liking X and not commenting on the rest of the story. So no, not even that is safe.

    I also don’t want unsolicited criticism on my writing.

    Do you say this in your author's notes?

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    1. [Deleted] (Guest) on Chapter 1 Sun 19 Apr 2020 01:58PM UTC

      It sounds like there are just a lot of unreasonable people in other fandoms, then - or at least, a critical mass that, as you’ve phrased it elsewhere, poisons the well. I thankfully haven’t encountered that in my circles. That seems like more an “unreasonable person” problem than a “no concrit means no comments” problem, though.

      And no, I don’t say that in my ANs, because it doesn’t seem to be a thing in my fandom. If I started writing in one where it was, I would. ETA: I will say, the majority of the concrit-related discourse I’ve seen pass my dash on tumblr frames it as properly opt-in; I haven’t seen a single person argue the opposite. I’m not saying that means you’re alone (nobody’s tumblr dash is a representative sample), but at some point the norm is what it is.

      Again, I think in some cases, especially for smaller fandoms, the contours of the issue are going to be fandom specific. I’ve heard enough about trolls and antis and shipping wars, oh my, that at this point I don’t want to do anything to do with most larger fandoms. I just want to nerd out and discuss favorite characters and headcanons with fellow fans (through fic and comments, among other things), and the screening involved in larger communities just seems like too much work.

      Actually, there’s another data point for you: I don’t tend to comment (or engage in most other ways) outside the fandom I write in, because the other ones I read in are mostly very large, and who knows what’s out there? Even one monster is too many, if they’re bad enough.

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      1. kiki_92 on Chapter 1 Fri 14 Jan 2022 04:33PM UTC

        Just chiming in to say I agree with everything [Deleted] said, their fandom experiences seems to mirror my own almost perfectly. One of their points, about not commenting (or engaging in most other ways except for passive "consuming") outside the fandom they write in, made me analyse my motive for doing so, because I also act the same.

        I realised I don't write comments on other stories to give concrit (unless explictly stated, and even then I'd be more comfortable doing so on a one-on-one space than in a public comment section), or even to say anything at all, is because I want to connect with the author. I liked their story, they're part of my main fandom, and I want to get to know them and forge a sense of community - so I leave comments and engage with them about their creative works and the things we both enjoy in the fandom.

        For fandoms where I'm not writing in/I'm only tangentially interested in, I will very rarely comment on stories, and instead I just leave kudos as a silent "thank you for your work". Because I'm not interested in starting a discussion and getting to know the community. Especially in very large fandoms, as the above commenter said, who knows what's out there and what conflicts you can unknowingly stumble upon.

        As for deleting comments, I've only done it in a few occasions, when the comment didn't apport anything of value to any discussion about the fic, for example: the story was clearly tagged as ship A, and commenter said "why are you writing about ship A, ship B is so much better!"

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