[ SECRET POST #2679 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2679 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 058 secrets from Secret Submission Post #383.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

11. http://imgur.com/NS5Vzmz.jpg

[silverr]

But that's okay, I think? Sounds like you connected viscerally/emotionally while experiencing it the first time; so what if the connection didn't hold up under calm, rational scrutiny?

P.S. It's unlikely your impassioned, impulsive PM will cause the author to name any children after you, so I think you're off the hook. *g*

[(Anonymous)]

Mad love for the use of Georgia, OP, that's my favourite font. Nothing else much to say about your secret, though, sorry!

[(Anonymous)]

Me too! I fell in love back when Nintendoland was still a site, since all of the fic there was displayed in Georgia.

[ex_mek82]

Nintendoland.

... Ahhh hell, here come the memories flooding back to me!

[forgottenjester]

Why would you be embarrassed by being nice? You were that emotionally affected at the time and I bet the author was thankful for the praise. I don't see why this is a bad thing of why you're embarrassed.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel your pain. I wish I could undo pm's and take back kudos, too.

I give out kudos to encourage the author, but when I end up disappointed with the story, not only do I wish I could take them back, I am amazingly glad that I hold comments to the end.

Oh well. You could always write a retraction. /jk

[fingalsanteater]

I don't get this. If you enjoyed a fic, you enjoyed a fic. Even if you ended up disappointed, you got enjoyment out of some part of that fic. Is it really such a horrible thing to let kudos stand? Obviously you were enjoying the fic enough at the time to give the kudos, so why begrudge the author the satisfaction that comes from knowing you enjoyed some part of their work? It's petty.

[(Anonymous)]

My thoughts exactly.

[(Anonymous)]

That depends on just how much I dislike what the fic eventually did... and whether I was logged in. I know it's a stupid thing to worry about, but I don't like the idea of being on the record as liking a fic I have come to strongly dislike.

[beverlykatz]

I've had that knee-jerk reaction a couple of times. It's not so much that I want to retract the sentiment, as... sort of regretting my preemptive show of appreciation? This is partially because of the way I read on AO3: check out the first paragraph to see if it seems good/okay, and if it does, kudos and download the PDF so I can read it during any down time I have during the day. Of course, sometimes this means I end up getting crummy fics. No big deal, just delete the file and move on, but I've read one or two things that were so bad I really regret the kudos. (There was one where the author, completely out of the blue, said some really awful/creepy things about one of the characters in the end note. DNW. D:)

[badass_tiger]

I usually hold out on comments until the story is finished too. The one time I didn't and commented before the story was finished, the story had a terrible resolution. I felt bad for not continuing to comment though, so I just left a 'Thank you for sharing this story' and went to ponder how some authors who are really good at long, drawn-out tension really need to work on their endings.

[(Anonymous)]

That's why I usually wait a few days before sending reviews, if only because I don't want my reviews to be of the "kawaiiii desuuu!11!1" kind.

[fingalsanteater]

IF YOU LIKED SOMETHING THEN WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT SAYING IT!?! Jfc, yeah, sometimes I like things less upon reflection. We all do. But you got enjoyment out of it in the moment and the author knows it AND THAT'S NOT A BAD THING. Authors like to know their work was enjoyed by others. That's part of the appeal of posting. You enjoyed the fic and the author knows and who cares if later, after the excitement had worn off, you liked the story slightly less. The fact is you liked it and you still like it, so why would you want to take back your praise? It's asinine.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't you know? If an author hasn't written The Great Work Of The Ages that we can revisit Again and Again FOREVER, they are all-together completely unworthy of that little heart or kindly word. If you like something less on the second (or hundredth) read-through, they deserve NOTHING.

[(Anonymous)]

EXACTLY! You probably made someone happy, and in the moment, it made you happy, so who loses by you expressing how much you enjoyed it, even if later you don't enjoy it as much? I just don't understand this thing at all.

[souljelly]

I was head-over-heels for a fic I read a few years ago. I left some gushing reviews and, yeah, in hindsight the fic has a great premise but wasn't all that great and I probably came across as a bit embarrassing. >_>

Still, I enjoyed it at the time, the first read-through was a fun experience. I just try to remember that. I totally get the feeling of embarrassment though.

[(Anonymous)]

Consider that fic the Katy Perry/Rihanna phase of your fic reading days. You grew up, got better taste, and while it will always be a part of you, it's not who you are now.

Just like everyone regrets that sad phase of their music past, they all regret liking a bad fic or two.

[fingalsanteater]

I don't regret any of my music related past...

[mautradutor]

Sorry, anonymous, but I do not understand? There is no reason to be ashamed. All tastes change over time. Most people have things that they liked once but don't anymore.

Just think of the pleasure you have with this before, as a nice memory!

[annethecatdetective]

If it's just that the fic didn't hold up on re-reading, then don't feel bad. It's okay to outgrow something that you once loved deeply-- just think about all the cartoons from your childhood that don't hold up, or as someone mentioned music, the stuff you listened to as a tween... maybe it wasn't good the way you remember it being, but you got enjoyment out of it and that isn't a bad thing. And even if the author didn't reply, it doesn't mean that your comment didn't make them happy and that's never something to be sorry for.


But that's not to say I don't understand that feeling of frustration-- for me it mostly comes when I'm invested in WIPs... I was following a story for one of the smaller fandoms I've been in (small in terms of fic at least) that promised to be one thing and turned out to be very different, and it did make me wish I could take back some of my earlier praise just because I felt like I'd had the rug pulled out from under me and been suddenly confronted with something I absolutely did not like. (But then again, in another fandom, I had something similar happen and while it was shocking and not what I was following the fic for, it felt well written and not like the author pulled something totally random out. So I guess it just always depends on the fic. But if it was a finished fic you enjoyed all the way through, you don't need to be ashamed or embarrassed over it! We all liked (or even wrote) some less than stellar fic in our pasts)

[(Anonymous)]

I feel your pain, OP. There's definitely some kudos and comments that I wish I could take back. And there's some stories that started out great but got really shitty later on that I wish I could un-kudos or un-comment.

[(Anonymous)]

I have been there! And since you can't take kudos back, I never kudos a fic until I read until the end now.

[(Anonymous)]

No biggie, it happens to us all in the flush of new fandom love! :D

If you end up in the same fandom for a while, you will eventually be embarrassed by your initial naivete, when you first joined the fandom and were so happy to find long, correctly spelled stories with some of your favorite pairings that you were blind to their defects, or how OOC some characters were, or how full of cliches they were. This initial honeymoon period can even blind you to Mary Sues, so. Don't worry, we've all been there.

I admit that similar experiences to yours have taught me to withhold comments until the honeymoon period is past and I feel like I have a good grasp of the fandom as a whole and its general output. This is a problem though, because if you do not comment or kudos right away, you will inevitably forget to do so later. :(

[(Anonymous)]

Some authors don't reply on certain sites. Like, on FFN there is a lot of people noting how they don't reply, and replying on AO3 borks up comments. It's also possible that the author was really shy and loved your comment.

I wouldn't be embarrassed; it's a compliment that the story touched you so.