[ SECRET POST #3961 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3961 ⌋

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

01.



__________________________________________________



02.
(fandom: My Brother, My Brother and Me)


__________________________________________________



03.
[Neil Gaiman's "Good Omens"]


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.
(Minami, YoI)


__________________________________________________



07.









Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 28 secrets from Secret Submission Post #567.
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

Transcript by OP

[fscom]

Cut for length

Re: Transcript by OP

[fscom]

In my LJ days, I would sometimes leave comments or join a discussion on someone’s personal journal and the typical reaction, while polite, was a little weird, like they were kind of spooked that a complete stranger had wandered into their space and joined in. Occasionally, people whose journals I visited made everything friends-only not long after, and while I don’t think it was because of me, specifically, I had to wonder if maybe I was part of the wake-up call that what they were posting was public and viewable to everyone and anyone could wander in. Comms were fine, but following someone to their personal journal, even when invited to do so via a link they posted elsewhere, started to feel like I was being that random stranger inserting themselves into a conversation between a group of friends and everyone really didn’t want that and is just awkwardly trying to be polite but giving me a chilly reception in the hopes I’ll go away. All these people had to have met online somehow, but it felt like if you didn’t get into someone’s circle of LJ friends early, you were a scary stranger and would be frozen out.

Similarly, when I look at the comments on fic, it often seems like the author and a number of the commenters already know each other, and as much as I hear people complain about wanting more comments on their fic, it still feels like I’d be intruding.

This is why I’ve never bothered to get an AO3 account to comment on fic or learn how ff.net commenting works, and one of the reasons I’ve never joined tumblr.

The only place in online fandom I’ve ever felt welcomed and able to integrate myself into a pre-existing community was on message boards. There is something to be said for community space instead of personal space.

TL;DR: online fandom social media is weirdly anti-social and that's the reason I'm not commenting on or reblogging your stuff.

Re: Transcript by OP

[litalex]

Speaking as a writer, I love it when there is feedback, whether I know the person or not.

Re: Transcript by OP

[silverr]

OP, I can only speak for myself, but I absolutely love it when someone asks a question in a review comment and I can start a dialog with them (I write for a lot of really small fandoms, and love coming across someone who enjoys the source canon as much as I do).

Re: Transcript by OP

[(Anonymous)]

Same.

Yes, I have regular commenters, but they only got that way because they dropped in their first comment some time. And I love meeting someone new.

Re: Transcript by OP

[rosehiptea]

I never had a problem with people dropping in on my LiveJournal because if I made something public I figured people could/should drop by. (They usually didn't though.) I don't really get it, if I didn't want just anybody commenting on something why would I put it up on the internet? But some people are different. And I have seen comment sections even on AO3 where it seemed like everyone was all buddies and I did feel strange commenting.

I once saw someone on LiveJournal pitch a fit because someone linked their girlfriend's fic, which was not friendslocked, without asking first. It would never have occurred to me that someone would put up a fic but not want anyone to link to it. It does now, because of that, but at the time I was weirded out.

But I think virtually all authors who put stuff up on archives do want comments from anyone who enjoyed their fic.

Re: Transcript by OP

[(Anonymous)]

I know what you mean. Back in the day, I had a moderately busy flist and journal and random people would often comment because they found it via my fanfiction. I never had a problem with that because it was meant to be public. But ut was easier if people introduced themselves briefly as opposed to just jumping into the conversation. Just a short "Hi, I'm here through your FFnet profile" or "I'm saw your post on [random community]" was plenty. I know it's easy to feel like an outsider, but I met most of my fandom friends that way. They were all strangers to me at one point - but they were confident enough to introduce themselves.

Re: Transcript by OP

[(Anonymous)]

I think people do tend to respond to those that they "know" more readily sometimes, but if you comment/interact you become one of the people that they know.

I love comments/questions, particularly on AO3.

Re: Transcript by OP

[(Anonymous)]

I think maybe there's a lot of social anxiety baggage you're carrying that's coloring your perspective of how this works. Especially when it comes to reviews. Seeing rapport between other people doesn't necessarily mean you're excluded. It's probably not about you at all, but somehow your anxiety is reading waaaay too much ominous meaning into pretty innocuous things.

Re: Transcript by OP

[(Anonymous)]

Hm that's weird, I always thought non-flocked entries were there to be commented on by anyone? The more personal ones should be f-locked, but if I left LJ posts unlocked I'm all for talking to new people because that's a reason why it was unlocked. (From my experience, the whole 'introduce yourself!' thing was mostly for people who wanted others to friend them back? So if I didn't want a mutual friending I just left my comment and went on my way.)

I feel like tumblr is a bit more welcoming wrt 'personal spaces' since we can reblog whatever we want without interacting with OP tho.