fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3969 ]

[ SECRET POST #3969 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3969 ⌋

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

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[Vampire Princess Miyu]

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[Disgaea/Soul Nomad]

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 18 secrets from Secret Submission Post #568.
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.

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People who bookmark my fics without reviewing them. If you like them enough to want to read them over and over again, then you like it enough to tell me why you want to read it over and over again.

+100

>_> Whoops. Sorry. I am guilty of that. I'm a terrible reviewer because I feel like just saying, "I liked this!" seems so disingenuous.

I assure you, it's not! I have reviews that have just been three heart emojis in a row and it made my whole day! Taking time to say you liked something is the same as saying "thank you." Do you have to say it? No. Is it the nice thing to do? YES! I have saved every review I've ever gotten, dating back 10 years! Even just saying, "I liked this!" makes all the difference to an author who writes fic for free!

^This. I find that there's a weird sense of entitlement in fandom where people think it's perfectly fine and normal to consume fanfic on a daily basis and it's a big part of their online life, but to them it's a bottomless resource brought by the stork or something. Authors who want to be treated like they're a person instead of a mindless fic-writing robot are treated like THEY'RE the crazy entitled ones.

EXACTLY!

Yes, this bothers me so much. I really don't understand why it's become so common for people to shit on "entitled" fic writers who are discouraged by silent readers, while saying nothing about the readers who seem to take fic for granted and feel that they've done a good deed if they so much as click the kudos button.

I treat a bookmark like a kudo and am just glad to get it.

Especially since I haven't written fanfic for something like ten years. I'm curious as to how they even found it, buried as it must be, but, eh.

Well, I'm a very active fanfic writer, and I'd rather have a review than a kudos.

IMO there is no level of good your fic can be to entitle you to a review.

Sorry but I'm just not going to leave a review unless I have something substantive to say, something more than "yay good fic".

IMO, readers like you suck ass. You're not entitled to my fic, but I still write it.

What is entitled about the simple act of reading fanfiction

Re: Pet Peeves

mrs_don_draper - 2017-11-16 04:20 (UTC) - Expand

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Re: Pet Peeves

mrs_don_draper - 2017-11-16 05:01 (UTC) - Expand

You're not entitled to my fic, but I still write it.

Once you post your fic online, this is a moot point. You put it out there for the public to read, and the public read it. Entitlement doesn't come into it.

Yep. You're one of those readers who treat fic writers like they're machines that only exist to pump out entertainment for you. No need to acknowledge their work (that you benefit from and enjoy for free), no need to say thanks or give them encouragement. Tell me, when you go out to eat at a restaurant, do you also treat the waitstaff like they're robots with no feelings who only exist to bring you food and clean up after you?

I feel you. Sometimes I go through my bookmarks on Ao3 and not only have a lot of them never commented, but they leave the squeeing comment on the bookmark for people to see! But then... why not leave me a comment too?? Why not tell me?
It makes me happy to see those comments, but damn, why make me hunt for it? Isn't it enough that I wrote the fic...?

YES THAT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!

Or when people leave comments in a tumblr tag, but not on the fic!!!

I 100% believe that it does drive you crazy.

Re: Pet Peeves

mrs_don_draper - 2017-11-16 06:23 (UTC) - Expand

Guilty as charged.If I liked the fic, I go back and give a kudos. But if I don't comment, it's because:

- I usually have nothing to say other than I enjoyed this, please continue,
- i feel awkward wanting to comment on every chapter because some crazy shit went down, and I want to let you know I loved it. would that be annoying?
- I'm too lazy to log in
- I don't want my profile to be associated with the fic I was reading (this might be the case of it's super smutty, or I just don't want my name associated with what you've written. nothing against the author, it's probably some internalized irrational shame)

- i feel awkward wanting to comment on every chapter because some crazy shit went down, and I want to let you know I loved it. would that be annoying?

Speaking for myself, It definitely wouldn't be :). I'm the sort who tends to review every chapter of a fic I enjoy and the authors I've done that for seem pretty happy about that, and as a writer myself I love hearing people's thoughts as they work their way through the story.

- I usually have nothing to say other than I enjoyed this, please continue,

I'd personally be happy to receive these kinds of comments, too :). But I do think this point of yours brings up another valid reason why some people are hesitant to review: because some writers tend to make it sound like if anyone leaves a review that says something as simple as "Loved this, please continue!" then that comment is somehow not as worthwhile to the writer as a long, detailed review would be.

And I've never thought that was a fair attitude to have. Some people love to do the whole "long, detailed review" thing (I'm one of them), and I certainly get why people like those kinds of reviews-I do, too.

But not everyone reviews that way, for all sorts of reasons, and for as often as writers complain about how more people don't comment/review their stories, you'd think they'd be a little less picky over whether or not a review/comment is "detailed" enough for them. As long as they're taking the time to type out a comment/review and showing that they're enjoying the story, shouldn't that be the most important thing?

*Shrug* Anywho, side track there. But yeah, your post explains some very valid reasons for why people don't review. I do love getting reviews on my work, certainly, but hell, I'm just happy if people read the darn fic, let alone left kudos or a review or whatever :p.

Uh, some people are not always comfortable at leaving reviews, or bad at remembering to leave them (like me), so, I for one take it as a compliment in and of itself that somebody would like a story of mine enough to bookmark it.

Firstly, the fact that someone bookmarked your fic is a compliment in and of itself, so your way of looking at this seems needlessly negative. Like, "Hey screw you all for only complimenting me in a way I find inferior."

Secondly, some people bookmark fics they haven't read but think they might want to read. That's pretty much all I use bookmarks for these days.

How can writers know when the bookmark is intended as a compliment if some people use bookmarks just to keep track of fics they think they might want to read?

1. There is an honest-to-god "Mark for Later" button on AO3 that creates a subcategory in your history of "fics I intend to read later." Why would you use the bookmark function for that?

2. Even if someone is using the bookmark function that way, "Your fic looks so interesting that I'm going to save it somewhere specifically so I can read it later" is considered to be compliment by most people.

Fic writers who complain that people flatter them wrong and then wonder why they don't get more compliments are the worst.

I'm aware. I'm one of them.

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