[ SECRET POST #4133 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4133 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 45 secrets from Secret Submission Post #592.
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]

03. https://i.imgur.com/yYZ3TdN.png

[(Anonymous)]

I reply to all of them, and I've even made a couple of friends out of it.

[(Anonymous)]

I met my best friend when I commented on her fic back in 2001.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

I've heard shade given to authors for 'artificially' inflating their comment count. Also, I tended to worry that my replies wouldn't be witty enough and that readers would be disappointed by the 'real' me.

To say that I'm thrilled that my secret generated some cool conversation is an UNDERSTATEMENT. Thank you!!

[(Anonymous)]

I always reply because I feel guilty if I don't. For me it's like thanking someone for a gift.

[(Anonymous)]

Me, too. Thirsty, what? I think it would be rude to ignore them.

Also, I met my current best friend by responding to a comment. We talk every day.

[(Anonymous)]

I just kind of wish people would quit judging how authors choose to manage reviews.

[(Anonymous)]

I've always found it rude to not reply, which is why I try to reply to every single one, even if the replys are simple 'Thank yous'.

[(Anonymous)]

Wow. I know people who will not comment to stories if the author hasn't replied to at least some of the already existing comments. I've never heard of the opposite--judging authors for actually replying? That is weird.

(And we're all thirsty, whether we want to admit it or not, tbh.)

[(Anonymous)]

People think this is being thirsty? How about it just being fucking polite.

[kribban]

When an author doesn't respond to my comments I always assume they have died.

[(Anonymous)]

I lost my fanfic virginity over at FFN back in the good old days when you couldn't reply to comments. And hoenstly, the only reason I reply to every comment I get is that I'm apparently an arrogant snot if I don't. I love nothing more than discussing writing, both my own and that of other people, but that's comes with the prerequisite that there's something of substance to discuss in the first place. Handing out twenty thank yous to twenty varieties of "omg so cute" and "i loved this" and "update soon!!!!" comes across as little more than perfunctory, and being miffed because someone who wrote a 20 000 word story won't take the time to "appreciate" a five-word comment is honestly hypocritical, imo.

[(Anonymous)]

That was a pretty uncharitable (and to be honest, weird) assumption, so I'm glad you've changed your mind about comment replies. Like a few other users, I've met some of my best friends via comments on my fics or their fics and those friendships have lasted longer than fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

I love the way AO3 lets you communicate to readers in a quasi LJ or forum type format. ff.n's system is just too rigid for my liking.

[(Anonymous)]

If you're going to reply to anybody, you might as well reply to everybody. It's always kind of off-putting when an author only ever seems to reply to a few of the same people and it's like they're having this clique-y conversation and everyone else who comments is beneath their notice.

(If a fic has been up for a long time, though, it's completely understandable an author may not still be checking for and replying to comments and late-comers may not get a reply.)

[(Anonymous)]

It's always nice to get a little acknowledgement from the author when I leave a comment, even if it's a simple thank you. I always reply to comments on my fics too because the other person was nice enough to type out a response. It's just the polite thing to do.

[(Anonymous)]

It doesn't make you look thirsty. No one cares, no one is paying that close attention to whether another author replies to comments or not- the only person who cares is someone who has either commented already or is thinking of doing so.

And the comments on various recent studies of fannish comments and feedback (see Ao3commentoftheday or longlivefeedback on Tumblr) have shown that readers who see that an author doesn't reply, are less likely to leave a comment.

Responding politely because someone spoke to you, is not a sign that you're thirsty.

And it strikes me as so weird that so many authors believe that avoiding artificial inflating their comment count (and thus looking like they're "cheating") or looking "thirsty" is so important that it's better to look like a rude asshole than do either of those things.

[initiala]

I reply to as many as I can because I love interacting with readers and have made some great friends this way.

And this just reminded me that I haven't checked my AO3 inbox in like a month, so I'mma go do that.

[(Anonymous)]

I reply to everyone who comments on my fic because I like to think that I’m a nice person. I didn’t know it meant that I’m ‘thirsty.’ *eyeroll*

[(Anonymous)]

What a stupid way of looking at it. There are two main reasons for replying to comments:

1. To be polite. Seriously, not replying is bad manners. I personally try to reply to all of them and if I leave a comment for someone and don't get a reply in return, I'm very unlikely to leave another one because I think the author is unfriendly and rude.

2. To discuss. Isn't this the whole point of fandom anyway? Finding people who share your interests and squeeing over them together? Fandom isn't fun if you aren't sharing it with others! Also, I love reading comments and comment threads. An author who doesn't reply shuts that down very quickly.

I like comments, but replying is also just polite.

[(Anonymous)]

I respond to almost every comment. If there's a back and forth between me and commenter, sometimes I let it end on their comment. And I don't reply to spam comments, I just delete them. But otherwise I reply to all my comments - good, bad, and weird.

[(Anonymous)]

People always stress how rude it is to not reply and honestly that makes my anxiety about responding worse :( I have such bad social anxiety that responding to any message online will make me freeze, and now it's gotten to the point where getting comments on my fic just makes me anxious cause I start over analyzing how to respond, and then time passes and I worry it's too late and people will think I'm weird for responding days/weeks/months later, and then I don't want to respond to new comments I get cause what if the author of this comment I didn't respond to three weeks ago gets mad... and I end up responding to nothing and assuming readers hate me no matter what.

[nightscale]

I reply to be friendly more than anything, that and it's only polite to thank someone for reading what I wrote.

I'm not good at long wordy comments though so it tends to just be a generic 'thank you'.

[killertofuuu]

I reply to all comments, too, because I want to. I think it's polite to thank people for taking the time to leave feedback.

I think I get what you mean, though. Like, it might appear that you're trying to bulk up your review count on the surface by making replies? I say that because I used to be self-conscious about that sort of thing. I never wanted to come across as too pretentious, or fishing for attention, even though I was in a way. Let's be real, who doesn't want their fics to have an audience? And it still crosses my mind that it might look good to have a lot of comments and draw in readers. Hey, writing fic takes time and work. Yes I do it for myself, but it feels good when other people enjoy it, too.

The only thing that's really changed over the years is that, regardless of the intention behind replying to comments, I really don't see any problem with 'appearing thirsty', as long as you're not being an entitled asshole (i.e. demanding reviews.) Readers can read the ships/tags/summary/etc., look at the numbers, and decide for themselves if your fic is what they're looking for. I think, once I learned to be OK with that and just let it be, I was a lot more chill, Not to mention I have a lot more fun writing fic overall now.

[redseeker]

I always like when authors reply to my comments on their fic. I try to reply to people's comments on my fic because I think it's polite and might make the commenter happy, plus it's nice to interact & engage with my readers - it's how we used to do it on LJ after all. Sometimes I don't remember, but in general I will try to reply to everyone.