[ SECRET POST #4544 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4544 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 38 secrets from Secret Submission Post #651.
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

[(Anonymous)]

If only I can comment “I like this story” on everything. Too bad this is basically a kudos in comment form so there’s no point and people might judge me.

If only I can write :) or thumbs up emojis without being judged.

[(Anonymous)]

...this makes no sense whatsoever.

[(Anonymous)]

I can’t write perfectly long, gushing comments. The only commments I think of are short, brief and unsatisfying. Since I fail so hard at commenting, I shouldn’t comment.

[(Anonymous)]

Fuck you then.

[(Anonymous)]

Are you serious

[(Anonymous)]

that's the ticket

[(Anonymous)]

If it's a stressful thing to leave a comment, then it's okay to not leave one.

[(Anonymous)]

Clearly some writers disagree, though

[(Anonymous)]

It's okay not to leave comments. You have no obligation to fanfic writers.

But if your goal is to make the writers of something you love happy, and not to never experience nervousness, then you should accept that comments generally mean more to writers than a button that is literally as meaningless as a facebook like.

[(Anonymous)]

and writers should accept that kudos are a genuine form of sincere positive feedback, not some kind of passive-aggressive insult

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT but agreed. "If you liked it enough to kudos, you should have commented!"

Okay, but I very rarely kudos or bookmark. It's high praise from me if I do, and (saying this as a writer) you are not entitled to anything.

[(Anonymous)]

this is entitled as fuck

"WRITERS SHOULD FEEL HOW I WANT THEM TO FEEL ABOUT THE THING THAT REQUIRES THE LEAST EFFORT FROM ME, AFTER I ENJOY SOMETHING THEY WORKED HARD ON AND GAVE ME FOR FREE"

no, fuck you, and fuck you more for strawmanning this

I believe kudos are sincere and positive. But I also believe that aunts and uncles praying for me to a god I don't believe in is sincere and positive. That doesn't mean I'm going to try and force myself to be very excited about it when it doesn't mean anything to me.

You are not required to try to make me happy. But fuck you for telling me that I SHOULD be happy for this or that, when I specifically said "if your goal is to make me happy, this incredibly easy thing that you can still do anonymously if you're nervous is what means so much to me, and this even easier thing doesn't really make a difference for me."

And you're here like "I want to give sincere positive feedback on something I love, but like, not enough to take ten extra seconds to type one sentence." If you're adamantly unwilling to do anything but hit a button, then how much did you really like it?

I mean, fuck. Everyone whines about being nervous, but guess what? Authors get anxiety too. And we put our whole ass heart and skill and kinks on display for the world. If you can't get over your hesitation to leave a comment, fine. But don't demand that we react exactly the way you want us to when you're refusing to do the thing that everyone has universally agreed is most rewarding thing for authors for the last 30+ years of fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

LOLOLOLOL AYRT is entitled? Please reread your entire diatribe kthx.

[(Anonymous)]

If it helps, someone commented this week on my story and said they found it funny and beautiful. Just that. And it totally made my day. :)

But I understand that commenting is hard and can be anxiety-inducing, especially if you're ESL or something.

[tabaqui]

No, Anon, no. I'm sorry if your comments feel unsatisfying to *you*, but trust me, the author receiving them is very, very happy to get them!

[(Anonymous)]

You don't HAVE to be able to write perfectly long, gushing comments. That does not make them unsatisfying. There are SO many writers here saying that a brief 'I liked it' or 'good story' still make them happy.

(for that matter, not being perfect at something is never a good reason not to do it-- no one is perfect at something they've just started doing! Some writers appreciate every kudos as if it was a 'good story' comment, and others treasure every little word but might not know if a kudos is a sincere expression of appreciation. But the comments you fear are unsatisfying are often the kind of thing that can cheer a writer up!)

I've been writing a long time, fanfiction for fun and freelance nonfiction for work-- I literally (sometimes) get paid to communicate ideas with words, but I still sometimes feel nervous that my comments won't be 'good enough'. So I don't mean to jump on you just for having your feelings! It can be hard to comment when you don't know what to say, but... when I'm the one receiving comments, even a keysmash or a bunch of exclamation points makes me smile.

After all, in this comment thread, there are also people who worry their comments are too long and wordy, so... there's no such thing as a comment that everyone can agree is perfect, and there's no type of commenter who doesn't sometimes feel anxious about sharing their thoughts and feelings. But the writers who've shared their work are usually glad to hear it

[(Anonymous)]

"I loved this!" and "excessive happy emojis" are going to make lots of writers happy.

But if you feel self-conscious about leaving comments that you feel are generic, I recommend investing in some dramatic/uncommon reaction gifs. You don't need to be great at expressing yourself to post one, and they'll definitely give a writer a smile and a sense of your individual feelings.

[(Anonymous)]

It also makes a lot of other writers very annoyed. Not worth the risk if you don't know what kind of writer you're leaving a comment for.

[(Anonymous)]

I was just going to say the same thing. I personally would be fine with a comment that said, "Loved this!"-be it a comment like that, or a lengthy review, or a kudos/favorite/follow, I'm happy with it all. Just the fact somebody took the time to read something I wrote at all is cool to me :).

But I've seen so many authors gripe about how comments like "This is great!" or "Loved this!" don't really say much about specific aspects of the story that they liked, or seem very generic, or aren't worth replying to with a thank you the way longer comments are, or things of that sort. So I can see why some reviewers feel wary as a result. Hard to feel encouraged to review when you feel like your words won't mean anything to the author.