[ SECRET POST #5116 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5116 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 10 secrets from Secret Submission Post #732.
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)]

It literally costs you nothing to give a positive sign to another person. Be it a click of a kudo or a simple 'good job' in a comment.

Its the same principle in the real world where a little kindness never hurts another person. Telling someone you like their shirt or helping someone pick up dropped books. You don't have to do it but when you do you brighten your own and the other's day.

[feotakahari]

I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with your specific statement here, but I think the people who talk about “emotional labor” would probably disagree. YMMV on whether you care what they think.

[(Anonymous)]

Nayrt

People use the phrase "emotional labor" in all kinds of ways. But clicking a kudos button doesn't have anything to do with the original sense of the phrase - which is about the kind of performative emotional interaction demanded of service workers - and it's not a very useful way of defining the concept either.

[(Anonymous)]

No content creator is entitled to kudos. That's the point. Saying "it doesn't cost anything" is still demanding engagement. If you can't produce fan content without a certain level of engagement, then stop making fan content. The end.

[(Anonymous)]

I mean sure. That's true. But then maybe don't be surprised when there's no fic etc to consume because everyone decided to stop because no-one engages anymore. Creators aren't owed anything, but by the same token fandoms aren't owed fanworks.

Personally I don't care if people choose not to give kudos or comments, that is their right and I certainly don't kudos or comment on every single thing I consume, but if I never got another kudos or comment ever again? Yeah, I'd probably stop creating because half the fun is connecting with other people and without that there's no real joy in sharing what I do.

So yeah, at the heart you're right. We're not owed kudos or anything else, but that ignores the fact that fandom is a shared activity and without reciprocation it doesn't thrive. Engagement is what powers fandoms.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

I leave a lot of kudos and comments, and it's because...I like to do it? If someone wrote a fic that made me happy in whatever way, why wouldn't I want to tell them that? It gives them a little boost, and it is also beneficial to me, because it's likely to encourage them to make more of the content that I like. This is especially true if it's a small fandom or a rare ship.

I don't always do it, sometimes I just don't have the energy and that's okay - but it's something I do sometimes because it makes me feel good.

This whole begrudging attitude is just something I can't relate to at all. If you don't want to comment, don't! It's okay! But it really is an important part of fandom that somebody does, and it's really incredibly easy and no-effort to just hit the kudos button or write, "I liked this. :)" (IF you liked it of course, insincerity doesn't benefit anyone.)

[goodbyebird]

This right here sums it up well ♥ 99% of people won't continue to post into the void.

F. exa. if I didn't enjoy having tiny galleries of icons I've created to look back on, as a sort of touchstone for memories, I would have stopped posting years ago. It would have made it a completely pointless waste of time for me, as barely anyone cares about icons anymore.

[arashinoookami]

+1

[(Anonymous)]

But then maybe don't be surprised when there's no fic etc to consume because everyone decided to stop because no-one engages anymore.

The people who are in it purely for the ego-boo might stop.

But there were people writing fanfic when the most feedback you got was maybe showing up in a Letter of Comment three years after you sent the story to a fanzine, and there would be people writing fanfic if nobody ever engaged.

Also, I've been here for over 40 years, and there was never some mythical time when comments were plentiful.

[(Anonymous)]

If you can't produce fan content without a certain level of engagement, then stop making fan content. The end.

Yep, that's how it works. In a small fandom that can mean no content at all. Depends whether the reader wants free content or not.

[(Anonymous)]

SA html fail, sorry.

[(Anonymous)]

Sure, no one’s entitled to feedback, not even something so minimal as a kudo to say you liked the work they put into it. But people are social animals, and we do appreciate engagement. I’ve always said that I write for myself, which is true. Nothing will ever stop me from writing. But I post for engagement. If people can’t be bothered to tell me that they liked what I wrote by simply clicking a button, why should I post it? I’ll keep writing it, make no mistake, but I can’t be assed to share if people can’t be assed to be appreciative.

[(Anonymous)]

Simple compliments are "emotional labor" now? Wow, that's a stretch.

That's not what emotional labor means. It means an environment where someone with less power is obligated in whatever way to devote themselves to someone else's well-being. A retail worker having to smile in the face of a belligerent customer. An abuse victim having to comfort their abuser. A Black person having to explain again and again why something is racist to a white person who's weaponizing their feelings.

Saying, "Hey, I liked your story" is...not that. Not even remotely that.

[(Anonymous)]

Agreed.

[(Anonymous)]

Its a sucky truth, but strangers on the internet still owe you nothing - whether or not its a nice thing to do.

[(Anonymous)]

True enough, but a lot of authors don't see it as 'a little kindness', they see it as their just rewards or 'payment' for deigning to share their work. It kind of stops being an act of kindness by default once the author starts demanding it as something that is theirs by right.

[(Anonymous)]

I keep seeing people saying this, but I've never seen it. What fandoms are people in where there are so many writers demanding a certain level of feedback as their right?

[(Anonymous)]

NA - I get quite a few reblogs coming across my dash complaining about how people's posts don't get enough reblogs and engagement, and blaming people who only like and don't reblog for why fandom isn't thriving and why creators are leaving.

What's funny is that in my experience it's usually the bigger names who post/reblog these complaints. I guess they're upset because their posts are only getting 300 notes instead of 3000. Meanwhile, someone like me who agonizes over every little tidbit (anxiety is a bitch) and feels proud (but also terribly inadequate) about my tiny little pile of original posts is honestly thrilled for every single like I get. My long-ass meta that I slaved over even though who fucking even likes meta these days? It got forty freaking notes! It even got 12 reblogs! That's awesome! Enough people liked it that I don't have to feel actively embarrassed for writing it! Win!

[(Anonymous)]

DA

I rotate fandoms and a lot of them are bigger fandoms. while I can't recall explicit "give me reviews/kudos or I'll give you no chapters" (actually, there was one once where the auth was like if you guys don't review, I'm not going to post) but for the most part it's the little "reviews are life" "feed me reviews = updates" things of that nature. Which I always overlook because... I'll review if I'm really inclined to do so. I'll leave a kudos if I liked it enough. But that kind of attitude grates on me/ leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

People write fic for different reasons,I write fic too! But I rarely leave A/N, much less to ask for reviews because I find them annoying and my way of fandom isn't a shit ton of interaction. It's cool if you like my fic. I'm writing it because I want to and because I know there must be some lurker out there who also likes what I like but won't say it or write themselves. I don't have the same expectation of everyone else however.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I have seen the "I won't post the next chapter until I get x number of comments/kudos/likes/etc!" in the past. I don't read much fanfic now, though, so I don't know if it's any better or worse.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

This. And it's gotten worse in the fact that people only produce what they think other people will like and then get insulted when people don't. There's that podcast ficwriter who gets /thousands/ of comments a chapter, and sees every click-count that doesn't kudo (/especially review) as people who are talking them for granted. They're threatening not to update until everyone who looks at their fic basically gets on their knees and praises it. It's sucks.

[(Anonymous)]

But I'm not going to give that positive sign if I think their fic is crap, because those particular signs mean "I think you did a good job," and I don't.

I don't give kudos unless I like the fic. I don't comment unless I like the fic (or it was written for me in an exchange, and having to say nice things about bad fic is why I now only write treats for exchanges).

I also don't just go up to someone and tell them I like their shirt when I think it's hideous. I might be nice to them in another way, but I'm not going to say "Nice shirt!" when I hate it.

And I'm not going to say "Good job!" about a fic when it's terrible.