[ SECRET POST #5949 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5949 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 14 secrets from Secret Submission Post #850.
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)]

AYRT

"I don't even know if you're a writer."
Uh...well, that was enough to get another reply from me, because...
"I know a ton of people are reading my fic with each update, particularly because some of them had the clever idea to include chapter-by-chapter summaries for themselves on the public Bookmarks."

But while I'm here anyway... I said that because I was pretty much exactly like the person you describe as some absurd hypothetical. I just devoured fics and didn't even leave kudos when I was obsessed enough with it to discuss it with friends. But then I saw some posts from writers saying how much they appreciate comments, how it makes things feel more like a community, and that it's very motivating when people show appreciation for their passion. That made me reconsider my approach to reading fanfiction. I don't comment every time and I only read WIPs if they're written by a friend but I think it makes for a much more positive experience when more people engage--and when they realize that's something that most writers appreciate.

That's also why I mentioned that writers contribute to this attitude. After a writer replied rather rudely to my own comment (apparently I missed some foreshadowing from a chapter uploaded 6mo earlier so they actually scolded me for not reading closely enough), I didn't comment again for ages. I also see posts from more popular writers saying they don't want one-word comments, or emoji comments, or what-have-you. All of that contributes to an environment where readers who would otherwise love to comment might choose not to.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

There's very few wrong ways to do fandom. We can't hold everyone to the same standard. No one does it, or even CAN do it, the exact same way. You have to curate your own experience - like you were doing. Reading fic and then discussing with your friends. Absolutely nothing wrong with that! That is also contributing to the community!

And absolutely, getting crap from writers does discourage engagement. And having people try to guilt engagement WILL also discourage it, which, I'm sorry, is what you were doing by making it seem like it's a very easy thing to do and people just couldn't be bothered. It's not always easy (see yesterday's comment about anxiety disorders) and many people have reasons not do (as you have described). Yet you still said it. Knowing this you still said it in that way with a preface that you "don't want to guilt trip" (but...)

The point of my original comment with the stats was to show that the fandom community as a whole actually IS really nice and that writers are doing most of this to themselves.

When you know what good engagement looks like when someone's livelihood literally depends on it, seeing writers with three times that engagement on a hobby complaining that they don't get enough - an expectation re-adjustment is in order.

But you didn't respond to that. You tried to discredit the numbers with an argument that made the numbers even stronger. And then you tried to make it an ad hominem. Now you've switched your argument to the opposite side. So at this point, I have no idea what you're trying to accomplish.

*I* am trying to get authors to understand that they're already getting amazing engagement. Authors, please stop measuring yourselves based off a misunderstanding of what good engagement looks like!