[ SECRET POST #6042 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6042 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #864.
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)]

This right here! “What if they don’t like my comment? What if they only wanted vague praise? What if they only wanted an in depth review? What if they only like friends to comment?” There are sooo many ways to upset an author with a comment and I tie myself in knots second guessing how to do it.
In the LJ days, fandoms and ships and comms had their own general conventions for fic comments. But it isn’t, hasn’t been, never will be like that on A03.

[(Anonymous)]

"What if I horribly misinterpreted the story and my comment makes them doubt their skill?" What if I managed to pull-quite the line they hate and regret putting in? What if I accidentally added a microaggression without knowing it? What if I manage to hit a sore spot of the same thing everybody comments on and they feel like people only like them for that? What if I get the tone wrong and they think I'm being sarcastic?

What if I leave such a delightfully effusive perfect insightful comment they get writer's block about living up to it?

What if by commenting on this story and not that story I make them feel shit about that story? What if I comment on all the chapters up to here ND then get distracted and don't come back, will they think I hate them now? What if feeling obligated to reply to my comment gives them an anxiety?

(Those aren't hypotheticals those are all either reactions I've had to comments on my fic or they're things I've seen people complain aboit.)

[selfcrownedqueen]

"What if I horribly misinterpreted the story and my comment makes them doubt their skill?" What if I managed to pull-quite the line they hate and regret putting in?

Obviously, I can only speak for me, but I like when someone, unbeknownst to them, quotes a line that I was unsure of or didn't like much. It helps to quell my own anxieties and second-guessing, in a way. Also, I enjoy seeing works from someone else's point of view, because my intent isn't the be-all and end-all and it's cool to see what other people might get out of it.

That said, that's me speaking as a writer, as reader? I totally get it. I'm usually too nervous to leave many comments myself due to some of the things you mentioned.

[(Anonymous)]

Ayrt As an author, sometimes it is great and reassuring! But sometimes it's the "oh no I didn't realize how cringingly fatphobic it was at the time I wrote it and commenter clearly doesn't either and now that it's quoted in a comment I can't even quietly edit without it being weird" sort of line.

[selfcrownedqueen]

Ohhh, okay. Yeah, I can see how that would be an awkward (to say the least) spot to be in. I'm guessing that actually happened to you, so how did you handle it? Though if you don't want to get into it, that's okay.

[(Anonymous)]

Died on the spot, obviously.

No I usually leave a bland thank you and then agonize over it. That exact scenario is a bit anonymized but I've had everything in a range from "that's an embarrassing typo and I don't think the commenter noticed either" to "oh nooooo I didn't know that was a slur ten years ago and I forgot I used it". I also have one rarepair porn short that's about a seriously abusive relationship - like name a bad thing and it's there - and every other comment I get is about how hot and sweet it is. Which you do you, death of the author whatever, but I approach comment notification for it very carefully.