[ SECRET POST #2505 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2505 ⌋

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

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 061 secrets from Secret Submission Post #358.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 16 - one persistent repeat spammer (I have tried to keep your non-repeats, however!) ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

... and "people like you," who can't be bothered to leave a sentence or two about "awesome" fics that took hours to craft, are why a lot of good writers stop posting.

You don't bother, why should we?

[(Anonymous)]

Why do you need validation so bad?

[(Anonymous)]

Why the fuck is validation a bad thing?

[(Anonymous)]

random diff anon

I know I need it because I write fanfiction to have other people read it and tell me what they think. That's why fandom USED to be awesome, because I'd write and people would read and tell me what they thought. It was freakin' awesome.

If nobody is going to bother to validate me (i.e., actually take a second or two to tell me they read the fanfic I wrote and posted FOR FREE and what they thought), then I will just go and write original fic or something and not just post it FOR FREE. And trust me, I could write original fic. I just think fandom is more fun. At least as long as people bother to tell me what they think.

[chardmonster]

"Why don't you adore me? Why? WHY?"

Because frankly most people just don't have something meaningful to say. If you aren't a writer yourself you might not have much to contribute.

So what you're really asking is why doesn't every single person who reads your fanfiction give you brownie points. I'd contend that ten kudos mean about as much as ten "great story I loled"s.

Most writers don't hear from everyone who reads their work. More people are going to read your blog post than comment. That's just how it goes.

+1

[(Anonymous)]

I only leave reviews when I have something to say beyond "loved the story".

That said, I much prefer receiving Kudos to reviews because I don't feel obligated to respond to a Kudos, and after the n-th time sending a thank you for a "great story" review, it just gets annoying.

[kaijinscendre]

If you don't write the fic...okay? I won't know what I am missing. It isn't like I am going to get an email saying, "Author123 was going to write this fic about ______________. But they know you don't leave reviews, so they won't."

[pantswarrior]

A++++

When I write fic, it's because there's a story that I came up with that I liked, and I liked it enough to write it down in hopes that other people might also get some enjoyment out of it.

It's nice when someone who does leaves some kind of indication of that, but that's more a side effect of writing rather than the point of it.

[i_paint_the_sky]

IMO, if you stop posting because people aren't patting you on the head, then you weren't writing for the right reasons to begin with. No big loss there.

[(Anonymous)]

And imo you don't get to decide what's the right reason to write for. Not the OP but this is an argument that pisses me of mightily. >>You don't write for the same reasons ~I~ write therefore ~you~ write for the ~wrong~ reasons.<<

[rivia]

no one is obligated to leave reviews, just like no one is obligated to write fics in the first place. people do it because they want to.

personally i leave kudos for stuff i liked and bookmark stuff i REALLY liked, but i have almost never left a review of a fic, mostly because i feel like a tool saying "i really liked it!" and nothing else. i have a really hard time expressing my feelings and what i like about things so that's usually all i can come up with.

[diet_poison]

I have trouble with reviews because authors seem to want concrit, and it's not something I'm very good at giving. I'm not the best writer - not horrible, but not the best - and if I really liked something my reactions are almost always overwhelmingly positive and I don't have much in the way of crit (unless it's grammar, but that *does* make me feel like a tool).

[weaselbee]

This is exactly how I feel about it but couldn't find the words.

[gabzillaz]

MTE

[forgottenjester]

Then kaijinscendre doesn't get a new fic from the author. No loss to them really. They read their fic already and were happy with it. If they want more then they can move onto the next author.

Getting a review is great and should be an awesome boost but it shouldn't be the sole reason you're writing. When a writer stops writing it should be because they personally don't want to anymore, not because some random person on the internet read their fic and then didn't leave a review.

Don't blame readers for something that isn't their obligation to do. Heck, if it was an obligation I doubt reviews would be as meaningful as they are now. Think about it. Those obligated reviews on the backs of published books are worth squat and you know it.

I mean, I get how great reviews are. I'm a writer myself. Just... this militant "It's all the readers fault the writer quit because they weren't appreciative enough!" is very off-putting.

Edit: Oh shit. I should have refreshed my page before posting. :/ Well... here's one more post to the pile.

[(Anonymous)]

Someone really altruistic and saint-like has told every writer that this is the way they should feel, that they're being selfish if they want people to take the time to tell them they enjoyed their story, or even if they didn't.

I dunno who those writers are, but more power to 'em.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd like to lieve a review to your comment. :D "I liked it!"
I write the same words on LJ or ff.net. Or "awesome story" as a variation. And it's been allright, I think.

I mostly agree with you (as I often do on fandomsecrets). However, when a writer tells a story they consider reader's reaction and use special writing tricks or create a suspense in a story, etc. They don't do it to read a story themself, so getting a reaction appropriate to a fandom's popularity is often an indicator of a job well done. Kudos are great for this too.
Leaving comments is not obligatory, but if there's an urge to, no need to fight it. Most people lurk, though. And there're more comments for WIPs, but personally I eather finish a fic or not nevermind how popular it is.

[bur]

Not true. I like getting kudos notifications. It's actually one of the highlights of my morning, and it makes getting actual comments extra awesome.

[writerserenyty]

"You don't bother, why should we?"

Because it's something you like to do? I'm a blogger. I get a decent number of pageviews (for the niche subject/audience I've got)and I know it's pretty well-read but I don't get a ton of comments. I don't do it for the comments; I do it because I have a ton of thoughts and I like putting them out there.

Idk, I think people should leave reviews/comment if they have strong feelings about it, but that shouldn't be the reason you write something.

[(Anonymous)]

THIS.

[(Anonymous)]

As someone who only exists in fandom as an anon, and who can never think of a goddamn thing to say about a story beyond "that was neat", I get legit anxiety about trying to leave some kind of decent feedback and usually just... don't... instead. Or I can leave a kudo and you can be grateful somebody liked your fic, sheesh.

[(Anonymous)]

And "people like you" are the reason why people stop reading your fics. No one wants to support a whiny child who thinks they're owed loads of asspats for their fanfiction.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't speak for all writers. Some of us understand some people don't feel like leaving a review every chapter. Fair enough.

If it's a validation thing, that's what viewcounts and kudos are for

This is less about the platform and more about the fandcom culture, really...

[nyxelestia]

On one hand, I can see why so many people leave kudos and nothing else. Sometimes that's the only reaction they have to the fic, or even if they want to leave something else the author hasn't expressed a clear desire for criticism and in fandom's current anti-concrit culture, anything less than gushing praise can be taken as an insult. So hats off to the kudos system for compensating for the fact a lot of people only can/want to say "great fic" but also feel like that's not worth putting in the effort to review for. Great way of gauging reactions to your fic without trying to deal with reviews (which I honestly sometimes have trouble taking seriously, anyway, due to the anti-concrit thing).

On the other hand, as I writer, I can also feel the frustration with how kudos are kind of overtaking reviews and how it's harder to get reviews in the first place, and meaningful ones at that. While reviews are not the only reason I write, they are a huge part of the reason I post and one of my favorite things about writing. Validation is nice and I'm not ashamed of liking to hear people's opinions about my writing, about what was good and what could be done better. I made something and am introducing it to other people, and I would like to know what they think of it.

The catch being, of course, that either they don't have any reaction, or their reaction is something they feel they can't express...

So while I don't like the whole "kudos over comments" culture thing, that's not really something I blame on the system itself, but more that it came about due to a pre-existing shift/trend in fandom to oppose many types of reviews that were popular before but were starting to be seen in a more negative light by both readers and authors. *shrugs*

[(Anonymous)]

Not to mention, 99% of all fanfiction is terrible, wish fulfillment garbage. But it's considered poor form actually to critique--what nearly all writers want are compliments. Can't compliment shit writing.

If you're not getting "reviews," maybe there's a reason. Either way, save it for your creative writing class--readers are under no obligation to feed your ego.