commenting is hard and scary: general trends in the reasoning of fic readers
an incredibly academic review of answers, asks, and replies by me, 2017, tumblrdotcom
This post concerns the super scientific survey from yesterday. A couple of you asked, so: the reason I wanted to know why folks don’t regularly comment is a combination of things. The first is writing for spones, which is a rather new experience, and the comparatively tiny number of comments on what I think is a pretty darn good story, compared with the overwhelming enthusiasm for the s/u piece I posted the other week- it got me thinking, needless to say. Second is the ever present discrepancy between number of comments and read-counts on new chapters when I post them. Third is receiving comments that start ‘I never comment, but’ and finally giving into the curiosity of what that’s like, to read all this fic and not comment on it. Fourth is the always circling posts of ‘comment on the fics you read!’ with explanations of why and how - it seems like those don’t totally get through to people? I don’t know, maybe they do, but it’s not like I reblog one and wake up the next morning to a bevy of comments.
Participants included the metric butt-ton of anon commenters, plus those who replied to the original post which you can read here. Too many to respond to without clogging everyone’s dashes, so we’re doing this instead.
There were five main categories that responses fell into: not having much to say (and the temptation of the kudos button), RL issues, finding commenting stressful, perceptions of the author, and other.
The Profundity of Comments
The most reoccurring reason for not commenting (or not commenting regularly) was a feeling of not having much to say other than ‘I liked it. As one anon wrote, “i just honestly never know what to say and other comments are so well-constructed that i feel like my random “aww theyre so cute” would be inadequate.” This pressure to feel profound was reiterated by others, such as another anon who suggested “I think not all readers are former lit majors who may get intimidated to leave a “thoughtful” comment and are reading to de-stress or something.”
Beyond this lack of profound and interesting statements on fics, there was a general feeling that leaving a kudos, favoriting a fic, or creating a bookmark was akin to leaving a short comment saying ‘that was great’. One anon put it this way: “if I’m just saying ‘great fic’, it feels interchangeable with giving them a kudos”.
There was a reoccurring sentiment related to feeling like one has to be profound: not having enough time to sit down and leave the type of comment the reader wanted to. Also included in this was not having the energy to do so, either because readers were enjoying fic as a way to relax and de-stress, or because they were reading in bed and were tired. Another issue raised was the fact that mobile reading doesn’t lend itself to commenting, and it’s awkward to have to switch to a desktop to comment. Finally, there was the simple problem of forgetting, despite all best intentions. Life, as we all know, gets entirely too busy sometimes. @samttuummaa ties this all together nicely and puts words to what a number of other folks said in their own replies: “Here’s the recipe: start with I read on my cell, where typing is a moth#£$&#@! of an experience. Combine that with the fact that I always had a million things to say so the reviews were rarely short. Toss that with a toddler wanting my attention. Let it all simmer in the fact that I only got to read in spurts of just a few minutes at a time… modify this recipe by adding a 2nd baby”.
Commenting as a stressful activity
This section of results fell into two main categories. First was readers who struggle with social anxiety. Second was readers for whom English is a non-native language, and either the difficulty of writing in english was prohibitive, or they were too self-conscious of their writing to enjoy the process of leaving a comment.
Interestingly, many folks wrote about ways in which authors themselves were an impediment. There was a general sense among respondents that if authors don’t respond to comments, it’s not worth leaving them a comment on their story. One anon raises an interesting question, writing: “if the author then doesn’t engage with the comments… why is a comment better than a kudos?” Additionally, readers felt that writers who don’t respond to comments might ignore the comments they leave, or commenting might be bothersome or irritating to these authors.
Some readers had negative interactions with authors which turned them off from commenting. One anon wrote: “Actually I left a good comment to a fic arthor and she didn’t reply back to my comment but replied back to everyone’s else and felt so horrible.” Another recounted a story of an ongoing correspondence with an author that went south for no discernible reason, which made them wary of engaging with writers in the future.
Another aspect of the way in which readers’ perspective of the author interfered with commenting was a perception that fic authors don’t like short comments. A second was that authors - myself included - are annoyed by pleas for updates, but that is what the reader really wants to write. (footnote 1: there is a difference between ‘update please!’ and ‘can’t wait to find out what happens next!!’ For me at least, the latter is more than welcome, while the former does tend to feel quite rude)
Finally, @what-if-im-a-mermaid and @mizjesbelle offered insight into the feeling that authors have their friends in fandom and that fics have an ‘insider/outsider’ culture, which the reader can be very much on the outside of, or that as an unknown reader, that feedback wasn’t pertinent compared to the author’s friends comments. As @what-if-im-a-mermaid wrote “I also remember having this vague impression of fandoms as these groups of people who all know each other and comment on each other’s work and are friends and feeling, idk, ‘excluded’ is not the right term because i wasn’t sad about it, but like it was something I wasn’t part of? Like it didn’t concern me?” @mizjesbelle follows up this comment by writing, “@what-if-im-a-mermaid I know what you mean about a comment section sometimes feeling like a club you’re not part of. I follow a lot of webcomics, and there are some I don’t comment on because everyone clearly knows each other. I know they don’t mean to be unwelcoming, but it can feel awkward.” (footnote 2: I have made all of my fandom friends through discussions started in comments on stories and trust me, if you comment on a story of mine, I remember you and I love you)
There were a number of reasons that fell outside the above mentioned themes. These are that a fic is bad and the reader doesn’t want to leave criticism, being overwhelmed with feels after finishing reading a fic, the story is old, as a writer themselves they don’t care to receive comments and therefore don’t leave them as readers, and not realizing how it feels to put yourself out there and publish creative work. @what-if-im-a-mermaid writes, “I think part of it is that if you’re a casual fic reader and you’ve never put yourself out there by posting stuff you created to The Interweb it can be hard understand how incredibly rewarding receiving any feedback at all is. For the longest time I thought of fic writers as a bunch of people who find writing so easy and intrinsically rewarding that they post billions of words on line for free, because it makes them happy. They’re obviously Real Writers, very good at what they do, so why should feedback from a random girl who knows nothing about lit and writing affect them in any way? ‘ (footnote 3: it does make me happy, it’s so asldkfjasldkjf not easy, and if you enjoyed my story, you’re not random, see footnote 2 about how much I love you)
Overall, a number of reasons stated here have made the rounds in fandom before: old stories tend to get few comments, folks don’t want to be rude and leave criticism, English is a ridiculous language, talking to authors can be scary, commenting is just plain hard when we all have work/school/kids/whatever, and the kudos button is right there for the clicking.
One aspect of these responses that surprised me was the variability. A lot of people have very different reasons for not commenting, which I hadn’t ever really considered before. As a writer, I interpret a lack of comments to mean that my writing is bad or boring, and even if folks are reading it, it’s more so out of not being able to find better fic than any true enjoyment.
Another thing I hadn’t thought about was the fact that for readers, the kudos button can feel the same as leaving a short comment - I don’t know about other writers, but those two feel entirely and hugely different to me. However, having read through all your responses I think I can change a bit and take kudos more to heart and hear what you’re all saying: you enjoyed the story and had you commented, that’s likely exactly what the comment would read. At the same time, I’d encourage all of you to consider how it feels to see a list of names of folks who have left kudos and know full well that only a handful of them stopped to tell you that they liked your story.
I was also surprised by the way in which a writer responding to comments made such an impact. I had no idea anyone responded until one day I left a comment and got a response back and then I started doing it myself. I mcfreaking love talking to readers through comments, especially on chaptered fic as I get to see their reactions as the story develops. It’s like getting to read my own story through someone else’s eyes and experience it as if I’m the reader who doesn’t know what’s coming up in the next chapter, with all of that thrill and fun. The same goes for one shots, though I don’t get to build that rapport over the course of the story.
One question I’m left with is: for those of you who do comment, what is the draw for you? And for those of you who don’t, is there a way for authors to engage you so that you would comment? An anon wrote, ““FFN has this culture of the idea of asking for reviews being tacky, probably from the occasional ‘I’ll post the next chapter after 100 reviews’ fics” which I’m not suggesting or anything of the sort. I don’t think that begging for comments is exactly the way through this. I’m more curious as to whether there is anything that might change your commenting behavior - because trust me, I’ll do it.
Fandom is the best and continues to be one of the great joys of my life, and I imagine many of yours. I wish I could convince everyone to comment, but I also respect all the reasons all y’all have furnished as to why that’s not realistic to ask.
